Apr 29 : Northern Liberties Loop

I woke up in the middle of the night, and, omg, SEPTA lied to us, I didn't hear any trolleys. Where were they? Trolley service on the 15 was supposed to resume this morning.

When I got up for real later in the morning, I was already half disappointed. I had been looking forward to the resumption of trolley service but didn't know why they didn't seem to be running in the middle of the night.

Much to my delight, I found that the trolleys were indeed running, and that the upgrading of the rails over the bridge was probably why I didn't hear them rattling through the night.

The 15 is now operating on a "detour" due to the reconstruction of I-95, which is scheduled to take at least two years. ... On its eastern portion, the 15 passes under and then weaves its way around underneath the expressway.

The detour involves the trolleys' turning south at Johnny Brenda's (Girard Ave and Frankford Ave) and heading south on new track to a new turnaround loop at The Barbary (Frankford Ave and Delaware Ave, or near Sugar House).

The loop has been nicely constructed with a sheltered waiting area, maps, and some pleasant, though modest, landscaping.

Supervisors and track crews seemed to be out in full force to make sure that the first morning on the new route would run smoothly.

Here are some pics ::::

Apr 29 : "Little Bros" - Tygerstrype

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (2012)

Philly Music!

INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Friday night I made my first trip to loft apartment non-0venue "Brenda". This is Brenda without the "Johnny" and without the waits between sets. It was a very comfortable environment, spacious with high ceilings, and big enough to have the evening's bands set up at different locations in the same room. So when one band finished playing their set on one side of the room, there was almost a seamless continuity when the next band would start to play on the opposite side. How inventive. I was so impressed!

I had gone there to see Philly band Tygerstrype, which had just returned back to Philly after doing a show at Pianos in New York the night before. The band played several songs from their new cd "Lackadaisical Daisy". The sound was mixed a little differently than in previous shows I've seen. In this two-man setup of electronics and guitar, the guitar had more prominence in Friday's mix. And, whether this was a function of sound mixing or composition, I detected a slightly stronger noise component as well. After starting the initial melodic lines of various songs, the band seemed to take a stronger turn off into the jazz or abstract.

Current song playing right here on my blog page is "Little Bros", by Philly band Tygerstrype. This is the third track on the new album, "Lackadaisical Daisy" :::::

To visit Tygerstrype, here is the click ::: Tygerstrype (CLICK HERE)

(am doing a couple posts today, then getting back to the home repairs. next posts will probably be in a week.)

Apr 29 : "Watch Out" - City Rain

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (2012)

Philly Music!

Sometimes even if I see a show that I like, I have other things going on in life and don't get to experience the show and write about it intensively. One such event was City Rain's good show done at North Star a couple weeks ago ... that I'm just getting around to mentioning now.

The show pretty much coincided with the release of their new video, "Watch Out", which is playing right here on my blog page:::

To visit City Rain, here is the click ::: City Rain (CLICK HERE)

City Rain has a show scheduled at Swarthmore tonight and at Fontana's tomorrow night!

(am doing a couple posts today, then getting back to the home repairs. next posts will probably be in a week.)

Apr 08 : Bergenline Avenue Station

Last month there was a period of about ten days where I did some intensive work up in Union City, N.J.. The train station for Union City is the "Bergenline Avenue" stop on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line.

It's the only underground stop on the line, and, to my knowledge, the only underground station that New Jersey Transit has built from scratch.

This is a beautiful station. I was completely blown away when I went there the first time. I like the station's innovative style and its use of the blue neon as part of the design.

Part of the station is also an art installation, the "Weehawken Time Warp", by Alison Sky, and commissioned by New Jersey Transit. … There's a space capsule, long dinosaur tails, and other prehistoric creatures appearing throughout the station.

When the visitor goes up to the street level, there is a "Welcome" sign as one exits the elevators. Bergenline Avenue is a main commercial street through Union City, and the station is surrounded by many stores and restaurants. Second picture below is the street level entrance to the elevators down to he station.

