(PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- WXPN presents Jillith Fair - Loving Jill Sobule at The Fallser Club on Saturday, January 24, 2026. It's a night celebrating the life and music of Jill Sobule, hosted by Jim Boggia and Marykate O’Neil.
Artists scheduled to perform include Tracy Bonham, Jonathan Coulton, Dave Derby & Rafa Maciejak (The Negatives), Jacob Lawson, James Mastro, Tara Murtha, Tammy Faye Starlight, David Weisberg, and Richard Barone.
Tickets are $20 online and $25 at the door. Tickets are available for purchase online. The Fallser Club is located at 3721 Midvale Avenue in Philadelphia, PA. 100% of profits from your small booking fee helps fund charities providing education, healthcare and basic necessities to humans across the globe!
Jill Sobule’s work was at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. In a dozen albums spanning three decades of recording, the Denver-born songwriter/guitarist/singer has tackled such topics as the death penalty, anorexia nervosa, shoplifting, reproduction, the French Resistance, adolescent malaise, LGBTQ issues, and the Christian Right. Her hits include “I Kissed A Girl”—the first openly gay-themed song ever to crack the Billboard Top 20—and the alt-rock anthem “Supermodel” featured in the film Clueless. Sobule was one half of The Jill & Julia Show, providing music while actor Julia Sweeney contributes storytelling. Jill is considered a pioneer in crowdfunding and is constantly exploring and creating new models for artists in an ever-changing music industry.
Jill’s new record, F*ck 7th Grade – Original Cast Recording and will be released on her own Pinko Records label on June 6th. Her theater credits included a musical adaptation of the Broadway classic Yentl, Prozak and the Platypus, and Times Square. In November of 2019 Jill sang a song as herself on an episode of the Simpsons. F*ck 7th Grade ran off-Broadway for four (4) runs in three (3) years and gained a New York Times Critics Pick. Drama Desk nominated this autobiographical musical, which premiered at the Wild Project in 2022; had a reboot in the Winter of 2023 – and ran again for three weeks in 2024.
Also on June 6th, Rhino Records is releasing her self-titled Atlantic Records album on red vinyl for the first time – to time with Pride Month! This year marks the album’s 30th Anniversary!
Following her untimely demise on May 1st, many of her previously scheduled shows morphed into Jillith Fair – Loving Jill Sobule shows, benefiting the new It Was A Good Life Foundation. Funds will be distributed by this foundation to the ACLU and other causes Jill cared deeply about. The hope is that these shows will become annual events on her birthday, January 16th & during Pride Month in the future.
Jill left behind two partially completed albums, 50-70+ finished tracks, hundreds of demos, and a few titles that had fallen out of print. Plus, they’re hoping a tribute album will take shape for release to time with a feature length documentary on her that should be completed by years’ end. They hope to help keep her spirit, memory, & music alive.
To celebrate the life and work of Jill Sobule, her family and friends have established two funds: The It Was a Good Life Foundation will distribute donations to the ACLU and other charitable causes Jill cared deeply about.
In both her songs and life, Jill was an outspoken activist for the political and cultural topics she believed in. This foundation will distribute all donations to charitable causes that Jill deeply cared and sang about. All donations to the It Was A Good Life Foundation will go to qualified public charities.
The Jill Sobule Legacy Fund. All donations will go to the furtherance of Jill’s songbook. Jill left behind two partially completed albums, over 70 partially finished tracks, hundreds of demos and at least four musicals. Her loved ones hope to keep her spirit, memory and music alive by releasing this work.
For more than 20 years, Jim Boggia has been winning over fans, critics, contemporaries and luminaries alike with his uncompromising devotion to the sort of winsomely nostalgic, emotionally direct songcraft that’s impervious to age. His sonically intelligent retro-pop manifesto informs three studio albums—2001’s Fidelity Is the Enemy, 2005’s Safe in Sound and 2008’s Misadventures in Stereo—and he’s worked with a startling array of artists, including Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Bernadette Peters, David Poe, NRBQ’s Big Al Anderson, famed Beach Boys lyricist Tony Asher, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, Attractions drummer Pete Thomas, esteemed ’70s pop misfit Emitt Rhodes, and Canadian songstress Amanda Marshall. Also an accomplished singer and guitarist, Boggia performs with the well-known New York City-based Beatles tribute band, the Fab Faux, as well as Mad Dogs & Dominos, an 18-piece collective headed by a heavyweight roster that includes Blues Brothers alum Lou Marini and producer John Leventhal. Oh, and he plays a mean ukulele.
