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Archive for February, 2022

Volbeat (Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, February 10, 2022) [GHOST]

Posted in Ghost, Ghost B.C., Newark, NJ, Prudential Center, Set in New Jersey!, Twin Temple, Volbeat on February 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 10, 2022] Volbeat

I hadn’t heard of Volbeat before this tour was announced.  Although I had to join their (free) fan club to get the pre-sale code because it seemed like Ghost’s didn’t go out as early.

I listened to a few Volbeat songs before the show but nothing really grabbed me.  I wasn’t quite sure what I didn’t like about them–they had a kind of “rock-n-roll” vibe which I don’t really care for.  Some of their songs were heavier than others, but it did nothing for me.

I assumed that live would be a different story.

And judging by the crowd, you’d think that was right.  The crowd went berserk for these guys.  And I… didn’t.

There’s so much that I should like about this band.  They’re from Denmark, which is exotic and fun.  The lead singer is funny and charismatic and he had a terrific voice.  The guitarist is from New York (he really looked nothing like the rest of the band) and he was tremendous–doing some amazing solos.

The rhythm section was always on.

And yet, it did nothing for me.  I felt like the singer’s voice, while great, never worked with the music.  And the solos were impressive but not very interesting,  It felt like something was missing–four great parts in need of something interesting to bring it all together.

Their backing videos and such were pretty great.  They changed for most songs and were fun to watch.  For a few songs they even had narrative videos that were fun to watch.  The video screens also did a fun thing where they mirror-imaged one of the guys to be on either side of the person in the middle screen.  And I really liked that the lead singer had microphones all over the stage, so he sang from different parts at different times–very democratic.

It’s possible I didn’t like them as much because the dudes in front of me were tall and filmed nearly everything so I could hardly see anything at all (hence watching the videos).

And yet there was nothing about them that I hated.  I just felt completed blah by them.  I couldn’t wait for their set to be over.  I almost never feel this way.  But shockingly, they actually played for a few minutes longer than Ghost (the headliner) did.

Strangely enough, or perhaps not, my son felt exactly the same way–Just meh.  Just nothing from them.

But the crowd was so into it and I genuinely worried that concerts had lost magic for me.  Ghost brought it back, thankfully.

The people in the row behind us were really noisy when they sat down and then were very quiet.  When Volbeat was done, we learned that someone in the row behind us peed on the stranger next to him.  I don’t have any details and I can’t quite imagine exactly how this all happened.  But it sounds like it was a deliberate act?  Did he take it out and point at them?  Did he just pee his pants?  I have no idea.  Apparently the victims were allowed to move to a better location.  But It was far more memorable than Volbeat.  (And fortunately, none of us got anything wet).

Not entirely true.  We all enjoyed his little Johnny Cash cover (he started “Ring of Fire” and then said that he had ripped off Johnny for the old song “Sad Man’s Tongue,” but I have no recollection of that song.

I see that they have a Rockabilly vibe going on and I really don’t like rockabilly, so maybe that’s it.  They also seemed to be kind of Satanic, but not really.  Even just looking at their album titles kind of annoys me.

SETLIST

  1. Seal the Deal $
  2. Pelvis on Fire ®
  3. Temple of Ekur Ø
  4. Lola Montez ⊗
  5. Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash excerpt) / Sad Man’s Tongue ¥
  6. Becoming Ø
  7. Last Day Under the Sun ®
  8. Wait a Minute My Girl Ø
  9. Black Rose $
  10. Shotgun Blues Ø
  11. The Devil’s Bleeding Crown $
  12. The Devil Rages On Ø
  13. Doc Holliday ⊗
  14. The Sacred Stones Ø
  15. Die to Live ®
  16. Still Counting ♦

Ø Servant of the Mind (2021)
® Rewind, Replay, Rebound (2019)
$ Seal the Deal & Let’s Boogie (2016)
⊗ Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies (2013)
♦ Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood (2008)
¥ Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil (2007)

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Twin Temple (Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, February 10, 2022) [GHOST]

Posted in Ghost, Ghost B.C., Newark, NJ, Prudential Center, Set in New Jersey!, Twin Temple, Volbeat on February 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 10, 2022] Twin Temple

I was really intrigued to see Twin Temple because I’d heard about them through….NPR? I’m not sure, but I remember hearing about this satanic doo-wop group.

I don’t really like the music as I don’t like doo-wop, but I was all in for the spectacle.  And wow, what a spectacle.

