Headspace Magazine

1 SPRING - SUMMER 2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM

2 HEADSPACEMAG.COM SPRING - SUMMER 2014 3 SPRING - SUMMER 2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM


CONTENTS SPRING - SUMMER 2014

5 Letter From the Editor

6 A Head Of The Game Featuring David Gans The Voice of Dead hour Interview by Alessandro Satta

9 Rocks With A Fox Shining with Solar Quartz By Shawn “Fox” Rybacki

parking lot Miscellaneous

greensEnvironmental initiatives

tunesMusic

spaced outActivities, arts, & culture

12 Spring Recipe: Chipotle chicken tacos By Andriana Gurreri

13 Breezy’s Cafe A delicious review By Alessandro Satta

14 The Vibration - Cocktail Party Phenomenon Interview by Mia Jester - The Mantras Interview by Joe Gurreri

16 JJ Grey & Mofro Philly Sinks into the soulful swamp funk Interview by Steve French 18 Insider Scoop: Sam Cutler Legendary rock ‘n roll manager Interview by Alessandro Satta

20 Rock Hunting 101 An amateur rock hound’s account By Shawn “Fox” Rybacki

21 An Introduction To Jazzfest By Nikola Katkocin

22 Events List By Matt Testa

23 Art For The Cash Poor A celebration of attainable art By Lisa Kowalski

24 Making Multiples How to screen print By Katherine Wissner

26 Artist Showcase Featuring SER jeweler

29 Comix Corner

munchiesFood and health

10 Greensgrow Farms Sprouts good health for North Philly By Janice Rhayen

11 Bartram Gardens Oldest botanical garden in North America By Jesse Bellosi

16

Letter From The Editor

Wow, this winter in the Northeast has been quite a test of our endurance. We have been on a wicked rollercoaster of freezing weather with a tiny bit of sunshine at the top of the climb, only to be crushed down by blizzard upon blizzard. With warmer days finally in sight, we here at Headspace have decided to (somewhat) dedicate this issue to getting outside and jammin’ the winter blues away. Whether you are going to a music festival, or just taking a walk down the street to check out the new delicious café (that you’ll soon be reading about in this issue), it’s important to remember that doing the same thing just a couple of months ago would have been miserable, and that we are blessed for every pleasant day that we get. Instead of dwelling on the holes brought about by the closing of some of our favorite venues and postponement of festivals, look at this as an opportunity for exploring the community to discover new places in which to create memories. There are locations popping up every week that are starving for attention from our local hippy scene. While out and about at these events and festivals, keep in mind that the vendors are a huge part of what makes this lifestyle possible, so if you’ve got money to spend, make sure to do it with these kind, hardworking people. We hope to be seeing you around for another great spring season.

- Alessandro Satta

staf f founder / editor - in - chief

Alessandro [email protected]

creative directorJoe Gurreri

[email protected]

contributing editorBecky Blumenthal

[email protected]

copy editorsBlake FeldmanJanice Rhayen

illustratorsJohn WarnerJoel KirckhoffLiana KellyBen Fowler

Kendra Dingley

graphic designerKatherine WissnerJason Waggaman

Pat Ambrogi

contributing writers Shawn RybackiJesse Bellosi

Mia JesterAndriana Gurreri

Matt TestaNIkola Katkocin

contributing photographerLisa Joyce Kowalski

6

26


parking lot parking lot

a head of thegameDavid Gans

featuring

voice of the grateful dead hour

Have you ever been cruising down the road, flipping through radio stations to randomly catch a second of Jerry Garcia’s sweet soulful voice, forcing a smile to your face? You think to yourself, “How lucky am I? Somebody actually played a Grateful Dead song on the radio and I caught it.” As the first song becomes a second, you realize that this must be “The Grateful Dead Hour” presented by David Gans. This is a weekly show that is aired on over 100 stations throughout the U.S. from Rochester, New York to Mt. Shasta, California, and right here in Philadelphia on 88.5 WXPN. It airs at 10:00pm every Monday night here in Philly, but the time and days change by station. Da-vid Gans, the host of the show, is a singer/songwriter that has been heavily involved in music journalism since the 1970s. Gans has kept himself busy writing for music publications, hosting a series of Grateful Dead related radio shows, producing several albums, and publishing a couple books. All the while, he has been on a heavy touring schedule with various music projects. You will be able to see David along with his trio, the Sycamore Slough String Band, at their East Coast debut during the Pennsylvania bluegrass festival Spring Pickin’ May 4, 2014.

Where were you born and raised?

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California until I was about twelve years old, and my family moved to Northern California just in time for all the interest-ing things that happened in the 60s. Not that I got to participate in any of it, ‘cause I was too young, but I did get up to the Haight-Ashbury once in a while. How did you get into the Grateful Dead and the jam scene?

I have been a musician all of my life; playing the clarinet when I was young. I switched to the guitar in 1969 when I was fifteen. I have an older brother and he set my little tortured teenage poems to music and taught me the chords, so I started being a songwriter and playing the guitar at the same time. I fell into that California singer songwriter type stuff like Elton John and Cat Stevens and all that early 70s type stuff until my roommate and song-writing partner insisted that I go see a Grateful Dead show in March of 1972. That changed my whole life. The jam scene didn’t exist. Back then it was just the Grateful Dead and all those other rock bands. I guess I was caught in the Dead scene before the jam scene was in existence.

How did you get started in music journalism?

I was always a writer. I wrote stories and stuff when I was a kid. In the mid-70s we had a music magazine out here in the Bay Area called Bam

Magazine, but there was a guy who was trying to do something similar to it and hired me to write and do editing. When that magazine went under, I took my stuff up to Bam and they printed it. I eventu-ally joined their staff as a contributing editor and that led to more journalism. I basically got into journalism because it was a great way to learn about music and meet people in the music business. Plus, I earned a few bucks to supplement my musical income. It all just flowed together nicely because music journalism enriched my knowledge of music and broadened my horizons, which then led to bigger magazine assignments. I wound up writing for a subsidiary of Rolling Stone called Record Magazine in the early 80s and I also worked for a music industry publication called Mix that was oriented towards professionals in the recording industry. I did musical instrument cover-age for them. So I spent the early 80s as a writer and editor on these publications. In 1982 I went to Jamaica on a press junction to cover a music festival called the Jamaica World Music Festival. The Dead were down there and Bobby and the Midnights also. That is where I met Peter Simon, who was working on a book about the Grateful Dead. He is a photographer, and he was doing a photo book that he didn’t have a title for yet. At the time, he was working with a different writer for it. I just stayed in touch with him and schmoozed a little bit and maybe of-fered some photos to include in the book. Some time a year or so after that, Peter contacted me and said the guy he had writing the book had bugged out and

asked if I wanted to write the text for the book. I said, “Of course I would.” That led to the publication of “Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of the Grateful Dead Early-1985.” By that time there was a show on a local rock station called “The Cape Cod Dead Head Hour.” It started in 1984. I ap-peared on that program in February 1985 to promote my book. I had so much fun doing that, that I invited myself back to assist with the program, because the host of the show was

not that much of a Deadhead and he had two other major assignments at the station. So he was relying on two other local Deadheads for material. In time, the station asked me to take over the show, because not only was I having so much fun doing it, I also had such a great collection of tapes, was friendly with the band and had access to the vault and

stuff like that. Once I

was doing “The Cape Cod Dead Head Hour” regularly, I had other radio stations approach me and ask me if they could air the show. So I went to the Dead and said, “Is it ok if I syndicate the show,” and they said, “yes.”

