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This Issue 01/31/2008

Also in this issue

• Biting Where Few Have Bitten Before
• The Food Geek

It's a Friday night at the Fire, a North Philly bar and music venue. The place is at capacity - people lined up outside the door shiver in the cold, awaiting a nod from the bouncer. Like most nights of the week, the Fire is hosting a lineup of several bands to play hour-long sets. Up next is Don McCloskey, a singer-songwriter who has become a local favorite and one of the club's regular performers. Armed with a guitar and a four-person band, his set begins. The crowd's energetic response to his enthusiastic stage presence makes clear why so many have come out in the cold to see McCloskey.

McCloskey, a 30-year-old musician originally from the Philadelphia area, is known for his eclectic, genre-crossing style. His songs vary from folksy love ballads to comedic hip-hop with a country twist and from politically charged rock songs to fresh funk numbers. Despite the fact that he now lives in Brooklyn, McCloskey has managed to carve a niche for himself in the Philly scene, regularly playing shows in Northern Liberties, Old City and even at Smoke's this past December (where he'll play again this coming February). As a part of the up-and-coming Antifolk movement - a loosely defined, experimental brand of folk-inspired music whose big names include Beck, Regina Spektor and Kimya Dawson (of Juno fame) - McCloskey is poised for a breakthrough in his musical career.

At 10 p.m. one early December night in Northern Liberties, McCloskey (wearing a fitted black tee shirt that reads "!#@*$," tattered jeans and old school Adidas Superstars) meets with the band at the studio of Tom Spiker, a musician, producer and the group's guitarist. Spiker sits inside the studio at his production desk, guitar in hand. Also present are young drummer Matt Scarano, who is behind his set, and brothers Geoff and George Hazelrigg, who are on bass and keys respectively.

The five guys casually sip Yuenglings as music and chatter mingle in the small space. Ideas leap spontaneously from one subject to the next, as they discuss the likes of Phish, Tom Petty, Annie Lennox, Quincy Jones, Kanye West and Lancelot Link, the secret agent monkey from the '70s. One of them begins a riff. One by one, the others catch on and within seconds they're all rocking on the same page.

The band preps for two upcoming shows, one at Smoke's and the other a holiday show at Silk City, a fluorescently lit diner and nightclub just blocks away from Spiker's place. McCloskey sits on a white wooden barstool with his worn-out guitar as they rehearse several of their usual numbers. He belts the lyrics so loudly and quickly that his face is red. His feet tap restlessly on the second rung of the stool.