The band came out of stage: drums, bass, keys and a big old tenor sax.  After riffing for a bit, the two main persons in the band came out on stage in their full satanic regalia.

Their bio states:

The band was started on Halloween (a Witch’s Sabbath) in 2016 when a destruction ritual was performed, and Alexandra and Zachary James stepped into their power as Twin Temple, energetically killing all their previous incarnations up until that point. 

And while a lot of “Satanic” metal bands begin and end their worship of Satan on stage, the same can’t be said for Twin Temple. Both their music and their practice of Satanism, on and off the stage, are rooted in the ideals of free will and giving space to those who are often not allowed any.

So no, Twin Temple doesn’t drink the blood of virgins or kill babies to sacrifice on the full moon. They are challenging notions about what it means to free the oppressed, fight back against dated and binary ways of thinking, and doing it all while hailing the dark lord himself.

So the duo came out on stage–Alexandra in her huge beehive hairdo and Zachary with his tiny mustache–and proceeded to do some rituals.

(more…)

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Zapiro–The Hole Truth: Cartoons from Sowetan, Mail & Guardian and Cape Argus (1997)

Posted in Abortion, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, Cigarettes, Comic Strips, Coronavirus, Corporate skewering, Daily Maverick, Environmentalism, Funny (ha ha), Liars, Lies, Nelson Mandela, Olympics, Political Humor, Politicians, Racism, Sexism, South Africa, Violence, Zapiro on February 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: February 9, 2022] The Hole Truth

Nothing can make you feel ignorant like reading a book of cartoons.

This is a collection of South Africa-based cartoons that Zapiro wrote in 1996.  Who remembers what was going on twenty-five years ago?

Well, this book has an introduction from Archbishop Desmond Tutu (who appears a few times in cartoon form).  Tutu writes that Zapiro is there to skewer hypocrisy but that he has a desire to help the country into realizing their potential–even if it means gently nudging the people he supports when they mess up.

Every country has its share of corruption.  That’s the way of power.  A book like this makes it seem like there was nothing but corruption in South African (and with apartheid, that was likely the case).  Of course, the cartoonist assumes the reader knows what’s going on, so they don’t need to explain their cartoons.  If you don’t know what’s going on, well, you may not get the joke.  And then you feel stupid. (more…)

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Jean Hanff Korelitz–The Plot (2021)

Posted in Books about writers, Death, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jean Hanff Korelitz, Parenting, Thieves, Threats, Violence on February 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: February 8, 2022] The Plot

I tend not to read books where spoilers are a big deal. I try not to spoil things when I write these posts, but at the same time, usually I can write a lot and not give away anything major.  In fact, I didn’t even know about this book until my supervisor mentioned it and made it sound really interesting.

But holy cow, this story is all about the Plot.  I though the title of the book was pretty lame.  And yet it is not.  It works on the main level but also on a secondary level.  It’s a really great title.

So here’s what I can say as set up without giving too much away.

The story is about Jacob Finch Bonner.  A few years ago he had a debut novel that was quite well received.  He was a new and notable author and although his book didn’t sell a ton, he was seen as a guy with promise.  But he couldn’t think of anything good for a second book.  So his publisher (not the big publisher from the first book, a smaller one) gathered a bunch of short stories together and tried to say that the book was a series of related short stories (even that stretched the truth).  He wrote a third story that was even worse–nobody wanted that one.  (more…)

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Zapiro–The Madiba Years: Cartoons from Sowetan and the Mail & Guardian (1996)

Posted in Abortion, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, Cigarettes, Comic Strips, Coronavirus, Corporate skewering, Daily Maverick, Environmentalism, Funny (ha ha), Liars, Lies, Mail & Guardian, Nelson Mandela, Olympics, Political Humor, Politicians, Racism, Sexism, South Africa, Sowetan, Violence, Zapiro on February 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: February 9, 2022] The Madiba Years

Having read some of the more recent Zapiro books, I was delighted to see that our library had most if not all of his previous books as well–one that cover pretty much from the start of the Mandela years.  Mandela even blurbed this book: “Very exciting ad quite accurate.”