Have there been any challenges with the show?

There are tons of challenges. I have never gotten even slightly bored with the program. I have never run out of

stuff. The Grateful Dead made so much amazing music. They changed so

much from year to year from key-boardist to keyboardist that all I

did was keep the music flowing and jump around

from period to period and try to shed light on

the Grateful Dead’s achievements. After Jerry died and all the guys went their sepa-rate ways, there were all these other bands to play on the air.

There have been all these new

people play-ing Grateful Dead, there are all these reoccurring

Dead tunes and there are always the

roots of Grate-ful Dead music.

I produced a record called

“The Music Never Stopped: Roots of

the Grateful Dead” with Emily Kaiser that

was a compilation of the original versions of songs

that the Dead covered. It’s been a wonderful mission to

illuminate the broad musical world of the Dead and turn

people onto the Dead and the roots and branches of their mu-

sical tree. I do interviews and play music from the archive and generally

never have a problem keeping it fresh.


his long and arduous winter calls for some sunshine! What better way to invite spring than with a piece of Solar Quartz? Akin to the ever-popular Amethyst

flower, Solar Quartz is sliced from stalactites. Usually found with bands of milky white or grey, it can also have green, moss-like inclusions in the center. Quartz stalactites are abundant worldwide, but many marketed specimens seem to be derived from Uruguay and Madagascar. Said to promote harmony and protection, Solar Quartz embodies qualities similar to sunshine. An important practice in meditation is to visualize light, a personal glow, or a feeling of radiating love. This formation of Quartz is a perfect reminder of how vital it is to carry warmth and light in every step we take in life, reminding ourselves, and

others, of our connection to the greatest source of life and energy – the sun. It opens the mind and heart to guidance from higher sources, or one’s higher self. One of the most malleable stones, metaphysically speaking, Quartz pre-serves the knowledge and intention that it is set to. Solar Quartz, programmed with the intention of balancing life energy, is a great sidekick for those ready for spring, creativity, harmony, invigoration, and joy. Recently, I had an experience of receiving Reiki while giving a session at the same time, wearing a piece of Solar Quartz over my heart. Closing my eyes, I could suddenly sense throughout my body where I was holding onto tension. Adjusting my body so that I was more comfortable had profound effects. My client expressed that as she felt me relax, she travelled deeper into her subcon-scious. The concept of balance is often discussed in terms of duality, the yin and

yang elements that make up a larger whole. It is important to remember bal-ance as a part of our physical bodies, as well. Balancing our diet, our emotions, and our posture all lead to a sense of comfort and relief that in turn opens doors for us to help others. Learning how to balance ourselves inside and out will catalyze a balancing act around us, providing a safe environ-ment so we can continue to thrive. Solar Quartz can aid in the cycle of life, just as the sun does. As the longer spring hours approach, find some time to sit in the sunshine, hold a specimen in your hand, and let your breath guide you to that place in yourself that needs some light!

Fan of Fox? Check out her shop at etsy.com/shops/totemsbyfox Written and photographedby Shawn “Fox” Rybacki

How do you decide what GD material to choose every week?

This is where my other life as a musician comes in. I’m a working musician, and I tour a lot, and that means I’m on the road a lot. While I’m on the road, I get a lot of listening done. I have a disc drive just full of Dead concerts. When I’m driving these four to five to six hour drives between shows, I listen to that music. While I’m out on the road being a guitar player and a singer, I’m also doing research for the radio show. So I will come home from a road-trip with a couple months worth of music that I want to play on the air. At this very moment I’m downloading some of the most recent shows on the Ratdog tour so that I can play that on the air.

Can you tell us about the Sycamore Slough String Band?

We took the name from a Grateful Dead song. One of the last songs Robert Hunt-er and Jerry Garcia wrote together was “Lazy River Road,” and the first line of that song is “Way down upon Sycamore Slough.” That is where we took the name for the band. It is a bluegrassish-acous-tic-Grateful Deadish tribute band. In all of my life as a musician and a Deadhead I have never been interested in being in a Grateful Dead clone situation where I just try to sound like them. That is the least interesting thing about this music to me. This is a band with a really talented and accomplished bluegrass player named David Thom, who is also a big Dead-head, and a bass player, Roger Sideman, who also plays in an electric Dead tribute band around here called China Cats. We started with a fiddle player but we don’t have him anymore, so we’re basically

working as a trio with extra guys. The point of this band is to take the Grateful Dead and do them in our own way. It’s basically an acoustic configuration. We’re not a Reckoning band. Just because Jer-ry Garcia played the song doesn’t mean I have to play it. I don’t want to do it the way the Dead did it. So we change the keys of songs, we change the grooves of songs and we make them our own. So it’s sort of bluegrassy but not really, because I personally am by no stretch of the imagination a bluegrass player. I have never been in a bluegrass band. I am an acoustic guitarist of course and sort of a folk rock guy, but I have never been a bluegrass player. So there is no danger of our band straying too far into the blue-grass medium. We look like a bluegrass band maybe if you’re looking at us, but once we start playing you will realize it’s not straight bluegrass at all. We have been a California based band since we formed in the beginning of 2012, and this is our first east coast tour. We were offered to play the Spring Pickin Festival. Also, there is a guy I have worked for before named Scooter Ferguson, who works with a group called the Foot Project in northern New Jersey. I had played house concerts for him as a solo artist several times before. He said he wanted to host the East Coast debut of Sycamore Slough Band. As soon as I got the festival gig I contacted this guy and said, “Hey we’re coming. Can you put us on?” So we set up a gig with him for the weekend after the Spring Pickin Festival, and we filled in a bunch of shows in between. We’re going to play Garcia’s in Port Chester and a place called Franklin’s Tower in Albany and some house concerts near Pittsburgh.

How did your collaboration with the Rumpke Mountain Boys come about?

One of their regular gigs is in Harrods-burg, Kentucky outside of Lexington called Terrapin Hill Harvest Fest. I met them there. I just really like what they do, and, apparently, they like what I do too. They invited me to do some gigs with them, and I said, “That sounds like great fun. Let’s do that.” We had so much fun doing the tour together that we have done several tours since, and now we seem to be on a regular schedule of touring with them every other month or so. The thing I love about the Rumpke Mountain Boys is that they appear to be a bluegrass band if you are not paying close attention. What they are is some-thing much more interesting than that: they are an acoustic string band with an amazingly great ear for song. They are all just total song freaks. They are just mad for John Hartford, and they play Tom Wait’s songs and Robert Hunter songs and old obscure honky tonk tunes and stuff like that. I think they like my song writing. I’m first and foremost a songwrit-er. I am getting to be a pretty formidable guitar player, and I have become what I think is a pretty good singer, but first and foremost has been my songwriting all along. So I think those guys connected with me as a songwriter. We are helping each other to bring up our game. They are learning my songs and they are inspiring me to be a more aggressive and confident guitarist when I jam with them. So it’s basically a win-win scenario.