Multi-media artist, Marykate O’Neil, has released six albums, a few cassettes, and a couple of .45’s. Her music has been played on the radio, internets and has been featured in movies and television. Marykate has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe to big festival crowds and to empty seats in darkened basements. Her paintings are exhibited throughout NYC’s galleries and are held in private and University collections.
Marykate’s music has been described as — Elvis Costello meets Astrud Gilberto; a female George Harrison; a happy Aimee Mann; a folk Bjork; a Capote-esque storyteller; and most frequently like herself. The Boston Globe might have said it best (or at least the funniest) when they said: “O’Neil’s literate lyrics feature the sort of off-kilter insights Emily Dickinson might make if alive today. After listening to commercial radio, hearing O’Neil sing is like reading Sylvia Path’s brutally honest poetry in the wake of watching “American Idol”.
Tracy Bonham is a twice GRAMMY™ nominated singer-songwriter who had trained as a classical violinist and pianist from an early age. Bonham rose to fame in 1996 with her unique style of quirky songwriting and unrefined guitar playing. Her debut album, The Burdens of Being Upright (Island Records), achieved Gold status in the US, Australia, and Canada and cast Bonham into the global spotlight with buzz-clip status on MTV and heavy rotation radio airplay with her #1 alternative chart-topping song “Mother Mother”, an anthem for disgruntled teenagers of all ages.
In June of 2025, Bonham released her 8th full length album, Sky Too Wide, to much critical acclaim. This new album has her reaching back to what made her fall in love with music in the first place as a young musician growing up in Eugene, OR. Using rich textures, harmonies, and themes from her favorite composers (Debussy, Ravel, Chopin) she weaves in her humorous and quirky songwriting style to make a powerful album that serves as a purifying process and a vehicle for her inner transformation. The songs are deeply personal and universal at the same time as she processes real-life accounts of marital breakdown, isolation, loneliness, and finding oneself in the rubble of a life now reclaimed.
In 2026 Bonham will release an album in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of her debut, The Burdens of Being Upright, this time arranged for strings (working title 30 Years of Burdens: Strung Out) with upcoming shows and tours in the US and beyond.
Jonathan Coulton is a singer-songwriter and cult favorite known for witty, emotionally resonant songs that bridge geek culture, storytelling, and pop craftsmanship. A former software coder, he found his creative calling in the early 2000s, inspired by the rise of Creative Commons and the DIY possibilities of the internet. In 2005, he quit his day job and launched Thing-A-Week, releasing a new song every week and building a devoted online audience that helped redefine how independent musicians connect with fans.
Blending humor and heart, Coulton’s songs often explore big ideas through offbeat characters—resentful teen nerds, lonely supervillains, even singing shop vacs—while touching on deeper themes of identity, connection, and technology. Over the years, he’s evolved from acoustic storyteller to ambitious conceptualist, collaborating with artists like John Flansburgh (Artificial Heart) and experimenting with new sonic landscapes.
His concept album Solid State (with a companion graphic novel by Matt Fraction and Albert Monteys) is a meditation on how the internet has transformed from utopian promise to digital dystopia. Mixing rock-opera ambition with electronic experimentation, it explores themes of surveillance, identity, connection, and apocalypse—told from both human and machine perspectives. Songs like “All This Time,” “Brave,” and “Don’t Feed the Trolls” probe our fractured online culture, while “Ball and Chain” and “Tattoo” tackle intimacy and permanence in a changing world.
Coulton continues to push the boundaries of songwriting, using humor, empathy, and sharp observation to illuminate the complicated relationships between technology, humanity, and hope.
Dave Derby serves as a songwriter and producer for Gramercy Arms, a New York City musical and artist collective featuring members of Luna, Elk City, The Dambuilders, Guided by Voices, Shudder to Think, Joan As Police Woman, Mascott, Sparklehorse and A Girl Called Eddy, as well as notable artists such as Lloyd Cole, Tanya Donelly, Matthew Caws, Doug Gillard, Diesel and Kay Hanley. Derby has also produced albums for Reveal Records.
