When Worlds Collide: Comcast SportsNet writers Reuben Frank and Sarah Baicker talk about new music and Free at Noon
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Reuben Frank and Sarah Baicker in the CSN Studio | Photo courtesy of Sarah Baicker

XPN’s Free at Noon series has become a hot commodity since its inception ten years ago, and in that time, the free weekly music series has developed many regulars – two of whom you might already be familiar with if your TV is regularly tuned to the Eagles and Flyers on Comcast SportsNet.

Philadelphia Eagles beat writer Reuben Frank and Philadelphia Flyers Beat Writer Sarah Baicker are frequently in the house at World Cafe Live, catching each week’s performance and sharing their reaction – positive and negative – on social media. They sat down to talk with The Key about the music they’ve been listening to lately, who has the best and worst music taste in the Comcast SportsNet Newsroom and their all-time favorite Free at Noons.

The Key: How long have you guys been coming to these Free at Noons?

Sarah Baicker: I’m here pretty much through the summers and when I can through the rest of the season.

Reuben Frank: She’s here when I allow her.

SB: Oh, shut up. He did register me for this week though. And next week.

RF: I really blew it because I didn’t come for the longest time. I think the first one I saw was Son Volt in 2009 or 10, just because I love Son Volt. But also Andy Reid, when he was a coach, [the Eagles] practiced on Fridays so the media had to be at the NovaCare Complex on Friday afternoon. So I couldn’t get here unless it was a bye week or during the off-season.

But then Chip Kelly saved my life, and Chip Kelly doesn’t have practice on Friday, so my Fridays are wide open. I think in 2012 I just started coming to every one. I was just like “I don’t care who it is; this is a great opportunity to see a band that I probably, in most cases I wouldn’t pay to see.” I felt like I needed to broaden my musical palette and I got into a thing where I was really just listening to kind of the same handful of bands and I just needed more music. I just think that if you don’t like them you’re there for 45 minutes and it’s not costing you anything and I really found a lot of bands I love by coming to these things.

Man, I came to David Gray. I mean, I hate David Gray. I hate that whole scene; I hate that whole genre. But I just came down cause I was just kinda, ‘hey, what’s a David Gray show like?’ And he was an example of a guy…I mean, I can’t stand his music, but he was funny as hell, and self-deprecating and really fun.

SB: Yeah, I agree. He’s funny! He’s likable.

RF: He just makes you feel like, you know, he wants to be there and so you want to be there.

TK: What have been your best discoveries via XPN?

RF: My best discoveries, out of bands that I never knew anything about before I came here, I would say Free Energy, who’s a Philly Band. They played here I think in 2013, they did a Free at Noon and they were fantastic. Foxygen is a band that they were just here, I think, in the fall who I dismissed just because I thought their name sucked and I just didn’t know anything about them and they were fantastic.

SB: Was that the first time you saw War on Drugs?

RF: Yeah, War on Drugs was one. I mean, god, that was before they kind of blew up. I kind of knew I’d like them, but, that was the first time I really heard them, last spring when they played here, and it was mind-blowing. Also St. Vincent. I mean, St. Vincent is a band I never would have given the time of day to if they hadn’t done a Free at Noon. I wouldn’t go to Union Transfer and pay $35 to see St. Vincent. But, she was incredible. And I was like five feet from the stage, and I’m like “Where am I going to get to see St. Vincent five feet from the stage for free?”

But those were the main ones that I kind of discovered, I mean War on Drugs, St. Vincent, Free Energy was just incredible. But I love the fact that there’s some local bands that are – you know, DRGN King who was just here a few weeks ago – I had never heard them, and I thought they were terrific. Strand of Oaks is the same way. I mean those are all Philly bands, and that’s one of the great things about the Free at Noons: It’s not just national acts. They always get some Philly bands in the mix and always support and promote bands from here.

The War On Drugs – Under The Pressure (Live on WXPN) from WXPN FM on Vimeo.

TK: So who has the best taste in music in the Comcast SportsNet newsroom? Not counting you guys.

SB: John Finger has a very good taste in music.

RF: He’s a big Replacements, Guided by Voices guy.

SB: Yeah, he’s more into, like, the punk end of stuff.

RF: He keeps the punk aesthetic going in the newsroom.

SB: Who else has a good taste in music besides us – maybe that’s why we’re friends. Because nobody else likes [good music].

