City Slides Q&A

According to my sources, Drew, you rode your bicycle from Baltimore to Philadelphia last weekend. Tell us a little about the trip.

The trip was pretty exciting for me. I got rid of my car and have been riding my bike everywhere for about three years. This trip was kind of the pinnacle of all that riding. I did it on my fixed gear Bianchi, so I am pretty proud of that (100 miles on a fixie is no joke). As far as the actual trip went, the first 50 miles was a lot of fun. Maryland has some beautiful stuff going on, and the Conowingo Damn is pretty awesome. The last 50 miles was a different trip, it was more about survival. I started getting some serious pains in my elbows and shoulders and had to make some adjustments to my bike in order to endure. Also, route 1 is basically a highway complete with exit ramps and tractor-trailers. It wasn’t your Sunday ride in the county (what we call the country side in Baltimore). I saw a lot of mono-cropping farms along the way. Lots of small towns doing their thing and that’s always good to see. All of the cops along the way smiled and made me feel good. There were also share the road signs the entire trip so I felt safer knowing that. Seeing the Philly skyline from the top of a hill in Media was like Dorothy seeing the Emerald City. I did it, am proud of that, and encourage everyone to get on a bike and get moving.

City Slides is a Baltimore based band. Tell us a little about the city and surrounding areas (Hampden, etc).

(Drew) Baltimore has adopted me with its big beautiful arms. I am from Gloucester City, NJ (across the Walt Whitman Bridge, next to Camden) and moved down here about 3 1/2 years ago for a job and girl. I lost the girl, but still have the job, so it’s all good. Baltimore is the city of neighborhoods. I live in Remington, kind of an in-between neighborhood. We still have our crime and all, but it’s getting a lot better. I live with songwriter MacGregor Burns and local rock-violin legend the VCR. If you’ve ever seen the Food Network show Ace of Cakes, I live a block south of that place. I moved here from Hampden, the quirky artsy sceney neighborhood north of Remington. I loved Hampden, and would def. go back, but the stars have placed me here. We actually do a pretty regular gig in Hampden on the “Avenue.” We busk outside, probably our favorite thing to do, and maybe the thing we are known for the most. Unlike a lot of other cities Baltimore’s street performing scene is small. Except for the performers down on the harbor doing their thing you don’t see much. I do, however, feel that is about to change. We are actually going to be busking the Station North Arts Festival this coming Saturday with a bunch of our friends. It’s complete freedom, it’s what the music we play is all about, if you consider us a folk band.

John lives in Govans, and has an amazing garden and raises bees. He lives with his many cats and dog, and beautiful wife, Lesley. John and Lesley are amazing people. Their home has felt like home since day one. They have that remarkable ability to make you feel welcome and relaxed immediately. John has been a huge influence on me as a human being. He has also helped my confidence; he really gets behind me when I come up with new ideas, or bring old ones out of storage.

Patrick and Atom live in a cozy neighborhood called Hamilton. Hamilton is the shit. Great art; bars; people. Almost all of my friends live in Hamilton, and if I had a family I’d take care of them there. The gardens that Atom and Patrick maintain there are top notch. You really have no idea, you’d have to come to experience. The local spirit in Baltimore is amazingly strong. I have never felt such strong support for local ideas anywhere else in my life. Hamilton encompasses all of this.

Tell us a little about each member of the band.

None of us owns a TV set. Okay, I’m Drew. I write the songs, sing the songs, and play harmonica. I am 26 years old and this is the 5th band I have been in. My previous bands primarily being punk bands, and of course a member of the legendary Baltimore band Good Guise. I am a strict vegetarian and bike advocate. I am currently involved in the urban gardening movement in Baltimore. I also cook, and organize events around the city. I definitely tell the worst jokes in the band, but make up for it with my serious winter beard.

Patrick- You can find Patrick in a tree or dancing to good music. He likes talking and listening too. Patrick whistles with the birds and barks at the dogs. He plays accordion in Cityslides and has been playing with the guys since Good Guise. As a retired classical pianist, Patrick enjoys cleaning for others and rockin’ epic reggae jams on concert grand pianos.

Decker- I'm 58, married to Leslie, born and lived in Baltimore, play a 1933 National Resonator guitar, I cut some fingers off my left hand Oct. 07 so now I have to use a bottleneck, I try to stay engaged with family community, do no harm and such.

