Dear Deli Philly Readers,

I’m a procrastinator by nature, and this is certainly a post that I’ve been procrastinating to write. When I first became involved with the Philly music community, I started with booking shows at various spaces and for local area acts. I remember coming out to a show in Brooklyn to support one of the local bands that I was helping out, and I was really interested in figuring out how I could connect similar-minded, up-and-coming NYC acts with the lesser known yet talented Philly artists that I was assisting. During that time, if you had heard of a touring act coming to your town, they were usually already a little too popular to really want to trade shows with any acts that they didn’t know personally and/or probably had never heard of. That was when I just happened to come across a print issue of the NYC Deli Magazine in a coffee shop. (I still probably have that copy somewhere because I’m a borderline hoarder.) It was exactly what I was looking for – a publication that was dedicated to giving exposure to interesting-sounding, indie/DIY acts that were still flying under the radar of the larger music blogs and news organizations.

I was instantly a fan of what The Deli was doing, so when I read that they were opening a Philadelphia branch, I was psyched to get involved. I have always been a bit of a music geek who spent way too much of his time listening to and discovering new music to make mixtapes, burn CD mixes, and create playlists for my friends. The Deli Philly just felt like a natural extension of what I had been doing most of my life. However, when I submitted my first post, I never imagined that I would be writing my final one over a decade later, which will unfortunately also be The Deli Philly’s last as well.

Running the Philadelphia site and helping to edit the NYC print magazine have truly been a joy to me and a labor of love, but as some of you may or may not know, I recently became a father, and I’ve been simply finding myself lately more interested in jamming on a toy cat synthesizer with my daughter and deejaying private dance parties for her than practically anything else in the world. So deciding to move on from what has been such an essential part of my life for over the last ten years or so was definitely a difficult decision, but it also became a much easier one. It just felt right.

I’d like to take this time to thank all those who have supported us over the years and those who have inspired us with your music, words, photos/graphics, and always much-appreciated kindness. Of course, extra special thanks go out to Deli Editor-in-Chief Paolo De Gregorio for his passion and genuine good nature, Michael Colavita, whom The Deli Philly could have never survived without for the last few years, Tedd Hazard for his creativity and humor, and all the wonderful writers and photographers who have contributed to The Deli Philly site. It’s been an honor to share your words and art. And finally, for those who might still be interested in what I’ve been listening to of late, you will soon be able to find interviews with some of my favorite musicians over at Delicious Audio. (That is after I take a much-needed vacation.)

Much Love to All,

Q.D. Tran

Dear Deli Readers,

It’s been an honor covering Philly’s underground music scene for the past nine years, and we truly appreciate all who have been so supportive of our site and our mission. And of course, mucho love goes out to the all the local area musicians who have been kind enough to share their personal art with us. Without you, The Deli would certainly not exist. (Well, maybe in some form or another, but we might be covering some of our other loves like food, weed or puppies. ;-)

We truly enjoy taking this time to celebrate our wonderful Philly music community with you, so join us this Saturday night at PhilaMOCA for The Deli Philly’s 9^th Anniversary Bash! This year, we will be donating all proceeds from the event to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization “dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable member of our society,” and we’d like to thank Deli faves The Retinas, Them Jones, and So Totally for donating their time and talents to entertain all of us for the evening. Now, if you’ve attended any of our anniversary celebrations in the past, then you know how we do it. If not, more deets are available HERE, but there will also be plenty of surprises that we can’t mention just yet.

Looking forward to partying down with you soon!

Cheers,

Q.D. Tran & The Deli Staff

P.S.

Shout out to Modern Baseball (who may be performing their final shows for the foreseeable future this weekend at Union Tranfer) and former Deli Anniversary alums Suburban Living (who will be returning home from tour with Frankie Rose, this Sunday at Ortlieb’s)!

Other places that will be almost as fun as our anniversary…

PhilaMOCA (531 N. 12^th St.) FRI Hot Breakfast, F. Woods & The Fellow Humans, SAT The Deli Philly's 9th Anniversary Bash: The Retinas, Them Jones, So Totally, SUN Void Vision, Rodney Anonymous

Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Upholstery, S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D, On The Water, SUN Ill Fated Natives

Boot & Saddle (1131 S. Broad St.) FRI Black Horse Motel, Former Belle

Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI Conversations, Goodnight/Goodluck, The Echogenic/Hulqamaniaq/Dev79, Sideswipe/DJ Deejay, SAT Blowdryer/Torito, Cody Cody Jones, Felipe Pupo/Night Drive, SUN Carolyn Thorn/Dog Tears, Allegra, Susie Derkins/Destroying Angel, David E. Williams, Janelle

Underground Arts (1200 Callowhill St.) FRI Andrea Valle, Brianna Cash

Union Transfer (1026 Spring Garden St,) FRI Modern Baseball, Small Circle, Harmony Woods, SAT Modern Baseball, No Thank You, SUN Modern Baseball, Shannen Moser, Greg Mendez

