7/31/2019 Of Lines and Lyrics

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JUMPphilly.com

Peter Marinari and Eric Smith probably would have stumbled across

each other at some point. They are both savvy with technolog and

obsessed with social media. But it was music that ultimately brought

them together albeit through the Internet.

I've been obsessed with music all omy life, says Marinari, a local

singer/songwriter. I was that 5-year-old kid in the back seat othe car

who had my headphones on because I needed my tunes.

While attending Masterman High School, he wrote countless songs.

He continued writing while at Drexel University. He started taking voice

lessons and he began hitting as many open mic nights as possible. Then,a few years ater graduating from college, his best friend, Gina Martinelli,

suggested they take their playful songwriting to the next level.

In 2007, Marinari and Martinelli formed Arcati Crisis. They've played

all around the region, cherry-picking lyrics from Marinari's unbelievable

archive osongs. For every song that makes it into the band, I've got 25

more songs piled up, Marinari says.

To build the band's following, Marinari turned to social media.

He already had been a blogger. He launched his site CrushingKrisis.com

in 2000, and now claims to be the longest-running blogger in the city. He

held blogathons when he released 25 songs in 24 hours annually between

2001 and 2003. And he operated a podcast from 2000 to 2008, with many

ohis listeners becoming regulars at concerts.He wound up following Eric Smith on Twitter because oa mutual friend.

The co-founder othe local geek culture website Geekadelphia, Smith

has an impressive background stretching from editing Uwishunu to

marketing for Quirk Books. In November o2010, he added "novelist" to

his resume with his debut work ofiction, "Textual Healing." The novel is a

Nick Hornby-esque tale oa once-famous writer, Andrew Ace Connors,

who just lost his l iterati girlfriend, found his book on the discount rack

and was suckered into buying an apar tment-wrecking sugar glider.

Ace goes on myriad adventures in a short span otime in an attempt

to rekindle his passion for writing. He's surrounded by a cast oeclectic

characters, who readers could easily identify or fall in love with.

"Textual Healing" was a DIY project, self-released and self-promoted.

Smith created an audio version, casting his friends as characters in a

podiobook. Marinari found it through Twitter and gave it a listen.

The way Eric writes is this super sarcastically realistic, Marinari says.

I actually had a tangible vision o the apartment where the character

starts out.

Naturally, Marinari had his guitar in hand as he listened to the first few

pages o Smith's novel. He began playing a few ri fs with a few wordsstuck in his head. Suddenly, he wrote a whole song inspired by Smiths

lead character. Marinari played it once for his wife, Elise Wei othe band

Filmstar, videotaped it and released it immediately on YouTube at 2 a.m.

The next morning, Smith found himseltagged in a Twitter post, linking

him to a song called Curves Sketched In Letters.

Peter's a poet, Smith proclaims. I loved his interpretation othe story.

It really spoke to the whole struggling writer aspect.

Marinari and Smith exchanged several emails ogushing compliments.

That led to a second song, End With Me, based on more othe book.

Marinari played the book's release party at Tattooed Mom's and he and

Smith have developed a friendship.

This all happened through social media, states Marinari. I always

encourage local artists to constantly engage. You need to talk to people,

constantly.

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