Feeds:
Posts
Comments

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 »

Knoll (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2026) [PALLBEARER]

April 21, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 20, 2026] Knoll

I saw Knoll open for Agriculture three months ago.  Then I saw that they were returning in three months to open for Pallbearer.  And they are the reason I went to this show (and why I listened to Pallbearer for the first time).

Knoll’s show in January was just mind blowing–intense and wild and loud and a little scary.  And I really wanted to see them again.  Last time I was in front of guitarist Cameron Giarraputo, so this time I wanted to experience it from the other side of the stage in front of Ryan Cook guitarist and trumpet (!) player.

What did I write three months ago?

I have seen a lot of extreme bands, but there’s nothing to prepare you for this.

And the show was largely the same.  Possibly the same songs, but it’s kind of hard to tell.  So I’ll quote from myself a bunch.

Knoll set up their gear.  They had an old-looking end table (I would guess like 100 years old, with all kinds of filigree–but probably not worth anything) and interesting gear on it.  The table also had a little light on it and there were four floor lamps around the stage.

This time I watched as singer Jamie Eubanks asked them to cut all of the lights.

These lights were the only things that lit the stage!  And, most interesting of all, each band member had a step on plug which turned their individual light on and off throughout the show.

All five members of the band were dressed in all black–button down shirts and black pants.  And the lead singer, James Eubanks, has his head shaved, (possibly his eyebrows), his fingernails shaped into points.  He looks like Nosferatu.

Last time I noted that Giarraputo was like a machine with the speed and technical expertise he brought to these incredibly fast songs.  The same was true of Cook–his wrsits moved so fast!

Drummer Jack Anderson must be exhausted by the end of the show playing so fast.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Knoll, Lástima, Pallbearer, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

Lástima (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2026) [PALLBEARER]

April 20, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 20, 2026] Lástima

I hadn’t heard of Lástima.  They are a Philly band who plays blackgaze which may be a term they made up, or maybe not.  But it makes sense.

They play fast, heavy, dark music with mostly growled vocals.  Back in the day we called these cookie monster vocals.  But cookie monster vocals are for fast singers and I think singers of this style of music sing more like real monsters–slow and deep and creepy AF.

What set this band apart was the inclusion of Thuy Nguyen on violin! (!).  From where I was you couldn’t always hear the violin (again, I need to stand further back from the stage) but when the rest of the band quieted down, the violin was a wonderfully mournful component.

I was in front of Eric Mauro on guitars and Hazel Whitman on bass.  I could kind of see Sam Hyla on drums, but really the most entertaining person was singer/guitarist Richie DeVon.

DeVon sang.  Sometimes in a normal voice (during the quiet section) but usually with a growl or a scream.   There were a few songs (or openings of songs) which had quiet piano parts.  DeVon played them and was usually accompanied by Nguyen on violin.  Toward the end he got down on his knees and screamed his head off while messing about with his effects pedals.  It was quite cathartic.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Knoll, Lástima, Pallbearer, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

Florence Road (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 15. 2026) [THE LAST DINNER PARTY]

April 15, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 15, 2026] Florence Road

Florence Road is a band from Bray, County Wicklow in Ireland.  I had listened to one song before this show and it must have been Rabbits Can Swim, because I thought that they were a pretty but mellow indie rock band.

They came out on stage right around 8: lead singer and guitarist Lily Aron, guitarist Emma Brandon, bassist Ailbhe Barry, and drummer Hannah Kelly.  And they proceeded to blow our hair off.  They opened with None the Wiser.  Aron’s voice is really powerful.  My wife, who normally doesn’t even really pay attention to the opening band remarked at how strong her voice was.  And the band kept up with her–they rocked hard and were really impressive.  It was also interesting that they just put out their second EP (Spring Forward) but this opening song wasn’t on it–it’s new.

There were a lot of people there who knew the band (apparently) but they won the entire crowd over by the end of the song.  The next song Miss was a bit quieter, but Aron’s voice still soared around the room.  By the time of Storm Warning  which had some really cool staccato power chords near the end, they could do no wrong.  Heavy continued with more loud guitars and then switched to a pretty, quiet ending with drummer Kelly on piano.

They stayed quiet for Rabbits with Barry on acoustic guitar.  Hanging Out to Dry was a mid tempo song showing that they can do it all.  They followed it with another new song 7563–no idea what that means, but it was fun hearing them sing that chorus at the end.  That brought the tempo back up.  And then someone in the audience shouted for Break the Girl, which seems to be one of their dancier songs.

They ended the set with the aptly named Goodnight.

Aron and Emma Brandon were both funny when they chatted to us.  They told us it was their first time in Philly and I have to assume it won’t be their last.  They made a ton of new fans tonight.

