[Article with Photos is available at tangentmedia.blogspot]

By Brion Shreffler
With a contribution by Charles Tribe

Somewhat reminiscent of a line from one of Radiohead’s more dour song’s, Periko tells of how he said he wanted his music played when he’s not around prior to leaving his native Peru. Having found considerable success in the pop duo, SONDO2, along with a top thirty finish in Latin American idol, the Lima born singer reached this goal with the release of his first single, the self-produced ,Dame el Calor, which quickly overtook the airwaves back home shortly after his arrival in Philadelphia in 2006.

Though the lyrics seem to present someone steeped in the misery of a revenant light cast by a past love- the second line states, “es tan dificil retroceder el tiempo”([it] is so difficult to turn back time), and the chorus begins, dame el Calor, dame la brisa, dame el aire que respiras”(give me the heat, give me the breeze, give me the air that you breathe)- you wouldn’t deduce that by the ebullient joy that springs from Periko’s guitar and a voice embodying a forceful river, while it calmly trills away. The bonus track, Cuentame, bears a similar sentiment. Though pensive, his voice gently parries an accompanying guitar riff, which opens the song and reoccurs ¾ of the way through, evocative of all the pain he is moving past with his music; though he says, “cuentame como estan las olas del mar,”(tell me how are the waves) despairingly to his former love by the sea, he is able to declare, “porque jamás olvidaré, ese tiempo en que me enseñaste amar”( because I never forget that time that taught me to love), while concluding “no tuve la fuerza que esperabas, porque no estoy preparado para el amor. Y el que perdio fui yo”(I did not force you as expected, because I’m not ready for love…and I was lost), the energy imbued in the melody bespeaking his redoubled spirits. He’s capable of this introspection while dealing with such a topic because, just as in conversation, Periko exudes the greatest optimism in his music, his songs hopeful musings on all aspects of life.

This outlook is reflective of his strident efforts towards popularity stateside. Having come here to record an album- “there are no major record labels in Peru like there are here,” he says, indicating his dream of signing a deal to a major label after finishing his album- he spent nearly a year focused solely on working in order to build his savings. Now, he splits his time between his day-job in construction and working on his music. “It’s not easy,” he concedes, recalling his first show in Philly in October 2007, which was accompanied by one-off stops in California and New Jersey. For a couple hours, he says, all the eyes were on him: people were enjoying his music, and were lining up for his autograph. Despite the heavy distinction before him upon waking for work at 6am the next day, he quickly pointed out how the power of the experience filtered through and continues to do so, “the people loving the music he so loves” inspiring him in the same manner as the “magic moments” from which his music springs. His mind always turned to music, his spirits are raised by it even when away from his guitar (the melody and lyrics for Dame el Calor came to him while playing the soccer video game, Winning Eleven with a friend. He lost the game). While he proudly speaks of how hard he works at his demanding construction job, he quickly points out that it this confluence of music that always keeps him brimming with positive energy. It is his yearning to share not only his music, but also something of himself with others that invigorates him; “I meet someone and I tell them my history…my stories in 3 minutes with a song rather than telling them something for a few hours. They understand me the same way.”

*
On crossing the Boulevard on the way to the venue at St. Vincent and Bustleton Ave I notice a slight change that’s more of a continuance of a trend than anything dramatic: more shops and restaurants have sprung up to add to the cultural diversity along Bustleton avenue west of the Boulevard since the last time I visited. The diverse array of businesses here reflect the various communities that are taking root in this formerly uniform section of the Northeast; the strip boasts a Brazilian Market, a Mexican restaurant and bodega, Chinese restaurants, and a KC Pastries, which can also be found in Chinatown.

Back in 1998 during the World Cup, the excitement keyed up inside us watching the games would lead to hours spent on the pitch where we tried to burn off some of that mad energy. There at the field at Solis Cohen playground- across from the venue which, for years was an Italian restaurant named Vincent’s- we played the world’s game with players representing Brazil, Nigeria, Mexico, Costa Rica, Angola, and Guatemala to name a few, making friends with people we were shocked to find only lived a few blocks away from our local hub, a near frat-house occupied by three of my friends. We were shocked since at that time, you just didn’t notice that such a community existed right around the corner, despite the burgeoning diversity along Bustleton Ave.

Indeed, when Periko told me he was living in my native Northeast Philadelphia, I thought with certainty this was the neighborhood he called home. In actuality, he’s living further into the Northeast, pretty much where I grew up, much closer to the local Russian community than any Latino transplants.
*
The venue, Bella Noche, is a bit of a rarity in an area generally known for cheesy cover bands. Besides the cache of putting on live original music, there’s also the fact that they’re dedicated to their roots- Latino music. The owners- 2 women from Columbia and 1 from Peru- have been serving South American Cuisine for nearly a year (they celebrated their first anniversary in August) and have been putting on shows around the bar in their main dining room for the last four months, including monthly Colombian parties, and the recently added, Rock en Espanol. Andres Reyes, who helps manage the entertainment, stated their goal rather simply; “we wish to create an atmosphere where everyone can come and enjoy the music. A great time with great music- that’s all we want.” Having consulted club managers in the city, he’s eager for Bella Noche’s after hours appeal to continue to take off.