Interview by Alessandro Satta Photos by Joe Gurreri

parking lot

Shining With Solar Quartz

T


BARTRAM’SGARDENSNorth America’s oldest botanical garden

Located at 53rd Street and Lindbergh Boulevard in Southwest Philadelphia, not far from the Inter-national Airport, Bartram’s Garden is the oldest surviving botanical garden on the continent. Founded by botanist John Bartram in 1728, originally as his own personal farm and residence, the location was turned into one of Philadelphia’s first public parks in 1893. Eventually added to the National Historic Landmark registry in 1963, John Bartram’s original colonial-style house greets visitors at the entrance. The 45-acre garden is current-ly home to hundreds of different species of plants. “We have a lot of different habitats and microclimates,” Assistant Director Stephanie Phil-

lips said. “There’s a large wildflower bed and many historic trees,” she continued. Bartram’s features some extremely rare species, including Franklinia. Named after founding father Benjamin Franklin, the plant has been extinct in the wild since the nineteenth century, but several still survive here. The garden also features a male gingko tree which is considered a living fossil, meaning there are no trees biologically similar to the gingko that still exist in the wild. Maintained by the John Bartram Association and the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, the park is open to visitors daily from dawn until dusk. Paths, some constructed out of wood, help visitors navigate around the property. Signs and markers give information about some of the species growing there, as well as the rich history of the garden and arboretum. The extensive plant collection is not the only attraction at Bartram’s Garden, however. The garden also happens to be the home of many events, including the Philadelphia Honey Festival, poetry readings, and an annual community day featuring a boat parade on the Schuylkill River.

Bartram’s also runs several programs for toddlers as well as students, giving city kids a unique opportunity to learn about botany. Arts and environmental programs are held throughout the year. “We teach students how to examine the natural world,” said Communications Director Kimberly Massare. Ty Holmberg works for the Urban Nutrition Initiative, which works in conjunction with the John Bartram Association, to run the community garden. “We hire local high-schoolers to help work on the garden. Once everything is fully grown, we set up a farmers market at the entrance,” he said. With 45-acres of green space, and a great view of the Schuykill River, Bartram’s Garden is a natural, historical site within the city of Philadelphia that gives visitors of all ages the chance to unwind, enjoy nature, and maybe even learn a thing or two. Bartram’s Garden is accessi-ble by SEPTA’s route 36 trolley.

For a complete listing of upcoming events and more information visit www.bartramsgarden.org

Written by Jesse Bellosi

Photo by Jesse Belosi

Photo by Kim Massare

Photo by Pete Prown

greens

Greensgrow FarmSprouts good health for North Philly


BreezysCAFE

A Delicious Review

Do you need a fresh, delicious, and healthy meal or a tasty treat that won’t be terrible for you? Don’t worry, the solution is easy. Breezy’s Café has joined the South Philadelphia community and made their mark, while only being open for about a year. Breezy’s is the antithesis of the increasingly common hipster café. When walking into this establishment, you will be greeted with smiles and good service, rather than a snobby attitude due to your lack of a fixed gear bike. Breezy’s has helped the community in a variety of ways, but, first and foremost, they have substantially improved access to great, locally sourced food at af-fordable prices for South Philly, more specifically Point Breeze, residents. Their food ranges from vegetarian and vegan options such as the Choripan, (cara-melized onion, soy chorizo, veganaise, lettuce, and tomato on a vegan roll) to locally sourced meat options like the ever-elusive Elk Cheesesteak, a deliciously decadent sandwich that is so special it’s only brought on the menu every once in awhile. Breezy’s move into a larger location after mere months of being open is proof of the growing demand for this kind of food in the area. Owners Scott Har-nish and Kristen Wolak had this to say: “All but one employee lives in the neigh-borhood. We try to support the community by providing jobs to people who live around here. Our cat inspires our logo and we try to help the animal community as much as possible. We hosted a ‘Pet Pantry’ that was organized by Citizens for No Kill Philly to provide families who can’t afford pet food or supplies with the necessary items. We are also a host site for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). People can sign up for CSA and pick up their vegetables here.”

Members of Headspace, who have become regular customers of this café, decided they would let you know what their usual meal is.

Joe Gurreri: Mushroom and Brie MeltThis simple yet seductive sandwich is the perfect combo of chunky mushrooms to creamy brie on a delectable pretzel roll that is sure to make every fun-guy’s dreams come true. If you are craving breakfast, top it with an egg!

Mia Jester: Seitan and Provolone Sandwich As a vegetarian, I feel less left out of Philly’s cheesesteak scene thanks to the scrumptious Seitan and Provolone Sandwich. I always make sure to check the daily soup and dessert selection for the full Breezy’s experience.

Alex Satta: Farm SaladOrganic greens, herbed goat cheese, seasonal fruits, tomatoes, carrots, lightly candied walnuts with a house vinaigrette.

Side of Fries with some of the “Almost famous” Horseradish Ranch.This is an amazing meal that I have become almost addicted to. The owners of the place recognize my voice and say, “You want the usual?” It’s that good.

Photo by Joe Gurreri

Photo by Lisa Kowalski

Photo by Alex Satta

Photo by LisaKowalski

munchies

CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TACOSIngredients:4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size slices

1 pack of corn tortillas ½ bunch cilantro

5 roma tomatoes, cut in half, remove seeds and dice

1 red onion, diced

4 tbs cilantro, minced4 avocados4 limes 1 yellow onion 1 can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce 1/2 cup heavy cream salt and pepper for seasoning

Optional: sour cream mexican cheese blend

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350ª F

Chipotle sauce: Remove the skin from the yellow onion and cut into fourths, half

two limes and toss in olive oil, bake until lime has caramelized and onion

is lightly browned. Remove from oven and remove skin of limes. Add to a blender, along with half a can of chipotle chilies, the heavy cream and 1/2 bunch of cilantro. Blend and season with salt. Adjust sauce as needed, may need more acidity or spiciness.

Salsa: Add 4 diced toma-toes, 1/2 diced red onion, 2 tbs minced cilantro, 2 tbs lime juice, and salt and pepper to a medium size mixing bowl. Mix

well and taste to adjust sea-

soning.

Guacamole: Skin and remove pit of avocados, then add to mixing bowl. Add

1/2 minced red onion, 2 tbs cilantro, 3 tbs lime juice, salt and pepper. Mash avocados with a

whisk or a fork (I prefer a whisk). Mix well and taste to adjust seasoning

Cut chicken into bite size slices and cook in a hot pan, brown the outside of the chicken and throw into oven until

fully cooked. Meanwhile, begin heating up corn tortillas by plac-ing on a sheet tray and place in oven for 5 minutes. Add chipotle

sauce to chicken and let it cook down for about a minute.

Construct your taco the way you like! My way is adding the cheese on the bottom, then the chicken so that the cheese melts nicely, then top with all of

my fixings!

munchies


The MantrasBringing jams to

the next level

the vibration

The Mantras’ head-banging, balls-to-the-wall style of “rawk” music is swiftly gaining them notoriety throughout the North & Southeast. In recent years, they’ve had a couple changes to their lineup, creating a fresh new sound that is the perfect mix of genres and talented musicians. One of the new additions to the team includes Philly local Kenn Mogel, who we had the chance to have a chat with and ask a few questions about the future of The Mantras.

