Also this issue: Mehta Physics Meet the man who’s turning the Kimmel into a world-music hot spot. -A.D. Amorosi Matter of Import The Brit in Big Sandy’s court. -Mary Armstrong Blistered in the Sun Unwrapping the Summer Tour Package. -Jesse Delaney The Kills -Sam Adams The Sick Lipstick -Maura Johnston Richard Thompson -Sam Adams Jamaican Dave's Birthday Bash -Ainé Ardon-Doley Tracy Chapman -M.J. Fine

July 17-23, 2003

musicpicks

4 Way Street

Folk

"We almost called our album Yes, Yes, Yes, No Jim Boggia jokes of the band 4 Way Street. "If one doesn’t agree with the others, the "no’ vote wins. … It’s an autocracy, so we can’t move forward until we serve everyone’s interest." Philly’s favorite pop-folk sons, Boggia, Ben Arnold, Joseph Parsons and Scott Bricklin -- all weaned on everything from The Beatles to Motown, first played together publicly at the 2000 WXPN Singer Songwriter Weekend, but it wasn’t until a "night of drunken reverie" at the Grape Street Pub months later that things really clicked. "We stumbled through the first song, but by the third one, things solidified," Boggia said, adding that, because there are four strong singer/songwriters, each of whom maintains a solo career, everybody gets a chance to be the frontman. With its (long-delayed) major label debut, Pretzel Park, slated for release in September, 4 Way Street is showcasing both older and new tunes onstage. "If we can keep making music and having a good time together, we’re so much ahead of the game," Boggia says.

Fri., July 18, 7 and 10 p.m., $12-$15, with Regina Spektor, The Point, 880 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, 610-527-0988.

—Nicole Pensiero