JUMP Winter 2018

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CONTENTS | Issue #26

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WINTER 2018

THE JUMP OFF goldenSpiral, S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D., Lauren Scott, Diamond Kuts, Queen Jesus, Worriers, Dentana, Glitter, Upholstery, PALMAS, Astro 8000, The Jawn and Telyscopes.

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MUSIC & EDUCATION Contemporary dance company BalletX is teaching elementary school students how to dance through their program Dance eXchange.

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THIS PLACE ROCKS Brewerytown Beats bridges old and new Philadelphia through vinyl. Creep Records sells records, for sure, but they also run a label, sell glass and so much more.

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COVER STORIES PnB Rock grew up in a rough part of town, got caught up in the drug trade and wound up in prison.He could have become a statistic, another lost young man. But he took advantage of his prison time, made lots of music, and now he's topping charts.

The bandmates in Long Hots are so close, they finish each other's sentences. mewithoutYou spoke to a generation of fans questioning life and dealing with youthful angst. More than 15 years since they formed, they are still making music, though under different circumstances - as adults. Also, learn about former member Greg Jehanian's new project, Geology.

Performing spoken word helped Ivy Sole develop stage presence. Dancing introduced her to different sounds.

Writing what she knows has helped her connect to people.

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FOOD THAT ROCKS Legendary artist Isaiah Zagar has opened up his South Philly warehouse for shows, meals and events, all surrounded by his work.

FRONT COVER: Ivy Sole, by Sydney Schaefer.

BACK COVER: PnB Rock, by Charles Shan Cerrone.

CONTENTS PAGE: (top to bottom) Worriers, by Ashley Gellman; Max Ochester from Brewerytown Beats, by Charles Shan Cerrone; Ivy Sole, by G.W. Miller III. JUMPphilly.com

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publisher G.W. MILLER III managing editors BETH ANN DOWNEY, CHRIS MALO photo editor CHARLES SHAN CERRONE contributing editors RACHEL DEL SORDO, TYLER HORST, BRENDAN MENAPACE, BRIANNA SPAUSE contributors LISSA ALICIA, MIKE ARRISON, KYLE BAGENSTOSE, KEVIN BARR, GABRIELA BARRANTES, VINCE BELLINO, MICHAEL BUCHER, JUMAH CHAGUAN, ASHLEY COLEMAN, KEVIN COOK, DARRAGH DANDURAND, CHESNEY DAVIS, GRACE DICKINSON, EMILY DUBIN, BRANDEN EASTWOOD, LAURA FANCIULLACCI, DUSTIN FENSTERMACHER, ERIC FITZSIMMONS, CHIP FRENETTE, JEFF FUSCO, JENNIFER GRANATO, ASHLEY GELLMAN, JARED GRUENWALD, DAN HALMA, BRAE HOWARD, MORGAN JAMES, JOSEPH JUHASE, SEAN KANE, EVAN KAUCHER, RICK KAUFFMAN, KARA KHAN, DONTE KIRBY, HANNAH KUBIK, MINA LEE, MATTHEW LEISTER, DAN LEUNG, ERIN MARHEFKA, MEGAN MATUZAK, TERESA McCULLOUGH, JOHN McGUIRE, MAGGIE McHALE, NIESHA MILLER, DAVE MINIACI, ELIAS MORRIS, SAMANTHA MOSS, TIM MULHERN, IAN NEISSER, MAGDALENA PAPAIOANNOU, NATALIE PISERCHIO, ANDY POLHAMUS, CAMERON ROBINSON, DAVE ROSENBLUM, BONNIE SAPORETTI, IAN SCHOBEL, EMILY SCOTT, CASSI SEGULIN, ROSIE SIMMONS, MORGAN SMITH, KEVIN STAIRIKER, SYDNEY SCHAEFER, BRIAN WILENSKY, BEN WONG, CHARLES WRZESNIEWSKI, JEREMY ZIMMERMAN WE PRINT 10,000 FULL-COLOR ISSUES FOUR TIMES PER YEAR, IN MARCH, JUNE, SEPTEMBER AND NOVEMBER. WE DISTRIBUTE THEM FREE AT PHILLY AREA MUSIC VENUES, STUDIOS, RESTAURANTS, RECORD SHOPS, BARS, CLOTHING BOUTIQUES, GYMS, BOOK STORES, COFFEE SHOPS, UNIVERSITIES, CLUBS AND OTHER PLACES WHERE MUSIC LOVERS HANG OUT. IF YOU WANT MAGS AT YOUR LOCATION, EMAIL US AT JUMPPHILLY@GMAIL.COM. JUMP is an independent magazine published by Mookieland Inc. Yeah, the mag is shiny and all but this is a DIY operation. The company, by the way, is named after a 13 pound shih tzu. We're all volunteers, working on this mag in our spare time. We pull all-nighters getting this sucker ready.

On occasion, we get things wrong. It's usually minor stuff but it's still annoying. You know, like incorrect ages or addresses, or bad punctuation.

And you'll likely find typooooos here. That happens. Sorry.

Seriously though, this is a community effort. If you want to get involved, if you have story ideas or if you just have something to say, email us at jumpphilly@gmail.com, tweet us @JUMPphilly or find us at facebook.com/jumpphilly.

Philly rocks. Spread the word. facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Publisher's Note

Are You Feeling Lucky?

I was never a dreamer. I wasn't raised that way.

After my parents divorced when I was a kid, they worked seemingly all the time. I spent most of my time away from school reading books or watching television while eating Doritos, alone. No one ever taught me to aspire to be or do anything. Life was too practical. All I knew was that I'd have to get a job someday. And I'd work until I was dead. Or something like that.

By the time I arrived at college, though, I had a few ideas in mind.

I knew I wanted to become a journalist. I knew I wanted to learn about people and write their stories. I knew I wanted to shoot pictures and know about stuff before anyone else found out.

I also knew I wanted to do less practical stuff. I don't remember when I did it but somewhere along the way, I wrote my life goals on a sheet of paper and taped it to the ceiling of my dorm room: write a book; win a Pulitzer Prize; teach. Under those three goals was an objective I knew I'd never be able to fully satisfy: travel the world.

I've come up short of two of the three primary goals, though I've made a very small dent in the globetrotting thing.

I'm still not much of a dreamer. I don't aspire to be anything.

Instead, I appreciate every bit of good fortune that comes my way.

I often ask musicians what would be their idea of success. Every once in a while, someone says they want a number one single or they want to sell out arenas around the world.

More common, however, these folks are more humble, simply stating that their greteast desire is to be paid to make music. They want to perform and be compensated for it. They want to be creative, to be appreciated for their talents and to survive financially while doing so. It's not the most outlandish thing in the world, really.

In every issue of JUMP, in fact, we detail the lives of people who have found ways to make music a part of their career - whether as performers, producers, sound engineers, promoters, DJs, graphic designers, bouncers, bartenders, whatever.

Maybe they aren't selling out back-to-back-to-back nights at Madison Square Garden but they're able to have their voice and reach an audience.

I've been a journalist for the last 24 years, and a teacher since 2007.

I've modified my remaining goals over the years.

I'm less interested in writing a book (or a few). Publishing 26 issues of this magazine while holding down a full-time job has been enough of an accomplishment, I think. And as an adult, I've moved away from awards and such. They're just too subjective, you know?

I still want to see more of the world.

What I do every single day is I try to slow down and appreciate every second. Forget the long-term goals for a moment. I try to absorb the experience of the concert, the sunrise, my girl, my dog or any of the other amazing things that pop up along the way (like playing softball at Veterans Stadium, as in the picture above).

Of course, go ahead and dream. But be sure to feel the reality, too.

- G.W. Miller III JUMPphilly.com

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facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Photo by Charles Shan Cerrone.

The JUMP Off

INSIDE: GOLDENSPIRAL p. 8 / S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. p. 10 / LAUREN SCOTT p. 13 / DIAMOND KUTS p. 14 / QUEEN JESUS p. 15 / WORRIERS p. 17 / DENTANA p. 19 / GLITTER p. 20 / UPHOLSTERY p. 23 / PALMAS p. 24 / ASTRO 8000 p. 26 / THE JAWN p. 28 / TELYSCOPES p. 29 /

JUMPphilly.com

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Photo by Charles Shan Cerrone.

The JUMP Off

Solid Gold One day, Adrian Palashevsky woke up and he was goldenSpiral, the electronic musician.

Settled in a brick building in the warehouse district of Port Richmond, surrounded by gated parking lots and industrial spaces, sits the studio of upand-coming producer and visual artist Adrian Palashevsky, better known as goldenSpiral.

His studio is reminiscent of a scientist's lab but instead of chemicals and vials on his desk, he has a Wacom tablet, an AKAI APC40 and an Ableton Push. On the warm maroon walls is artwork, albums and a mask signed by Ghostface Killah. Most noticeable on his desk is not his work equipment but the book “Quadrivium,” a tiny Buddha and a golden Fibonacci spiral. The Fibonacci spiral is the divine proportion, the perfect mathematical ratio found in nature and even in humans.

“I first learned about it reading the book 'The Holographic Universe' during my time at Temple University,” Palashevsky says. “What's weird is that I never actually made the decision to call myself goldenSpiral. I just woke up one morning during my sophomore year and that was my name. I never questioned it.”

And with that awakening came a vision.

“My dream is to have a large following,” says Palashevsky. “Or at least 100,000 people to anticipate an experience that integrates both audio and visual.”

Palashevsky’s grandmother, Irene Palashevsky, began to teach him to play the violin when he was 8.

“She was a world-class violinist and my first teacher,” he explains.

Palashevsky has since become a skilled violinist.

He's been the concertmaster for orchestras, like the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra, where he was featured in solo performances with a full orchestra accompaniment. He also was given first chair of the second violin section in the Philadelphia Symphonia.

While he has love and appreciation for the violin, he found his passion in music production at the age of 12 when he received Mixman Studio software. Over the next few years, he mastered the program popular with electronic musicians.

“It allowed me to mess with warping capabilities and change tempo without affecting pitch,” Palashevsky explains. “I sat on it for four years before upgrading to FruityLoops.”

This upgrade only solidified his passion, eventually leading him to Temple, where he graduated with a major in music and a minor in

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entrepreneurship.

In early 2009, Palashevsky went to see the musician Pretty Lights. Something in Palashevsky clicked while watching the artist perform.

“I decided on the direction I needed to be going,” he recalls.

That direction was west.

Within months, Palashevsky made his way to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he began to rethink the path he was going. During that time, he formed the electronic group, The City Music Project, though he eventually parted ways with the trio.

“Being in a band is great but the problem is everyone wants to play,” he explains. “Music needs to breathe.”

On his own again and back in Philadelphia, Palashevsky began to dig deeper into the underground electronic music scene, seeking out collectives such as Hungry Ghosts, who are featured on Palashevsky’s recent album Waveformation.

“He fully immerses himself in his priorities,” says O.H.M., a rapper who is part of Hungry Ghosts.

“Working with him has showed me that if you’re one with yourself, things will work out.”

Palashevsky’s work has also brought him to the attention of other Philadelphia producers, such as Agent Zero. The two met when they shared the same bill for a show and quickly bonded over their use of Ableton Live.

“I first saw Adrian perform with his old band, The City Music Project,” Agent Zero says. “It was a really interesting fusion of electronic music and hip-hop with live instruments.”

Also interesting is the deal Palashevsky has with manager Isaac Gordon. Gordon’s label, Monster Entertainment, provides artists with an unusual arrangement.

“There is no contract. We work off of trust,” explains Palashevsky. “It’s the future of the music business. If you have a contract, it’s based on distrust” Since he started working with Gordon, Palashevsky has opened for Ghostface Killah and his music can be found on major distribution platforms like Spotify, Apple and TIDAL. This past June, Palashevsky released Waveformation and recently released the track “The Reckoning,” which features the vocals of Alicia Talia.

“The song is about redemption, forgiveness and being held accountable to our mistakes and transgressions, even the ones that no one knows about,” he explains. “It's open to interpretation enough for that to mean whatever it means to each listener personally, as well.”

Now, he’s back in the studio, hard at work on the upcoming Cosmic Servant EP and preparing for the PEX HeartBurn 2018 party at The Fillmore in February. The event will take over both The Fillmore and The Foundry, where Palashevsky will perform with his full band.

“People are going crazy these days,” he says, swerving back and forth in his chair as if moving to the cadence of his own rhythm. “This might sound corny, but love is the answer.”

And with that, he adds one last message.

“Support indie music,” he says. “And fuck Soundcloud.”

- Cameron Robinson facebook.com/JUMPphilly

JUMPphilly.com

Cyborg Sociopaths Making Party Music

It would be tough to recognize the members of S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. offstage, as their eccentric yet unassuming personalities and appearances don’t invite visions of mirror-covered shoulder pads and the futuristic costumes worn while performing.

