Results tagged “mattduke”

Matt Duke (MySpace) is easily one of Phillyist's favorite things about, well, Philly. Because he plays frequently at World Cafe Live—probably our favorite place to catch live music in the city—we've seen him, and talked about him, many times. But it wasn't until his most recent show at WCL that we actually got a chance to talk Duke. So read on, and if you didn't get to see Duke when he played with Tony Lucca and Jay Nash a couple weeks ago, fear not; Matt will be opening for also-ridiculously-talented Charlotte Martin at WCL on Wednesday night. So check out our conversation with Matt, and get details on Wednesday's show below the interview.

Let's face it: Phillyist is never going to stop encouraging you to check out Matt Duke (MySpace). He's one of our favorite performers, and a local, so we're just going to keep plugging his shows until the world—or at least the entire City of Brotherly Love—takes notice. Philadelphia gets its next opportunity to embrace Duke on Sunday night, when he'll be playing an acoustic set at World Cafe Live in support of his recent release, the songs on the acoustic EP take on a totally new life with Duke's stripped-down reinterpretations. Especially poignant are the acoustic versions of "The Father, the Son, and the Harlot's Ghost" and "Walk It Off," which are both notably different than their full-band incarnations.

              

As you might have noticed, we were pretty damn excited about the XPoNential Music Festival happening at Wiggins Park in Camden this past weekend. With three days packed full of music, we were more than a little disappointed when unavoidable other commitments rendered us only able to attend the Friday evening portion of the event. Still, we were able to catch a bunch of great music courtesy that evening.

A couple months back, we told you about tickets going on sale for this year's XPoNential Music Festival. So did you get tickets? No? Well why the heck not? XPoNential kicks off tomorrow evening, and there is a ton of music worth catching, so it's time get moving and get your tickets—which are an absolute steal at $25 per day or $60 for a pass to all three days (with a discount for WXPN members). The event will feature 25 acts, plus a crafts village with vendors selling their handmade wares, and a Village Green where festival-goers can learn about sustainable and eco-friendly products that are the forefront of the Delaware Valley's green scene.

For a lot of people, Memorial Day means summer. Of course, Memorial Day really means things that are very much more important than summer. But informally, it is the kickoff to a few months of oppressive heat and humidity nice weather and getting absolutely nothing done at work good times. So it's time to start thinking about summer concerts. One of this summer's sure-fire best events is the XPoNential Music Festival, put on by our friends over at WXPN.

By now, you've probably read about Matt Duke (MySpace) on these pages more times than you can count. We've also mentioned Rachael Yamagata (MySpace) a couple of times. And back in December 2007, we told you about an awesome concert benefiting WXPN Musicians On Call and featuring some great local talent, including Duke. So, if you were to put all those things together, what would you get? Well, if you're looking for a good time and would like to help a good cause, you get your plan for tomorrow night.

Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2009 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know!

When we arrived at World Cafe Live for the MAD Dragon holiday show last Sunday night, we were pretty optimistic. After all, the last holiday show we went to at World Cafe Live was fantastic. And this show, like last year's, featured local favorite Matt Duke (MySpace).

We'd be lying if we said we had anything less than complete adoration for the music of Matt Duke (MySpace). We've covered Duke a couple times before, and each time we've seen him, he's met—and exceeded—our expectations. But there are certain artists, and Duke is one of them, who we feel that we should cover on a regular basis, and it's been way too long since we last saw him perform, at last year's WXPN Musicians on Call holiday benefit show.

Tomorrow night, One Republic is playing The Trocadero. We've never heard of them, and outside of the song that automatically pops up on their MySpace page, we have no idea what their music sounds like.

The holidays kind of snuck up on us this year. Perhaps because Thanksgiving was so early. After Turkey Day was over, it was still too early to get into the Christmannakkanzaa spirit. (This Phillyist adheres to a strict "No Christmas music before December 1" rule.) And then we got caught up with other things, and we didn't really notice that, yep, we're in holiday season. It took Thursday night's WXPN Musicians On Call benefit concert...

It's the holiday season, so many of us are in a charitable mood. Certainly, there are good feelings to be had from performing acts of selflessness, and we at Phillyist encourage you to donate your time, money, or a toy this holiday season. Sometimes you get the opportunity to contribute to a good cause and have a lot of fun at the same time. Thursday night, you'll get one such opportunity. WXPN is presenting a...

- concert to get us out of this funk. So thank you thank you thank you to Eric Hutchinson and Matt Duke for giving us that show.

We'd heard Matt Duke's name before (like when Phillyist Meghan's sister covered him for us), but this Phillyist's first encounter with the young Jersey-bred singer-songwriter was a few months ago at the WXPN-hosted Philly Local Lonely Hearts Club Band. Duke, in a pair of crazy patchwork-embellished stovepipe pants (each leg was probably wider than his whole body – you can kind of see them here), completely stole the stage with his performance of "When I'm 64." We left the World Cafe Live that night sure of two things: that we'd had an awesome time, and that we needed to see more of Matt Duke.

Guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and Philly dude Andrew Lipke put out his first album, The Way Home..., on Drexel University's student-run record label, MAD Dragon Records, back in February. (The disc was produced by Emmy Award-winning composer and Drexel Professor Jim Klein, so it's got Drexel all over it.) We've been listening to it recently, and we rather like it. It's mighty entertaining, catchy indie alterna-pop with lovely harmonies and an occasional touch of almost orchestral-sounding romanticism (which is probably there thanks to the piano). And although the album does contain rather boring and unimaginative love songs like "Stick By You," you'll quickly forget them after hearing fantastically rollicking, rocking tracks like "Moving Back to Paradise." If you want to check Lipke out for yourself, you're in luck! He'll be playing at various venues all over the area for the next couple of months. You can see a detailed list of his upcoming shows at his MySpace page, but we'll just post the info about his soonest show below, which he'll be playing with another local boy, Matt Duke.

This suburban Phillyist was felled by the twin terrors of a flooded basement and strep throat (no, really. We're loving March so far) Friday night, and couldn't venture into the city to catch Local Boy Making Good Matt Duke's show at the World Café Live. Fortunately for us, Sister of Phillyist is both a Drexel student and a total Matt Duke fangirl, so she agreed to cover the show for us. What follows is her guest review of last night's show.