(JUMP Presents) Can Ali White Turn to Gold?
Text by Josh Fernandez. Images courtesy of Ali White.
Ali White and his older sister are in a typical love-hate relationship.
The difference between this and the standard sibling rivalry is that White, a 32-year-old Mt. Airy native who has been rapping since he was seven and producing music since his early teens, is still waiting for his big break. But his sister, international dance sensation Santigold, is currently thriving in the music industry.
That isn’t stopping White from pursuing his dream.
“Basically, the thing is, I’m totally going indie just from being up here in Philadelphia,” White says.
Orrin Evans: Philly Is a Big Part of Who I Am.
Text and image by Jacob Colon.
Pianist Orrin Evans could live just about anywhere.
Born in Trenton and raised in Mount Airy, Evans, 36, quickly went from playing small gigs in his hometown to performing on tour throughout Western Europe and the Middle East.
The Martin Luther King High School grad has recorded numerous albums and collaborated with musicians like Pharaoh Sanders, Branford Marsalis and Mos Def.
Yet, Evans is still rooted here, in Philly, and every Monday night, he leads a band of locals in a happy hour jazz jam session at the World Café Live.
Our Jacob Colon sat down with Evans at his home in Northwest Philly.
Cosmo Baker: Destined to DJ.
Text by Saleem “DJ Taaj” Sabree. Image by G.W. Miller III.
As a kid growing up in South Philly, Cosmo Baker made mixtapes by recording Power 99 and then gave the party tapes to his friends. By the time he was 16-years old and attending Central High, Baker had a set of turntables and a Gemini mixer, and he had house parties slamming all over the region.
Within a few years, he was spinning in clubs he wasn’t old enough to enter.
Baker now travels the world with his DJ collective, The Rub.
We dispatched our rising talent, Saleem “DJ Taaj” Sabree, to find out how Baker makes the floor move.
Valencia: Home Is Where The Music Plays.
Text by Kandace Kohr. Image by G.W. Miller III.
Philadelphia-based rockers Valencia have played gigs around the world, including stops in Japan and Australia. They’ve played the Warped Tour, opened for Blink 182 and dropped three albums, the most recent – Dancing With a Ghost – hitting the street last December.
Our Kandace Kohr spoke to singer Shane Henderson, guitarist JD Perry, bass player George Ciukurescu, guitarist Brendan Walter and drummer Daniel Pawlovich before the band took off for their 32-city spring tour that has them circumnavigating the country.
Where is The “Punk Rock Candidate” For Mayor Now?
Text by Tom Mates. Image courtesy of Larry West.
For better or worse, John Street’s mayoral tenure will be forever associated with the FBI bugging scandal and investigation into pay-to-play corruption in city government. While Street was never implicated, numerous people went to jail.
Street’s reign was so marred by controversy that in 2007, Michael Nutter essentially ran for mayor as the anti-John Street.
As if that campaign season wasn’t strange enough, Street’s brother, Milton Street, announced that he would run for mayor – despite facing federal charges for corruption and tax evasion, and the fact that he sort of lived in New Jersey. During a poorly attended rally next to City Hall, Milton announced his intentions and then sang gospel songs while leaning on a casket, preaching to the city that he could end the violence on the streets.
Oh, and Milton Street repeatedly called Nutter “Watermelon Man,” referring to the 1970 movie about a bigoted white man who wakes up one morning as a black man.
Most people just ignored Milton. Or laughed at him. Not Larry West, then a 22-year old metal-head with a Mohawk, who wanted to be your mayor.
He, alone, protested Milton’s rally. Wearing a studded Guns-n-Roses jacket, he brandished a sign reading “Stop Milton Street/ No Criminals in City Hall.”
Then Milton Street approached him.
“Why don’t you like me?” Street asked West, a lifelong resident of Mount Airy.
The two opponents were instantly swarmed by cameras and microphones, and West was formally introduced to the people of Philadelphia.
Milton Street, who might have thought this moment was his, immediately went on the offensive, prodding West with questions about crime in Philadelphia. With some polite but sharp answers and a wry smile, West sent the former mayor’s brother packing.