Masked in concert, Scott “CenSor” Schuman, Jeff “The Sexecutioner” Franklin, Sofya “Natasha NeXus” Mirvis and Gerard “G-Rod” Miles double as cyborgs accompanying robot warrior/vocalist Gabriel Starwood. Incorporated into every one of their high-energy shows are monologues and songs which provide insight into their backstory.

Members of the band maintain that the sci-fi costumes, especially the helmet that started it all, are what helped the band originally produce their music and stay focused.

“The costume sort of inspired the band, honestly,” says Schuman, of Fishtown. “We wanted something weird, something eclectic.”

“I think it helped writing the songs because once we had a theme, we wrote all the songs really quickly for the first album,” says Mireis, of West Philly. “Like, if there wasn’t a theme, I think it would be hard to write all those songs that fast and just jump-start the band, kind of.”

In order to keep his off-stage identity safe, frontman Gabriel Starwood does not use his real name. He explains that the inspiration for the full name of the band, which is Sociopathic Time Altering Robot Of Organic Design, showcases why the group chose music as their method of subverting humans.

“Take a look at everything we watch every day,” Starwood says.

“Without history before it, we don’t believe the message. And when we watched the newest pop star trumping slaughterings, it was time to play pop music. So, the entire S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. mission became a propaganda performance.”

A captivating 30-page document is contained in each copy of the band’s newest album, God Of The Drones. But it’s not just the band who gets invested in the storyline. Fans like Uno Clay of West Philly can recite a decent bit of the band’s meticulously crafted plot.

“It’s got this really dark sense of humor, with no punch line,” Clay says.

“It’s just kind of like lecturing us sometimes. A lot of their songs have really weird cryptic messages. It’s very mesmerizingly odd.”

Clay is crafting a video documentary of the band in order to tell their story and get their message to the world. He captures the band's performances in the project to be released in the near future.

“If they’re good shows, you might see people wearing costumes,” Clay says. “There is a bit of a community around it, like a good core of people who come out and see them on a regular basis and enjoy it.”

The phenomenon of wearing costumes and audience participation is common at S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. shows. Fan Seth Shapiro and his brother Zach originally built and fought in robot costumes for AstroProm II at Vox Populi, an art gallery where the band played in 2015, and have worn and distributed costumes at several other shows, including one in a basement in West Philly.

“During the set, there were four of us in big, really heavy armored robot suits with foam swords, jumping around and bumping and kicking into each other sword fighting,” Seth Shapiro says. “As the other people saw this and the set went on, we took them off and put them on other people.

And by the end of the set, there were a bunch of complete strangers wearing our robot suits, smashing each other up with foam swords.”

Clay insists the band has a lot going for them and knows they really deserve the adoration they receive from their regular fans.

“Whether they’re squandering it or not being a little old band in Philadelphia just playing their shows, or whether they’re actually building something, it’s hard to say,” Clay says. “They namely have an act. They have talent. They’re not just trying to imitate what other bands sound like.”

- Sam Trilling

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facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Photo by Mike Arrison.

S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. is more than a band. It's a movement, with a message, and you are invited to participate.

The JUMP Off

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The JUMP Off

A Snapshot of Lauren Scott

Photo by Brianna Spause.

A fan approached Lauren Scott after a show in Trenton and it made her realize her music could impact people.

For West Philly-based singer-songwriter Lauren Scott, her dreams are happening in the bedroom.

Specifically, the bedroom of her producer Lee Clarke, who also lives in West Philly.

Clarke’s bedroom is small but he uses the space efficiently. He’s filled the room with strategically placed recording equipment. A Prince and a Stevie Wonder album above his desk are the only noticeable signs of décor. It’s here that that two have worked together on Scott’s debut record for about five months.

Getting to this point was a long journey for the 25-year-old Scott. While growing up in the Abington area, she started playing covers at open mics around town. She doesn’t come from a family of musicians but after she began attending college at Temple University, she started writing her own material.

“In the last couple years I’ve started to see music as more than a hobby,” she explains while sitting at the Green Line Café on Baltimore Avenue. “I was afraid to see it as the only way to live my life.”

She majored in Spanish at Temple and currently works as a social worker. However, a few years ago, she played a gig in Trenton which made her

JUMPphilly.com

consider a professional career in music.

“A guy came up to me afterwards and told me he was hard-of-hearing,” she says. “But he could connect with my performance, and he was crying.

And I was like, ‘Wow, maybe the stuff that I do really impacts people. It’s, like, bigger than me.

Maybe I should keep doing it.’”

Scott started to record her debut album, tentatively named Stuck In Time.

“At the time, I hadn’t recorded anything before and most of the songs were written in college,” she says.

But when the album was nearing completion, Scott realized she did not want to release it.

“It was stuff I was sick of hearing myself singing over and over again,” she says. “Stuck In Time felt like old me, like me in college or high school.”

The decision to cancel the release scared her, as she and others already spent many hours on the project. But Stuck In Time did not reflect the musician she wanted to put herself out there as.

“I want my album to be a good snapshot of who I am,” Scott explains. “And what I’m about.”

After ending the distribution plan, Scott was back to square one. A mutual friend introduced Scott to Clarke, and they soon bonded over their similar music interests, like Solange Knowles and electronic DJ Kaytranada.

“It’s been a really fun experience because I feel like Lauren is so open to any kind of possibilities,” explains Clarke. “It’s almost like she’s this clean slate. When we first started recording, I thought it was going to be more acoustic stuff. But then we started talking about Kaytranada and I remember it was like this light bulb moment.”

The two realized their shared interests and

decided making music together could be fun.

Scott’s aesthetic was beginning to take shape and Clarke had produced for many artists in the Philly area, including Kingsley Ibeneche, Kate Faust and jazz drummer Kevin Ripley.

“Lee is great,” says Scott. “Sometimes I don’t know how to articulate the ideas I have and he’s good at stepping in. He also likes some weird sounds and pushes me to see things in a different way. It’s super easy to work with him and I’m grateful for that.”

With Clarke’s encouragement, Scott has branched out her sound. She recently discovered the loop pedal, which has opened up new opportunities in her music.

“What I’m working on now feels more like me,” she says. “There’s a lot more interesting things that I’ve done vocally, and the structures of the songs are different than before.”

Scott and Clarke have been working on a track called “Lost,” a jazzy, up-tempo pop song with a great bass-line. It's a major detour from the acoustic guitar pieces Scott has previously released, like the single “Sand.” She beams as the song plays. It’s clear now that she made the right decision following her intuition.

When asked about what she envisions for her career, Scott at first struggles to find an answer.

“I want people to listen to my music and like it,” she says. “I also want to be OK with what it sounds like.”

Ultimately, her main goal is to quit her day job and support herself through music.

“That’s the dream,” she says, laughing.

- Lauren Silvestri

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Diamond Kuts toured with Nicki Minaj but she prefers spinning for Philly on Power 99.

Tina Dunham and a few of her crew appear to be the only ones left at iHeart Media’s Bala Cynwyd offices on Friday night. As her 2-year-old son calmly watches cartoons, she suggests moving to another recording room to get a bit more quiet.

The airwaves of Philadelphia know Dunham more commonly as DJ Diamond Kuts. She’s toured with some of music’s top stars, produced radio hits and on this Friday night, she seems exhausted.

Diamond has always pursued her dreams with a singular persistence.

“I told my father I wanted to DJ,” she recalls. “He got me this little setup kit. He would bring me a crate of records and, you know, I would practice with them on some dinner tables. I would be like, 'Dad, how do people have one song playing and then they go to the next song, the instrumental? How are they doin' that?' He was like, 'You need two of the same record!' And records were like $5.99, the hot ones.

So I'm spending all my little bit of money, like spending $12, on two of the same records.”

When Diamond, a Germantown native, first started out, software like Serato didn’t exist.

Blending physical records was one of the first techniques she had to master. Her drive brought her to former Center City hub Armand Records.

While there, Diamond would encounter a few of her future mentors. Veteran DJ Fatcat began to school her on the art of blending, and music promoter Raymond “Brock” Brockington offered guidance early on.

“My mom used to take me to his house,” Diamond says of Fatcat. “Brock, who is good friends with Cosmic Kev, used to make me blend

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said, 'Uhh. I'll give it a shot.'”

DJing on the radio soon became a tangible reality for Diamond. Her background in the mixtape circuit meant she was a little rough around the edges. She was used to basement freestyles and hardcore hip-hop. Cosmic Kev would teach her scratching techniques and open her mind to the possibility of other genres. Diamond’s father, Grand Tone, would also play a key role in her decision to DJ on the radio. Tone grew up with Cosmic Kev, and the two comprised one half of former rap group Grand Masters of Funk.

“The night my dad passed away,” she remembers, “I was in the studio with Kev. And I was like, 'Yo Kev, something happened. I don't know what it is. My mom tellin’ me to rush to the hospital.’ So I get to the hospital, see my dad on life support.

He passed away. And Kev said, 'I’m gonna do this for Tone. I’m gonna do this for Grand Tone.' And I said, 'Aight. Let's go. Like, let's do it.'”

The one-year anniversary of Tone’s death coincided with the first time Diamond would spin on the radio. Sitting in the recording room now, she makes the connection for the first time.

“It took so long,” she says, “for me to actually get on radio.”

Since her start at Power 99, Diamond has produced a Billboard Hot 100 single, “Stupid Hoe,” and she's toured with Nicki Minaj. Atcherson remembers the elation she and Diamond’s family felt when she got the chance to tour with such a prominent artist.

“With it being a top, black, female artist,” Atcherson says, “just was the icing on the cake!”

But the pressure to produce more rap hits didn’t sit well with Diamond. Her focus now is mainly on club joints and remixes. If it doesn’t feel organic to her, then it doesn’t get done.

“I just go with how I feel,” she says. “I don't like to be stuck in a box. Like, 'Yo. You gotta make these kinda records.' No. I’m gonna make what feels good to me. 'Cause that's how my whole life, my whole career has been. What feels good to me. It's been workin’. So I’m gonna do that."

- Ebonee Johnson facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Photo by Charles Shan Cerrone.

The City's Party Starter

in his office. And I would have to blend a record within a few seconds. I’m like, 'How can you do that?' Brock and Fatcat made sure my blends was always on point.”

When she became confident enough to start spinning in front of others, she hit the streets with a force. It became a determined, family duty to gain acclaim for Diamond in the DJ world.

"Me, my sister, my cousin, my best friend,” she says, “we would look for places to go and DJ at.

Like, 'Oh, there are gonna be DJs at the park. I need to be there. Oh, somebody is DJing in the backyard of somebody's house but everybody's gonna be there. I gotta be there!' It was just the grind.”

Tiffany Atcherson, Diamond’s assistant and best friend of 20 years, remembers the make-shift cyphers Diamond used to host in her basement.

“We would have young artist come out and do what they do best,” Atcherson says. “Most of them were from our high school.”

Diamond’s mother also played an integral part in spreading the word. During a time when no rapper’s package was complete without a hot mixtape, Diamond made sure to get in on the action. Her mom took to the streets of Center City and West Philadelphia with one objective in mind - move as many mixtapes as possible.

“The more I was doin' it, the more people saw me,” Diamond says. “The more people were like, 'Yo, this girl Diamond, she's decent. Like, she really knows how to DJ.' People started feelin' me everywhere I went. Wherever the artists in the city was at, I was in the studio. I would sit down there all day until they gave me an exclusive for my mixtape or somethin’.”

Diamond’s push, her talent and her connections led her to DJ Cosmic Kev and to an opportunity at the legendary Power 99 FM. At first, however, the youngster’s goals didn’t include staying still.

"I said, 'I wanna go on tour. I don't wanna sit in the studio and just DJ in one spot. I wanna see the people!'” she recalls. “Brock came to me, he said, 'Diamond, would you wanna try radio? 'Cause they're looking for a female DJ on Power 99.’ And I

The JUMP Off

Hail, Queen of Chill

Photo by Rachel Del Sordo.

Queen Jesus started as a side project, a place to experiment. They've grown into a super chill collection of musicians with a tight live set.

Pat Brier returns from the kitchen in his South Philly home, glass in hand.

About to sit down, he turns to his bandmates and asks, “Do you guys want some wine?”

His friends nod in agreement and Brier disappears, reemerging with extra wine glasses. The three - drummer Brier, bassist Matt Schimelfenig and guitarist Bill Fries - sip white wine, reclining in chairs and soaking in the sunlight coming in through the living room windows.

The atmosphere is relaxed, seemingly because the band is coming down from an adrenaline high of wrapping up the day’s work in Fries’ basement, where they've been crafting their new album. But this is really a microcosm of Queen Jesus, a chill band enjoying the little moments.

The band’s music can certainly rock and the members have the cred, playing in favorite local outfits such as Tigers Jaw and Three Man Cannon.

But here in Brier’s house, they are all soft-spoken and seemingly carefree.

