Dani Mari at Starr Garden

The Community Cultural Exchange, a South Street area arts and music collective, held its first annual craft exchange this week at Starr Garden (6th and Lombard). There were a few Philadelphia crafts, a table from the now-defunct South Street institution the Curiosity Shoppe, a table of Philadelphia short story books, and even a tarot reader. Also there to entertain the crowd: an amateur soccer league, some pick-up basketball games, and music.

The acts included the ever-hilarious Sexcop (sample lyric: "pretty girls want to be assassins... so they don't have to wait tables"), some covers and originals by Stephan Tsapatoris, and a kinda awful mid-90s-rock sounding band. The highlight was a Philadelphia-based singer Dani Mari, who performed some of her own sweetly textured compositions, armed only with an acoustic guitar. There are echoes of Mazzy Star and folk-country, but the voice is original, the beats off-kilter, and the changes well considered. She just released a new album, Impulsive, and was giving away three-song samplers from the pressing that included "Vampire" (there's a video on youtube) and a good exemplar of her work, "The Fall" (listen on her myspace page). The album is available on iTunes.

She'd be great in a coffee shop, catch her at one of these upcoming Philadelphia shows (from myspace.com/danimarirock:

8/31 The Note (West Chester)

9/17 Blinkin Lincoln

9/25 Hootenanny 2 (Plymouth Meeting)

10/16 Triumph Brewery

10/25 Connie's Ric Rac

Video of Dani Mari with a child dancing

Philly Folk Parade at the Fire in May

There are two more weeks of this great event left:

~ 4 Nights, 28 bands
~ 7 bands a night ~ Front stage/back stage = continuous music!
~ 9 PM SHARP ~ lots to do
~ sponsored by Yuengling = plenty o beer
~ 7 bucks - a dollar a band

FEATURING PERFORMANCES BY ~~~~~~~~~~~

Cowmuddy, Hezekiah Jones, Johnny Miles and the Waywards, Sisters3, The Doublewides, Hoots and Hellmouth, Josh Park, Hey Nude Friend I'm Tired, Jim Boggia, The Spinning Leaves, Wissahickon Chicken Shack, Andrew Lipke, Up the Chain, Chris Kasper, Brittany Ann, The Matt Helm Scream, The Great Unknown, The Phil D'Agostino Quintet, Shannon Pelcher, Psalmships, Birdie Busch, Daniel of the Moonlight, Jack Ohly, Sean Hoots, Spirit and Dust, Joe Duffey and his Underwater Window Garden, and some Special Mystery Guests!!!

18th hosted by Chris Kasper
25th hosted by Hezekiah Jones

the rest of each night is a mystery, ya dig.................

Hope to see ya there!!!!!! Bring someone who never comes!!!! We all need to meet someone new ~


The Philly Folk Parade is a sounding bell of human musical freedom and a celebration of brotherly love! Made of the intermingling inspirations and revelry of 30 to 40 Philadelphia artists, it is absolutely alive with the sounds of people power - a stage busting full of stomps, claps, choirs, and movement. The Philly Folk Parade is organized around the premise that building community empowers everyone, and to that end, the collective is responsible for a series of large concerts and a tour with the aim of showcasing to the world the incredibly vibrant music scene of Philadelphia and the flourishing new folk movement blooming in its streets.

Taken from the Philly Folk Parade Facebook event

Mason Porter is cursed

Philadelphia has had some epic snowfalls this winter. In December, 20+ inches closed down the city for days just before Christmas; in early February, another large snowfall saw transportation and businesses shut down again.

I'm sure many interesting stories have come from these snow dumps, but our favorite in the world of Philly acoustic music is that of Mason Porter. The West Chester-based roots/bluegrass band scheduled the CD release party for first full length album (Thunder in the Valley, Uncle Nicky Records, 2009) for December 19, 2009: Canceled due to snow. Rescheduled for February 6, 2010: Canceled due to snow.

Apparently, the band put together an impromptu party at a home in West Chester after the second show fell through. They will also be on stage in Philly on February 11 (weather permitting) at the Fire. You can also hear their music on their myspace site and their official website, or buy some of their music on through Uncle Nicky Records, a great indie label that recently released a split 7" of the band and Chris Kasper.

Note: Mason Porter features three talented instrumentalists: Tim Celfo (upright bass), Joe D’Amico (mandolin), and Paul Wilkinson (guitar). It is not, as I once thought, a guys name.

Mason Porter doing a solid Dylan cover last year at Burlap and Bean