headspace magazine

1 WINTER 2013 -2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM

2 HEADSPACEMAG.COM WINTER 2013 - 2014 3 WINTER 2013 -2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM


CONTENTS WINTER 2013 - 2014

5 Letter From the Editor

7 Rocks With A Fox Growing with Goethite By Shawn “Fox” Rybacki

8 A Head Of The Game Stage Visual Production 101 Featuring Andrew Levin Interview by Joe Gurreri

parking lot Miscellaneous

greensEnvironmental initiatives

tunesMusic

spaced outActivities, arts, & culture

11 Holiday Recipe - Glazed Dill Carrots By Emily and John Lierle - Challah Stuffing By Becky Blumenthal

12 Dark Star Orchestra Sheds Light On Philly Interview by Alessandro Satta

15 The Vibration Featuring Three Legged Fox Interview by Emily Lierle 16 The Holidays On Yonder Mountain A special interview with Dave Johnston Interview by Alessandro Satta

18 New Sound Brass Band Philadelphian Brass experience By Becky Blumenthal

20 Beyond The Collar By Kaitlyn Garlitz

21 Unwinding The Knitting world By Aaron Aumiller

22 Brighten Your Holidays And The World’s Future By Mia Jester

24 Mystery Science Theater Live By Jesse Bellosi 28 Creative Writing Featuring Paul Siegell

26 Artist Showcase Featuring Eric Tonzola

29 Comix Corner18

Letter From The Editor

My new city block has welcomed me home in ways that Philadelphia has never welcomed me before. A sense of kindness and community hangs above the gutter trash and cracks in the sidewalk of this block in South Philly. This seems to come from the neighborhood being home to a few families that have been living here for 20, 40, or even 80 years in some cases. Elbow and his family have lived here for over a half-century. At the ripe age of 84, Elbow had been living in his house across the street for decades. As long as weather permitted, Elbow would walk between thirty to forty blocks through the streets of Philadelphia every morning to keep active. He always wore a smile on his face and was a great reminder than you can still find ways to keep the mind happy as the body gets older. When the last issue of our magazine was dropped off outside my house, I found Elbow going door to door on our street handing out Headspace and leaving them in our neighbor’s mailboxes. I felt like he was proud that someone in his neigh-borhood was helping to create Headspace Magazine. He was excited for the issue that you are holding to be printed, but, sadly, he passed away before it was. In the short time that I knew Elbow, we became friends. He reminded me that life is short no matter if you live until you are 30 or 90. The important thing is being good to yourself and those around you. This will allow you to be at peace with yourself and what you have done with your time here. Elbow, this issue is dedicated to you.

- Alessandro Satta

staf f founder/ editor - in - chief

Alessandro [email protected] director

Joe [email protected]

copy editorsBecky Blumenthal

[email protected] Pandarella

Blake Feldmanillustrators

John Warnerjduballstars.com

Joel KirckhoffBen Fowler

Kate Lonigrographic designers

Jason WaggamanKat Wissner

contributing writers Shawn RybackiJesse Bellosi

Mia JesterLisa Kowalski

Blaire KabernagelEmily Lierle

Aaron Aumillercontributing photographer

Dave Fiorella

8

12munchiesFood and health

10 GMO: You are what you eat An outsider’s look into GMO’s By Blaire Kabernagel

Cover by Joe Gurreri


Growing With Goethite

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Goethite (pronounced GUR-tite) is an iron oxyhydroxide with a hardness of 5.5, primarily found across Germany. It is regarded as a pseudomorph, holding the shape of its parent material after traveling through the zone of oxidation. The parent stone is usually another metallic mineral such as pyrite or marcasite. Goethite’s mantra of transformation is perfect to carry with us into the winter months. Goethite can be an incredible companion for transformation of the Self as it can aid in creating a more intimate connection with the Earth’s vibrations. Meditating with this stone during my recent Reiki sessions has brought about new sensations. Normally, I experience a sensation of transportation or awakening, but recently my sessions consist of feeling like I am going very deep inside, as though I am wrapping myself into a cocoon. It is not a bad feeling, as if I feel forced to retreat to a place of sanctuary. It simply feels like I am connecting with myself, and the earth, instead of spiraling into the creative realms of the cosmos, where

I usually like to play. The lesson of duality is always a good thing to remind ourselves of when embracing our spiritual journey. With fire there is water, with darkness there is light, you cannot

love others until you love yourself, and you cannot travel out into the astral planes without traveling internally through your own waves of the Self. Accepting duality, and not fighting when karma pushes us into the polar opposite place of where we would like to play, can be aggravating. Remember that life presents

situations to facilitate learning those lessons that we need in order to continue onward. Since the thread of life is constantly changing, so must we. We have all had moments of realization that it is much easier to

ride the wave, rather than fight it. If you’re having difficulty accepting your inner transformations, or feel out of sync with the Earth, meditating with goethite is something you should try. Goethite has also been regarded as a stone of clairvoyance. Found in other minerals such as prophecy stones or auralite, it may be used to awaken and clear the crown chakra. Curiously, the pigment derived from goethite was detected in some of the paint used for the paintings

in the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave in southern France. So when you are delving through the depths of your soul, remember how far we have come as a species, and marvel in your chance to go even further!

Written and photographed byShawn “Fox” Rybacki


a head of thegameAndrew Levin

featuring...

Stage Trip Productions has risen to the forefront for the Tri-State Area and is quickly gaining a reputation as the best in the business. With the use of ever-progressing technologies and an artistic approach, Stage Trip Productions is laying the foundation to be among the nation’s leaders of staged visual experience. Headspace got the chance to sit down with Andrew Levin, the man behind this spectacular visual experience, to get the whole story of how this complex production came together.

HS: When did you first get involved with visual production?

AL: My background is in electrical contracting and lighting design. I’ve done a good bit of custom lighting in architec-tural and museum-type settings, that’s where I got my initial lighting experience. One night, several years ago, we were standing at the “Bunker” [Bobs Country Bunker, a landmark at the Philadelphia Folk Festival] and my brother-in-law said to me, “You know what we need? Laser beams.” And that’s where this whole thing started. The next year we got a monster laser projector and a control console. That was my first piece, my first lighting toy, and it’s just mushroomed from there.

HS: How did Stage Trip Productions come about?

AL: Stage Trip Productions really started with me about 20 years ago, while dreaming of doing production work and wanting to do stage lighting. I literally had a dream one night that I was running the lights in a large stadium. When I woke up

in the morning I knew that it was some-thing I needed to do. At that point I really wasn’t sure how to get into the business and didn’t know how it was going to happen. So I steered away from it for quite a while because I had children, and

I wanted to take care of that part of my life before I was pulled away from them. Waiting until my kids were a bit older, now 16 and 19, I decided it was the right time for me to do what I always wanted. About five years ago, I went to a party and was introduced to a lot of people in the local music scene. When they found out who I was, the guy from Bob’s Country Bunker with the laser beams in the sky, and I found out that they were all producing music events, it just really kind

of naturally fell into place. This is what I was supposed to be doing. I met a lot of people who were producing shows and had a need for lighting and visual production. That’s where it began.About three years ago after doing a few smaller shows we decided to get serious. We were in the process of purchasing gear when I received a phone call from the producers of the Stir Fry Music Fes-tival. They found themselves two weeks before the show with no one to do lighting for their main stage. They asked me if we were ready, and if we could handle it, and we decided to go for it. Everything went well and so we have kept going.