Atom- Adam loves cheese and he does small things on a large scale. He is about to get hitched on an island this harvest season. He is a maker of many things and has many on-going experiments. As a retired falafel chef, he spends his days gardening in Baltimore city and rearranging rocks. Adam likes to write songs on guitar and in City Slides he plays the bass.

Describe the music you write, record, and perform.

Our music is “streetgrass.” We aren’t schooled in playing any type of traditional music, and what we come up with comes straight out of our psyches. Therefore, we reflect our individual experiences and surroundings. Our songs all come from our work, whether it be gardens, children, biking, friends, family, the world from the radio news, it goes in the brain waves and comes out music waves. In the true spirit of localvorism we keep our sounds close to home. I am hugely influenced by two main artists: Propagandhi (Canada progressive thrash) and Bob Dylan. I want to take on the social ills of society in a poetic way. Crafting words that intrigue and, if successful, cause listeners to be proactive. I only write when I am inspired, which is hard to come by, but is never dry. Music for me has always been a way of inspiring people, and a cause for change. It’s not a new idea. My songs come from something I cannot explain and don’t even think about that much. I never try to write a song, it’s either there or it isn’t. As for recording, we haven’t gotten there yet. I do some stuff in my room on Garageband just so I can throw it up on Myspace so people can have an idea of what we are all about. We’d love to record, but are waiting for the right time. Performance is another thing totally. We are all very uniquely different and that is ever present in our performance. Right now we are very focused on doing original material that speaks of who we are, and what we are all about. It’ll show, come see us.

Who designs the art for your CDs and flyers for your shows?

Various friends. We have the best friends, everyone is quite amazing. I am working with Philadelphia artist Emily Andrews for our CD cover. It’s getting there. I actually did a flyer today for a show we have coming up. Mike Clarke (commonseed.org) did this amazing poster for this huge event we just held called the Urb Ag Gala, or urbagala, for short.

Have you had any careers not related to music?

We are all Renaissance men. (Drew) I am a teacher currently, teaching cooking and nutrition. I have worked in demolition, fence installation, dishwashing, landscaping, ticket-taking, web design. You name it, I’ve probably done it.

Patrick- piano teacher, house painting, construction, sculpture, landscaping, gardening, cleaning, organizing...

Atom- Stone Mason, Gardner, Chef, Recycling yard worker, Consultant… I have never had a career related to music (taxable income).

Decker- I worked for Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus for 36 years doing building maintance, doing work for folks when they cant't afford contractors, grow plants, rob bees and putz

What are your goals, musically?

(Drew) All I want to do musically is discover my innermost artist, and never let anything get in the way of that. I just want to write the best songs I can write, and have fun doing it. I take it pretty damn serious, but am able to laugh at myself along the way. I’d like to sell out the 2640 space as a headlining group, and meet Bob Dylan (already met Propagandhi). Play for those who will listen, and that’s about it. I’d love to be in the position where I could write songs all day if I wanted. I’ll wake up in the morning and start something, then have to go to work and lose it, which kinda sucks.

Patrick- I enjoy when we connect with the music so tight that we are one mind; flowing and growing together. I think it’s cool when this can extend to our audience, especially when we play on the street!

Atom- keep it interesting and edgy without being obnoxious and preachy.

Decker- I provide the dirt and then watch it grow, my responsibility is to do my best to support whoever is putting themselves up front, I'm honored to stand with these fellows, Drew is a powerful poet and he's growing rapidly as a songwriter, Atom is pretty much a legend within our circle with his creative nature, I sense the potential for some amazing art and relational growth reflected in our music.

Do you have side projects you work on?

Drew- no, but I do poetry and short stories.

Patrick- I have been teaching piano at a music school part time for about four years. I would like to write individualized curriculum for each student I teach. In this way, my students could get valuable customized attention. This means I need to learn all styles of music for piano; classical, jazz, reggae, blues, honky-tonk, etc. I have been recently bartering with a private piano student for cooking lessons. This has been a very unique experience I would like to cultivate. I write words and create music. One day the two will merge as one.

