Reed fronts Up the Chain at the LP Summer Mixer.

Joshua Popejoy is a familiar face on the Lyndzapalooza (LP) circuit, but he never ceases to amaze us with his ability to maintain a purposeful concoction of indie rock and mainstream pop. The LP team believes he’s one of the most radio-ready independent musicians on the Philly local scene, and looks forward to supporting his efforts as he continues to make his deliberate journey to ears across the region.

Although his style can sometimes seem to genre-hop, Joshua has a sound distinctively his own. He’s known for weaving lyrical webs of imagery while injecting catchy hooks fans can’t seem to get out of their heads.

Joshua is gracing LP’s stage for a second time at our seventh annual spring music festival – BYM Fest, on May 16 – following his inaugural LP performance on our summer stage in 2008.


LP: Where did you perform for the first time?

JP: The first time I played was at Fester’s in Bloomington, IN. The first time in Philly was at The Grape Street Pub, before it closed down.

LP: What is it about your music that makes it distinctly "Joshua Popejoy?"

JP: The instrumentation in the band is very unusual. And you never hear the cello being used in such an active role, often playing lead lines or soloing during any given song. (Joshua jokes,) The shoddy vocals and birth certificate doesn’t hurt either…

LP: Who are some of your favorite artists or bands to cover? Why?

JP: Dave Matthews Band, Damien Rice, U2, Counting Crows, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead… Generally, I enjoy playing songs written by artists I admire. It would take far too long to say why I love all these artists, but needless to say, they have all written some fantastic songs. I’m also not opposed to a bubble gum pop cover song, such as Baby One More Time by Britney Spears.

LP: You've seen a lot of live shows in venues ranging from amphitheaters to intimate clubs. What was your favorite and what made it so good?

JP: I don’t know if I have a favorite. I think it all depends on the artist. I’ve seen Dave Matthews Band in an amphitheater; yet demand the intimacy of a smaller venue. However, there are two that come to mind. The first Damien Rice show I saw blew me away. He performed at Tower Theatre here in Philly. The show gave me chills. He gave 1000% to his performance. The arcs to his songs were incredible. They’d range from – literally – no PA to blaring loud! I’ve also seen some Dave Matthews shows that just left me floored. After one, I called work from 500 miles across the country and told them my car broke down just so that I could go to show again the next night!

LP: You're a degreed and actively gigging trombonist, and you can be heard playing a punchy horn part on the opening track of your recent EP, Runway Lights. In what ways do you think your formal training in music has affected the way you write and perform?

JP: More than anything, I think my formal training has expanded my tonal comfort zone, as well as influenced me to play more mixed meter. The training has also helped me “orchestrate” the song. When I write a song, I generally hear the auxiliary lines – cello, saxophone, etc – while writing it. Also, if I am stuck writing a song, I can generally get through it with the training I’ve had in music theory.

LP: You're bringing a full band to BYM Fest, but you often play solo. How does playing with a band shape or transform your sound into something that's not necessarily heard at your Thursday open mics or solo shows?

JP: The band is a whole new thing. I love it. It’s so rewarding to sit back on a song I’ve written and watch these incredible musicians take it to a whole new level. They really give the songs quite a bit of punch. Also, having the additional instruments adds a whole new “jam” dynamic to the music!

LP: Do you write most of the instrumentation for the members of your band, or is it a collaborative effort?

JP: There really isn’t a single formula I’ve used. There are some songs for which I’ll already have a good amount of cello and sax lines written. Then there are songs – such as Till Then I’ll Wait and I Find Myself at Ease - where the various lines was a total collaborative effort. As long as the band doesn’t get stuck using a single formula, I think we’ll continue to make some decent music.

LP: There are times when your band will get caught up in a great jam while performing live. Are these jams rehearsed, or improvised?

JP: The short answer is both. But I think one of the things I failed to mention in regards to my formal training is that I love everything to be structured. As a result, most of the “jams” you hear – as far as form goes – have been rehearsed. However, many times those moments come out of improvisation during a rehearsal. So we still end up improvising quite a bit within those structures. Rarely are the solos set to a strict 32 bar turn, and instead we try to ‘feel it out’ and listen to each other.

LP: What was your greatest accomplishment as a musician in the past year?

JP: Finishing the record was a huge deal for me. I poured so much energy (not to mention money) into the project. It was so rewarding to finally hear a finished product I was proud of and could stand behind.

