Philadelphia fans! After two years of taking time off because of the pandemic, the annual Roots Picnic returns this year on June 4-5, 2022, at The Mann Center in Fairmount Park.

Headlined by no other than this past weekend’s Super Bowl performer, Mary J. Blige, will perform alongside The Roots themselves. Other artists performing include Kamasi Washington, Jazmine Sullivan, Summer Walker, Wizkid, Tierra Whack, Freddie Gibbs, DJ Jazzy Jeff with Rakim, and Robert Glasper Bilal.

DJ J Period is scheduled to make a “live mixtape” that will feature Black Thought, Rick Ross, and Benny the Butcher. A jam session will be hosted by the producer, Soulquarians, and will feature Keyshia Cole, SWV, and Musiq Soulchild.

Tickets for the event go on sale on Friday, February 18 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Get tickets here.

photo by Kostas Lymperopoulos, Right Stuff Studios

Ever since I reviewed Taylor Tote’s eponymous EP back in 2015, she has continued to impress new fans and make great strides in the world of music. A native of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, Tote and her top-notch band have been taking the musical world by storm. Since I last covered her 4-song project, Taylor has continued to perform many high-profile out of state shows including venues in NY, PA, MD, CT, DE, TN, CA and potential upcoming shows to AZ and VA.   Her audience continues to expand gaining exposure across the nation at each show.

Taylor has performed at the world’s most significant trade-only event for music products industry, NAMM, in both Nashville, TN and Anaheim, CA.  This past Winter NAMM there was over 99,000 attendees from across the world.  She performed at the 2017 Penn State THON for over 10,000 students and was recently named NYC Hard Rock Rising 2017 Division Champions.

Tote’s main influences include Amy Winehouse, Grace Potter, Adele, Maroon 5, Train, and Stevie Nicks. American Songwriter called Tote’s full-band performance as one of the highlights of the New Jersey Light of Day festival for her “wide, emotional vocal range and pop sensibilities.” The Asbury Park Press cites a “lilting twang in her voice that shades from corn-fed country to big pop and vampy jump blues.” I described Tote at the Aquarian as an “Artist that is dominating, empowering, strong, soft, sexy, and insanely fun. Her attitude and stage presence is smooth, sweet, and controlled. However, it can be flipped like a switch to a rock and roll, hell-stomping diva. Her range is one of a rock ‘n’ roll vixen that will send your music senses on the ride of your life.”

Totes award-winning “Fighter” music video received three prestigious awards in 2017 from Garden State Film Festival, The Asbury Park Music and Film festival and Los Angeles Movie Awards in Hollywood, CA. “Fighter” has had over 125,000 views and has been written up in numerous publications, including a national feature on Joan Lunden’s blog. The long-time host of Good Morning America called the song a “must download, ” and Tote is even conscientious enough to contribute all proceeds from Itunes downloads to childhood cancer research through Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer.

Between all the live work and video’s that Tote handles, she also has found the time to work on new material with Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum engineer, and producer David Ivory. Ivory, who has worked with some of the music’s best performers such as Grammy-Winning Halestorm, The Roots, Patti Labelle, Silvertide and much more. Ivory is in the process of getting ready to record a pair of live Taylor Tote band shows coming up in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The band will also be utilizing the film crew of Right Stuff Studios (New Jersey) who will be on hand to capture performance and audience interaction with the group. Ivory will be putting the band through its paces on October 13 at the world-famous Stone Pony in Asbury Park and then at Puck Live, an intimate live music venue in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on October 21.

I had the recent opportunity to hear some of the new music, and while it is still unreleased, I can say that she is on the right track. Songs such as “Forever Young,” a mid-tempo country-flavored number featuring outstanding guitar work from Nick Ryan. Clean and concise, his playing helps the song stand out in spades. Tote’s toned vocal skills are the guiding light on this sure fired hit and a highlight of what was sent to me. Other songs include “Please Don’t Break My Heart,” a poppy, jazzy feel over the top of Totes powerful pipes. Choruses pop where they should as does the verse work and bridges. Another song that is sure to turn heads and garner attention for the band.

