The rain didn’t stop the township’s Porch Fest from bringing a good time on May 9.
The third annual Porch Fest, presented by Realtor Ian Thomas in collaboration with Saving Historic Moorestown, the Historical Society of Moorestown and the Perkins Center for the Arts, featured more than 75 local musicians on 30 home porches in the center of town.
The Trophy Husbands kicked things off at noon. Resident Lee Grapes enjoyed their classic rock sound, along with The Garage Doors, a cover band of The Doors. And he liked seeing people he hadn’t seen in a while at the event, but also families and young kids.
Grapes believes some of the event’s young musicians can be the future of Moorestown.
“Put aside a couple of hours and come out and just check it out,” he said of future Porch Fests. “It’s not for everybody, but if you like it, it can be an all-day event. Everybody’s working hard, so seeing all the families that you never see is good.
“… There’s nobody out playing in the streets anymore like when I grew up,” Grapes added, “so it’s good to see young kids and the families.”
Musician Eric Lapp, who performed on Main Street, has been writing songs since his teenage years. He taught himself how to play guitar when he first picked one up. Lapp described his musical journey as a perpetual experience, one where he plays around with his sound and adds ideas on top. He plays in different bands, but Porch Fest was the first time he went solo.
“It’s pretty chill, laid back, feel-good, acoustic music with some under-the-surface complexity and literary wit,” he explained of his music. “I’ve been playing music for so long, and I’ve really gotten into performing and getting out and doing my thing relatively recently in the last five years or so, and that’s been great so far.
“I honestly just really want to play,” Lapp added “I don’t mind where it is or who’s there. It sounds simple, but I have so much fun playing and being out, even setting up somewhere impromptu like this for a Porch Fest, which I’ve wanted to do for quite some time.”
Musician JP Steinberg – also known as Música Medicinal – performed at Percheron Park for Porch Fest. He’s been a DJ his whole life but is now focused on a passion project of his called MASH (Multimedia Assistive Sensory Healing). It involves how to use sound and lights to heal autism, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia and relationships.
If Steinberg were to identify his music’s genre, it would be hip hop, house, drum and base, and specifically house music.
“With Música Medicinal, I’m leaning more towards house (music), because there’s a lot of science right now and a lot of data that it’s very healing,” he noted. “It’s close to the average human heartbeat and the low frequencies are very healing.
“I’ve been doing it my whole life, so I don’t believe that it was a choice. I don’t think I could do anything else, really.”
For more on this year’s Porch Fest, visit www.moorestownporchfest.com.
Local band Horse Hat at a Main Street home for the township’s third annual Porch Fest.
Musician JP Steinberg – also known as Música Medicinal – performed at Percheron Park during Porch Fest.