West’s mayoral quest was more unusual than just his attire and hair. He wasn’t legally allowed to run for mayor. Philadelphia’s City Charter states that no person under the age of 25 can run for mayor or city council.
West received a considerable amount of media buzz for someone running as an independent write-in. Maybe it was his rally cry for “radical change” in Philadelphia politics, or perhaps it was the oddity of a mayoral candidate with a six-inch Mohawk.
It was certainly the latter which garnered West the nickname the “Punk Rock Candidate,” which is a real misnomer as West is more Megadeth than he is Dead Kennedys.
Creeping Weeds: New Classic Rock (or Something Like That?).
Text and image by Megan Matuzak.
It’s hard to put Creeping Weeds into one musical category.
“I’m going to let you do this,” bassist Justin Seitz says with a chuckle, looking across the table toward front man and guitarist Pete Stewart inside the bustling Rocket Cat Café in Fishtown.
Stewart smiles large and toothy as he tries to pin the tail on the proverbial donkey. His sister/ guitarist, Kate Stewart, wife/ keyboardist Cara Stewart and drummer Chris Wirtalla eagerly await his response.
“Psych? Pop? Rock? I don’t know,” Stewart offers. “New classic rock is what
we have been calling it. Like new metal, but new right?”
Bill Moriarty Gets a New Home.
Text and image by Megan Matuzak.
Bill Moriarty’s new studio has the look of a college dorm room, or maybe a basement bedroom, but he calls the space “No Nostalgia.”
Littered with guitars and drum kits, mics and cables, with an old organ resting in the corner, the studio feels comfortable, like a lounge – and that produces the best music, Moriarty says.
Moriarty, the 31-year old producer who has engineered recordings for Man Man, Drink Up Buttercup and Dr. Dog among others, moved into the East Falls location in December after five years of sharing space with Dr. Dog. The Connecticut native and new father is proudly planting roots in Philadelphia.
“There’s excellence in lots of different music here,” Moriarty declares.
Home Cooking In the Dining Room.
Story by Lauren Gordon. Image by G.W. Miller III.
Walk into producer David Gaines’ Northeast livingroom and you are greeted with nothing but a rolled up rug, a stepladder and a paint-splattered wooden floor. There isn’t a stitch of furniture. Enter the kitchen and you won’t find a table or chairs.
Gaines’ dining room, however, is adorned with an elaborate set up of impressive equipment – dancehall-size speakers, a keyboard, microphone, guitars and an editing station. And on many nights, it’s packed with talented musicians.
“Thank God my wife gets it, man, and isn’t on me about the house,” jokes Gaines. “She understands what I do, what we do.”
Chris Malo, former editor of Foundation, writes about interviewing Ghostface Killah:
Dark. That’s what it’s like inside of the cramped hallway behind the stage, in the back of the Trocadero Theater.
The small space is packed with people. It’s elbow to elbow, Timb to Timb. It is almost like we are dying because at the other and of that corridor is a bright light. But instead of the afterlife, at the other end is a packed house full of screaming fans.
A figure departs the darkness, walks onto the stage and takes his place behind the turntables. Cueing up the music, he turns back to the tunnel and gives a nod.
The figure beside me nods back and it is then that I realize standing next to me is Ghostface Killah.
(Inside Voices) Mike Onufrak Wants You to Hear His Music.
Musician Mike Onufrak writes about performing in Philadelphia:
I was recently contacted by a local promoter/ booking agent about playing a Sunday night show at one of his clubs as a means to increase business on a night that normally lacked foot traffic. As a songwriter who is tired of working day jobs and wants people to hear his music for God’s sake, the last thing I want to hear is “Sunday night” and “low foot traffic.”
However, this was not the only gig this promoter had to offer and a few brownie points never hurt.
“Maybe I’ll get that all-ages Friday night show opening for that cheesy-but-popular out-of-town act I’ve been hoping for,” I thought. So I took the gig.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 