Phil Gentry
@pmgentry.bsky.social
musicologist at the University of Delaware, citizen of West Philly.
http://instagram.com/philipmgentry
Current projects:
-250 Years of History and Performance in Philadelphia
-Anti-Communist Blacklisting in the Music Industry, 1945–1960
http://instagram.com/philipmgentry
Current projects:
-250 Years of History and Performance in Philadelphia
-Anti-Communist Blacklisting in the Music Industry, 1945–1960
Wait, nobody told me that (spoiler alert) at the end of Stranger Things they decide to meet up once a month in…Philadelphia?
January 21, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Wait, nobody told me that (spoiler alert) at the end of Stranger Things they decide to meet up once a month in…Philadelphia?
Still living in the catastrophic world created by Obama lightly poking fun at Donald Trump in 2011.
fwiw i think his obsession with the nobel prize is entirely about obama getting it (setting aside whether or not obama ought to have received it)
"Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
January 19, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Still living in the catastrophic world created by Obama lightly poking fun at Donald Trump in 2011.
Resurrection Ale House. RIP circa 2015 I think? I was a childfree twenty-something, it was a little more grown up place for someone who was a little more grown up, they had a perfect little brunch on the weekends, good beers at night. Never was that into the famous fried chicken!
Sunday night timeline cleanse
please tell me about your favorite lost restaurant (closed for at least 5 years, like I really want you to go back into the vault), why you loved it and what you ate there
please tell me about your favorite lost restaurant (closed for at least 5 years, like I really want you to go back into the vault), why you loved it and what you ate there
January 19, 2026 at 2:21 AM
Resurrection Ale House. RIP circa 2015 I think? I was a childfree twenty-something, it was a little more grown up place for someone who was a little more grown up, they had a perfect little brunch on the weekends, good beers at night. Never was that into the famous fried chicken!
One of my opinions is that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama in 2009 was extremely embarrassing for everyone involved, and it’s hard to take it very seriously.
January 19, 2026 at 1:11 AM
One of my opinions is that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama in 2009 was extremely embarrassing for everyone involved, and it’s hard to take it very seriously.
Appreciate that someone bought a set of the Taruskin for this church choir library room, lol.
January 18, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Appreciate that someone bought a set of the Taruskin for this church choir library room, lol.
guys…life is about to be revolutionized…Carbon Copy, a mere two blocks away from my home, is now serving martinis, and they are extremely decent?
January 18, 2026 at 12:16 AM
guys…life is about to be revolutionized…Carbon Copy, a mere two blocks away from my home, is now serving martinis, and they are extremely decent?
Stranger Things reminds me of Taylor Swift in that the producers want audiences to obsessively analyze the text, but only in the correct, authorized way. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-featur...
January 17, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Stranger Things reminds me of Taylor Swift in that the producers want audiences to obsessively analyze the text, but only in the correct, authorized way. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-featur...
Trying to write a whole book on this and someone just…tweets it out.
Honest question, where do we think the “don’t talk about your politics in music” attitude came from.
January 16, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Trying to write a whole book on this and someone just…tweets it out.
No scholar or org can in good conscience accept NEH funding right now--in its current iteration the NEH is funding projects in a corrupt process geared towards promoting right-wing propaganda. Even if your own specific project might be "harmless," it's deeply unethical to be part of that system.
Humanities Endowment Awarding Millions to Western Civilization Programs
www.nytimes.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:38 AM
No scholar or org can in good conscience accept NEH funding right now--in its current iteration the NEH is funding projects in a corrupt process geared towards promoting right-wing propaganda. Even if your own specific project might be "harmless," it's deeply unethical to be part of that system.
Today's fun little archival tidbit: in the 1950s the American Veteran's Committee, a kind of liberal counterpart to the American Legion, had a "musician's chapter" that tried to maintain a blacklist of musicians with former Nazi ties, and worked to keep them from performing in the United States!
January 14, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Today's fun little archival tidbit: in the 1950s the American Veteran's Committee, a kind of liberal counterpart to the American Legion, had a "musician's chapter" that tried to maintain a blacklist of musicians with former Nazi ties, and worked to keep them from performing in the United States!
Reposted by Phil Gentry
I appreciate that when the NYT front page shit all over the newfangled "telephone" in 1877, they took the time to absolutely cook people from Philadelphia
January 14, 2026 at 7:55 PM
I appreciate that when the NYT front page shit all over the newfangled "telephone" in 1877, they took the time to absolutely cook people from Philadelphia
I innocently popped into this Wawa over the break to procure a bag of chips for my starving children, and we spent a solid ten minutes trying to figure out the touchscreen system before giving up and walking across the street to 7-11.