2025
None the Wiser §
Miss ⇒
Storm Warnings ⇒
Heavy ♣
Rabbits Can Swim ⇒
Hanging Out to Dry ⇒
7563 §
Break the Girl  ♣
Goodnight  ♣

§ single (2026)
⇒ Spring Forward EP (2026)
♣ Fall Back EP (2025)

 

 

Posted in Florence Road, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The Last Dinner Party | Leave a Comment »

An Evening With Band of Horses (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, April 15, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 15, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 15, 206] An Evening With Band of Horses

My wife and I saw Band of Horses here about a year and a half ago.  The show was great.  When this show was announced, our friend Jonathan who lives nearby asked if we were going.  But it turned out we were going to The Last Dinner Party already on this night.  So we had gotten tickets for Philly.

We actually know a lot of people who went to this show and the consensus was that the sound was pretty bad.  So I guess we picked the right one (even if we didn’t actually have a choice). The did play two songs tonight that they didn’t for us (NW Apt. and Cigarettes, Wedding Bands) but I still think we got the better show.

Posted in Band of Horses, Montclair, NJ, Wellmont Theater | Leave a Comment »

Nick Offerman (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 12, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 12, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 12, 2026] Wanda Sykes

Whenever I think about comedians that I like, they’re usually British.  Because I receive ads for comedy clubs, I feel like there are hundreds of American comedians and I don’t know any of them. So I forget that there are quite a few American comedians who I really like.  Nick Offerman makes me laugh in anything he does and yet for some reason I have never really thought about going to his stand up show.

I had gone out the night before, but my wife wasn’t really interested in going out on a Sunday night, so we blew him off.  I’ll have to put him on my list of comedians to make sure I see at least once.

Posted in Nick Offerman, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Laveda (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, April 11, 2026) [THE BELAIR LIP BOMBS]

April 11, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 11, 2026] Laveda

I hadn’t heard of Laveda, but when I listened to them before the show I was interested in their take on 90s grunge.  Then, as I was leaving the house, I saw that they were going to go on at 7:30 instead of 8.  But I wasn’t going to be arriving until like 8:45, so I was bummed to miss them.

However, traffic was light and for one reason or another the band didn’t go on until 7:45, so I was able to see their whole set and was right up near the stage.  Laveda is from Brooklyn.  They were founded by Ali Genevich (guitar, vocals) and Jacob Brooks (guitars and effects).

They opened with Strawberry, a heavy, crashing song with tons of distortion and feedback.  It was a great introduction to the band.  Ali sang all of the songs and had a quiet delivery that suited the songs.

When it ended, they played a noisy and lengthy feedback filled section. Brooks was on his needs playing with the effects pedals and generating feedback.  The noise resolved into the song Care.  It was this song that full won me over.  *’s guitar chords were great and reminded me a lot of Sonic Youth (their more commercial songs).  The bass was also great–a rumbling low end that propelled the song as much as the drums.  The song rocks for a solid 4 minutes and then ends with a very pretty quiet guitar part.  I actually assumed this was a new song, but I see it’s the end of Care, which makes me like the song even more. Continue Reading »

Posted in dust, Laveda, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, The Belair Lip Bombs | Leave a Comment »

Atsuko Okatsuka (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 9, 2026)

April 10, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 9, 2026] Atsuko Okatsuka

I had not heard of Atsuko Okatsuka when this show was announced (with the striking image to the right).

I have been going to a lot of comedians this year and reading the blurb and the fact that it was so close I thought it might be worth checking her out.  After buying the tickets, I watched some of her special on TV and wasn’t that excited by the opening moments.  But since I didn’t know if this was the routine she was going to do, I didn’t watch anymore.

So I wasn’t that excited going in.  And it turned out that my wife had a commitment that she couldn’t get out of.  So I almost stayed home.  But again, it was close, so I went.

And I’m so glad I did, because she was hilarious.

She started with a routine about her playing a video game in which you own restaurants.  I didn’t think this could be an extended riff, but it was and each level of the joke made it funnier.  From the fact that she is very very busy (she has so many restaurants) to the part where she is making so much money (in the game) but losing so much money (in real life) as she upgrades.  To how her husband found out about her spending on the games (snitch accountant) to a hilarious joke about her caveman cafe and the dinosaur that runs it with her.   Any paleontologists in the audience?

She spun this off into a series of jokes about how having a phone and doomscrolling is very healthy because otherwise you are left alone with your own thoughts!

I really enjoyed her take on depression commercials–do you really want to be like the people in the “after” scenes?  I really enjoyed the sequence (and the big payoff at the end) about the white man who is excellent at kendo.  She explained that this man has trained for years and is really impressive.  At first she thought it was racist, but realized that he is so sincere and devoted that it is honoring rather than appropriating.  Although she acknowledged that if he hurt himself and someone asked her to finish the routine, THAT would be racist.

The only person who is more Japanese than this man is her father, who is the quintessential Japanese man.  She went to visit him and that’s when she learned she had a brother (from her father’s first marriage).  She was unsure if she wanted to meet him, but when she did and he said, do you want to pretend po be cats while waiting online, that she knew she’d found a kindred spirit.

