G-Town Radio Night: Take 1 with Tom Casetta, The Karl Blau Band, and Cadalay
April 17 at 7:30 pm-9:30 pm
$20.00
Tickets $20 online, $25 at the door. (online tickets end at 6:30 pm on the day of the show)
Doors at 7 pm
This is the first of a series of events presented by G-Town Radio featuring talented local musicians paired with G-Town Radio hosts spinning some of their favorite tunes.
Tom Casetta
Tom Casetta is the Station Manager at G-Town Radio. In addition to managing the station’s day-to-day functions, he hosts a weekly music freeform radio program called Listen Up! that crosses time and genre, unearthing hidden gems from the past, present, and future.
The mid-day, mid-week audio escape comes to you from the G-Town Radio studios every week from 2-4pm.
About Germantown Community Radio
G-Town Radio is a community radio station that broadcasts 24 hours a day. It can be heard on 92.9FM from noon Wednesday to midnight on Sunday and is streaming on the internet every day of the week. Located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, G-Town Radio is a community media outlet that uniquely engages the community, tells stories, shares music, and reliably communicates information to our community in NW Philly. G-town Radio is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit, and all money goes directly into creating more and better programming.
The Karl Blau Band: Vultures Of Love
A decade ago, when Karl Blau was still a lifetime fixture of the small but fertile creative enclave in Anacortes, Wash., he hosted a Sun Ra worship group on Monday nights. Open-minded locals who lived on Fidalgo Island would stop by to indulge in participating in free music and sound experimentation in the style of the astral traveler; given the day of the week, and the town’s general spirit of play, they called it Moon Raw. Four years later, Blau and his family of four finally left Anacortes for the opposite coast and, ostensibly, the opposite atmosphere—Philadelphia’s Germantown. Without planning, they wound up two blocks from the Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra, the three-story stone rowhouse that still serves as the collective’s headquarters and is now a National Historic Landmark. That was the first little miracle that led to Vultures of Love, the swaggering and irrepressible record that feels like the culmination of the first quarter-century of Blau’s career.
And here’s the second: Soon after moving to Germantown, Blau began striking up conversations with the man he always saw refurbishing mid-century furniture on the corner near his house. It was Chris Covatta, a guitarist with a specialty furniture store and an instant kinship with Blau. A year or so later, Blau started helping out around Covatta’s shop, VintaDelphia, from making deliveries to polishing the goods. And then one day, not that long ago, Blau noticed an eight-track, half-inch tape machine that had been gathering dust there for years. Covatta had forgotten where it came from and didn’t know the last time it worked.
Blau began tinkering until, in December 2023, they cleared space in the shop to make a simple studio—a crowded wooden desk with the machine, two speakers, some preamps, a mixing board, and a computer, all piled high, with cables dangling from the fire-suppression system. They began hosting neighborhood jams, encouraging everyone to go for it, and simple recording sessions. They’d light a fire before each one, as if to summon Sun Ra, Ben Franklin, and a host of the city’s other titans in smoke. That was the setting and circumstance for the start of Vultures of Love.
In January 2024, Dave Flaherty—a Brooklyn drummer perhaps best known for Cuddle Magic and Good Intentions—drove to Blau’s space during an open afternoon. They’d never met, but Flaherty had come with the imprimatur of friends. Blau had some very loose song sketches in mind, like a few chord changes he wanted to try and beats he wanted to hear. For five hours, he and Flaherty just played, Blau switching between bass and guitar as Flaherty responded to his prompts. The salvaged tape machine captured it all. Blessed mistakes happened, as when Blau incorrectly loaded the reels for their first take, resulting in the seasick drums that frame the gorgeous “Who.” When Flaherty left that afternoon, the core of Vultures of Love was complete. Blau loaded the rhythm tracks into the Mac on that desk and then spent several weeks adding bits above and around them mostly by himself, writing lyrics and melodies as responses to how the instrumentals made him feel.
Karl Blau Social:
Cadalay
We’re an indie band with a hard rock twist based in Philly. We started with cheap amps and cheap drums but developed a sound that is unforgettable. Our song Something I Dealt With, released January 30th, will usher in a new era of songwriting and instrumentation for us. Our music can be found on all streaming services to bless your ears.
Cadalay Social:
https://linktr.ee/cadalaymusic
If you purchased a ticket, we have you on our guest list; please tell us your name when you come in for the show.
By Car or By Train
The East Falls Train Station is a short walk from the Fallser Club. Parking in East Falls is no problem! There is ample free on-street parking near the East Falls train station driveway at 3610 Midvale Ave and a paid municipal lot three blocks away at 4100 Ridge Ave. Midvale Ave and Ridge Ave are both well-lit!