Hot Dog City

by A.D. Amorosi

Rock/pop

At first glance, Philly's two-year-old Hot Dog City Records comes off like a silly enterprise. The initial few releases are toward cartoony punks with dippy names like Pennsylvania Muzzle Loader, Excelsior and Amen Booze Rooster who are obsessed with beer, food and shit. Once you settle down and realize that, yes, these are the things that make punk rock great, you can enjoy the simple pleasures within. And then label head Ron Cortez and Stewd Studio's Terry Yerves turned things upside down with a wider range of projects and sounds not always associated with food or drink or punk for a compilation called Hoags. While Yerves records the diverse likes of old school rapper Schooly D, new school hip-hopper Kenneth Masters, unruly mods Three 4 Tens, electronicists Version Sound, zigaboo-gospel preachers Phil Moore Browne, the space cadets of Aspera and a reunited Franklin, Cortez lines them up with the abrasive likes of An Albatross, Wastoid and more for a scrapple-like collusion of Philly pop's meatier byproducts. There must be something to Hot Dog's kitchen sink approach, as not only are these acts committing their previously unreleased Hoags tunes to the Dog exclusively -- they're gathering at three locations over three nights for a hog-wild spread of sounds. Ten bucks get you admission and the CD. As goes the Hot Dog City Records cheer: Da-blekum!

Fri., Jan. 9, 8 p.m., $10 , with Plastik Little, K. Masters, DJ Cramske, king god, Coyote and Version Sound, Silk City, Fifth and Spring Garden sts., 215-592-8838. Sat., Jan. 10, 8 p.m., $10 , with Hisoft, Jai Alai Savant, Phil Moore Browne, Pennsylvania Muzzle Loader and Mr. Unloved, The North Star, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-684-0808. Sun., Jan. 11, 6 p.m., $10 suggested donation, with An Albatross, Hulk Smash, Academy, Low Budgets, Hail Social and Farm, The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-573-3234.

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there