HS: Why do you choose this area and the festival scene?

AL: This whole thing started out of Bob’s Country Bunker, which was born from the Pennsylvania festival scene. We were all going to festivals and camping out but none of us were musicians. So we figured if we put together a meeting place for everybody to hang out, musicians would come to us, and that’s exactly what happened. So this whole production is an homage to the musicians in our local area for doing what they do; we just wanted to give back. Why we decided to stick to the local area is quite simple. I think we have an amazing local music scene; we have some of the best talent in the country here in our own backyard. And we wanted to give those musicians a place where they can come out and per-form. Being able to work on that smaller scale with these local musicians gives a place for people who can’t necessarily go out and spend $75 or $100 on a concert, to actually experience an arena quality

STAGED Visual production 101

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production. We are hoping that we can set that same atmosphere, that same kind of feeling of a concert environment, at whatever level.

HS: What does it take to pull off these magnificent setups you create at these events?

It takes a lot of hours, people, and talent. One of the things I enjoy most about doing these shows is that it has enabled us to take the talent around us and pull it together. We literally, in our local music scene, have enough production talent and enough artistic talent and dancers and performers to do a full-on serious production. Our goal is to culminate and bring the talent together and do big things. That’s what we are gearing towards, being able to take all the talent in the local music scene and give them a place to perform. We are looking to bring people togeth-er, and it starts with music. Because music brings people together. It gave us a reason to do what we are doing.It’s just amazing how every-body comes together and everyone wants to pitch in. When we do the average festival we start working on site days ahead of time, not to mention the month that we spend in our studios preparing. We have a crew of 30 working for several days to pull off one of the bigger festivals. This whole thing is apparently coming together nicely because we are doing shows that people are talking about, and to me that’s the ultimate satisfaction, people are enjoying what we are doing.

HS: Any artists that influ-enced you?

AL: From my first concert when I was 12 or 13, seeing how a video production could enhance the entire show, I was hooked and felt that was something I would enjoy doing. If I had to pick one, it would be after my first Grateful Dead concert; that is when I was sold and knew that was something I needed to do. Most people don’t necessarily equate the Grateful Dead with having a major pro-duction but some of the visual production they did in the 80’s and the 90’s was pret-ty amazing and they inspired me.

HS: What is your favorite big act you have set up for?

AL: Every show is special for me, from our first big show with Particle and The Heavy Pets with Steve Kimock, to Melvin Seals and The JGB Band, and many oth-ers. I’m really just honored to be able to do what I love doing with such amazing people. Things came full circle for me

when I was given the opportunity to work with Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead in Kempton, PA this summer.

HS: What kind of equipment do you use?

AL: Laser projectors, lighting gear, video projectors, if you asked what we had the most of I would say cables. We have a million cables, it’s ridiculous. Every show we do it’s like putting a puzzle together and then taking it back apart. And then putting it back together and taking it apart again! It’s really just a lot of equipment,

cables, gear, and a lot of people pitch-ing in and getting it done. If you wanted to break it down and be specific, we probably have 50 or so pieces of gear. Everything then culminates into two con-trol systems. It’s all computer based and we use a separate console for the visual, or live video production, and the stage lighting. It’s two different systems that talk to each other. We can have our lighting

rig control the video console, or vice versa, the video console can control the lighting console. So if we trigger a scene it will trigger a corresponding lighting scene. For video production we mainly use Modul8 and that’s a pretty flexible program. It’s taken a long time for us to develop our visual production, incorporating live video feeds of the bands and a multitude of graphics that makes

for a full audio visual experience. As we like to say, “It’s an Optical Soundsation!”

HS: What is in store for the future of Stage Trip?

AL: Well we aren’t sure where it’s going because we aren’t re-ally sure how we got where we are, except that we are doing what we love to do, and we are going to keep doing it. Whatever develops was meant to happen. We have a concept we are working on right now

that will be a 3D music experi-ence, with 3D video projections and 3D visualizations. We are looking to take the experience to another level. That’s something we have been working on in our studio. Hopefully it will come to fruition over the course of well, however long things take (chuckles).

HS: Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring audiovisual artists?

I am not very wise but what I can say is this: “If there is something deep inside you that you know you are supposed to be doing, go for it. Because that’s what you are supposed to be doing. When you are doing the right thing and when you are fulfilling your dreams, the rest just kind of falls into place.”

Interview by Joe Gurreri

Stage Trippin’By Luke Rolland

The Digital CircusBy Po3tic Treachery

Bubble JamBy Joe Gurreri

Tower FarmsBy Joe Gurreri

Mountain Folk And Roots FestivalCompliments of Ryan Montbleau Band


In the last couple years, a heated scientific and ethical debate has surrounded genetically modified foods. Though they have been on our supermar-ket shelves for nearly two decades, we are only now beginning to ask questions , and discovering that in-formation about this topic is shrouded in controversy. New research and media hype led us to wonder what is going on with these genet-ically modified organisms.

First, what exactly is a genetically modified crop?

A genetically modified or-ganism (GMO) is an organ-ism in which the DNA has been genetically altered by a process called recombi-nant DNA technology. A series of genes are ma-nipulated in a host organ-ism (such as a bacteria or yeast) to produce a new construct not previously known to nature. By iso-lating and then selecting a specific gene that model or-ganism and then inserting into the genetic code used to produce plant-based foods, scientists are able to create a new species with certain desired traits such as being able to withstand environmental conditions that compromise conven-tional crops.

You are what you eat: An outsider’s look into GMO’s

As many of you may be aware, one of the major biotech companies involved in the controversial GMO endeavors is Monsanto. By producing a crop that can withstand harsh weather

conditions, ward off vexatious pests and resist disease, Monsanto is able to max-imize farmers’ crop yields and, conse-quently, their own profits. But what does this mean for us as consumers? According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “The FDA has no basis for concluding that bioengineered foods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way, or that, as a class, foods developed by the new techniques present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding.” Numerous scientists, including those who collaborated on the documentary Genetic Roulette, have criticized statements made by the FDA that verify the safety of genetically modified food. These scien-tists claim that the FDA ignored their own scientists’ warnings regarding the safety of GMOs. Still others claim that geneti-cally modified crops have the potential to alleviate food shortage crises in developing countries by giving crops the ability to withstand extreme tempera-tures, ward off pests and diseases and lower costs for consumers. Those in favor of using, cultivating and consuming genetically modified crops argue that the technology behind GMOs has the ability to solve some of the world’s most vital issues. One project that has gained considerable media attention is The Golden Rice Project. By engineering a new strain of rice that contains the essential nutrient vitamin A, not normally found in rice, The Golden Rice Project plans to reduce the effects of vitamin A deficiency in countries such as India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and oth-ers where rice is the staple sustenance and vitamin A deficiency is common. But providing a population with a food source that alleviates one crisis but arouses an-other is contradictory. Those in opposition of GMOs state that genetically engi-neered food products pose a threat to human health by causing the devel-opment of allergies, gastrointestinal problems, inflammation, infertility issues,

