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Archive for August, 2023

Dysrhythmia / Stinking Lizaveta / Countdown from Ten (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, August 31, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Countdown from Ten, Dysrhythmia, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, Stinking Lizaveta on August 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 31, 2023] Dysrhythmia / Stinking Lizaveta / Countdown from Ten

For reasons I don’t entirely remember, I’ve added Stinking Lizaveta to the list of bands that I’d like to see.

I think what inspired me to check them out is that they are an instrumental band who play complex music.  Indeed, it appears that not a word would be sung this entire evening.

After reading about and then listening to all of these bands, I decided that I would go to this show after all.  So I grabbed a ticket.  And then it turned out that there were so many  things going o this weekend that spending Thursday night jamming to metal math rock just didn’t fit into the plans

Bummer. (more…)

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Bad Cop/Bad Cop / The Homeless Gospel Choir (Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, August 29, 2023) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, The Homeless Gospel Choir on August 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: August 29, 2023] Bad Cop/Bad Cop / The Homeless Gospel Choir

I didn’t actually find out about this show until it was cancelled. And there’s no word that I can see as to why it was cancelled.

Oh well.

I saw Bad Cop/ Bad Cop open for Anti-Flag and they were great.  I enjoyed their whole intense set.

The Homeless Gospel Choir opened for My Chemical Romance when we saw them.  But we didn’t get to our seats until after their set was over.  They are a folk/punk band from Pittsburgh who I’m still interested in checking out.

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Ghost: Re-Imperatour (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, August 25, 2023)

Posted in Amon Amarth, Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Ghost, Ghost B.C. on August 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 25, 2023] Ghost

My son and I have now seen Ghost 4 times in about 4 years.  Interestingly, these previous three times have all been based around their last album, last year’s Impera.  My son is rather tickled that he has a short from the Pre-Imperatour, the Imperatour and the Re-Imperatour.

It’s fairly ballsy to tour the same album three times in a year and a half. But in this time their fan base seems to have grown quite a lot.

The Freedom Mortgage Pavilion seats around 25,000 people.  I know it didn’t sell out, but I have to assume there were at least 10,000 people there.   Which is pretty awesome, and makes Papa Emeritus IV very happy.

The set is largely the same as it has been for each part of the tour, with the stained glass windows in the back and the tiered risers.  The Nameless Ghouls were out in force.  And it felt like there might be a few more of them than usual.

LIke thre previous two shows, the opening music was classical.  Klara stjärnor (Jan Johansson song) and Miserere Mei, Deus (Gregorio Allegri song) before the strains of “Imperium” wafted from behind the giant curtain at the front of the stage.

The curtain came down and Papa strolled out as “Kaisarion” played.  And like each show before, it was followed immediately by “Rats.”

Even though I have seen this particular opening, I never get tired of it.  The crowd is nuts, the band is on fire, there’s lights and explosions and everyone is singing “RATS!” at the top of their lungs.

I was pleased that the setlist wasn’t exactly the same as the previous tour, as it mixed in with the Pre-Imperatour as well. (more…)

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Alex G / Alvvays [A Make the World Better Benefit] (The Dell Music Center, Philadelphia PA, August 26, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Alex G, Alvvays, Dell Music Center, Make the World Better, Philadelphia, PA on August 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 26, 2023] Alex G / Alvvays

Just like last year’s Make the World Better Benefit, everything about this show was geared for me to enjoy.

Actually, that’s not entirely true.  I don;t really like Alex G.  In fact, the last single that got overplayed by him I did not like at all.

But I love Alvvays and would love to see them again.

Plus, this is a benefit show for Make the World Better.

Their motto is “A park should be a place where you see joy every single day. That’s what we’re trying to do.” — Connor Barwin

We believe community-based redevelopment projects have a unique ability to strengthen neighborhoods by creating a sense of ownership over public spaces. We engage residents in all phases of a project, from concept to construction to ongoing programming and upkeep. We design with and for the community—pushing beyond typical play space design: we’ve built community garden plots and a media lab; we have painted murals and all of our projects have included green stormwater infrastructure.

I’ve never been to the Dell Music Center.  It’s an outdoor venue near The Mann Center which probably means parking sucks.  Although I see that it is mostly seated with just a little bit of lawn available.

However, this weekend was already busy enough.  So, we had to give it a miss.  It’s not sold out, but it’s pretty close.  So good for them.

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Lotus Land (Musikfest Cafe, Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA, August 25 & 26, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Lotus Land, Rush, Steelstacks on August 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 25 & 26, 2023] Lotus Land 

This is the third or fourth time I could have seen Lotus Land.  And this time they are playing two nights in a row!

Really, I have no interest in seeing tribute bands.  If I can’t get the real thing, then I won’t get it at all.

However, this Rush tribute band intrigues me because in the pictures they both use doubleneck instruments and their ads say they play mostly late 70 and early 80s Rush.  This is a period I’ve never seen live and I think it might be fun.  Plus they are very highly praised in their reviews.

Turns out Friday night we had plans and I’m really trying to not go out on Saturdays as much, so I’ll just have to hope they come back around when I’m not doing much else.