HS: When did the Mantras start, and how did you link up with them?

KM: The Mantras started in 2004 as a band called Marcus and the Mantras. They had a big history of touring the East Coast, and then a couple lineup changes happened. Before that, I met all those guys at one of John Sten’s festivals Some Kind Of Jam in 2009 or 2010. We all stayed in touch, and I played a couple shows with them. They also brought on a keyboard player around that time. They originally had two guitar players, but one of those guitarists had left about six months before [my old band] Psychedel-phia broke up. I took some time off until we crossed paths again. It’s a relationship that developed over several months; they invited me on some tours and stuff like that. It’s just one of those times when you meet people, and you know you are going to be friends with

them for the rest of your life regardless if you are working with them or whatev-er. It’s just one of those situations that worked out best for everybody.

HS: The spring and summer is an important time of year to be getting the bands’ name out there. What are your plans for the spring and summer season?

KM: We had a really long tour in Winter 2014, and we’re pretty much doubling those numbers for the spring as we are hitting a lot of big markets. Right now we are in the middle of a big Northeast run hitting all the big towns: Burlington, Philly, obviously, New York, and Boston. In the summertime it’s a lot of festivals. We just saw on the schedule for Blackstock that we are playing after Galactic from 11pm–1am. Some festivals in the northeast we are not allowed to announce yet, but we do have a big one that’s gonna come up in the first week of September. We are hitting a number of festivals all over the country, and we just found out we are going to play a big festival in Colorado in July. As cliché as it sounds, we are living the dream in that aspect. We never thought this time last year we would be playing festivals of that caliber, and that far spread out. But that’s the plan for the summer, and then we’re going to try doing a huge fucking tour in the fall, like a big one! Today we found out that we are playing with Papadosio at the 930 Club in D.C., and we’ll be playing Saturday night at Some Kind Of Jam before Assembly Of Dust from 9pm.–10pm. We’re getting a lot of great offers, so there is a lot going on.

HS: What are your personal ties to Philadelphia?

KM: My whole family is from the Philadel-phia area. On both sides of my family I am the second and third generation born into the area. I was born in Phoenixville and have been playing in Philadelphia for fifteen to sixteen years in different bands and variations, I love the Flyers and Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, all that shit.

HS: How does the Mantras differen-tiate themselves from the rest of the jam band world?

KM: Are we doing a one word thing here? If it’s one word man it’s “fucking weird.” I know that’s two words, and I know you are the kind of guy that’ll print that in an article. We go for diversity. We like to diversify the music whether it’s in one tune or over the entire catalog. It rocks really hard. Harder than most. A lot of people say we have a metal vibe, something like that. I can see that from an outsider perspective definitely it’s very metal. We do the electronic thing and the Middle-Eastern thing to be able to hold duality between light and dark, like a lot of my personal favorite jam bands. We definitely don’t try to be something that we are not musically listening to in our personal lives.

HS: Do you have anything to add to the interview?

KM: We will be doing our fifth festival this year, Labor Day weekend August 28th-31st called Mantrabash. It’s gonna be four nights again this year, and we’ll be doing four sets, lots of surprises. The lineup will be announced shortly, and we are really fucking excited for it. I think it’s something that is going to put us on the map as far as the South goes. We are kicking it up a lot this year and trying to get on the map nationally as much with our fest, band, and with our music.

Interview by Joe Gurreri

Photo by Joshua King

15 SPRING - SUMMER 2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM HEADSPACEMAG.COM SPRING - SUMMER 201414

the vibration

Ain’t no party like a cocktail party!

Carefully blending composition and improvisation, Cocktail Party Phenome-non’s high-energy sets have gained quite a bit of praise in recent years. Wheth-er headlining, opening, or taking on a late night after party, CPP commands the energy of the crowd and presents performances sure to please. We caught up with drummer Max Young and bassist Dan Enden to talk songwriting, summer plans, the Philly crowd and more!

HS: Can you tell us how you have grown and stuck to your roots?

Dan here! When we started we were certainly more in the classic rock based, generic jam band category. Max had thrown together the band based on everyone’s individual ability and collectively, that classic rock/jam-type feel came most naturally. We had a totally different guitarist with a totally different style, and it really showed in our music. We then went through an intense progressive phase for a bit, where every song was eight minutes of wild composition; really choppy stuff. Since 2011 we’ve tried to vary it up and just kind of tackle every genre, though jazz and progressive rock are for the most part underlying currents of all our music, much of which is thanks to the change in guitarists. Our approach has definitely matured, in that we really try to make each part of each song really meaningful for that particular song’s feel, rather than always trying to complicate things. We can say, however, that most of those early songs we wrote back in the summer of 2010 are still in regular rotation today. A lot of “jam bands” today seem to put little effort in their songs and focus mostly on the jam...we want our compositions to be just as impressive and important for the flow of the set as the improv. In our ideal world we would consistently be a five-piece...maybe even a six-piece (can you ever have too many harmonies?) Evan (Kilgore) was actually only a concrete member last summer; he then left the band to concentrate on

maintaining excellent grades in college. Prior to that, we had Adam (Jaskol) – who co-founded the band – on sax duty, but he went off to get a “real” job in NYC. Nowadays, we have either of them sit in whenever they can, with extra effort to have one or both of them for super spe-cial occasions. We have a whole slew of songs arranged for a four-piece though, so it’s not really a problem; it’s just a different kind of show. We have been – and still are –looking for a permanent sax player; we just haven’t found anyone who perfectly blends with what we are trying to do musically, which is a lot. Evan and Adam are both musical monsters, they just can’t commit to the kind of schedule we run. Adam remains involved in all studio work and was instrumental in the writing of most of our early tracks.

HS: CPP is well-known for playing official pre and post party shows in the Philadelphia region, and has also snagged many impressive opening gigs. Have you noticed any character-istics specific to a Philly audience?

Max here for this one!This is a great question. Afterparties are our favorite – and have become sort of our de facto specialty – because of our ability to diversify our sound. Our approach starts with whatever band we’re playing after: if it’s Umphrey’s, we want to straight rage and span multiple genres. If it’s something like Lotus or STS9, we want to bring the untz and make it more of a dancey ambient-type ordeal to keep people grooving, whereas someone like Dark Star Orchestra would get more of a relaxed, exploratory type vibe...you get the picture. Every set we play is curtailed towards the demographic of fans we play to so that everyone can find something they personally relate to, which is way easier when you have material as diverse as ours. Now, as for how the shows evolve in the moment and interacting with the crowd, that’s predominantly my job on the drums. If I notice a specific groove or feel is getting a strong reaction from the

crowd, I’ll try to maintain it and play different permutations to maintain a constant feel while keeping my beats fresh. If, however, I notice that people are starting to go to the bathroom, outside to smoke, etc. I’ll signal to Dan that a change is coming, and generally he knows what direction I’m headed based off the fills I play and then BOOM, the rhythm section shifts into something more up-tempo or dancier, and if the crowd re-sponds strongly, we let it build over time. The two of us kind of collectively steer the jams while Mike (Gardner) and Steve (Catania) act as the moving components of the vehicle. As for the Philly audience, the Philly crowd is the best, and we feel very fortunate to call it our home base. They really know how to get down and make us feel like we’re doing something right. It doesn’t hurt that people are always down to party ‘til 4am. The Blockley closing was a huge blow to our scene, so it’s nice to, in some way, be a part of keeping that alive. Everyone just needs to go out to XO Lounge/North Star/Hard Rock/etc.

