WXPN Welcomes Jillith Fair – Loving Jill Sobule

Jill Sobule’s work was at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. In a dozen albums spanning three decades of recording, the Denver-born songwriter/guitarist/singer has tackled such topics as the death penalty, anorexia nervosa, shoplifting, reproduction, the French Resistance, adolescent malaise, LGBTQ issues, and the Christian Right. Her hits include “I Kissed A Girl”—the first openly gay-themed song ever to crack the Billboard Top 20—and the alt-rock anthem “Supermodel” featured in the film Clueless. Sobule was one half of The Jill & Julia Show, providing music while actor Julia Sweeney contributes storytelling. Jill is considered a pioneer in crowdfunding and is constantly exploring and creating new models for artists in an ever-changing music industry. 

 

Jill’s new record, F*ck 7th Grade – Original Cast Recording and will be released on her own Pinko Records label on June 6th. Her theater credits included a musical adaptation of the Broadway classic Yentl, Prozak and the Platypus, and Times Square. In November of 2019 Jill sang a song as herself on an episode of the Simpsons.  F*ck 7th Grade ran off-Broadway for four (4) runs in three (3) years and gained a New York Times Critics Pick. Drama Desk nominated this autobiographical musical, which premiered at the Wild Project in 2022; had a reboot in the Winter of 2023 – and ran again for three weeks in 2024.

 

Also on June 6th, Rhino Records is releasing her self-titled Atlantic Records album on red vinyl for the first time – to time with Pride Month! This year marks the album’s 30th Anniversary! 

 

Following her untimely demise on May 1st, many of her previously scheduled shows have morphed into Jillith Fair – Loving Jill Sobule shows, benefiting the new It Was A Good Life Foundation. Funds will be distributed by this foundation to the ACLU and other causes Jill cared deeply about. The hope is that these shows will become annual events on her birthday, January 16th & during Pride Month in the future. 

 

Jill left behind two partially completed  albums, 50-70+ finished tracks, hundreds of demos, and a few titles that had fallen out of print. Plus, we’re hoping a tribute album will take shape for release to time with a feature length documentary on her that should be completed by years’ end. We hope to help keep her spirit, memory, & music alive.

 

To celebrate the life and work of Jill Sobule, her family and friends have established two funds:

 

 

 

For more than 20 years, Jim Boggia has been winning over fans, critics, contemporaries and luminaries alike with his uncompromising devotion to the sort of winsomely nostalgic, emotionally direct songcraft that’s impervious to age. His sonically intelligent retro-pop manifesto informs three studio albums—2001’s Fidelity Is the Enemy, 2005’s Safe in Sound and 2008’s Misadventures in Stereo—and he’s worked with a startling array of artists, including Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Bernadette Peters, David Poe, NRBQ’s Big Al Anderson, famed Beach Boys lyricist Tony Asher, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, Attractions drummer Pete Thomas, esteemed ’70s pop misfit Emitt Rhodes, and Canadian songstress Amanda Marshall. Also an accomplished singer and guitarist, Boggia performs with the well-known New York City-based Beatles tribute band, the Fab Faux, as well as Mad Dogs & Dominos, an 18-piece collective headed by a heavyweight roster that includes Blues Brothers alum Lou Marini and producer John Leventhal. Oh, and he plays a mean ukulele.

https://www.jimboggiamusic.com/

https://jimboggia.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/search/jim%20boggia

@jimboggia

 

Multi-media artist, Marykate O’Neil,  has released six albums, a few cassettes, and a couple of .45’s.  Her music has been played on the radio, internets and has been featured in movies and television. Marykate has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe to big festival crowds and to empty seats in darkened basements.  Her paintings are exhibited throughout NYC’s galleries and are held in private and University collections. 

Marykate’s music has been described as  — Elvis Costello meets Astrud Gilberto; a female George Harrison; a happy Aimee Mann; a folk Bjork; a Capote-esque storyteller; and most frequently like herself. The Boston Globe might have said it best (or at least the funniest) when they said: “O’Neil’s literate lyrics feature the sort of off-kilter insights Emily Dickinson might make if alive today. After listening to commercial radio, hearing O’Neil sing is like reading Sylvia Path’s brutally honest poetry in the wake of watching “American Idol”.

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Tracy Bonham

 

Tracy Bonham is a twice GRAMMY™ nominated singer-songwriter who had trained as a classical violinist and pianist from an early age. Bonham rose to fame in 1996 with her unique style of quirky songwriting and unrefined guitar playing. Her debut album, The Burdens of Being Upright (Island Records), achieved Gold status in the US, Australia, and Canada and cast Bonham into the global spotlight with buzz-clip status on MTV and heavy rotation radio airplay with her #1 alternative chart-topping song “Mother Mother”, an anthem for disgruntled teenagers of all ages.

In June of 2025, Bonham released her 8th full length album, Sky Too Wide, to much critical acclaim. This new album has her reaching back to what made her fall in love with music in the first place as a young musician growing up in Eugene, OR. Using rich textures, harmonies, and themes from her favorite composers (Debussy, Ravel, Chopin) she weaves in her humorous and quirky songwriting style to make a powerful album that serves as a purifying process and a vehicle for her inner transformation. The songs are deeply personal and universal at the same time as she processes real-life accounts of marital breakdown, isolation, loneliness, and finding oneself in the rubble of a life now reclaimed.

In 2026 Bonham will release an album in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of her debut, The Burdens of Being Upright, this time arranged for strings (working title 30 Years of Burdens: Strung Out) with upcoming shows and tours in the US and beyond.

 

 

Johathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton is a singer-songwriter and cult favorite known for witty, emotionally resonant songs that bridge geek culture, storytelling, and pop craftsmanship. A former software coder, he found his creative calling in the early 2000s, inspired by the rise of Creative Commons and the DIY possibilities of the internet. In 2005, he quit his day job and launched Thing-A-Week, releasing a new song every week and building a devoted online audience that helped redefine how independent musicians connect with fans.

Blending humor and heart, Coulton’s songs often explore big ideas through offbeat characters—resentful teen nerds, lonely supervillains, even singing shop vacs—while touching on deeper themes of identity, connection, and technology. Over the years, he’s evolved from acoustic storyteller to ambitious conceptualist, collaborating with artists like John Flansburgh (Artificial Heart) and experimenting with new sonic landscapes.

His concept album Solid State (with a companion graphic novel by Matt Fraction and Albert Monteys) is a meditation on how the internet has transformed from utopian promise to digital dystopia. Mixing rock-opera ambition with electronic experimentation, it explores themes of surveillance, identity, connection, and apocalypse—told from both human and machine perspectives. Songs like “All This Time,” “Brave,” and “Don’t Feed the Trolls” probe our fractured online culture, while “Ball and Chain” and “Tattoo” tackle intimacy and permanence in a changing world.

Coulton continues to push the boundaries of songwriting, using humor, empathy, and sharp observation to illuminate the complicated relationships between technology, humanity, and hope.

 

https://www.jonathancoulton.com/

 

 

 

Derby serves as a songwriter and producer for Gramercy Arms, a New York City musical and artist collective featuring members of Luna, Elk City, The Dambuilders, Guided by Voices, Shudder to Think, Joan As Police Woman, Mascott, Sparklehorse and A Girl Called Eddy, as well as notable artists such as Lloyd Cole, Tanya Donelly, Matthew Caws, Doug Gillard, Diesel and Kay Hanley. Derby has also produced albums for Reveal Records.

 

 

James Mastro

 

Tammy Faye Starlight

Photo by John Huntington 

 

 

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!