Philadelphia

After a two hour drive in the snow we reached Philadelphia at 2am. It was a last minute decision to avoid the “historic blizzard” that was soon to hit the North East. This epic blizzard was going to cover Philadelphia/New York with three feet of snow. We ran to the grocery store as soon as we got to Philadelphia to prepare for the worst. We woke up the next day to about 2 inches of snow. Unfortunately in preparation for this storm everything was closed. Several of the shows we were planning on going to where cancelled. Determined to take advantage of our time in Philadelphia we went to see the few sights that were open this included the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Even though the storm barely hit Philadelphia it was still unbelievable cold. We were the only people crazy enough to walk around. There was an eerie feeling walking around the historic district of Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell museum was completely empty. We got to the tour of Independence hall two minutes late thinking it would be alright ten minutes later the tour ended. The only room we stood in for more then a minute was the Assembly Room. When the tour was over we looked around at each other and laugh. All this effort to make it to this tour for a seven minute talk and a glance at two very simple rooms.

That night we went to a jam night at Time in downtown Philadelphia. We watched local acts perform originals and a couple covers. The Living Sample was the band organizing the jam session. Rob played a song with the band and the audience really enjoyed the performance.

The next day we interviewed Arturo Stable a fantastic percussionist, composer pianist and more. He gave us insight on the world of Jazz and where it stands today. After the interview we visited the Reading Market which was Andrea’s favorite part of Philadelphia. We saw a 360 degree film about the symbols of America and of course there was only one other person there. To finish our trip in Philadelphia we went to see a jazz band called The John Venezia Project at Chris’s Cafe.