Wawa is closing another Philly store after its new format fell flat
About three years ago, Wawa started piloting a new digital-order-only system at this store. Now it’s closing the location.
www.inquirer.com
January 14, 2026 at 5:06 PM
I innocently popped into this Wawa over the break to procure a bag of chips for my starving children, and we spent a solid ten minutes trying to figure out the touchscreen system before giving up and walking across the street to 7-11.
This annoying Minneapolis realtor who pops up on my TikTok feed occasionally because I am a bougie person who owns a house? Just violently arrested by ICE. 😭
January 14, 2026 at 2:56 AM
This annoying Minneapolis realtor who pops up on my TikTok feed occasionally because I am a bougie person who owns a house? Just violently arrested by ICE. 😭
Reposted by Phil Gentry
philly!!!! my friend’s cat is missing!!!! please help!!!
January 13, 2026 at 6:02 PM
philly!!!! my friend’s cat is missing!!!! please help!!!
honestly, our much-lauded music theory curriculum here at UD starts with an embodied approach where students feel musicality before they get to written theory, you might indeed call it…the think method.
YOU: now let me get this straight. He takes the money for the band instruments.
ME: and the costumes, yeah.
YOU: and he leaves?
ME: No, he orders the instruments.
YOU: So he takes the costume money.
ME: No they get the costumes.
YOU: what is the scam exactly
ME: he doesn't inspire them
ME: and the costumes, yeah.
YOU: and he leaves?
ME: No, he orders the instruments.
YOU: So he takes the costume money.
ME: No they get the costumes.
YOU: what is the scam exactly
ME: he doesn't inspire them
January 13, 2026 at 3:22 AM
honestly, our much-lauded music theory curriculum here at UD starts with an embodied approach where students feel musicality before they get to written theory, you might indeed call it…the think method.
My daughter tricked us into certifying her age on Roblox as born in 1980, but joke’s on her because now the platform won’t let her chat with underage children. 😂
January 12, 2026 at 11:59 PM
My daughter tricked us into certifying her age on Roblox as born in 1980, but joke’s on her because now the platform won’t let her chat with underage children. 😂
Will never take it for granted that in Philly you can show up looking like shit literally anywhere in this city and it’s fine.
January 12, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Will never take it for granted that in Philly you can show up looking like shit literally anywhere in this city and it’s fine.
Sort of comforting that in almost 5000 words James Pogue also doesn’t understand what his essay is trying to argue, but it doesn’t make for a very promising political paradigm
January 12, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Sort of comforting that in almost 5000 words James Pogue also doesn’t understand what his essay is trying to argue, but it doesn’t make for a very promising political paradigm
I truly don’t care much about football, but everyone in this godforsaken city will be in such a pissy mood if there is any outcome besides “easily won the Super Bowl,” so, go birds.
January 11, 2026 at 9:51 PM
I truly don’t care much about football, but everyone in this godforsaken city will be in such a pissy mood if there is any outcome besides “easily won the Super Bowl,” so, go birds.
10yo’s beloved stuffed animal has always been named “Sheepie,” because we just all reflexively thought it was a sheep. We just recently were looking at, and suddenly realized…it’s actually a cow. Nobody knows what to do with this information.
January 11, 2026 at 9:40 PM
10yo’s beloved stuffed animal has always been named “Sheepie,” because we just all reflexively thought it was a sheep. We just recently were looking at, and suddenly realized…it’s actually a cow. Nobody knows what to do with this information.
I love doing activities with senior citizens because afterwards we all friend each other on Facebook, it’s very wholesome.
January 11, 2026 at 6:32 PM
I love doing activities with senior citizens because afterwards we all friend each other on Facebook, it’s very wholesome.
Teaching my children the fine art of film criticism by relentlessly insulting every aesthetic choice in the last two seasons of stranger things.
January 10, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Teaching my children the fine art of film criticism by relentlessly insulting every aesthetic choice in the last two seasons of stranger things.
Minneapolis is a city of which I have basically no experience, but it seems like a place that its people love, which is my main criteria for thinking well of a place.
January 10, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Minneapolis is a city of which I have basically no experience, but it seems like a place that its people love, which is my main criteria for thinking well of a place.
I feel like people would have embraced AI more if they had simply started with fixing autocorrect.
January 10, 2026 at 4:25 PM
I feel like people would have embraced AI more if they had simply started with fixing autocorrect.
True, but let’s also be clear-eyed that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Machado in the first place was also stupid, not to mention spineless.
The Norwegian Nobel Prize committee has been forced to make a statement, declaring that the prize cannot be transferred.
It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become
It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become
January 10, 2026 at 12:24 PM
True, but let’s also be clear-eyed that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Machado in the first place was also stupid, not to mention spineless.