Atom- Yes…..good guise band, solo stuff- Atom Fisher

Decker- I play with some folks from my Church, we get down with the Lord from time to time for special music

Favorite lyrics to a song?

Drew- my song? My favorite lyric is from For Rebecca, “It’s all in the same sentence, the beauty of remembrance.” That line is all about letting your guard down and letting love come flowing into your life, but love can be like a sentence and ends in different ways sometimes; exclamations, question, or just periods. I wonder if the person I wrote that for has ever heard it. As far as other lines go. I’d have to go with Dylan, “The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face.” Beautifully poetic. The kind of poetry where you know what he’s saying without thinking, but have no idea what he’s saying when you do stop to think.

What are you currently reading?

Drew- Jesus, I am an addicted reader. Let’s see, luckily I am by my bed and my books are here. Finishing Seedfolks and A Confederacy of Dunces, picking at Rimbaud’s work and Vonnegut’s Bagambo Snuff Box (short stories). About to get into American Fascists and Finnegan’s Wake (a present).

Patrick- Holy Bible, Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, how to fix your bicycle by helen garvy, Art & Physics by Leonard Shlain. Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss.

Is there anything that you would like to share with our readers?

Drew- Destroy your TV, get a bike, plant a garden, elect yourself, write a song, make your way to the Gawdenyu!

Atom- Things are looking up. This “economic crisis” will breath life back into people, forcing us to live in community again.

Patrick- climb a tree... or dance... or both... at once!

Decker- Stay connected to your passion and respond to those things that are written on your hearts with an honorable pursuit

Website: www.myspace.com/cityslides

Joe Duffey & Whatevers Clever

Tell us a little about each member of the band.

Joe: I’m 27 and from the Olney section of Philly. I sing and play acoustic guitar, mandolin, harmonica, jaw harp and kick drum. My wife Aria Mascaro (26) also sings and is now six months pregnant with our second baby. My brother Brendan Duffey (23) plays keys for the band. He plays bass lines with his left hand while filling out our overall sound with his right. Drew Saracco (21) is our drummer, bassist, and electric guitar player from Cheltenham. Each of our songs require a different set of Drew’s skills. He’s also the drummer in a band called Sports. Dan Gallagher (27) is from Bucks County and pretty much takes care of everything else that makes up our sound. He sings and plays guitar, mandolin, and banjo, depending on the song. Dan is also the lead singer and songwriter for the band Crow vs Lion. We’ve all known each other for many years but grew separately as musicians, only to come together in the end for the cause of making music.

How would you categorize the type of music you perform? What genre would you say it fits into?

Joe: Jack Firneno of Crow vs Lion once described our music as darkadelic chamber folk. Even though I’m not sure what that means, I think it pretty much explains it in a nutshell.

Dan: I'd say there are a couple of things that make our sound unique to a point where we don't necessarily fit into one genre. As a band I believe each of us feels that every song should be approached differently, meaning that there is no real formula to the way a song is put together.

Aria: I always say it’s a folky, rocky, alternativy, kinda jamboree…

Describe the music you write, record, and perform.

Joe: My lyrics are definitely dark, but our chord progressions and arrangements range anywhere from angry to jubilating. Our music is very sarcastic in a lot of ways. I write about wanting to escape reality, my contempt for conformity, my disappointment with humanity, and about being an atheist in a religious world. But our music still tends to make people happy because of the style and delivery. My words are very poetic and metaphoric, but I don’t write songs about love or sunsets. Overall we’re strict when it comes to writing for the sake of simplicity in terms of chord progressions and melodies, but due to the complexity of some of our recordings, we’re not really minimalists.

We record our music in Whatevers Clever Studio, which is actually my basement in Jenkintown. Most of the recordings were finished between 2006 and 2008 before the band was even formed. I write and record the majority of the music and then collaborate with my brother Brendan on piano parts and bass lines. Drew and Dan came in later to add some accents of their own. We record onto my laptop using Protools plugged in through the Mbox, simple as that. My basement is filled with different instruments and we try to get lost in the midst of them while we’re recording. The sound of our recordings could definitely be described as lo-fi. Recording with crappy mics and low quality equipment is what gave it that effect in the beginning, but as we’ve upgraded our studio we’ve tried to hold onto that basement sound and will continue to do so. I’ve always appreciated bands with a more rugged homemade sound.

