East Coast Festival / Philadelphia Options

["Dean, Hal " <HDean@wcupa.edu>]

Alas, I didn’t keep the email, or I would just forward it, but the gist of it was that I pasted in one of the first posts and said “This might be something you’d be interested in promoting/ arranging; if so, here is the contact information.” Anyone who is seriously interested in pursuing this idea in Philadelphia should contact bowerbird. I imagine a second contact would reinforce that you’re serious.

 

Whoever posted that they were hearing a variety of opinion about what is happening in Philadelphia- there really is a LOT. Tremendous homegrown talent on all fronts – Espers are an incredible folk/ electric band, sort of Bert Jansch meets early Krimson; Shot by Shot are a world-class experimental jazz combo… just two examples. As opposed to 10 or 20 years ago, these folks don’t have any reason or desire to go to the “big time” in New York. Mind you, the realities of PAYING gigs are no different than elsewhere, a topic that got a lot of attention here awhile back, but there are boatloads of house parties as well as a fair number of small venues. The Ars Nova series is adventurous as all get out and uses a variety of spaces. http://www.arsnovaworkshop.com/. They brought Cecil Taylor to Penn, but they also book people from the NEW fringe. And, as I said, I am just beginning to grasp what is out there as I cast about for folks to play with.  I still like good pop music, but don’t pay it much attention, so that sector may languish.

 

I think the City has a LOT of under-utilized halls.

 

Surely there are other LD participants in the Delaware Valley. Maybe someone can chip in about all this.

 

Hal Dean

 

 

From: Warren Sirota [mailto:wsirota@wsdesigns.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 9:09 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: East Coast Festival of some level

 

Hal,

What kind of email did you send? Are you expecting a response?

On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 8:18 AM, Dean, Hal <HDean@wcupa.edu> wrote:

Although I don't have time or energy to help with this, I sent an email to bowerbird, the organization in Philly that does many of the shows at the Rotunda, to pique their interest. http://www.bowerbird.org/newsite/. The Rotunda would be a great space for the fest, but there are other venues. I'm really just beginning to tune into all that is happening there, since I'm 30 minutes and a world away in Wilmngton..

 

Philly's scene is VERY active now.

 

Hal Dean

 

From: Tony K [mailto:bigtonyk@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 4:07 PM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com

Subject: Re: East Coast Festival of some level

 

Philly seems to have a pretty decent ambient scene, so there may be a decent venue to hold an east coast adventure.

http://www.therotunda.org/foundation.html

those guys host all kinds of art/music shows.  Might be worth checking into.

Tony

On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 3:52 PM, Warren Sirota <wsirota@wsdesigns.com> wrote:

I'm always excited by this kind of brainstorming, but the venue thing is a big issue. Even if we could get a place in NYC, where would people stay? it's not like there are a lot of cheap motels within 1/2 mile (as in Santa Cruz).

Princeton (or any school that can be talked into providing a venue for free or cheap) sounds like a decent bet - small community, college audience might provide more attendees from the community than in some other areas, etc.) It's 1-1/4 hours from nyc by car. (plus, I could stay with my cousins in Philly and be closer than I am now, which is about 2 hours away)

There's some possibility that I could get the Warwick Community Center at a discount, in Warwick, NY, but I have my doubts as to whether our idyllic little community would be convenient enough to get to. I could put up a couple of people, but that's about it.

Mike has talked about wanting to do something in western PA, i believe, which i don't really think is tenable. But Philly might be a good bet - lots of hip people, but much, much lower-key and cheaper than ny. I could talk to my cousins there and see if they have any ideas about venues if there's more interest.