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So what happened here?

June 10, 2022 by Paul Debraski

For nearly fourteen years I was able to keep up this daily blog of books and music.

About a year ago I got a promotion and that changed everything.  I no longer had the time to post everything I wanted to.  Heck, I didn’t even seem to have the time to read all the short stories I wanted to.  Amusingly (or not), just before this new position, I had gotten a print subscription to the New Yorker.  This now means that I (like many others) have a two-foot stack of New Yorker magazines that I haven’t even looked at yet.

For a few weeks I was limiting myself to only the concerts that I went to because that was a little easier to write about.  Although back in the good old days, I used to include photo and links, and I pretty much have neither now. And I’m several shows behind as well.

So I’m still reading books and I think I may try to post some thoughts about them from time to time.  I’d also like to think I have time to write about my concerts, but even those are proving to be challenging.

So let’s consider the blog on hiatus more or less, with occasional posts about things I’ve read or listened to.

The good thing is that I like the new position and wouldn’t change it for the world. I guess I never realized how much down time my old position gave me!

Posted in Paul Debraski | 3 Comments »

POPPY (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 9, 2026)

July 10, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 9, 2026] Poppy

When Poppy announced this show, I managed to get a ticket for $20 off, which was great.  I hadn’t realized that this would be my third time seeing her in less than a year and a half.

But each show has been different in one way or another.  Tonight’s show featured the giant cubes that were in use for Landmvrks.  But these were special for Poppy.  Each cube had a platform on top of it, so when the show started, Poppy was on top of one  and the drums were setup on top of the other–easily fifteen feet high.  And on the stage were three masked musicians.

A recording of Constantly Nowhere played and then Poppy appeared on top of the cubes and sang have you had enough (which I see she has opened the show with all three times that I’ve seen her).

I’m so intrugued by Poppy because she started as a seriously Pop pop singer and just a few years later, she is beloved by the metal community.  And why not?  Her songs are heavy as anything and she screams with serious intensity.

She mixed up the rest of the set.  Climbing down to the stage, she sang The Cost of Giving Up.  This song has serious pop chops and is really catchy, although the middle section has some of her most intense screaming.

As I mentioned for Landmvrks, the place was packed.  And, I hate to say it, I’m not sure how I feel about Poppy fans.  A trio in front of me was pogoing and bouncing into everyone even though there were several circle pits in the area.  And that’s not cool to crash into others but to be afraid of the circle pit.

I was really surprised she played Concrete third.  I love this song, it is so bizarre, with that weird guitar lick and then the insane J-pop section that shifts into a rocking section and then shifts again into a more or less sixties pop song.  All within 90 seconds.  And then what a riff!  It’s an insane and great song–straight out of the Babymetal playbook.  Any question about her metal bonafides are put to rest with the new song Bruised Sky–heavy and noisy with great screams.

Her band was a little different this time around.  Actually the lead guitarist might be the same, but for this show one of the masked guitarists was a woman.  This worked really well, when the guitarist sang backing vocals or even an occasional lead part.  The masks were really different this time too–scary Japanese theater type masks. Continue Reading »

Posted in LANDMVRKS, Philadelphia, PA, Poppy, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Thousand Below | Leave a Comment »

LANDMVRKS (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 9, 2026) [POPPY]

July 9, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 9, 2026] LANDMVRKS

When Poppy announced this show, I managed to get a ticket for $20 off, which was great.  I hadn’t realized that this would be my third time seeing her in less than a year and a half.

I didn’t care about the opening act, Thousand Below, a post-hardcore band from San Diego.  I mean, I’m kind of done with post-hardcore at this point.  They do have interesting vocals, but I didn’t really care if I saw them.

After a stressful day, in which my wife bore the brunt of the tasks, I wasn’t sure if I should go out, but she was going to chill, so I went, but left a little later than usual.  And, as happens when I’m not in a hurry, I made it to the Fillmore in plenty of time.

There was no line, so I assumed I’d saunter up near the front and listen to the two openers before enjoying Poppy.

Well, I walked in and it was PACKED.  I couldn’t believe so many people wanted to see Thousand Below.  I found an okay spot and then lights dimmed and a guy ran on stage and as they started, it was clearly LANDMVRKS.  Evidently Thousand Below went on at 7.  Oops.