Aria: If you listen closely, our son Grayson makes a few guest appearances cooing or crying in the background of the recordings. He would cry or shriek and we just thought, “Well he can be a part of all this too” and the recordings stuck.

Joe: Our live performances are more energetic than our recordings, and obviously more collaborative. Drew wrote all new drum parts for the live shows and plays with much more ferocity than what you hear on the album. And Dan brings a whole new style with his banjo, mandolin, and guitar than what I had originally recorded. I sit upfront with either my guitar or mandolin and play the kick drum while playing and singing. The heavy kick drum is prominent in both our recordings and our live shows, and me playing it enables Drew to be free to play bass lines or guitar solos when need be. It’s an unconventional set up, but we want it to feel like we’re just hanging out with the audience as if we were in their living room.

Who designs the art for your CDs and flyers for your shows?

Joe: I’ve been painting and writing poetry for as long as I can remember. So I put those skills to use in Photoshop when creating our ads and promos. I’m a do-it-yourself kind of person and having the band has given me all sorts of excuses to spend my free time writing and creating art. It’s a large part of why I love having the band; it’s like an endless art project.

What type of music did you grow up listening to?

Joe: I actually grew up on nothing but underground hip-hop. I was into groups like Dilated Peoples, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang, Jurassic 5, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, People under the Stairs, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Gang Star, Cool Keith, etc. It wasn’t until I discovered Modest Mouse, Interpol, The Shins, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Okkervil River, Kings of Leon, The White Stripes, and My Morning Jacket that I forgot about rap and dove into discovering new bands to the point of obsession. I now listen to an endless array of musical groups including Dr Dog, Man Man, The Avett Brothers, Langhorne Slim, Bright Eyes, Beirut, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Devendra Banhart, DeVotchKa, The Decemberists, The Cave Singers, Ugly Casanovas, and many, many more.

Aria: And Joe opened my eyes to all new musicians starting the day we met, it was like someone showed me a world I didn’t know existed, I had pretty much always listened to classic rock: Led Zepplin, The Doors, Janis Joplin, etc.

Drew: I was kind of the opposite of Joe in this respect. Nirvana was my favorite band since I can remember and I grew up listening to all of the early 90’s grunge/indie rock (which is still probably my favorite music) like Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Pavement, Modest Mouse, etc. My father also raised me on your typical 60’s acts like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Pink Floyd. My two favorite time periods are definitely the 60’s and the 90’s but now I listen to a wide variety of music. At the moment I’ve been listening to: My Bloody Valentine, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, The Beach Boys, Grizzly Bear, Daniel Johnston, R. Stevie Moore, Mudhoney, Joy Division, The Rolling Stones, Atlas Sound, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Scratch Acid, The Vaselines, The Flaming Lips, and the list goes on. My favorite album of all time is “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine.

Bee: Growing up, I was down with a lot of the stuff Joe would play on the boombox like Tribe, Common, and J5. Sublime, Cake, Gorillaz, Nas, The Flaming Lips, Allman Brothers and Gang Starr were early staples of my music diet. Saves the Day awkwardly got me through my awkward years. I love Radiohead. To this day, I always preferred instrumental music and listen to a few classical pianists like Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. Being introduced to Modest Mouse (specifically, Lonesome Crowded West) marked the beginning of an enlightenment period for me in which I got to know a lot of my favorite music today, including The Beta Band, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Interpol, Man Man… Lately, I can’t get enough of Sound Tribe Sector 9.

Dan: When I was real young I heard a lot of Irish Folk, the only music my Dad ever listened to. Later I listened to Nirvana, Wu Tang, Tribe Called Quest, Lost Boyz, The Roots, White Stripes, Pearl Jam, Ben Harper, Beastie Boys, Sublime, The Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan, Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, The Sweetheart Parade, Hezekiah Jones, Bright Eyes, Langhorne Slim, and countless other artists and songs.

Any plans to create a music video?

Joe: We’d definitely like to create a video for The Short Necked Giraffe. The lyrics are so vivid and obviously comical that we feel almost obligated to do so. Drew is in his senior year at Temple’s film school and he’s majoring in Cinematography so we’d be fools not to take advantage of his skills. Once he graduates in May we’ll start putting something together. But, once again, it’ll most likely be a do-it-yourself type of operation… I’m messing around with Flash now.