James Mastro – guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and acclaimed singer-songwriter – has toured the world with rock and pop icons including Patti Smith, Ian Hunter, Judy Collins, John Cale, The Jayhawks, Alejandro Escovedo, Garland Jeffreys, and Jesse Malin, even serving as musical director for Robert Plant. Known for his inventive, emotive playing — channeling the spirit of David Bowie and Mick Ronson — Mastro steps firmly into the spotlight with his MPress Records release, Dawn of a New Error.
The album’s 10 tracks balance twangy Americana with art-rock edge, showcasing Mastro’s sharp songwriting, textural guitar work, and hook-filled melodies. Produced by Tony Shanahan and mixed by Grammy nominee James Frazee, the record features appearances by Ian Hunter and a lineup of powerhouse drummers. Highlights include the anthemic opener “Right Words, Wrong Song,” the introspective “My God,” and the gospel-tinged “Someday Someone Will Turn Your Head Around.”
A fixture of the New York music scene since his teens, Mastro began playing CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City at 16, joined Richard Lloyd’s band by 17, and later helped launch the Hoboken sound with The Bongos. In the ’90s, he fronted alt-country favorites The Health & Happiness Show before becoming a longtime collaborator with Ian Hunter and contributing to projects by Jill Sobule, Phoebe Snow, and The Feelies.
Dawn of a New Error affirms Mastro’s place as one of America’s most versatile and passionate rock artists — a lifelong fan who never stopped sneaking onto the stage.
Tammy Faye Starlight is the stage name for T. D. Lang, an NYC-based performance artist, cabaret singer, and actress known for her satirical character work and original songs. Her most famous persona, Tammy Faye Starlight, is a fictional right-wing country singer who debuted in 1996. Starlight also performs as other historical figures, such as the late Velvet Underground singer Nico, and Israeli pop star Tamar. She is celebrated for her razor-sharp wit, ability to blend humor with tragedy, and for bringing forgotten or marginalized figures to life on stage.
David Weisberg is a melodic hook master. He started writing songs when he was only nine years old. By the time he was fourteen, he taught himself how to play piano and guitar and had written over a hundred songs. David studied voice and composition at the world famous jazz school, Berklee College of Music. In 2005, David won a grammy for his work on the Garden State movie soundtrack. He has many gold and platinum records to his name for songwriting and has composed music for more than 75 infomercials in his seven-year career in the direct response industry. He has also mixed for over twenty years for Sony Pictures on some of the biggest movies ever produced.
Richard Barone began his career at age seven as "The Little DJ" on local, Tampa, Florida top-40 radio station WALT. At age sixteen, a chance meeting with Tiny Tim led to producing an album for the pop culture icon. A few years later, another fortuitous meeting, with the Monkees, led Barone to New York City, where he gained attention as the frontman of The Bongos, the new wave band that ignited the Hoboken, N.J. music scene of the early 80s.
Barone's memoir, FRONTMAN: Surviving the Rock Star Myth, was published in Fall, 2007 by Backbeat/Hal Leonard Books. A book tour followed, with guest readers including actress Joyce DeWitt and radio personality Vin Scelsa. On October 1, 2008, FRONTMAN: A Musical Reading was performed at Carnegie Hall, with an expanded cast of performers including Moby, The Band's Garth Hudson, Lou Reed, Marshall Crenshaw, Mick Rock, Terre and Suzzy Roche, Randy Brecker, guitarist Carlos Alomar, his fellow Bongos, DeWitt, and other legendary friends and collaborators. In July 2009, Barone entered the recording studio to complete production work on the album he began at age 16 for Tiny Tim, I’ve Never Seen A Straight Banana. The album was released in October 2009 on the Collector’s Choice label.
His second book, Music + Revolution: Greenwich Village in the 1960s, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2022, and launched at the Museum of the City of New York. In November 2023, Richard returned to Carnegie Hall for a sold-out performance based on the book and featuring many of the performers he profiled, including Tom Paxton, José Feliciano, and Eric Andersen.
Richard lives in Greenwich Village, New York, where he is continuing his professorship at The New School of Jazz & Contemporary Music. He is also hosts the Folk Radio show on WBAI Radio, New York.
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.
