High Phidelity

It couldn't be more appropriate -- of all days, a city's long-hungered for exorcism of a quarter-century of futility takes place on Halloween.

Closing out the most magic month this town's seen in a long time, the latest high-ball estimates say 2 million will pack the length of South Broad for The Parade, which begins at noon local time. It's going to be a beautiful day for one -- temps in the 60s, and not a cloud in the sky. And for those who've written in to say they've been "converted" these last few weeks or anyone else who wants a look in, the livestreams will abound.

The feeling, the reality of it all, is simply incredible -- family and friends have poured in from all over, the usually-gruff natives are dancing in the streets and something quite close to "happy chaos" dominates the scene. All my life, I've never seen the place like this and, well, this is gonna be an experience. As if it wasn't already.

On a page-keeping note, just a quick word of apology for everything that's fallen through the cracks these last few weeks. The election alone has been more than enough to keep overoccupied with, so the Series run -- however grateful I am for it -- couldn't have come at a worse possible time. But if you've been around long enough, you know that when it rains, it pours.

Along those lines, a bigger-than-usual flood of e.mail's piled up, and I could spend the next two months doing nothing else but plowing through it... and, even then, still wouldn't be done. So from the kind words to the helping hands to the diatribes and questions to... everything else, please just know how grateful I am for each bit of it, how I wish I had more hands to express appreciation for each as it deserves... and guilt-trip myself that I can't.

With that, off to the madness...

Harry the K, sing us out:



PHOTO: AP/Joseph Kaczmarek

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