HS: This winter has kept everyone indoors, but we see some outdoor gigs popping up in your schedule beginning late May. What are you most looking forward to this summer, and what should your fans be sure not to miss?

There are a few things that either aren’t confirmed or we can’t talk about yet that may take the top slot, but as far as defi-nite, we just confirmed Catskill Chill, so that should be ridiculous. Luna Light Fest at the old Stir Fry spot is definitely up there. That lineup is insane. Dan is finally graduating college, so we’re starting to travel way more, which means playing at home less. Fans should be sure not to miss a Philly gig, ‘cause now that we’re not home as much, we’re really trying to make the Philly shows extra special when we are. Our next show here (with Turkuaz), for instance, is going to be featuring some serious female vocals, and we’re already planning some amaz-ing sit-ins the next time we come home (opening for Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at North Star). Once we announce all of our summer dates, locals will definitely know which shows not to miss.Visit www.cppmusic.net for tour dates, setlists, videos, and more.

Interview by Mia Jester

Photo by Joe Gurreri


HS: Where do you call home?

JJ: Right outside of Jacksonville, Florida.

HS: How did you get into the music world?

JJ: That’s a good question. One day at a time and one thing at a time. I kind of backed my way into it, so to speak. It just kind of happened over a period of time. I started out singing in cover bands at bars at home in Jacksonville. I was sixteen or seven-teen. I had a fake ID to go sing in bars. At some of the bars it didn’t matter, but back then they didn’t have all age shows.

HS: What music did you listen to while growing up?

JJ: I listened to all kinds of stuff from Lynyrd Skynyrd to old Soul tracks. All that stuff was on vinyl and either my sister had or my dad had.

HS: How did you come up with the name Mofro?

JJ: I used to work in the lumberyard with a friend, and he used to call me that for a long time. Back in the day before I even had a band, I used to call it Mofro and it just kind of stuck.

HS: Tell us about some of your achievements since hitting the stage.

JJ: I have no idea, dude! I am not much of memorabilia type person. I’ve gotten to play with all kinds of great people and I have been lucky like that. I’ve played cool festivals and shared the stage with and opened up for great bands. Meeting my he-roes like Toots Hibbert, from Toots and the Maytals, who is one of my favorite singers ever. Getting to meet him and others like Bill Withers and a few other people. That all happened acci-dentally; I just kind of ran into them. I don’t really pay that much attention to the individual moments, I just look at my life as one continuous thing, and it is still continuing, so I just roll with that.

If you haven’t heard the name JJ Grey and Mofro or seen them listed as a headliner for major festi-vals in the past several years then allow us to introduce you to one of the most amazing talents in Southern rock/soul/funk/blues jam music. Sick of the generic bands and the electronic dance music artists taking over the festival scene? Ready for some heartfelt, genuine MUSIC? Then check out JJ Grey and his band Mofro, who are playing Union Transfer on June 27 for a performance that had to be rescheduled from its original date but is sure to impress.

HS: What are some of your inspirations to make this music and to keep working hard?

JJ: My family is a big inspiration at all levels. My grandparents and my mom and dad have inspired me. It’s the day to day, just livin’ and meeting people and getting to play with the people who I get to play with. The people I play with every day and the guys I play with on the Southern Soul Assembly like Anders (Osborne) and Luther (Dickinson); they have inspired the hell out me. You never know where the inspiration is coming from. It doesn’t always come as gigantic sirens going off and big bright lights. Inspiration and opportunity don’t always come as “Oh my god” moments but sometimes they do. Life and just living and being here is the biggest inspiration to me.

HS: How is your Southern Soul Assembly tour going? Can you tell us about it?

JJ: It’s going great. We just played last night in Mobile, Alabama and play in Birmingham tonight, which I think is sold out. The shows have been going great. It’s fun doing that every night.

HS: Tell us about your most recent album “The River.” Have you been spending any time in the recording studio since then?

JJ: It was great making that record. I love it. I hit the studio for a new album in May as soon as I get back from Europe.

HS: Is your upcoming tour with your band Mofro and with Tedeski Trucks Band going to be your first European tour?

JJ: No I’ve played in Europe for years, done a lot of tours over there. It will be the first time playing with Derek and Susan over there though. They live in Jacksonville as well and are old friends. Love those guys, so it’s going to be fun.

HS: What cities are you most excited to visit in Europe and why?

JJ: I love all of it. I love Amsterdam and London. I’ve got family that lives in London, and thought we aren’t going to London on this tour, I’ll go there for a day or two before the tour starts to watch some Premier Soccer, or football as they call it. All in all, Europe is always fun. I love it over there. I look forward to going back to Spain. We’re not going to Spain on this run, but we will later. I love Spain. HS: Tell us about your upcoming show at Union Transfer and why it was rescheduled from February 13th to June 27th.

JJ: Y’all had that big ole snowstorm that was brutal. I was stuck in Jacksonville, but it looked pretty bad. The venue called and wanted to pull the plug because it would be kind of tough to ask people to come out during a blizzard. So we figured we would reschedule. We’ll be playing the Peach Fest in Pennsylvania too.

Interview by Steve French

Philly sinks into the soulful swamp funk

Photos by Mia Jester


Insider Scoop:An Interview WithSAM CUTLERLegendary Rock ‘N Roll Manager

While analyzing a band it is important to not let their representation and production teams be left without merit. Most bands will be made, or, conversely broken, by having, or lacking, a good managerial staff. Many bands in the past have been brought to their knees for this very reason. We decided in this issue to put a spotlight on a man whose profession has placed him in the shadows of some amazing performers. Sam Cutler has worked with a ridiculous array of bands during the late 60s and early 70s from The Rolling Stones to Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. He joined us in a special Skype interview from Australia to discuss his career in the music business, and as an author. He will be traveling across the United States on a promotional tour for his book this summer. You will be able to run into him at such events as The Susquehanna Breakdown, Peach Fest, Phases of the Moon, and Lockn.

HS: Where were you born and raised?

SC: I was born in England, raised in London.

HS: What kind of music were you into while growing up?

Rock and roll was busy being born when I was growing up. I grew up in the fifties with the Everly Brothers and the beginnings of rock and roll.

HS: How did you get into the music world?

I started taking guitar lessons when I was eight, but I was more interested in the technical aspect of it all. I was interested in how shows were put together, so I just started putting shows together. It slowly evolved. I used to do things in church halls and pubs, and, slowly, it got bigger. Then I did a whole series of free concerts in Hyde Park, which is a major park in the center of London. Things just went from there. It was not one particular thing, really; it just got bigger and bigger. I worked with Blind Faith and Pink Floyd, then I did a show with the Rolling Stones in England, which led to me becoming their tour manager. When I left the Stones that led to me working with the Grateful Dead.

HS: Can you tell us about working with bands like the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead?

The Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead are two of the biggest bands in the history of the music industry. Sometimes people work for a band for forty years, and sometimes they work for them for three or four years. I worked for The Rolling

Stones on their famous tour of America in ’69. Then I went from that to working with the Grateful Dead, who hired me because Jerry Garcia was very interested in how The Rolling Stones organized their whole trip and how that could apply to them. The Grateful Dead were very disorganized. They didn’t have organization in the classical kind of sense. When I joined the Grateful Dead, their previous manager had ripped them off for about $300,000, so they were deeply in debt. Of course they wanted to survive and maintain as a group, and to do that they needed to be financially viable. They needed to plan their tours correctly, which they had never done before. So I was brought in to do all that.

HS: Can you tell us one or two of your most treasured memories from either Festival Express or the Grateful Dead’s Europe ‘72 tour?

They were both fantastic tours. I think my most treasured memory of Festival Express is of Bonnie and Delaney sitting in the car, which we had set up for music, and Delaney singing “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.” Everybody from The Band to The Dead were sitting there with their mouths hanging open, speechless because he was so far out. He and his lady were very, very wonderful musicians. Everybody adored them. That is a special memory. I think a very special memory in Europe was taking the Grateful Dead to Europe in the first place, which Garcia had asked me to do. I produced a viable tour, not just a one-off show in some Châteaux, which is what McIntire man-aged to get together. Rather, it was a whole, proper, organized tour. Happy times.

HS: Who have you worked with since your time with those bands?

I have been a writer for many years now. I keep my hand in it. I’ve got friends here in Australia, where I live, who are musicians that I help. There is a new, young band down here called 3 Cornered Square, who are pretty amazing, as well as a singer/songwriter named Jackie Marshall, who is a really very special girl. I keep involved, but I keep involved on a love and pleasure level rather than a working directly or being employed level. For myself, I’m writing, and all I want to do is write.

HS: Can you tell us about your book You Can’t Always Get What You Want?

It’s a book about my child-hood at the end of World War II and about moving into the music business and working with people like Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, The Stones, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and all kinds of other people. All those people from the 60s who were very seriously influential in the music business in England, they all had to start somewhere, didn’t they? People don’t just start off being the biggest band in the music industry. So the book is about working with those people and having a really enjoyable late 60s experience in England and then moving to America. It kind of contrasts the Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones and shows the differ-ence between the two bands. They are both unique and very special groups of people and I was really lucky to get to work with them. So that is what the book is about, and it is still selling well and people really like it, and it’s a wonderful insight into life in the music business in the 60s and 70s. It can be got by going to samcutler.org. If you pick up on me in America you will be able to buy signed copies of my book at various gigs, not least of which is the Cabinet gig, which I am really look-ing forward to, because I love Cabinet, and it should be a lot of fun.

HS: When will we be seeing you in the United States again?

Cabinet has their festival called Susquehanna Breakdown on May 10th in Scranton, PA. I am also doing a whole string of dates with Dark Star Orchestra, which will be great. Then I’m doing various festivals. April I’m on the West Coast, then a whole range of stuff. I’m doing book promo and festivals in America, then I’m going to Canada, then back to America. We’re going to be busy, but if people look on my Facebook page they will find out where I am and can come and get a book, and I would be happy to have a chat with them.

HS: How has the music industry changed in your opinion?

It’s changed because of the music styles, but the basic thing has stayed the same, man. The basic thing is young guys and girls wanting to play guitar and make music. It needs to be exciting, it needs to be sexy, and it needs to be fun. It’s mainly a young people thing, but of course the music business has been around for a while now, so there are a lot of bands that are older. It’s a broad church that I love. There are all different kinds of styles. Cabinet themselves are like psychedelic bluegrass. I’m not really sure how to describe them, but I love them. I saw them live last year, and I loved them. I love Dark Star

Orchestra. I think they are amazing, which is why I’m doing a bunch of dates with them. I love music and there is plenty of stuff out there that will appeal to all different kinds of tastes. There are different ways of delivering music to the public, and the technology has changed, but the business is still the same in a lot of respects. I’m really looking forward to being back in America and to the Susquehan-na Breakdown and to meeting anybody who sees me at a rock and roll show. Don’t be afraid to come and say hi!

Interview by Alessandro Satta

Photo by Duke Dinh

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Rock hunting 101Introducing one of Philly’s finest up and coming rock hunters…Anatoly Bitny!

HS: When did you become interested in gemstones?

AB: I first became interested in gemstones sometime between 2009 and 2010. I was kind of on a mission to find something that reminded me of space, and for some reason, I was drawn to meteorites. I ended up buying a piece of Moldavite, which is an extraterrestrial gem that formed as a result of a meteor collision and that pretty much kicked off my passion for gems and crystals.

HS: When did you start looking for crystals yourself?

AB: I first started looking for crystals myself when someone told me that you can find my birthstone (Garnet) in Fair-mount Park! I think this was in the fall of 2011. The fact that I could potentially find my own crystals within biking distance of my apartment had me intrigued. After I found my first Garnets, I was hooked.

HS: Can you list some of the crystals you’ve found?

AB: Some of the crystals I’ve found are as follows: Moonstone, multiple kinds of Garnet, Staurolite, Black and Blue Kyanite, Amazonite, Labradorite, Sunstone, Actinolite, Prehnite, Corundum (Sapphire), Black Tourmaline, Muscovite, Fuschite, Quartz Druzy, Serpentine, Red and Yellow Jasper, Jet, and Moldavite.

HS: How do you prepare to go on a hunt?

AB: Preparing for a hunt is rather simple I guess. First thing I do is determine exactly where I want to go and what I want to find. After that, I usually pack a bag with a few bottles of water, a few snacks, an extra pair of socks, maybe some extra clothes in case it gets colder outside, a few containers or zip locks for

storing crystals, and that’s it. Until recently, I never took any digging supplies, mostly searched the beds of streams and dug very minimally by hand. The most important thing, however, is to get a good nights rest because depend-ing on how long you’re out hunting it can be hard on your back. Also, you need to figure out how you’re going to get to where you want to go. I usually ride my bike, but sometimes I’ll take the train and bike from wherever I get off.

HS: Describe your methods for a search.

AB: When I get to a spot that I’m going to search I usually just relax for a bit. Espe-cially after biking to these spots, I usually need to decompress. Meditating for ten or fifteen minutes usually puts me in tune with my surroundings and gives me a feel for where I’ll search first. Something that I’ve recently started doing is to make an offering to the area that I’m searching. A wise lady I know advised me to offer honey to the spirits that live in these areas. Once I actually start looking for crystals, I seek out streambeds that have the highest concentration of stones. This is usually a good place to start, because you have so much material you can look through. Being that these concentrated streambeds can cover a pretty sizable area, skimming through all the surface stones can take a while. And depending on where I am, that’s all I’ll have time for. If I’m searching a smaller area, I usually start moving rocks around to see what’s underneath. Also, if I have a high volume of crystals to look through, I sometimes have to be picky, which means looking for certain characteristics within stones that would make them more desirable.

HS: Are there days when the hunt is a complete bust?