The stage had two large cubes with video screens on them.  The image for LANDMVRKS was their name and a collection of statues.  Music sounded from backstage and then Florent Salfati ran out on stage wearing an Eminem shirt and rapping in French!  His flow was fast (although I think French might lend itself to fast rapping).  And then the rest of the band came out and they played a blast of a chord and they were off.

LANDMVRKS are from Marseille and have been around since 2014 (first album 2016).  Their later albums are heavier and have some rap elements and serious growling.

The three guys on stage were so mobile, they were almost exhausting.  I’m not sure which guitarist was which, but whether it was Nicolas Exposito (a founding member) or Paul Cordebard (joined in 2017) he kicked really high, ran in place and was always in motion.  He also had a great low growl and surprisingly good harmony vocals when needed.  Bassist Rudy Purkart was similarly active, going back and forth around the stage and singing too.  And Kévin D’Agostino on drums was a beast, but he was tucked in between the boxes and was kind of hard to see, but his drumming was fast and intense.

They had a really heavy sound, but they also had some very pretty moments as well.   I was really impressed with Salfati’s voice which was at times really lovely and delicate and could also descend into a crazy guttural growl.   I couldn’t detect an accent in his voice at all.  Even when he spoke to us (saying how excited they were to be in the U.S.), his accent was barely noticeable.

There was a guy in front of me who was clearly a huge fan.  He knew the beats and filmed the whole thing. Continue Reading »

Posted in LANDMVRKS, Philadelphia, PA, Poppy, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Thousand Below | Leave a Comment »

Paul Simon: A Quiet Celebration (Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY, July 3, 2026)

July 3, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[CANCELLED: June 29, 2025] Paul Simon: A Quiet Celebration

Last year, my wife and I had tickets to see Paul Simon at The Academy of Music–a small space and we had very good, close seats (I could have gotten closer tickets, but we weren’t sure we wanted to get TOO close).  We have seen just about everyone that we really want to (I have a list of bands that I still want to see but it gets shorter all the time).  But one person on her bucket list was Paul Simon.

So when he announced this Quiet Celebration tour, I grabbed tickets immediately.  Then two days before our show, Paul announced that he would have to cancel the shows because of terrible back pain.  He was going to have surgery and hoped to get back on tour.

As it turns out, he was able to make the next night of his tour (which was about a week later).  So he only missed two shows and ours was one of them.  He never rescheduled that location, but instead, did another round of the tour.  The Philly show was at the Mann Center (a very different venue from The Academy of Music (and it turned out a rainy night).

But we didn’t get tickets for the Mann in part because I didn’t think it would be easy, but mainly because it was my son’s birthday.  So instead, we got tickets to the show in Bethel Woods, a 2 and a half hour drive away.

We got a room for the night and were excited to check out the area.  Especially when I learned that the venue was on the site of Woodstock.  And there’s a museum dedicated to the 1969 event.  I was three months old when Woodstock happened and my parents were as far from hippies as you could get, so there was no love for this event in my house growing up.

However, I understand its cultural significance as well as the musical significance.  And while I’m not someone who thinks it was the most amazing thing to ever happen, I still like the music and thought the museum would be cool.  The museum is pretty cool.  I enjoyed the memorabilia, in particular the woman who wrote down the music she saw and her thoughts about them–I’d love to see everything she wrote.  It was also fascinating to see that no one really had an idea of what each band played–they had to look at various documents to ensure the playlists.  But there’s even discrepancies in the museum itself.  One sign says The Who played 24 songs, but the other sign lists 21 songs.

So the museum was a little underwhelming, but because we were there when we were, we were able to buy one of these limited edition posters, which is pretty cool.

So the weather that morning was unreasonably hot (day 3 of a 5 day heat wave).  But on the way to the venue it started raining (and thundering).  I was first concerned that they might cancel the show from the heat (Paul Simon is old, after all) and then I was worried that they would cancel it because of lightning.  Either way would have been too much for us to bear, I fear.  But the rain stopped and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and it was quite lovely.