*
At 10:35 a sizeable crowd waits around the bar and the adjacent tables. It’s a warm Saturday night at the end of June. Owing to the late start at his previous show at Bella Noche, most people come late, with the crowd swelling a few songs in. With time to kill, I sip a Mojito- one of the smoothest I’ve ever had- and eye the crowd. The people at the bar sip colorful cocktails between sampling a variety of dishes: fried plantains, empanadas, camarones alla plancha…I begin to rethink my heat inspired reluctance to eat. Casually, I note I’m the only one in the venue with limited skills de Espanol; I soon lose this status.

The set starts well past 11 with Dame el Calor and Cuentame. More than half the crowd sings along. The tempo picks up with some of his newer songs and before long the dance floor is full, set to stay that way most of the night, the participants raucously dancing Merengue and Salsa to the music. He rounded out the evening by covering Carlos Vives a few times- I only knew this thanks to my Colombian friend- as well as doing a rendition of La Bamba that transitioned into Twist and Shot, his lone English offering of the night.

At the show here on May 31st, there were more English only speakers drawn by word of mouth support emanating from new friends and co-workers from the Northeast curious to find out about Periko. While he hopes to continue to build towards a large Latin fan-base, cross-over fame is one of the main reasons why he came to the U.S. in the first place. Indeed, it is bringing his music to all people that he has in mind the most for these two shows; “I want to establish a history in Philadelphia. I don’t want to be somewhere else and have them say, ‘that guy from Peru.’ No, I want them to say Philadelphia when they mention me here. This is where I want to do something big for the first time, to have exposure in America,” he says, fervency in his eyes. And while he’s aware of the current limits of his audience, he hope’s to build momentum that will quickly expand his fan base. After the first show, a pair of German tourists, drawn by to the venue out of an appreciation for Latin music, enthusiastically thanked him for his performance. Amidst the show of hands given in response to the question of audience composition- Argentina? Peruano! Mexicano!- a couple hands went up when up for Estados Unitos/ U.S.A, one of those belonging of course to his girlfriend from Delaware county, whom he met in Manayunk, and who he graciously says has helped him with his English, though he hardly seems to be at a loss for words. When he speaks of any misunderstandings they have it’s hard not to conflate that to his earnest efforts of transcending cultural barriers.
*

Since the June 28th show at Bella Noche, construction began that will expand Solis Cohen Elementary and effectively eliminate the soccer field that has stood for years. Perhaps Periko’s music will bring people together in the Northeast in the same manner of the beautiful game. The local Latino community could have no better ambassador.
Pedro Almeida gave a performance at the Fiestas Patrias Peru on July 26th; hosted by the Philadelphia Peruvian community- while the 2000 census lists a number of 471, Periko says the current number is around 1,000- in celebration of their independence. It was a proud moment in which he was able to celebrate his home country in the city where he wishes to write a new chapter in his life.
In the final days of July he went to Miami for ten days of recording time. He recorded the first three songs for his debut album. His goal is to record three tracks at a time until finished. He’s looking to add some of the Miami sound to the project, while taking his time to get it right; asking if there’s not the temptation, given the expense, to quickly record the whole thing at once, he says, “I’d rather do it right, make sure it’s perfect…if it takes a year I’m happy with that.”
Hopefully, in the meantime Philadelphia will embrace him, because regardless of one’s bilingual abilities, one can’t help but be affected by the stories Periko tells.

www.myspace.com/perikolatin

3 Sisters Corner Café is located at the corner of Barnes and Loney Streets, just off Oxford Ave. in the Fox Chase Section of Philadelphia. The cozy café offers an intimate atmosphere for breakfast, lunch or a late afternoon snack. The friendly staff serves up
a delightful menu of homemade deserts in addition to a full line up of hot and iced coffee,
teas and cold drinks. In addition the café offers outside tables providing a beautiful view of the Fox Chase Towne Square. So if you are in the mood for a good cup of Joe, excellent breakfast sandwiches, tasty tuna salad or a slice of pie to die for, 3 Sisters Corner Café is the place to be. Located across from the Septa 18 Bus loop and the R-8 Fox Chase Train Station. 3 Sisters Corner Café also hosts the Fox Chase Book Club and The Mad Poets Society Fox Chase Reading Series.
The Café is open weekdays from 7am to 7pm and on Saturdays 8am to 4pm. To place an order in advance or for directions call 215-725-6848.

