I write you from a strange land to the north, where murses (man + purse = murse) are not only accepted, but necessary; where people gather in dark rooms full of pounding bass not to dance, but to just kind of look at each other and bounce awkwardly; where what is the $2 Philly citywide special (PBR and a shot of Jack) is a bargain for $6. Yes, Philadelphia; like the proverbial chick leaving the nest, I’ve up and moved to Brooklyn.
For the all the filth, violence and incestuous dating scene (seriously, play six degrees of separation with your significant other – it’ll be fun, I promise!) Philly is and always will be my heart. Our arts community is an incredibly special thing, and it’s definitely something one doesn’t realize till attending a show at a place like Music Hall of Williamsburg, looking around, and realizing you don’t know anyone besides the people you came with. Does anyone really realize how, excuse my French, fucking lucky we are to have an organization like R5 Productions? Really though; the bands we see for $10 at a place like the First Unitarian play in New York at venues owned and run by large corporations. Do you really think the doorman at Bowery Ballroom gives a hoot about who’s hand he’s stamping? Like Joni Mitchell said, though: You don’t know what you got till it’s gone. After working through the ironic self loathing that characterizes being a Philadelphian, it’s time for us to admit: we’ve got a pretty good thing going here.
My undying love for my hometown aside, my move to BK means you’ll be treated to a new installment, PHLY IN BK. It will be a chronicle of the trials and tribulations of one young girl trying to make it in the big city; seeing all the shows the borough has to offer, exploring a vibrant and exploding arts scene, and drinking all the free booze allowable by the relatively loose social standards. There will be regular installments of “I Can’t Believe Someone Here Actually Thinks That’s Clothes” and “Your Band Isn’t That Great, Stop Making the Zoolander Face At Me” as well as other pieces introducing new and upcoming bands and artists, and features on Philly artists making headway into the BK scene.
Slingshot Dakota/La Dispute/Native/Wild Moccasins/Snowing Death By Audio Venue
And we thought we had the market on hole in the wall warehouse venues on lockdown: Brooklyn’s Death By Audio venue on South Second and the waterfront has played a vital part in keeping an all ages, do it yourself scene alive in a Williamsburg music scene threatened by condo development and too cool for schoolness. Slingshot Dakota, the super posi-punkrock version of Mates of State, has even pledged to stop playing any 21+ shows. Score one for the kids!
Philly represented, as they say, in the form of Snowing a 90’s emo throwback (emo in the sense of the bros. Kinsella and Mineral, not Taking Back Sunday). About to start a fairly extensive tour, Snowing totally killed it, playing a mathy, screamalong set on the floor of the art bedecked space.
The whole atmosphere of the show was once big East coast music scene brodown; most of the bands had toured or were currently touring together, and it was a night full of dude (and a few girl) hugs and crowd singalongs. Speaking of girls, though generally not a fan of female fronted bands (reserve sexism?) this night featured two absolutely incredible female artists: itty bitty Zahira Gutierrez of Wild Moccasins and Carly Comando of Slingshot Dakota.
Wild Moccasins were standout act of the night. Girl/boy powerpop along the lines of Spinto Band or a more upbeat Ra Ra Riot, the Houston quintet of super talented younguns totally blew me away. Do that whole keeping your eye on them thing, and bring your happy feet if you’re lucky enough to see them live.
Native and La Dispute totally brought the heavy back. Showing that you don’t need a million dollar light show to make an impact, Native utilized the house lights and few strategically placed floodlights to make their Russian Circles plus vocals music an even more intense experience. Though La Dispute’s set was apparently interrupted by a dispute (irony!) in the crowd, the band showed little sign of bother.
Headliners Slingshot Dakota just might be the nicest people to ever put drum ‘n keys together. Seriously though, each song was preceded by a story relating to how it was written and the cause behind it Causes included staying positive through injuries, sexual assault awareness, and the importance of an all ages scene. Set to catchy, adorable tunes, Slingshot just makes me wanna hug people.
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Want to hear about anything specific from the land up north? E-mail me at leah.pavlik@gmail.com, and also tell me what you’d miss about Philly if you left. Here goes nothing!