But they delayed the opening of the gates for some 20 minutes and the line was INSANE, so we hung out in the (air conditioned) museum until just before 8.

The walk from the entrance to the venue is REALLY long.  Like, holy cow you have to walk a long way–easily ten minutes with the crowds.  But Paul didn’t go on until 8 and we found our seats and waited.   One complaint is that we brought refillable water bottles but there were no places to fill them.  I suppose if we were earlier, we could have spotted them, but they assured us that the show would start at exactly 8 and it was like 5 of as we got near our seats.

But soon enough, the lights dimmed and the band came out. Continue Reading »

Posted in Edie Brickell, Paul Simon, Philadelphia, PA, Simon & Garfunkel, Simon and Garfunkel, The Academy of Music | Leave a Comment »

Weird Nightmare (Ortlieb’s, Philadelphia, PA, June 26, 2026) [WEIRD NIGHTMARE]

June 27, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 26, 2026] Weird Nightmare

I first heard about Weird Nightmare on the radio.  WXPN played one of their songs, saying the guy behind the band, Alex Edkins, was the former lead singer in Metz. I really enjoyed Metz and was bummed that I only had one chance to see them before they went on hiatus.  Metz is super noisy, so I was really curious what this new “radio friendly” song would sound like.  And it was great–super catchy with a cool fuzzy guitar solo and a Dinosaur Jr sound.

It became one of my favorite songs of the year so far.  And when this show was announced I grabbed a ticket immediately.  Later on, I had the choice between this show and The Breeders (who I loved in the 90s) and I chose  this one.  I don’t know how the Breedersd were (probably pretty good), but I really loved being in this small venue right up against the stage.

I assumed that Weird Nightmare had one album out and they would play the whole album.  Turns out this is their second album and they played songs from both releases.

They opened with Headful of Rain a bouncy, catchy song that totally belied the background of Metz!  I’m not sure who the live band was, although on record Loel Campbell is on drums and Roddy Kuester is on bass.  I have no reason to think anyone else is playing with him.  Campbell sang great backing vocals on the first song and then his unnamed rhythm guitarist sang fantastic harmonies with Campbell on most of the rest of the set. Continue Reading »

Posted in Golden Apples, Metz, Ortlieb's, Philadelphia, PA, Weird Nightmare | Leave a Comment »

Golden Apples (Ortlieb’s, Philadelphia, PA, June 26, 2026) [WEIRD NIGHTMARE]

June 26, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 26, 2026] Golden Apples

I had not heard of Golden Apples before this show and yet I recognized one of the songs on new the album when I listened to it.

Golden Apples is the output of Russell Edling.  The blurb on bandcamp says his partner Mimi Gallagher is a bandmate (I’m amusing she played guitar and sang as well).  There was also a bassist, keyboardist and a drummer who I know I’ve seen with another band, but I never got her name.

I got to Northern Liberties 30 minutes early but didn’t find parking until 5 of.  I speed walked to the venue and walked in just as the band hit their first note.  Ortlieb’s can hold about 75 people, and it wasn’t crowded when I first walked in, so I had a great view of the band.

The songs were simple and catchy with the two guitars playing off of each other.  The bass sounded great in the room, by the way.

I enjoyed the simple but catchy guitar riff of followed by the totally rocking High School. During this song, Russell stepped off the stage (it’s about 6 inches high) and played his solo among the crowd (which was empty up front). Continue Reading »

Posted in Golden Apples, Metz, Ortlieb's, Philadelphia, PA, Weird Nightmare | Leave a Comment »

Spoon (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 24, 2026)

June 25, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 24, 2026] Spoon 

This was my fourth time seeing Spoon, a band I’ve never been a huge fan of.  That sounds worse than I mean.  I’ve liked them for years and I like many many of their songs, they were just not one of the bands that I got really into.  And yet, I will see them all the time when they play because their live show is so good.

I can’t believe it’s been four years since they last came to Philly.  That time, they cancelled and rescheduled a concert in 19 days (and even had new T-shirts printed with the new dates!).