So why is it called the Madiba years?  It doesn’t say in the book, so I had to look it up

The clan or family name represents a person’s ancestry. The meaning is deeper than a surname and is used as a sign of respect and affection. The origin of Madiba comes from a chief who ruled in the 18th century, according to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.  Madiba would be used in “an intimate context,” said Richard Pithouse, a politics professor at Rhodes University in South Africa. When Mandela entered school, a teacher gave him the name Nelson. It was customary for Africans to also give children English names back then.  But the wider public had also taken to referring to Mandela as Madiba.  “People would not tend to use that name if they didn’t have positive feelings for him,” Pithouse said.

So there you have it.

This collection opens in 1994 with leader Mangope of Bophuthatswana’s declaration that democracy would not be coming to his homeland (he was very wrong).  With the eyes of the world on South Africa, Election Day shows the shining face of Mandela, pictured as the rising sun over the garbage heap that was the un-democratic elections.

June sees the proposal of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission–to find out what really happened during Apartheid.  There’s also talk of Joe Tokyo, a figure who has been mentioned in other books.  I’m fascinated by his name. In this particular cartoons, his housing plan is described as a pie in the sky.

Things that could apply to any leader include a woman scrubbing the floor in the Prime Minister’s Office.  In 1956, the assistant says to the PM: “Delegation of women to see you.” Then in 1994, the same woman (now much older), the same comment.  This time the scrubber says, “And this time it better work.”

There’s a lot of pages about Winnie Mandela (full name: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela).  I’d heard of her but never really realized what all the fuss was about–she was Nelson’s wife, right?   Well, apparently after he was imprisoned (citing Wikipedia):

In the mid-1980s Madikizela-Mandela exerted a “reign of terror”, and was “at the centre of an orgy of violence” in Soweto, which led to condemnation by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and a rebuke by the ANC in exile. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established by Nelson Mandela’s government to investigate human rights abuses found Madikizela-Mandela to have been “politically and morally accountable for the gross violations of human rights committed by the Mandela United Football Club”, her security detail.  Madikizela-Mandela endorsed the necklacing of alleged police informers and apartheid government collaborators, and her security detail carried out kidnapping, torture, and murder, most notoriously the killing of 14-year-old Stompie Sepei whose kidnapping she was convicted of.

Damn!  And apparently her totally horrific activities weighed on Mandela.

They divorced about two years after he was elected.  But even in 1996 there’s a cartoon of Mandela behind bars with 1962-1990 and then from 1990-1996, he is chained to Winnie.

The big question after the Apartheid government failed was what to do with the men leftover.  Could they just put them in a museum?  Boerassic park?  Apparently F.W. De Klerk had a lot of “amnesia”–couldn’t remember anything that happened before 1990.

And what about the 3,000 former government functionaries that acting president Pik Botha indemnified?  It sounds like the blanket indemnity was ripped off of them–hopefully that will happen to anyone in this country pardoned under our former leader.

I particularly like the one where all of the dominoes fall, knocking down all of the former bad leaders with de Klerk next–again, could be very relevant to our country if they can actually act on it. It’s depressing though that this de Klerk cartoon is in November 1995–so long after the election in April 1994.

But Mandela wasn’t perfect.  When it comes to South African arms sales, apparently he turned a blind eye to backdoor sales.  And his Assembly Chairperson Cyril Rhamaphosa was concerned that when he consulted the public, they seemed to be full of intolerance.  The leaders cut down a hangman’s noose, but there’s a large tree with “pro hanging public opinion.”

There’s also the great unsolved mysteries of the world like The Curse of Tutankhamen, Bigfoot, The Bermuda Triangle and South African foreign policy.

It’s not all politics–there’s some strips about rugby and Springbok, which I’m fascinated by.  And of course much celebration for South Africa in the football (soccer) world.

He also has a strip for National Crime Prevention week. It was suggested that prisons becomes places of education.  But Zapiro says they already are–the criminal leaves with his diploma in drugs, gangs, guns, and knives.  Maybe they just need to change the curriculum.

And the first of many anti pro-life cartoons.  This one has Dr. Claude Newbury saying there shall be no abortion under any circumstance.  Then there’s a lightning bolt with Newbury suddenly pregnant and unwanted babies all round him with god saying “Get real, Claude.”

Evidently the Boer separatists (Volkstaat) were trying to prevent a new South Africa from forming

The concept of a Volkstaat, also called a Boerestaat, is the set of proposals to establish self-determination for Afrikaners (Whites) in South Africa, either on federal principles or as a fully independent Boer/Afrikaner homeland.

