Moe

Even in a holiday season, or maybe especially then, you can have too much of a good thing. Five guys named "moe. " proved this Tuesday night to a capacity crowd of folks in their 20s at the Electric Factory. Measured in minutes, the band played 66, rested 41, played 99, rested 2, and played 20 more. And that after opener Antigone Rising filled 50 minutes with hard-rock cliches. No live recording ever really captures the incarnate moe. For $20, you could have bought Tuesday's show, well-rendered on three compact discs, on your way out the door.

The three-minute length of most rock songs isn't just suited to tight radio formats. It fits the quick-paced world of most listeners. To be a jam band in attention-deficit 1997 is about the bravest thing you can do. The Buffalo band moe. seems not to know this. At a sold-out show at the Theatre of Living Arts on Thursday, the quartet unveiled its 20-minute creations with both humor and skill. Moe. doesn't just live in the shadow of the Grateful Dead, it frolics in it. When members of the Deadhead crowd yelled out requests ranging from "Freebird" to "Iron Man," front man/bassist Rob Derhak (who looked as if he had just gotten up from the quad lawn)

"Ooo-woo-woo-woo-woo!" Larry, Moe and Curly, the old-time Pep Boys known as the Three Stooges, will be as ubiquitous as those auto-store magnates next weekend. Six of the comic trio's classic films will be screened at dusk next Friday at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, courtesy of WYSP-FM. Stooges lookalikes and soundalikes will greet moviegoers. Seating will be available on bleachers or on the grass, and picnicking will be allowed. Information: 215-668-9460. Across the Delaware, the Trevose Hilton in Trevose will be gearing up for the annual Three Stooges Convention.

The concepts are not that sophisticated, that complicated. Dig in on defense. Step out on your man. Fight through screens. Put your body on an opponent's body when the ball goes up. Is Doug Moe speaking in tongues? Is the 76ers' coach telling his players anything that is over their heads? Is there some mystical reason the message gets lost somewhere between the timeout huddles and whatever time remains in the game? Is there some underlying problem that allows the Sixers to self-destruct in the second half, the way they did in last night's 127-119 loss to the Charlotte Hornets?

Of all the juke joints and jam bands in the world . . . I had to find the one that's most diverse in its genre-jumping and most disciplined in its approach to lengthy, atypical jam solos. It's moe., named after a song by jump king Louis Jordan. "We are jam band, hear us roar!" jokes Al Schnier, moe.-man singer and guitarist. "We are definitely part of a community, and like any community we will have our own neck of the woods. " Though they're radically different from most of the jam ilk, Schnier is happy to include touring partners Particle within moe.'s mixed-bag milieu.

A man charged with drug possession before Common Pleas Judge John J. Chiovero made at least two jurors chuckle when he revealed how cops decided to arrest him, rather than others at the scene: By saying, "Eennie, meenie, minie, moe. And I was moe. " Defense lawyer Douglas Stern then urged the jury to "acquit moe" of the crime. They did. A man on trial for robbery got cold feet after his lawyer told him he was "just about dead in the water. " When the defendant left during a recess, he was overheard telling a friend, "You know, I can't swim.

When Tommy Moe, a pistol-packing, white-water-kayaking reformed dope smoker from the wilds of Alaska, crossed the finish line of the Olympic downhill yesterday, the crowd went silent for a moment. It was stunned. Moe had seized the gold medal from a local hero. Norwegian racer Kjetil Aamodt had preceded Moe down the icy course and taken the lead in the race. About 40,000 people were cheering for Aamodt during Moe's run, all but ignoring the American. But when Moe crossed the finish line and his time flashed on the gigantic scoreboard, the cheering stopped.

Last winter was at its brutal worst when Sherry Brohl of Margate stepped outside her front door, her gray-and-white cat, Moe, cradled in her arms. Her feet crunched on the snowy crust, and Moe - frightened by the glare and the unfamiliar noise, twisted in her grasp, then bolted. He ran so fast, Brohl recalled, "that I don't think his feet ever touched the snow. " That was 10 months ago, and Brohl still runs newspaper ads heartbreaking in their detail: "Shy cat, short hair, solid gray, one-half white face, white chest, legs & belly, declawed front paws, pink nose w/ black tip. Answers to 'MOE.

In the main room, where up on the 10-foot screen Moe was doing one of his patented face-slap-to-the-eye-poke-to-the-head-bonk moves on Curly, the crowd of about 250 hard-core Three Stooges fans let out yet another chortle that carried out into the hotel hallway. Out there, where more of the 1,500 Stooges devotees from around the country gathered for the seventh annual Three Stooges Convention this weekend in Trevose, Don Tucker was trying to explain his particular affection for - no, addiction to - the goofball comedy trio.

