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XPN Singer-Songwriter Weekend: Fountains of Wayne and the Old 97’s

Published by Becky S July 15th, 2004 in arts, philadelphia

Sheesh, the Britney download was just a one-time thing, people. As punishment for mocking my musical taste, the next mix of the week will consist of nothing but silly iTunes purchases. Look for it tomorrow (hint: think LL Cool J).

And speaking of music, this weekend is XPN’s singer-songwriter festival down at Penn’s Landing. Yeah, I know—XPN gets more stale and smug with each passing year. Still, they are bringing Fountains of Wayne and the Old 97’s to town (Friday and Sunday, respectively), and that rules.

Ah, Fountains of Wayne. If you just know them from “Stacy’s Mom,” you’re missing out—they have this whole North-Jersey-ennui-soulless-office-park thing going on. And the Old 97’s, though not as twangy as they used to be, remain one of my favorite bands. I’m even willing to forgive Rhett Miller for that scary-ass album cover a few years ago. Whatever happened to his nerd phase?

Bonus: Dave the Lunabomber will also be attending. And maybe some guy named Dom. I am so confused.

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12 Responses to “XPN Singer-Songwriter Weekend: Fountains of Wayne and the Old 97’s”  

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  1. Gravatar Icon 1 Suzette Jul 15th, 2004 at 4:31 PM

    I hope its ‘Goin’ Back To Cali’.

  2. Gravatar Icon 2 Charlie Jul 15th, 2004 at 6:46 PM

    Pretty good lineup at that fest. I saw FoW a couple of weeks ago, and they put on a great show. In my mind they’re one of the best songwriting bands today, and their music sometimes deserves better than the jokey lyrics they write, but overall quite clever. Old 97’s are good too - I thought Satellite Rides was one of the better albums of a couple years ago. Enjoy.

  3. Gravatar Icon 3 irc Jul 15th, 2004 at 10:16 PM

    i seem to get a lot of referrals through your site to mine…probably because of the “recently updated blog” stuff you’ve got happening on the left there. so i thought i’d post a comment and say, “thanks for the traffic”.

    i’m in agreement on fountains of wayne being underrated. that’s the curse of the radio and big labels if you ask me: they promote the living hell out of four-chord hooky-heavy tunes and leave the delicate wonders to the true fans to enjoy. damn shame. and it’s only going to get worse with all this syndication and conglomeration and confabulation going on…

  4. Gravatar Icon 4 Dave Jul 16th, 2004 at 11:40 AM

    OK, was anyone else confused when Fountains of Wayne picked up a Grammy nomination for “Best New Artist” in *2004*?

    What’s the deal with that?

  5. Gravatar Icon 5 Becky Jul 16th, 2004 at 1:13 PM

    They *did*? 2004? I thought the Grammy people were trying to be more cutting-edge?

  6. Gravatar Icon 6 Scott Jul 16th, 2004 at 4:13 PM

    I must admit that I am not ‘hip’ to Fountains of Wayne, but I am going to Washington, DC next weekend to see They Might Be Giants and Fountains of Wayne is opening for them.

    I would go to Singer Songwriter, but the line up doesn’t do much for me.

  7. Gravatar Icon 7 Dave Jul 16th, 2004 at 5:24 PM

    Yeppo — it’s Fountains of Wayne against Sean Paul and 50 Cent. Quite interesting, if you ask me.

  8. Gravatar Icon 8 Dave Jul 17th, 2004 at 2:26 AM

    OK, just realized that I wrote 2004 instead of 2003.

  9. Gravatar Icon 9 Becky Jul 17th, 2004 at 8:03 AM

    Dave, your point still stands–the Grammy people don’t have it quite together.

    Scott–I mostly agree with you about this year’s singer-songwriter lineup. I was super excited about Fountains of Wayne and the Old 97’s but the rest of the weekend doesn’t do that much for me. Still, it’s fun to hang out by the river and watch live music. And I noticed last night that the food offerings were much better than they were at Festival Pier for the Guster show–corn! fresh fruit! spinach burgers! For the carnivores, they had ribs, cheesesteaks, scallops wrapped in bacon, etc.

  10. Gravatar Icon 10 Scott Jul 17th, 2004 at 5:05 PM

    Had I known the food would be of such a variety, I still wouldn’t have gone. I supposed XPN is worth supporting, but I don’t listen to the radio (thanks, iPod!), and even if I did I don’t think I would lisen to XPN.

    Perhaps I am just not hip enough to appreciate all that they do, but I am saving my money for 4 train tickets (round trip to DC and round trip to NYC) to see They Might Be Giants next weekend and the weekend after that. I am a happy boy.

    It would have rocked if they were playing at Singer Songerwriter though. A boy can dream, can’t he?

  11. Gravatar Icon 11 Becky Jul 18th, 2004 at 8:14 AM

    Scott, you probably knew this, but you’re a year too late for TMBG at singer songwriter.

  12. Gravatar Icon 12 Scott Jul 18th, 2004 at 10:41 PM

    I was there last year, and I basked in the glory that is TMBG. I even purchased one of the only t-shirts that I own.

    I left as soon as Art Garfunkel started singing.

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