premature aging and an abundance of other health concerns. According to The World Health Organization, “it is not possible to make general statements on the safety of all GM foods.” Zofia Hausman, a coordinator of GMOFreePA, stated “85 % of the soybean farmers in PA grow Monsanto’s GMO seeds. Natural and agricultural practices inadvertently cause cross polli-nation between GMO crops, their organic counterparts and related plant species.” Hausman founded GMOfreePA in 2012 and is working on what she calls “an urgent call to action for GMO labeling” here in Pennsylvania and across the northeast. House bill HB1770 will regu-late labeling laws in PA and is scheduled for a hearing sometime within the next few months. Currently there is no law that requires a company to disclose whether or not their food products or ingredients come from a genetically modified source. HB 1770 will provide legislation on the topic and will determine whether or not GMO labeling will become mandatory. Sign up for the GMOFreePA newsletter at [email protected] for more information regarding the hearing. Coming up is GMOFreePA’s Valentine’s Day Special fundraiser in collaboration with Brad’s Raw Foods in Bucks County. Speakers will be discussing the importance of labeling, environmental impacts and local activism and GMO-free cooking demos will be provided. Stay tuned to the GMOfreePA website for exact dates which will be posted in December. Whatever your opinion may be regarding the GMO issue, it is import-ant to realize the necessity of asking questions. As consumers, we have the right to know what we are eating. And as advocates of our own well being we also have the responsibility to do our own re-search when necessary. Following advice from Zofia Hausman,“we’ve got to start asking questions, we’ve got to speak with the farmers.” Shopping at local farmers markets around the city is a great way to support small local agricultural business-es, but before assuming what you are buying is organic or GMO free, just ask.

Written by Blaire Kabernagel

Holiday Recipes 2 lbs. fresh carrots

1 tbsp. salt2/3 cup dark brown sugar¼ cup butter1 tsp. crushed dill weed½ tsp. salt

Directions:1. PrepareWash the carrots. Cut off both ends. Use a peeler to peal just the outer layer off the carrots. 2. Julienne (optional)Cut carrots into about 3” sections. Cut each section in half lengthwise. Place the flat section down (to make it easier and a safer for the next cut). Cut the half sections lengthwise into slices. Lastly cut the slices again lengthwise. You will end up with long, four-sided pieces of carrots each about 3” long…Julienne! 3. BlancheBlanching is basically boiling the carrots for a short amount of time. Enough time for the carrots to become slightly cooked,

but not long enough that they start to fall apart or become mushy. When the water is at a brisk boil, put the julienne carrots in the pot and continue boiling for 2 minutes. Remove immediately from the stove and pour into a colander to drain the hot water. The carrots will still be very hot and will continue to cook in their own juices (not what you want) unless you cool them down fast. Spray or pour cold water over the carrots to cool them down to room tem-perature. Then spread them out on a towel to air cool. All of this can be done hours before you are ready for final cooking, 4. GlazeIn a large frying pan over medium heat melt the butter. Add ½ tsp. salt and the dark brown sugar. Stir together until all the butter is melted. Now turn the stove up to high and add the carrots. Stir the carrots so all sides are exposed to the heat. The idea is to flash cook the carrots on all sides just enough for the carrots to cook through but still be almost crunchy. Sprinkle the crushed dill weed over the carrots and serve.

2 1-lb loaves challah bread1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) 2 cups diced celery2 cups diced onion2 cups peeled and diced granny smith apples8 sprigs thyme, leaves picked and finely chopped3 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth kosher saltfreshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions: 1. Cut your challah into 1-inch cubes. Since stuffing is made using stale bread, it’s okay if you let these sit out for a day or two to dry out. If you don’t want to do that, you can dry the cubes by putting them in the oven at 250 °F for 30 minutes.2. In a saucepan, melt some butter and then add your chopped onions and celery. Add some salt and pepper. Once the onions are soft, add the apples and chopped herbs. Cook this mixture for another few minutes. 3. Preheat your oven to 350 °F.4. Mix the challah cubes, vegetables, and broth (chicken or vegetable) all together. Make sure the bread is fully soaked with liquid, then pour into a baking dish (approx 9x13) and cover with foil. Bake at 350 °F for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and cook uncovered for another 10 minutes at 450 °F or until the top starts to brown. 5. Cool and serve.

To add something truly unique, sprinkle the top with a little cinnamon or nutmeg before you serve.

munchiesgreens

Becky Blumenthal

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Many people say that if you never saw the Grateful Dead in a live setting while Jerry was alive then you could never understand the energy that was put forth by that band. Now, this statement may be true, but Dark Star Orchestra gives the current Deadhead a small keyhole into the great musical vortex that the Grateful Dead represented. Dark Star Orchestra has been transcending the role of your typical tribute band for 16 years. Their focus on the details that made each performance by the Dead unique makes them an incredible act to catch. For several years now DSO visited Philly’s Electric Factory as a late Christmas present to help get New Year’s festivities started. In preparation and celebration of this yearly event key-boardist Rob Baracco took a moment of his time during his time off from tour to talk to us about his musical roots, thoughts on the band, and his hopes for DSO’s future.

HS: How long have you been playing music?

RB: When I was six years old I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and I basically cajoled my mother into getting me a guitar. I started writing music when I was eight and played guitar until I was about eleven. Then I switched to the organ then to the piano. I’ve been playing professionally for almost forty years; it’s been a long time.

HS: When did you start listening to the Grateful Dead?

RB: I heard my first Grateful Dead song when I was fourteen but it wasn’t actually the Grateful Dead; it was a friend of mine that was playing with his guitar. He started playing this tune and it was just fascinating. Do you know how you aren’t aware of something and then all of a sudden you are aware of it? Like it just wasn’t on your radar. From that day forth everything became Grateful Dead. I was walking past a record store in a mall near my house and I saw it a whole display of Grateful Dead for the “Skull and Roses” album and I thought “Holy cow! These guys are everywhere.” I was listening to the radio and this song came on and just blew me away. It stopped me dead in my tracks. It was “Uncle John’s Band” and that was it. I was hooked. When I was fifteen I got to see them for the first time at the Capitol Theater in New York City. It was the only show I saw with Pigpen. It sent me on a life long trip. It made me want to play that kind of music. I did not realize that somewhere along the line I would be playing the music with some of those guys.

HS: What years did you follow them around on tour?

RB: The only time I ever got to tour with the Dead was in the spring of ’77 when I was in college. The school year was winding down as it was finals time. The Dead were hitting the whole east coast. Almost every show was in striking distance from our school so a whole bunch of us set out every day in a van with a rotating designated driver to the next show. We did nearly the entire east coast run. We missed two shows but we got to see some of the most amazing music that has ever been played. That Spring tour wasn’t the ‘72 or ’73 Dead; it was something entirely different and it was wonderful. The scene was really cool back then, you got to see the same faces every night in the crowd, it was quite a party. I was very sad when it came to an end. When they came back in the fall of ’77 it was still good but it wasn’t the same. There was something up with them and there was something up with me. I started moving on musically I got into jazz. My musical scope was broadening. I still went to a handful of shows here and there but nothing compared to how many I did in the 70’s. I saw the majority of my Dead shows in the 70’s.

HS: How did you start playing with some of the original members of the Grateful Dead in later incarnations?