They also sent me a song called “Mama Told Me” Steeped in the traditions of R&B and Blues, “Mama” lays in the pocket in just the right way. Tote and company prove they can rock-and-roll but also find a different musical voice that works well for them in within a different format. Guitars are soulful and bark when needed. The middle-Eight solo (Performed by Tom Briant) is Clapton-inspired gold straight out of 1970. Drums and bass nail this bluesy gut-wrenching hit to the proverbial floor. The chorus for this song is my favorite out of all that I had the chance to listen to.

I can’t really discuss anything else about the yet to be titled record, but Taylor said songs would be unveiled at the live shows. The upcoming live Stone Pony show will be a “hands-on” test of new material aimed at old and new fans alike. Tote utilizes a crack band of players which includes Tom Briant, Tote, Aaron Manzo, Anthony Flora, and Nick Ryan.

photo by Kostas Lymperopoulos, Right Stuff Studios

Tickets for The Stone Pony show are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. There will be limited VIP tickets available for $40. That fee includes a meet and greet, a T-Shirt, autographed poster and early entry. For advanced tickets and VIP packages contact taylortotemusic@gmail.com. Advanced tickets are also available at The Stone Pony Box Office.

The Doylestown, PA show will offer similar arrangements for the 10-21 date at Puck Live. For more information on Taylor Tote band, please go to their website. That address is www.taylortote.com..

Written by John Pfeiffer

For the past seven years, the annual Roots Picnic has become legendary as one of the best music festivals in Philadelphia. Hosted by acclaimed Philly hip hop band The Roots (who just released their new album last week), the festival boasts an impressive roster. This years acts range from rap and hip hop from Snoop Dogg and A$AP Ferg, to R&B from rising superstars Janelle Monae and Jhene Aiko, to electronic music from super-producer Araabmuzik, to rock from Philly’s own The War on Drugs, and many more exciting acts, both new and old. The Roots Picnic has quickly become a staple attraction, ushering in the summer with a lineup that just gets better and better every year. The festival will be held at Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing on Saturday, May 31st, and tickets are already selling fast, so be sure to buy them now to avoid expensive resell prices. For tickets and more information, visit their website at http://rootspicnic.com/.

In addition to the festival itself, That Music Mag is proud to announce that we are sponsoring the Roots Picnic afterparty, presented by Dice Raw of The Roots. It starts at 10pm, following the event. The afterparty is 21+ and will be held at the Voltage Lounge at 421 North 7th Street. There will be plenty of music, beer and more to ensure that the party doesn’t end after the artists stop playing.

The party will feature hip hop sets from local rappers Chill Moody and Tiani Victoria, R&B and soul from Milton, and rock from Mo Lowda & The Humble and Modern Colour, as well as a set from DJ Get Up. With a strong lineup in a great venue, this party is unmissable for anyone who wants even more out of their music-filled Saturdaynight. For more information, and to buy tickets ahead of time for a lower price, visit the event’s Facebook page. Both events are unmissable, so buy your tickets early and get ready for Saturday!

…And Then You Shoot Your Cousin

Reviewed by: Ari Roth

It takes more than three minutes for the first verse from “Black Thought” to kick in on The Roots’ new album. Before that, an extended Nina Simone sample, muffled and unsettling drums and strings, and weirdly processed vocals usher in what is one of the strangest and most uncompromising records to emerge from the critically acclaimed, long-running project. After 27 years as a band, The Roots have been perhaps unfairly typecast as a dependable, relatively traditionalist hip hop band that is more likely to appease critics and longtime fans than to challenge or radically subvert expectations. This new album seems designed to actively break that image, a dusty, nocturnal, uneasy record that zeroes in on a singular atmosphere. Although The Roots are known for their use of a live band rather than samples, the production on the record has a dark, degraded, monochromatic sound that is redolent of the low fidelity crunch of an old sampler capturing grooves from vinyl, particularly on tracks like “Black Rock.” The album’s runtime of just over 33 minutes is concise by any standard, particularly in a genre where records tend to be sprawling, varied affairs. One can imagine that drummer and bandleader ?uestlove, himself a critic-like music fan who obsesses over artistic narratives, might have taken some inspiration from another reductionist, uncompromising recent hip hop record.