We are pleased to announce the second edition of the Fox Chase Review is now live and on line at Fox Chase Review . This edition contains the work of the featured poets for 2009 at the Mad Poets Society Fox Chase Reading Series held at 3 Sisters Corner Café in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia.
Featured in this edition are:
Mike Cohen, Thomas Devaney, Diane Sahms-Guarnieri, J.C. Todd,
Justin Vitiello, Ellen Peckham, Chad Parenteau, Ray Greenblatt,
Amy King, Amy Ouzoonian, Vincent Quatroche, Timothy Gager,
Frank Sherlock, CA Conrad, Louis McKee, Beth Phillips Brown
Mel Brake, and Adam Meora
We hope you enjoy the work of these poets and explore the literary links and our 2009
schedule for the MPS Fox Chase Reading Series at Fox Chase Review .

www.foxchasereview.org

MPS Fox Chase Reading Series
Saturday, Sept. 27th @2pm
Poets
MacGregor Rucker
Autumn Konopka
3 Sister Corner Café
7950 Oxford Ave.
(corner of Barnes and Loney)
Philadelphia, Pa. 19111
www.foxchasereview.org
www.madpoetssociety.com

Autumn Konopka is the Mad Poets web czar and host of the monthly poetry series at Milk Boys in Bryn Mawr. Autumn’s poems have been published, or are forthcoming, in Crab Orchard Review, Mad Poets Review, Up & Under: The QND Review, Re)Verb, Ekphrasis, Birmingham Poetry Review, and Hinge Online, among others. Her manuscript, What the Postwoman Left, was a semifinalist in the 2007 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition. You can learn more about Autumn on her personal website and her personal blog

MacGregor Rucker was born at the dawn of the Great Society and prays to this day that he didn't turn out to be as big a disappointment. He came of age somewhere in between Woodstock and Punk Rock, shortly after Lou Reed had descended from the mountains of Upstate New York, having just invented poetry, performance art, rap music, Delmore Schwartz and leather trousers. He is a survivor of Watergate, Bellbottom Pants, Disco, Reagonomics, Neo-Conservativism, The War on Drugs, Brit-Pop, Giuliani-Time, The War on Terror, Skinny Jeans, and the NYC Smoking Ban and lives in Brooklyn with two knuckleheads that look suspiciously like smaller version of him and claim paternity. You can read his blog at http://glossophagia.blogspot.com/

Billy Houston, a Landover Baptist Senior High youth, has been sharing Jesus in the virtual gaming world for over three years. "I evangelized in Lineage 2, Everquest, Diablo, and a bunch of other games," he says, "but I 商业吧 haven''t seen nearly as many people who are as open to hearing the Gospel message as I have inside the World of Warcraft." Billy has what gamers call, a Level 57 Undead Priest with Holy Focus. "I''m also in one of the largest Christian guilds on our server," he says. "I think the reason so many people 网站推广 are open to hearing about Jesus in the World of Warcraft is because the majority of people who play the game are lonely kids who don''t have any friends.

Christian game enthusiasts around the US are turning the world of Azeroth inside the new video game, "World of Warcraft" into a mission field, where virtual battles are fought and real souls are won to 福州热线 the Lord Jesus Christ.

I doubt any of them play sports so you can pretty much guess that there are lots of gay boys and fat little pale-faced Wiccan girls on the servers who hate themselves and escape into virtual characters so they don''t have to deal with 体育博客 their pathetic lives. When they hear that someone loves them, even if it is just the Lord Jesus Christ, they always want to hear more!"

I also think that wow gold verse applies to Christian astronaut missionaries in the future who will encounter and evangelize unsaved alien life forms on other planets. I believe with my whole heart that Christian gamers are sincerely answering the Great Commission 股票博客 of Jesus and we are able to do it without getting out of our chairs or leaving our bedrooms. I bet the Apostle Paul is so jealous!"

The World of Warcraft is ripe for eager young Christian evangelists to ply their trade. "I''m studying to be a missionary at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia," says one gamer (who prefers to remain anonymous) and sharing 游戏博客 the Good News of Jesus in Azeroth is a great way to practice soulwinning in Arkansas, where I''m from originally. I think that when Jesus said in Mark 16:15, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, He knew that True Christians? like me in the future, would be called into virtual worlds where we''d be witnessing to gnomes, trolls, night elves and all sorts of other creatures.

I followed some stupid gnome around for 8-hours until he finally told me that he would accept Jesus as his Personal Savior if I would just promise not to contact him anymore. Now that rocks!"

"I really like our guild leader," says young Billy Houston. "He has a strict policy against letting unsaved people join our group. I think he''s from Alabama in real life. In fact, he won''t even party-up with anyone who isn''t a 魔兽博客 Christian. He''s a level 60 Priest, and gets a lot of respect. He can climb right up to the top of the dwarf statue by the gates of Stormwind City and start street preaching to the Dark Elves and they will listen to everything he says. He''s done conversion duels on multiple servers where he challenges other players to duel with him. If he wins, they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If he loses (which he never has) he will give them 6 pieces of silver."

