The tragic circumstance of Rhode Island. The mounting number of dead. How do we ward against it? Stop packing crowds tighter than Jack Russell's jeans! (This is not a warning to club owners to not book Great White. That's just good taste.) While over-crowding wasn't necessarily the problem, it don't ever help. Being stuffed beyond comfort into any room makes no sense -- not for crowds, not for owners trying to make cash from bars and waitstaff moving freely. Club owners: Think more money. Dag. Even South Street wised up, what with grouped-together owners and operators agreeing on a 90-percent voluntary closing of all bars on South for March 4's Mardi Gras. While not a lotta fun, this (along with a million dollars in streetscape renovations) is the opening volley in the fabled reconstruction of South in order to make it, what, as Boardwalkish as Old City? Speaking of O.C., the infamous 22 S. Third St. address (Revival, etc.) has gone corporate. Coyote Wild, the rootin' tootin' athletic-gal-bartending Manhattan-started saloon is a-headin' for that pass. To bring in urban cowgal-serving sorts, Coyote holds tryouts, March 3 at Electric Factory at noon. Further south, the St. George diner at 1422 Race is set to get a groove on, what with opening its second floor and booking DJs, live jungle and wack-jazz stuff. It's a busy weekend at Transit: Feb. 28 has Substitution's Mix 'n' Blen' event with label guys Kenny Ken and Capital J with MC Armanni and Deep C. Then March 1 has Shampoo lady Shannon Niland doing "American Pie" till 6 a.m., with co-hosts Cyoni Dahling and Mike Lasater presenting prog-house on a rock 'n' roll tip and sexy decor. Last weekend, fire inspectors and L&I were checking for exits and capacity issues in area eateries. Now rumors have several Rittenhouse restaurateurs getting visited by IRS boys looking for big unpaid back taxes. Along with renovating his Striped Bass for its 10th anniversary (March 24), Neil Stein's hooking up local chefs with a monthly Monday-eve party "Chef's Nite Out." Mike "Slo-Mo" Brenner -- the Tom Wolfe of local dobro -- steel-guitars his way to your heart with a four-week residency on Tuesdays at The Fire, starting March 4 with Matt Cappy, Hoagy Wing, Steve Demarest, Mark Schreiber and Nancy Falkow. Brenner can also be heard on this-week's-released Songs: Ohia CD, Magnolia Electric Company, as well as on soon-due stuff from One Star Hotel, The Donuts, Friends of the Library, Denison Witmer, Frog Holler and John Train. Grammys? The Roots/Eminem duet was great, as was seeing Bruce Springsteen lose. (How dare he say, "George Bush got a blank check for the war" when 9/11 happened, when The Rising was nothing more than post-tragedy hype?) Give it up for Axis Music's James Poyser for his Best R&B tune victory. Look for upcoming Axis stuff like Tye Tribbett, their new gospel act signed to Columbia, lots of music from new Axis mixer Omar Edwards and a possible Axis label imprint, I hear, through Sony?!. WhoWhatWhere: After her Silk City gig, DJ Rap partied at Tribecca. Arnold Schwarzenegger hosts the Inner-City Games' 1st Annual Health & Fitness Conference at The University of Pennsylvania's Palestra March 5, with Q102's Donna Storm. After Joe Lekkas opened a 7,000-square-foot rehearsal studio, Surreal Sound, in Port Richmond, his garage griots, Hilliard, hit Plain Parade/Doc Watson's Feb. 27. That same night he's also helping pals open Samba -- a swanky bustling Brazilian restaubar at 714 W. Girard. Odean Pope/Bobby Zankel guitar alumnus Matt Davis gets jazzed via his own band, Aerial Photograph (also starring George Burton, Mike Taylor, Pete Guadioso), and their debut eponymous CD, which just happens to have its live release party at Tritone Feb. 27. After wowing Channel 10's morning show Feb. 27, Animus and new "Belly Dancer of the Universe" Azhia hit Dhyana Yoga Studio, 1212 Walnut on Feb. 28. Tommy lugo's "The Flow" hits The Fire Feb. 28 with a host of space-psych-like minds Plastron, Project Skyward, Scattered Planets and Stellarscope. It's an improv-athon at Fleisher Art Memorial (709 Catharine) March 1 when Hirple (Matt Suib, Bob Dickie, Sam Berkowitz) debut with Thurston Moore/Jim O'Rourke alums Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano. H20 Productions and Rowdee Black Giants take L'Hexagone like Napoleon did Elba Feb. 27, screening blaxploitative films while jamming live-funkied sound. To commemorate their eponymous CMP label CD, Elliot Levin/Marshall Allen/Tyrone Hill quintet hook up with jazz scholar Steve Rowland (creator of the "Tell Me How Long Trane's Been Gone" radio project) March 3 at U of P's Houston Hall. Congrats to Geo Sound owner George Manney for marrying Clutch Cargo bandmate Su Teears. To Gyro Asia boss Peter Grasse, whose missus, Kaori, gave birth to Hana Yoshimura Grasse in Japan. To Cashman PR Associate Stephanie Reynolds for getting out of Philly to start her grand design career in NYC. To Dan Contarino, who -- when he ain't busy booking trips to Paris (traitor!) -- celebrates six "full years of drama" and Shaft parties at Shampoo, Feb. 28 (till 6 a.m.). To Gilbert Gottfried, who celebrates his b-day at Camden County's Playhouse thingy Feb. 28. And to hairdresser/Rhythm Donkey/b-day boy Scott Chestnut for just being herself.