Even when a glass breaks on the floor, Brier simply geys a broom and cleans it up. No worries.

The band formed years ago, around 2012, when Brier and Schimelfenig started writing music they wanted to play away from Three Man Cannon.

Queen Jesus’ first show was at a hookah lounge in Wilkes-Barre. Brier remembers being nervous, mostly because he stepped out from behind the kit and was playing guitar. It was something he wanted to try.

“I remember almost everything from that show, mostly because I was having to play guitar and I didn’t really know how to play guitar,” he says. “I was trying not to fuck up.”

“Nah, you were good,” Schimelfenig says reassuringly.

The shows have changed since, though Brier still gets to play guitar every now and then. They aren’t playing hookah lounges. The shows are also quieter.

“I think I had my amp up to 11,” Brier says with a laugh, referring to the first couple shows.

He moved back to the drums when the band recruited guitarist Bill Fries.

JUMPphilly.com

But that doesn’t mean the band is any less entertaining.

“They’re great live. I’ve seen them several times,” says Mimi Gallagher, previously a member of Year of Glad. She is also in the band Eight, which includes Brier and Amanda X’s Cat Park.

“They aren't traditional with a singer up front,” Gallagher continues. “You have Pat in the back drumming and singing. Matt the bassist is sometimes just sitting down off to the side. They all look really comfortable up on stage when they're performing. It’s cool to watch.”

Queen Jesus released an EP last year, Tar Ranch, which is a live EP. Sort of.

The band recorded it in one take. No editing, no do-overs. Despite that, it sounds like a relaxed album with slower melodies and some slide guitar. A new album is in the works for 2018.

Despite the ups and downs of being a DIY operation, the bandmates don’t dwell on the negatives. They crack jokes at their own expense, such as recalling a show they played at The Pharmacy, where the audience consisted of just one person.

“I mean, we just kinda think it was funny,” Brier says. “I guess it sucked then but it’s all good.”

That show featured the band on a night when there were fill-in members playing. The band has a lineup that usually also includes guitarists Tim Jordan and Justin Fox, but Brier admits it is often hard to get the same group together to play shows.

However, they click with each other, no matter who is on stage.

“We respect the shit out of each other,” Brier says.

“Our shows could be called ‘An Evening of Respect with Queen Jesus,’” Fries says with a laugh.

“Playing with these guys just pushes me to be better,” Schimelfenig adds, eliciting “aww’s” from his bandmates.

All good and chill vibes. The feeling even extends to the band name.

The guys originally went by the name King God. After a few shows, though, they received a cease and desist letter from another band with the same name.

They shrugged it off, and Schimelfenig suggested, “Why not just call it Queen Jesus?”

The name obviously stuck.

And so did the mantra.

“Whatever,” Fries says. “Sorry other King God.” “Yeah, I definitely like Queen Jesus better,” Brier says.

- Dave Miniaci

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The JUMP Off Photo by Ashley Gellman.

Worriers Not Worrying Worriers' latest album took a long time to be released. The next is already in the works.

It’s a beautiful fall day in West Philly and the members of Worriers are packed around a table at Dottie’s Donuts. The band’s new album, Survival Pop, its first release since switching from Don Giovanni Records to SideOneDummy, has been out for less than 24 hours now and they’re all dealing with that in different ways.

“It feels good,” says bassist Nick Psillas, who’s one of the two New Yorkers of the four-person group. “I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me individually and let me know that they really like the record and stuff like that. There was a lot of waiting on pins and needles, waiting to see how people would actually feel about it.”

Drummer Mikey Erg, the other New Yorker, also feels relieved. He and Psillas are very calm.

“I’m just excited to have it out,” Erg says. “It’s been recorded since the beginning of this year.

I don’t know. I knew it was good but it’s always good to have other people be able to hear it. It’s been overwhelmingly positive so far.”

Guitarist and vocalist Lauren Denitzio, the creative nucleus of the band, feels relieved, as well. But unlike the more relaxed mindset Erg and Psillas have on release day, Denitzio is a bit of a mess.

“I hate it and feel like I want to crawl under my bed and not talk to anybody,” says Denitzio, who relocated to West Philly from Brooklyn with guitarist Lou Hanman last May. “We, like, didn’t go to shows yesterday because I was like, ‘I can’t!’”

“It’s like throwing yourself a party and worrying that nobody will turn up,” says Hanman.

Through a combination of hibernating at home, avoiding social media (except Erg, who, to his bandmates’ bewilderment, reads every comment online) and a steady stream of “Grey’s Anatomy,” Denitzio and company have made it to release day.

Now, they aren’t so worried that no one will show up to the party since, at this point, the band has received positive feedback both from friends and from critics.

What they do hope for is that people will take the time to absorb the effort they put forth for this release. They didn’t make the album yearning for critical acclaim. They made an album full of emotional expression that they want fans to be able to access.

“I’m excited from the response from people who know our songs already and can, like, have something in mind,” Denitzio says. “I hope that people read the lyrics and spend some time with them. Because I feel like we put a lot into this. I’m just excited that it’s finally out there.”

Now that it is out there, the band is embarking on a tour to support Survival Pop with friends.

Denitzio, who prefers gender-neutral they/them/ their pronouns, has made a point to create a JUMPphilly.com

touring lineup as inclusive as possible.

“It was just, we’ve all been playing shows for a long time,” Denitzio says. “I feel like there’s no excuse to not have a show that has women and queer folks and women of color, just a diverse lineup. I feel like, if left to their own devices, promoters that we don’t know will just have it be all straight white men. Just like, why? Why? There’s no excuse for lineups like that anymore.”

For this trip, they’ve recruited female-fronted Philly bands Katie Ellen and Thin Lips. Chrissy Tashjian, the guitarist/vocalist for Thin Lips, says having tours like that is especially important today.

“I think that’s super ideal,” Tashjian says, speaking on the phone from the-middle-ofnowhere in California. “I’ve been on a lot of just dude tours and it’s stressful and boring. So, I think it’s super important. And I think they’re doing a really great job of it.”

Worriers is using this tour as a bit of a break from writing new music, as they’ve all agreed that writing on the road is simply not something they can do. Psillas uses Jawbreaker’s Bivouac as an example of an album written on the road, calling it an oppressive record and a difficult listen.

Hanman finds writing as a band on the road completely impossible due to increased tensions

from lack of privacy and relaxation.

“I feel like this is the only time you can allow yourself not to feel the pressure of having to write the next thing,” Hanman says, beginning to speak almost specifically to Denitzio. “It has just come out. You don’t need to write a new one just yet.

Give yourself at least a month.”

They will give themselves some time, but the new record is already coming along. While they’re focusing on having fun playing the material from Survival Pop to fresh ears, Denitzio notes the relatively long time it’s been since they recorded it. Denitzio has plans to write over the winter and see what comes out.

“I’m already excited to write another record, because it has been a while since this was recorded,” Denitzio says. “I’m just excited to see how that goes. Keep playing.”

Looking to the future, Erg and Psillas joke that they want a half-million dollar advance on the next album and a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Denitzio’s demands are a bit more realistic.

Denitzio wants to tour Europe again, and just keep up the momentum of playing a lot of shows with bands they love.

“I just want things to keep going and going, and I’m cool,” Denitzio says.

- Brendan Menapace

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Photo by Ben Wong.

The JUMP Off

Helping Othered

Photo by Brianna Spause.

Electronic artist Dentana does more than make music. They foster community.

Dentana, who goes by Den, whizzes around their compact Fishtown kitchen, deftly sliding a bottle of water across the small table. A fasttalker, Den likens their communication M.O. to microphone feedback.

“The high pitch part is just editing,” Den says, nodding to the audio recorder. “You can edit people out by talking quickly and mumbling. So, please remind me of the - somewhat irritating to people - fact that I am very capable of speaking slowly and with consequence and attention,” They blink their serpentine green eyes sideways.

“I just choose not to,” Den says.

Den moved to Philadelphia when they were 16 and, aside from about a year in Brooklyn, has called the city home ever since. Raised by both sets of grandparents, Den split their formative years between New Jersey and Philly. They started accordion in kindergarten, keyboard in first grade, bass and drums in middle school, and kept going. The moniker Dentana appeared around 2009 in a nod to vagina dentata, a folk tale claiming women have tiny teeth in their vaginas.

“First, I had to play in the boys’ club, and I did that,” they say. “Now I just want to be able to provide a space and an avenue for people to see that you can do whatever you want in Philadelphia.”

With a lasting pull toward hip-hop, Den moved through the punk, thrash, DIY and house show scenes before gravitating towards techno and

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electronic music. They joined the collective Custom Lifestyle, alongside artists including Lojit, Dan Trevitt, RaEazy, WOLF DEM, Chris Patrick and the deceased Ditchdigger, throwing parties and running a recording studio out of a warehouse.

Custom Lifestyle eventually lost the space,but Den continues to collaborate with several members, including Lojit, Dan Trevitt (whose collaboration with Den is called Insizor) and RaEazy. Den and Lojit operate Extra Dark with StateSchoolGirl, inviting guest DJs to spin, webcasting sets live from alternating remote locations every Wednesday night and hosting dance parties at Kung Fu Necktie every first Wednesday.

With additional collaborations building through queer ballroom and stripper parties with Dame Luz, and the fifth annual Krampus Carols (an unrestricted techno compilation they release every December) about to drop, Den certainly plans to keep things interesting.

Den waxes about darkness, identity and accessibility.

“I like doing events that are dark, like it’s hard to see,” they say, exhaling a deep drag of their cigarette. “That’s why we do that at Extra Dark.

For me, it’s about escapism, and being able to find peace of mind, or absence of mind, or lack of awareness, or awareness, or however you view peace, in a place where you are actually in public.”

The monthly pop-up is one thing but Den laments the lack of spaces run by and for queer artists.

“Spaces. I want spaces,” muses Den. “That’s my dream - actual, physical places. I want to see new warehouse spaces, late-night places open up to the people who have always had to figure out who the white dude is that runs the spot that they can

never get any kind of access to. There are so many talented people in electronic music in Philly and it all sounds like Philly. It’s all got this little bit of hardness to it. That’s why it’s good.”

Local artist W00dY met Den at an electronic show last October, right after moving to Philadelphia, but knew of their music beforehand through various female/queer online platforms for DJs and producers, and became a contributor to Krampus Carols.

“I feel that the queer music scene is very dedicated and supportive to each other, but it’s hard to exist when there aren’t enough spaces for us to sustain our community effectively,” W00dY says, echoing Den’s thoughts. “There are really no accessible queer clubs that are open to community members booking their own shows, so we have to resort to DIY and illegal spaces, which is very difficult to sustain. While things are hard, I know that queer folx are committed to building a supportive community and nothing is gonna stop us.”

Den lights up when talking about sharing resources.

“I dream that people who want to be into this culture - especially non cis-white-males - I dream that they say what’s up,” says Den. “I’ll help any queer person, any person who feels othered.

I will share every resource that has been shared with me with them. That’s what makes the punk scene awesome. It’s kinda this cultural thing that you’re able to share and hand down to each other.”

- Catherine Rush EDITOR'S NOTE: The artist profiled here prefers non-gender pronouns, so the use of "they" here represents an individual, as opposed to multiple people.

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The JUMP Off

In the Company of Friends It’s time for Glitter’s weekly practice and the band has gathered at lead vocalist and guitarist Jayme Guokas’ East Kensington studio. In the loft above his enormous workroom, where he builds furniture and cabinetry for his design firm Craftwork Home, the members of the indie pop group play underneath multicolored string lights strewn around a large air duct. In between songs they share beers, jokes and nostalgia-tinged stories, including one about the time they were accidentally booked as a bar band while on tour in New Haven, Connecticut.

“We showed up and the bartender was like, ‘You know you have to play for two hours,’” Guokas says.

“She said if we didn’t play until last call, we wouldn’t get paid,” adds drummer Stephen Horcha.

It’s a predicament that would have left plenty of other musicians frustrated. But the musicians took it in stride.

“I think that’s one of my favorite Glitter shows,” guitarist Isaac Turner says as his bandmates laugh, remembering the incident.

As the members point out, the band is just as much about their shared personal experiences as it is about their musical endeavors. These guys are not just bandmates. They're longtime friends.

“The people in this room represent some of the most important people in my life,” Turner explains. “This band is really important to me because it is something we can do together.”

The band, signed to Square of Opposition Records, draws influence from everywhere, including the twee pop scene of the early 2000s and the synth-driven new wave scene of the 1980s. While the band has been around for the better part of a decade, it wasn’t until two years ago that its current lineup was solidified with the addition of longtime friend and ex-bandmate to Guokas, Melissa Cresswell. Cresswell joined as a keyboardist and additional vocalist right before Glitter entered the studio to record its second fulllength, Ancient Rome.

None of the members of Glitter are musicians by trade and, according to Guokas, they prefer it that way.