The station has some interesting statistics. Here is some data about the station on "Wikipedia". Bergenline HBLR Station (CLICK HERE)

In the world of transit stations this is a wonderful example of architectural and stylistic bravery. I'd like to see more.

Apr 08 : "Stop Drop & Roll" - Orbit to Leslie

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (March 2012)

Philly Music!

TRIP TO DOO WOP

On Friday Night David, Pat, and I went to see Orbit to Leslie at Johnny Brenda's. It had been a while since I had seen the band live, not since their show at Danger Danger Gallery several months ago.

The band never ceases to amaze me by the new roads they continually take, roads in all directions. The show at Danger Danger Gallery highlighted the introduction of some new instruments including a trombone. Friday night at Johnny Brenda's showed the fullness of the new instrumentation being incorporated into the show as a major component.

It also showed Orbit to Leslie, while not abandoning their masterpiece cd, "The World Was Saved With Chocolate Cake", moving into new areas, one of them being doo wop. I was surprised to see a couple doo wop songs included in the show. … Falsetto was done quite well.

Current song playing right here on my blog page is "Stop Drop & Roll", an example of their doo wop adventure and released just a couple weeks ago.

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7/5/20 ::: OOPS. Looks like the band removed this song from their page.

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Another change that I did see was in the drum section. In previous shows I saw, along with quite an assortment of drums, the seat of a folding chair as part of the percussion mix. But Friday night the percussion section seemed to consist only of "real" drums. :)

To visit Orbit to Leslie and hear more of their music, here is the click ::: Orbit to Leslie (CLICK HERE)

Apr 05 : "45 Degrees" - Son Step

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (Nov 2011)

Philly Music!

Along with Tygerstrype at that Kung Fu show last week was Philly band "Son Step". I enjoyed their show; I'd recommend you try to check them out sometime. However, I don't notice a tremendous amount of similarity between the music in their live show and what's on their web page. I think I like the live music better.

But here, anyway, is the song "45 Degrees", playing right here on my blog page. :::

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7/5/20 ::: OOPS. Link to band page seems to be deactivated.

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To visit Son Step, here is the click ::: Son Step (CLICK HERE)

Apr 01 : "Odessa" (Caribou) - Tygerstrype

Fresh Music / Newly Arranged (March 2012)

Philly Music!

Philly band Tygerstrype has been busy these days. A couple weeks ago they released "Odessa", which is a cover of the band Caribou. This was Tygerstype's first cover, and comes on the heels of their full-length album release "Lackadaisical Daisy" back in 2011.

The instrumentals on "Odessa" have a haunting quality and sound a little darker than many of the songs on Daisy, although there is quite a range on the latter. Listen to "Little Bros" and "Malevolence" as contrasts.

Tygerstrype is currently the team of Gabriel Guererro and Alden Towler. It was originally the brainchild of Gabriel, who comes from a history of being a hip-hop artist.

The first instrument that Gabe ever played was the bass, which he played in bands some years back. But not for too long. He became impatient with being confined by the limitations of one musical instrument's capabilities. That's when he decided to expand his efforts into electronics.

He then created Tygerstrype as a solo electronics act.

Alden also has a long history of playing music. His first real instruments were the flute and the recorder which he started to play around age 5 or 6. At age 12 a family member gave him a guitar which he started to play a year later when another family member taught him "Angie" by The Rolling Stones. And he hasn't put it down since!

In college he played in bands with Gabe, but then they went their separate ways for a few years.

It wasn't until September, 2010, that they got back together as Alden joined Gabe to do the "Lackadaisical Daisy" album.

So I heard Tygerstrype do a good show last weekend at Kung Fu Necktie, where they played all of these songs. The audience was hyped up and excited, and it was a good debut for their cover of "Odessa".

Current song right here on my blog page is "Odessa", the Caribou cover by Tygerstrype.

To visit Tygerstrype where you can hear all of this new music, click here ::: Tygerstrype (CLICK HERE)