She crammed so much good material into an hour.  It was a great set.  At the end she did a brief Q&A which turned into a fan fest of people who went to the show wearing a wig that looked like her hair.  I had no idea this was a thing.  Apparently it is.  And she loves it.

I’m sorry my wife couldn’t make it, but I’m really glad I went.

Posted in Atsuko Okatsuka, Maddy Kelly, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ | Leave a Comment »

Circle Jerks / Gorilla Biscuits / Negative Approach (Archer Music Hall, Allentown, PA. March 31, 2026 // Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, April 3 & 4, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 5, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 31, April 3, April 4, 2026] Circle Jerks / Gorilla Biscuits / Negative Approach

I liked a lot of 80s punks, but I was never really into Circle Jerks.  I mean, they were legends of course, but for whatever reason I never got their music.  When these shows were announced I was actually surprised that Circle Jerks were still a thing.  Actually, I guess they are once again a thing.  They tend to reunite and then stop and reunite and stop.  They’ve been touring now since 2019 (but haven’t released any new music since 1995).  I Really did consider going to this show. I mean, it’s the Circle Jerks after all.  And they were playing THREE dates.  But I was completely shut out on all of these dates.

The March 31 date was the same night as The Teeth who I didn’t want to miss.  April 3 I had tickets to Puscifer and April 4th I had tickets to Nothing.  And then we wound up going to  Minnesota the first few days of April, so I wouldn’t have been able to go anyway.

I’m not sure what an old school punk show like this would be like–is it all old punks in a pit or is it all young kids in a pit an old guys standing around.  I mean I do love seeing that they played 31 songs in roughly an hour–nice old school punk.  And since they played two dates in Philly, they probably won’t come back around any time soon.  Oh well.  Not a bucket list band, but it would have been fun.

All I know about Gorilla Biscuits is that I bought their Start Today CD in college and it had 99 tracks, which was a really fun at the time.  I hadn’t really thought about them much since then, and was kind of surprised to see that they were touring (which I guess they have been doing since 2005?).  They have released no new music since Start Today (1988).  So I guess their shows aren’t very different each night.  I’m not sure I would have recognized many of the songs but it would have been fun to see them too.  They played about 40 minutes (not bad since they released about 30 minutes of music)

Negative Approach is yet another hardcore band who is still around but who hasn’t out out new music since their debut album Tied Down (1983).  I’m aware of the band but really know very little about them.  Unlike the other three bands, when they started playing again in 2006, only the singer remained–everyone else was new.  But it’s the same guys since 2006 which is longer than the original incarnation lasted (1981-1984).  They played for about 30 minutes)

It sounds like a fun night of old school punk and I wish I’d been able to go.

Posted in Circle Jerks, Gigi Perez, Gorilla Biscuits, Negative Approach, Nikole, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts | Leave a Comment »

Puscifer / Dave Hill (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, April 3, 3026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 3, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 3, 3026] Puscifer / Dave Hill

I saw Puscifer this past summer as part of a triple bill with Primus and A Perfect Circle.  I didn’t know much about Puscifer except that it was one of Maynard Keenan’s bands.  But their live show was so great that when they announced this tour, I immediately grabbed a ticket to the Bethlehem show–Bethlehem?  Amazing.

But this show also fell within our Minnesota trip dates.  So I would miss this one too.  There were really some special shows to be missed in these few days.  Alas.

I saw Dave Hill open for Kevin McDonald Superstar.  HE was really funny and was a great guitar player as well.  I was really looking forward to seeing him too.  Interestingly Dave played at a small venue in Frenchtown (a venue I have yet to go to even though it is so close).   But that show was on the same night as my Baroness show. So, no luck for me.

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Dave Hill, Puscifer, Wind Creek Event Center | Leave a Comment »

Madison Cunningham / Annika Bennett (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, April 2, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 2, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 2, 2026] Madison Cunningham / Annika Bennett 

I saw Madison Cunningham and Juana Molina play together at Ardmore two years ago and I was blown away by her unique style and cool guitar playing.  She was far more of a delightful weirdo than I imagined. And I really looked forward to seeing her again.  When she announced this show at Ardmore I was torn because I really wanted to see Dirty Three.  And of course, given the rarity of a Dirty Three show, I was going to see them.

And then I found out that her new album Ace, was if not entirely, then at least mostly, performed on the piano.  And that’s cool and all, but I wanted to see her on guitar.  And yes, it’s very cool that she mixes things up, but since I never got to see her do Hospital the normal way, I would have been slightly disappointed in the new arrangement (even though the video below shows that it’s really cool).  I guess the point is that Madison Cunningham is going to put o a cool show no matter what she does.  So next time she comes around, it’s worth going.

Annika Bennett is a New York/Nashville singer. Her bio is interesting and I guess she’s been playing music for a long time in divergent styles.  Sadly, she has settled on a style that fueses pop concision, country clarity and indie introspection.  So a folksinger, basically.

 

Posted in Annika Bennett, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Madison Cunningham | Leave a Comment »

Older Posts »