Electric Factory (421 N. 7^th St.) FRI Musiq Soulchild, Vivian Green, Bilal

Bourbon & Branch (705 N 2^nd St.) FRI One Take Dave, SAT Lapses, SUN Sea Offs

World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI (Upstairs) The Peace Creeps, The SB Deluxe

The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Overwinter, Nikia Camp, SAT Tom Petty Tribute: Lally, The Contractables

The Barbary (951 Frankford Ave.) FRI The Phonies, Hambone Relay, SAT Commonwealth Choir, Saint Brendan & The Navigators, Please., SUN The Binary Sea, The Groove Merchants, Primatives

MilkBoy Philly (1100 Chestnut St.) FRI Nik Greeley & The Operators, David Hoagie And His Heroes

Ortlieb’s Lounge (847 N. 3^rd St.) FRI Wolf Dem, Teknacolor Ninja, KT Caustic, SAT Pet Cheetah, Hoochi Cooch, SUN Suburban Living, Sad Actor

Silk City (435 Spring Garden St.) FRI Lee Mayjahs?, DJ Everyday, SAT DJ Deejay, SUN Peedi Crakk, Oschino

Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) SUN Rusty Cadillac

Connie’s Ric Rac (1132 S. 9^th St.) FRI The Sea Tease, SAT Hunter Alive, Breaklite/Moonstomp

Voltage Lounge (421 N. 7^th St.) SUN Holy Smoke

Morgan’s Pier (221 N. Columbus Blvd.) FRI DJ Beatstreet, DJ Kevin Kong, SUN Tom Curtis Band

Frankie Bradley’s (1320 Chancellor St.) SAT Peek-A-Boo Revue, SUN Peek-A-Boo Revue

The Grape Room (105 Grape St.) FRI Operation RATM, Purple to the Core, White Limo, Almost There, SAT The Fearless Fly, In the Presence of Wolves, LOR, Dean

Ardmore Music Hall (23 E. Lancaster Ave.) FRI Rugby Road, SAT David Uosikkinen’s In The Pocket

Creep Records (1050 N. Hancock St.) FRI The Morelings (Record Release), Madalean Gauze, Remote Control, Jo Kusy, SAT Julia Rainer, Mark Lanky

The Pharmacy (1300 S. 18^th St.) FRI Left & Right, Water Temple, Lester

The Vat (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Drums Like Machine Guns, Ada Babar

The Sound Hole (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more information.) SAT BB Basura

Dear Deli Readers,

Yes, it’s about that time of year again! We will be returning to our home away from home, PhilaMOCA, on Saturday, October 14th for The Deli Philly’s 9th Anniversary Bash, and we are psyched to announce this year’s lineup. You may remember our headliners for the evening. (Or maybe it’s about time you get to know them.) The Retinas threw down with us last year, alongside LOUDS and Suburban Living (who are currently on tour with Frankie Rose – hope that you are having a blast, fellas!), and were recently voted The Deli Philly Best Emerging Indie Rock Artist, so we are thrilled to see them graduate to this year’s headlining slot. They’ll be joined by two rad newcomers to the event, who have both received Record of the Month honors from us. “Reviving and reinventing soundscapes reminiscent of the Age of Aquarius” (September 2016), Them Jones are one of the talented emerging torchbearers of Philly’s ever-evolving psych-rock/pop community, and providing us with “the ideal soundtrack for winter sadness” (January 2017), So Totally will surely melt our hearts. It will certainly be a night of music not to be missed!

We are also happy to be donating all proceeds from our annual celebration to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit organization “dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.” Whether you realize it or not, our staff (past & present) is made up of many proud immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community, who encourage all of our readers to do what you can to push back against this wave of hate that has risen in our society, emboldened as of late by the dishonorable Troll-in-Chief.

We hope that you’ll be able to join us for a fun evening of good vibes, great music and no hate! For more info, go HERE.

Much love,

Q.D. Tran & The Deli Staff

(Trump Troll Sculpted by Chuck Williams)

We are now into a couple of genres in The Deli's Yearly Best Emerging Philly Artists Poll that we are quite fond of - Psych Rock/Psych Pop! We love how Philly continues to keep things weird with acts whose music you want to explore. You can now take a listen to this year's list of nominees HERE, and vote for your favorite artist!

Dear Deli Readers,

Every year, in the early months, The Deli polls several local music enthusiasts/experts to ask their opinion about the best emerging Philly-based artists that got them excited in the previous twelve months. We, therefore, list these artists on our local homepage, in a Readers' Poll, whose results contribute in deciding The Deli Philly's Artist of the Year.

In an effort to give you more time to check out all the nominated bands this year, we have decided to stretch the readers' polls a little, and instead of posting a huge list of artists all at once, we will activate one genre-related poll every five days or so.

We begin today with bands in the Indie Rock category! You can find the poll at the top right of our homepage, and you can cast your vote HERE.

We see our yearly polls as a fun way to engage our readers and the artists involved, and we hope that they will get both to discovery new local acts who deserve attention.

Much love,

The Folks at The Deli

P.S. To group all artists in these categories, we had to "stretch" things a little for a few of the artists that didn't precisely fit any of the wide musical umbrellas most other acts fell under - we hope that we can be forgiven for that.