RB: I was playing with Jeff Mattson, who is the current guitarist of Dark Star Orchestra, in this band Zen Tricksters. It was fall of ’99 and we had just played in San Francisco the night before. The next morning we were on our way up to Oregon. At that time nobody in the band had cell phones so we did all of our

communication through payphones. We pulled our van over at a gas station and a bunch of us all jumped on the phone. At the time, I lived with Jeff, who called our house to check our messages while I called my girlfriend who lived up in Portland, Oregon. The first thing she said to me was “Have you talked to your manager?” At that point I got really pessimistic. I thought to myself “Oh god! Did I screw up the tour?” She jokingly said to me “maybe Phil Lesh called you.” I turn around and look at Jeff and he’s got the death grip on the phone and he’s turning white. I say “What’s up” and he says “You are never going to guess who left a message on our machine” I’m like “Who?” he says “Jill Lesh” I said “Jill Lesh? Come on” he said, “Well she left a phone number.” So I got off the phone and he dialed the number and sure as shit it was Jill Lesh. She invited Jeff and I to come play with Phil. Apparently Phil had heard our second album and had flipped over it and wanted to play with us. So Jeff and I did a bunch of shows with him at the Warfield in San Francisco, and then I went on tour with him that fall. It was the first Phil and Friends tour throughout the country. War-ren Haynes, Derek Trucks and John Molo; it was monumental. That’s how I got involved with Phil. In 2002 they decided to do this big Grateful Dead reunion at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin and I was asked to be the keyboard player along with Jeff Chimenti. We rehearsed for a while and did those shows. It was a wonderful experience. In the fall of 2002 we decided to tour that band. We toured until the fall of 2003. Then Phil and friends went back on tour. Then I did my last hurrah with the Dead in the late fall and then it was done, for me anyways. So that’s how I got involved with those guys. HS: How long has Dark Star Orchestra been around and how did you come to be a part of that band?

RB: Dark Star started 16 years ago in Chicago. The founding members were John Kadlecik, the lead guitarist of Furthur, and Scott Lanerd as keyboardist. In 2005, Lanerd passed away unexpectedly on the road. Shortly after that my management gave me a call to see if I would be willing to do a month-long tour with them. They were hitting most of the east coast and the south, and it just worked perfectly in my schedule as I was playing with Phil at the time as well as with my own band. I did a tour, and it was an amazing experience. I really liked them as

people and as musicians, and I really got what they were doing. Towards the end of the tour they asked me if I would want to do it again. For a couple years I traded off with another guy and when I wasn’t playing with them I was playing with Phil. Then in early 2007, they asked me if I was willing to make a commit-ment to the band. They needed a permanent keyboard player. I thought about it for a little while and came to the decision that it was within my best interest to proceed. That’s how I got involved with those guys. The beautiful thing is that eventually I would have been out of a job because I was never going to be the keyboard player for Furthur. It was always going to be Jeff Chimenti. Now I’m still playing with Phil so it’s great. I get out to Terrapin Crossroads a bunch. Phil sat in with Dark Star Orches-tra late last year and this year. It was really cool. Everything is good.

HS: Can you explain the idea behind Dark Star Orchestra in your own words?

RB: The premise of the band is to recreate Grateful Dead shows as far as every specific detail, meaning equipment set-ups, sounds of the instruments, compilations of the songs. We are actually recreating exact set lists from specific show. They are our blueprints. In my opinion to play Grateful Dead music properly it has to be improvised. So you have a blueprint and a foundation to work with and the rest is all improv. Everyone in the band is so adept at recreating that sound that it works for us and we have a chemistry that just can’t be denied. Not every band that gets together has chemistry, it’s a very difficult thing to predict. Its like baseball teams buying all these great baseball players but you can’t buy a championship because you don’t know if the players will have chemistry. It’s all about chemistry. Dark Star has this incredible energy especially after John Kadlecik left the band for Furthur and was replaced by Jeff Mattson. I don’t know if you have ever heard Jeff play but he is a monster. I just did a gig with him at the Brooklyn Bowl that was Jeff, my son on drums, and myself on bass. He is one of the most psychedelic monsters out there. He just drips psyche-delic, it’s an incredible thing. We have this incredible chemistry and we are able to reproduce the sound but we can do it from any era. When Jeff joined the band we were able to go further back into the catalogue. When John was in the band I think the earliest shows we would play was the fall of ’72 but now were

SHEDS LIGHT ON PHILLY

tunes


The VibrationKEEPING UP WITH THE LOCAL SCENE

THREE LEGGED FOX

The alternative rock/reggae band Three Legged Fox will debut their third album on December 17 titled “We Are Electric,” featuring rock and reggae-inspired tracks. The band plans to see how the new record is received and possibly schedule some tour dates starting in mid-January. Their last album, “Always Anyway,” was released in July 2011. Kochersperger said the band usually works Philadelphia into their tour schedule twice a year, and putting out the record before Christ-mas will allow fans to “digest” the songs before tour. The band’s eclectic vibe stems from each mem-ber’s individ-ual tastes, says Koch-ersperger — Bob Marley, Billy Joel, Metallica, Needtobreathe and Incubus are just a few of the personal influences driving their uniquely amalgamated sound. Headspace had the opportunity to speak with drummer Kory Koch-ersperger, who also writes the music with the band’s vocalist/guitarist Kyle Wareham. The two started the band in 2006. Three Legged Fox also consists of Mark Carson on bass, Jon Duxbury on keyboards and Chris Duddy on guitar.

HS: How’d the name Three Legged Fox come about?

KK: Our first gig ever was this Battle of the Bands at the University of Delaware. They needed a name, and we threw

it out there. We won the Battle of the Bands, and then it kind of stuck. A lot of people laugh at where the name came from, but it’s totally arbitrary.

HS: What are the band’s biggest mu-sical influences?

KK: I grew up on rock music, so when I was 9 years old, I was stealing Pearl Jam records out of my little brother’s bedroom. I used to be really into Metal-lica, and even now I’m a big fan even

though it might not be very cool anymore. Kyle’s much more into the entire Bob Marley discography. I think that Chris could sing prob-ably every Billy Joel song. I think we all like silly stuff, you know? Everybody’s a little bit different, and that’s how we ended up in such

an identity crisis. That’s why people can’t figure us out. We’ve always felt like at least when it’s over, people are going say we were original. The rock, folk or the storytelling part of it is just kind of in our DNA.

HS: What’s the best and worst part of performing live?

KK: The best is seeing big audiences at venues new to us. We’re self-deprecat-ing just like any other band that has no ego. I kind of think, ‘No one’s ever gonna show up.’ We’re excited if 25 people are there, so to get a crowd of 150 or a couple hundred people is exciting. As for the worst part, when you play drums,

you run into a lot of equipment problems. Stuff literally breaks in the middle of songs. I’ve put my foot through my kick drumhead before. There’s no coming back from that. It’s straight up worst-case scenario. You know when you have bad dreams that you can’t run away or your motor skills don’t work right? It’s like that. We opened for Tribal Seeds somewhere around [Philadelphia], and the place was packed. Everything went wrong for me. You’re two songs in and all you want to do is get off the stage, it’s terrifying.

Everyone has derailed at some point.

HS: Tell me a bit about the upcoming album.

KK: We met a producer named Dan Malsch who’s made a lot of

loud fun records, and we told him we wanted to sound like a band but we wanted it to sound clean, make a product that we can be proud of for the next 20 years. I think we only had 8 or 9 [songs] going in, and we got about fifteen songs

down. We’re going to put 12 on the record, leaving off 3 songs that we plan to put out on some kind of EP album, like “Electric Sessions Part 2,” just for the diehard fans. We wouldn’t even get a press—we’d

just put it out on digital. It was a really positive experience.

