On January 21st, 1979, Blondie found themselves in a strange predicament. Canadian megaband Rush (R.I.P. Neil Peart) needed a last-minute opening act for their sold-out show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia—most likely New Jersey’s early-glam metal band Starz, or perhaps the opener from the previous night, Georgia band Stillwater had to cancel. It’s not entirely clear. What is clear is that the unlikely pairing of the New York New Wavers and the Canadian rockers wasn’t what Rush fans were expecting that night, and they let Blondie know this the minute they walked out on stage.

Blondie had played the Spectrum before, opening a show for Alice Cooper in the summer of 1978. This gig also started off on shaky ground for Blondie as they were greeted by boos as well as one Cooper fan shouting “Boo Blondie off stage…they’re PUNK!” The crowd kept jeering Blondie, but, according to people at the show, by the time they ripped into their second song, the audience was hooked, and they finished their set, incident- and heckling-free. For some reason, Rush fans were not as well behaved as Alice’s (which seems weird in its own right, right?). There are several first-hand accounts posted by fans who were there, telling the story of what happened that night at The Spectrum, describing Deborah Harry getting pelted with glow sticks and more. And it wasn’t pretty like Deborah Harry. Not even close.
 

A photo of Deborah Harry backstage at the Spectrum as seen in the book, ‘Daft Punk: A Trip Inside the Pyramid’ By Dina Santorelli.
 
The Spectrum was packed to the gills with around 18,000 rock fans waiting to see their idols perform jams from their sixth album, Hemispheres. Blondie took the stage in front of a standing-room-only floor, and the audience immediately started to boo them. Ignoring the haters, they started their set. By the second song, objects were steadily flying at the stage. At one point, Harry leaned into the crowd during “One Way or Another” and was slapped by dozens of glow sticks.

Continues after the jump…

 
A few months back online record club Vinyl Me, Please and Drexel University’s student-run MAD Dragon Records released Laugh To Keep From Crying by the Nat Turner Rebellion. The album was comprised of nearly 50-year-old, mostly never-released recordings of this short-lived Philadelphia-based band who were working in the hard-funk plus horns arena (think Sly & The Family Stone meets Blood, Sweat & Tears). The group broke up when one member pulled a gun on another, but decades later, when all but one of them is deceased, the music they made together is being discussed on NPR and by Rolling Stone. The initial pressing of the LP sold out almost instantly.

The Nat Turner Rebellion’s recordings had been stored in the library of Philly’s famous Sigma Sound Studios, the studio closely associated with Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International Records, the pre-disco hit factory showcasing “The Sound of Philadelphia” which was responsible for an astounding 175 gold and platinum records. David Bowie recorded Young Americans in Sigma’s Philly location. Stevie Wonder recorded there. Thom Bell worked there constantly. The studio’s house band MSFB (“Mother Father Sister Brother”) employed a pool of more than 30 top studio musicians and were Philadelphia’s answer to the Wrecking Crew. Even krautrockers Amon Düül II did something at Sigma. During its heyday the studio was booked out for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
 

 
Founder Joseph Tarsia closed Sigma’s Philly location in 2003 (Sigma’s New York location was sold in 1988) and donated over 7000 unclaimed tapes from the studio’s tape library to the Drexel University Audio Archive. Drexel’s Music Industry department is regarded as one of the finest in America. The university has its own independent record label, MAD Dragon Music Group, and an artist services firm, concert promotion company and a booking agency. The Nat Turner Rebellion project is the first of what will no doubt be many more released from the Sigma Sound tapes.

I asked some questions about the Sigma Sound archive and the school’s program via email, to Toby Seay and Marc Offenbach from Drexel University’s Music Industry Program and Audio Archives.

How was it that the Sigma Sound archives came to Drexel?

Toby Seay: The Sigma Collection was donated to Drexel in 2005. The donation consisted of all the tapes that were left behind at the studio for whatever reason. When the studio was sold a few years prior to donation, Sigma spent years and lots of money trying to locate all the original tape owners. They made phone calls, took out ads in all the trade magazines, and after an exhaustive search, what was still not picked up was considered abandoned property. It was then that a deed was issued for the physical tapes, which allowed for the transfer and donation into the hands of Drexel. It was a very forward-thinking decision. Here are studio recordings needing a home and Drexel has a pioneering Music Industry program that could use these tapes for educational purposes. Additionally, universities are great homes for these types of collections as they all have archives, researchers, licensing departments, and all the things needed to preserve media collections. So, in our case, the tape owners contacted Marcy Rauer Wagman, who was the Drexel Music Industry program’s Director at the time. She worked out the deal and got the tapes to campus. What that means is that we are the owners of the physical tapes. But we do not own the intellectual property that is recorded on the tapes. This is a very typical situation for libraries and archives.

