Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for March, 2024

Grouplove / Bully (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, March 23, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bully, Franklin Music Hall, Grouplove, Philadelphia, PA on March 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 23, 2024] Grouplove / Bully

I really only know one Grouplove song (“Tongue Tied”) but I have heard that their concerts are a ton of fun.  I tried to go to one last year but I couldn’t make the date.

It was weird when my daughter suggested that she’d like to see them too.  But that was only casually mentioned, so I don’t know how serious she was.

If I hadn’t had plans to see Voivod on the same night I would have grabbed her a ticket and we would have gone together.  Well, I’m sure they’ll be back again.

I was actually more excited to go once I saw that Bully would be opening.  Bully is great and I have seen them once before.   She put on a great show when opening for two band where noone cared about them.  Since then they have gotten a little bigger and I’m sure will be better received.

Honestly I’d prefer a Bully headlining show.

Read Full Post »

Party Nerves (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 23, 2024) [OTOBOKE BEAVER]

Posted in Drinking Boys and Girls Choir, Otoboke Beaver, Party Nerves, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on March 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 23, 2024] Party Nerves

I saw Party Nerves open for Say Sue Me back in November and now t hey are opening for Drinking Boys and Girls Choir and Otoboke Beaver.  There seems to be a pattern.

Since it’s only been four months, my opinions of them haven’t changed that much.  Except to say that they sound even better.  Tighter, more powerful.  And the size of this venue didn’t affect them at all.

After a song when someone shout “shit is tight bro” Mike the bassist said thanks, “we practice.  A lot.  We don’t have lives.”  And then drummer Pavlo chimed in, “hey, I have a dog.  And a wife.”

All three members are super in tune with each other, but fairly or unfairly, most of the attention has to go to guitarist Woolly since he’s the one playing the lightning fast, non-stop surf guitar riffs. Yup, rocking surf guitar that reminds me of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet (the band who made The Kids in the Hall theme song), although listening to them this time, they have more urgency and intensity that Shadowy’s laid back vibe).

Admittedly a lot of the songs are samey–I mean, it’s instrumental and it’s all kind of reverbed and riff-based.  But each guy is really good and the riffs are tasty.

The crowd was really impressed.  Everyone I heard talk about them had nothing but good things to say.

Like last time, 30 minutes was pretty perfect for me to enjoy their stuff without getting overwhelmed by the surf vibes.  I wonder what the longest show they’ve played is.

Party Nerves is a great opening act, check them out! (more…)

Read Full Post »

Latetia Sadier / Storefront Church (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, March 22, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Latetia Sadier, Philadelphia, PA, Stereolab, Storefront Church on March 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 22, 2024] Latetia Sadier

I was once a huge fan of Stereolab.  When I finally saw them live in 2019, it was an amazing experience.  I couldn’t believe how well they duplicated the sounds, but kept it all so lively.

I saw them again in 2022 and had a less wonderful time.  More because of the crowd, but they also played a lot of stuff I didn’t know and it was kind of tedious.

I didn’t know that singer Latetia Sadier put out solo records, although it makes sense that she does.

I was sort of intrigued to see her, but with me going to many many other shows that week, I had to give this one a miss.

Opening for her is Storefront Church who I’d never heard of.

Storefront Church’s surreal, lush, and dark atmospheres are the creation of Los Angeles musician Lukas Frank.  The band specializes in atmospheric and melodramatic indie rock.

I listened to one song (with Phoebe Bridgers guesting) and it was slow and melodramatic and I did not care for it at all.

 

I was  onceahigefanofStereolab.

Read Full Post »

Rx Bandits / Zeta (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 22, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Rx Bandits, Union Transfer, Zeta on March 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 22, 2024] Rx Bandits / Zeta

I was not familiar with Rx Bandits when they announced this show.  Indeed the only reason I was interested in this show at all was because Zeta was announced as the opener.

I had seen Zeta once and they blew me away. I would do just about anything to see them again.

But this show, which is right in the middle of a bunch of other shows that I’m going to, was just too much.

When I read about this tour, though it did make me think two or three times about whether I should go.  There’s only a handful of shows, and I always feel special when I am able t o go to a little tour like this. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Wax Jaw / Wonderglu / Lowercoaster (Love City Brewing Company, Philadelphia, PA, March 21, 2024) [FREE SHOW] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Love City Brewing, Lowercoaster, Philadelphia, PA, Wax Jaw, Wonderglu on March 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 21, 2024] Wax Jaw / Wonderglu / Lowercoaster

Thursday nights at Love City Brewing (which I had never heard of before–it opened in 2018) are Free Music Nights.