LP: What can your fans look forward to in the upcoming year?

JP: We have a couple bigger gigs coming up. We’ve been invited to play the Tin Angel next month (6/13) as well as asked to play one of the main stages at MusikFest in Bethlehem, PA this summer (8/4). My solo record should be done sometime this summer, hopefully in time for MusikFest! Also, the Joshua Popejoy calendar pre-order starts in September… I’m expecting a terrible turnout for that one!

LP: What is the most useful thing a community can do to support local music?

JP: Go see music, even if you don’t know who it is. There are a lot of talented people out there that you can hear for a small cover charge; oftentimes free. Also, almost every musician has a MySpace page, so most of the time you can find out who is playing at a local venue and listen to clips of their music to determine if you’d like to go! But more than anything, GO SEE CONCERTS, BUY LOCAL CDS, AND REQUEST LOCAL ARTISTS AT YOUR LOCAL RADIO STATION!!!

LP: Why should your fans come to BYM Fest?

JP: Why SHOULDN’T they come?!?! There are quite a few artists I’m excited about seeing as well! Plus, BYOB is huge. When I go to concerts I end up spending $30 to $40 on beer during a single show, let alone a day long festival! At BYM Fest, all you need is a cooler and $20, and you’ve got yourself a cooler full of the Silver Bullet! (Or any other beer I guess…)

Joshua can be heard every week at his open mic in East Falls at Buckets Bar and Grill on Midvale Avenue. Check out samples of his music and add upcoming shows to your calendar by visiting his MySpace page.

Don’t forget to say yes to our Facebook invite and purchase discounted tickets to see Joshua at BYM Fest on May 16. Enter discount code POPEJOY at checkout to get the most bang for your buck!

Joshua at LP's 2008 Summer Mixer.

Back yard music festivals don’t happen without a lot of help. From artists and amplification to lights and invites, each Lyndzapalooza (LP) event is the culmination of dozens of small details.

One detail that’s literally at the center of each event is the stage. Over the years LP has presented music on a variety of stages – from elevated decks to fully carpeted tents. After the Evolve festival in 2007 we decided it was time to put a real stage on the lawn, and to name a whole festival after our idea.

To make “There’s a Stage on My Lawn” come true, we turned to LP’s master builder Jan Jochems to construct LP’s first DIY stage.

This week Jan shared his memories of stage building with us, as well as some thoughts on how other festivals can get off the ground – figuratively and literally.

Jan Jochems, LP's master builder.

Gina says:

Everybody has big ideas, and sometimes people get really lucky and the big ideas become big realities as if by magic.

This is usually because the bearer of the big idea happened to notice a trend and was good at exploiting it - like how some people are just good at making money. But for the rest of us, it usually happens that we have to dig for the trends, or be trend setters. We have to make our own luck and we have to think ... a lot.

That's what nobody really tells you when you sit down and say to yourself, "Hmm, you know, I’d like to start my own side business. Yes, that's what I’m going to do." It seems so simple. We wanted to be a legitimate non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of local musicians.

Easy enough, right?

Right. All we had to do was figure out how to make enough money to hold concerts, make enough money to promote artists, find out the best marketing strategies for our "product," and have the capital to carry these strategies out. But before that, we had to figure out our root purpose. What makes Lyndzapalooza (LP) something to believe in, to get behind, to support?

LP's board met twice a month, and started with what titles the board members would have. I'll admit, we got caught up in this for a long time ... then we got caught up in deciding what to call our annual big Spring Event, because it couldn’t be called "Lyndzapalooza" anymore.

We discussed what it was about the May event that we thought was unique, what we loved about it. As it turned out, we all loved the friendly atmosphere that comes with having your best friends come over and sing in your backyard. Every May LP would open up its backyard to everyone, all lovers of music, all supporters of community.

Suddenly it was so simple - we would give you the Back Yard Music Festival!

It was these discussions leading up to our naming decision that made us realize what we wanted to be about as an organization! Many of LP's board members are musicians and have seen that it's sometimes hard to find people to support your art for your art and not just to further themselves. Sure, as an organization we have goals, but our goals mainly center around making opportunities for artists. We decided that we wanted to be that friendly face in the music scene. We wanted to cultivate relationships and offer a service to the up and coming musician.

And so, our mission tagline presented itself:

Lyndzapalooza: Diverse Music. Creative Community. Equal Opportunity Expression.

Okay, okay, I know. This installment is starting to sound like LP is all about the Touchy-Feely, but none of the Nitty-Gritty; that we had meetings in meadows and never discussed how to get our hands dirty. I assure you that we quickly found out that you can’t make a grassroots organization grow without digging around in the dirt!

After we figured out the What and Why of LP, we had to start figuring out the How.

One thing we had to figure out was how to get the word out about us. LP is lucky enough to have three communications experts on its board. Peter, Kate, and Lindsay do things like press releases, advertising campaigns, data analysis, and design for a living and are more than happy to use their skills to further LP’s cause. (Stay tuned for Kate’s blog entry where she discusses the creative side of making LP a formal organization!)

Okay, you’re still sitting there thinking, "Gina, you have yet to talk about anything that involves 'dirt.' Where's the elbow grease?" Well, it was not long before we realized that there’s a lot of stuff that goes into a festival that I never really thought about from a logistics standpoint.

For instance, security becomes important when you start inviting the public to events. How do you make sure that only people with tickets get in? We solved this with neon yellow string wrapped around an assortment of trees last year. This year there’s a parking lot and a formal entrance!

Then we had to talk about Port-o-Potties. Now, if there's a less glamorous thing to talk about, I'd like to hear it. But, again, because we were inviting the public to the event, we couldn't let strangers into the Bucci’s home to use the facilities.

Then we talked wristbands and carding people who wanted to drink at our BYOB event. Then we talked lighting, upgraded sound requirements, and the requirements of an actual stage. Up until 2007 our stage was a bunch of tarps under a tent. In 2008, we built a stage out of discarded packing crates that once housed precision microscopes.

This year we had to talk event insurance, vendor applications, and incorporation. There were so many things to consider and then once we considered them we had to figure out how to pay for them.

Over the course of the last year and a half, LP has figured so many things out and yet it always feels like we’re learning. I don’t think that’s ever going to end. LP will always be growing and evolving. Writing this now, I can barely keep my head around all the things we still have to plan for.

In the last year, I have done and learned about things that I never thought I would personally. I, with the help of Peter and Lindsay, created a sponsorship package. I interviewed artists and wrote behind the scenes recaps about events. I have hosted an open mic, set up sound equipment, torn apart crates, made backdrop curtains, and was the Dancing Chef at the grill - so many new experiences from something that started so humbly.

I think Kate’s going to take over from here. She does creative and financial - two things that don’t sound like they go together, but Kate makes sure that all our big ideas happen ... within reason.

If you like what you’re reading, why don’t you head over to bymfest.org and get yourself a ticket to the big shindig. I promise you won’t regret it.

Gina Martinelli is LP's Spider-Woman, a professional chemist, and half the band Arcati Crisis.

Grow Your Own Music Festival: Part 6 - Mulching, Pruning, and Making It Pretty

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Monday, April 20, 2009 at 11:20am | Edit Note | Delete

Gina says:

Everybody has big ideas, and sometimes people get really lucky and the big ideas become big realities as if by magic.

This is usually because the bearer of the big idea happened to notice a trend and was good at exploiting it - like how some people are just good at making money. But for the rest of us, it usually happens that we have to dig for the trends, or be trend setters. We have to make our own luck and we have to think ... a lot.

That's what nobody really tells you when you sit down and say to yourself, "Hmm, you know, I’d like to start my own side business. Yes, that's what I’m going to do." It seems so simple. We wanted to be a legitimate non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of local musicians.

Easy enough, right?

Right. All we had to do was figure out how to make enough money to hold concerts, make enough money to promote artists, find out the best marketing strategies for our "product," and have the capital to carry these strategies out. But before that, we had to figure out our root purpose. What makes Lyndzapalooza (LP) something to believe in, to get behind, to support?

LP's board met twice a month, and started with what titles the board members would have. I'll admit, we got caught up in this for a long time ... then we got caught up in deciding what to call our annual big Spring Event, because it couldn’t be called "Lyndzapalooza" anymore.

We discussed what it was about the May event that we thought was unique, what we loved about it. As it turned out, we all loved the friendly atmosphere that comes with having your best friends come over and sing in your backyard. Every May LP would open up its backyard to everyone, all lovers of music, all supporters of community.

Suddenly it was so simple - we would give you the Back Yard Music Festival!

It was these discussions leading up to our naming decision that made us realize what we wanted to be about as an organization! Many of LP's board members are musicians and have seen that it's sometimes hard to find people to support your art for your art and not just to further themselves. Sure, as an organization we have goals, but our goals mainly center around making opportunities for artists. We decided that we wanted to be that friendly face in the music scene. We wanted to cultivate relationships and offer a service to the up and coming musician.

And so, our mission tagline presented itself:

Lyndzapalooza: Diverse Music. Creative Community. Equal Opportunity Expression.

Okay, okay, I know. This installment is starting to sound like LP is all about the Touchy-Feely, but none of the Nitty-Gritty; that we had meetings in meadows and never discussed how to get our hands dirty. I assure you that we quickly found out that you can’t make a grassroots organization grow without digging around in the dirt!

After we figured out the What and Why of LP, we had to start figuring out the How.

One thing we had to figure out was how to get the word out about us. LP is lucky enough to have three communications experts on its board. Peter, Kate, and Lindsay do things like press releases, advertising campaigns, data analysis, and design for a living and are more than happy to use their skills to further LP’s cause. (Stay tuned for Kate’s blog entry where she discusses the creative side of making LP a formal organization!)

Okay, you’re still sitting there thinking, "Gina, you have yet to talk about anything that involves 'dirt.' Where's the elbow grease?" Well, it was not long before we realized that there’s a lot of stuff that goes into a festival that I never really thought about from a logistics standpoint.

For instance, security becomes important when you start inviting the public to events. How do you make sure that only people with tickets get in? We solved this with neon yellow string wrapped around an assortment of trees last year. This year there’s a parking lot and a formal entrance!

Then we had to talk about Port-o-Potties. Now, if there's a less glamorous thing to talk about, I'd like to hear it. But, again, because we were inviting the public to the event, we couldn't let strangers into the Bucci’s home to use the facilities.

Then we talked wristbands and carding people who wanted to drink at our BYOB event. Then we talked lighting, upgraded sound requirements, and the requirements of an actual stage. Up until 2007 our stage was a bunch of tarps under a tent. In 2008, we built a stage out of discarded packing crates that once housed precision microscopes.

This year we had to talk event insurance, vendor applications, and incorporation. There were so many things to consider and then once we considered them we had to figure out how to pay for them.

Over the course of the last year and a half, LP has figured so many things out and yet it always feels like we’re learning. I don’t think that’s ever going to end. LP will always be growing and evolving. Writing this now, I can barely keep my head around all the things we still have to plan for.

In the last year, I have done and learned about things that I never thought I would personally. I, with the help of Peter and Lindsay, created a sponsorship package. I interviewed artists and wrote behind the scenes recaps about events. I have hosted an open mic, set up sound equipment, torn apart crates, made backdrop curtains, and was the Dancing Chef at the grill - so many new experiences from something that started so humbly.

I think Kate’s going to take over from here. She does creative and financial - two things that don’t sound like they go together, but Kate makes sure that all our big ideas happen ... within reason.

If you like what you’re reading, why don’t you head over to bymfest.org and get yourself a ticket to the big shindig. I promise you won’t regret it.

Gina Martinelli is LP's Spider-Woman, a professional chemist, and half the band Arcati Crisis.

LP Artist John Glaubitz rocks the LP open mic backed by LP Artist & Director Dante Bucci.

Gina Says:

Way back in 2003, I had the honor of being the first performer at the very first Lyndzapalooza event … then called, simply, Lyndzapalooza, named for our founder, Lindsay Wilhelmi. She was celebrating her birthday and invited her musical friends to come over to her West Philly home and entertain each other.

I was in a play at the time and, as was per usual, I was losing my voice. And, as per usual, I was ignoring common sense and decided that I still needed to sing. I rasped my way through a few tunes before running off to Drexel’s Mandel Theater to perform.

And so it was for a few more years. I was never involved with the behind the scenes aspects to the festival. I was always just working on haphazardly throwing a set together with Peter (it would be a few years yet until Arcati Crisis became our name and regular rehearsals became our game). Peter usually didn’t have a lot of time to rehearse as we approached our May deadline because by April he was in what he called "Full Lyndzapalooza Frenzy."

At Evolve, LP’s 5th spring event, I was sitting there in the Bucci’s backyard in Yardley, checking out the scene. I was impressed by how far the festival had come. I was sitting with Kate Wilhelmi and I said, “Man, this is pretty sweet. I should lend a hand while there’s still a bottom floor to get in on.” She smiled and said, “Yes! Get involved!” So … I did.

2007 marked the beginning of Lyndzapalooza as an organization. 2007 was when everyone got it into their head that Lyndzapalooza was going to need to upgrade to a larger backyard…like, a farm sized backyard. This was going to be quite a leap, so it became clear that some sort of definitive infrastructure needed to be put in place, starting with a Board of Directors.

In the years leading up to formal organizing, planning of the May shindig was usually spear-headed by Lindsay and Peter. As various tasks arrived, they would ask for assistance. For instance, Dante was always generally there helping with artists and logistics … after all, the festival was held in his parents’ back yard for several years in a row and he was super connected in the Philly music scene. Kate was usually there also to help with logistics (that’s going to come up a lot) and she was also always in charge of archival stuff like photos and video.

As the number of tasks and questions kept increasing, but the number of hours in the day stayed the same!

When you’re making something that started as a gathering of friends into a public event, there’s too much for just a couple of minds to consider. At the very least, you need more people who can share in the research, the furrowing of eyebrows, and the occasional screaming at the top of one’s lungs when the answers just aren’t that easy to find!

The first few meetings were spent discussing what everyone’s general role on the Board would be. Lindsay was the Chief. Peter and Kate, being communications gurus by trade, were going to take care of the marketing plan and general group communications. Dante, being the gigging artist amongst us, would handle artist booking and relations. Jem was a master event planner and Jan, being an engineer, was going to handle stage designs and other construction projects. Amanda, who seemed to just have knack for networking, was going to handle volunteer relations.

Me? Well, I had no idea what my definitive role should be. Historically, I serve a group best when I’m not attached to any specific task. In the theater, when I wasn’t acting, I was generally known as a Spider Tech, meaning that I would be sent off to do whatever needed doing. In Mandel, this could mean anything from painting the stage to hanging over a pole on the catwalks to adjust some lights to pulling staples out of discarded molding to going on a Dunkin’ Donuts run.

I love that kind of role because it means that I always doing something helpful and I’m never stuck doing the same thing all the time. So, at one meeting I explained this to everyone and we decided that I would be LP’s Spider Woman…it says so on my business cards.

So, we had a board, now what? We had to start getting our heads around doing this thing as a festival and not a party. That’s not to say that there wouldn’t be party aspects to it, but ultimately we wanted to make the event be less about birthdays and far more about music.

This meant figuring how to get new people to come, people who didn’t necessarily know us. We had to figure out what our mission as an organization was and why artists and guests should like us. We had to figure out how we were going to finance it. In short, we had to figure out a lot of stuff…stuff with which most of us had very little experience.

Stay tuned for my next installment where I get into the nitty-gritty of port-o-potties, how to cheaply fence in a fenceless yard, and how sometimes you just have to learn about the unexciting side of things before you get to the glory. While you wait, mark your Fbook calendar for this year's festival, and head to BYMfest.org to buy discounted tickets for our May 16 festival.

Gina Martinelli is LP's Spider-Woman, a chemist, and half of the band Arcati Crisis.

The crowd at Evolve.

Peter Says:

LP started 2007 on the brink of extinction, but ended the year in the middle of a major evolution.

In January, Lindsay called me to share a upsetting revelation: she couldn’t afford the time, effort, or cash it would take to plan another festival in 2007.

My first instinct was to say that I’d take over, but I realized that both Dante and I were in the same situation as Lindsay – we were busy being adults! In addition to all of our careers, Lindsay was planning a wedding, I was rehearsing with my band and secretly shopping for an engagement ring, and Dante was in-demand as a percussionist as well as starting to write for the hang drum.

The three of us barely had time to talk about throwing a party, let alone time to send invites to artists, draft stage and electrical plots, and fashion a stage in the middle of a back yard.

My heart on the brink of breaking, I pushed back at Lindsay. What if she wasn't throwing a party? What if all of us were planning a concert? What if the planning was structured, and all of her friends pitched in - not just me and Dante?

And, since it was year "V," what if we called it "Evolve"?

The following months were some of my favorites in LP's history, as well as the most frantic. The three of us held regular meetings at The Nodding Head along with longtime LP Artist Geoff Ednie to work through all of the logistics of our upgraded event.