AB: I’ve had only one day that was a complete bust. The three main areas I typically search have always been rewarding, but this one time, when I went exploring a new area, it was a nightmare. I was on a mission to find this stone called Goethite up in Oreland, PA. I took a train up there with my bike and biked from the train station to what I thought were the coordinates of this supposed Goethite location. Anyways, I had come across a creek that had a concentrated streambed, so I thought this would be a good place to begin searching. I propped my bike against a tree, put my bag on the streambed, took off my shoes, and started walking around in this shallow creek where I could see a bunch of stones. After ten minutes and not finding any Geothite, the water became super murky. As soon as I looked up from my feet I realized that I was in the middle of a flash flood! My shoes were gone, and when I looked downstream for them, they were already too far away and over a deeper body of murky water. I imme-diately panicked, grabbed my bag, and started cursing. Then I got stung by two wasps on both my elbows. I ran for my bike and went face first into a spider web. No stones, and when I finally made it to the train station, they wouldn’t let me on without shoes! Anyways, the story gets even crazier, but it’s barely believable. The moral of the story is to be prepared for anything. Just when you feel comfort-able on your crystal hunt, things could go really sour. The forces of nature are nothing to mess with.

HS: Can you give our Headspace min-eral fanatics some pointers?

AB: Get in touch with your surroundings and be respectful. Make sure you pack a bag and prepare for anything. The most important thing is to know where you’re going, do some research online about minerals in Pennsylvania, and get some rough coordinates at least. When you get to a location, be on the lookout for streams, and streambeds full of stones. If there are no streams nearby, look for patches of gravel or sand. Try not to have any expectations, take a friend, and have fun! A good reference for crystals and minerals in Pennsylvania is this book called the Mineralogy of Pennsylvania, written by Samuel George Gordon. You’d be amazed at what you can find in Penn-sylvania; there are even rumors of world class Carnelian... Happy hunting!

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Photos by Douglas Mason

Interview by Shawn Rybacki


Spaced Out Events

Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival - 12 noon-5p.m. (Rain or Shine). The Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival is a 1-day event showcasing local restaurants and shops in an open-air market place setting. In addition to sampling local food and drink attendees will be entertained by live music and artist sure to please all ages.

Happenings in your area

MAY3

APR26-27

Philly Brick Fest - This event is for the Lego lover in all of us. Come and witness/participate in this event in which people of all ages join to build creations big and small out of these iconic toys. http://phillybrickfest.com

World’s Largest Bar Crawl - Need we say more?...This event aims to break a world record as attendees prowl through the city of Philadelphia hitting up the tightest bars, while spreading all the debauchery an event like this is sure to cause. At the end of the night you may literally be crawling. http://www.thecrawl.com/

MAY3

Washington Crossing Brew Fest - In beautiful Bucks County, only twenty five miles from Philly you will be able to taste and enjoy 2 oz. samples of beers, of all varieties from all over the globe. http://www.washingtoncrossingbrewfest.com/.

MAY3

MAY17-18

The South 9th Street Italian Market Festival - South Philly’s Italian culture comes to life at the South 9th Street Italian Market Festival. Guest will be able to indulge in all the fare the Italian Market has to offer as well as relax and have fun with crafts, games and entertainment. http://www.italianmarketfestival.com/

Flavors of the Avenue - Cars, craft beer, great food and antiques are all on display at Flavors of the Avenue. Whether you’re a seasoned car junkie/antiquer or a novice just trying to experience new things you will be sure to find something to your liking. http://visiteastpassyunk.com/

APR26

APR 25- MAY 3

Philadelphia Science Festival - Philadelphia has always been a stalwart city in our nation’s scientific advancements. This spirit is perpetuated with the Philadelphia Science Festival, a 9-day event in which every attendant will leave with just a little more scientist in them. http://www.philasciencefestival.org/.

Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby - Everybody turn your potential energy into kinetic at the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby! If you and your friends have ever wanted to play engineer and design your own human powered vehicle check this event out. http://kinetickensington.com/

MAY17

Parx Casino Cycling Classic - 30-Mile Ride. The Parx Casino Cycling Classic is perfect for any cycling en-thusiast. If you would like to peddle through the scenic riverfront location of Manayunk as well as the historic districts of Philadelphia in one 30-mile course look no further. http://www.phillycyclingclassic.org/.

JUN1

New Hope Beer Festival - The New Hope Beer Festival is a showcase of local craft breweries from Philadel-phia and the surrounding area. Hit this up and you will be sure to discover a plethora of seasonal (the warm seasons) brews to help you shake off the cobwebs of winter and beckon in the summer.

JUN15

JUN 28- JUL 6

Kutztown Folk Festival - Shoot out of the city to the open country air to visit the oldest running folk festival in the country. They have fun for all ages including crafts, games and good food. Here the rich Pennsylvania Dutch history is celebrated, and come on, who doesn’t love a good quilt? http://www.kutztownfestival.com/

Paint Nite Philadelphia - All the tools you need to embark on two hours of creativity, painting and drinking. All the art you make will be yours to take home along with the supplies.

JUL7

As the temperature begins to rise, warm memories of last summer flood your thoroughly chilled mind. Waning winter blues get you thinking about how you plan to spend your precious summer weekends. At a festival, maybe? Selling your handmade art? You might be interested in volunteering your services in exchange for free food and entry? How about seeing some live music? Can’t you just picture yourself noodling through crowds of sunny, smiling faces, all the while immersing yourself in the freshest art scene to date?

Winner, winner…You’re in luck!

InLiquid’s 15th annual Art for the Cash Poor will brighten even the most sun-deprived face. Held at the Crane Arts Building, both indoors and out back in their courtyard, this free admission art extravaganza has all you need to kick your summer straight into high gear. Over 100 artists will be set up at tables and tents, selling their original works of

art, all priced under $199. “Our whole concept for this event is to get people to get exposure, to be able to interact with the artists, and for the artists to make some money. We get fine

artists as well as crafters and designers. We have people who do jewelry. There are people who do glassware, home goods, and functional and decorative ceramics. Photographers, printmakers, painters, and screen printers. Some people who just do clothing. We’ve even had kids’ toys,” Sarah Zimmerman, event coordinator and administrator of InLiquid, said. Other than paying a small table fee, the artists keep all of the money from their sales. Local bands such as The Really Cooks and Clarksville have al-ready been booked to perform, and Phila-delphia Brewing Company is the official sponsor of the beer garden. InLiquid was founded in 1999 by Rachel Zimmerman, Sarah’s older sister, along with the (artist-only) staff of her graphic and web design company, Studio Z Design. Sarah explained, “At that time, if you were an artist in Philadelphia, you weren’t necessarily getting that much ex-posure, and not necessarily represented in galleries. So they started it as a means of finding a way to create exposure for artists amongst themselves as well as other artists they were friends with. Rath-er than being a needle in a haystack, of having their own websites, they decid-ed to make one massive website.” “It’s always been a mission of InLiquid to not just promote what we do but to promote what other people do, and help commu-nicate and help get other people working together,” she added. “The website is the main part of what InLiquid is.” With the amount of information offered and opportunities kept organized by InLiquid’s site monitor, Erica Minutella, it’s easy to understand where the name “InLiquid” came from. Sarah explained, “The name is based off of being in water, that it want-

ed to be something fluid that never got static or stayed the same, that it can change as it develops.” “Which for an online organization is really key,” Erica

