Is Nothing Sacred?: If the federal government shuts down this weekend, the Cherry Blossom Festival parade may be canceled. The parade, which draws thousands of people each year, partially takes place on lands controlled by the National Park Service. Festival spokesperson Danielle Piacente says organizers are fighting back: “We’re ready to appeal to whoever we can to keep the parade going.” Get your act together, Democrats and Republicans! You may not care about preventing disaster in D.C., but you can at least do it for the Fairhope Marching Band!

Panic Mode: If you’re a follower of #Ifgovtshutsdown, you may already be wallowing in the fear setting in across our region. But some tweeters are seeing a silver lining of opportunity. One tweeter is organizing a furlough cookout in Anacostia Park; another plans to loot a medical marijuana facility.

OMFG: Yesterday, Fox News announced that it will cancel Glenn Beck’s daily TV show later this year. The conservative talk show host commented on his Wednesday show, comparing himself to American hero Paul Revere, who “got off the horse point at some point and fought in the revolution and then he went back to silversmithing.” (Video.) Fox released a statement saying that the network plans to pursue new projects with Beck and his production company, Mercury Radio Arts.

Yesterday on Arts Desk: Grammys slough off 30 categories, making life harder for local artists; Artisphere hosts a David Lynch retrospective; Ben Freed takes a closer look at MC Big Wax’s song—-and now music video—-that criticizes the Vince Gray administration.