TK: That’s another thing I wanted to get to, because I’m really into sports and I’m really into music. I have sports friends and I have my music friends and they don’t really mix. Is it the same for you guys?

RF: Well, here’s what’s really cool. Because a lot of the guys, at least on my beat, I don’t know about hockey, but a lot of the Eagles writers…

SB: Eagles writers go to shows a lot! I see them everywhere.

RF: They’re really into good music. Like, I saw Jeff Tweedy at the Merriam Theater. And Jeff McLane was there from the Inquirer was there and Phil Sheridan was there for [ESPN]. So there were three Eagles beat writers there. And then when I saw Jimmer Podrasky, there were three ESPN writers at a Jimmer Podrasky show at Main Street Music. That was kind of weird.

But, who else? There was one show I saw here, oh, Steve Earle. Free at Noon. There five Eagles writers here. It was me, Jeff McLane, Les Bowen, Steve Patton from The Reading Eagle, and somebody else.

TK: Well, I know [CSNPhilly.com Web Producer] Tom Dougherty is really into Pearl Jam.

SB: Yeah, he is.

TK: But he listens to, like, nothing but Pearl Jam.

SB: Yeah, I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan too. And Roob still thinks I have a great taste in music and allows me to be his friend even though I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan. But I haven’t had Roob listen to Yield yet. We’re going to have you listen to that.

TK: Oh, you’re not a Pearl Jam fan?

RF: No, not really.

SB: Not even not really.

RF: They just bore me.

TK: So not just necessarily XPN music, but what have you been listening to lately?

RF: I’ve been obsessed with a band Elephant Micah, who I saw open for Centro-matic at Boot & Saddle a couple months ago. It’s is a guy from Indiana who I downloaded every single thing he ever recorded. Actually, I gave [WXPN Program Director] Bruce [Warren] the CD, but he’s never played it, which is pissing me off. I’ll have to talk to him about that! (NOTE: according to our playlist, Elephant Micah has gotten a few spins on Sleepy Hollow, but not in regular rotation. -ed.)

I have the weirdest music taste. I’ll listen to, like, Elephant Micah for a week and then listen to nothing but old Genesis, for a couple days. I just like whatever. I have no shame. I’ll listen to REO Speedwagon. I just don’t give a shit about anything: I’ll listen to anything no matter how bad it is or no matter how good it is.

TK: What do you think about the current state of music, because I know a lot of people who are into REO Speedwagon and all the old stuff are all like ‘ahh, they don’t make music like they used to anymore, blah, blah, blah.’

RF: I think that’s such bullshit and I think that’s such a cop-out. All that means is people are too lazy to look for the great music that’s out there. I think there’s more good music than ever.

SB: And you can find it.

RF: To me, it’s just like archaeology: if somebody on Facebook posts a piece of music – if it’s somebody I trust – I’ll listen to it every time and then I’ll go to their Bandcamp and then within five minutes you can have, like, two of their CDs downloaded and, you know, burn it to a CD for your car or on your iPad. I mean, it’s so much easier to find it now.

SB: Of, there’s a lot of that. Tons of that.

RF: And you try to tell them it’s out there. You just have to put a little effort and look for it. To me, it’s so much more rewarding finding new music than listening to… no matter how much I love, Guided By Voices, I just can’t listen to Guided By Voices all the time. They’re my favorite band ever, but I would get bored listening to the same stuff no matter how much I love it. I would just get bored listening to the same stuff all the time. So, for me it’s a never-ending search for good new music. And I think that’s easier to find now than ever before.

TK: So, being presumably the only two people in the office with a good taste in music…

SB: Not presumably, definitely (laughs).

TK: …do you get a lot of shit for it?

SB: Oh, people are dicks. They don’t like anything good. Especially to you (points at Reuben), but to both of us they do that. ‘You’re a music snob. We’re jerks. We have bad taste in everything. We don’t give anything else a try.’

RF: I’m not going to say any names but there’s three people who tell me ‘you only like bands because nobody else has heard of them.’

SB: I get that with you all the time.

RF: Like, why would I do that?

SB: Like, ‘you only like bands that nobody’s heard of because you’re a hipster and you think it’s cool.’

RF: Yeah, which is why I go and see Fleetwood Mac.

SB: Yeah, right? We saw Peter Gabriel, man.

