resident faves the armchairs are back on wqhs tomorrow evening! they'll be joining me again on-air from 6-8, and i can't wait to have them. if you had the chance to listen to the show last time, you know how much fun they are, and how good they are. if you missed it, well now's your chance to hear them. they're playing friday night at millcreek (hello yummy) and we couldn't be more excited to have them visiting west philly again... so listen in!!
6-8pm on WQHS.org.
ALSO. see that sweet picture right there of the armchairs? i know you looked at it and thought damn, those are some badass colors. i love that picture. well, guess who took it? the guest on my show last week, rob patterson of plastic pancake and the silicon syrup (formerly slothra). both bands played our april show at danger danger gallery and kicked ass. check them both out and redeem yourself if you weren't there, or enjoy again!
Are you feeling the summer blues? Lazy and bored and searching for a delightful way to fill up a Saturday afternoon? Well tomorrow June 7th from 1-7 PM at Clark Park in West Philly all the forces of awesomeness that this fair city has to offer shall convene in a massive celebration of rock & roll known as BEST FEST.
Check out their website at http://www.myspace.com/bestfest and see the ridiculous amazingness that their set list has to offer.
Want pretty singalong 50s-rock? The Chimeras have you covered. Acid-washed genius-rock? (Note: I made up that last term). Kurt Vile is here. Foot-stomping mountain-rock? The Citywide Specials move out of their hipster hideout Fiume for the afternoon. How about intricately-arranged harmonious...rock? Soft People will be playing just for you. And if you're feeling a bit more aggressive, Badmaster mainstays Drums Like Machine Guns (you can probably imagine) and Serpents of Wisdom (some math attack for the thinking part of your mind) will be along as well. Plus the bands that I'm just not cool enough to know much about: L'Ananas, Crestmont Steppers, Club Lifestyle, Beatjams, Vice Versa, Stinking Lizaveta, and the Extraordinaires.
So strap on your walking shoes and your sitting pants. Make it a picnic! Enjoy Clark Park Park! And check http://www.phillycollegeradio.org for the exclusive Best Fest review.
I traded in a weekend in Philly for one on Hunter Mountain in New York where I rode the waves of tie-dyed and dreadlocked groovitude, buzzed off good vibes and Bud Light. Here's me, loving life and broing out: Yes, my friends, I went to a jam festival this past weekend, chockful of Dead covers, prolonged breakdowns by prog rockers with goofy names (RIYL: Umphrey's McGee, Electric Apricot), and the ever present background whispers of slang terms for drugs on Shakedown Street, the name given to the festival's main road of vendors as well as the 1978 Grateful Dead album produced by Lowell George, of Little Feat fame.
Mentioned in May's issue of Rolling Stone's list of the best summer festivals that are "worth the trip" (Oh, you, Rolling Stone), May 30th-June 1st marked the fourth installment of Mountain Jam, the northeast festival hosted by Warren Haynes & Co. in the beautiful mountains of Hunter, NY. And while I take Rolling Stone, the magazine that puts outthe same groundbreaking list of the best songs/artists/albums of all time nearly every month, as seriously when it comes to music as improvisationally challenged jam sessions that pass the 15 minute mark, I cannot lie to you. Peppered in between the usual jam-band festival staples was a lot of great music that would please jammers and nonjammers alike. And since it's summer and I'm still feeling pseudo "free love" right now, I'd like to share with you the music that kept me stomping and grooving all weekend:
Felice Brothers Hailing from the the Catskill mountains of New York, the Felice Brothers are a folk/country band comprised of Ian Felice on lead vocals and guitar, Simone Felice on vocals and drums, and James Felice on vocals, accordion, organ, and piano as well as Farley on washboard and fiddle and Christmas on bass guitar (Fun fact: Wikipedia tells me that Christmas once got by as a "traveling dice player".) They are boys from the neighborhood, just 10 minutes outside of Woodstock, NY. And while they may not hail from my neighborhood or your neighborhood- the tales they tell of hookers and heroin- they wield the same magic power Springsteen has in convincing you for a split second that you hail from New Jersey. When my close friend asked me what the Felice Brothers sounded like before they came on, I replied, "They sound like something you'd want to hear while swigging a bottle of whiskey with old friends from back home". Sure enough, by the end of their set, we were both singing along, completely at home, stomping and singing along with the crowd, "I put some whiskey into my whiskey, I put some heartbreak into my heart."
RIYL: Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Guy Clark, early Bruce Springsteen
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings Sharon Jones is the female equivalent to James Brown. Introduced by the Dap Kings, true sultans of suave, Sharon Jones danced her way to the front of the stage, her steps saying "Fellas, I'm ready to get up and do my thing." And by the end of her set, moneymakers were shaking- mine included- as Jones and the Dap Kings took the audience back a few decades in their time machine of soul. If you've ever once thought, "They really just don't make music like they used to," they do and it's best served live. RIYL: Betty LaVette, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles Levon Helm I have seen the Last Waltz- the legendary Scorcese documentary about the Band's last hurrah probably over twenty times and twice within the past month, so seeing Levon Helm live for me was like seeing the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965. Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating, but after he opened with "Ophelia", I couldn't help but become engulfed by an overwhelming sensation of Bandmania. And while the Band's heyday has long past, Helm's hasn't. His voice has aged gracefully and he sings and plays with the same fervor that you see in old tapings of the Band on tour with Bob Dylan. But unlike seeing Dylan live for the sake of seeing Dylan live now, seeing Helm live isn't as depressing because the old sound of the Band is maintained. Helm's Dirt Farmer was a grammy winner this year, and after seeing him play with a new cast of characters, it was clear to me that the spirit of the Band will continue to live on through Helm until he plans a "Last Waltz" concert of his own, which I hope won't be anytime soon.
RIYL: The Band
I may be an old soul, but good music is good music. Plus, it's summertime.