Then he shows the trouble with the integration of primary schools as two black students.  The room full of students all look like H.F. Verwoerd (and old man with his nose in the air).  But the glimmer of hope comes when a little white girl takes off her Verwoerd mask and smiles the black students.

Bishop Desmond Tutu as part of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee is shown in a graveyard labelled Apartheid Crimes.  Tutu says, “God help is to remember that the people who did this are also your children.”  God says “lemme get back to you on that one.”

And then in May 1996 De Klerk says the new NP position is “We brought you democracy.”  This compares to the short attention span of the voter:  Western Cape voters oppressed by the Nats for 40 years and happily votes Nat today.

On to Olympics fever! We see that Cape Town is bidding for the Olympics in 2004.  There’s old man Uncle Sam with an Atlanta 1996 shirt tripping over hurdles of security and efficiency and asking Baby South Africa if he really wants to try this.

Then Mandela went to England and it was a big celebration with Nelson’s column having its own Nelson removed and the nearby lion statue saying “tough luck old chap there’s only one Nelson In London this week.

Speaking of London, there’s nothing like the Charles and Diana Royal Side Show to distract the world from real problems.

And remember mad cow disease?

Zapiro sets his sights on Mugabe.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017.

Obviously Mugabe was a bad dude.  Zapiro shows Mugabe putting targets on the back of gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe, while wearing a button that says bigot and proud of it

There’s only one mention of Clinton in this book.  He looks like Tintin as he is in The Adventures of Clintin in Bosnia.  He waltzes in with a peace but there’s Snowy the dog “I’d feel a lot better if that piece of paper has a disarmament clause.”

Zapiro also introduces Netanyahu who will have Isareal aiming for peace (by firing missilesat the peace dove)–he sure nailed that one.

You can see more of his cartoons at https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/zapiro and at www.zapiro.com.

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Mystery Science Theater 3000: Time Bubble Tour [Making Contact] (Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at the Count Basie Center, Red Bank, NJ, February 6, 2022)

Posted in Conor McGiffin, Count Basie Theatre, Emily Marsh, Joel Hodgson, MST3K, MST3K Live, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Nate Begle, Red Bank, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Yvonne Freese on February 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 6, 2022] MST3K Live

This was my fourth MST3K live experience and it was a hoot.  This was the first time that there was only one movie (in previous years they did two back to back–separate tickets).  This was also the first year that the host was a newbie.  Well, not totally new, Emily Marsh was on set for the previous show and as Emily Connor she will be co-hosting and maybe full-hosting the upcoming season.

Which is all well and good because I thought she was outstanding.  A bundle of energy, great comic timing and what a singing voice!

But the show started with the imposing presence of Yvonne Freese as Mega Synthia and sweet, one-eyed purple GPC!  She was outstanding last time and was even better this time as she was the center of attention for most of her on-stage time.  She was very funny and threw in some good improvs as the crowd reacted or didn’t.  She also has an amazing voice.

And of course, there are the bots–Conor McGiffin as Tom Servo and Nate Begle as Crow.  It’s amazing what a small crew they have for this tour (the props take up more room than the people).  There’s a mysterious fifth person on the tour as well.  She is “swing puppeteer” Kelsey Ann Brady who I gather is meant to fill in where and when she can.  Since the cast was all there, she was added as a kind of clone the Mega Synthia, which was pretty fun. (more…)

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Kazu Kibuishi–Amulet: Book Eight: Supernova (2018)

Posted in Aliens, Alternate Reality, Children's Books, Death, Dystopia, Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Kazu Kibuishi, Mystery, Outer Space, Robots, Supernatural, Superstitions, Technology on February 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: February 2, 2018] Amulet: Supernova

It has been SIX YEARS since I read the previous book in the series and the final book isn’t even out yet!  When I finished book seven I wrote “How can I wait a year for book 8?  [Word has it Book 8 will come out in 2018].”   And in that year I totally forgot about this series.  Whoops.

So it was a little hard catching up to what was going on, but I managed.

The book opens with Trellis in a dream.  he meets an old woman traveler who guides him through his dream.  Before he wakes he asks if he will see her again–she says sooner than you expect.  When Trellis wakes, he is told the elf army has made landfall.

