Live or Karaoke?

XPoNential Music Festival
Wiggins Park
Camden, NJ
Saturday, July 21st, 2007
General Admission
$0.00

Karaoke night
Expresso Yourself Coffee House
Philadelphia, PA
Saturday, July 21st, 2007 (8:00pm)
General Admission
$5

Yep. I was in Philadelphia again. Work sent me back to my hometown for a week long conference, and I flew out early to spend some time with friends. Then, since I can't possibly take a business trip and go home like a normal person, I had them fly me to Chicago for Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. Roy met me there and we went to the concert and drove home together.

Since I added the early weekend to my Philly trip, this is now the longest we've been apart since we got married. That part is sad, but I had a lot of fun that weekend, and it sure beats the three months apart we once did when it was still a long-distance-relationship.

My early weekend in Philly coincided with WXPN's XPoNential Music Festival. Back when I worked there, we had something called Singer Songwriter weekend, which I always enjoyed. I hung out with my bosses and ran errands for them and felt useful. We could hear all the music. I could take off whenever there was a band I wanted to see. My former boss Kathy was going to be there, and she dropped off a 4 day member pass for me at my hotel. I made plans for both evening nights with friends, but I figured I could spend each afternoon at the festival.

Saturday morning was great. Nice day, not too hot yet. I was staying in Rittenhouse Square and I took a walk up to the Art Museum and then around it to Kelly Drive and the "front side" of Boathouse Row. It's so Philadelphia and home-feeling to me. Then I did the touristy thing and ran up the steps like Rocky did.

I caught the El to Penn's Landing. There was supposed to be a ferry there to go across the Delaware River to Camden leaving on the hour. Well, it was 10 til noon, and I couldn't find the ferry. Penn's Landing goes for several blocks south and there were barricades and running up and down steps to the different levels. It hit noon, and I still hadn't found it. I didn't want to wait another hour. I found a cab, and asked the driver if he would take me to Camden. (BTW, although the riverfront area is touristy, this is still the "most dangerous city in America" Camden. I can only imagine what the cabbie thought.) Neither of us had any idea where Wiggin's Park is, but we followed the directions for the aquarium and found a sign for it.

The setup here was quite different than across the river at the old Penn's Landing amphitheater. There was a separate area for families with lots of activities, kid's music, Kathy doing a meet and greet, but it was so cut off from the main stage music. I went there and chatted with Kathy for awhile. She had a volunteer helping her out. The autograph line was much shorter than it used to be, but this was in a member's only area that you really had to look for. After a while, she shooed me off to go see some music.

The festival itself was different too. The old place had an amphitheater made of stone steps. You just picked a place and sat. Here, there was a big grassy area where people brought chairs. I didn't have a chair. There were some bleachers in the back, but they were metal and in the sun. There also used to be tables and chairs in the members area, but not this time. There really wasn't a good place to sit and hang out to listen to the music. Or eat. I made a mess of myself getting tzatziki sauce on my tshirt. And of course, back then, I listened to XPN all the time, so I knew the bands. I knew a couple headliners, but no one who played early in the day. I wandered around while Hoots & Hellmouth, Illinois, and Will Hoge played. Nothing really stood out. I said goodbye to Kathy and took the 3:30 ferry back to Philly.

I was really tired afterwards, but I freshened up a bit at the hotel. Took the El up to my childhood stop and Angela picked me up there. We hung out at her place for a while and then got dinner with her husband Baxter. Bax is an MC - he's done comedy, magic, and now he's hosting karaoke and trivia at a coffeehouse in the Mayfair section of the Northeast. Angela's really been getting into it. I've never been to karaoke, since I don't do bars, and I'm not going to sing solo in public. But I agreed to check it out. The coffeehouse has a neighborhood bar type of feeling and is filled with regulars.

I was looking at Baxter's list of songs, and there were three Yes songs: Roundabout, Owner of a Lonely Heart, and I've Seen All Good People. I am NOT going to sing, but I think to myself that of the three of those, the first half of All Good People would be the easiest, but I wouldn't want to do the repetitive second half.

Baxter and Angela do a couple songs. Then Angela surprises me with ... All Good People. I haven't found out if she listened to this at home first or just winged it, but I'm going to guess she didn't practice singing along with it. The first half of the song is called Your Move, and it's simple, pretty folk type song. The second half repeats the line "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day, so satisfied I'm on my way" over and over.

And over.

There are two monitors set up, one facing Angela and one facing the audience. Every time the lyrics refresh with those same words there again, the look on Angela's face, oh my goodness, it was so funny! When will this ever end and Why does Rhea like this stuff so much? I was really touched that she did this for me, and we both had a good laugh afterwards. She said it felt a lot longer than 8 minutes.

I ended up having a better time at karaoke than I did at the festival. I could spend time with Angela instead of feeling like a hanger-on or groundless at the festival. Plus, it took away so much Philly time. Angela drove me back to my hotel. The next day, I decided not to go again. I had another Philly tourist day, going to the Reading Terminal Market for brunch (it's open on Sundays now) and the Atwater Kent Philly history museum. Debbie picked me up around 4, and I got to see her new house way out in the New Jersey suburbs.