Do you also have the original tape machines from the studio?

Toby Seay: We have a few machines from Sigma. We have two ½” 4-track Scully 280s, two ¼” Scully 2-track 280s, and a ¼” Ampex 440. These were obtained later to supplement the collection. We do have other artifacts from Sigma, such as the EMT Reverb Plates, the “Recording” lights from above the doors, and numerous pieces of test equipment - not to mention boxes and boxes of paper records related to the studio.
 

 
Some of the names seen in the various picture of the archive are pretty notable acts, if not superstar performers like David Bowie and Sly Stone. What ARE those tapes? Are there really Young Americans outtakes in the collection?

Toby Seay: Yes, as Bowie recorded most of Young Americans at Sigma, the Bowie tapes are 2” 16-track outtakes of those sessions. There are a number of early renditions of the song “Young Americans” as well as “John, I’m Only Dancing,” and many others. There are a few unreleased songs as well. The Sly Stone tapes are 2” 24-track recordings that were originally recorded at CBS Studios in San Francisco in 1976 for the Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back album. Again, not sure why they are in the Sigma Collection, but I assume they were brought in for mixing.

I noticed the Amon Düül II tape in one of the photos? What’s that? 

Toby Seay: It is a 2” 24-track safety of “Ain’t Today Yesterday’s Tomorrow” recorded in 1977. I have no idea how it came to be in the Sigma Collection. The album that this song is on, Almost Alive, only lists studios in Munich, Manchester, and London. It may have been sent for string recordings or mixing, or who knows?

Anything else that is particularly noteworthy?

Toby Seay: While we don’t have the Gamble and Huff PIR tapes for which Philadelphia is known, our collection does have some pretty significant artists represented. Sometimes those are just outtake reels that got left behind and sometimes it is the actual masters. We have a lot of Grover Washington, Jr., Teddy Pendergrass, Patti LaBelle, mostly from the late 80s and early 90s. We also have a great collection of disco recordings that really show the development of that genre, things like Earl Young and the Trammps’ “Zing, Went the Strings of my Heart,” Jackie Moore’s “This Time Baby,” Odea Coates’ “That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles,” and TNJ’s “Don’t Forget About Me.” The list goes on and on.
 
Continues after the jump…

 
I’ve known Jason Thornton for most of my life. He’s one of the world’s consummate crate diggers and has amassed (and sold and then amassed again) a vinyl collection of epic proportions. He started collecting Elvis’ Sun Records 45s with his father when he was six years old, the two of them scouring garage sales and junk stores panning for plastic gold. By the time he was twelve, he was already an otaku-level “sophisticate” when it came to music, especially classic soul and doo-wop, rockabilly and what is now called “old skool” rap and hip-hop, but was then still a brand new thing. When I met him, he was part of a group of older record-obsessed friends in my hometown of Wheeling, WV. From time to time, when he was still in high school, he’d stay on my couch in New York and spend a few days vacuuming up amazing and obscure finds in lower Manhattan’s record stores with the zeal of a first-time visitor from Japan plotting out his record shopping with ruthlessly military efficiency.

Fast forward a… uh “few” years (okay thirty of them) and he’s a married middle-aged graphic designer working in the Boston area. In recent years Jason (the designer) and his partner Dave Moore (the writer/editor) an Englishman based in Spain have been publishing the well-respected There’s That Beat, a rare soul music fanzine. They were asked by the Swedish book publisher Premium Publishing to channel their expertise into a book on the history of Philadelphia’s music makers and the result is the absolutely mind-bogglingly detailed and comprehensive—not to mention freaking massive—guide to the City of Brotherly Love’s music scene ever published The Philly Sound: Philadelphia Soul Music and its R&B: From Gospel & Bandstand to TSOP. Chock full of rare photos, label scans, sheet music covers, vintage print ads and lots and lots of great stories, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could ever come along and top this truly definitive volume in the future. It’s nearly 700 pages, printed in color on thick glossy paper and weighs more than my dog, so I’m guessing about ten pounds.

And that’s the problem. For reasons related to the shipping costs of such a huge book, Amazon opted not to take on The Philly Sound: Philadelphia Soul Music and its R&B: From Gospel & Bandstand to TSOP, but you can buy it directly from the authors at the There’s That Beat  website.

I asked Jason and Dave some questions via email.

Dangerous Minds: A “music city”—be that Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, London or Kingston, Jamaica—presupposes an infrastructure to support the business and practical side of things (recording studios, a pool of good musicians, record labels, venues, radio stations, etc). What made Philly such a “strange attractor” for soul musicians?

