PW’s Concert in the Park Series w/TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb at Rittenhouse Square Park Aug. 15

With the days growing shorter and the brutal summer heat waning, there are few chances left to bring moonshine in a Mason jar to a tent in Rittenhouse Square and make like it’s some kind of bizzaro revival in the South, but tonight that very opportunity will present itself. TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb open for Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band at today’s Philadelphia Weekly Concert in the Park Series, and you’d be remiss if you didn’t get into the spirit of things accordingly. Kong has always defied convention and definition, originating in a South Philly Basement and presenting us with some of the best folk rock/blues/bootstomp/punkabilly/et cetera music around (and if you consider that all one genre, they’ve cornered the market). Sounding like a cross between the Mountain Goats, Tom Waits and the ghost of Captain Beefheart serenading the crowd at a drunken rodeo, these guys cherry pick from the American songbook for both whiskey-soaked missives like their just released "Eye Witness on the Run" (below) from their upcoming album Manufacturing Joy and woozy balladry like this spring’s single "Maximilian." Together with grizzled country punkers the Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb offer up an evening of the best Americana misfit tales our city has to offer. Rittenhouse Square Park, 18th & Walnut Sts., 7pm, Free, All Ages, (Photo by Gregg Nixon) – Alyssa Greenberg