How to have a Perfect Philly Day, according to WXPN host Joey Sweeney

Musician, writer, journalist, DJ, and tastemaker Joey Sweeney has been having a conversation about Philadelphia with Philadelphians for more than 25 years.

The native Fishtowner broke into the Philly music scene in the ’90s, eventually fronting bands like the Barnabys, the Trouble with Sweeney, and Joey Sweeney & The Neon Grease, as well as recording and performing solo.

Founding and publishing Philly’s first cityblog, the now dormant Philebrity, in 2004, Sweeney wrote about Philly daily for a decade with signature snark. Before that, he wrote about music and culture for Philadelphia Weekly, City Paper, and national outlets.

Since 2023, Sweeney, who is soon releasing a new single with the Grease, has also been creative director — and “vibe Sherpa” — at 48 Record Bar.

In August, Sweeney, 53, joined WXPN as new Saturday morning host of Sleepy Hollow, one of the station’s longest running weekend programs, which has played an intimate, ambient blend of folk, jazz, New Age, and indie since 1973.

A definite change of pace for the longtime nighthawk — “I’ve only recently discovered mornings,” Sweeney said with a laugh — joining the iconic show has been a “dream,” he said.

“The biggest wallop of it is experiencing that WXPN community from the other side,” he said. “The staff is amazing. The listeners are really passionate about loving the station. They really give their love to it. Especially with Sleepy Hollow. It’s this legacy program, and you really want to honor that. The audience and the longevity and all the people who made it happen all those years. It’s a powerful thing.”

Sweeney, who lives in Society Hill with his wife, Elizabeth Scanlon, poet and editor in chief of the American Poetry Review, and stepson, Sully, 20, says his perfect Philly day would revolve around a diverse culinary excursion through the Italian Market, record store shopping, a corner bar pit stop, and some late-night guitar in his attic.

I’m going to Loretta’s on Second Street. It’s the coffee shop closest to my house, and they do wonderful things. Generally for me, it’s coffee and pastry, usually a chocolate croissant. If I’m feeling extravagant, I’ll go for their Betty sandwich. It’s their breakfast sandwich, which is a really amazing riff on the classic bacon, egg, and cheese.

Then I’ll head over to South Philly to Pho 75. I am a big pho-for-breakfast or pho-for-mid-morning-meal guy. I love Pho 75. Get the brisket with extra noodles.

Then, I hunt and gather my way back to my house. I walk down Ninth Street and get all the food we need for the week. All of the things that we need and eat on the regular, that are good, come from a six-block area around Ninth Street. My whole palate lives on that street or thereabouts.

I’m going to the Hung Vuong Supermarket, at 11th and Washington. Hung Vuong has all the noodles and dumplings and the chili crisp and fish sauce — all that stuff you need.

At Ninth Street, it will be any combination of the following: Anastasi Seafood, where I will probably get a half dozen already cooked crabs, and whatever fish we need for the week. Cod. Maybe, Branzino. Anastasi always does me right. They are our household’s Seven Fishes place. God forbid they ever went away. I don’t know what happens to the fish order.

Then, it’s Cappuccio’s Meats for their chevalatta. It’s this very thin sausage with greens and cheese. It’s a very Philly Catholic thing. And Esposito’s Meats. Because Esposito’s will grind meatball mix for you while you wait. The veal, beef, ground pork mix. They don’t put it out with the rest of the stuff. You have to ask for it, and they go in the back and grind it up for you. It’s the best way to make meatballs, by the way. My whole life, I’ve been searching for how to get my Grandma’s meatballs. She left us a long time ago, and I don’t have the recipe. I finally figured it out. You gotta get it ground right there, and not use the crushed tomatoes. Use the canned tomatoes you squeeze with your hands.

Somewhere in the middle there, I will pop across the street to Molly’s Books & Records. Pound for pound, Molly’s has the best used record selection in the city, and the inventory changes over frequently. They don’t gouge you on the prices. I’ve been going to Molly’s for as long as I can remember. I love giving Molly any shine.

I would also go to Tortilleria San Roman at Ninth and Carpenter. They have these tortillas that they make right there. If I am doing meatballs, I am going to Talluto’s, because they have cavatelli pasta, our house favorite.

I’ve gotten my giant bag of food and records. At this point, I would like to go to Grace & Proper, over on Eighth. It’s a corner bar right off the market. They’re open Saturday and Sunday afternoons. It’s got this cafe kind of vibe and there’s something about it in the daytime. It depends how perishable the food is in my bag. But I might go there, have a drink, have a snack, before I come home and listen to whatever records I got.

I cook. But my wife, Elizabeth, is the better cook. If we’re not cooking, I like an early bird dinner. Since I’m back in the neighborhood at this point, I’m going to either Cry Baby or Bloomsday.

Cry Baby, especially, is like a second home. Bridget Foy, who owns the place, was kind enough to let me shadow at Cry Baby before 48 Record Bar opened, because I had never had a proper hospitality job. She put me on every station in the place just about. It feels so casual and friendly, like a family spot. But you pop the hood on that place, and it runs like a machine. Her team is so amazing that by the end of it, I was like, oh, man, I would work here.

Creative times usually come after dinner. Maybe I’ll put on a record or play some guitar. Or I will get on my computer in my attic office and start working on tunes. My wife and I had this really funny moment, like six months ago, where we were hanging out up in the office, and I started playing some of the songs that I’ve been recording up there after dinner. And she’s like, “You never played this for me. This is an album you’ve got. This might be one of the better things you’ve ever done. When are you doing this?” I’m like, “I do it after dinner.”