Former West Philly resident, musician and teacher Joshua Marcus and his friend, West Philly artist and filmmaker Nate Johnson, have teamed up to produce this beautiful Appalachian-inflected tour of West Philly – including The Woodlands Cemetery and 30th Street Station – as kind of a send-off for Joshua, who is moving on. Some of Joshua’s friends also join him for some porch jamming to some of his latest songs, available here.

Mount Moriah Cemetery. (Photos from The Friends of Mount Moriah Facebook page)

From Betsy Ross to former Philadelphia Mayor George Connell and famous local architect Samuel Sloan, the soil of Mount Moriah Cemetery in Southwest Philly is steeped in history.

In Mount Moriah’s heyday, the 380-acre estate with its elaborate Romanesque entrance and gatehouse, served as the burial grounds for Philadelphia’s elite. But now, the largest cemetery in Philadelphia is suffering from neglect, overrun by weeds and foliage as a result of years of failed management and confusion about ownership.

While the private group, The Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, is working to bring the cemetery back to a beautified state as legal issues over its ownership still go unresolved, the costs to maintain the grounds are steep. In an effort to help the West Philly Runners and the Fishtown Beer Runners have teamed up for a two-part fundraiser next week to support the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery’s work.

The two running groups will hold their respective fundraisers in tandem, with West Philly Runners’ hosting its event on Wed. June 18 at City Tap House Philly (3925 Walnut Street), from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The group is asking for a $10 donation, which will be pooled together and given to Friends of Mount Moriah.

“The Mount Moriah Cemetery has the potential to be a great outdoor space, but right now it’s in limbo,” West Philly Runners member Stacey Ritzen, who co-organized the event, told West Philly Local. “We really want to clean up the space and make it nice, how it used to be back in the day. It used to be a cemetery for pretty wealthy West Philadelphia residents, and people would go and have picnics, just really enjoyed the space. It would be great to see it restored to what it was.”

During next Wednesday’s event, attendees can enjoy beer specials courtesy of Southern Tier Brewing Company and possibly win prizes from Honest Tom’s, Little Baby’s, Greensgrow West, Philadelphia Runner and other local businesses by taking part in the raffle. Fishtown Beer Runners will run a similar event the next day, Thurs. June 19, at Llama Tooth, with a portion of the proceeds received that night going to Friends of Mount Moriah.

West Philly Runners is also hosting a clean up day at the cemetery on Sat. June 22 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. “Hopefully through the efforts of these two fundraisers, we can get the word out and hopefully inspire people to come volunteer and put in the hours,” Ritzen said. “We really want to see it become a space everyone can use.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

Editor’s Note: Here’s a recent video, “In Memoriam,” made by Temple University. The history and current state of this massive, formerly abandoned cemetery are examined through interviews. The dramatic efforts by hundreds of volunteers to revitalize it are also addressed in the video.

Power was out for many near 50th and Spruce this morning after a transformer blew and caught on fire. Firefighters switched off power in the area to extinguish the fire. A reader, Marino Pagan, sent in this short video of the fire shot across Barkan Park.

We dig this song and newly released video, “Walk It Off,” by West Philly’s indie hip hop artist and emcee Sterling Duns (Facebook page). A part of the vid was filmed on Hazel Avenue, according to the musician.

Sterling Duns describes himself as an instrumentalist, poet, hip-hop artist, comedy improviser, and astronaut enthusiast!

“What they might now see is not always what it was.”

This statement, in its simplicity, carries weight. It’s as somber as it is matter-of-fact—a wistful acknowledgment that the blight that now dots the Mill Creek neighborhood is not the contour that defines it or the future it’s nurturing.

This statement is also at the heart of The Mill Creek Documentary: Past, Present, and Future, a new film by the Mill Creek Community Partnership (MCCP) and Eli Lu Productions exploring and honoring the three prongs of Mill Creek’s history (view trailer below). It’s a provoking documentary that encapsulates shifting images and heavy interviews with hopeful poignancy—refusing to accept the systematic and social issues that devastated the streets north of Market as permanent.

This Friday, Dec. 20, MCCP and Eli Lu Productions will screen The Mill Creek Documentary for Mill Creek residents—and those beyond the West Philly community—at St. Ignatius Nursing Home, 4401 Haverford Avenue. The premiere screening event will open with a reception at 5 p.m., followed by the showing at 6 p.m., and a panel discussion immediately after.

The documentary was made possible by funding and support through the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. It is also a project of MCCP’s Fine Art Through Our Eyes Community Arts Initiative.

For more information, contact info@mccponline.org or call 267-288-3255.

–Annamarya Scaccia

We can’t get enough of Philly Thriller. The popular local community dance project has grown since its introduction in 2009 and this year included 34 dancers and a long waitlist of those who wanted to be part of the project, according to its founder Rashida Holmes. If you missed Philly Thriller perform this Halloween check out the video below shot by Rich Wexler of Project Arts. Rich also spoke to Rashida about her project and chatted with some Philly Thriller dancers. Enjoy!