Interview by Emily Lierle

Photos by Bryan Edward and Bill Colbridge

doing anywhere from ’71 to ’69. You know those really primal, crazy Pigpen shows and were pulling it off. We have a semi tractor-trailer full of gear in order to recreate any era. We can go from the lean mean early 70’s to the full-blown ‘89 setup with all the huge drums setups and keyboards. About a third of the time we put together our own set list that we call an “electric set” where we cross-pollinate eras. It’s really cool because it’s different combinations of songs that maybe the Grateful Dead never played in succession but, in our opin-ion, work beautifully together. An example is “Help on the Way” into “Slipknot” into “Feel Like a Stranger.”. The Grateful Dead never did that, but it works perfectly. Then maybe do “Franklin’s Tower” somewhere later in the set or not at all. The electric set lists are great because it gives us a chance to play other songs that get neglected the rest of the tour. Our rhythm guitar player, Rob Eaton, predetermines our tours before we go out. He has a huge database that he has put together. He wants to make sure that every single town we go to we are not repeating the same shows and eras. We want to make sure it’s a different show every time we come to town. Then he juxtaposes the song selection night to night so that we are not repeating the same songs and it keeps it interesting for us. It takes him a couple weeks on his break to come up with the tour. He comes up with some genius moves.

HS: I feel like asking about your favorite sets might be impossible, but do you have a favorite year that you like to play shows from?

RB: Oh yeah ‘72 hands down. I’m pretty sure a couple of us in the band feel that way. The whole of 1972 was tremendous, starting with the Europe shows and then after Pigpen was out of the band. September and October ’72 are just the most ripping, psychedelic shows. The thing I love about that band is that it’s just Billy on drums so it’s much jazzier and they could turn on a dime so much easier. Phil likened it to the difference between driving a freight train and driving a Ferrari. A freight train is just this unstoppable machine going down the track but a Ferrari can spin around the curves. I think it’s a good analogy.

HS: How did your annual show at the Electric Factory come about? Was that all management decisions or did the band have some sort of hand in choosing Philly for this yearly event?

RB: Well we have been doing Philly on our New Year run for years. Originally we were supposed to play Philly for New Years Eve this year. Everything has to align perfectly, and, unfortu-nately, we couldn’t make the other dates work so instead we are playing Philly on December 29. We knew we had to do it again though because it’s usually pretty successful in that town. We had close to 2,200 people last year and we hope to draw at least that many this year, especially with Furthur not doing a

New Years out west. Hopefully the people who aren’t making the trip out west will come see us. We love playing Philly; it’s just raucous.

HS: Can you remember any memorable moments doing tour through our beautiful state of Pennsylvania?

RB: My first show at the Electric Factory was Phil and Friends with Warren Haynes on my birthday; that was really cool. Phil and Friends got to be on an episode of Nash Bridges with Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. We got to watch the episode in the back of the Electric Factory.

HS: Is there anything big in the works for the band?

RB: We have our Jamaica trip coming up in March. Set up right on the beach and people dance in the water. Four nights of just us, and it’s beautiful. With Furthur not on tour it opens up a lot

of possibilities. We hope to start getting more people out to our shows so that we can start playing better venues. With our new bass player , Skip Evangelist we are getting back into working on our original project. We wrote our first song with Robert Hunter and are hoping to start doing a lot more of the original thing. We are able to do more stuff with this bass player. He can sing really well so we are getting him to play things like the Derek and the Dominoes song “Keep on Growing.” We have never played

that before, but we can now that he’s on board, so you know that there is going to be a show with that song in it on the next tour. Although I played it with Phil before, I’ve listened to a couple versions of that tune to get it down. That’s a perfect song as an example of something else I wanted to say. The Grateful Dead never played that song great; their arrangements never really gelled, they kind of messed it up a lot. We don’t like to do that, we like to think “How would they really have played it? If they would have made it perfect what would they have done?” So we come up with a compilation of all the ones that they have tried and then that’s the one we play. We always try for perfection. There are some shows that they played in the late 80’s and 90’s that are just miserable to listen to. Some of them are low energy, sloppy playing. We go out and kill it. We play the same show and it’s like “whoa.”

Dark Star Orchestra will be performing at the Electric Factory on December 29. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com for $27.50.

Interview by Alessandro SattaPhotos (pg 12 & 13) by Joe Gurreri(pg 14) by Suzy Perler

HEADSPACEMAG.COM WINTER 2013 - 201414

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The holidays on Yonder MountainA special interview with Dave Johnston

Yonder Mountain String Band has garnered a strong following born from their tremendous abilities to fuse a Bluegrass backbone with other genres, creating a musical style that is all their own. This band has amazed audi-ences of all sizes and cultivated a “rowdy” fan base of Kinfolk here in Phil-adelphia. Headspace Magazine caught up with banjo player Dave Johnston after the band’s recent visit to the TLA and discussed the history of YMSB, the big news about their upcoming tour down south, their new album “EP-13” and what he thinks about the holidays.

HS: Can you ex-plain your musi-cal background in your own words? When you started playing music and where?

DJ: I started playing music in college and I was around a lot of really talented and artistic people; good writers and good painters who were also really into music. One of the guys, his name was John Sampson, his dad was really into banjo and blue-grass and so he brought a banjo back to college one day, and that’s where it all started.

HS: Who are some of your favorite musicians that have influenced your sound?

DJ: There are so many; I think I am still being influenced. I really like Danny Barnes and the Bad Livers, Hot Rize and of course when I first heard Earl Scruggs it changed everything. The Newgrass Re-vival, both with Béla Fleck and Courtney Johnson, were huge banjo moments for me. Beyond the bluegrass, though, there was Bob Dylan and a lot of punk rock was really important to me as well. Social Distortion was a very melodic band that I listened to in high school along with the Grateful Dead. I think I bothered a lot of people because I kept playing the Grateful Dead.

HS: How did Yonder Mountain String Band come about?

DJ: I met Jeff [Austin] in college, then

finished school and moved to Seattle where I was playing on the streets. Jeff meanwhile moved to Colorado, and he eventually persuaded me to move out there and join him. We kind of just started traveling around and going to the differ-ent jams in the front rings of Colorado and that’s where we met Ben [Kaufmann] and Adam [Aijala]. That was the genesis of Yonder Mountain.

HS: What is the largest audience you have played for to date?

DJ: We’ve played at Bonnaroo before, but our biggest annual show is out at All Good music festival. It’s hard to tell exact numbers, but it’s usually a full field so fig-ure somewhere between twenty to twenty two thousand people. It’s really fun.

HS: Tell us about the new album and why it’s the perfect present to get someone for the holidays?

DJ: The new album is actually an EP so it’s sort of like an hors d’oeuvre. It’s ideal stocking stuffer size, and full of great music that won’t take too much time to listen to and get a nice little charge.

HS: Do you celebrate the holidays? What is your favorite thing about this time of year?

DJ: Oh yeah we have a pretty big Christmas to-do, and it’s really fun. My favorite thing about this time of year is that it’s still nice and sunny here in Col-orado. It’s not very hot, but it’s not very cold. The colors are wonderful and the mountains are really pretty. I enjoy the earlier evenings, it’s nice.

HS: Can you tell us about your upcoming New Year run including the fundraiser? DJ: We will be playing for five nights in Boulder, CO, which is our typical New Years thing. We’re dedicating one of the nights to some good friends of ours, Planet Bluegrass, as the recent floods hit them really hard. We are trying to do the best we can to help out everyone who lives up there and everyone who helps out with the planet. It’s a very family friendly run, great for locals to the area, and also a perfect reason to take a Colorado vacation.

