Kaleidoscope

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Published: Jul 14, 2010

I'll miss hearing Y-Rock on my radio, but the lineup for WXPN's XPoNential Music Festival (this weekend on the Camden waterfront, xpn.org) is encouraging: The Walkmen, Dr. Dog, Yo La Tengo, Free Energy, Grace Potter, Birdie Busch, Blood Feathers, Edward Sharpe, These United States and a ton more spread out over three days and three stages.

Some people are purists when it comes to live albums, insisting on absolute fidelity to the original experience, unedited, flaws intact. Then there's C. Spencer Yeh, whose latest release as Burning Star Core, Papercuts Theater, is a four-part, hourlong meta-concert cobbled together from more than 60 different shows over several years, in multiple venues and with varying collaborators. It's a Frankenstein's monster stitching dense slabs of noise to whorls of textured drones to percussive blasts — representing on a broad scale the broad sonic path swept by Yeh, who has been appearing under the BSC mantle for more than 15 years. He plays Vox Populi on Friday (July 16, phillysoundforum.org).

Without memorable characters, a good story fades like sunburn. Philly resident Justin Kramon's beach-perfect debut, Finny (Random House, July 13), is full of unforgettable oddballs — from a narcoleptic pianist to a digestively challenged father who claims he's "brushing his teeth" every time he rushes off to the bathroom — all of whom Kramon spends plenty of time with. That way, he says, "all of that character's funny little habits and obsessions have a warmth to them, like you're coming home." Speaking of which, go home and read a Q&A with Kramon at citypaper.net/criticalmass.

Calling all Franks: The Mural Arts Program's Mural Mile series, celebrating Philly's painted walls, is hosting a Famous Franks party tonight at 5:30 p.m. (July 15, muralarts.org) at, where else, Dirty Frank's. If you dress up as a Frank (check the mural for ideas: It's home to Frankenstein, Ben Franklin and many others), a free hot dog is yours. "My favorite Frank is Frank Zappa," says Frank's muralist/guest of honor David McShane, when asked which namesake he'd choose to portray. "I used to have long hair and on Halloween I would grow a Frank Zappa mustache."

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