“When I was 25, I gave up on the idea of making a living as a musician because it’s just not realistic

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these days,” he admits. “And it’s kind of liberating because now you can just do it for fun.”

That liberation has allowed the band to make the music they want to make. The band’s artistic freedom can be heard in their unique and malleable sound that defies definition.

During rehearsal, the band switches from the upbeat, dancey track “Call Me” to the heavy, guitar-centric “Saturn,” the latter off their Midnight Zoo 7-inch. As they play in a circular formation, facing one another, they blend each of their individual parts smoothly, creating infectious songs that almost betray their innate

complexities.

Neal Ramirez, who performed in The Snow Fairies with Guokas and Cresswell from 2000 to 2006, says the unified group plays together well and presents cohesive material no matter who from the band wrote or sings each song.

“It will sound loud, poppy, synthy, head bopping and toe tapping,” Ramirez says. “It's interesting because all the classic trademarks of indie pop are there - boy/girl harmonies, power chords, ba ba ba's. But they are not a band that takes the easy way out. Isaac Turner's guitars are kind of this secret weapon of catchiness. It's fun music but it's

Photo by Jennifer Costo.

The bandmates in Glitter gave up on trying to make a living through music. Free from those constraints, the longtime friends just have fun.

facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Photo by Natalie Piserchio.

never silly or slight.”

The band members put their other talents to use creating much of Glitter’s visual content independently. Bassist Michael Bonfiglio utilizes his graphic design background on the hand lettering seen on many of the band’s album covers.

Turner has also lent a hand creating cover art, and serves as the band’s photographer. Meanwhile, Cresswell is responsible for the painting that would become the cover of the aforementioned Ancient Rome.

“It’s nice when we get to make something visual for our band that comes directly out of our band,” JUMPphilly.com

Turner explains. “I feel like we get a little bit of extra ownership of it.”

In spite of their busy lives, the Glitter bandmates have been incredibly active since the release of their first album, Wyld Hrts, in 2012. The band has consecutively put out 7-inch records yearly, and their latest output, Dial Tone And Other Bad Experiments, compiles these shorter releases in chronological order, showing the band’s growth while still managing to sound cohesive.

“I think it was pleasantly surprising how well it all fit together,” Bonfiglio says of the compilation.

Since their compilation’s release in June, Glitter

has taken a break from recording and touring because Guokas became a new father.

“For the past few months I haven’t been sleeping much, and I’m definitely not writing songs,” Guokas explains.

Their hiatus isn’t bound to last much longer though, with each member seemingly excited to get back into the creative process with new material.

“We’re due for a dad concept album,” Turner says with a laugh. “That’s sure to endear us with the kids, you know?”

- Jennifer Costo

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The JUMP Off

A Change to Believe In

Photo by Jeremy Zimmerman.

For more than a decade, Upholstery has been more of a music collective than a proper band. But put all the collaborators on stage together and magic will happen.

Go to a rehearsal at the house of Jeremy Prouty, the 32-year-old founder, guitarist and barycenter of the music collective Upholstery, and your first impressions might be of something wholesome.

Band members are in the kitchen with tea on the stove, a couple of cats slink around and a plate of homemade peanut-butter-and-fudge brownies is offered.

But as you go deeper into the house, evidence of something stranger emerges, clues about what goes into the music Prouty says has been described as unsettling.

“Like supervillain music,” he says, “but like hokey supervillains. Like the guy with the big mustache.”

In the basement rehearsal space plastered with old show fliers and stacked with instruments and cases, you might come across singer Kate BlackJUMPphilly.com

Regan, 30, in a very fake white beard or notice the collection of odd items — a toy megaphone, masks, a “Bag of Bling” pack of fake jewels, an 8-foot-tall female robot version of Prouty — that feel like the random junk that collects in basements and closets but turn out to be props. Almost every item showed up in Upholstery’s big 10th anniversary show at Johnny Brenda’s this past October.

Prouty started Upholstery in 2007 as more of a casual arrangement than a proper band. He had been writing music and started working with other musicians in the neighborhood to put together an album, 2008’s 6 New Platitudes. But he was new to the city then and without a formal band, so anyone he met became a potential collaborator.

“It was very loose,” Prouty says. “We'd only play like once or twice a year. We'd all get together, have one rehearsal and play, then disband.”

As things rolled on, people started to stick around and a core group of regular musicians started to form. In recent years, Prouty has been joined by drummer Corey Mark, Dorie Byrne playing mainly trombone and accordion, John Wilder on bass, C. Kennedy on violin, Black-Regan and Rachel Icenogle on cello. While Icenogle hails from South Philly, the rest of the members are local to West Philly.

The proliferation of voices changed the sound in dramatic ways, from the tight sound of 6 New

Platitudes, written largely by Prouty, to the band’s more dynamic third album, 2014’s Running the Badwater, where influences and directions seem to have multiplied by the number of people who claim writing credits.

Chris Ward, the talent buyer at Johnny Brenda’s and drummer for the now defunct indie twopiece, Pattern is Movement, has known Prouty and drummer Corey Mark for years. The evolving shape of Upholstery hasn’t surprised him because he’s always seen change as a feature of the group.

“The nature of the group is of one that keeps growing and expanding,” Ward says. “It's not a static thing like most bands/groups are. It keeps changing which I think is quite unique.”

That mutability was displayed in full at Johnny Brenda’s during the anniversary show, when people who had played with Upholstery in the past joined them on the small stage. It was a big celebration and the end of the music season for Upholstery.

It also marked another shift as Prouty and Kennedy are expecting a child in January and planning to take a break from performing in rock shows.

It’s a big change but for Upholstery and its fans, change has always been something to embrace.

- Eric Fitzsimmons

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Photo by Ben Wong.

The JUMP Off

It's Always Sunny with PALMAS The surf-rock sounds of PALMAS are like a day at the beach, but the band is experimenting.

The new music may be different.

Nursing a can of Modelo, Kurt Cain-Walther, 29, comments on the varying musical tastes that inspire his band, surf-rock outfit PALMAS. He asserts that they’re never trying to be anything that they’re not.

“Our music is 100 percent genuine,” he states.

“What we do is from the heart. It’s what we love.”

PALMAS, comprised of Cain-Walther, Matthew Young, Eric Camarota, Adam Cantiello and Andrew Torre, marry sun-dripped melodies with thoughtful lyricism, annotating life and love and all that accompanies it. They have carved a unique niche for themselves, straying away from contemporary norms while still remaining wholly palatable to even the most casual of listeners.

They know, too, that their unique sound affects people’s perception of them.

“I think we got pigeonholed a little bit with the first EP,” Cain-Walther notes of the band’s 2015 record, To The Valley. “And maybe we did that to ourselves. Maybe it was a combination of some things. We went for kind of a surf-n-soul vibe. A lot of it was very surfy and I think we’re kind of straying away from that a little bit. We’re really trying to work on the composition of the songs.”

Young explains how the past year affected their new sonic direction, noting it was a year of big changes, both good and bad. The intense songwriting process found PALMAS straying from live performances, and the group hasn’t put out a new single since January’s “Floating in the Dark.”

“You know, we’ve prioritized writing over playing shows, and I think that we feel that the music speaks for itself,” Young says. “We’re ready to put it out.”

Sitting in Torre’s Kensington studio space, they play two new songs - one similar enough to the older material, and one that shows definitive growth from the band. The former follows the band’s idyllic formula, drenched in watery melodies and nostalgic reverb; the latter is a dynamic, yellowy tune, laden with shimmering harmonies and effervescent instrumentation, explicating the distinct maturity in PALMAS’ idiosyncratic sound.

“We’re trying to be the best version of ourselves,” Cain-Walter says. “We’re pushing ourselves. Not

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just for ourselves, but also for people. We don’t just make this music so we can go home and sit and listen to it by ourselves. We’re making it so people can hear it. We’re pushing ourselves for everyone who loves our music.”

Liz Pierotti first started working as PALMAS’ manager a year and a half ago. She praises the band’s insatiable appetite for music, affirming their interminable passion for what they do.

“They’re super enthusiastic guys, to start off, and they are super excited about music,” Pierotti says. “They have such a great knowledge about all different kinds of genres of music. They’re all just big music fans.”

Pierotti notes that the band doesn’t play with a particular musical trend. Rather, they prefer to draw from a diverse pool of creative inspiration and allow that to inform their future undertakings.

“They’ve thought about their evolution as a band, and you know, they have kind of a great grounding in terms of the surf-rock vibe,” Pierotti notes. “They have a lot of fans coming from that world. But I think that fans will be really excited to hear this new direction that they’re taking their music.”

Cantiello acknowledges that band has pulled from a variety of influences, and that they draw inspiration from anything and everything. This, he says, helps them appreciate music more generally.

“I think music matters because it’s kind of like a language,” Cantiello says. “I don’t know. It speaks to a lot of people, in a lot of different ways.”

The rest of the bandmates concur, saying that their love of music ubiquitously consumes them.

PALMAS wants it to feel special, and that’s something that they continuously strive to

maintain.

“Our mantra moving forward is, ‘What can we do bigger and better than what we did last time?’”

Cain-Walther explains.

Joe Flack, bassist of local band MINKA, notes PALMAS’ surf-rock vibes are sure to uplift listeners’ spirits.

“In the simplest way I can put it, I enjoy PALMAS because their music takes you to the beach anytime of year, even winter days such as today,” Flack says.

Despite the simplicity of the feelings a PALMAS song may make one feel, Flack also notes that the band’s songs so far are complex, and they incorporate a variety of different elements, such as horns. He’s excited to see how their musicianship and songwriting have grown with new material.

“Really excited to see what this next batch of songs holds in store,” Flack says.

The goal is to hopefully put out a full-length record in the new year but Young explains that they don’t just want to simply put out the first 10 songs that they write. They’re careful, thoughtful, and fully in tune with themselves, each other, and what ultimately works best for the band.

PALMAS has, ultimately, taken their passion and pushed it to its limits. They have seen mild success with a variety of press and good streaming numbers, but they’re still acutely aware and mildly critical of themselves. They know not to take any of it for granted.

Instead, they want to keep pressing forward, and keep pushing their limits.

“You can always do the same thing you just did,” Cain-Walther states. “But, you know, that’s not going to move you forward.” - Maggie McHale facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Penn’s Master of Liberal Arts is a customizable graduate program offering daytime, evening and online courses.

Luz Gamauf wanted to explore how history changes when it crosses borders, so she came to Penn.

To learn how we can help bring your ideas to life, visit

www.upenn.edu/myMLA

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Photo by Mike Arrison.

The JUMP Off

Thinking Pink In a black and white world, Astro 8000 saw an opportunity to be colorful.

DJ Astro 8000 is interested in the Philly music scene, spinning rap and trap music records.

Things he has no interest in: slowing down, being oversaturated in his career or what Internet trolls have to say.

With humble roots beginning in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, the 24-year-old Astro began learning the magic behind the turntables about a decade ago.

“My dad is a DJ too,” says Astro of following his father’s footsteps at local middle school, high school and corporate parties. “I just came with him to a middle school dance and he was just like, ‘Yo, DJ for me.’ And I didn’t know what to do, so I was just put on the spot and from there, I kinda knew I liked it.”

Influenced by the artists who reference particular themes, Astro developed his name.

“I was inspired by a lot of people who were on some space type things, like Pharrell and Kid Cudi,” says Astro. “When I was coming up with my name it was around that era, so I thought of the name Astro and then the 8000 was random. I just wanted a number in my name.”

Since moving to Philly nearly three years ago, Astro has garnered interest in the underground party scene with the introduction of a themed event.

“The idea for the Pink Party came about because I’ve always been into bright colors and stuff,” says Astro. “I kept seeing flyers for all black and all white parties. So, I got the idea to throw a themed party like that with the color pink. Pink brings a certain energy. It’s a color you would really have to go out and shop for, especially for girls.”

This past July, Astro’s Pink Party attracted the attention of early-2000s rapper and fellow pink admirer Cam’ron.

In 2002, Cam’ron’s hit ‘Hey Ma’ peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the selfproclaimed “gorgeous gangster” shut down Fashion Week in his iconic pink mink.

“Yusuf Yuie, who owns Veteran Freshman, reached out to me and told me he confirmed Cam’ron to be at the next Heineken Green Room event,” Astro recounts. “But instead of a Heineken Green Room, he wanted to turn it into a pink room.”

"After hearing about him all over Philly, I was introduced to Astro through a good friend and immediately could tell he had vision,” says Yusuf “Yuie” Muhammad, who books artists for shows

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and festivals throughout the country. “The Pink Party concept, which he and his team had already made popular, was one I helped with. It was great working together.”

All these forces and factors made the combination a natural fit.

“Since Cam’ron made it cool for guys to wear pink,” Astro says, “I knew I had to be in there.”

Earlier this year, Astro retired from a stint at The Saint, the dance spot on the border of Northern Liberties and Fishtown.

