June 3- 9, 2004
hearhere
No Rain It's about that time. You know what I mean: when Northern Liberties artists and their pals peep out of their tiny, expensive cubbyholes and begin foraging for rock 'n' roll. Their search will inevitably bring them to Liberty Lands park for Northern Liberties Music Festival 3.5. And inevitably, they will look to the heavens. See, last year's 2.5 festival got rained out exactly 500 times. In fact these things almost always get rain delayed (knock on wood).
"I am terrified of rain. I've already heard a joke saying that there is a 3.5 chance of a rainout," says organizer Ed Farnsworth, whose relentless bad luck has made him superstitious. "I have tried to be extra nice to friends, strangers, small children, dogs and Republicans as a hedge against any grudge on the part of the gods."
This No-Libs festival, like all the others, is free, but will benefit the saturated Liberty Lands park through the sale of good food and beer from local vendors, and last summer's T-shirts designed by Space 1026 artist Ben Woodward. "The date will be wrong and none of the bands listed on the shirt will be playing this Saturday," says Farnsworth. "But hell, it's a festival shirt."
This Saturday's actual lineup is an impressive array of local talent: Mazarin, Hi Soft, Krass Brothers, Cordalene, Pearly Gates, Future Tips, Steve Phoenix and Chamomile.
Sat., June 5, 3 p.m., free, Liberty Lands, Third between Poplar and Wildey sts.
Match Game Momentarily leaving his Troubles behind, Joey Sweeney will front National Eye for a one-off gig on Friday. National Jojo, they're calling it. I sent an e-mail to synthesizerist Douglas Kirby of National Eye begging for an explanation. The reply came from guitarist Rick Flom, who wanted to pretend to be Mr. Kirby for the purposes of this interview. That's fine with me.
"[The Trouble With Sweeney] drummer Charlie Hall had to go to San Fran for some high-profile professional musician stuff, which left poor Mr. Sweeney without a rock band for Friday night," explains faux Kirby. "He asked us if we would learn a bunch of songs super fast and we said yes. This is a mutant music group, an abomination, but a very sharp-looking abomination."
Have they practiced? "Sorta. Two Eye members are currently far, far away, so much of the arranging will be done on the fly." What do they sound like? "Not much like either band, except for JS's inimitable vocals. We're doing his songs, but National Eye isn't as technically proficient as our soul brothers [in TTWS]. Let's call it "situational headmusic.' But be advised: That term has not been approved by anybody but me, Douglas Kirby," says Kirby. "Based on our experience as his backup band, I would say the trouble with Sweeney is that his songs take too long to learn."
Fri., June 4, 9 p.m., $8, with The Big Jangle, Merritt, This Radiant Boy, National Jojo, Grand Fabric, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888. (hearhere@citypaper.net)
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