Despite such experimentation, The Roots remain relative traditionalists at heart, never sacrificing the lyrical intricacy and slightly off-kilter boom bap funk grooves (such as on “Understand”) that have allowed them to thrive in a field where artists have notoriously brief periods of success. Their willingness to follow such a relatively conventional song with a lengthy, abrasive sample of French musique concréte composer Michel Chion is representative of the tension at play on the album, a constant push-pull between experimentation and tradition, past, present and future, a dynamic that is at the heart of much great music. The influence of 20th century avant garde classical music is again found on “The Coming,” which dissolves into dissonant piano and orchestral stabs in its latter half. The brightest ray of light on the album comes at the very end, with “Tomorrow,” a comparatively straightforward song with a joyful, major key piano figure and uplifting vocals from Raheem DeVaughn. It’s a striking moment of clarity and joy that feels well earned in the wake of the knotty, often bleak turmoil of the rest of the record. Naturally, not content to end the album so unambiguously, The Roots close the song with a rumbling piano cluster that fades into the distance, like a single dark, ominous cloud on the horizon of a sunny day.

…And Then You Shoot Your Cousin may not be The Roots’ definitive statement, and it may very well be consigned historically as a mere curiosity in their vast catalogue, but it is also their most compelling statement in years. It’s a brave and unusual record that rewards patience and immersion.

Even if you weren’t there, everyone remembers what it was like in 1969, the summer of love, when Woodstock became one of the most famous outdoor concerts in music history and an icon of the hippie counter culture.  Featured on the poster promoting the festival were the symbols for music and peace.  Almost 44 years later, we still celebrate the art of music and the power it has to bring people together.  And what better way to celebrate its independence than with the largest free outdoor concert of our time, in the heart of where it all began.

Minus all of the mud, some may say yesterday’s celebration could have been a reproduction of the legendary festival.  Reportedly 500,000 were barefoot through the fresh grass, lining the parkway, and proudly honoring America with red, white and blue everything.  Through the smells of the summer heat, the charcoal and hickory smoke from BBQs and the freshness of ripe, juicy peaches and strawberries for desserts to the sizzling grease from cheese steaks, it reminds you that you are in Philly and has you salivating for a little bit of all that the city has to offer.

While most of the 500,000 were not lucky enough to have a ticketed seat, Philadelphia is known as the City of Brotherly Love for a reason.  No one was going to feel left out as each artist was blown up about 100 times larger than life so that each of the half-million people in attendance could feel as though if they stretched their arms out, a hand would reach back. Fresh from the weekend release of his movie, Let Me Explain, Philadelphia native Kevin Hart was this year’s hilarious host, even cracking a few jokes during commercial breaks.  And when he wasn’t being a host, he was being a dad to his two adorable kids.

Ben Taylor

As the son of folk rock artists James Taylor and Carly Simon, Ben Taylor has legendary and commanding music running through his veins.  Although he is but one man on an imposing stage, he has such a humbling and yet influential presence.  Juxtaposing from a rather touching song of ‘Wicked Way’ to one of greater infamy, I have to admit, even I was rather impressed with Taylor’s jazzier version of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.”  Despite the fact that there were children in the audience, Taylor paid no heed to such innocence while including the song’s few expletives; in turn giving the song its truest form of artistic integrity.

The Roots

Following Fourth of July traditions, Mayor Nutter got the party started out right when he prepared to introduce The Roots. Everybody who is anybody must now know that The Roots, eat, sleep and breathe their music for Philadelphia, their home.  With a go big or go home attitude and even bigger jazz, rock, and roll, hip-hop, and reggae infused sounds that can resonate for miles throughout the streets, The Roots had everybody on their feet and it was time to get this party started.

Grace Potter

Jill Scott

Next up were the ladies. Singer, songwriter, and poet Jill Scott has enough soul to fill an entire city block or more, and that is exactly what she did last night.  Through her knock-out rendition of  ‘Home’, the Grammy winner exudes grace, elegance, and of course a little soulful funk.  With such an eclectic array of music, no show would be complete without a little Rock n’ Roll.  Dressed to impress and with an ethereal glow, Grace Potter rocked the house with impressive guitar solos and a rendition of  ‘Whole Lotta Love’ that even Led Zeppelin would be proud of.

Hunter Hayes

Teenie boppers of the world united next as baby-faced Hunter Hayes filled in as the replacement for Demi Lovato after the singer fell ill.  Teenage girls and some mothers, too, swooned through ‘Somebody’s Heartbreak’ as if Hayes sang the song just to them.  After Hayes, and with the number two album on the charts right now,  J-Cole was both electric and real for ‘Crooked Smile’, reminding everyone that you should never let anyone tell you that you are not good enough.