“I had to stop,” says Astro. “Hosting weekly parties is fun for a while but I just didn’t want to become oversaturated. So now, I decided to focus on just doing larger-scale parties.”

Allegra Fusaro, a regular at The Saint, attributes Astro’s success to his ability to be versatile while DJing.

“Every time I heard him play at The Saint, it wasn’t just popular music and radio shit,” says Fusaro. “He has good transitions in his spins and he played music that wasn’t too overplayed.”

Fusaro also admires Astro’s ability to draw such diverse crowds to the venues he plays.

“I think it’s dope he can produce music as a white DJ who attracts all different types of people and people of different races to one environment and it's still lit,” says Fusaro.

Although Astro is a white DJ who spins rap and trap music, two genres rooted in the Black community, he says everything he does is organic.

“There have been a few Internet people who were hating on me,” says Astro. “But, for me, everything is organic and I’m not being anything that I’m not.

People pick up on that energy. They can see it’s just me.”

- Cierra Williams facebook.com/JUMPphilly

JUMPphilly.com

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Photos by Brianna Spause.

Photo by Sydney Schaefer.

A Jawn To Call Home

Pat Durkin was down in the dumps. Then he formed a new band, The Jawn. They picked up a regular gig at The Grape Room and life has been good ever since.

When Pat Durkin moved back to Philadelphia from Los Angeles in 2012, he felt lost.

“I was done playing music,” says Durkin.

He had fallen on hardship while in California and had a whirlwind of thoughts on his return to the East Coast: “This is stupid. I’ll never make any money doing this. Everybody thinks I’m fucking a loser for being in a band.”

But in truth, over time, Durkin missed being in a band and all those thoughts seemed to vanish.

This eventually led him to reach out to his current bandmates, bassist Mike Novak and guitarist Ricky Haldis, as well as former drummer Josh Reichardt.

“That was the initial spark for The Jawn,” says Durkin.

That spark was ignited in 2013 and hasn’t gone out since. When starting The Jawn, Durkin says he wanted to make music that was listenable, unlike the tech-y prog metal he played in bands throughout high school and college.

In addition to writing the songs, Durkin also does vocals in the band. He had sung before in other music projects but not like this. In addition to establishing his role, he’s faced another issue.

“A big problem with us is that we couldn’t manage to hold onto a drummer for a long time,” says Durkin. “We’re trying to evolve musically but that’s difficult to do when we can’t keep a steady guy.”

They had gone through about eight, until they met current drummer Jordan Malpass. After holding several unsuccessful tryouts, Durkin got in touch with Malpass to play a few shows with them.

“It started out as like, ‘Hey, we need a drummer for, like, a couple shows here. Are you able to do it?’” Malpass says. “I said, ‘Definitely,’ and started practicing religiously with them. And the shows went very well.”

Two years after the band was born, they started a regular gig in Manayunk at The Grape Room.

At first, the residency didn’t have a name. But about six months in a friend of the band’s yelled out the name “Open Jawn.” The mastermind behind the exclamation was Andrew Cooper of the band Dead:Stop. Durkin just knew it would stick. And it did.

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During an Open Jawn event, people sit around the bar, laughing and bopping their heads to the music as the bartender serves drinks. People flood the seats and tables in front of the stage, drink in hand, to watch the show.

The residency now takes place every first and third Wednesday of the month, but the band used to play every Wednesday.

“I don’t know how we used to do it,” laughs Novak.

“Sheer willpower,” Durkin responds.

Regulars like James Laventure come out consistently. In addition to being a fan of The Jawn, the venue also seems to play into the inviting atmosphere of each gig.

“It gives you that homey vibe,” says Laventure.

Laventure began coming to the gigs because of friend Bert Weaver, who has been coming to the gigs for about two years.

“They’re all awesome, of course,” says Weaver.

“As people, and they’re an awesome band.”

Durkin notes Open Jawn has gotten bigger

in the past few months. Not bad for a Wednesday night.

“We have a cool group of regulars,” he says.

“And there are always some new people coming through.”

- Sydney Schaefer

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The JUMP Off

Living The Dream

Photo by Charles Shan Cerrone.

Jack Hubbell moved from Virginia to Philly, bringing his Telyscopes project with him. He keeps cranking out music while feeling his way around the scene.

The sun is setting on a cool autumn evening and Jack Hubbell is in his element. He dodges back and forth as friends lug gear - a drum kit, amp, guitar, a bigger amp - through the narrow entryway of a Point Breeze row home.

It's just a few hours until the DIY show there begins. There's free, freshly-made pasta going around. Hubble, 23, reciprocates by passing out sweating bottles of beer. It's exactly the kind of night he wanted when he moved to Philadelphia from his hometown of Alexandria, Virginia last year.

“I kind of always knew I wanted to come to Philly,” Hubbell says. “The scene is awesome pretty much all around the city.”

Hubbell is still figuring his new home out. As of the autumn show, he was sleeping on the floor of his recording studio in Blue Bell, in between moving out of Manayunk and into a dirt-cheap house in West Philadelphia. His main artistic project, the psych-rock, one-man Telyscopes, is still more passion project than bill-payer. And at its best billing to date — a summer gig at World Cafe Live — Hubbell, well, yakked.

“That should have been the highlight but I had the flu,” Hubbell recalls, laughing. “I literally puked in the bathroom of World Cafe Live. I was able to perform but it was shit.”

Hubbell isn't frustrated. In fact, he's quite the opposite. He's aware that he's 23 and just getting his feet wet. By those standards, he's well on his way. Telyscopes has eight records completed in about half the number of years. It's more or less all his creation - the lyrics, vocals, guitars, drums, effects, recording and engineering. Aiming to release a new full-length album every six months, Hubbell already has a well-developed work ethic and plenty of talent.

“Each time, it gets easier,” Hubbell says of making albums. “I can write something, get out of bed, walk across the room, turn on my computer and record it.”

It's also leaps and bounds from where he was just last year, back in Alexandria. After dropping out of community college to pursue music more seriously, Hubbell worked construction to pay the bills. A workplace accident served as a wake-up call to make a change.

“I got quite good at it and then I saw someone cut their fingers off,” he says. “Adding to that, everyone was deaf. The two things I actually need are my fingers and my ears.”

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Musically, Telyscopes draws from a variety of influences, Hubbell says. Aspects of wellknown psych-rock artists such as Tame Impala and Foxygen come through in warbly vocals and dripping melodies, but so do harmonies reminiscent of '60s pop bands, like The Mamas & The Papas. Many records also crank it up to 10, a nod to Hubbell's pop-punk high school days and his dad, who was a drummer in the 1970s punk scene in Washington, D.C. “He's really supportive of my music but he's always like, 'You should turn the guitars up more,’” Hubbell says.

Charlie Debuc, guitarist and bassist for the Philly-based bands Echo Lad and Flamingo Chicks, doesn't think Hubbell needs any musical direction. Since moving to Philly, Hubbell has established himself by recording and engineering a number of bands, including both of Debuc's.

“His recording capabilities were so solid... and so impressive for such a young dude,” Debuc says. “He's got a great ability to morph sound and add a lot to an album that wouldn't otherwise be there.”

Hubbell says he spends about half his time working on Telyscopes, a quarter on recording other artists and a quarter working a full-time job as a music teacher in the suburbs.

“Then half a percent sleeping, half a percent eating, slash, beer,” he adds.

Asked to predict in which direction his career will veer, Hubbell isn't sure. He's thinking in months, not years - finishing a new Telyscopes album in December, finding more musicians to boost his live performances and growing more roots in the DIY scene.

“I couldn't say which way I think he's going to find more success,” Debuc offers. “I think it just depends on where he wants to go and what he wants to do. He's just such a hard working dude.”

It's not all rosy for Hubbell. In some songs, his spirit seems to dive deep while contemplating his current status.

“My rent is stupidly cheap but I still can't eat. Only manage to drink,” he sings on “Delirium Tremens.”

But in others, like “Ella Apostle,” that spirit bursts back through the surface and takes wing, flying on a

dream that's yet to reach its apex.

“Maybe it's possible, to defy logic,” he sings.

“Maybe it's possible, if you look the other way.”

- Kyle Bagenstose

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Photos by Kristie Krause.

DARLENE CAVALIER

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is a private foundation located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Find out more at bwfund.org facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Music & Education

The Gift of Dance

Photo by Sydney Schaefer.

Contemporary dance company BalletX is teaching elementary school students how to dance through their program Dance eXchange.

It’s 9 a.m. on a Thursday and the first of three third grade classes at the Albert M. Greenfield School shuffles through the auditorium double doors, jittering with excitement.

Lead teaching artist Colby Damon and his assistant teacher, Stephanie Stevens, stand on stage together in bright orange T-shirts that bear the words “Dance eXchange” on them. Damon enthusiastically greets the students and welcomes them to join him and his fellow teacher on stage.

Each child, with a radiant smile on his or her face, bounces up the stage steps and is ready to dance their heart out for the next 45 minutes.

The program these children are about to partake in, Dance eXchange, was started by the Philadelphia contemporary ballet company BalletX as an educational outreach program within the School District of Philadelphia.

The idea for Dance eXchange was born when former BalletX board chairman Chuck Arnao, who now holds the title of chairman emeritus, discovered the benefits of teaching students how to dance and teaching dancers how to teach.

The company then applied for a Knight Foundation grant, which recieves thousands of proposals every year.

“They selected our idea, which was three sentences long, and that was about four and a half years ago,” says BalletX co-founder Christine Cox. The idea launched in 2014 with 24 students at the Andrew Jackson School.

The program allows for children to have a structured period of physical activity for an allotted amount of time during the school day that isn’t necessarily athletic.

“I think it’s another angle for some kids to really excel in,” says Damon. “It’s an angle for some kids to find confidence in themselves that they can’t find in other areas.”

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Dance eXchange is modeled after the pedagogy of dance, which comes from New York’s National Dance Institute. The program looks to NDI whenever it’s in need of guidance or assistance.

“We don’t need to rethink the wheel,” says Damon, who started with Dance eXchange while he was dancing with BalletX. After an injury, he moved on to teaching for the program full-time.

Dance eXchange is currently serving 200 students in three Philadelphia schools - Bache-Martin, Chester Arthur and Greenfield. All offer the program to third graders. Chester Arthur also offers the program to fourth graders.

Dance eXchange takes place in each school twice per week, with three teachers - two dance instructors and a live musician to supply beats for each class.

“It’s a really beautiful thing to be able to contribute to,” Damon says.

These are magical years for children, explains Kate Carr, BalletX’s education and outreach specialist.

“They’re super excited about anything you put in front of them,” she says, “but they’re also old enough where they can physically absorb and handle the movement.”

At the end of the program in each school, the children put on a final dance performance. This year, the theme is “The Four Seasons.”

“There’s really genuine joy that you get to see from little kids that is lost a lot being an adult,” says Damon.

The company was awarded two 36-month grants by the William Penn Foundation earlier this year. The first grant, which is for $247,500, is for Dance eXchange. The second grant, for $317,750, will be used to present BalletX popups around the city.

The total award amount granted, $565,250, is part of the William Penn Foundation’s highly competitive Arts Education and New Audiences/New Places strategy to help keep art in the classroom and in the public eye.

These grants allow Dance eXchange to keep their existing programs going.

In the near future, the organizers hope to expand to at least one more school.

By expanding, Dance eXchange will be able to extend their enthusiasm for dance to other children within Philadelphia.

“We’re really trying to spread our passion and commitment to dance and the - Sydney Schaefer power that it can bring to a community,” says Cox.

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Community Meeting Spot Brewerytown Beats bridges old and new Philadelphia through vinyl.

A neighborhood man comes in off the street into Brewerytown Beats, ashing and putting out his cigarette before walking through the doorway with the word “RECORDS” largely emblazoned on the adjacent window pane.

The man quickly finds store owner Max Ochester, shakes his hand and launches into small talk. The patron then takes a phone call but quickly dismisses the caller so he can get back to it.

“I’m here to get my music,” he tells Ochester.

It’s clear that many local, regional and international music lovers flock to the record store for the same purpose this local man visits today. And just as many of the store’s Brewerytown locals come to sell music, explaining why the store has become known for an eclectic mix of funk, soul, jazz, hip-hop and R&B, as opposed to the rock and punk some other Philadelphia record stores are known for.

It’s people coming in off the street or word of

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mouth that Ochester says are the main ways he’s acquired his stock, especially through buying full collections.

“I've made myself a middleman in this neighborhood,” he says. “I’m literally filtering the records that go into another neighborhood through my store.”

The current space the store occupies on Girard Avenue near 27th Street is its second iteration.

The shop originally was on 29th, just north of Girard. Ochester says when he first started out three years ago, he was very gung-ho about

everything in the store being organized, cleaned and of good quality.

“The labels are going to face the right way.

