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LIVE at the Writers House

Presented by University of Pennsylvania at University of Pennsylvania - Kelly Writers House

October 26, 2009

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LIVE at the Writers House is a long-standing collaboration between the Kelly Writers House and WXPN FM (88.5). Six times annually between September and April, Michaela Majoun hosts a one-hour broadcast of poetry, music, and other spoken-word art, along with one musical guest, all from our Arts Cafe onto the airwaves at WXPN. LIVE is made possible by generous support from BigRoc. For more information, contact Producer Erin Gautsche (gautsche@writing.upenn.edu). Daniel Denvir is an independent journalist in West Philly and a contributing writer at the Philadelphia Weekly. In his print and radio journalism, Denvir explores politics and social issues in the U.S. and Latin America; he is particularly interested in individual stories that convey the complexity of larger issues. Originally from Washington, D.C., Denvir recently moved to Philadelphia from Quito, Ecuador. Before starting work as a journalist, he worked as a community organizer in Portland, Oregon. His work has appeared in publications including The Colombia Journalism Review, In These Times and The Advocate, ; he edits an online magazine called Caterwaul Quarterly and occasionally blogs at the Huffington Post. Matt Stroud is a reporter and graduate assistant with the Innocence Institute of Point Park University, where he investigates claims of innocence from incarcerated folks within 100 miles of Pittsburgh, PA. In a previous life, he was editor in chief of a Philly-based "urban issues" magazine called Next American City, a disgruntled Web Editor for Village Voice Media's San Francisco alt-weekly, and a staff writer with Metro Silicon Valley in San Jose, CA. He's bicycled across the United States, been locked alone overnight (on purpose) in the bowels of Philadelphia's subway system, thrown a no-hitter, crawled around underneath Paris and Bangkok, and watched the sad implosions of several major low-income housing units in the Pittsburgh area (which were then transformed miraculously into big box department stores). As a freelance writer, he blogs about prison reform at trueslant.com, and contributes regularly to Philadelphia City Paper and Pittsburgh City Paper. His work has appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, People magazine, McSweeney's online, and many other fine publications and Web sites. Tara Murtha is a Philadelphia-based writer, columnist, editor, and occasional video producer, and is into personal amusement, promoting Philadelphia arts, challenging the Man and recreational despair. She's currently staff writer and resident pen-thrower at Philadelphia Weekly. Mattathias Schwartz is a writer. He contributes to the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Good Magazine, Megawords and other publications, specializing in long-form articles in which fundamental philosophical questions arise in conversation. In late 2001, he founded the Philadelphia Independent, a monthly broadsheet newspaper. With two dogs, an eight track recorder and a book of old murder ballads, Rich and Rob Kwait (Cabin Dogs) would start their musical journey. Visiting mountain cabins from Vermont to Tennessee and listening to the country blues, the Philadelphia-based twin brothers would soon begin crafting songs of their own and bring them back to Philadelphia to play for friends on the stoop. What started as cosmic country and bluegrass would soon become something more rich and textured and groovy.... The brothers would begin to find their sound.... After the death of the two dogs (old age), Rich and Rob would form a band to be called Cabin Dogs and would retreat to the mountains — this time in Upstate New York — and being writing songs for a new album. Aaron "Professor Louie" Hurwitz — a veteran Woodstock NY producer/keyboard master would be brought into the fold and a new album — Electric Cabin (Woodstock Records) — would be recorded, bringing the Cabin Dogs onto the national scene (including appearances at the Newport Folk Festival and Appel Farm Festival in NJ). Critics would compare the album to classic works by the Grateful Dead and The Band and describe the music of the Cabin Dogs as something like a conduit into a colorful pastoral timeless American story. With a growing repertoire, the Cabin Dogs have developed into a forceful and seasoned live act playing festivals, bars and singer-songwriter venues alike. 2009 and 2010 stand to be busy for the band, with a new album project in the works...... and so the story continues.