chimed in quickly. “Everything on the site itself is open to everyone. We’re actually working on sprucing up a directory we have of all the galleries in the area and other resources for artists and things like that. So we’re hoping to get more people to come in and use that one as well. We have free listings for artists, too. There’s an event calendar that galleries and artists can just send their upcoming shows to.” Registration is still open for this year’s Art for the Cash Poor. All of the information you’ll need can be found online at InLiquid.org. Whether you’d like to apply as an artist for table space, offer your band’s musical entertainment, or volunteer to help with serving drinks/VIP room/general set up/clean up of the event it’s not too late for you to get involved (bonus: volunteers will be treated to free food!). Sarah gladly added, “We’re al-ways looking for new artists.” So register today and finally get the exposure you’ve been working towards. If you’re interested in getting first dibs on purchasing some of the artwork, there is a ticketed preview the night before the event opens to the public. A portion of those ticket proceeds goes to support The Aids Fund. Both the preview and main event are very family oriented. Again, Art for the Cash Poor is a free event, open to the public. There is a sug-gested donation to help cover the cost of simply holding such a massive party, but how could you shy away from supporting the ever-growing artistic community that’s brought so much positive change to Philadelphia? Care to meet your favorite artists while you enjoy a beer, or two? The experience alone could be priceless. The piece of art you’ve always dreamed of owning is waiting for you.

The ticketed preview event is on Friday the 13th. Are you feeling lucky?!

Written by Lisa Kowalski

Photos from InLiquid

A celebration of attainable art

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23 SPRING - SUMMER 2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM


The following is a key for the image below.

A. Ink.B. Squeegee. C. Image. D. Photo-emulsion. E. Screen. F. Printed image.

What’s your favorite band shirt? That old Led Zeppelin hand me down from your dad? Or the 72’ Grateful Dead sweatshirt you got from your cousin? Either way, the graphic on that shirt was probably screen-printed. We have all seen this technique used on fabrics, but you might be questioning its origins, how the process works, or what you can do with it. We’re here to fill you in. This ancient method was first documented in the Song Dynasty in China, circa 960-1279 AD. Europeans wouldn’t utilize the method until the 1700s, but the technique was already being refined in Japan and other Asian countries, where tightly woven silk was stretched over a wooden frame, hence the name “silk screening” we often still hear used today. A man named Samuel Simon patented the method in England in 1907, utilizing the process to print high quality wallpaper. Famous print maker William Morris implemented this method to create some of the world’s most well known patterns that have influenced many artists to this day. Screen-printing is a medium in which ink is pushed through a mesh screen and onto a surface. One of the main benefits of this technique is its versatility in medium. Using a mesh to screen-print allows the artist to print on any material, including paper, glass, wood, fabric, metal, and plastics. It is mainly used for mass production as it allows the artist to create multiples of a certain print, unlike painting or sketching where the end result is a one of a kind.

Most of the time, a printmaker has a specific design that they are using for a print. The artwork can be drawn by hand or created digitally. When utilizing digital work, it is important to note that the higher the quality of the image, the better the print will come out. Photoshop is an amazing tool to separate photographs by color. However, flat objects can be separated by layer. Either way, the final design must be separated by color. Each color of a print is screened one at a time.

1 Create the Design

A positive of the design means that it is the same design, or an exact representation of the part of the design. Remember the overhead projectors from school? Placing the image onto a transparent sheet in 100 percent black is a similar idea to this. There are several ways to make the positive. It can be created by hand with acrylic paint or printed onto a transparency with a laser printer (NOT inkjet). If it is one color, there will be one positive. If the design has two colors, there will need to be two positives (and so on).

2 Prepare the Positives

Once the positives are created, the next step is to “burn” a negative onto the screen. A screen is essentially a plastic mesh stretched over a wooden or aluminum frame. The screen is coated with photosensitive emulsion in a dark room. It must cure, or dry, for about an hour. When the emulsion is exposed to light, it hardens. The areas that are covered by the black negative are NOT exposed to the light and therefore do not harden. Rinsing off this unhardened area reveals your negative. Once this process is complete, you are ready to start printing.

3 Expose the Image

In order to have a successful “pull,” a screen is usually attached to a hinge. By clamping your screen into a hinge, you are able to lift your screen up without changing its position. This allows you to put another piece of paper, a shirt, or any other material you choose to print on, in its place, allowing the print to go onto the exact same spot without having to adjust its registration.

4 Get Set Up

A squeegee is a wooden handled tool with a rubber edge. The squeegee is used to push the ink through the negative area and onto your selected medium. Once you’ve pulled all the way though, you simply lift the screen, and voilà! You’ve completed a print.

5 Pull Through

Most water-based inks have a drying time of about ten minutes to an hour, depending on the medium you’ve printed on. Fabrics may take longer than something like paper. Allowing for proper drying time will ensure you won’t have issues like smearing.

6 Let Dry

The medium of screen-printing has survived for hundreds of years as its convenience and precision is unrivaled by many other forms of printing. It is utilized today to print on a multitude of objects. The coffee mug, pint glass or water bottle you’re drinking out of could have been screen-printed. What about the design on your favorite Frisbee? That was likely screen-printed as well. Even that limited edition concert poster, you just bought, was probably screen-printed. Screen-printing utilizes various tools that you may not have access to. Fortunately, there are print shops such as Second State Press in Philadelphia, that allow people to sign up for a monthly membership, much like a gym, where you can bring your own supplies and work with their equipment. You can also rent time by the hour, or sign up for one of their classes or workshops. Visit www.secondstatepress.org for more info.

If you have ever been interested in screen-printing, this is a basic guide on how it’s done:

A squgee is a tool usually made from wood used to scrape in through the mesh part of a screen. With the rub-ber-edged blade set on a handle, the printmaker makes one swift motion to put ink onto the applied surface.


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jewelerChristopher Konneker, better known by many as “SER,” started his own unique brand of custom jewelry in 2003 in New Orleans, Louisiana called SER. Through word of mouth, his jewelry and loyal collectors spread worldwide commissioning original pieces.

Influenced by music, graffiti, and tattoo art, as well as the New Orleans lifestyle full of music, food, and the Art Nouveau movement, a SER custom piece is unexplainably unique. A self-taught jeweler, SER began exploring his creativity through graffiti art in the streets of New Orleans as a teenager. Seeking a respected form of self-expression, SER was determined to make his mark with a positive and creative message that left his fans with the same feeling as his street art, but in the form of a timeless piece of bold jewelry. In the midst of de-veloping his style and clientele, SER’s New Orleans home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. With nothing to lose, he moved his jewelry opera-tion to NYC and gained even more popularity.

SER’s custom clients include celebrities T-Pain, Yung Joc, Paper Diamond, DJ Equal, and DJ Jayceeoh, as well as corporate client Smirnoff Vodka. In 2008 Alex Grey featured eight pieces of SER jewelry for a group jewelry show at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in NYC. Using cut and raw rare gemstones and engraved precious metal, SER’s custom jewelry continues to break boundaries and gain popularity within many collectors. The SER brand has become so in demand that in 2014 he will expand the brand to encompass his first collection of unisex jewelry.

www.serjewelry.com

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Comix CornerWe are always looking for fresh jokes!Submit them on our Facebook page and we will illustrate the joke with the most likes!www.facebook.com/headspacemag

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SUDOKUWhat do Yoko Ono and wasp larvae have in common?

They both live off dead beetles!

By Ben Fowler

By Liana Kelly

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