WHAT THE FOLK IS GOING ON!?

The Philadelphia Folk Festival brings out the weirdest in people. It made my girlfriend want to walk the Perkiomen Trail at 12:20 a.m. the Saturday night of the Fest. For whatever reason, she was convinced I was going to stumble upon some major scoop; never mind that it was dark and I wouldn't be able to take notes. "What kind of reporter are you?," she said, baiting me.
Groan! Somebody watches entirely too much Nancy Grace.
To my surprise, a good many festers were indeed on the part of the trail that crosses the Perkiomen Creek and Haim Road, going toward Spring Mount. At almost 1 a.m.? You betcha -- with glow sticks and LED lights, yet. That is, except for the not-too-bright bicyclists with no headlights that almost ran several people over.
The late night hikers were most definitely festing because they all were friendly. I always say that if everybody had the mindset of people at the Folk Fest, the world would be a nicer place.
Once the trail led to the Folk Fest site, I was surprised to observe how raucously loud the campgrounds were at that time of the night. How the heck does anybody sleep when they camp at the Fest?! Wish I had brought my Flip camera so I could have posted video.
Maybe it had something to do with being rained on Thursday and Friday night?
You always hear about how cool it is camping at the Folk Fest, and about how fun it is to party there. I decided that night that it was not for me.
Among the interesting sights on our late night hike were campfires, down a ravine, on the side of the trail opposite the Folk Fest grounds. Apparently people camp there too.

Why radio still rules

Scanning the radio dial frequency by frequency turns up the darndest things.
106.7-FM in Harrisburg, which was known for the longest time as Mix 106.7, has an eyebrow-raising new persona: CHANNEL 106.7, HIP-HOP, HAIR BANDS AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN!

A segue from "Jump Jump" by Kriss Kross ....




into "Down Boys" by Warrant....



was WIGGITY-WIGGITY-WIGGITY WACK, yo!!!

Variety in radio can be like a loaded gun sometimes. It was extreme music style shifts like that that killed top 40 radio circa 1988 through about 1994.
But I said something similar back when 95.7 Ben-FM hit the airwaves in Philly. "A format for radio nerds? It'll never sell," I scoffed. Well, they're still there, so what do I know?
Props to Channel 106.7 for taking a chance with this experiment. With satellite radio, all those iTunes channels, Pandora, and more competing for people's ears, you have to do something to stand out.