A 'Storify' of Your Region

One of the most broadly useful meetings I attend when I can is the Pottstown Metroplitan Area
Regional Planning Committee meeting.

Yes, that's a mouthful and yes, the subjects are often a little dry, like "zoning overlay districts,"  "resource stewardship plans" and "Fiscal Impact and Economic Development Plans."

But in addition to these things being important, it is also an admittedly easy way to find out in one place, what's going on in eight of the municipalities we cover.

So below, you'll find a "Storify" of my Tweets from Wednesday's meeting.

I'll also tell you that the meeting generated at least two stories, and perhaps more, one of which will be Monday's blog entry.

(Tomorrow will likely be videos from the Boyertown High School Jazz Fest, if I can get my act together enough to get it done Saturday night after the performances.)

See if you can guess what either of them are. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Illustrating the Revolution

The Pottstown-based Schuylkill River Heritage Area opened a unique exhibit at Valley Forge National Historical Park Saturday, entitled "Bringing the War of Independence to Life: 19th Century Illustrations of the American Revolution."

The exhibit will feature 42 illustrations of the Revolutionary War by 16 different artists whose work originally appeared in 19th century publications.

All the works have been culled from the personal collection of Schuylkill River Heritage Area Executive Director Kurt Zwikl. They will be on display in the park Visitor Center through April 28.

In the 19th century, stories and articles about the Revolutionary War provided popular subject matter for books, magazine and newspapers. Because the war had been fought before the advent of photography, artists drew illustrations to accompany the text, thereby producing the only visual record of the war. 

Today, those works continue to teach us not only about the history of our country, but also about the methods by which people and events of the Revolutionary Era were visually portrayed.

Zwikl has long had an interest in 19th century illustrations of the Revolutionary War. From his collection, built over 40 years, he has selected 42 images of battles, leaders and events for the exhibit. 

While at Valley Forge, Washington stayed at this house, owned
by Isaac Potts, a son of Pottstown founder John Potts

He has also created a booklet to accompany the exhibition that offers insights into the significance of the illustrations, and provides details about the artists who created the works. The booklet will be available for sale at Valley Forge National Historical Park throughout the exhibit.

After its run at Valley Forge, Bringing the War of Independence to Life will be moved to Morristown National Historical Park, in New Jersey, where it will hang from June 23-August 26 at the park’s Washington Headquarters Museum.

The exhibit is the result of a partnership between the Schuylkill River Heritage Area and Valley Forge National Historical Park, as well as Morristown National Historical Park, and Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area, in New Jersey.

“We are pleased to be able to tell the story of the war through these fascinating illustrations, and through a partnership that allows us to emphasize the Revolutionary War connections between two national parks in Valley Forge and Morristown, and between two National Heritage Areas: the Schuylkill River Heritage Area and Crossroads of the American Revolution,” said Zwikl.

The exhibit will be on display at Valley Forge National Historical Park’s Visitor Center during regular operating hours from 9-5 daily, through April 28. It is free and open to the public. 

A 24-page booklet about the exhibit will be on sale for $6.95 at the Visitor Center Encampment Store.

The Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area, managed by the non-profit Schuylkill River Greenway Association, uses conservation, education, recreation, historic and cultural preservation and tourism as tools for community revitalization and economic development.

Things Getting Greasy at Pottsgrove Middle School

Pottsgrove Middle School's staging of the rock and roll musical "Grease" begins tonight at 7 p.m. at the school on North Hanover Street.

The second performance will be Friday, Feb. 28, and the final performance will be on Saturday, March 1.

All performances are at 7 p.m. and general admission for all performances is $6.

Tickets can be obtained by contacting Carole Bean at the middle school at 610-326-8243 or via e-mail at CaroleBean@pgsd.org

Checks can be made out to the Pottsgrove Music League

Pottsgrove Honors Two of its Own

Photo by Evan Brandt

From left, Pottstown High School Principal William Ziegler, Athletic Director Gary DeRenzo, School Board President Justin Valentine, Football Coach and Honoree Rick Pennypacker, and Superintendent Shellie Feola with the plaque designating Pottsgrove High School's Football Stadium as Richard C. Pennypacker Stadium.