My wife came along with me for The Beths (which she loved) and was indifferent to Spoon.  She had seen them with me at the PNC Bank Center in Holmdel when they opened for Beck seven years ago.  I told her that they would be better and more fun in this setting and she agreed they were (at PNC they played when it was still light out).

Spoon was headlining, but they still played a shortened set.

I assumed that this tour was an opportunity to play the two new songs that they’d released not too long ago (and which WXPN loves).  But amazingly, they didn’t play either one!

Chateau Blues and Guess I’m Fallin In Love are great songs and would have been so much fun to hear live.  But instead, they opened with a song from their debut album, one I hadn’t heard yet.  If I thought The Beths’ crowd was excited, they had nothing on the Spoon fans, who went crazy for this old song.

We were nearest to Alex Fischel, who is so much fun to watch.  So much so, that singer Britt Daniel spends a lot of time watching him too.  It’s odd that Britt introduced Alex and drummer Jim Eno but not bassist Ben Trokan or multi-player Gerardo Larios.

I told my wife that she’d know a few of the songs because they do get a bit of airplay.  She knew (and really enjoyed) The Hardest Cut.

Spoon songs soun distinctly Spoon so even if you don’t know a song you’ll feel comfortable with it.   But my wife recognized I Turn My Camera On.  And I was psyched to hear My Mathematical Mind and The Way We Get By (the woman behind me–who screamed a lot–was also happy to hear that one and sang along for a bit, but not too much, thankfully).

Then they played two songs I hadn’t seen them play before–2 deep cuts from their second album.  They followed that with the amazing The Underdog.  Such a fun song.  It’s got horns on the record but the live version doesn’t miss them.

Britt is a really fun frontman–he points and smiles at people, he really engages with the audience.  I’ve no idea if he’s a nice guy or a cocky jerk, but he definitely enjoys himself on stage.  It’s pretty amazing that this is my fourth time seeing them and they played five (older) songs that I hadn’t seen them play before. And one brand new song Lose Control that hasn’t been released as a single yet. Continue Reading »

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Spoon, Squirrel Flower, The Beths, The Fillmore Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Comedy Bang! Bang! : Ground Beefing Tour (Miller Theater, Kimmel Cultural Campus, Philadelphia, PA, June 25, 2026)

June 25, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 25, 2026] Comedy Bang! Bang!

I enjoyed Comedy Bang! Bang! when it was on TV (2012-2016).  I know I didn’t see all of the episodes.  I mostly saw the ones with Reggie Watts (and a few with Weird Al).  I didn’t know it was a podcast because I don’t really listen to podcasts.  But I was shocked to find out that it had been a podcast since 2009–I didn’t even think podcasts existed for that long.

Since I didn’t know this had been a podcast, I genuinely didn’t know what to expect at this show.  I knew Paul F. Tompkins would be there (which is 90% of why I wanted to go).  And when we were talking to someone before the show, he told us it was a live taping of the podcast with special guests.  I assumed that the special guests would be local comedians–completely forgetting that the show is a parody of talk shows.

And so, we were given a sibling, a theater critic and a foreign exchange student as the guests.

But first was the balcony report.  (which had the audience going crazy chanting TBR!  It was then that we realized that people there knew this show way better than we did.

So I had gotten us seats in the middle.  But they were tight and crowded, so we snuck to the back where there were comfy open seats–note to self if you eve go back to the Miller, unless you need a close up of the stage, choose the back couple of rows.  And this way we kind of felt like the outsiders we were. Continue Reading »

Posted in Comedy Bang! Bang!, Erin Keif, Funny (ha ha), Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Miller Theater, Paul F. Tompkins, Philadelphia, PA, Scott Aukerman, Will Hines | Leave a Comment »

The Beths (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 23, 2026) [SPOON]

June 24, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 23, 2026] The Beths

I love The Beths and I’m thrilled that my wife does too.  This was her third (my fourth) time seeing them.  And the previous time was only six months ago (do they ever go back to New Zealand?)

This was a double headline show, which I tend to think sucks for everyone.  The bands don’t play a full 90 minutes (or more) and the fans don’t get a full show from either of the bands that they like.  But sometimes it works out okay.  We were hoping the show wouldn;t run too late as we were both pretty tired.  So, the fact that Spoon kept it pretty short was ok.

But honestly we would have loved a bit more of The Beths!

After Squirrel Flower, we moved up fairly close to the stage.  Then a nice tall man (from Matawan) told us to go in front of him. Which was so thoughtful.  Although if he did that for everyone, he’s be in the back row.

The couple in front of us was interesting.  She was a huge Beths fan and he…stood sideways for the whole show.  He faced he partner.  I looked at his shoes and indeed they were pointing to the side.  And he turned his neck for the entire show to see the band.  Why would anyone do that?

The tall guy next to me was totally into it, drumming along, make hand motions and singing (quietly) everything.  This was a pretty dedicated fan base–surely everyone there saw them in December too.

Because they weren’t full headlining, they kept things relatively tightly paced.  The show started like the last one with the fantastic Straight Line was a Lie which got everyone bouncing.  They followed it with the really fun No Joy which is especially fun because at two points song the song, Jonathan Pearce on guitar and Benjamin Sinclair on bass stomp on a little stomp rocket thing and penny whistles fly into the arm which the catch an proceed to play.

It was interesting that they played some songs that they didn’t play six months ago.  Like they played Knees Deep from Expert…  It’s a fun bouncy song (because they all are, right?).  Then they jumped back to Future Me, one of many songs that have wonderful backing vocals from Jonathan, Benjamin and drummer Tristan Deck.

Things shifted gears dramatically when Liz said she was going to sing the next song by herself.  She told us it was about her relationship with her mother, so it was clearly Mother, Pray for Me.  The thing I didn’t know about the song (or her) was that her mother is a devout Catholic Indonesian woman.  Liz was born in Jakarta and moved to Auckland at age four.  That made some of the lyrics even more meaningful.  This song is a surprise because it’s not poppy and punky, it is slow and beautiful.  And I am really surprised that she played it during this shortened set.  It stops all 0f the energy and, thankfully, the crowd is rapt.  It must be a very meaningful song for her to bare herself like this.

When it was over and she thanked everyone for being quiet (except two people who whooped?), Jonathan told us about a club in New Zealand that is right across from their studio and it’s about to close that very night.  They were trying to raise money for it and said that all profits from merch would go to the venue.  But they needed $150,000 by midnight.  And holy shit, they raised it (well, the club did, not The Beths alone–but “Auckland indie band The Beths were one of the almost 3000 donors, sending $9633.38 from the band and “the people of Philadelphia””.)  It was a pretty lengthy chat which meant that they didn’t get to do their usually fun introductory banter.  Although TRistan did give a plug for Ben’s wonderful blog breakfast and travel updates.com.

They touched on their previous album a couple of times with Best Left (not to be confused with Best Laid Plans) with that echoing pulsing guitar intro (some things are best left….to rot).  And then only one song from Jump Rope Gazers (the wonderful title track)–this is why a double headline show isn’t as much fun, only ten songs?

I was delighted that they played Metal, the recently ubiquitous single that is so much fun.  The melancholy Til My Heart Stops was followed by the similarly melancholy (but somehow bouncy and poppy) Little Death.

They ended the set with Expert in a Dying Field, another super fun and catchy song.  I felt that they had enough time to squeeze in the amazing I’m Not Getting Excited (it’s only like 2 minutes long) but they were done (and Ben says they removed all of their gear in 9 minutes).  It was a great set, marred only by the fact that I wished it was 45 minutes longer.