HS: Yonder has announced a 2014 tour, with dates mainly throughout the south and midwest, and this tour will see some major, though temporary, changes. Can you talk about the big news and how you are restructuring the band in order to continue touring?

DJ: The band’s mandolin player, Jeff Austin, is getting ready to have a baby. The timing is such that he needs to be home for a good portion of the time that he would usually be on tour with us. It’s really important for us to support him as

his family grows and he embarks on that journey. We are primarily a touring band, so rather than not hit the road at all, we have the good fortune of an extended musical family of friends who are willing to help out during this time. We are going to be doing the whole tour with the Travelin’ McCourys, so we’ll have Ronnie McCoury joining us on mandolin and

Jason Carter on fiddle.. We will be taking it out on the road like usual in January and see how it goes.

HS: What were your highlights from your recent show here in Philadelphia? Any backstage shenanigans we can know about?

DJ: The hoagies backstage were really good. It was fun to dress up and do the multimedia presentation. We dressed up like mad scientists and so on and so forth. It was definitely a different thing for us. The Philly crowd is always really rowdy.

HS: Anything to add?

DJ: If the cold of winter is starting to get you down, come see us in warm and sunny Mexico! We will be playing the Strings & Sol festival in Puerto Morales, Mexico (the Riviera Maya outside of Cancun) for four nights with some of our good friends Green Sky Bluegrass, Left-over Salmon, Railroad Earth and Keller Williams with the Travelin’ McCourys.

Interview by Alessandro Satta

Photo by Joe Gurreri

YMSB on Halloween at TLA Photo by Lisa Kowalski

Dave Johnston on Halloween at TLA Photo by Lisa Kowalski

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PHILADELPHIA’S BRASS EXPERIMENT

ew Sound Brass Band stands in a league all their own. In many ways

they are a folk group, representing their cultures and geographic location, but their sound is that of funky brass harmonies with gospel and “shout band” roots. New Sound is made up of eleven people whose ages span over 3 decades; half of the members are Mummers and the other half come from “shout band” traditions. They practice weekly in the Froggy Carr clubhouse. They invited Headspace Magazine to come watch their practice and learn their unique story. Unlike many brass bands, New Sound Brass Band has six trombone players. Since several of the members come from the United House of Prayer for All People, this should be no sur-prise. The United House of Prayer is a small denomination of the Christian church that is particularly known for its shout bands. Shout bands are predominantly trombone-based and often inspired by jazz, blues, gospel and old-time spirituals, like a religious

ver-sion of a New Orleans Brass Band. Large groups of trombones are treated almost as a vocal choir, with each having their own part. This is exactly how New Sound Brass Band treats their trombone players. Dan Gold, New Sound trombone player gave his explanation of the bands cultures. “We meld together the traditions of the South Philly Mummers, specifically the wenches, with the shout bands from the United House of Prayer churches in North Philly.” He said, “in ways, our understanding is folk. On one level, we perpetuate the mummers tradition and on another level, we are expanding the practice of the trombone-heavy shout bands.” When Headspace spoke with New Sound members, they were getting ready to practice on 2nd Street at the Froggy Carr Clubhouse. For those of you who are not well versed in

Mummers culture, Froggy Carr is a Wench Mummers club. On New Year’s Day approximate-ly one thousand people will march with them, although only about one hundred are club members. What makes the wenches a unique sect of the Comics is that they all have brass bands perform during the parade. This coming year, the New Sound Brass Band will play on top of a double-deck-

er bus as the Froggs dance down the street. Pat

Renzi, a member of Froggy Carr explained that for decades, the wenches

have had brass bands play on New Year’s Day. Last year, Carr needed a new band and they gathered people from a few different groups. The group felt this magic, and wanted to play together beyond that single performance, and so New Sound Brass Band was born. For having only been together ten months,

New Sound Brass Band is doing remarkably well. Currently, they were attempting to navigate through the complicated task of signing to a management company, only

made more difficult with 11 varying opinions. In October, they had the opportunity to open for the Meters at the Blockley. They have played with Kermit Ruffians on multiple occasions, as well as March Fourth, Rebirth Brass Band, and Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds. While most of their musical influences come from New Orleans Brass Bands, they also have a deep love for James Brown and funk newcomers like Dumpstafunk and Lettuce. Headspace Magazine asked Dan how New Sound writes their music. Gold said, “we started together with standards and then the more we worked together we were able to write our own music. The creativity comes in all different forms. Sometimes I’ll come up with an idea and tell the band members, but other times we are playing a standard jam but then that can become a new song. With brass, it’s interesting. If one note is wrong, being off key can ruin it all. We have all instruments from the bottom of the scale all the way to the top. All together, the sound works like a chord.” So when and where can you go see them? Right now the band is entirely focused on their performance with Froggy Carr on New Year’s Day. After that, they will surely have perfor-mances around the Philadelphia region.

Written by Becky BlumenthalPhotos from New Sound Brass Band

N

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Beyond The CollarThere are times when no medical practice, no medicine, and not even words are enough to heal and comfort. That’s when the warm, judgment-free love of an animal’s affection is the best therapy. Animal assisted therapy, also known as pet therapy, has recently gained popularity in the medical field. Many schools, hospitals, counseling centers, and doctors’ offices offer pet therapy as an alternative to or in conjunction with traditional methods.

Pet therapy can encompass a range of treatment options including regular bed-side animal visits and animal-assisted

physical activities. According to the

American Red Cross, “Patients in hospitals who have visits from pets are more receptive to medical treatment.” The presence of a cute and cuddly animal is often enough to

make a patient smile which can motivate them through other treatments toward recovery.

Illness often effects all aspects of a person; mind, body, and spirit. Medicine can treat

and prevent physical symptoms of the body but the mind and spirit are frequently in need of attention as

well. Pet therapy has been proven to provide positive comfort and assistance to the mind and spirit of many

patients. This specific type of therapy is commonly given to patients with long-term hospital stays. It is

regularly used in conjunction with other treatments for patients with heart disease, cancer, post-traumatic

stress disorder, and mental health disorders. Those in assisted living and senior care can also benefit from regular pet therapy sessions and animal assisted activities. According to the American Humane Associa-tion, “Animal-Assisted Therapy has been shown to help children who have experienced abuse or neglect.” Children in long-term care situations have shown signs of improvement and better attitudes toward recovery after receiving pet therapy sessions. Animal assisted activities can help disabled and weak children partici-pate in physical activities that they would have

otherwise been unable to. An animal’s presence has also been shown to relieve stress and help children

perform better with cognitive activities such as reading.

Pets and animal assisted therapy are useful in

a range of medical situations, both in social group settings and one on

one-therapy sessions. A certified handler always accompanies the animal. Some handlers are also psycholo-gists who will uphold the confidentiality of talk thera-py while also providing pet therapy, all in a single session. Animal-assisted therapy is

becoming more widely ac-cepted which is shown by

institutions, such as West Chester University, which

offers bi-monthly animal visits in conjunction with their regular

therapy sessions. Twice a month, dogs visit campus, lifting spirits while

they play with students. Rachel Daltry, PsyD. coordinates the pet visits at WCU’s

Counseling Center with certified therapy dogs. These dogs are tested for temper-

ament, behavior, direction-following, safety around equipment and noises, and child safety.

Professional pet therapy or pet ownership can have life-changing benefits. For

more information about pet therapy, visit the American Humane Associ-

ation at www.americanhumane.org.