Photo by Evan Brandt

H. Todd Kelly with the same group of appreciative Pottsgrove folks.

Blogger's Note: Tuesday night was a special night for the Pottsgrove community as two beloved icons of the school system, H. Todd Kelly and Richard Pennypacker were honored for their 27 and 25 years of service, respectively, to the students of the district.

Each will have the opportunity to ply their craft in a venue with which they are deeply familiar, but made new by the fact that now bears their name, in recognition of those years of service.

Congratulations to both.

What follows below is an account of the Tweets (and one Tout video) done live during the meeting, along with the other matters from the rest of the meeting.

(Note: Be sure to click the "next page" button on the blue bar when you get to the bottom, there's more.)

What Did the Pottstown School Board Do This Time?

Fuzzy Photo by Evan Brandt

The Pottstown School Board posed for its annual photo, complete with "We Are Pottstown" t-shirts. Missing is board member Amy Francis, who did not attend the meeting.

Live Music is Better, Bumper Stickers Should Be Issued

Photo by John Strickler

Jamey Reilly out front of the old Eagles building on High Street, which he hopes to transform into a live music venue with 250 seats, as well as an Asian/fusion restaurant.

So, as most of you hopefully read about in the Jan. 18 edition of The Mercury, Philadelphia music entrepreneur Jamey Reilly is under contract to purchase the old Fraternal Order of Eagles building on High Street and turn it into a musical venue with an Asian-fusion restaurant.

Mercury Photo by John Strickler

Reilly on the stage of the second floor ballroom.

As you will see in the video below, his previous location in Philadelphia, Jamey's House of Music, was closed by the Philadelphia codes office.

(Click this link to visit the venue's web site.)

He is under contract to purchase the Eagles building and move the whole operation to Pottstown, but it won't be cheap.

As he mentions in the video, the Pottstown codes office has identified $50,000 to $100,000 worth of work that needs to be done to bring it up to code, and that  does not include count the cost of putting in the kitchen or doing the other upgrades.

Me?

I think it would be a great addition to downtown and really help to add to the critical mass of destination arts locations that can help bring downtown Pottstown back from the brink and bring visitors, customers and residents to town.

So take a look.

The first four minutes or so of the video is an example of the kind of music Reilly brought to his previous location, and then you can meet the man himself and here what he has to say.

If you agree, perhaps you can do what you to help him do what he wants to do.

Pottsgrove Jazz Fest a Bounty of Talent and Cool Tunes

Photo by Evan Brandt

Pottsgrove High School Band Director Victor Holladay, right, congratulates representatives of the 10 bands, and the winning soloists, on their awards at the end of the Jazz Fest.

Pottsgrove High School hosted a 10-school Jazz Fest Saturday night and the Richard J. Radel Auditorium was swinging.

The bands in order of appearance were Pottsgrove Middle School Jazz Band; Springfield High School Lab Band; Spring-Ford Area High School Lab Band; Hatboro-Horsham High School Jazz Band; Penn Wood High School Jazz Band; Springfield High School Jazz Band; Boyertown Area Senior High School Jazz Band; Pottstown High School Jazz Band and Pottsgrove High School Jazz Band, which played in exhibition only.

Photo by Evan Brandt
The Digital Notebook hometown favorite,
the Pottstown High School Jazz Band.

"In our area, Jazz music is alive and well," Pottsgrove Music Director Victor Holladay.

The entire evening was recorded by PCTV and will be televised at a later date. That effort was sponsored by Zezwitz Music.

Pottsgrove High School alum Jamal Reddick served as the master of ceremonies.

Bands are given one of four ratings:

• Superior 
• Outstanding 
• Excellent 
• Very Good

Below you'll find videos of performances from the area bands that played after I arrived at 7:30 p.m.

In some cases, they are not all the performances by each band (regrettably in the case of Boyertown as I failed to record a truly lovely soprano sax performance by Kelli Hess), but I was trying to conserve my iPhone battery.

However, I am posting them in the order they performed.

First up is Boyertown, now headed up by former Pottstown music teacher Brian Langdon.



The name of the song above is "Bemsha Swing" by Thelonious Monk and arrsanged by B. Holman.

Soloists are: Kelli Hess, tenor sax; Trey Yarnell, trumpet; Austin Bright, drum set; Alex Siwik, alto sax.