Aria: It’s gonna be awesome, I’ve already gotten a taste of what’s to come.

Have you had any careers not related to music?

Joe: As of now, I’m a dad and a marketer for a wholesale ribbon company. Before I decided to go to college when I was 23, I was an HVAC tech from the age of 19 until I graduated. Aria is a mom and a bookkeeper for a construction company. Aria: I have also worked for a small finance company, worked in food prep, and bartended. Joe: Drew is a clerk at a local video store and a film student at Tyler Art School. Brendan is a student at Catholic University in DC. Dan: Dan has a day job.

How have you handled the business side of being a musician? What are your goals, musically?

Joe: We know enough people in the city to fill up the venues that we play, and that family is growing every show. As long as people keep showing up to our gigs, we’ll continue to be able to book great venues. We’ve found that people are more than willing to help us find great places to play as long as we can bring out people to drink the beer. It’s pretty much all networking and if you’re polite and courteous to booking agents, owners, and sound guys, one gig will lead into the next pretty smoothly. Considering we’re an unsigned band that puts together CDs in my basement, there’s not much business involved. We’re really just trying to have fun with the music. I would say that my highest hopes for the band would be to one day share the stage with the likes of Man Man, Dr Dog, or Okkervil River. I can’t really think about anything cooler than that.

Dan: Yeah, that would be killer, another one of my goals for the band would be to play at some outdoor festivals; Philly Folk Fest would be a great time.

Do you have side projects you work on? Have you collaborated w/ other musicians/ artists in the past?

Joe: I’ve produced and recorded music for a few friends: Louis Elliott and Bill Khoury of The Marments, Brian Givnish, Greg Bernt aka John Dillinger, Jared Costa, Adam 12 with The Small Businessmen, and of course Dan’s band Crow vs Lion. You can find all these guys on Myspace. I also put the ads together for The Philadelphia Independent Craft Market, which is run by my friend Julie Roboczi.

Drew: I am always involving myself in more projects than I can handle. I used to play guitar in a band called Ugh God and now play drums for a band called Sports. Before that I used to just make lots of noise on my own and call it “art.”

Dan - I write songs and play guitar and banjo in the band Crow vs Lion. Joe and I are thinking about doing some shows in between now and the summer while the band is on hiatus. I also collaborate with one of my band members, Jared Costa, who is a solo acoustic artist.

Brendan: I am a side project.

Have you studied music in school?

Joe: Nope. I did take a couple guitar lessons with a friend of a friend and studied piano theory growing up. Never really took it seriously until I was at least 22.

Drew: I tried. Well, I auditioned to get into Ithaca College’s music school but was rejected and I am actually happy that I was. Music is something that I enjoy playing with other people for fun and if it became part of my academic curriculum I would have lost my mind and probably my love of playing it. Since then I’ve been trying to forget all of the theory and technical stuff I’ve learned over the years.

Brendan: No, I took piano lessons from a young age, and made pretty slow progress until I was 14 and a friend of mine hooked me up with his teacher, who began training me in the Suzuki Method. My development as a musician progressed much faster during that time. Now I take tips and notes from a jazz piano teacher my sister and dad get lessons from, Tim McKinstry.

Dan: No, I started when I was around 21, although I wish I had started earlier. Years of writing beforehand made the transition pretty natural.

Aria: I was raised around music; it was always being played in my home. I always sang, as long as I can remember. I took piano for about 5 years and I had some voice direction for about a year from an incredible teacher, Anthony Newett (the man’s a genius). I am sure I would have continued, but a fire destroyed our piano, and it was irreplaceable, and so I continued without direction.

What do you like best about performing live?

Joe: Playing music is just a satisfying experience. It’s just that much better when people are there to appreciate it. I like the shows where the crowd becomes just as important to the energy of the experience as the musicians.

Drew: Hitting the drums as hard as I can.

Brendan: Performing live as a group shows people who hear our recordings the separate entities within our band as they come together to create good music. I love intensity.

Dan - Watching Drew hit the drums as hard as he can, and watching Brendan play the melodica in pajamas with feet.

Aria: I love our families getting together and I love to see my dad at the front of the crowd, rockin’ out with the best of them. He makes it for me.

