About Us.
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We (Jan and John) are singer, songwriter, poet, historian storytellers who bring the past to life as PastTimesPresent. We met at a contra dance in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia in the 80's, lived in the Castle at 48th and Springfield in West Philly, moved to Southwest Philadelphia (Kingsessing Township before the arrival of William Penn) and in 1985 started the Friends of the Blue Bell to save a colonial inn on the main stagecoach road between Philadelphia and the southern colonies.The Fairmount Park Commission owned the building at the time and we were told had it on a iist of buildings slated for demolishion. We made a proposal, to the park, got a local ironworker (Nick E. of the Iron Men) to create a secure gate into the basement, found interestesd cvolunteers and began bringing the building back to life. Tbe Bell was damaged when it was rear-dnded by a runaway toleey but the amazng thing about our old buildings is their resiliance.
Old Buildings Eyesore or treasure? With what shall we measure The value of buildings we see every day? Some buildings age gracefully, well pointed masonry With legions of people to admire and to fix While some are neglected, abandoned, dejected A sad wounded call for a quick coup de grace Roof gone the water pours, glass broken, missing doors Awaiting the crumble to rubble and sticks Time, water, and gravity, agents of entropy Bedevil us all and the things we create Seeking transcendence and signs of ascendance Instead we find ruins and piles of old bricks Sometimes outdated, old stories related Of who we were once and the things we admired Like Ozymandias , time levels all of us And takes us away cross our own River Styx So like us old buildings are born, grow, and die Like us old buildings may fade But those that remain tell their stories again And remind us of currents that were once in the mix But unlike us old buildings may continue and live Unlike us they don’t have to die Telling stories of craftsmanship, stories of skill Stories of songs sung in brick. John Haigis 8/28/14 We joined the Darby Creek Valley Association (DCVA) and started doing musical livvng history programs to promote the Bell. Ironically or prophetically, one of our programs was for the nuns at Woodburne, a neo-classical mansion in Darby, neglected and currently currently in the balance. 2016 video "Uncommon Common Ground" with music of Darby born Estelle Ricketts made when the County purchased the buildng for open space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M1nP4t5KUs . another video was made in 2024 EXPERIENCE / SKILLS
AWARDS / RECOGNITION
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