RF: Yeah, she talked through the whole concert.

SB: I did. I shouldn’t have added that.

Reuben Frank and Sarah Baicker with Joseph Arthur after a Free at Noon | Photo courtesy of Sarah Baicker

Reuben Frank and Sarah Baicker with Joseph Arthur after a Free at Noon | Photo courtesy of Sarah Baicker

RF: But yeah, it’s like, why would I do that? 90% of the shows I go see are packed. They’re just different people. Just because you haven’t heard of Joseph Arthur doesn’t mean he’s not selling out Union Transfer or something. Like, why would someone do that? Why would you listen to certain types of music just because other people don’t? It’s insulting.

SB: I feel like it’s the kind of thing I cared about in high school. When I was 14 and 15 years old I wanted to be, like, the first person to know about a band, or to like a band, and that made me cool because, like, I knew them first and nobody else knows them. But, like, Jesus Christ, we’re not in high school. It’s not about that at all anymore. It’s about if you like something, you like it. Just because somebody else hasn’t heard of it doesn’t mean we like it because you haven’t heard of it.

TK: I think generally the music played at hockey games is better than the music at football games.

RF and SB: It is

RF: I have a running feud with the guy who’s in charge of the whole stadium experience about the music they play there. They think people want to hear Justin Bieber at an Eagles game, you know? The frickin’ guy is out of his mind.

TK: Now that I’m thinking about it, wasn’t Claude Giroux spotted at a Nickelback concert?

SB: Probably. Hockey players have a terrible taste in music. They all love Drake. Every year I do media day off-beat interviews and I always ask Sixers and Flyers their favorite bands. Flyers all love country music and, like, bad hip-hop.

TKThat’s weird because they’re all Canadians.

SB: That’s what they like in Canada I think.

RF: There’s some great Canadian bands though. Blue Rodeo.

SB: But they don’t cite the great Canadian bands, they cite Drake (rolls eyes).

TK: Well, what about Eagles players? I know Connor Barwin has a good taste in music.

RF: Connor Barwin is a big music fan – he’s friends with Kurt Vile. It’s funny, because one time I asked Connor if he was going to a show, and he was like, ‘no, I have a game that day.’ I forget who it was! Tom Hutton, who was a punter with the Eagles in the 90s – he had the best musical taste of any Eagle ever. He was a big fan of Uncle Tupelo. We saw him with an Uncle Tupelo cap at training camp.

SB: [Former Phillie] Raul Ibanez is a huge Social Distortion fan, huge Pearl Jam fan, really into music. He was a music guy. I can’t think of anybody else, certainly not on recent teams. Oh, like David Bell was, like, a huge Pearl Jam fan.

RF: Enough Pearl Jam.

SB: Yeah, they’d bring him out on stage every year for years, however long he was here.

TK: I think I hit on everything I wanted to ask, is there anything else you wanted to add?

RF: Yeah, there’s one thing I wanted to add, just that, I’m always surprised how many people in Philly who like good music don’t know about the Free at Noon series and it’s just, to me it’s the best. You know, I take the train down here most days – I drove today – but you walk from the train station, you know, the shows are 40-45 minutes, you can be back at work or back home and, you know, I’m always surprised at how few people know about it and take advantage of it.

Sarah Baicker’s top ten Favorite Free at Noons:

1. Joseph Arthur, July 19, 2013
2. Richard Shindell/Ollabelle, November 21, 2008
3. The War on Drugs, March 14, 2014
4. Pixies, January 13, 2014
5. Sea Wolf, October 19, 2013
6. Dr. Dog, January 27, 2012
7. Yo La Tengo, January 11, 2013
8. Diego Garcia, September 23, 2011
9. They Might be Giants, February 5, 2013
10. Villagers, June 14, 2014

Reuben Frank’s top ten Favorite Free at Noons:

1. Joseph Arthur, July 19, 2013
2. The War on Drugs, March 14, 2014
3. Spoon, Sept. 1, 2014
4. Dr. Dog, Jan. 27, 2012
5. Son Volt, Feb. 23, 2007
6. Yo La Tengo, Jan. 11, 2013
7. Parquet Courts, Nov. 22, 2014
8. St. Vincent, Feb. 28, 2014
9. They Might Be Giants, April 5, 2013
10. Crowded House, July 23, 2010

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