Written by Kaitlyn Garlitz

Gone are the days of knitters being viewed as old grannies in rockers making boring afghans. Knitwear is everywhere now, and it’s hip. Clothing, jewelry, housewares, - even graffiti! - has been infused with fibers. Knitting is a simple skill that can be learned relatively quickly and honed with practice, providing a lifetime of enjoyment. The hobby itself is gratifying, with the added reward of producing some cool knitted goods for yourself and for friends.

Over a century ago the craft of knitting was born out of necessity. People began to knit (the word derived from knot) hats, scarves, blankets and socks to keep warm. It was also a way to generate income by selling or trading knitted goods. It became popular in the 1940’s for women to meet regularly at ‘Stitch and Bitch’ clubs. Similar groups have resurfaced recently. These communal gatherings were, and still are, a place to swap tips and techniques, inspire ideas, shoot the breeze, relax and unwind in good company.

Nancy Nagle, owner of a yarn store named Nangellini Gallery, hosts her own knitting groups on Sunday afternoons and Tuesday evenings at her Philadelphia shop. Nagle offers this advice to the novice knitter “be patient with yourself, have an open mind. Be willing to learn something new, and remain in the moment, it is an exercise in mindfulness and meditation.” Stop by and sample for yourself her delicious yarn selections during one of her monthly ‘yarn tastings’ or twice-weekly knitting circles. See inset for a list of additional local shops offering supplies, classes and circles. If you are not in the Philadelphia region, you can rely on Ravelry.com, a social networking site where people can go to meet other yarn enthusiasts, share and print patterns, showcase their work and sell and trade goods on a local or global scale.

Learning to knit or crochet may seem daunting, but don’t be scared. It is inexpensive and simple to attain the necessary tools and supplies to get started. First, decide if you want to knit (with two needles) or crochet (one short needle with a hook at the end). Crocheting is the easier

technique for making hats and blankets quickly. I personally am partial to knitting but am eager to learn how to crochet. The crochet hook I was given a few months ago is beckoning me to learn. If you are looking for instant gratification with a quick final product you will want to select a thicker yarn and larger needles. I have seen tutorials on the web where people have used their arms in place of needles and have made entire scarves in an hour or so! I would not recommend trying this technique until finishing some needlework first. Grab some cotton yarn to learn with since these smaller patches, when finished, can be machine-washed and used as washcloths.

If you are looking for a more radical form of expression with knitting just take it to the streets baby, and you will not be alone on your crusade. Yarn bombing, also known as guerilla knitting, is blowing up worldwide. I caught up with Philadelphia's premiere yarn bomber Jessie Hemmons who currently resides in Oakland, CA. She dropped her first ‘bomb’ on a bike rack at 16th and Market in the middle of the afternoon. Next came fences, SEPTA seats and pay phones, eventually causing such a creative commotion that the Philadelphia Museum of Art commissioned her to "bomb" the entrance of the museum in 2012. Jessie was also featured in City Hall’s Educational Art Gallery. When I asked her where she would like to yarn bomb most she said, “My dream site changes all the time. I’d really like to yarn bomb an abandoned home. I just really want to show that places society has forgotten can really be beautiful if we pay it some attention. I use bright colors to contrast the grey environments.” It’s worth noting that Philadelphia's Anti- Graffiti network does not consider yarn bombing a form of vandalism.

Knitting and crocheting are by no means gender specific. Both girls and boys, gather your materials, learn a new skill and get in the handcrafted loop! Invest a little time and money to patiently create knitted goods made with love that, when shared, will be sure to warm the hearts of all those who surround you. A sign on the wall in Nangellini says it all, ‘Buying good yarns and making beautiful things is good for your health, it supports your aliveness.’

UNWINDING THE KNITTING WORLD: HOW TO GET YOUR GAUGE

by Aaron Aumiller

21 WINTER 2013 -2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM

THE BENEFITS OF ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY

Photos by Dave Fiorella


By Mia Jester

Along with the first patented light bulb, the nation’s earliest illuminated holiday decorations are credited to Thomas Edison, who first hung a strand of colorful lights outside his Menlo Park Laboratory in 1880. Two years later in 1882, Edison’s friend and business partner from the Edison Illumination Company, Edward H. Johnson, applied Edison’s idea to his tree when he decked it out in red, white, and blue light strands. While Edison and Edwards were employing colorful bulbs to get in the spirit of the season, the rest of America hadn’t quite caught on or were unable to afford General Electric’s extraordinarily expensive incandescent light strands. Often, those celebrating Christmas opted to use candles in their trees, which commonly resulted in the tree being literally set ablaze. Luckily, Albert Sadacca and family responded to the emerging need for safe, affordable holiday lights through NOMA Electric Co. in the early 1900s. President Grover Cleveland utilized lights on his family tree back in 1895, but it was President’s Calvin Coolidge’s publicized lighting of the National Christmas Tree in 1923 which ushered in the era of holiday lighting and popular widespread use. Like most hula-hoops on the scene today, modern holiday decorations feature LED (light emitting diode) lights as opposed to incandescent bulbs, exponentially increasing their life span.

From early candlelight, to Edison’s first strand of holiday cheer, up through Sadacca’s modernized design and beyond, holiday lights have evolved to meet the demands of the time. In an age where we are faced with the detrimental effects of our wasteful ways, it is no wonder holiday lights have grown to offer a greener option: solar powered light decorations. Most hardware, outdoor, and home goods stores, as well as modern-day shopping meccas like Amazon, offer this greener take on holiday cheer, and the few extra dollars you’ll spend to obtain them could prove to be a sound investment considering there is no cost to use the lights. You might even apply the saved funds to your heating bill or stock up on some hot cocoa! Operating from a small solar panel, these lights give you one less thing to remember this season as they turn off automatically at dusk and maintain their glow for up to eight hours. Also, imagine the joy of not having to make sure lights reach an outlet. This is a gift that will keep giving year-round when you reuse your solar powered light strands to identify your campsite next festival season! If you opt to use solar lights this winter, you’ll need to consider the placement of accompanying solar panel in order to maximize sunlight received and accept the fact that dim weather may affect their glow. Efforts like the City of Brotherly Love and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar City Partnership, however, soundly suggest that harnessing the power of the sun is an option for Philadelphia during and beyond the holiday season. While you may not be ready to convert your home or business entirely over to solar power, opting to use solar powered holiday lights is a sure “no-fire” way to preserve energy and cheer.Bonus Tip: Opt to use rechargeable hand-warmers rather than disposable ones to keep your fingers warm and the earth green this winter- there’s a plethora of options online!

For more info on solar power initiatives in Philadelphia and the history of holiday lights visit:

www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/christmaslights.html

www.phila.gov/green/solar.html

A short introduction to greener holiday lights

Brighten your holidays and the world’s future

23 WINTER 2013 - 2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM

All Aboard The

Joel Hodgson is the creator of the show “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Premiering on a local network in Minneapolis in 1988, the show was picked up by Comedy Central, and subsequently Sci-Fi, where it spent multiple seasons on each network. By poking fun and cracking jokes over long lost B-movies, “Mys-tery Science Theater 3000” has gained a cult following. The process of making fun of these movies - “riffing” - has since become a comedic art form. Hodgson, along with the original cast, has decided to take the act of movie riffing on the road. Touring as “Cinematic Titanic,” the cast is set to riff a double feature at the Keswick Theatre on December 30th. Headspace had the chance to catch up with Hodgson and ask him a few questions about the science behind this unique art form.

HS: So where do you typically find movies to riff?

