Month: November 2019

Rich Medina: Philly’s World Renown DJ & Producer

November 27, 2019 Artist, Entertainment, Music 49:55
Working a lucrative but soul-sucking corporate job in Philadelphia in the mid-90s, Rich Medina knew he wanted more from his life. He had been moonlighting as a DJ, and decided to go all in. It was a risky proposition. But it was one that ultimately paid off, as 25 years later is one of the most beloved DJs on the planet, playing everywhere from Miami to Melbourne. 
 
In the late 1990s, Medina and Cosmo Baker started a regular party called The Remedy. In the early 2000s, Rich began hosting The Open in NYC with Q-Tip. He also began introducing audiences to Fela Kuti, the father of Afrobeat music. His Jump n Funk parties, starting in 2001, soon took him to Atlanta, LA, and San Francisco. Word of his skill and just as importantly the fun he brought to the dance floor spread, and he is now a true globetrotter, playing shows in cities like Tokyo, Amsterdam, and London. 
 
But he’s not limited to DJing. He also has begun work as a professor at Lincoln University, he’s on the advisory board to Cornell’s renowned hip-hop collection, and he’ll be teaching a class at the Barnes Foundation next spring. He’s also well respected as a spoken word artist and as a writer, having contributed articles to magazines such as the Fader and Complex Magazine.
 
He talked to us about his early days in Philly in the corporate world (“A job with a Fortune 500 company was like handcuffs”), the motto for life he learned by playing basketball (“Put the rock in the hole or sit the fuck down. That’s everything.”) and his family heritage (“I’m mixed up with slave blood and native blood. I’m a real American.”) 
 
Not surprising when speaking to such a Renaissance Man, this is a varied and far reaching interview, from hoops to religion to race to politics. You’ll learn about Afrobeat, what it’s like to travel in Europe as an American in the Trump era, and whether he has to play different songs to get the crowd moving in Philly than he plays in Miami. 
 
Hope you enjoy the latest interview. Thanks as always for listening, and if you could do us a solid and rate us on itunes, we would be much obliged. Enjoy!
 
LINKS:
Rich Medina: Instagram/Twitter

Dirty Frank’s: The Bar, The Myth, The Legend

November 15, 2019 Entertainment, Food & Drink, History 55:51
There are few bars in Philadelphia that are as universally beloved as Dirty Frank’s. Located on the corner of 13th and Pine since 1933, it is a veritable Philadelphia institution. No-one understands that better than current co-owner Jody Sweitzer, who has worked at Frank’s since 1992 and owned it for the eight years. We talked to Jody about how she landed in Philadelphia, how the bar got its name, and why her bartenders are all women. We also had a chance to talk to some Dirty Franks regulars like Cheetah, one of the fastest bike messengers in town, Eric who first came to Dirty Frank’s while on acid, and Three Finger Bill, who has worked the door for over 20 years. It’s a great look at a historic bar renowned for its characters, and some of the characters themselves. 
 
Sweitzer and her business partner Brad Pierce took it over in 2011, joining a storied lineage. They are only the 5th owners the spot has ever had, made more remarkable when you consider that it opened over 85 years ago. According to legend, it opened the month BEFORE Prohibition ended. That outlaw spirit lives on today. As Philly scribe Drew Lazor described so perfectly in a 2018 Vice article:

Even when Dirty Frank’s changes, Dirty Frank’s doesn’t. Stuck in its ways in the most reverential sense of the phrase, it’s a seam in time, providing safe passage to an older, odder Philadelphia. A gleaming oasis of weird in a town beset by 21st-century slickening, it’s always made people its primary business, no matter who those people are.

 

In truth, Frank’s has always had a “type,” but the profile was not built using banal criteria like sex, race, religion, education or income. It instead takes a shine to individuals who can’t be neatly filed into the natural order, and don’t wish to be—a “crossroads for errant individualists,” as the Philadelphia Inquirer put it in 1982. Curious conversationalists tend to do well.

Hope you’ll give it a listen. It’s an important part of Philly history, and Jody’s passion for the place is palpable. She is not someone who takes her job lightly. If you enjoy it, do us a major solid and give it 5 stars on itunes. If you want us to be in your debt forever, leave a positive review. Cheers! 
 
LINKS:
Dirty Frank’s: Facebook/Instagram
Dirty Frank's owner, Jody, doing post-show shot with Greg and Johnny
Dirty Frank's regulars and podcast guests Eric (left) and Cheetah (right)