But when we see the army, led by a small creature named Logi, Logi tells the commander that their plan is surrender.  Trellis can’t believe it, but it appears to be true and they take the army into lock up. The city celebrates Trellis, but he is suspicious and he has every right to be because Logi has a token of the Elf King’s affection–a glowing object,

Which turns out to be a bomb of sorts.  (more…)

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Courtney Barnett / Shamir / Julia Jacklin (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, February 4, 2022) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Shamir, The Met Philadelphia on February 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: February 4, 2022] Courtney Barnett / Shamir [moved to …]

S. andindex I were looking forward to this show although we both groaned a bit when we saw it didn’t START until 9PM.  Good grief.

Weather forecasts for this even were treacherous.  Freezing rains and temperatures that were expected to drop below freezing did not bode well for an hour plus drive.  We were fairly certain we were going to skip it.  We love Courtney and our friend Kaylo recently saw this tour and said it was great, but we have seen her before and it just seemed too risky.

Then, just before I left work, we got the notice that the show had been postponed.  I sort of assumed at first that it was because of the weather, but concerts can’t do that.  A little while later I saw on Instagram that someone in her touring company caught COVID: (more…)

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Terry Pratchett–Hogfather (1996) [Discworld #20] [Death #4]

Posted in Alfred, Auditors of Reality, Banjo Lilywhite, Bilious, Binky, Buddy Holly, Catseye, Chickenwire, Christmas, Death, Death of Rats, Discworld, Funny (ha ha), Hex, Jonathan Teatime, Magic, Medium Dave Lilywhite, Music, Mustrum Ridcully, Peachy, Ponder Stibbons, Quoth (the raven), Santa Claus, Susan Sto-Helit, Terry Pratchett, The Bursar, The Chair of Indefinite Studies, The Dean, The Lecturer in Recent Runes, The Librarian, The Senior Wrangler, Unfinished series, Wizards on February 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: February 2022] Hogfather

I don’t know that I’d call many Discworld books “exciting.”  They’re funny, thoughtful, clever, interesting and so much more.  But usually not  “exciting. ” But there’s something about Hogfather that makes it an incredibly exciting read.

It starts with the Auditors.  We haven’t seen them in a while.  The last time we saw them, they basically fired Death because he was getting too involved with humanity.  The Auditors are gray spectral beings who exist to make the sure the world is running correctly.   If any of them acts even remotely like an individual, he is instantly zapped and replaced with a new even more neutral Auditor.

And what makes the world not run smoothly?  Humanity.  Really, the Auditors hate humanity.  And they think they have finally figured out a way to make things run more smoothly.  They decide to get rid of the Hogfather.

The Hogfather is more or less Santa Claus, but with a Discworld twist.  Yes, he grants children’s wishes on Hogswatchnight (December 32–which takes its name from the Scottish celebration for the last day of the calendar year–Hogmanay) and brings them presents, but his sleigh is pulled by four wild boars, Gouger, Rooter, Tusker and Snouter.  We don’t see much of the actual Hogfather because once Death learns that Hogfather is… incapacitated, Death decides to take over his duties for the night.  Why?  Because if Hogfather doesn’t exist then the Sun will not rise.  This is nonsense, of course. Isn’t it? (more…)

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Mother Mother (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, February 1, 2022)

Posted in DYLYN, Mother Mother, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry, Theatre of Living Arts on February 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 1, 2022] Mother Mother

I I had never heard of Mother Mother before a few months ago.  They have been around for over fifteen years, but recently a few songs from their 2008 album blew up on TikTok.  Because I have teenagers, I found out about them second hand.

And I fell in love with the frenetic guitar and lyrics of “Hayloft,” which led me to explore more of their music.

Way back on April 29 of last year, I bought four tickets to this show for me, my kids and a friend.  It seemed like it would never get here.  Then it seemed like it might get cancelled or postponed, but it did go on, although not exactly as planned.

When I bought the tickets, the band was playing The Foundry.  The Foundry is an amazing intimate venue that hold 450 people.  I was super excited that they were there because whenever I’ve seen a band there, I’ve practically gotten to high five them.  So I was a little bummed when in December it was announced that they’d moved the show to TLA.  TLA is bigger (and I usually have a hard time getting there, but it was great tonight).  Of course, this is great for the band, as TLA holds 1,000 people.  And it sold out, so they doubled their attendance.

It also turned out that Mother Mother puts on a BIG show.  Big lights, big sound.  They used the whole stage.  And The Foundry’s stage is like the size of a dining room table, so the show would have been nowhere near as amazing. So good for everyone. (more…)

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