Wax Jaw, whom I have now failed to see six times, announced this special show as part of their short tour (after the tour dates had been set).  I grabbed a free ticket from DICE and was all set to go.  I was even going to blow off my Wednesday night show so that I’d only have one show during the week.  I thought my wife and daughter were doing something but when I found out they weren’t I decided to stay home and try out Senor Tacos in Bradley Gardens (which was delicious).

So again, no Wax Jaw for me (I have seen them once, at least).  But it’s getting silly how many times I haven’t seen them now. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Bombay Bicycle Club (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2024)

Posted in Bombay Bicycle Club, Mustard Service, Nagin, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on March 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 20, 2024] Bombay Bicycle Club

 

The show opened with bouncy horns and fanfare as they sang the song “Just a Little More Time.”  The live version was bigger and felt more fun than the record and I knew that this was going to be an enjoyable set.

This segued into the second song on the new album, which had lots of drums and a cool guitar riff and sound.  I really enjoyed watching guitarist Jamie MacColl, confidently playing these riff and getting such varied sounds.

The middle of the song has Jack Steadman whispering I want to let go and forget and he was indeed whispering it pretty quietly.  So much so that some jackass yelled “fix the mic” just before he started getting louder.  Duh. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Mustard Service (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2024) [BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB]

Posted in Bombay Bicycle Club, Mustard Service, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on March 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 20, 2024] Mustard Service

Mustard Service is an indie rock band based in Miami, Florida, formed in 2015. Self-described as “zest pop”, the band’s music draws influences from rock, surf, jazz, funk, and bossa nova.

When they came out and started playing I thought they were joking.  They play with a total wedding band vibe.  There’s soft gently echoed guitars, wavery synths, and a kind of crooning vocal.

And yet, the lyrics are contemporary and funny.

The amusingly titled “Get Fucked” (which has no curses in the lyrics), features this gem:

So when I tell you, hun that I just need to go outside and smoke a blunt, the world seems like it’s spinning, I don’t wanna die, my skin might disagree, but then my heart, it flies, every single day I’m going down.

The songs are all mostly quite short, and yet there were solos galore.  Leo Cattani played a few great keyboard solos (with all kinds of settings on the machine).  And even Augusto “Tuto” Di Catarina had a brief bass solo in one of the songs.

Adam Perez on drums was always smiling and was quite amusing as he introduced “(Your Cat) Don’t Stand a Chance” by saying it was a song about their cat Smoky.  Amusingly it’s about cats fighting, but it’s smooth and discoey.

The band was a four piece for this show with Marco Rivero Ochoa on lead vocals and lead guitar.  Apparently the band has a lead guitarist guitar, Gabriel Marinuchi (or “Nuchi”) but he was not there.  Rivero Ochoa’s solos were good but not amazing or anything. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Sleater-Kinney (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, March 18, 2024)

Posted in Black Belt Eagle Scout, Philadelphia, PA, Sleater-Kinney, Theatre of Living Arts on March 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 18, 2024] Sleater-Kinney 

This was my fifth time seeing Sleater-Kinney.  I saw them twice back at the turn of the century and then two more times in the last few years.

I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to see them again, but I thought a show at TLA would be a great way to see them and when my wife said she wanted to come along too, I knew it would be super fun.

The band has a new album out and they played 9 of ten songs from it.  However, they played 24 songs in total so it’s not even a majority of tracks.   (Interestingly they barely played anything from the other records “from this century.”

The older songs definitely got the most love from the audience, but I think this new album is quite good and most of the new songs received appropriate accolades.

They opened with “Hell” and “Needlessly Wild” a chance for both Corin and then Carrie to sing lead.

The setlist was pretty varied from there, including a number of older songs that I hadn’t heard live before.   Like “Oh!” from One Beat, a super fun song with great harmonies from the rest of the band.

The band this time was similar to their 2019 band: Angie Boylan (drums), Katie Harkin (guitars/keyboards) and Toko Yasuda (keyboards). but Katie Harkin, who has played with them a lot was replaced by Teeny Lieberson.  Their backing vocals were terrific–something I never really thought about with S-K before, but their voices really fleshed out the overall sound. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Black Belt Eagle Scout (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, March 18, 2024)

Posted in Black Belt Eagle Scout, Philadelphia, PA, Sleater-Kinney, Theatre of Living Arts on March 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 18, 2024] Black Belt Eagle Scout

I was pretty excited to see that Black Belt Eagle Scout was going to open for Sleater-Kinney.  I’ve wanted to see her /them for a while and this was a great opportunity to see them.

