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Things To Do In Philly, 9/7/11 Edition

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Dante Bucci, as shot by E!

Are there many things to do in Philly this week? Hell yes. Have you seen the Fringe Guide, or perhaps the City Paper’s capsule reviews of shows?

Well, I’m not here to talk about all of that. Unlike my comic book coverage, when it comes to Philly I only mention shows I’d consider attending myself – and, in the case of this lineup, I’m really going to try to attend them all!

Let’s go!

Thursday, 9/8
Who: Filmstar, featuring your author and the lovely E
Details: 8p, $10, North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., Philly
Why? We are fresh off of two killer rehearsals, and our set features a brand new song and a slew of fan favorites. Northstar Bar is one of the biggest local venues in the city, and comes equipped with great beer and food. Also, we’re sharing the bill with Mean, Secret Music, and Kyle Andrews – a Chicago-based artist whose music has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy and national commercial campaigns. Expect us to hit the stage 10pm or later.

Friday, 9/9
Who: Dante Bucci, Victoria Spaeth, and Andrea Nardello
Details: 10p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd St., Philly
Why? This is more of a “why not,” as I am madly in love with all three of these artists. Dante is the most notable hang drummer in the country, luring millions of YouTube viewers with his entrancing melodies. Victoria Spaeth is a fiercely independent songwriter who graduated from playing covers to open mics to fronting her own rock band, unspooling her fantastic and increasingly-muscular urban folk. Andrea Nardello straddles rowdy barroom acoustic-rock and twinkling folk in every set, and is on-the-record as liking the way I shake my ass when I play “Hyperbole” ;)

Gina and a monochromatic Wes in The Gray Area. This is a real photo - no digital trickery involved! Photo by Jason Colflesh.

Friday 9/9 through Sunday 9/11
What: The Gray Area, an original Fringe play produced by Gina!
Details: 8pm F/S & 3pm S/S, $15, The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut, Philly
Why? Ocelot on a Leash presents a second run of their original Fringe production Gray Area, featuring short Twilight Zone inspired plays produced completely in monochrome.

Wednesday 9/7 through Sunday 9/11
What: Checkers, an original one-man Fringe show
Details: various times, $15, The Fleisher Art Memorial Sanctuary, 719 Catharine Street, Philly
Why? A peculiar one-man show that liberates a single moony romantic from his original absurdist play to start in his own farce. See my write-up from last week for the fuller details.

Monday 9/12 through Friday 9/16
What: Water Bears in Space
Details: 7pm, $10, Circle of Hope, Broad & Washington, 1125 South Broad Street, Philly
Why? You know how you sometimes miss a show and then hear such ridiculously over-the-top fantastic things about it that you wish you could be Cher and turn back time? For me, that show was Rails, a collaboratively created show from PuppeTyranny featuring half a cast of humans and half of puppets. The company and concept are back for Water Bears in Space, along with outstanding reviews and the absolutely magnetic local starlet Kate Black-Reagan, who I guarantee you will fall in love with immediately. Don’t miss this – I definitely won’t!

Tuesday, 9/13
What: Notorious F.O.L.K.
Details: 8-11p, FREE, Triumph Brewery, 117 Chestnut , Philly
Why? Enjoy the beers at my favorite Philly micro-brewery while an impressive array of Philly acoustic artists cover Notorious B.I.G. songs, folkstyle. Seriously.

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That’s my lineup for the next week, and if I have to miss more than one I will spend all subsequent nights crying myself to sleep. What are your hot picks for things to do in the City of Brotherly love in the next nine days?

Things to Do In Philly, 8/31 Edition

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The CK extended family is rocking so many high quality shows of their own in the next week that I probably can’t get out to much else. While I might selfishly hope that you’re going to come out just to the fam events, thanks to the Philly Fringe Fest you have plenty of other choices.

This is my version of the highlight reel, the sole criteria for inclusion being: do I dig it?

Filmstar playing the Blame-a-Thon, as shot by me.

First, here’s the family affairs:

Thursday, 9/8
Who: Filmstar, featuring your author and the lovely E
Details: 8p, $10, North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., Philly
Why? This will be my first time on stage at North Star Bar, though pre-me Filmstar rocked it at the now-legendary #blamedrewscancer marathon. We’ll whip out a few newer tunes, plus have copies of The Desperate Times EP to place in your hot little hands. We’ll share the stage with Mean, Secret Music, and Kyle Andrews.

Friday 9/2 & Saturday 9/3
What: The Gray Area, an original Fringe play produced by Gina!
Details: 8:30p, $10, The Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Ave, Philly
Why? Gina & the rest of Ocelot On a Leash Theatre Company (of which I am a proud alum) have yet to produce a dud, and this is definitely not going to be the first. The company commissioned a series of Twilight Zone-esque short plays from local author Mark Wolverton and wrote some of their own pieces. To enforce the retro sci-fi Zone vibe, they’ll present the works in simulated black & white – including costumes, sets, props, and even the actors! If you miss it this week, the plays run again next Friday through Sunday at the Rotunda.