Jason Thornton: Like most industrial cities, Philadelphia drew lots of black people from the south to seek jobs. Those people brought their talents up north to help create some incredible music, many honing their craft in church and under streetlamps. With the invention of the 45rpm record, it became very inexpensive for people to cut a record and get it into the marketplace. On top of that, the popularity of American Bandstand, a show that started locally and went national, was inspiring people to rush into recording studios and try for that unique exposure. Philadelphia was also a major distribution point for records getting out into the world and Dick Clark was financially linked to distributorships and record labels, not to mention all of the great influential DJs from the many radio stations that catered to black audiences. With all those factors combined, Philadelphia had the perfect terroir for all sorts of music and all of the vehicles in place to help it thrive.

Dave Moore: It was the city’s emergence as a pivotal gospel center via the music of The Ward Sisters, and The Dixie Hummingbirds, alongside Billie Holiday’s blues recordings during the era of the “race records”  that first put the city’s black artists on the musical map. With the rock ‘n’ roll explosion of the 50s, white record label owners were looking for white interpreters of this musical phenomenon and Philadelphia-born Bernie Lowe’s Cameo and later Parkway, identified the Italian teen idol as being a great commercial vehicle. His company dominated the record market on the back of American Bandstand with an artist roster that included Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Fabian.

After the Beatles and the British Invasion just about destroyed Cameo/Parkway’s business, waiting in the wings with a new kind of black music were the likes of Maurice Bailey Jr., Kenny Gamble, Joe Stevenson, Leon Huff, Thom Bell, Luther Randolph, Johnny Stiles and Weldon A McDougal III, John Madara and David White, Richard Barrett and Wally Osborne.  During the early sixties these musical entrepreneurs along with others, created a platform that delivered many of the classic Philly soul records of its golden era.  With one eye on Detroit’s successful Motown company,  the city’s musical landscape was sculpted by these people, some more successfully than others. The pinnacle of Philadelphia’s second musical coming came about when Joe Tarsia purchased a building on N 12th St just round the corner from 309 Broad St (the old Cameo Studio).

With Joe’s expertise as a sound engineer, the foundations of MFSB coming together at Frank Virtue’s Studio and Gamble and Huff enjoying success with the Intruder singles, the fuse of Philadelphia’s rocketing success was lit. International hits by Billy Paul, the O’Jays. Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, McFadden And Whitehead, Jerry Butler, The Jones Girls all ensured that Gamble and Huff’s “The Sound Of Philadelphia” took pride of place in the city’s musical achievements.
 

 
Over the decades who were the power players of Philly Soul?

Dave Moore: I guess the guys who really rose to the top of the city’s musical hierarchy are probably identified in three distinct groupings during the timeline of the 50s to the 70s.

Firstly, in the ‘50s, there were those that enjoyed the initial pop success i.e. Bernie Lowe, Kal Man and Dave Appell via America’s teenage awakening years and Dick Clark’s ascendancy with Bandstand. Although not all soulful outings, the labels they established would prove useful apprenticeships for many of the city’s future soul stars.

The 60s saw the emergence of the black influence both in front of and also behind the microphones and mixing board.  Jimmy Bishop’s WDAS radio show put him on top of the promotion pile and his Arctic label was unlucky not to recreate Berry Gordy’s success with Motown. Jerry Ross was enjoying much success with a number of acts and labels and the decline of Cameo/Parkway saw openings for Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell amongst a swathe of young ambitious entrepreneurs.

As the 70s emerged the undisputed crown kings of Philly Soul were The Mighty Three:  Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell.  Joe Tarsia had created the perfect cauldron at Sigma Sound Studios and with MFSB (and particularly Ronnie Baker, Norman Harris and Earl Young as its heartbeat), delivering unrivaled talent, The Mighty Three drove the juggernaut that was a worldwide international success: The Sound Of Philadelphia.     
 

Leon Huff, Thom Bell and Kenny Gamble

What are some songs that best exemplify the Philadephia sound? What was “the TSOP”?

Dave Moore: “The Sound Of Philadelphia” has become synonymous with the green record label bearing the same name owned by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. They could certainly lay a strong claim to be so. The music created by their company via Joe Tarsia’s Sigma Sound Studio was certainly an identifiable and unique sound of the time incorporating lush arrangements, bongo-driven intros, lavish string components and of course with the backing voices of the Sweethearts of Sigma, MFSB’s skills were allowed to breathe fully. If I had to select a solitary song that exemplified this cauldron of talent I’d plump for The O’Jays’ “I Love Music.” Comprising a tell-tale intro, metronome-like drumming from Earl Young, plus effervescent vocals from a real iconic singing group, the whole ensemble are at the top of their creative game.   
 