Moe drives to the gym every morning, but Fay always brings an extra set of keys, because once he locked his in the trunk. They prefer gray sweats to Spandex, conversation to headphones. They are so unfashionable that they barely perspire. Yet they inspire. Moe and Fay Lurie are both 93. They still go to the gym almost every day, and are great examples of so many trends in healthy aging. Long established is the benefit of exercise, as well as what some aging experts call "the protective value of marriage.

  POP . . . plus   Grandchildren: These guys really pile it on. Take the collision of flamenco guitars, Afro-pop percussion and wooshy, echoplexed vocals, plus the jingling of cash registers and harmonic wave transmissons from outer space all found on their new track "Saturn Returns. " Help celebrate the creative process at their album release party/concert. With Little Teeth, Hermit Thrushes, the Armchairs. Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9 tonight, 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.

Sports and superstitions are inextricably linked. After the Flyers won the Eastern Conference, Mike Richards defied tradition and grabbed the Wales Trophy with both hands. The Blackhawks went the other way and stayed as far away from the Campbell Trophy as possible after winning the Western Conference. We've heard stories of athletes putting the same skate or sneaker on first before competing, listening to certain music, or eating a special pregame meal - all to follow certain rituals and appease the sports gods.

Larry Fish, 56, a versatile and gifted reporter who wrote elegantly about local businesses, regional transportation and the American West during a 20-year career with The Inquirer, died Saturday at his Center City home from complications of heart disease. Mr. Fish, who began his career at the Utica Observer-Dispatch in New York state, arrived at The Inquirer in 1985 and covered almost every type of story, from the tribulations of SEPTA to the devastating wildfires in the West in the summer of 2000.

Morris "Moe" Shames, 89, of Northeast Philadelphia, a retired shoe-store-chain manager and theatrical booking agent, died Saturday at Abington Memorial Hospital of complications from a fall. For more than 60 years, Mr. Shames booked entertainers for events at synagogues and for local fund-raisers, and engaged talent for Atlantic City casinos and resorts in the Poconos and elsewhere. He was known from Connecticut to Florida, his son Stuart said. He worked with a whole generation of entertainers, including comics Jackie Mason and Henny Youngman, his son said, and more recently booked impressionist Marilyn Michaels and was negotiating to book comedienne Joy Behar, cohost of ABC's The View, for a local fund-raiser.

There's a new Pep Boy-in-chief in town, and he has hit the ground running, visiting 70 of the chain's 593 stores in his first three weeks on the job. He is Jeffrey C. Rachor, 45, and he is on a whirlwind campaign to convince his 20,000 employees that the venerable auto parts and service company will soon get off the bumpy detour it has been on for a decade and reassert itself on the American automotive scene. Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack was founded in 1921, in West Philadelphia, with an $800 investment.

Moe drives to the gym every morning, but Fay always brings an extra set of keys, because once he locked his in the trunk. They prefer gray sweats to Spandex, conversation to headphones. They are so unfashionable that they barely perspire. Yet they inspire. Moe and Fay Lurie are both 93. They still go to the gym almost every day, and are great examples of so many trends in healthy aging. Long established is the benefit of exercise, as well as what some aging experts call "the protective value of marriage.

Denver Nuggets assistant coach Doug Moe has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will have surgery next month. "The prognosis is good and I expect to be in training camp," Moe said yesterday in a statement released by the team. Moe's diagnosis comes 5 weeks after Denver head coach George Karl had successful surgery to treat the same cancer. Karl met with Denver media yesterday for the first time since his surgery and said he had received a clean bill of health. Moe is the winningest coach in Nuggets history, 432-357 from 1980-90.

The Denver Nuggets made it seem like old times last night, running to a 107-86 victory over the visiting Boston Celtics to give Doug Moe a win in his first game back on the bench as George Karl's new assistant. Andre Miller scored 22 points and Carmelo Anthony had 19 points, six rebounds and six assists to help the Nuggets successfully begin their post-All-Star-game run at the playoffs. Seeking some help on the bench, Karl persuaded Moe, his old North Carolina buddy and the winningest coach in Nuggets history, to sit by him for the final 29 games of the season.

Moe Gibson is used to sharing time at tailback in Villanova's backfield. He's used to sharing time in life. "I have five brothers," Gibson said, "so sharing is never really an issue. " Last season, Gibson split time with Terry Butler, and they combined for 1,317 rushing yards. Gibson got a little more than half of them, 689, but this season started out on a much more frustrating note. In the first half of the opener against Bucknell, six carries and 24 yards into his season, he had to get off the field during the first half.

Even in a holiday season, or maybe especially then, you can have too much of a good thing. Five guys named "moe. " proved this Tuesday night to a capacity crowd of folks in their 20s at the Electric Factory. Measured in minutes, the band played 66, rested 41, played 99, rested 2, and played 20 more. And that after opener Antigone Rising filled 50 minutes with hard-rock cliches. No live recording ever really captures the incarnate moe. For $20, you could have bought Tuesday's show, well-rendered on three compact discs, on your way out the door.