Wednesday, 9/7 through Sunday, 9/11
What: Checkers, an original one-man Fringe show
Details: various times, $15, The Fleisher Art Memorial Sanctuary, 719 Catharine Street, Philly
Why? Producer Mary Stewart is a longtime partner in crime of mine, and she acts as one of my major barometers of what’s good in the local arts scene. If she produces a show, I’m there. This year her choice is this one-man show developed by Mark Kennedy. In the spirit of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Mark explores the life of a minor character from Witold Gombrowicz’s already-absurd fairytale Ivona, Princess of Burgundiam. In the original play, the royal family has it in for Ivona because she’s too ugly to contribute to their gene pool. Here, Checkers the servant turns out to be hopelessly smitten with the decidedly un-fair Ivona. I’ve already bought into the show via their Kickstarter campaign, mostly on the strength of their oddball Tumblr featuring posts from Kennedy in-character as Checkers.

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What’s in store for the next week from the rest of my favorites? Behold:

Thursday 9/1
Who: Venice Sunlight & Stonethrown
Details: 8p, $8, North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., Philly
Why? Venice Sunlight is an awesome pop/rock band packed with slick riffs that puts on a high-energy show. Stonethrown is as close to Muse as you can get in the Philly scene – squalling rock with high-wire male vocals. They play first on a bill with Modern Suits and I Am Lightning.

Friday 9/2
Who: An Acoustic Evening with The Weepies
Details: 8p, $26, TLA, 4th & South, Philly
Why? The Weepies turned in one of the best albums of 2010, which I called “Cloying, cheerful pop-folk melodies so distinct that it’s often easy to forget that a band is playing beneath them.” The chance to see them reproduce those tunes in a stripped down show is hard to pass up.

Sunday 9/4
Who: Adrien Reju w/Pete Donnelly
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd St., Philly
Why? We’ve established I have a ton of local favorites, which maybe devalues my favorites currency – but not only do I adore songwriter Adrien Reju – E loves her. And E’s a hard one to crack when it comes to local music. With that double endorsement in mind, check out Adrien co-headlining a special birthday show with her producer from standout LP A Million Hearts. Last time we saw her she wielded a slew of unbelievably great new songs, which have now had nearly a year to simmer.

Thursday 9/8
Who: Brian Flanagan Band
 Details: Noon, FREE! @ Love Park, 15th & Arch
Why? Brian Flanagan graduated from covers at open mics to originals to fronting a band that plays sure, 70s-style singer-songwriter acoustic rock in the vein of Jackson Browne and Brian’s influencers Ray Davies and the Kinks. If you’re a Center City worker, spend your lunch break with the tasty gourmet food carts in Love Park and enjoy a free serenade.

Drum Engineering w/Filmstar

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As if the Philly Geek Awards weren’t enough excitement for one weekend, I woke up on Saturday morning to face the daunting task of setting up our dining room as a drumming room for recording Filmstar.

After shopping around to some fantastic local studios last fall we realized we weren’t quite ready to drop major cash on pro recording for our first EP. To make studio time worthwhile you need to be playing solid takes of songs, know what you want them to sound like, and understand what you want to add.

Our first pass at that preparation was the Live @ Rehearsal style recording sessions for The Desperate Times EP last winter. For that session we recorded the band live with scratch vocals, going back to recut lead and backing vocals (plus acoustic guitar) on top of our full band takes.

I outdid my prior bests in mixing the EP, but I was flummoxed by the limitations of our recording process. Particularly, it was impossible to stitch together the best parts of multiple takes because we hadn’t recorded to a click track.

Thus, the mission for our new double A-side single: record perfectly in-tempo, click-tracked drums, as many times as we could withstand. [Read more…] about Drum Engineering w/Filmstar

Things To Do In Philly, 8/11 Edition

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It’s back! My totally biased, totally nepotistic list of the most awesome stuff you can entertain yourself with in the greater Philadelphia area over the next week.

Take note: though these are events from my favorite artists, you have to be pretty awesome to rank on that list at all. I’m not going to send my dear readers to anything sucky. Or, at least, if I am I’m going to be clear that it might be sucky.

First, I must plug the thing that actually involves me, which I have the most power over making un-sucky:

Saturday 8/13
Who: My acoustic duo, Arcati Crisis, plus bass!
Details: 6pm, FREE & BYOB, All Fired Up, 602 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood NJ
Why? Arcati Crisis habitually enjoys a summer hiatus, but we’ll make a rare appearance outside of our rehearsal cabana to play three-ish hours of acoustic music in this awesome pottery arts studio. That’ll include the entire AC repertoire, plus a few special solo tunes. Plus wine. How can this possibly go wrong?