JH: Well, it’s really any kind of movie. With “Cinematic Titanic” our catalog has all kind of movies. It’s got vampire

movies, monster movies, horror movies, even a kung fu movie; it’s all over the place. Usually the way we find movies is by tracking them down. We have to find movies that you can kind of say stuff over. So a lot of times that has to be with them being public domain or forgotten movies. So we have to track them down, find who owns it, and work with the owners.

HS: What compelled you to reincar-nate “Mystery Science Theater 3000” as “Cinematic Titanic” and bring it on the road?

JH: Trace, Josh and I are the original cast members behind Mystery Science Theater 3000. We’ve been trying to do a project and decided this would be the easiest, most direct way to do it. I always thought it’d be really cool to have the original people stand there and riff along-side the movie.

HS: How much is improvised and how much is rehearsed?

JH: With “Cinematic Titanic,” we wrote it all. Just because the na-

ture of it; there’s so many jokes. We have to kind of decide and arrange who says what and when. Then once we sort of get the movie on its feet, we deliberately disrupt that. I think we found that the best shows are the shows where we mess around and kind of alter it. So I think we change it a little bit when we’re perform-ing, but I don’t think the audience would know what that is. I think their impression is all part of the show, so only we know if we’re changing anything.

HS: What’s your take on the cult following of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”?

JH: I’m really happy about it. Last De-cember in Entertainment Weekly, they did the issue on the “Top 100 T.V. Shows of All Time” and “Mystery Science Theater 3000” landed in the top 80, as well as in the Top 10 cult shows and Top 10 science fiction shows. As Frank Coniff says, “History has been kind to Mystery Science Theater.” So, I’m just really grateful; it’s really cool.

HS: So you made the robot puppets for “Mystery Science Theater 3000”?

JH: I used to make robots out of found objects and sell them in this store in Minneapolis called “Props.” When I was pitching this Mystery Science Theater

idea, I always thought these robots would make good puppets, so I made them part of the sto-ry. Then later when we got paid to do it full time, we obvi-ously put more time in it. Trace did a final version of Crow and I did the final version of Tom Servo.

Tickets are $39.50 – $59.50 and can be purchased at

kewsicktheatre.com

Written by Jesse BellosiPhotos by Ann Marsden

Headspace Solves the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live

spaced out spaced out


Inspired by 05.02.09 – The Dead – The Spectrum, PA

Greetings to the ceremony, our dealings with death: Embrace. Long gray hair still shows, for someone wrapped a tie-dye round the statue of Kate Smith. Escort in the coming sound: Americana [Obama ’08]. The coming sound in every step a being: a dreadie twists a quick- ness: her beams uplift, swing out wide inthe spin—In the way, but not, a build ofpizza boxes, waist-high, a dollar a slice—“A dollar a shot!” shouts a girl with a handle of vodka atop her circum- stance for cash. The fuel, the piss. Everybody doing what everybody does best. And here now it feels like that’s just what we each ask of the music: —Sound the Good News! O, the crowded narrows between two rows of cars, the tour-store corridor: kabobfalafelgrill’d cheeses and veggie burritos in armor of aluminum foil. “ —Anyone have any mush- rooms?” A southern accent says he ate from a bag last

night that had the word “WOW” written on it, then admitted that during the course it also said, “MOM”—The future funeral, the birth to be: Decades of Shakedown, the Shakedown of Now: for this lightwild arena, The Spectrum, aflame in its final days: Samson’s set to tearit all down—So tonight, the coming sound: We shall do the same!

Inspired by 06.02.07 – Roger Waters – Wachovia Center, PA haunt mad- ness! arsonists minding a scare- crow / express a spectrum that somehow comes out laughing. all the power intangible in a line, enlightened: as if a book thru a reader, where cocoons go to explode, or laser-light licks on a digital audio disc of CLASSIC collective waves coexisting with individual particles: it begins and ends in heartbeats & synch- ronizes with a twister: the populated void pyramid firmament satellite: the alarm-clock plane-crash cash- register blues a-sobbin’ sublime the sky’s great engagement—how a guitar picks up where a sax left off. how the broken-up mirror mind and poverty of oilrigs: I saw the opened wallet of a homeless man today. then the section making peace with Syd, and the pig-anus snarl as PEACE SIGN in flight: all the space-pill serenades and how much to bug-out about while the time-keeping moon—for after years mesmerized to melancholy in turntable dorms—an album with the pin of myth pressed into it, I’m finally eyewitness, all the way up in nosebleed/an arena away, to just how it emits all its legendary lunacy: to a sane- ness of spotlight with in-standing star who just happens to be playing the bass.

Inspired by 11.17.05 – Galactic – TLA, PA

word movestour wordswords with eyes open and mouths about to:

direction words:start here, head down, turn left—hup, two miles and a u-turn, retrace, turn right—

grocery list words:pick this up, and this, and don’t forget:

put a “re” before “new”after a space add “orleans” and, crushed, you’ve got memorial wordsconstructive words—the t-shirt words of a saxophonists in a quintet from a mending delta city—

jazz-funk yeah-word fusions, song-building, song-storming rock andcrowds of wordstrue word wings and roll word concertsword tickets to word parties eventful words and all the words attending cute-girl words, stunning loveliness word eyelashes, applause for word rhythms and bold word drumming, beat-controlling time wordsbouncing towering-wow words—that moly is holy wow words—

with knowledge of not enough words: you’ve gotta allow the wows—

but, from where do all these words come?

useless words! instrumental-only words!words pict outta the crowd:

there’re bands I love that never sing a word.

Inspired by Jam on the River – Festival Pier, PA*—Thank You, Drew Granchelli!

we pull up like a rickshaw of FIRECRACKERS

off he slips his sunglasses squeezes drops his eyes

fuses taunt them ticket-takers ripped for Grimace Federation the Disco Biscuits Flaming Lips

another head- heroics happening starry-eyed audition obedient diggers

out for the action falafel seven bucks a beer

three girls with eyeliner smirk slink into brainstorm-mindset headlands

one licks her lips “the bass is making my eyelashes shake. and I like it—” tympanic membranes bug-eyed blaze

a guy with earlobes stretched by eyelets (see-through expanders) pockets his lighter—

speaker-pump. in come

speaker-pump. in come

speaker-pumped chest thumps incoming admitted

and while another security guard’s wearing bright orange plastic plugs that SHIELD him from the DEAFENING

we pull up like a rickshaw of firecrackers eardrumsTriumphant IRRADIATED—

A/N/D R\A\G\E\I/N/G

*tickets, please*

aloof azure. ephemeral

eventide

general admission lawns.

have-a-good-show

buoyancy

aloft the road-

trip trails of summer

tour.

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featuringArtist Showcase

Eric Tonzola

HEADSPACEMAG.COM WINTER 2013 - 201412

eric

tonzola


Comix Corner

We are always looking for fresh jokes!

Submit them on our Facebook page and we will illustrate the joke with the most likes!www.facebook.com/headspacemag

SUDOKU

eric

tonzola

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Comic by Ben Fowler


Glenside (Phila)

Tickets & info: www.KeswickTheatre.com and AXS.com • 215-572-7650 • Convenient to SEPTA rail & bus • FREE Parking

fri Nov 29 • 8pm

Dec 19 • 8pm

Dec 12 • 8pm

fri JaN 10 • 8pm sat mar 8 • 8pm

32 HEADSPACEMAG.COM WINTER 2013 - 2014

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