The signage outside the renovated Art-Deco styled Hajoca Building above the Walnut Street entrance. Photograph by Marguerite Miller.
Upcoming Opening Events
Tours of World Café Live and WXPN on October 14-16, times vary.
The Penn community is welcome to tour WXPN's brand new, state-of-the-art broadcast facilities at 3025 Walnut Street and check out the newest music performance space and restaurant in University City—World Café Live. Tours are by registration only. Register at www.xpn.org.
World Café Live—an exciting new music venue and restaurant in the same building as WXPN's new studios—will host a Free Concert on Friday, October 15. Doors open at 10:30 p.m.
The free show features Gabriel Mann, a Penn alum who lives in LA, who will perform at World Café Live for anyone over 21. Also playing will be local band Stang and singer-songwriter Jen Stang.
Vinnie Curran, WXPN's former general manager, came back to see the revolutionary concept that he had envisioned years earlier. Developer Carl Dranoff restored the historic 1921 building and Hal Real created the City's most innovative performance venue, World Café Live. Penn's Senior Vice President for Facilities Omar Blaik described this as a "celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit" and a symbol of Penn's commitment to the community.
Photographs by Marguerite Miller
At Friday's opening, President Amy Gutmann described the new state-of-the-art venue as "just captivating."
Describing WXPN's mission, general manager Roger LaMay said, "It's all about the music."
Grammy nominees Rob Hyman, C '72, on keyboard and
Eric Bazilian, C '75—cofounders of The Hooters—met in the 1970s while they were students at Penn; last week they were among several musicians who performed at the WXPN/World Café Live Ribbon Cutting ceremony.
David Dye, host of World Café, invited singer/songwriter John Fogerty (above) to join the festivities at the World Café Live. He performed two songs from his new CD, "Deja Vu All Over Again," and his old CCR hit, ‘Bad Moon Rising.'
The colorful mural by Parris Stancell, which pay tribute to Philadelphia's musical heritage, features images of musicians in a café setting. It is located just inside the 31st Street entrance off the WXPN Donor Alley.
Above, a portion of the ‘Tower of Babble' mural, by Paul Santoleri, which extends from the lower level outside the WXPN studios with branches extending to the second floor across from the Walnut Street entrance is suggestive, of the stories in the music heard on WXPN.
Almanac, Vol. 51, No. 6, October 5, 2004
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:
Tuesday,
October 5, 2004
Volume 51 Number 6
www.upenn.edu/almanac
