Philadelphia Mummer String Band 2014 Results

As a boy who grew up the son of a mother from South Philadelphia and a father from the suburbs, I found myself watching the Philadelphia Mummer's Day Parade every New Years Day, until I moved to New York City, and it wasn't available to me. It was then I realized how much the men in makeup, feathers and sequins had been ingrained in my life. And this was especially true of the string band, which should come as no surprise, as I love music so much. There is something about the spectacle of it all that makes it so much fun to watch. To share it with you, I am pleased to share the top four placing bands from the 2014 parade. This is the fourth place band, Woodland String Band, as they perform 'Legend of the Lamp'.

For more about the Woodland String Band, visit their official website. You can also 'like' them on Facebook. I really enjoyed the group that finished in third place, South Philadelphia String Band. Here they are performing 'Invasion of Piracy'.

For more about the South Philadelphia String Band, visit their official website. You can also 'like' them on Facebook. In second place, Hegeman String Band were so damned good, it was hard to resist them. Watch the video of them performing 'Hegeman's Household Havoc'. This also features the winner of 1st Place in the Captain competition, John Baron.

For more about the Hegeman String Band, visit their official website. You can also 'like' them on Facebook, and 'follow' them on Twitter. Finally, the big winner of the 2014 parade was a group that was bright, colorful, and so exceptional to see and hear. This is Quaker City String Band, who took home the first place award with their performance of 'California Here We MUM!'

For more about the Quaker City String Band, visit their official website. You can also 'like' them on Facebook, and 'follow' them on Twitter. Happy New Year, Philadelphia style! To learn more about the Philadelphia Mummers Near Years Day Parade, visit their official website. There you can find a link to a live feed, if you live outside the viewing area. You can also 'like' them on Facebook, and 'follow' them on Twitter.

Avi Wisnia • New Year

I couldn't have a New Year's Day go by without featuring a wonderful song by Philadelphia-native Avi Wisnia. That would be "New Year", a song perfectly suited for the holiday, off his album 'Something New'. The song celebrates new starts, and new chances. That is exactly what we all look for every January 1st, an opportunity for a new beginning. This is Avi Wisnia singing "New Year".

To learn more about Avi Wisnia, visit his official website. You can also 'follow' Avi on Twitter and 'like' him on Facebook. The song "New Year" can be found on the album 'Something New', which can be purchased from iTunes and Amazon.

Philadelphia Mummers New Years Day Parade 2013

If it is New Year's Day in this neck of the woods, it is time for the the Philadelphia Mummers New Years Day Parade! After all, where else could you get the light, the flash, the colors and the music, all combined into one of the best holiday celebrations anyone could find! For those of you who have never seen the Mummers in action, I thought I would share with you just a small part of the parade, the Top 3 award winners from the 2013 String Band competition. The first look will be the Woodland String Band, who finished the day in 3rd place. They had a great theme of medieval warriors from a castle, wearing, of course, plenty of feathers, satin, and sequins!

When the marks of the judges were tallied, Quaker City String Band finished in 2nd place. They adopted the theme of celebrating Native Americans, with the glamorous addition of feathers, sequins, satin, and banjos! With a scene awash with orange, yellow, and green, the Quaker City String were a sight to see.

Finally, the winner of the String Band competition last year was the very talented Fralinger String Band. Using metalic coffins, vampires, skeletons, and Frankenstein monsters, the colors were black and white, and everything in between to create a beautifully woven tapestry that enticed and intoxicated.

Happy New Year, Philadelphia style! To learn more about the Philadelphia Mummers Near Years Day Parade, visit their official website. For a live stream of the parade online, visit PHL17.

Mummers Parade 2012 String Bands

As you can tell from the pictures, the Mummers Parade is a colorful and glittery happening. With the different divisions, from the Comics to the String Bands to the Fancy Brigades, there are more feathers, sequins, makeup and shiny crystals than just about any other event in the world. I remember being hypnotized by the Mummers when I was a child, watching the parade on the television. And I still love watching it, and look forward to the 2013 Mummers Parade.



First, some great news. For the first time, a group of drag queens have come together to perform in the Philadelphia Mummers Parade. That is great news, at least to me. You see, I am old enough to remember when the Parade did not allow women to march in any of the categories, so the female characters were played by men. Eventually, women were allowed to participate, and the great 'art' of drag mummery seemed to be lost. To learn more about one of these Mummers, watch this clip.

Now, to give you an idea what many in the Philadelphia area are watching for much of New Years Day, I have gotten clips of the Top Four String Bands from the 2012 Mummers Parade for your enjoyment. Now, rather than have me make stuff up, how about if I just identify and you watch? Sounds good to me. So let's do it!

Fourth Place - Joseph A. Ferko String Band



Third Place - South Philadelphia String Band



Second Place - Quaker City String Band



First Place - Woodland String Band



For more about the annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade, visit the official website.

U2 • New Year's Day

I thought it was only right to have the great song from U2, "New Year's Day", be the first post of 2013. The song is off the amazing album 'War', released in early 1983. Even today, I think the album remains one of the greats of the last century, and this is most definitely a great song.

Happy New Year! And you can purchase 'War' from iTunes and Amazon.

New Years Resolutions

Clockwise: Dylan Rice; Breathe; Tom Waits; and Shane Mack.

I decided that since we are coming up on the last week of January, it was time to discuss all those New Years Resolutions that were made in a fit of panic, or a somewhat altered state. No matter the case, for a majority of people, by this time all the Resolutions made have been broken in one way or another. They have been forgotten, actively abolished, or willpower has not held. But, no matter the reason, they hare a thing of the past, much like certain bets in bars with your best friend, or promises to call that one-night-stand the next day. So,whenever I hear resolutions or the aforementioned promises being made, I feel like shouting one thing: lies! Even on New Years Eve, as a friend is sipping on their cocktail, once they start the sentence with "my New Years Resolution will be..." I hear Dylan Rice singing in my head, to his amazing song off the 2004 album Wandering Eyes. Yes, my mind starts hearing The Lie.



I have always loved that song, and that whole album. You can find Dylan Rice on iTunes and on Amazon.

There are also times when my 1980s retrospective comes online, and the next thing I know, I am hearing the lovely voices of Breathe sing on of their big hits, Don't Tell Me Lies from the 1987 album All That Jazz. Man, this is so infectious, there are times I swear I can't get it out of my head!



See, now it might be stuck in your head! You can find Breathe on iTunes and on Amazon.

And there are many times she the gorgeous voice of the handsome Shane Mack comes into my head, singing to something I or a close friend has said. Well, that he sang, as part of the soundtrack to the Movie Shelter, released in 2007. I have been waiting for at least five years for Mack to put out an album, and have yet to be greeted with a definite answer. Until then, I will be content to listen to Lie To Me by Shane.



That song is all kinds of sexy and sultry, I think I would lose it if I saw him performing that in person. You can find Shane Mack on Music From The Here! Original Film Shelter on iTunes and on Amazon.

And, finally, we have a sweet little ditty by the same name by the outrageously talented Tom Waits. Here is Tom singing Lie To Me from his 2006's Orphans album. And check out this clever video for the song.



I just find Waits almost impossible to resist. You can find Tom Waits on iTunes and on Amazon. And that is what I think of New Years Resolutions!

U2 • New Year's Day

Rocking in the New Year with U2!

The Mummer's New Year's Day Parade

Weather permitting, I shall be watching some of the annual Philadelphia Mummer's New Year's Day Parade, like I do every year. To give you an idea of what I will be watching, here is a look at a bit of Mummer history, and a review of the 2011 parade a year ago.

Happy 2011 - Mummer's Day Parade

Philadelphia's version of Broadway on Broad Street, New Years Day is time for the Mummer's Day Parade, and the string bands. And with more colors, sequins, feathers, and makeup than any 12 drag shows I could even imagine, the parade is a spectacle to behold. It is tradition for the family to watch the Mummer's Parade, although I have to admit, the String Bands are the highlight for me. So I thought I would offer up this little taste of Philadelphia by posting a couple a clips from last year's parade.


2010 winners, Fralinger String Band




2010 Quaker City String Band




2010 Greater Kensington String Band




2010 Avalon String Band



For a little bit more background information, you can check out my post from last year here. Happy New Year, break out the strut, and hum O Dem Golden Slippers!

New Year's Day - Under A Blood Red Sky

I was introduced to U2 by my little sister, Kim. She gave me my first U2 album as a gift, while I was in college all-consumed by the punk movement going on, and somehow missed the this great rock band. Four lads from Ireland, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullin Jr., took the world by storm in the 80s, and it was most certainly the time they were creating their best music. In 1983, they recorded and released Under A Blood Red Sky, live concert footage shot at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, just west of Denver. I was instantly a fan of Bono, whose booming throaty vocals were entrancing, and we were born just 10 days apart - we must be soulmates.




U2 was the supergroup of the 80s, for there were few who could even challenge them for the title. They hardly took a mistep during the decade, from the 1980 release of Boy, to the 1988 film Rattle And Hum. It was after that, however, that the band started to slip a bit, at least for me. But in their heyday, they were changing the face of music, and looked pretty smoking hot doing it. They were young, smart and successful, a certain recipe for amazing music.



So, in keeping with the day, we shall start with the video for the song New Year's Day, a true stadium rocker, anthemic in nature, bombastic in style. From opening to close, the driving rhythms will cause any fan of rock to scream, hoping the song never ends.



Next we are looking at Gloria from the album October. This song is part all-out rocker, with a nod to the punk movement with the tempos and the angry nature. Then again, most great rock is angry, isn't it?


Then we have I Will Follow from the album Boy. Here the band plays with the tempos within the song, elongating sections while offering up staccato sections as well.



And, finally, we have Sunday Bloody Sunday from the album War. Now if you want to talk about songs being epic in nature, this one has to be used as a reference. huge and heady, the song speaks of revolution and the rights of the 'regular' people. And The Edge's signature riffs just identify this song in just a matter of the opening bar.


You can buy a digital download of the Red Rocks album on Amazon.com for just $7.92 by clicking here or you can order the DVD for just $16.99 here.

New Year's Tradition - Philadelphia Mummers Parade

You have sequins, feathers, makeup, wigs, glitter and choregraphy, can it get any more gayer? Of course, it is not really gay, just a Philadelphia tradition. Every year on New Years Day, clubs from the different neighborhoods of Philadelphia and the surrounding area put on one of the most colorful and lively events you can find. The Parade has changed much in the time I have been watching it, over 40 years now. Way back when, it had three different divisions; the Comics, which were closer to New Orleans tradition of Mummery; the Fancy division, more thematic with canned music; and the String Bands, the real star of the day, with big productions and live instruments playing as they march down Broad Street. At some point, the Fancy Brigades stopped making the march, and instead are presented at an indoor arena for competition. There was a time no that long ago, much like Elizabethan theater, women were not allowed to perform, so if there was a female role needed to be filled, it was a man who stepped up to strut down Broad Street in drag. Oh, the spectacle of it all.

Comic Division (2009)




Golden Crown Fancy Brigade (2001)



Fralinger String Band (1987)



Ferko String Band (1989)