They’re all going to be in new sleeves. They’re

all going to be in new plastic,” he says of these starting goals. “So, that kind of hits a boutique kind of thing. We really take care in trying to give the best product for the cheapest about of money possible.”

It’s amazing Ochester has been able to maintain these standards given some of the circumstances he’s acquired the store’s inventory from. Unlike what some might think, Ochester has never been to an estate sale and he’s too busy to scour flea markets on the weekends.

“I’m literally climbing in really shitty old basements in North Philly,” Ochester says of where most of his product comes from.

He calls these excursions “digs.”

“Also, most people that I’m involved with are pretty rough, like rough around the edges,” he says. “They’re all nice people, but … the records are usually really destroyed and dirty and disgusting and there's no light, and I’m like scared for my life half the time. Not really, but I’ve definitely been in some interesting situations.”

When Brewerytown Beats moved to its current location, Ochester knew Crime and Punishment Brewing Co. was going in across the street. This, and the overall burgeoning of the neighborhood, has worked out well for the store. Ochester was able to bring on a partner and expand hours.

“I was like, 'This is going to be great!'” he facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Photos by Charles Shan Cerrone.

This Place Rocks

Photos by Ben Wong.

remembers thinking. “Drunk people looking out the window at records. This is awesome.”

DJ Skeme Richards, who has built a personal and professional relationship with Ochester through visiting the shop on a weekly basis, says Brewerytown becoming a cool, hip neighborhood over the years made having a successful record shop in the immediate vicinity a “no-brainer.”

However, it’s Ochester’s unique and eclectic offerings in the store, curated through his deep musical knowledge, that have kept Richards coming back over the years.

“One of the most unique things about the shop is that it stocks the best gospel vinyl collection in the city, whereas most shops would pass over that genre because they don’t have the clientele for it,” Richards says. “But at the end of the day, it’s a well thought-out and curated space that has something for everyone that stops in.”

Another layer of success has come with the buildup of Brewerytown Beats’ online business, selling inventory through Discogs. In fact, Ochester says the store’s rating and reputation on the digital marketplace has become so respected that he no longer has to list all the store’s information when putting up listings.

“The logo has become so recognizable that I don’t need my information anymore,” he says. “I just have the logo with no name, no address, no anything.”

The only hindrance to a booming online business for Brewerytown Beats is manpower.

The store certainly has the stock to sell more online, as one can see when taking a trip into the shop’s basement. Ochester says there are more than 25,000 records stored there, but only enough time and staff to sort through, clean and put up a fraction of the overall collection at a time.

“To me, Discogs is just a numbers game,” he says. “I’m over 16,000 things right now and if I could get to 20,000, I’d be doing great. If I could get to 50,000, I’d be doing way better. I have enough items in the basement to do it. I just don’t have the manpower to do it. So, that’s what I’m working toward now.”

Despite continuously working toward making the shop’s physical and online business the best it can be, Ochester doesn’t necessarily think he wants to do this forever.

“I don’t necessarily love retail. It’s very depressing,” he says. “I take it personally when I have a shitty day at work, and I know it’s not me.

It’s just hot out or raining out or it’s beautiful out and people don’t want to go into a store. But I take it very personally and I still go home after three years and I’m like, ‘Fuck, this sucks.’”

Whether or not Ochester has a bad day at the office, it’s clear that businesses like Brewerytown Beats help make this up-and-coming Philadelphia neighborhood feel like a community.

“There are shops that have been open for 20plus years and it would be great to see that with Brewerytown Beats,” Richards says. “But that can only happen when there is a community of music lovers involved to help in its longevity.

Record shops are a meeting point, just like the barbershop or neighborhood bar. Brewerytown Beats has become that meeting point.”

- Beth Ann Downey

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More Than Vinyl Creep Records sells records, for sure, but they also run a label, sell glass and so much more.

Creep Records is a well-curated, Northern Liberties record store with a smoke shop in the back, but referring to it as just that is almost too simplistic. There’s a sizable event space under the same roof where they host record release shows, art gallery openings, record signings and album listening parties. Creep Records is a working record label too, releasing music across genres and recording local artists in a studio off Girard Avenue. It seems like a lot, but it all ties together.

“The core that wraps Creep up into one thing, whether it’s the music, or the show space, or the glass, is that there’s this commitment to local artists,” says Will Angelos, the operations and label manager at Creep.

Since moving to Philadelphia in 2009, Creep’s retail location in The Piazza at The Schmidt’s Commons has been a Northern Liberties staple, but the label has deeper roots in the Philadelphia area’s DIY scene.

Arik Victor, Creep Records’ owner, is a Northeast Philadelphia native who started the label in the basement of his Downingtown house in 1993.

There, he recorded well known bands like The Bouncing Souls, The Casualties and Kill Your Idols. By the mid-’90s, Creep was pumping out records. After several incarnations of smaller stores local to Downingtown, Victor had an opportunity move to Philadelphia.

“We’ve always been very in touch with the Philly music scene. We worked with a lot of bands and artists in Philly,” Victor says. “It was a very smooth transition” Victor now records bands out of Creep Records’ studio and releases albums through their label.

Although known for punk and hardcore records, Creep works with musicians across all genres.

“We put out a lot of punk but we’ve also put out hip-hop records and electronic records,” Angelos says. “It never matters.”

One of the label’s more recent releases is local singer-songwriter Julia Rainer’s debut album Spirits.

“They are really cool in that they don’t want me to be anything else besides whatever I want to be,” says Rainer. “They let me, like, do whatever I wanted in terms of artwork, songs I put on the record, when I wanted to release it, where to release it. They’ve definitely enabled me to have full creative freedom, which is important to me.”

The album release show was held in Creep’s new event space, drawing a crowd that put the space

at its capacity of about 100 people. Larger events, like record signings for more well known acts, will draw upwards of 500 people to The Piazza.

“The Kehlani signing we did had over 800 people,” Angelos says, referring to a record signing and listening party they hosted for the RnB artist.

Even without events, the record shop is a draw enough on it’s own. Creep boasts just a small used section for crate-diggers of vintage records, but for those looking to get favorite albums on vinyl, explore new and current sounds or search through the curated used selection, Creep is a desired destination. New and re-releases of indie, electronic, rock and hip-hop albums can all be found in the densely packed shelves.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a large selection of punk and hardcore records too.

“It seems like, ultimately, they’re just music fans," says Rainer. "They’re people who devote their lives to music and want to help other people do the same.

Whether it’s just in the store or in the studio, they just work with music they like.”

The team at Creep also runs a record subscription service that ships custom record selections monthly to subscribers.

“You get a specific record that’s catered to something that you would like. It’s not like everyone gets the same record,” Victor says. “People seem to really like it.”

The smoke shop is out of sight from the main room, located through saloon doors, in the back. Their glass collection is large, with high standards for the pieces they carry.

“We only carry American glass,” Angelos says.

“About 70 to 80 percent of that is from local artists.”

Philadelphia is a surprising hub for glass blowing. The combination of area schools with glass blowing programs and a community of local artists willing to mentor new and emerging talent created an explosion of glass art in recent years.

“It’s just like with music, how people want to support the different DIY things,” Angelos says.

“The way glass is right now is that there’s a thirst for new, exciting designs. It works really well because they’re both collector cultures, whether it’s records or glass.”

The team at Creep relishes in the promotion of artists and enjoys seeing them succeed.

“I don’t think that they’re caught up in figuring out what’s cool, which I appreciate,” says Rainer.

Both as a store and as a label, Creep Records not only acts as an outlet but as a hub for Philadelphia’s talent to come together and be showcased.

“We’re just a product of all these great artists,” says Angelos. Who’s going to buy records if music just sucked? At the end of the day, they’re making the art. It’s just fun for us to put it on a megaphone - Jennifer Granato and tell people about it.”

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Cover Story

THE

PHILADELPHIA SUCCESS STORY PnB Rock grew up in a rough part of town, got caught up in the drug trade and wound up in prison.

He could have become a statistic, another lost young man. But he took advantage of his prison time, made lots of music and now he's topping charts.

Story by Ashley Coleman.

Photos by Charles Shan Cerrone.

P

nB Rock is indeed living every day like it’s lit. The R&B rapper/singer has everything he could have ever wanted after the success of his RNB mixtape series, his Billboard charting and Platinum-certified single “Selfish” and the recently released Catch These Vibes album.

It’s surprisingly quiet in the green room of the Theater of Living Arts for a room full of 20-somethings getting ready to hit the stage alongside the artist born Rakim Allen. He was named after the legendary rapper but he's referred to as Rock by friends and fans. Large boxes of Lorenzo’s pizza are being guarded against Bankroll, a cute French bulldog that’s teething.

The 25-year-old singer/rapper has defied the odds that most young people from Germantown - or Uptown, as he affectionately refers to the northwest section of Philadelphia - may face. Especially those from the corner of Pastorius and Baynton streets, from where PnB Rock draws his acronym name, and where drug dealing is a way of life. He got wrapped up in it early.

Getting to this level, however, performing in front of large crowds, being one of this year’s XXL Freshman class inductees and traveling the country didn’t come from an extensive five-year plan or vision board. It was the 33-month stint he did in prison for a variety of charges, including robbery, that actually propelled him to take his music career seriously.

During his time away, Rock wrote the mixtapes that would catch the ears of the streets and, eventually, Atlantic Records.

It was Aubrey Green, who has managed artists in the past and is a video servicer, which gets videos shot by artists and labels onto network television, who recognized that Rock was something special.

“Once I heard his first project, I could tell that his sound was different,” says Green. “I knew there was a place for him in the major leagues. That melodic trap sound, at the time, was something that wasn’t coming out of Philly.”

Green stepped in to help service the video for "My City Need Something" to network TV. While shopping the young star around to different labels, he met with opposition at first. But Green refused to let it stop him. And after visits from Atlantic Records reps while Rock was locked up, Green says it was a no-

JUMPphilly.com

brainer for A&R rep Orlando Wharton, who went on to sign Rock.

“The rest is history,” says Green.

“I was just trying it to see if I could do something different,” Rock explains.

“Something that would keep me from going in and out of jail. 'Cause that’s really what I was doing. Kept going in and out of jail, kept fucking with the same people, kept doing the same shit.”

F

or Rock, the outcome was very different. But, unfortunately, prison is nothing foreign to many young people who grow up in povertystricken neighborhoods in Philadelphia, even after they’ve reached stardom. This includes fellow Philly rapper Meek Mill. Rock came straight to the TLA from a rally in support of the Maybach Music Group rapper, held at the Criminal Justice Center downtown.

“People just be getting done wrong with the system so much,” he says.

“It's like, 'What the fuck? When's it going to be enough?' You know what I'm saying? You gotta stand for something, you feel me?”

A similar camaraderie amongst those who have been day-one fans of Rock is what helped his time away become more fruitful for his career, as opposed to stalling his momentum.

“Free PnB Rock” became an Internet movement spearheaded by his management that kept the budding star in the limelight even after fans were confused about what happened to him. When he was sent away, Rock was just beginning to book more shows around Philly and beyond, and he was garnering a lot of buzz.

He recalls how fans rallying around him gave his music the platform he needed when he was released.

“They ain't know why I was locked up or nothing,” he says. “People was just riding with the movement, like, ‘Free PNB Rock.’ It just got bigger and bigger and shit. By the time I came home, shit, I had like 40,000 followers, bills on the table, you feel me? It was different.”

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Story by Tyler Horst.

Photo by Charles Wrzesniewski.

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Cover Story

“He’s helping me get a taste of the real world, how to make connections and move in the industry,” says 20-year-old photographer Gideon Ayeni, aka Rico, who met Rock at a studio in Trenton and has spent time on the road with the star taking pictures. “It's something that I can’t get from a book.”

R

ock is honest about his struggles and the challenges brought on by success. Keeping family and a tight-knit team close is key to maintaining a sense of normalcy and humility. For any 25-year-old, being well-known and rich can be a lot to manage. But life for the Philly native is not just about him anymore. His four-year-old daughter, Milan, already notices her father is in the spotlight. Rock lights up when talking about her.

“She got that attitude already, like she somebody daughter,” he says. “She a star within herself. Every time anybody interacts with her, get around her, they just instantly fall in love with her. Just 'cause of her character and how mature she is. She can have a whole full blown conversation with you and she only four.”

He doesn’t want to push anything on her though. He believes that by leading by example, she will fall into whatever it is that she’s destined to do. Evading the pressure of setting goals, Rock is simply having the time of his life right now, taking each day as it comes and making music that reflects a generation full of freedom.

PAYBACK TIME: PnB Rock visited the Discovery Charter School in Parkside in October. He performed a few songs and handed out 700 backpacks full of school supplies. It was his second visit to the school this year.

R

ock keeps his fans close, realizing in the moment they are like his brothers and sisters. He has a keen awareness they are the driving force behind his success. While talking backstage, there are two different phones in front of him and a third streaming live on Instagram.

Smiling and revealing iced out grills, Rock connects with fans between responses.

