Posted By: Rick Jamm Posted date: September 12, 2012
A few months back we published a full feature on the “Songs In The Pocket: The Essential Songs of Philadelphia” project. For a quick recap, David Uosikkinen drummer of The Hooters is recording what he feels are the Essential Songs of Philadelphia, selling those songs as singles on iTunes and Amazon and giving a portion of the proceeds to The Settlement Music School to fund music education. Each of these “Essential Songs” are chosen from what is a huge discography of Philadelphia music. Uosikkinen’s band, In The Pocket (ITP) records the tracks at an iconic Philly studios with a rotating line up of Philly’s most respected musicians. The recording process of each song is captured by filmmaker Steve Acito into short documentaries that are used as promotional material for the project.
Fast forward a few months.
Well, it’s now obvious that director, Steve Acito had a bit more in mind for the documentary shorts than just promotional material. He’s taken the videos for the first three songs; Joey Wilson’s “All My Monday’s”, The Nazz’s “Open My Eyes” and The Dovell’s “You Can’t Sit Down”, intermixed additional interviews and performance music videos (that include footage shot by real fans in audience) into an engaging 30-minute documentary titled “David Uosikkinen’s In The Pocket: The Essential Songs of Philadelphia: Tracks 1, 2 & 3”.
In August of this year, the extended documentary was nominated for a well deserved 2012 Emmy® Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Mid-Atlantic chapter. This is Steve Acito’s third Emmy® nod and his company Bluewire Media’s fourth.
Steve, who also co-founded Bluewire Media in 2001, had this to say about his involvement in the project: “It’s is an amazing, we’ve been involved with The Essential Songs of Philadelphia as our corporate charity initiative since its inception. We’re excited to be a project partner along with Dish PR and photographer R. Alex Lewis…both of which I believe are among Philly’s best at their respective craft.”
As a music fan, I love this documentary and it’s a “must see”, but the inclusion and insight of Philadelphia radio legends Pierre Robert and Jerry Blavat really make it ”essential” viewing. To help you make the decision if it’s 30-minutes you’re willing to spend I believe it’s important to show the pedigree of the musicians included:
David Uosikkinen – The legendary Hooters drummer, who is putting together the Essential Songs of Philadelphia. Rob Hyman – The Hooters – keyboards/vocals Eric Bazilian – The Hooters – guitar/vocals Tommy Conwell – Tommy Conwell & The Young Rumblers – lead vocals/guitar Greg Davis – Beru Revue – guitar Rick DiFonzo – Roger Waters/Patty Smythe/ The A’s – guitar William Wittman – Too Much Joy/Cyndi Lauper – bass Graham Alexander – Cast of ‘Rain’ on Broadway – bass Richard Bush – The A’s/The Peace Creeps – vocals Jeffrey Gaines – singer/songwriter – lead vocal Jay Davidson – Steve Winwood, The Funk Brothers – sax/vocals Steve Butler – Smash Palace – Guitar Jeffery Gaines- Singer / Songwriter – Vocals And of course, the project’s creator David Uosikkinen – The Hooters – drums
Enough said? Yeah, I thought so.