I had heard a few songs by them a couple of years back but I had also heard that the live show was terrific.

The band came out–a trio.  There were two guitars and drums.   Singing was Katherine Paul, a Swinomish/Iñupiaq singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Portland, Oregon.  Paul blends the vibe of Pacific Northwest rock with elements of Coast Salish traditional music

Her music is grungey in its tone, but it is also pretty slow, with Paul’s voice soaring in wonderful and at times unexpectedly places.  She is also an amazing guitar player, jamming out some killer solos as the songs (and the set) wrapped up.

I enjoyed the way “My Blood Runs Through this Land” got bigger and bigger, with her singing wordless lines (again, such a good voice) and cool lyrics like

I know you speak through me IFeel it in the sound of waterTouching all the rocks I feelNo one can takе this moment away ’causeMy blood runs through this land IFind it in the land and sеa

“Treeline” opened with Camas Logue playing big soft drum with mallets–yes it felt tribal, but not like a stereotype.  Fancy Dance followed and it was faster and much shorter (barely 2 minutes) which came as a but of a surprise after the first two five minute songs.

What was really interesting to me about their set is that there was no bass player.   It was like they took a page out of the Sleater-Kinney playbook: two guitars and no bass.  (apparently there is typically a bass player, but they were not missed in this set).  The second guitarist Claire Puckett mostly played chords, but also played lead lines and even soloed a bit with Katherine at the end.

The set seems to have moved through the band’s output, with only one song from the previous album.   And then three songs from the debut, which the crowd seemed  to really like.

She dedicated “Indians Never Die” to the Lenape Indians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  It had a simple but super catchy chord progression and they jammed the heck out of it at the end.

Sam, A Dream was my favorite song of the set.  After the song moves slowly along, it picks up in the middle and Paul plays a very cool hammered on riff that isn’t complicated but sounds great.  I love the way the band played around that riff and then returned to it at the end.

They ended with the fantastic “Soft Stud” and the recurring line “I know you’re taken/need you want you.”  Like many of her songs, the basics of the song are simple, but the way the song gets bigger and adds new elements (like the simple but catchy guitar riff that comes in halfway through) is really exciting, with Paul absolutely rocking out the guitar solo at the end of the show.

It was a great set.

  1. My Blood Runs Through This Land ≅
  2. Treeline ≅
  3. Fancy Dance ≅
  4. My Heart Dreams ∇
  5. Indians Never Die Ô
  6. Sam, a Dream Ô
  7. Loss & Relax %
  8. Soft Stud Ô
≅ The Land, the Water, the Sky (2023)
% 2019 single
∇ At the Party With My Brown Friends (2019)
Ô Mother of My Children (2017)

 

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Five Orange Pips” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1891)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Australia, Blackmail, Lady Lamb, Magana, Mitski, Murder, Mystery, Racism, Regrets, Robbery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on March 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: February 4, 2024] “The Five Orange Pips”

The fifth story in this collection is notable to me for the context of the mystery more than the mystery itself.

A gentleman named John Openshaw tells Holmes that his Uncle Elias has been killed.  As a young man, Elias went to Florida, joined the Confederate Army, made some money and came back to England.  John lives on his estate.

Recently Elias received a mysterious letter from India with the initials K.K.K. on it.  The only thing the letter contained was five orange seeds (pips).  Elias frekaed out and became even more reclusive.

Elias was found dead on the grounds of his house, but it was ruled a suicide.  John did not believe it was a suicide.

John’s father inherited the estate.  He soon received a similarly peculiar note with orange pips.  This note told him to leave Elias’s papers at the sundial.  But Elias had burnt the papers.  John’s father was dead soon after–this one ruled an accident.

John has now received a letter asking for the papers and that’s why he has come to Holmes.

What’s most notable about this story is that the K.K.K. (and this seems really obvious now, but who would have guessed) stands for Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was effectively defunct at the time he wrote this.  Sadly it has been revitalized since this writing and remains the scourge that it was at the time.

Obviously, Holmes didn’t go after the Klan, but it’s nice to know that the ship carrying the Klansmen was destroyed in the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »