My favorite time in Philly’s music history was ’79 to ’83 or ’84. The city was a mess then. It was bankrupt and every other building was boarded up. The entire city was coated with fliers for shows. A lot of them were really creative, and you could generate buzz and excitement overnight. Because Center City was so shady, you could put on shows at the drop of a hat, and nobody really gave a damn. The police were enforcing the liquor laws, so you’d just hand them a hundred bucks and they’d go away. There was no radio support, […]

SARA SHERR REPORTS: I’m shocked to even type this. Just found out through Paul Dellevigne that Rick D co-owner of Tritone passed away from a heart attack just a few hours ago. I’ve known Rick D for over a decade, first as a music journo, back when he booked The Firenze, JC Dobbs, and Upstairs at Nick’s. He was an early supporter and adopter of all kinds of punk bands, most famously booking Green Day at Dobbs pre-Dookie. He also ran a label called Black Hole and was in a band called the Newbyles. He probably has a history pre-bar […]

BY BRIAN HOWARD The crowds have changed since [Nate] Wiley first began playing at the bar in 1983 with the Joe Whalen trio. Back then, Bob and Barbara’s drew primarily black crowds as one of the last of South Philadelphia west-of-Broad’s jazz bars. (Many nearby establishments had closed or vacated in the ’50s, ’60s and early ’70s due to the long-planned-but-never-realized crosstown expressway, which eventually became the Vine Street expressway.) Bob Port, who had owned the bar since 1978 with his friend Barbara Carter, retired to Kansas City in 1995 and sold the bar to Prince, who used to own […]