Next up (below) is "Big Dipper," by Thad Jones.

Soloists are: Sean Gallagher on guitar, Alex Siwik on alto sax; Darby Bauer on trumpet and Kelli Hess on tenor sax.



Boyertown earned a rating of "Superior" as well as being named the "best saxophone section."

Boyerytown's saxophone section is Alex Siwik, Amber Strohl, Kelli Hess, Adam Helmer, Lauren Vu and Elizabeth Gartland.

Also, Alex Siwik was named "honorable mention" in the best soloists competition and Kelli Hess was named one of the three top soloists.

Next up was Spring-Ford Area High School Jazz Band, directed by Seth Jones.

First up is "A Riff in Time" by Steve Spiegel.

Soloists are Sam Maxey on tenor sax; Timothy Goman on trombone; Josh Mack on trombone; Mat Mannino on guitar and Robert Meade on piano.



The next Spring-Ford offering we have (below) is their final piece, "Bepop N' Georgia" by Mark Taylor.

Soloists are Sam Maxey on tenor sax; Grant Raco on bass and Hans Kumar on drums.

This band earned a rating of "Outstanding."



Now we come to the final competing band, which was Pottstown High School's smokin' jazz band, under the direction of Michael Vought.

Because I cover Pottstown and Pottsgrove in my beat, they get unapologetic preference in my blog and I have posted all three numbers both bands performed.

The first Pottstown piece is "Gravy Waltz" by Ray Brown.

The soloist is Marley Bryan. Unfortunately, his microphone was not working and his solo is a little hard to hear.



Next up is "In a Sentimental Mood" by Mike Tomaro. The soloist is Marley Bryan on tenor sax.

By the way, Bryan was named as an "honorable mention" in the soloist competition.



A funny thing happened when it came time to record the third Pottstown piece, the automatically focusing iPhone failed to focus.

So this last one looks very fuzzy. I call it my impressionist video. But let's face it, you're not watching this for my visual video technique, you want to hear the music and the sound was unaffected as far as I could tell.

I thought about stopping it, and then re-starting it, which usually fixes it, and then I had visions of Mr. Vought's extreme disappointment at a break in the music and decided to let it be.

This piece is called "Two Seconds to Midnight" by Alan Baylock. The soloists are Sherif Mohamed on trombone; Marley Bryan on tenor sax and Jake Wunderlich on drums.

As a result of his performance in this piece, Mohamed was named one of the three top soloists.

Pottstown earned a rating of "Outstanding" and its trumpet section was also named as the best of all the bands.

Pottstown's trumpet section is Brandon Wilson, John Johnson, Chloe Francis and Austin Scavello.



The final three performances of the night were by the Pottsgrove High School Jazz Band under the direction of Victor Holladay.

As hosts, Pottsgrove was not competing but performing in exhibition only.

Their first number was "The Flik Machine" by Randy Newman and arranged by Paul Murtha.

The soloist is Joseph Clevenger on trumpet.



Pottsgrove's second piece (below) was "The Way We Were" by Marvin Hamlisch and arranged by Mark Taylor.

The soloist is Bernard Steyaert on trombone.



The final performance of the night was unusual in that there was a vocal solo, by Denisha Footman, whose lovely voice was somewhat under-served by the microphone system.

Nonetheless, it was an impressive performance on her part.



And now for some results not accompanied by video.

As I said, we did not attend the entire performance, so there is no video, not that my battery would have lasted if I tried to shoot them all..

The best trombone section award was won by Hatboro-Horsham High School.

The best rhythm section award was won by Penn Wood High School.

David Lewis of Hatboro-Horsham was named by the judges as the third top soloist.

Here are the ratings for the other schools which performed:

• Pottsgrove Middle School Jazz Band -- "Excellent."
• Springfield High School Lab Band -- "Excellent."
• Spring-Ford High School Lab Band -- "Excellent."
• Hatboro-Horsham High School Jazz Band -- "Superior."
• Penn Wood High School Jazz Band -- "Outstanding."
• Springfield High School Big Band -- "Outstanding."

The next jazz band competition in which Pottstown will perform is Saturday, March 1 at Boyertown Senior High School.