The Compendium Of All Things Close To Home: A Portrait of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania

The Compendium of All Things Close To Home explores the strange worldof Benjamin Hesse's hometown of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania through the lens of oral history and folklore. The book has two sections: Songs and Stories. Songs details the historical background of the available CD with photographs, homemade maps, stories of the local characters, and general history. Stories consists of 16 oral history portraits of Jenkintonians ranging from the police chief, to the mysterious bag man, to the town guardian, Big Al. Think David Isay meets small Pennsylvania borough. Walk the tracks on the edge of town,meet the mysterious town characters, journey into a unique portrait ofsmall town America.

Also available through Amazon is a CD of original music by Benjamin Hesse and local Pennsylvania artists. The book and CD work together to form a multi-layered narrativeabout people and place. Look for the CD by searching for "Benjamin Hesse"

Small-town America is a rarity among developing cities welcoming storefront giants like Wal-Mart and Target. As these big names move in, everything associated with small-towns moves out. Gone is the mom and pop shops circa 1960 s, the specialty stores that bear the last names of the owner and the everybody knows everybody mentality. But Jenkintown is among the few that has progressed without compromising its small town sentiment. Occupying only a half square mile, this town is complex and has a fascinating history full of mystery and intrigue.

Now local residents have a documentary to look forward to; The Compendium of All Things Close to Home is a musical portrait depicting the stories and folklore of Jenkintown history funded by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. The creator of the project is Benjamin Hesse, a resident of Jenkintown and a New York University (NYU) graduate in religious studies. His background in music started at an early age and was refined over the years by his membership in local Jenkintown bands. During his days at NYU, he started and still manages his own record label, JDub, a non-profit Jewish record company. His familiarity combined with his commitment to music and history has enabled him to produce the Jenkintown album.

Strange and weird intersections of American culture have come through here, Hesse explains. He used various sources within the community to aid in piecing together a musical portrait of a town he calls home. The project began September 06 with Hesse interviewing townsfolk such as the police chief, the vacuum salesman, politicians, the mysterious bagman and young people who, like Hesse, have spent much of their lives within the town. The Historical Society of Jenkintown, located in the basement of the Jenkintown library, also played a crucial role during research by providing archival material.

All the research he collected serve as the content for the original music. When describing the sound of the album, he explains, "...it's experimental folk music using traditional instruments like guitar, banjo, and then making them more interesting and edgy; it s folk music with an edge. The lyrics are written by Hesse himself who is also the lead vocalist for many of the songs. There are also sound collages and field recordings from around the town that are more abstract.

Composer Stephen Gorbos of Bethlehem, Pa., currently pursuing a doctorate at Cornell University, was commissioned by Hesse to rework the Jenkintown high school Alma mater, originally written in 1945. The new Alma mater performed by the Jenkintown high school band, is more of an avant-garde piece and is a little hard to listen to if you are not ready for it, said Hesse.

Along with Hesse and Gorbos, sound engineer James Ryskalchick, whose talents include building instruments and electronic equipment, recorded the entire album. The high school wind ensemble and musical director of Jenkintown high school, community musicians and volunteers all provided their time to the project-a true community based collaboration.

In addition to the musical CD, an accompanying book is also available to help contextualize some of the oral history and folklore associated with many of the tracks as Hesse explains, You just wouldn t understand a lot of it because so much of it is ingrained in the consciousness of being a Jenkintonian; from references to the 40 year old shortcut, to town characters, to streets-all these things, that if you didn t grow up here, you wouldn t really understand. So the book takes all these things, explains them and puts them onto a universal level. --Jenkintown Life, January 2007, pages 1&2

You know that guy you always see roaming around your town? He's probably older, maybe a bit weathered and definitely not wearing anything Urban Outfitters. If you've ever thought, What s his deal?" you should talk to him ... or better yet, talk to Benjamin Hesse.

Hesse thought "What's his deal?" but on a bigger scale. He's a quiet, former Jenkintown resident who wanted to compile years of town folklore and history into an innovative project comprised of a musical CD and a book accompaniment. Those who are skeptical may think there is no history in Jenkintown, but Hesse knew that there was-it just took him leaving the borough and moving to New York City to realize it. In New York, he spent a lot of time listening to "sound portraits" on NPR and read up on oral history. He listened to "This American Life" and read works by Studds Turkel and David Isay. With a whole new outlook on inverted history, Hesse started his project.

"I think of history from the bottom up, instead of from the top down, Hesse said, "like important people, famous wars and battles and voices that were never heard before... people who live in a town and work there but aren't considered important by historical, traditional hierarchy. I realize Jenkintown is a pretty fascinating place."

Even though Hesse only had less than a square mile to work with, that area has its own government, schools, churches and fire companies. He said the borough doesn't do a very good job of communicating with its neighboring municipalities,' and that's part of its charm. What did the borough say when it was asked to merge its schools and synch its traffic lights? "Hell no!" Hesse said, speaking with his Jenkintown pride.

Hesse did research at the historical society archive in the basement of the Jenkintown Library. Up to his elbows in newspapers, black and white photographs and even maps, he got a perspective of what the borough used to be like. And even though people who remember the 1800s are rare now, he interviewed about 15 to 20 people to get a human perspective to go along with the documents (even though some perspectives are a bit newer).

"I spent a lot of time digging through the historical society's materials, and coming up with things that I think are interesting," Hesse said. "I spent a lot of time in the field talking with people that are articulate and have something to say and a perspective, not just, 'Well I live here... what more do you want from me?'"

Hesse stayed away from political and borough officials thinking that they would not so much taint the small borough's folklore, but perhaps sugar coat it. Hesse said he expects borough officials to say that Jenkintown's history has no blemishes - which is not the angle Hesse is going for.

"The 'everything's OK' aspect is two-dimensional," Hesse said. Hesse found his non-two-dimensional folklore with the residents. Almost like a detective pulling out dossiers of suspects, Hesse reaches for his folder of pictures. Intentionally blurry and most taken candidly, the photographs of the "townies" portray aspects of the town everyone has seen but no one who has just driven past has looked at.

Some of the suspects? He chronicles Robert "The Bag Man," a smart 80-year-old man who lives like a hermit - almost all of his life being spent in Jenkintown. "He's trying to achieve perfect concentration to alleviate some of his chronic pain," Hesse said. "Really interesting. He wears a trench coat and a beard-everyone sees him, yet no one knows who he is. He's an invisible person, yet so public." --Times Chronicle December 13-19, 2006 pages 15&16