Last week Rolling Stone published their annual Hot List (usually a summer issue, but I guess Guns & Roses was a more relevant cover topic at the time).
In general the Hot List was filled with boring stuff that I heard about three months ago, but one article especially made me laugh: Hot Scene - Philadelphia. (1MB JPG / 2MB PDF)
Yes, us. We're the hottest (or, at least, most worthy of highlighting) music scene in the country.
The designation sounded a little suspect to me. We're definitely alive with music, and there are definitely a lot great bands in Philadelphia, but as a big music fan (and frequent musician) I've never felt that Philly has the brimming-over-the-top musicality of a Boston or an Austin, to name two other music-friendly cities.
I could have maybe bought an explanation that mentioned how newer venues like World Cafe Live, Milkboy Coffee, and even the Kimmel have jumpstarted our local scene over the past few years. However, Rolling Stone they seem to have chosen us based on the logic that our low rent allows musicians to craft their sound without having to hold down a day job.
Um, what?
Maybe RS was mostly hanging out in the Great Northeast (thus the highlight of Johnny Brenda's), but otherwise their low-rent thesis is pretty much an outright lie.
Also, though they ever-so-briefly mention AKA - a legitimate hot-pick - they prominently feature aphoto of The Last Drop coffee shop, which was already tired ten years ago when my bandmate and I stopped attending open mic nights there because of the unpalatable mix of talentless hacks and creepy older men. As actual music fans we didn't usually fit in.
Maybe that's just the point; ten years later and that's Rolling Stone's target audience to a tee, isn't it? I mean, we're talking about a magazine with Kid Rock on its cover.
What do you think? Do we qualify as one of the country's hottest music scenes? If so, what am I missing out on as a listener, and as a performer?
Depends on how you define
Depends on how you define "hot", I guess.
In terms of venues that give local songwriters a place to showcase their work, it's a pretty music friendly town. One can always argue the finer points of how balanced the choices are - acoustic over rock; metal over hip-hop, etc., but compared to ten years ago, the list of places hosting open mics has grown considerably in this town.
If having a place to play defines "hot", then Philly is running on the hotter side of things.
In terms of networking options that give local songwriters and musicians a way to connect to each other, there has been an explosion of online and other resources that encourage collaboration - from MySpace groups, to MusesMuse.com, to Phillymusic.com, to Meetup.com, to the other new one that just started up and I can't remember the name of it now, to Facebook, to Craigslist, to the Philly Local message boards on WXPN's website, to just hanging out at the venues hosting Open Mics.
If you want to find other songwriters, musicians, or music fans, Philly can be a "hot" spot to look.
There's also been new groups that have come out to support original music and songwriting - The Philadelphia Songwriters Project is entering it's fifth year as a non-profit org dedicated to local and regional songwriters with mentoring sessions, Master Classes, and shows. Philadelphia Songwriters Alliance is another non-profit group operating on a regular schedule. Philadelphia Art Alliance had a singer/songwriter series. Origivation Magazine promotes local talent.
Ten-fifteen years ago there was no such thing as a non-profit organization for songwriters in this town.
People who started in the music industry in Philadelphia tend to come back to Philadelphia and keep their businesses here. There are a number of studios in this city started by people who were Philadelphia performers, writers, musicians. After all the travels they would know better than anyone where to go to start-up a music related business, and they chose Philadelphia.
Now on the downside, if you're defining "hot" by the number of bands or performers who have come out of this city, signed record deals, and made it to "the big time" of world or national tours, Grammy nominations, and made it to the map of "must stop here" for record producers and industry execs, then you would be right - Philly is not as hot as Boston or Austin. Not that Philly is without it's successes because there have been numerous Philly natives who have gotten national recognition. What Philly does not get is the media spotlight. If a major news outlet is doing a story about the music industry, they go to Nashville, or Boston, or New York, or Austin, and never stop in Philly.
There could be many reasons for that dismissal among the big time outlets, but I expect the main reason is that they take the easiest path. They KNOW what they're going to get from those other cities. It's predictable. They ask the same people, they get stock answers, they meet their deadlines. Coming to Philadelphia for the story means someone might have to take the time to get to know us better and actually write something new.
Sorry. That was a long ass comment. It's a pet topic. I'll shut up now. o_0
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