J-Cole

Following J-Cole, continuing his Born and Raised tour, John Mayer was kind enough to be a guest headliner for this year’s celebration.  If it was at all possible and taking us back a few years to ‘Waiting on the World to Change’  this symbolic song sounds even better now than when Mayer first penned it.  Ending the night with a bang of his own before the big bang of firework florets, Grammy award winner Ne-Yo hit all the right notes with some of his hits that had a sea of people dancing in the streets and he definitely gave us everything last night.

John Mayer

Whether you were at the party on the parkway, or at a friend’s, poolside with a Corona in one hand and a sparkler in the other, or merely watching the Fourth of July craziness in your pajamas from the comfort of your own home, we hope everybody had a great time, we know we did, and we can’t wait to do it all again next year.

Ne-Yo

Cool drinks, summer breezes, barbecue food and fireworks all fit the ideal image of  a 4th of July party. But Philadelphia kicks  the country’s birthday up a notch with all that and more. A week long celebration, Welcome America Festival, sponsored by Wawa includes all that and the “largest free concert in America”.

This week-long celebration begins July 1st 2013 and runs until July 7th 2013. It’s fun filled and star studded. Activities will include outside movie, learning stations about Wawa and America, Hoagie Day celebration, photo exhibits, a parade, tastings, July Jam and of course a spectacular fireworks show. July Jam, the nations largest free concert is of course July 4th itself and has an amazing musical lineup.

Performances at July Jam will include: John Mayer, Jill Scott, Demi Lovato, Ne-Yo, Grace Potter, J. Cole, Ben Taylor, hometown band The Roots,  and Kevin Hart hosting the concert. Marsha Ambrosius will also perform later, on the 6th at a Taste of Philadelphia.

The concert isn’t the only event, even if it is the biggest. Activities start out smaller in number and grow as the week goes offering more and more for families and friends to do to celebrate the country’s birthday.

(photo by Michael Branscom for Welcome America Inc and ESM Productions)

Monday, July 1st:

10am-noon: Storytelling about Wawa dairies @ Franklin Square

10am-1pm:Wawa Interactive Dairy and History Area

9pm: Free showing of “Silver Linings Playbook” @Rittenhouse Square

Tuesday, July 2nd: Hoagie Day!

10am-noon: musical performances and the history of the Hoagie @ The National Constitution Center with admission to the museum free all day!

10am: Photo exhibits- Philadelphia’s Literary Legacy: Selected Authors, Playwrights, and Poets at Philadelphia International Airport’s Terminal A-East

Noon-2pm: Wawa will serve a 4.5 ton Hoagie in honor of the 21st annual Hoagie Day @ Independence Visitor Center

8:05pm: Philadelphia Orchestra Neighborhood Concert @ Penn’s Landing

9pm: Free showing of “Rocky” @ Philadelphia Museum of Art

Wednesday, July 3rd:

10am-noon: Fitness learning @ Smith Memorial Playground

8pm: POPS! On Independence @ Independence Hall

Thursday, July 4th: Happy Birthday America!

10am-11am: Freedom Ceremony @ Independence Hall Steps

11am-12:30: Philadelphia Independence Day Parade taking place throughout historic Philadelphia

1pm-2pm: Let Freedom Ring @ Independence Square

12pm-7pm: Party on the Parkway @ 20th Street to Eakins Oval

7pm-11pm: July Jam@ 20th Street to Eakins Oval

Friday, July 5th:

Noon-10pm: A Taste of Philadelphia @ Penn’s Landing. Free admission and tons of food trucks!

Saturday, July 6th:

Noon-10pm: A Taste of Philadelphia @ Penn’s Landing complete with performance by Marsha Ambrosius and the famous Adventure Aquarium Waterfront Fireworks.

Sunday, July 7th:

Noon- 3pm: Final Day of A Taste of Philadelphia @ Penn’s Landing

With a schedule like that you don’t want to miss a day of the celebration fun. Come celebrate America’s Birthday with Philadelphia. For more information on the artists and about Welcome America visit: http://www.welcomeamerica.com/