 

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Amon Amarth (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, August 25, 2023) [GHOST]

Posted in Amon Amarth, BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Ghost, Ghost B.C. on August 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 25, 2023] Amon Amarth

I saw Amon Amarth open for Slayer back in 2019.  At that time I didn’t know them, but I really enjoyed their show–they were melodic and the singer was kind of growly, but he was understandable, and that makes a big difference.

I didn’t realize it had been so long since I had seen them and I kind of expected the same basic show.  But since 2019, they have put out a new album (and have a brand new single out as well).

So while they did play six of the same songs as last time, the order was different and their stage show was HUGE!

Last time they had a ship on stage that they climbed all over.  This time, there was a giant mask on stage and two massive statues of warriors on either side of the stage.

The band sounded huge.  I have now seen them twice in the same venue and would like to see them with a better sound system. (more…)

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Together Pangea / Thick / Reckling (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 24, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Reckling, Thick, Together Pangea, Underground Arts on August 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 24, 2023] Together Pangea / Thick / Reckling

I have wanted to see Thick for about five years now.  It seems whenever they play a show I can’t get to it for one reason or another.  This show was announced and I thought they were headlining.  But they are not.

Together Pangea is a band whose name I like a lot.  But I do not like their music.  It’s not that different from bands that I do like, it just didn’t do anything for me. So I decided I didn’t want to go to this show.

Thick is a fun rocking band from New York.  As I’ve said every time I keep missing them, I hope they come back soon.

I’d never heard of Reckling.  They are a pretty standard fast, catchy punk band.  Fun stuff, but not especially memorable.

 

 

 

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Paradox Museum (American Dream Mall, East Rutherford, NJ, August 24, 2023)

Posted in American Dream Mall, East Rutherford, NJ, Paradox Museum on August 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 24, 2023] Paradox Museum

I had gotten an ad on Instagram for something called Otherworld.  I bought tickets ahead of time and we had a blast when it opened.

Naturally I’d get an ad for the Paradox Museum as well.  There were photos of the weirdness inside and I thought it would be fun to check out as well.

Like Otherworld, the Paradox Museum is a series of rooms  that you walk through and you have your mind blown.  Unlike Otherworld, everything in Paradox is familiar.  There’s no weird rooms or art or crazy things to explore, exactly.

Each room deals with a visual paradox.  And the rooms are designed for you to physically see (and more often take pictures of) things that kind of blow your mind.

So it was the left brain side of Otherworld’s right brain. (more…)

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Jennifer Estep–Protect the Prince (2019) [audiobook 2019] (Crown of Shards #2)

Posted in Assassination, Audiobooks, Death, Fantasy, Jennifer Estep, Lauren Fortgang, Magic, Revenge, Romance, Sex, Supernatural, Trilogy, Unfinished series, Violence on August 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: August 2023] Protect the Prince

It had been a while since I listened t o Book One of this series.  I feel like a book holds up well if you can get caught right up with the action without needing any kind of refresher.  And so it was with this.

The book picks up about six months after the events of Book 1.  Evie is now Queen Everleigh.  And she is slowly coping with her new role.

The first section of the book is called The First Assassination Attempt.

Everleigh has announced her first royal meeting of the royal families and assorted other important people. The royal families suck and are always conniving for something.  And before she can even begin speaking to them, one of the men steps up and tries to undermine her authority.  Among other things he suggests that his son should accompany her on her upcoming  trip abroad (which would more or less solidify them as a dating and soon to be married couple).

Everleigh is thrown off at first but soon regains her composure long enough to walk among the royals and reminding them of all of the ways they have insulted her to her face in the past.

But before she can savor even this minor victory, an assassin arrives with poison.  But Everleigh can smell poison and does not take the bait.  Soon enough they are fighting and when the assassin (who was sent by her nemesis Maven) realizes that there is no way out for her, she takes her own life rather than be captured. (more…)

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Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (肉包不吃肉) [Meatbun Doesn’t Eat Meat]–Remnants of Filth / Yuwu (余污) [Pollution] Book 1 (2019) [translation 2023]

Posted in China, Danmei, Drinking, 肉包不吃肉, Humiliation, LGBTQ, Magic, Magical Realism, Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat, Military, Romance, Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou, Rui, Sex, Translation, Violence, Yu on August 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: August 21, 2023] Remnants of Filth

First.  Unpack the name.

The author of this book is Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (or Roubaobuchirou).  In Chinese that is 肉包不吃肉 which literally translates into Meatbun Doesn’t Eat Meat.  This last phrase is what she is commonly known as in the United States.

In Chinese the book was called Yuwu (余污) which translates into Pollution.  And the English title is Remnants of Filth.

Second.  What is this?

This book is danmei.  According to The Guardian:

Danmei is romantic fiction about men or male beings – ghosts, foxes, even a mushroom – falling in love, written almost exclusively by and for straight women and is the most popular genre of fiction in China.

Meatbun Doesn’t Eat Meat is a very popular danmei writer and her first book series The Husky and His White Cat Shizun is a bestseller.

This series is about two soldiers.  Mo Xi and Gu Mang.  (more…)

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