So I fear that this blog has come no closer to having a coherent focus or even attaining a guiding principle. But the half dozen of you who wander here every now and again need something to read.
So as I covered in an earlier post I am a newly arrived resident of the Germantown section of Philly. It’s been a transition, as I’m used to living much closer to Center City, and Germantown’s public transit access to downtown leaves something to be desired. A trip on the 23 bus, probably the most direct route, takes a solid 45 minutes during the day (maybe it’s quicker at less busy times). The regional rail is fast, clean, and runs somewhat late into the night. The drawback is that it’s $7 roundtrip. This isn’t astronomical by any means, but it definitely tempts me to jump in my car instead.
So all of that to say that I’ve been trying to get to know my new home neighborhood. It’s definitely got plenty of history, mostly of the Revolutionary War variety. BUT there’s also one badass avant-garde jazz crew called the Arkestra that still holds court up here on Morton Street. It was founded and led by the super badass SUN RA himself, but since his passing it has been kept together in a smaller form. So this dude claimed he was from Saturn and made some wild freeform jazz back in his day. They lived together in a commune any hipster could be proud of, and just took in musicians and friends along the way. The house isn’t open to the public (bummer), but we can all hope that Germantown will latch onto this slice of history and promote the hell out of this chunk of coolness someday.
So I bring to you Calling Planet Earth:
Sory pal, I couldn’t get through the whole video.
haha, its a tough one. i think you get the idea after about 1 minute though.