This life is far from the rough upbringing Rock and his four siblings endured.

Although he tries to stay humble, it’s a complete “180, 360, whatever you want to call it,” he says about the difference between now and where he started.

He remembers being homeless, living on the streets. Now he has two places where he stays, barely spending time in either because of his grueling schedule.

So, coming home to Philly is always something special. Almost like “playing at the crib,” as he says, because of how much love local fans show. Fans here are the ones who chant his songs and will stand out in the rain, waiting to see him. They’ve seen the “glow up” as he describes it, from the beginning until now. His rise from hoodlum to pop star not only inspires fans but other artists in the robust creative community of Philadelphia.

“I’m a fan of his music and I’m really proud of him for making it big league,” says fellow MC, singer and songwriter Bri Steves. “It means that Philly is on the rise and he’s one of the best examples that Philly has got major talent that shouldn’t be slept on.”

With all the love he receives from Philly, Rock also is able to give back to young people coming up in similar circumstances. He connects authentically with those who struggle with authority but may just need to be exposed to new things. His hope is to be the cool older person who can reach them where they are.

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T

he green room is buzzing now as more and more people arrive. “PnB Rock” chants erupt from the crowd in between sets as he gets ready to take the stage. The roar is deafening and DJ JStacks drops Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” to hype the crowd.

Behind the curtain stands Rock and no less than 15 members of his crew, set to rush the stage and have the time of their lives.

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Cover Story

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OF

FRIENDS FAMILY AND

The bandmates in Long Hots are so close, they finish each other's sentences.

T

Story by Brendan Menapace.

Photos by Sydney Schaefer.

he three members of Long Hots, Rosali Middleman, Kathryn Lipman and Eva Killinger, are approaching the project as friends first. Actually, they’re kind of verging on family. Middleman and Killinger share a house in Kensington, and Lipman lives right across the street.

“Project” might even be the wrong word to use here, as it implies a level of work that sucks the fun out of something. And for Middleman, Lipman and Killinger, Long Hots is, first and foremost, fun.

They do pushups together before performances to get amped up. They approach the songwriting process as a collective.

“We’re very egalitarian,” Middleman says. “I think it’s something like, maybe an-all women thing. I’ve never played with all women. Everybody each contributes an equal amount. I don’t know if it’s that we’re female or that we’re three best friends.”

The latter point is definitely true. They frequently finish each other’s thoughts, with one kind of looking at the others to pass the conversational ball across the booth they’re sharing at The Monkey Club in Kensington.

Middleman and Killinger also got stick-and-poke tattoos of the band’s logo on their arms shortly after starting. It’s not that Lipman isn’t as committed to the band as the other two. She just doesn’t have any tattoos yet. The others aren’t pressuring her into getting one, either. There isn’t much pressure anywhere for Long Hots.

“I would never think about the band in terms of career goals,” Lipman says.

“And I think we’ve all been involved in music in one way or another, that we’re all very realistic. It’s not about getting a certain number of stars for a record or getting on a certain record label or something like that. Just to keep doing it and having fun.”

A

fter playing their first show in North Carolina as part of a friend’s label showcase, the band has been playing shows sporadically and accumulating recorded material with Jeff Zeigler.

When asked if it’s an EP or a full-length debut, they look around at each other, unsure of the answer. Zeigler isn’t sure either. As stated before: low-pressure, low-stress.

“You know, I don’t know what it’s going to end up being,” Zeigler says. “Probably somewhere more in the EP realm, but some of the songs are on the longer side, 10 to 12 minutes, so it could conceivably be an LP. Let’s say a mini-LP at this point.”

Their recording process reflects their live persona as much as possible. That is to say, no frills, and everything recorded live.

“After listening to them on the radio, I was like, ‘OK, well this should be pretty true to how they sound live,’” Zeigler says. “But also, sometimes a little

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extra aggression can be sort of filtered through certain distortions or certain processing or microphone techniques when you’re recording.”

Hearing that, Zeigler picked up on exactly what he needed to do.

“I just tried to make it, at least the drums, sound pretty pummeling and kind of trashy, but also sort of hi-fi,” he says. “They definitely were the kind of band that you don’t want to pick apart and have them record piecemeal. It would totally take away from the spirit of the music.”

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he drums are a stand-out feature in the band. The trio’s garage-y, distorted sound is punctuated by Killinger’s cymbal-less, minimalyet-driving drumming style.

“It’s just how I play drums,” Killinger says. “I’d never played before the other band I was in. I don’t think too much about it. I just listen to what’s going on.”

Zeigler describes them as “primal” and “like a terrifying Mo Tucker.”

Ziegler isn’t the only one who the percussion sticks out to.

“The drums have that heartbeat quality to it, that drive,” Middleman says. “It doesn’t need to be anything more than what she’s doing.”

It works perfectly behind Middleman’s almost bluesy riffs and Lipman’s steady bass. The sound wasn’t something that they really tried to pinpoint, though. They feed off each other in a symbiotic relationship on stage (or basement, or studio), and that translated over to their recording process.

Everything was done live with very little restriction. Amps bled into mics.

They weren’t worried about everything coming out perfect. If it sounds like them, it is perfect.

“It’s kind of freeform,” Middleman says. “It’s just better to play that way – synergy between us. We feed off each other and make choices that way. It’d be really sterile to do it the other way.”

“I think the best thing for us is when we’re playing in the basement with no pressure, and seeing what comes out,” Lipman says, noting that shows can be productive, but not always fun.

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hat is fun to Long Hots is playing shows with their friends, potentially going on tour across the U.S. (having already done a small tour with their friends in Purling Hiss) and living in close enough proximity to hang out and jam whenever they want.

Kittinger says it herself - they’re more than just a band or friends. They’re a family. Someone brings up the idea that you shouldn’t live with your best friends or work with your best friends.

“I think the people who say that are friends with the wrong people,” Lipman says.

“Fuck yeah,” Kittinger says. “That’s awesome.”

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facebook.com/JUMPphilly

THE

OF

MATURATION ADOLESCENT HEROES

mewithoutYou spoke to a generation of fans questioning life and dealing with youthful angst.

More than 15 years since they formed, they are still making music, though under different circumstances - as adults.

Story by Brendan Menapace.

Photos by Rachel Del Sordo.

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ehind an enormous old house in Germantown, just a few blocks off Germantown Avenue, the members of mewithoutYou are finishing up practice in a detached barn space. After they’re done, they come down the stairs and help load T-shirts, posters and equipment into cars. Kids are running around the driveway, throwing their stuffed animals in the gravel and dirt. The guys take a few minutes to greet their families, change out of sweaty shirts and just sit to recuperate for a minute or two before retreating to the back porch.

It’ll be tough to find these moments of peace after today, since they’re leaving the next night for a nationwide tour commemorating the 15th anniversary of their debut LP, [A→B] Life.

The tour almost doesn’t happen, actually. They have last-second bus troubles, though they finally make it out of Philadelphia for the string of shows, during which they’ll play [A→B] Life in full every night (with a few other songs from the band’s catalogue thrown in).

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or lead vocalist Aaron Weiss, revisiting the album after 15 years has given him a unique perspective. It has also presented him with a new way to perform these songs for crowds, being in a different place in life, far from where he was then. For one, he’s now married. They've started a family, which means splitting his time between Philly and Idaho, where his

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wife’s family lives.

“There was a while that the songs were really personal to me and relevant,” he says. “And then, for a while, it was hard to sing them because they weren’t relevant, but they were still personal. And now they’re neither relevant nor personal. They’re just these old tracks that I can feel that I’m covering for my job, you know? So when I say ‘she’ or ‘her,’ I’m not actually singing about the person that I was singing about 15 years ago. I’m just doing my job by singing the song and enjoying the music.”

That’s not to say he’s completely distanced himself from the older music or feigning being impassioned.

“I can still find things I’m emotional about, and it’s cathartic just to scream,” he says. “It doesn’t really necessarily matter what you’re screaming but just physically, for your body to do that, is kind of a release.

So, I can just enjoy that side of it.”

While the stories and feelings behind these songs aren’t as attached to him anymore and he’s not working through the same emotions he was 15 years ago, he still has plenty to work through this time around.

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eiss still has angst, and still has problems in his life, just like anyone else. But at 38, he’s not the same guy he was at the time he wrote the lyrics for [A→B] Life. That makes performing these songs

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easier than it ever has been for him.

Chris Kleinberg, who was mewithoutYou’s guitarist at the time they recorded [A→B] Life and is now a doctor (he owns the aforementioned Germantown house), remembers the mindset Weiss and his bandmates had when they made that album as younger men, and how the songs grew alongside them and the band.

“Especially when you’re younger, you feel intense feelings that are usually romantic in nature, and that’s where you put a lot of your energy,” Kleinberg says. “So, with [A→B] Life, it seemed like Aaron dealt with two main themes of the divine - god, as well as romantic themes, like where he was with his partner at the time.”

Kleinberg imagines that grappling with these themes is something fairly common for people to experience in their late teens or early 20s.

“It’s a time in your life when you really struggle with those things and define yourself,” he says. “And then you, hopefully, progress from there and you’re not stuck in the same struggles. I would hope that for the fans, too, that they are brought back to that place and remember how it felt. But hopefully they’re not in that same place.”

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he band’s music isn’t the same as it was in 2002, either. From the recording of [A→B] Life, which Kleinberg remembers fondly as the first “real” recording project they had done, their sound has evolved, as evidenced in their most recent release, 2015’s Pale Horses.

Before Pale Horses was released, the band toured to commemorate the 10year anniversary of Catch for us the Foxes. This current trek - going around the country playing older songs before recording a new album - mirrors that tour.

Over the past few months, the band has been working on its next album with producer Will Yip, who also did Pale Horses.

By doing this tour, drummer Rickie Mazzotta, one of the tenants of the gorgeous Germantown house, says the band can give fans a chance to hear the older songs they haven’t heard in a while - or possibly ever - before they hit the road to promote the new material.

“Like, we’re giving you what you want,” he says. “What you’ve called out for the last 10 shows and we didn’t play it. In the last two, three years, we’ve been playing these songs. But this is like a full-on, different kind of set. It’s fast-paced, high-octane. Forget I said ‘octane.’ I’ve never used ‘octane’ in a sentence. But it’s, like, a more fired-up version of what we’re used to, where we’ll sprinkle this stuff in to round off the catalog every night.”

Michael Almquist, 33, of East Kensington, has known the band for about 12 facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Photo by Jeremy Zimmerman.

years, as a friend first, then as their touring merch guy, and finally, now, as their manager. He says that the response from this tour has been beyond what anyone expected.

“The crowds have been amped up,” he reports via phone from Seattle. “Denver in particular was an incredible show. It’s kind of a tiny room but it’s 500-capacity and it was just packed to the gills.

People just singing along, screaming, having fun, people on top of people.

Almquist also says that the band has heard from fans who have been listening to them since their teen years, and they are all now reliving the music as adults together.

“They’re just appreciating it on another level, and, hopefully, they’re recapturing that feeling from seven or eight years ago,” he says.

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ince finishing their tour in late November, the band has continued work on the new album. Guitarists Brandon Beaver and Mike Weiss say the lion’s share of the instrumentals are done. Save for a few more tweaks, the album just needs Aaron Weiss’ lyrical and vocal input. That’ll happen when he goes in with Yip for two weeks this winter. That’s how they’ve always handled their recording process, but the band feels that things are different this time around. And they mean that in a good way.

“We intentionally did not set any rules to what the music [for the new album] was going to sound like,” Mike Weiss says.

The goal for this record was to create a lot of music without having to think about whether or not it sounds like past releases. Every member has a voice on the album, and everyone searched for new angles to approach the music.

“I will say this one’s been different because, from the starting point, I feel like Aaron has been more involved in this go-round than in the past really, even though he’s been in Idaho,” Beaver, of West Philly, says. “Mike went out to Idaho. I went out to Idaho. And a lot of it was just to go visit and to hang, but there was some work being done in bits and pieces. And I feel like that’s kind of newish, the really being involved in the rough ideas that he’s been able to give us.”

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aron Weiss has taken his time in Idaho to create what he refers to as “vignettes,” small songs or ideas of songs that can evolve from there with the full band.

And adding Dominic Angelella on bass for this tour and the writing effort has added to the collection of ideas for the new album, Aaron Weiss says. Angelella’s resume includes Hop Along, DRGN King, Lithuania, work for Kendrick Lamar and a recent solo effort.

Aaron Weiss says that the process of writing music for this new album has allowed them to be more stylistically diverse, thanks to the flow of ideas coming from everyone’s perspectives.

“There’s something that feels very different this time around,” he says. “Certainly because we haven’t even all understood it ourselves. So, I definitely can’t speak for what it’s going to sound like for our next LP. I didn’t see it as, ‘We’re going to record an album.’ Let’s just go record music, and see what happens after that.”

