By Teyquil Skelton
The world of art and music wasn’t always a walking line of opportunity as far as being seen by an audience of any kind. Some time ago, people who worked in art and music had to travel to be discovered. The recording was also a hard process to eliminate because of high priced equipment/studio time. Bands, rappers, vocalists, producers, DJ’s etc…all had to hustle in a way that we now in this new age don’t have to. Thanks to social media platforms, underground radio stations, interviewers and so on. One man in particular, by the name of T.G. Gainey, has added to the new way of doing things and is now one of the busiest men in the underground of entertainment.
Not only is he an executive producer, rapper, and creator but the owner of a TV show called Brightstar Buzz. This show is designed to shine a light on mostly unsigned music artists in and around the city of Philadelphia who is creating a name for themselves both locally and regionally. Most of the acts have a good following of fans that puts them in the running for worldwide fame and the way Brightstar captures the essence of their performances is by meeting them where they are performing. Brightstar features the live moments from the acts by recording them in their natural habitat. Meaning, local venues throughout the city’s nightlife. Nothing is in any way recorded in a studio setting because it’s all filmed Live during the show. Brightstar gives the acts free publicity and promotion and in return, he gets the scoop on all things new with the artists as they prepare to perform to an audience, patiently waiting for some good entertainment.
Now Brightstar doesn’t just cater to only Philly acts they also cater to other artists outside of the city such as Montgomery, Delaware, Chester Counties, and South Jersey areas. One of the good things about the show is that they expand into different genres such as alternative, hard rock, electronic, metal, hip-hop, dance, R&B, and punk. So there’s never a dull day in the world of Brightstar and what they bring to the table every week. There’s no telling where the show will be from week to week and that’s one of the other reasons why I think this show does so well. Brightstar travels as I said earlier as they meet artists where they are performing. Music venues like Ortlieb’s, Connie’s Ric Rac, The Tusk, Sawtown Tavern, The Barbary, The Pharmacy, World Café Live, Franky Bradley’s The Fire, Kung Fu Necktie, Milkboy and so many more.
Gainey is the brains behind this music muscle machine and has been working on this show since March’17. In addition to Gainey Brightstar has another face who graces us with her presence each Sunday evening. The face of Brightstar is none other than the beautiful princess of nighttime TV, KT Feeney. While Gainey edits and produces a good product, Feeney talks with the artists about upcoming projects, performances, collaborations and just all-around great conversations about their lives in and outside of the music scene.
You can catch new Brightstar Buzz episodes each Sunday at 6:30 pm on PhillyCAM and past episodes in case you want to get caught up on Princeton TV at midnight on Fridays.
TV viewing will never be the same musically, as we venture into a realm of new ways to discover fresh talent. We can finally say that we have the world at our fingertips and everything is in arms reach to hear great tunes or locate our favorite bands when they’re on tour. Brightstar gives us that and more and now we must seize the opportunity to expand our minds, open our hearts and feel the music. We are the future, music is in us and we must utilize every outlet to keep live music afloat as Brightstar propels us forward in discovering consistent magic through the music every single time.