Favorite lyrics to a song?

Joe: This answer completely depends on my mood, but for right now it’s Neutral Milk Hotel’s Oh Comely.

Drew: The lyrics to the song “Drain You” by Nirvana.

Dan : Bob Dylan - When The Ship Comes In

Bee: “Styrofoam Boots/ It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright” by Modest Mouse

Aria: Okkervil River- Dead Faces

Play list of five favorite songs:

Joe: It would be a really frustrating experience to even sort out my top 100 let alone top 5. I could say that the bands that I mentioned above are among my favorites.

Drew: Yeah, same as Joe. See above.

Bee: I agree with them., but here’s five…Styrofoam Boots, One Big Holiday by My Morning Jacket, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C, Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist by STS9, Sit Down, Stand Up by Radiohead,

Dan: Alright, I'll bite. I'll even give you six. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues, White Stripes - I'm Bound To Pack It Up, Johnny Cash/ Shel Silverstein - A Boy Named Sue, Beatles - Long, Long, Long, The Rolling Stones - Sway, John Lennon - I Found Out

A book that influenced how I live my life:

Joe: Although I’ve been an atheist since 5th grade, God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens was pretty compelling. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone.
Bee: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Dan - Anything by Shel Silverstein

Aria: This is hard; I have read so many amazing books. Barbara Kingsolver- Animal Vegetable Miracle

What are you currently reading?

Joe: “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond

Drew: Jesus’ Son by Dennis Johnson and Our Band Could be Your Life by Michael Azzerrad

Brendan: Coincidentally, “The Buddhist Tradition in India, China and Japan” by William Theodore de Bary

Aria: Dress your family in corduroy and denim, David Sedaris. Love everything he writes.

Favorite painter/ artist:

Joe: Salvador Dali, Ralph Steadman, Marcel Duchamp, Picasso… along those lines. I also like a good many Renaissance painters and sculptors, and also Scott Avett and Adam 12.

Drew: Francis Bacon is my favorite painter. As far as artists are concerned, I admire a great deal of filmmakers, writers, and photographers.

Dan - M C Escher and Shel Silverstein

Brendan: Norman Rockwell, Dalí, Picasso, Alex Grey

Aria: Salvador Dali, Frida Khalo, Monet, Andrew Wyeth

Is there anything that you would like to share with our readers?

We just finished a long period of playing out, and our (Aria’s and my) baby girl is due on June 6th. Once she’s all settled in we’ll be back to playing for the summer. In the meantime we’ll be writing and recording in Whatevers Clever Studio, so stop by if you’re in the neighborhood. You can find us on Myspace, You Tube, and Facebook, so keep your eyes and ears open. Thanks to everyone who has been with us so far; the journey has just begun.

Joe Duffey & Whatevers Clever Myspace

Joe Duffey & Whatevers Clever Facebook

The Spinning Leaves

Michael Baker and Barbara Gettes, of the Spinning Leaves, met up with us at Fuji Mountain on Chestnut Street. They’ve been recording, and hope to have an album produced by this fall or winter. Michael says “We've gotten really enchanted lately with recording - hoots and hollers and wooden pump organs and whispers and sitars and horns and so many inspiring players and friends. It's exciting. And we're planning some excursions in the fall with Hoots and Hellmouth and Hezekiah Jones and Andrew Lipke which should all be very interesting.”

Michael and Barbara explained to us that their songs are mainly about love; they’re interested in societal change. They hope to enable people through mutual empowerment and community building, and they’ve been working on a grassroots media campaign to reduce gun violence in Philadelphia.

Barbara is currently bartending at a vegetarian Ethiopian restaurant in West Philly. She has a background working in education and the non-profit sector. Michael attended Transylvania University in Lexington, KY and was a history major. He moved to Philly one year ago to focus on music. He’s not the only musician/ artist in his family; his cousin is the Button King, who’s been featured on a number of television programs over the years (Johnny Carson, Geraldo, etc.) – you might want to check out this video: SCButtonKing.

Check out their website to watch videos and while you’re there, be sure to listen to “Promontory Wind” with its haunting melody and angelic vocals and the mellow “Transister Radio.” Upcoming shows (September and October) include NY, NH, VT and PA.