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Exploring Inward Greg Jehanian started Geology while in mewithoutYou as a way to slow down.

Greg Jehanian spent about 10 years as part of local rock band mewithoutYou. During that time, he and his bandmates wrote music as a group. It was highly democratic - everyone brought forth new ideas for writing and recording. During that same time, though, Jehanian was making music by himself at home. That project became Geology.

Though it’s always been his project, he’s recruited friends to fill in for live shows here and there.

“It’s funny because this was never supposed to be a band,” says Jehanian, of East Kensington.

“I never wanted to take this on tour. I quit mewithoutYou a year ago, and I never wanted this to be something like that.” mewithoutYou was a way for Jehanian to express himself through creating and playing music with close friends he grew up with, but it took up a lot of time. Writing music for Geology was a way for him to write “almost in the corner,” as he describes it, while working on material with mewithoutYou. Whenever he felt like it, he could do a live show.

The low pressure of making things entirely on his terms felt freeing to Jehanian. He can pick and choose sounds and moods that he likes, and he can write and record on his terms.

“It’s not because I don’t like collaborating,” he says. “I do love it. And honestly, I loved that in mewithoutYou because I think the five of us at the time, our heads together, our hearts together, made the song what it was. I certainly appreciate that because, through that labor, through that tension, you are birthing something you’re proud of. And, with this, the labor is there. But it’s different because it’s just me.”

The recording process is just him, but for his most recent release, 2016’s Healers, he recruited Matt Magarahan, his friend of more than 20 years, to master the tracks.

Magarahan says the lo-fi, calmer sound of Geology, contrasted with the louder work of Jehanian’s previous bands, doesn’t surprise him at all. For as long as Magarahan has known him,

Jehanian has been continually flexing his creative muscle.

“I’ve known him since before the mewithoutYou days and the Operation days, his band before mewithoutYou,” Magarahan, of Downingtown, says. “I think he’s always kind of writing and recording on his own. And then, as time and life permits, then he kind of makes a collection of those and goes from there.”

Now, Jehanian is rehearsing the material live, setting up shop in an old carriage house behind a friend’s house in East Oak Lane. He likes how the things he made on his own in his home develop a life and voice of their own when his friends provide input from their instruments. He remembers one specific time a song that otherwise seemed like it just wouldn’t work live suddenly fell in the sweet spot while they practiced.

“What’s interesting is, there’s a song that I put out maybe four or five years ago and I really like how it is on the recording,” he says. “It’s really delicate, quiet and atmospheric. And we tried it in practice before and it never worked out over the years. It’s not just that I’m like, ‘You’re not doing it right!’ It’s that all of us are like, ‘No.’ And then last practice we tried something different, and everyone kind of brought their own thing to it.

And it came alive in a way that it hasn’t before, so I feel like letting go has been good.”

Jehanian uses a lot of metaphors about songs coming to life or ideas being born. He’s already thinking about his follow-up to Healers and feels like whatever is coming next is ready to arrive. It’s an apt perspective for a guy who became a father recently.

“I got to the point last year where I’m really happy with what I put out, but there’s this sense of … I feel like something else wants to be birthed or push through to what might be next,” he says, referring to the next musical expression of everything going on in his life right now. “That’s how I create art - kind of exploring inward into that tension, kind of putting a magnifying glass on it and seeing what wants to push through. And I feel like I’ve been ignoring that a little bit for the last release or two. So all that is to say, I don’t know what’s coming next. But I’m excited to get in that hibernation period, kind of get in the womb, and see what wants to reveal itself.”

- Brendan Menapace

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THE

SOUND HONESTY OF

Performing spoken word helped Ivy Sole develop stage presence.

Dancing introduced her to different sounds. Writing what she knows has helped her connect to people.

I

Story by Emily Scott.

Photos by Sydney Schaefer.

n her first semester at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, Taylor McLendon rapped on stage with Kendrick Lamar.

“Immediately, I was known as the girl who rapped on stage with Kendrick,” McLendon says. “I thought this is a good thing and a terrible thing, because I don’t know if that rap was actually very good.”

It wasn’t the first time she met him. Earlier in the semester, she says she snuck backstage during his performance at the Theatre of Living Arts on South Street.

Meeting Lamar was one of many key moments for her music career.

Now, at 24 years old, she makes music under the moniker Ivy Sole. This past summer, Sole—who crafts indie hip-hop tracks with poetic influence—went on her first national tour, opening for th English songwriter Rag’n’Bone Man and she released her latest EP, West, in July.

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ole spent the first 18 years of her life in Charlotte, North Carolina, playing the clarinet and singing in choirs. She joined marching band after finding inspiration in the 2002 film, “Drumline.”

She says there’s not one singular sound in Charlotte, which therefore requires artists to create their own musical identity. The city is often seen as Atlanta’s little brother, but she doesn’t think that is the best comparison.

“In a lot of ways, we are the meeting point of the North and South,” she says.

“We’ve got a lot of trap influence but also got a lot of boom bap influence from the New York and New Jersey transplants that end up in Charlotte for banking or something.”

Sole started writing poetry in middle school, work she calls “sappy stuff” and “hella janky love poems,” while studying the subject in her English class.

“It was very cathartic,” she says. “I think I was just figuring out that words were kind of my jam. I just really fuck with words.”

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hen she started at the University of Pennsylvania, she was accepted into The Excelano Project, the university’s spoken-word poetry group.

Sole says her experience performing spoken word helped her build her voice and confidence in performance, which would come in handy as she became more involved with making music.

Victoria Ford, Sole’s best friend and poetry collaborator, says Sole speaks lyrically, and it’s something inseparable from her identity.

“In a way, a lot of what her music has shown me is how you plant seeds and water them,” Ford says. “That’s what she did through college, from open mic to performing poetry and traveling now. I’m constantly checking in with her to make sure she feels her feet can be planted because she is flying.”

At Penn, Sole studied business at the Wharton School, as well as Africana Studies. She says her exposure to new people and a multitude of music genres grew exponentially while in school.

Besides Excelano, Sole also joined African Rhythms, Penn’s African drum and dance troupe, as a dancer and was in a hip-hop music group called Liberal Arts. A combination of exposure to new music and performance helped her become a better artist.

“That changed my music making, literally hearing new sounds and finding new ways to organize sound and incorporate that into the music,” she says. “I

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was able to learn how to hold a mic and move around a stage and engage with a crowd genuinely. I think those groups gave me the confidence I needed to have in order to be a good performer on stage.”

A

fter graduating in 2015, Sole made a commitment.

“I decided to go solo because I wanted this shit really bad, and if I don’t do it now, then it’s likely that it won’t just ever transpire,” she says. “I knew I would’ve gotten comfortable and just let it go.”

Sole wrote one of her first EPs out of the frustration of making music in a group. She made the goal of recording her own album and gave herself a date when it had to be online. When Eden was released in April 2016, Sole satisfied that objective.

Her latest EP, West, is a sister project to a previously released EP, titled East.

A music video for “Life,” off of West, appeared on NPR Music in June. The song was written in honor of a childhood friend who took his life in 2012. Lyrically, the song, which has been in the works since 2013, focuses on overcoming internal demons.

“I think I often forget just how dope it is to be alive,” she says. “I forget how much sheer lit-ness is in my life. I can forget it. And I’ve had this plethora of experiences and opportunities. So, for someone else that doesn’t have any of that, it can be really difficult.”

The writing for both EPs happened almost concurrently. On West, she and friend Ethan Boye-Doe did most of the production, featuring help on some tracks from Teddy Walton, who helped produce “LOVE” from Kendrick Lamar’s most recent album, DAMN. At the moment, Sole’s favorite track off West is “Storm.” The song uses the ocean and shoreline as an analogy for conquering personal battles.

“The bridge of the track is me getting to the sand, getting out of the ocean,” she says. “And I really wanna get out of the ocean. Whether it be depression and anxiety, or financially or be successful, I just wanna get out of the storm.”

She found inspiration for her new material in groups like Soulection, a collection and movement of indie music producers and beatmakers exploring jazz, soul and hip-hop. The group laid the groundwork for Sole in meshing these genres while her verse-writing style is more focused on pop hooks, taking notes from musicians like Andy Shauf and Astronauts.

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hen it comes to beat production, Sole has three to four main collaborators, including manager and friend Boye-Doe. Boye-Doe and Sole met at Penn in 2011. He says watching her confidence as an artist grow over the past six years has been amazing.

The two were invited in September to Berlin by German-artist Cro, who wanted to perform with Sole.

“We love music so much,” Boye-Doe says. “We love what we are doing. It’s almost weird seeing the success. It’s weird when you are legitimately able to make a living doing what you love. It’s been pretty surreal to watch.”

Sole plans to continue music-making and performing, pushing to embody one particular trait.

“I’m trying to be as honest as humanly possible in my music, much to my detriment,” she says. “I just want to help other people be honest as well.

Honesty sounds good.”

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Food That Rocks

An Icon Shares His Space Legendary artist Isaiah Zagar has opened up his South Philly warehouse for shows, meals and events, all surrounded by his work.

“That looks pretty beautiful, that hot water heater,” Isaiah Zagar notes in the second-floor kitchen of his warehouse at 10th and Watkins streets in South Philadelphia.

Although he’s surrounded by floor-to-ceiling mosaics, Zagar, 78, still finds beauty in the ostensibly mundane, like the water heater that’s tucked away in the corner of an open broom closet.

Zagar is the artist behind some of the most recognizable outdoor art installations around the city, including Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens and at the Painted Bride Art Center. He’s had an illustrious career spanning more than 50 years.

He’s been featured in galleries around the globe for his art but it’s his South Philly warehouse that

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has become an important fixture in his life.

“I’ve had it for eight years, and it nearly killed me,” Zagar says. “It was empty and it’s big. And it was just a lot to do.”

After an ongoing battle with a busted front door lead to a hernia, which lead to an operation and subsequently a nervous breakdown, the artist wanted nothing to do with the warehouse anymore.

So, he tried to sell it. The response to that, however, was apprehension.

“People said to me, ‘This is terrible.

What are we going to do with all of these mosaics?’”

Zagar recalls. “It’s just hard to get rid of them.”

Now, the artist is in a much better state and he's back to admiring the building and its charms.

He recently took out a loan and finished some renovations, including building a spacious, family-style kitchen, and now he feels positive about its future. The warehouse has since played host to a slew of events, from pop-up dinners to conferences to rehearsal dinners and weddings.

Zagar is excited about the possibility of hosting more events there.

“I hope to have chefs come here from other parts of the country, and other parts of the world, and do special dinners,” he says.

“That’s a dream I have, because I’m a foodie.”

Chef and restaurateur Benjamin Miller, of South Philadelphia, concurs with this sentiment, noting the entire Zagar family loves all things art, culture and food. He’s also grateful the facebook.com/JUMPphilly

Photos by Charles Shan Cerrone.

warehouse’s kitchen has finally made progress, and what that means for future events.

“Previously, there was no kitchen area,” Miller explains. “We set up propane burners, used a garden hose for water, carted plates back and forth from the restaurant. The next round of chefs will have it easier than we did. The new construction is beautiful and Isaiah's work which decorates it continues getting better and better.”

Miller’s restaurant, South Philly Barbacoa, has always catered every event held in the space.

“Initially, we tried to open South Philly Barbacoa in that space.” Miller explains. “The neighbors were against the idea of a restaurant in the space, so we shelved the idea.”

Zeke Zagar, Isaiah Zagar’s eldest son, acknowledges the importance of the warehouse.

“His journey hasn’t been an easy one,” Zeke Zagar notes of his father. “What I like best about this place is that it has come so far from the beginning.”

A musician who’s performed throughout the city, and in his father’s warehouse on several occasions, Zeke Zagar has nothing but appreciation for the warehouse and says it should host the best parties in the world.

“The sound quality is great because there really are no square corners,” Zeke Zagar says. “This particular place, it’s the grand finale of all of his places.”

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Zeke Zagar is proud of his father’s warehouse, noting its significance in culture and in the community.

“It’s esoterically ahead of its time,” Zeke Zagar

says. “It’s for everyone. Everyone comes and everyone is loving with each other when we’re there. It’s almost like it raises the consciousness.”

Miller agrees, stating that people will go to the warehouse and enjoy Isaiah Zagar’s work and whatever future events are held there should be complementary to the art.

“Most recently, we performed a live cooking and music performance with Shakoor Sanders, Moor Mother and Maria Grand,” Miller recounts. “The music was composed and performed live with the sounds of cooking and the kitchen.”

The building itself is a continuous work-inprogress, as various rooms continue to transform into glistening and intoxicating sensory blends of bright colors and tactile patterns.

“My career is a very interesting one,” Isaiah Zagar says. “I’ve been showing work in the city of Philadelphia for the last 50 years. And, of course, I’ve had shows in galleries that go up and come down. But this is work I have that’s around for 24-hours a day, 365 days a year.”

- Maggie McHale

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