Now, on the rest of the next week…

Alexandra Day & Samantha Rise

Thursday, 8/11
Who: Alexandra Day & Samantha Rise-Roberson
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd Street, Philly
Why? It physically pains me that I cannot attend this show due to rehearsal, so you should go in my place. Alexandra Day is one of my favorite songwriters in Philadelphia. I know I say that a lot, but how many other people did I ask to play the first dance at my wedding, hmm? Alex has a voice like red wine and an utterly riveting stage presence at the piano. She’ll be backed by a band on this co-bill with Samantha Rise-Roberson, a phenomenal vocalist who I highlighted on CK way back in 2008. This show is a must-see.

Thursday, 8/11
Who: Balkan Dance Party with West Philadelphia Orchestra and the Electric Simcha
Details: 10p, $5, Tritone, 1508 South, Philly
Why? WPO crosses demographics to unite street punks, hipsters, and U-City intelligencia into a frothing crowd of folk-dancing fiends. This is their monthly dance party, with special guest “Hasidic punk band” the Electric Simcha.

Friday, 8/12
Who: Mieka Pauley and Dwight & Nicole
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd Street, Philly
Why? You may recall a certain Cosmo-contest-winning alt-folk troubadour Ms. Pauley playing in my dining room for CK’s 10th Anniversary Concert last year. There is video evidence to prove that (a) she was here, and (b) she is 100% awesomesauce. I have a whole live album of hers to mix down and release any month now. Until then, catch her in a rare Center City appearance.

Friday, 8/12
Who: York Street Hustle at World Cafe Live w/DJ Apt One
Details: 9p, $7 advance, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St, Philly
Why? Spend less than $10 on a Friday evening dance party with a Motown-fueled 10-piece cover band fronted by one of my Philly vocal crushes, Aaron Brown. Shall we watch them sing my favorite Marvin Gaye song? Yes, let’s:

[Read more…] about Things To Do In Philly, 8/11 Edition

rock band sweaters

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Tonight we had a sweaty Filmstar rehearsal.

Sweat is one of those unglamorous parts of rock star life that I feel is not sufficiently advertised by bands to aspiring musicians and parlor-bound Rock Band addicts, along with writing lead sheets and receiving constant electric shocks to the face from your microphone if your instrument isn’t properly grounded.

(Seriously, do you want full, pouty, Jagger lips? Just play a shoddily grounded bass and sing right up on the mic.)

No matter what sort of sweater you are under typical life conditions, when you are flinging a sixteen pound bass around while also doing some form of the frug and singing backup vocals, you are going to develop more than a healthy sheen.

Add to that the heat generated by your equipment or a low-hanging stage light focused on your neck and rocking out for an hour is roughly equivalent to spending the same amount of time in a sauna. Which makes 2.5hr rehearsals a marathon of perspiration.

I think I was experiencing all four aspects of band sweat at this gig. What you can't see in this photo is the stage light positioned about eight inches from my face.

We’ve all seen bands sweat, right? So what am I bitching about? Here are some aspects of band-sweat you might not have previously considered:

Sweaty vision. Sweat can sting in your eyes to begin with, but if you are a perfectly coifed rocker you are gradually sweating all of your chic hair product into your eyes, causing a stinging temporary blindness.

This usually takes three or four songs to get underway, which means you’ll be struck blind just as your set is heating up, typically during the most intense and difficult-to-play section of a song.

Which leads us to…

Sweaty hands. Either your hands sweat, or you get sweat (and dissolved hair product) on them trying to restore your vision. Shockingly, neither holding on to a plastic pick nor plucking bass strings in a regular rhythm is made easier.

Which means…

Sweat accessories. You need them, and I don’t mean Olivia Newton John style headbands. When planning your killer stage outfit, some part of it has to double as a hand-towel – and, let me tell you, leather pants do not fit the bill. Now I understand why so many singers wrap boas and scarves around their microphone stands.

Of course, then there’s the problem of…

Sweaty clothes. Once your set is over you want to reap the rewards of being a rock star – namely, adoring fans, and possibly a cold beer. Except, you are soaked through to the skin as if you had been standing under a fire hydrant, and with the rush of performance and the baking stage lights behind you your body is suddenly cold and clammy.

(My father has for years pointed this out to me about strippers; I did not realize he was telling me a parable that would assist in my rock star life. Sorry, dad.)

Allow me to enlighten you to the fact that fans are way less interested in fawning over you and hugging you when your entire ensemble is a massive sweat stain. And, despite what your Almost Famous dream fantasy looks like, until you are past local levels of fame most green rooms do not include fully appointed bathrooms with showers so you can make a quick change. I’ve played exactly one gig that has had one.

There you have it: my band sweat exposé. Maybe next I’ll address the practical issues of selecting attractive footwear that does not hinder your pedal-stomping.

For all my rocker friends: what other unexposed pitfalls of band life should the aspiring rocker be aware of before turning up to 11?