This lawyer had a simple mission: 'Create a music festival that highlights Philadelphia music, food and beer'

By day, Greg Seltzer is a Philadelphia lawyer, a business attorney who helps fledgling companies get off the ground.

By night — or really, all the time — the 40-year-old is a music geek. The impassioned fan sits on the board of the Mann Center, wrote a book about music and historical events in 1965, and is a faithful booster of the local scene.

Five years ago, Seltzer had a start-up idea of his own: "Create a music festival that highlights Philadelphia music, food and beer," keeping the line-up hyper-local without exception, while operating a nonprofit.

Now, he's starting the Philly Music Festival, which debuts this Friday and Saturday at the World Cafe Live with headliners Strand Of Oaks, Cayetana, Steve Gunn, and Work Drugs.

The Huntington Valley native and Penn State and Temple Law school grad whose first ever concert was a Neil Diamond show at the Spectrum with his mother in the mid-1980s initially pitched the idea to The Mann Center for the Performing Arts.

The Fairmount Park amphitheater was immediately sold, but the responsible businessman in Seltzer — he's also a CPA — realized the numbers weren't adding up, and the fest would lose money if he couldn't draw 12,000 fans the first year.

So Seltzer started over small, enlisting World Cafe Live owner Hal Real as a partner, and convincing the club owner to only pour local brews like Saint Benjamin, 2SP and Yards at the fest, which will monopolize the building's upstairs and downstairs venues.  He's brought in local food partners like Federal Donuts and Insomnia Cookies, and food trucks will be parked outside by the WCL's 31st Street entrance.

The impressive 22-act lineup showcases the depth of the scene across genres, even though wish-list acts Sheer Mag, Waxahatchee, and The Districts were on the road and unavailable this year.  If it ends up in the black, money will go to Philly music- and arts-related entities like Live Connections and Settlement Music School.

Seltzer established the PMF as a nonprofit because if he took his 20 percent promoter's cut, he wouldn't be able to pay standard industry rates. "I think the venues and the musicians need to make money," says Seltzer, who lives in Narberth with his wife and two children. "I want to see the music scene in Philadelphia grow.  Call it charitable if you want, it's really just me donating my time. And, frankly, it's a lot of fun."

Here are 10 acts to catch, in chronological order. The full schedule is here.

Kississippi. Indie-folk quintet fronted by singer-guitarist Zoe Reynolds, who captured attention with 2015's quietly haunting, possibly prophetically titled, We Have No Future, We're All Doomed.  Upstairs at 7 p.m. Friday.

Harmony Woods. It doesn't get much more (suburban) Philly than "Jenkintown-Wyncote," on Harmony Woods' inaccurately titled Nothing Special that may be the greatest regional-rail love song ever written. Upstairs at 8 p.m. Friday.

Skull Eclipses. The debut live performance by Philly rapper/producer Lushlife and Austin producer Botany, whose spooky first collaboration "Totality Piece" featured indie harp heroine Mary Lattimore, was timed to the solar eclipse.   Upstairs at 10 p.m. Friday.

Cayetana. Philly rock trio of guitarist Augusta Koch, bassist Allegra Anka, and drummer Kelly Olsen, who affirmed their status as standouts act on the extremely healthy indie scene with this spring's New Kind Of Normal. Downstairs at 11:30 p.m. Friday.

Shannen Moser. Forlorn folk-country sounds from Berks County native Moser, whose acoustic gems on this year's Oh, My Heart recall such rootsy Midwestern sad song singers as Will Oldham and Freakwater. Upstairs at 6:40 on Saturday.

Deadfellow. Local comer Hayden Sammak, whose new album Mesacalifornia: A California Dream puts a melancholy spin on a Pet Sounds obsession.  Downstairs at 8:30 Saturday.