Hello Delaware Liberal (and the Conservative readership too, I can be bipartisan)!
I’m Rachel Schain. You’ve been seeing the ad for my first CD, Happy Happy, in the upper right corner of this blog for, oh, about two years now. That very brightly colored one. You’ll have a new one as soon as my next CD, LilacFace, is released (the band and I were in the studio this weekend, and I cannot wait to put this out). I happen to be Upstate Delaware’s Favorite Musician, according to the 2011 Best of Delaware poll. My reign continues this year thanks to the fact that they didn’t include the category in the 2012 survey.
You might be wondering why I’m blogging here. Well, the good folks at DL came to me, knowing that I’m fairly plugged into the local music scene. I’ll be giving you weekly recommendations for your weekend rocking pleasure. In the comments, let me know if you want me to include Philly and NJ shows or just Wilmington/Newark area shows. Sorry downstaters, I don’t have any idea what you’ve got going on. Write me and I’d love to include you.
Let’s start this off with a bang, shall we? Tomorrow night, Thursday, July 19th, is the inaugural year of The Ladybug Festival. The idea started when Gayle Dillman of Gable Music Ventures had the idea to host a big concert the night before that other big festival this weekend to welcome the out of staters to Delaware. The festival will showcase 20 fantastic local female artists in five venues along the 200 block of Market Street (LOMA Coffee, Film Brothers, Zaikka, The Lofts at LOMA, and Extreme Pizza). The entire block will be shut off to traffic and there will be a huge block party going on. There are too many artists to name them all here, but here’s a link to the site. I am one of the “Ladybugs,” and I am joined by 19 of my most exciting colleagues including Evangelina, Leslie Carey, Sarah Czechowski (FelixHunger), Melissa Cox (Mythica), Gina Degnars (Little Invisibles), and Angela Sheik.
Angela is particularly noteworthy. She won “Artist of the Year” in this year’s WSTW’s Hometown Heroes Awards (which, probably means she’s *really* Upstate Delaware’s favorite musician, but I’ll share it with her gladly). She is also the Roland BOSS National Looping Champion! If you don’t know what that is, well, just go watch her performance from the competition. It’s easier seen than explained. Trust me though, she’s Fierce. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THyiw-jhAis[/youtube]
Right?
Anyway the whole thing is free. 20 artists, 5 hours of music, FOR FREE. Well, you’re paying for what you eat and drink but that’s to be expected. And you’ll be helping to develop the local art scene, people staying after 5 is good for the city, all that. My set in particular is at 6pm at LOMA Coffee. I’m debuting a new song, too! Although, really, all of my songs will be new to the majority of the readership. Come say hi and find out why I am known as the Rockstar Bitch. (it’s not because I’m mean, I promise I’m very nice).
If you can’t wait for next Wednesday for more local music goodness, my suggestion is to check out WSTW’s Hometown Heroes program on Sunday night from 8-10. Mark Rogers, the DJ who hosts that show, is an amazing source of information on everything that’s going on in the Delaware Valley. You can find the Facebook page (where he does a complete rundown of all the local shows whenever possible) here.
My plan is to bullet point the rest of the local shows at the end of each post, but this week is kind of quiet due to Firefly.
Saturday:
Newtown Square, PA – Burlap and Bean Coffee House: Twin Ghost, Gordon Vincent, and Pete Mroz. (Acoustic Singer-Songwriters)