Much more after the jump…

 
His real name is Michael Grant, but residents of the city that made the Philly cheesesteak sandwich famous simply refer to him as “Philly Jesus.” On Monday evening around 6 p.m. Philly Jesus was checking his emails at an Apple Store on Walnut Street in Philadelphia when management asked him to leave.

Philly Jesus refused to leave, so the Philly store manager called the Philly police.

Police arrived in due course and requested that Grant leave the premises. According to police, Grant refused to leave and was creating a disturbance. Grant was taken into custody and charged with Defiant Trespassing and Disorderly Conduct.

It is not known whether Jesus was updating his JDate profile or not. However, if nothing else, the incident establishes that Jesus is not a Windows user.

This is not the first time the Philly J-Man has been arrested. In 2014 Grant was arrested at Dilworth Plaza for Disorderly Conduct and Failure to Disperse. Grant’s contention at the time was that he was misunderstood; he said he doesn’t ask for money, but he does accept tips.
 

 
Photos: Jen A. Miller; via Arbroath

A miniature replica of The Forum XXX Theater in Philadelphia (RIP)
 
Long-time Philadelphia resident and artist Drew Leshko, has created incredibly detailed miniature versions of some of his city’s decaying architecture.
 

Revival Temple
 
Inspired by subjects found in his own neighborhood, Leshko’s goal was to enlighten people to the ever-encroaching gentrification of his city by preserving structures and objects in miniature form that have been a part of his community for many decades. Especially structures that will soon be replaced by shinier, newer buildings or businesses. Using a layering technique, Leshko carves his three-dimensional relics out of paper and wood and creates 1:12 scale replicas of fading local attractions like the “Set- it-Up-Go-Go-Bar” (which is still open), XXX movie theater “The Forum” (RIP), or everyday objects like dumpsters decorated with bumper stickers, signs, long gone businesses or other reminders of the past.
 

 
Wherever you might be reading this, it’s likely that in the very recent past you have said goodbye to yet another part of your own town’s cultural heritage. And there seems to be no stopping this disturbing, profit-driven trend. Thanks to an artist like Leshko, a piece of that heritage will live on and be remembered by those who grew up with them, and will hopefully serve as a reminder to future residents of cities like Philadelphia that preserving our past has as much to do with ensuring our future as anything else.
 

Miniature of The World Famous Set-it-Off-Go-Go-Bar in Philadelphia
 

United Check Cashing
 
More miniature Philly after the jump…

 
For the past two weeks, rail commuters in the greater Philadelphia area have been speeding past brief bursts of startling day-Glo color, standing out in the otherwise typical greys and browns of a major Eastern metropolis. The project, underwritten by the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program, is the handiwork of noted German artist Katharina Grosse, and it’s intended to give a little aesthetic jolt to the doubtless sleepy train ride passengers take every morning.
 

 
The work exists on seven sites between the North Philadelphia Station and the 30th Street Station downtown, which conveniently serves trains from the Amtrak, SEPTA and NJ Transit rail networks—so plenty of people will see the installation. As the artist says, “I need the brilliance of color to get close to people, to stir up a sense of life experience and heighten their sense of presence.”
 

 
Vaguely (but not derivatively) reminiscent of Christo’s massive interventions, the work bears the somewhat trying-too-hard name psychylustro, and seems more than anything else a temporal version of those nifty anamorphic 3D sidewalk paintings you’ve seen—the angles of the lime green paint splatters on the sprawling building at “site 7” near the North Philadelphia Station seem specifically tailored to be more arresting when viewed from the moving train.

Grosse has specialized in ambitious large-scale works that fall somewhere between site-specific installation art and architecture; it’s not too much of a stretch to call her an abstract architect. Based on my perusal of the small selection of artworks shown at the bottom of this page, psychylustro seems to be a more successful work than the others shown because of its utilitarian pop and also the requirement to use bold colors—in my estimation, anyway.

The sites represent a cross-section of urban decay, including an old railroad trestle and an abandoned warehouse with trees today popping through its collapsed roof, and the colors—bright orange, lime green, hot pink—were surely chosen to stand out. Curator Liz Thomas observes that the work’s purpose is to inject “a beautiful disruption into a daily routine” and to provoke “an experience that asks people to think about this space that they hurtle through every day.”

Grosse intentionally declined to protect the exposed paint with sealant, so the inevitable months-long process of decay has, well, already begun. Eventually the lime-green warehouse will fade and become besmirched by some form of urban grime. Honestly, I hope it doesn’t end up being an eyesore, because in its current form it’s quite something.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Here’s a playful time-lapse video documenting the creation of a hot-pink site. I’d love to see video from the train! But so far there isn’t anything like that on YouTube.
 

 
via Designboom