Geoff was plugged into the music scene at Temple University, and he was intent on expanding our reach by recruiting new artists to join our lineup. We were later joined by Lindsay’s partner Kate, who also took up the new artist crusade; she brought back J.I.Z. and helped us connect with Three Car Pile-Up (now a perennial LP favorite).

Our careful planning in the months leading up to the Evolve festival left us with extra time to do things we had wanted to do for years. Lindsay designed programs. I interviewed our artists. Dante and Geoff devised way to run two simultaneous stages to increase the pace of changeovers. Kate created her own DIY lighting rig. We even created an inclement weather hotline when rain headed our way!

When Evolve finally arrived it was truly an evolution - the transition from a party to a festival. We had a formal “load-in” of our equipment and stage, which was attended by all of our future directors and our regular stage managers, Jack and Jake (as well as my future wife, Elise).

After a few hours of hard work we transformed our typical back yard into the grounds of an actual festival - complete with a carpeted stage, a sound booth, and a merchandise tent!

Sometime after midnight – after saying goodbye to our artists and striking our sound equipment – Lindsay joined me on the ground under our massive stage tent. We were both exhausted, but also giddy with the success of the biggest LP festival ever.

We spent the rest of night with our acoustic guitars in hand, trading our favorite songs with harmony added by the Drexel Treblemakers, who collectively decided to camp out after the show.

It was a happy ending to the day, but just the beginning of LP’s evolution from party to non-profit! I'll leave the next chapter to my best friend and bandmate Gina to tell in a few days. In the meantime, mark your calendar for this year's festival, and make sure you visit BYMfest.org to buy pre-sale tickets for our May 16 festival while they’re still super cheap.

Peter Marinari is LP's Director of Communications and Marketing, Philadelphia's longest-running blogger, and half of the band Arcati Crisis.

The dual-stage set-up at Evolve.

Peter Says:

In our last installment Lindsay left off with us moving the festival from a tiny lot in West Philadelphia to a giant back yard in Yardley – more than doubling our attendance in the process. Lindsay’s little birthday party was now bigger than most local concerts!

When the 2005 season rolled around I leapt at the chance to be involved again, because I wanted to better the sound setup from the previous year. We eliminated our broomstick mic stands in 2004, but we were stuck with the rest of our original signal chain - mixing through an unpowered 8-track board to two powered guitar amplifiers to blast out the sound.

My improvised system was suitable for solo songwriters, and it held up okay as vocal amplification for hard rockers Polymer. However, in ‘05 we'd be hosting a band from Millersville called Great Big House, which came equipped with their own drum kit as well as an entire horn section.

Yes, a horn section.

Lindsay, Dante, and I brainstormed what we would need to cover the big band, and we realized we needed to add an actual PA system to the mix. “PA” is short for "public address" or "power amplifier," depending on who you ask. It's a shorthand way to refer to the consolidated setup of a mixer, amplifier, and house speakers.

Horrified that Great Big House would drive for hours only to discover we couldn’t make them heard, I wound up buying a small PA, plus more stands, XLR cables, and a handful Shure and Behringer microphones.

My abject terror and subsequent over-preparation taught LP an important lesson: quality is always better than quantity. Though I've discarded plenty of cheap equipment acquired for the ‘03-04 fests, we're still using all of the equipment purchased in 2005.

By 2006 the festival was an expected celebration marked on the calendars of all of our friends. For the fourth edition – LP IV: Direct Feed - our artist recruitment extended beyond our direct circle of friends. We found ourselves hosting a garage band, a group of glam rockers, a semi-professional acappella group, a folker driving up from Atlanta, and a classical euphonium player, all in addition to our perennial players.

With all of the new faces on the lineup, it became important to us that music be the focus of the event. Though we still billed it as a free party, we downplayed the birthday aspect, as well as the barbecuing, beer drinking, and lawn games.

All of that was still there, and I hope it always will be! The big difference was that it was all on the periphery – the music was the focal point of the party. From that point forward, music has always been the primary focus of LP – dictating how we bill our events, how we interact with artists, and the way we set up the festival grounds.

Check back on Monday to hear how our festival nearly went extinct before we learned to evolve! While you wait, mark your FB calendar for this year's festival – BYM Fest, on May 16 in Morrisville, PA. Tickets are available now for ulta-low pre-sale prices.

Peter Marinari is LP's Director of Communications and Marketing, Philadelphia's longest-running blogger, and half of the band Arcati Crisis.