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Sweeping legislation Political leaders traveled to Point Breeze last week to discuss a bill pending that would hold property owners who possess abandoned buildings accountable. By Amanda L. Snyder R e v i e w S ta f f W r i t e r
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hile money may be tight for budgets on all levels of government, the General Assembly has been working to curb blight and abandoned properties and lots across the state with new legislation. With Senate Bill 900 — also known as the Neighborhood Blight Reclamation and Revitalization Act — weaving back and See BLIGHT page 12
Sports
Mariano Mattei, left, and wife Joann Mattei duet at their school’s new recording studio. They have been offering the community musical opportunities for the last six years. P h o t o b y J o h n W. D av i s J r .
Needing the Fifth With improvements to its recording studio, a local music school seeks to bolster the area’s reputation as a hit-making force. By Joseph Myers
A strut above the rest
A Neumann-Goretti senior makes verbal commitment to a Division I school. By Joseph Myers.............Page 42
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our decades after Kenneth Gamble teamed with Leon Huff to create the melodically unparalleled Philly soul, also known as the Philadelphia Sound, another duo is hoping to give the nation a sample of the young century’s next stars. On Oct. 11, Joann Mattei, one of four owners of Fifth Stone Music School, 2829 S. 18th St., and her spouse Mariano Mattei opened Philly Sound Studios, a venue that
figures to make their 6-year-old musical venture a leading location for performing and recording. For the husband-and-wife pair from the 1900 block of Shunk Street, the facility continues the transformation of its building from a spot for praising the Lord to one for playing a chord. The studio rests on the second floor of the former Berean Christian Assembly. Joann Mattei, who plays piano recreationally, and Mariano Mattei, a singer and guitarist for his band Real, began renovations in 2003, and
opened the school a year later. “I became involved primarily because of my love of music. Running the school is also something that keeps me connected to children,” Joann Mattei, the mother of three of her own tykes, said Monday in the studio’s control room. Deep family bonds helped the former computer programmer to name the school. “This is a stone building, so that part was easy,” she said of the 90-year-old strucSee PHILLY SOUND page 10