Young Billy explains that it is very simple to announce the message of God''s love across the World of Warcraft game channels. "I have a hot-key macro that broadcasts, Jesus Loves You! Please Love Him Back or He Will Burn You in Hell! PM Me 考试博客 if you want to learn more! across four channels. I do it right when I log in. I usually get PM''d (Private Messaged) by a few characters who I then add to my buddy list.

Christian gamers are also excited that they are able to live out their faith in the same way the early True Christians? did, before their religion was sissified by liberalism, science, and political correctness. "It is such a rush to kill other players who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Lord," says one gamer. "I feel like I can really practice my faith the way God intended it. It is like I''m 汽车博客 fighting alongside Christians of old, instead of the pansies and sissies from my Sunday school class."

I follow them around the game, across snow-capped mountains, and blasted wastelands until they accept Christ or persecute me so much that I have to report them to the server administrators for making fun of my religion. I think I''ve been responsible for getting over thirty accounts suspended for bigotry directed at me because of my faith."

Landover Baptist Pastors originally expressed 房产博客 some concern over the game because it looked like it promoted occult activity. "I told Pastor Deacon Fred that every single time I find an item that looks like it has something to do with the occult, I hop on a griffin and head straight to Ironforge where I auction it off. Christian food gamers shouldn''t be carrying that stuff around. We don''t enter places that serve alcohol in the game either. It is just not a good testimony. All the money I make from selling occult items to unsaved gamers, I auction off on E-bay for real cash, which I then put into the offering plate at our church on the last Sunday of each month."

One prospective missionary at the Landover Baptist Christian Academy says, "Most people who are mean, liberal, nasty, lonely, unsaved losers in real life choose to play the Horde (an evil race of characters in the World of Warcraft) and 电脑博客 people and guilds who are conservative, Republican and pretty much easier to win to wow gold Jesus Christ with are found in the Alliance. That''s why the real True Christians? pick the Horde to play as characters and start their guilds in Horde territory because they like the challenge of sharing Christ''s message in a perilous, lava-soaked, environment. Sometimes flower you have to pester people for weeks before they listen to you.

MPS Fox Chase Reading Series
Saturday, July 26 @2pm
Poets
Glenn McLaughlin
Arlene Bernstein
3 Sister Corner Café
7950 Oxford Ave.
(corner of Barnes and Loney)
Philadelphia, Pa. 19111
www.foxchasereview.org
www.madpoetssociety.com
Admission: free

Bios:

In 2004, Arlene Bernstein created Friends of Poetry as a vehicle for performing her poetry and to highlight local poets and musicians, which she does regularly throughout the Main Line/Philadelphia/Media area in coffee shops, libraries, book stores, and private salons. She is a member of Mad Poets Society, New Philadelphia Poets, Freshmeadow Poets of Flushing, NY, and the Bonnie Baillis Havertown Poetry Circle. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize (for a poem and an essay), she has also won contests locally and been published in many local and far-flung journals. She also writes fiction.

Glenn McLaughlin is a former plastics sales representative and a soon-to-be-former COO of a bio-medical start-up company. While he started reading and writing at age appropriate times in his life those activities did not include poetry until he was well into his fifth decade (not required for his chemistry degree). In the decade since, he has been published in several regional and online journals, published a volume of poems ("Something Catches," Roland Street, 2006) and has been invited to read at the Philadelphia Library plus numerous venues throughout the mid-Atlantic area. He conceived of and hosts the poetry series "Otherwise - Poetry at Churchill" in Pottstown, PA where he resides with his wife and their numerous pets, his children having
reached the point of self-sufficiency and flown the coop though still easily able to show up for dinner.

The Mad Poets Society Fox Chase Reading Series will feature poets Vincent Quatroche and Alla Vilnyanskaya on Saturday June 28th at The Three Sisters Corner Café located at Barnes and Loney Streets in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia. The reading begins at 2pm.

Vincent Quatroche is a poet and professor from Fredonia State University in New York. He has recorded several cd’s to include “In Dreamthink” and “Matador From Another Planet”. Quatroche has published several volumes of prose and poetry most recently “Cyberstein”. His website is www.rubbereden.com

Alla Vilnyanskaya was born in the Ukraine and moved to the U.S. when she was 8 years old. She has been writing poetry since the age of sixteen. Vilnyanskaya is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Communications and writing with a poetry track. Her work has been published in online journals such as Flutter, Aurora Review, Lost Beat Poetry and the Fox Chase Review.

Please visit the Fox Chase Review at www.foxchasereview.org to read the works of Quatroche and Vilnyanskaya.

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