2025 2025 2023 2022
Straight Line Was a Lie ⇒ [2] Straight Line Was a Lie ⇒ Future Me Hates Me ¶ [2] I’m Not Getting Excited Ω
No Joy ⇒ [2]  No Joy ⇒ Knees Deep ⊗ Not Running  ¶
Knees Deep ⊗ [2] Silence is Golden ⊗ [2] Out of Sight Ω [2] Great No One 
Happy Unhappy  ¶ [2] Future Me Hates Me ¶ [3] A Passing Rain ⊗ A Real Thing [new]
Mother, Pray for Me ⇒ [2] Metal ⇒ Not Running ¶ [2] Happy Unhappy 
Best Left ⊗ [2] Til My Heart Stops ⇒ Best Left ⊗ Out of Sight Ω
Jump Rope Gazers Ω [4] Mother, Pray for Me ⇒ Dying to Believe Ω [2] Acrid Ω
Metal ⇒ [2] Your Side ⊗ I Want to Listen ⊗  Jump Rope Gazers Ω
Til My Heart Stops ⇒ [2] Uptown Girl  ¶ [2] Head in the Clouds ⊗ Uptown Girl 
Little Death  ¶ [4] Mosquitoes ⇒ Jump Rope Gazers Ω [2] When You Know You Know ¢/⊗
Expert in a Dying Field ⊗ [3] Ark of the Covenant ⇒ I Told You That I Was Afraid ⊗ Mars, the God of War Ω
Jump Rope Gazers Ω [3] When You Know You Know ⊗ [2] Whatever  ¶
Best Laid Plans ⇒ I’m Not Getting Excited Ω [2] Little Death 
Little Death  ¶ [3] You Wouldn’t Like Me ¶ Future Me Hates Me 
I’m Not Getting Excited Ω [3] Silence is Golden ⊗ River Run: Lvl 1 
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Hugh Martin cover) Expert in a Dying Field ⊗ Dying to Believe Ω
Expert in a Dying Field ⊗ [2] encore
encore You Are a Beam of Light Ω
Roundabout ⇒ [Roundabout replaced Take since roundabouts / traffic circles came up earlier in the show.  First time as closer.] Little Death ¶ [2]

⇒ Straight Line Was a Lie (2025) (played everything from it except Take)
⊗ Expert in a Dying Field (2022)
Ω Jump Rope Gazers (2020)
¶ Future Me Hates Me (2018)
¢ Demos 2014-2020

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Spoon, Squirrel Flower, The Beths, The Fillmore Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Squirrel Flower (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 23, 2026) [SPOON]

June 23, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 23, 2026] Squirrel Flower

I saw Squirrel Flower open for Soccer Mommy back in 2021.  At the time I wrote that I found her solo stuff kind of dull, but then she brought a band out for the second half of her set and I liked the songs a lot more.

About mid way through I felt like they sounded like a slightly grungier version of Cowboy Junkies.  It was still a little slow for me but I enjoyed a few songs.

Despite enjoying a couple of songs, I didn’t feel compelled to see her again, especially since she was going on at 7.  So we left a little earlier than I would for an 8PM show and we arrived with Squirrel Flower starting her final song.  It was, like the others, very slow.  Here’s one thing I noted last time:

In an interview, she says that “Hurt a Fly” is her first ever Squirrel Flower song with key changes (!).

I believe it.  She did change her vocal note at some point in the song but it was mostly forgettable.  So I’m glad we didnt stand through 40 minutes of her.

 

Continue Reading »

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Spoon, Squirrel Flower, The Beths, The Fillmore Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

The Sadies (The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, June 21, 2026) [KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS]

June 21, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2026] The Sadies

I was vaguely aware of The Sadies. I was mostly aware of them because their singer Dallas Good died suddenly and the entire Canadian music scene was upset about it.  I assumed The Sadies were done, but, as Dallas’ brother and the band’s new singer and guitarist said, this show and every show that we play for the rest of our lives is dedicated to my younger brother.

That’s pretty devastating.  But it was clear that The Sadies put everything into their shows.

So The Sadies’ songs fall into two categories–a kind of country & western (as opposed to country) song with a heavy dose of surf rock sprinkled all over the song.  And hugely enjoyable instrumentals that showcase Travis Good’s fantastic guitar playing.

What that means is that most of their songs sound basically the same.  And yet, they played for almost 50 minutes and I not only was I never bored, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Which is pretty impressive given that they are a three-piece with a simple drum kit (played expertly by Mike Belitsky) and an upright bass (played by Sean Dean).  An upright bass doesn’t lend for a lot of fast improv.

So most of the embellishments came from Travis.  Dallas’ voice was a bit softer, while Travis’ has a darker edge to it, which makes some of these dark songs sound even darker. In a song like Oak Ridges his voice also goes deeper. Continue Reading »

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, The Sadies, The Stone Pony | Leave a Comment »

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