“The songs here are as unfailingly exciting as you’d expect from their author, but if you want to hear “Do We? We Do,” or “Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard,” bringing them to life depends on you.”

Over a dozen local musicians have accepted Beck’s challenge and will perform their interpretations of the compositions at World Cafe Live on Tuesday, January 8th.  The line-up so far includes Sean Hoots, Johnny Showcase and the Lefty Lucy Cabaret, The Levee Drivers, Killer Whale, Modern Inventors, Kuf Knotz, Penrose, The Districts, Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang, Satellite Hearts, The Great Unknown, The Bailey Hounds, and Chris Kasper, with more to be announced soon.  Tickets and more information for the show can be found here.

When it comes to covering Philly’s live music scene, Kevin is a machine – he runs what’s arguably the most comprehensive concert calendar in the city, and when he’s not listing or announcing shows, he’s attending them, keeping meticulous setlists, and generally being a consummate concert-watcher. (He’s also a fun dude to hang with at shows, trade his Bonnaroo stories for my South By Southwest stories, and nerd out over craft brews.) I’m happy to invite Kevin to our corner of the internet to give an overview of what he’s got in store for the five Tuesdays of October. All events are at PhilaMOCA (531 N. 12th Street), start at 7:30pm and are $5.

From Kevin:
When I first heard about PhilaMOCA’s Tuesday Tune-Out series back in June, I was very excited about the idea. Music and film are a great combination, and I thought it was especially cool that the musicians would be selecting the films. When Eric Besler asked me to curate a month, I was both honored and excited. It was a new and fun experience to put together October’s lineup, and I’m very excited for what’s in store this month. I’m also grateful to John Vettese for asking me to Guest VJ and let The Key’s readers know more about this month’s lineup. So without further ado, here are some videos and thoughts.

Tuesday, 10/2:
August John Lutz II (of Levee Drivers)

When putting together the lineup, October 2nd was the last date left to fill, and I was so excited when August John Lutz II agreed to solidify the lineup. His band, Levee Drivers, have been around the Philly music scene for a few years now, deservedly gaining recognition after winning the 2009 Beta Hi-Fi Festival and The Deli Magazine‘s “Best Philly Emerging Artist” poll in 2010. We’re excited to see him kick off our month tonight with a solo set and a film by a recently-departed English director.

Tuesday, 10/9:
Ron Gallo (of Toy Soldiers) & Thom McCarthy

When I started to think about who I wanted to invite to play this series, Ron Gallo and Thom McCarthy were two of the first artists to pop into my head. I had seen McCarthy open for Gallo’s Toy Soldiers not long before and was completely blown away. He is truly one of Philadelphia’s best kept secrets, an amazing writer and performer. His friend Ron Gallo is another one of Philadelphia’s finest singer-songwriters (and tireless workers) and we couldn’t be more excited to have these two fantastic entertainers on the same bill. The film these two chose or may not be directed by (and starring) a legendary silent-film era comedic star.

Tuesday, 10/16
DRGN KING

I first saw DRGN KING this past February at Johnny Brenda‘s. They were the first opener on a bill that included Fort Lean and NICOS GUN, and they didn’t take long to convert me into a fervent fan. In a crowded music scene both in this city and on the internet, DRGN KING stand out as a truly original band with a great sound and fun live performances. They’ve also often had a projected visual component to their live show, which was one of the reasons I thought to ask them. The band’s film selection may or may not have been scored by Neil Young.

Tuesday, 10/23
The Lawsuits

As a music fan, I’ve always been drawn most to talented singer-songwriters and front men and women. While I love many different genres, my resting pulse is in the americana/folk/rock arena. The Lawsuits are another band with a great songwriter leading the way, Brian Dale Allen Strouse. It doesn’t hurt that he’s got a talented band joining him, and together the group knows how to put on a great show. They also know how to pick a movie, which we can only tell you features one of the 80s most beloved characters (who may or may not wear a bowtie).

Tuesday, 10/30
The Bailey Hounds

When I was putting together this series, it somehow failed to dawn on me that the final Tuesday of the month fell on the night before Halloween. Luckily, this detail did not make it past The Bailey Hounds, who immediately jumped at the idea and suggested a Halloween-themed show. We’ll be decorating PhilaMOCA for the show and showing a classic 70s horror film that was remade almost 10 years ago. Don’t worry, we’ll be screening the original.

Levee Drivers are an alt-contry band from Morrisville, PA. The band are playing on a big bill tonight at Silk City with a mix of local artists. The bill features Chelsea Mitchell, Corporate Hearts, Rob Lately, and Mat Burke and the show starts at 8PM. Check out the venue page for more info. Listen to Levee Drivers’ song “Tennessee Girl” in the player below.

Blessed to have a huge strip of land in Belgrade, Maine owned by his family, Matt Manser (guitarist of the Philly band Flamingo) chose to use it for something more than just a hang-out spot. He joined forces with the guys from Philly rock trio Penrose – Tom, Pat, and Dan Murphy and their manager, Lynne Krohn – to create a a 3-day music festival on his property, which sits right next to a beautiful lake. And he invited bands from the Philly area to make the trip to Maine to party and play music for 3 days. The Caravan Festival has been going on for four years and it occurs again July 27-29 featuring a lineup of mostly Philly musicians; participating bands include Penrose, The Lawsuits, Cheers Elephant, Levee Drivers, and more.

Tom from Penrose says “the bands coming this year are some of the best Philly has to offer.” They are expecting about 25 bands to play and a 350 person attendance. Brian Dale Allen Strouse from The Lawsuits tells us, “The real beauty of this is how everyone is out of their element. When it’s all over and we arrive back home, we’ll have met new people, created new relationships, and through the power of live performance, we’ll have established future opportunities to play in Philadelphia with the people and bands we met in Belgrade Lakes.”

Tonight at Kung Fu Necktie marks the launch party for the Caravan Fest with performances from TJ Kong & The Atomic Bomb, Penrose, and Izzy & the Catastrophics.

“The big news out of the Penrose headquarters … is that we’re going to unleash a whole hellstorm of brand new songs that’ll be on our upcoming record,” says Tom of tonight’s show. “For most of them it’ll be the first time anyone’s heard them, so we’re looking forward to unloading that.”

Tickets to tonight’s 21+ show are $8, set begins at 7:30 PM. After the performance there will be a party upstairs with DJ Matt Manser, the guys from Penrose, and TJ Kong’s Kevin Connor spinning tunes from the ‘Carabands’.

Interested in making the 8-hour trek to hear some of your favorite local bands play in a new setting? Go here to buy your tickets and check out the line-up.

Creepoid

In case you haven’t noticed all of our Creepoid-related coverage this week, we’re pretty stoked about the band’s record-release show at Kung Fu Necktie. (You can read our interview with drummer Pat Troxell here; look for a review of Horse Heaven next week.) The band will be bringing a limited 30 copies of its new LP, Horse Heaven—all of which are hand-numbered and silk-screened—to tonight’s show. (For those with even more disposable income, the band will also have a new batch of t-shirts.) Creepoid performs with Nothing, Party Photographers, and Pet Milk at 8 p.m. at Kung Fu Necktie; tickets to the 21+ show are $8.

Meanwhile, over at World Cafe Live, a handful of notable local bands will be performing at “Philly Sings Sun Records,” a tribute the the Memphis, TN-based label that helped launch the careers of legendary acts such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison. The lineup includes Toy Soldiers, The Levee Drivers, T.J. Kong And The Atomic Bomb, Papertrees, Thom McCarthy, The Lawsuits, and others. The performances begin at 8 p.m. at World Cafe Live; tickets to the show are $15.