Day 2: Philadelphia, PA
Nau mai
Yesterday we played on WXPN World Cafe in Philadelphia.
I awoke at 10:40am to the clack of a coffee cup arriving on my nightstand courtesy of my generous roommate who had walked a good distance to save me from the penance of our hotel’s complimentary lobby brew. Tristan was preparing me a breakfast of leftovers from last night’s dinner, and after getting myself ready I wolfed down a small meal of brown bread, lamb plov, broccoli salad, and spinach and cheese borek.
We assembled at the van, everyone in various states of repair, depending on the hours of sleep received. Off we went, the dependable I95 highway carrying our vehicle south through the state of New Jersey. Our mission for the day was to complete a performance and interview on Philadelphia’s World Café, a public radio programme that is broadcast on NPR, as well as filmed for their online video platform. This was a nice way to ease into our tour, a soft start to the morning and a few hours of work in the middle of the day while we tried to shed our jet lag. We arrived on a quiet backstreet in the city’s university district, unloading the van and then leaving the hot and humid afternoon behind and entered the comfort of a wood-panelled studio, spacious and pleasantly lit, and staffed by a host of friendly and welcoming characters who proffered us gifts like sparkling water and headphone extension cables. Among the friendly faces was Chris the engineer who we remembered fondly from our 2019 session on this same radio programme. It was a relaxing and enjoyable session, four of our new songs delivered to an audience of cameras and a very easy going presenter.
It was 5pm when we arrived at our hotel and we were all fiercely hungry after skipping lunch. (I will point out here that the World Café is not a café that serves food, and that we were warned of this in the advance document that they provided us. Thankfully we were kept alive by a box of granola bars that Annie thoughtfully supplied.) We enjoyed a pleasant early evening wander around the streets of central Philadelphia as we searched for a restaurant, steep light rays streaking between the high rises as golden hour approached, and a good supply of beautifully groomed dogs out enjoying the cooler temperatures. After dinner I spent an hour trying out the writing facilities of my hotel room, eeking every last inch of performance out of the tiny desk and searching for inspiration in the walls of the multistorey carpark out the window.
As darkness fell upon the city exhaustion came down hard upon several of our number and it was only Tristan and myself who had the energy for an evening outing. We enjoyed a journey on Philadelphia’s underground metro line, experiencing the onslaught of jolts and jostles that are the hallmarks of a good rapid transit system, the reminder that there are no efficiencies wasted on gentle braking or acceleration.
The train disembarked us into the district of Fishtown, a neighbourhood that was buzzing and lit up, coming alive with the celebration we all know as Friday night. We took in a show at Johnny Brenda’s, an establishment that looked like an old fashioned saloon from the outside but secreted a delightfully cosy 250 capacity venue in the second story. On the small corner stage we saw a band called Sadurn, a quartet of sensitive musicians that played a gorgeous set of alternative folk tunes.
As we left the venue Fishtown was continuing to heat up, the overflow from the bars spilling out to all the fast food joints, and the passing drivers becoming more creative with their interpretations of the traffic signals, honking and screeching their way across or through oncoming lines of cars. We caught the train back after midnight, and we were sad to learn that this was one of the last few late night services that the people of Philadelphia will get to enjoy as severe service reductions come into play following recent funding cuts.