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Kevin Devine / Petal / Jaded Hart / Pearla [Asbury Park Music + Film Festival] (House of Independents, Asbury Park NJ, March 17, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Asbury Park Music + Film Festival, Asbury Park, NJ, Coronavirus, House of Independents, Jaded Hart, Jaded Heart, Kenny O'Brien & The O'Douls, Kevin Devine, Pearla, Petal, Postponed, Quarantine on April 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: March 17, 2020] Kevin Devine / Petal / Jaded Hart / Pearla

indexThe Asbury Park Music + Film Festival was scheduled for April 23-26.

There was going to be a lot of Music and movies at various locations throughout Asbury Park.

I actually wasn’t interested in the festival, but I was quite interested in seeing Kevin Devine (especially after his Kenny O’Brien St. Patrick’s Day show was cancelled).

Unsurprisingly, the entire Festival has been postponed, with the intention of rescheduling this summer.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band was one of my favorite recent shows.  Having seen him with the full band, I was interested to see him solo again (I’ve seen him solo twice).

I have also seen Petal twice before.  The first time she was solo, the second time with a full band.  While I didn’t really need to see her again, she puts on an emotionally charged show and since she and Kevin are mates, I’m sure they would have done something together.

I hadn’t heard of Jaded Hart and when I looked them up, I misspelled the name as Jaded Heart which brought up a German metal band which seemed–incongruous.  Looking up Jaded Hart, though, I can’t find much of anything about them. There’s a musician named Christopher Wilkerson who comes up in the search, but his Jaded Hart is a cover band from the 1990s.  But I’m thinking it’s not that Jaded Hart.

Pearla is a 23 year old singer-songwriter from Brooklyn.  She sings a kind of mildly psychedelic folk pop.

I’m quite curious what the lineup will look like come summer time.

 

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Craig Thompson–Carnet de Voyage: a travel diary by the author of Blankets (2004) [expanded edition 2018]

Posted in Airplanes, Autobiographies, Babies, Barcelona, Spain, Bilbao, Spain, Books about writers, Bookstores, Camels, Cats, Coronavirus, Craig Thompson, Drawn & Quarterly, Erlangen, Germany, France, Frankfurt, Germany, Frédéric Chopin, Geneva, Switzerland, Graphic Novel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lang Lang, Lewis Trondheim, London England, Lyon, France, Marrakesh, Morocco, Memoirs, Mike Allred, Montpelier, France, NPR/PRI/PBS, Paris, France, Quarantine, Relationships, Sex, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Yuck! on April 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LANG LANG-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #11 (April 17, 2020).

Lang Lang is a superstar pianist whom I have never heard of.  But I agree with the blurb that it’s neat to see a fantastic pianist playing at home.  He seems relaxed and loose.  And the camera angle allows us to see his fingers (and his whole swaying body) pretty clearly.

Here’s something unique: a chance to eavesdrop on the superstar pianist Lang Lang at home.

The 37-year-old pianist, who typically plays sold-out shows to thousands, says he’s taking his recent solitary time to learn new repertoire at home in Shanghai, China. And home is where he thinks we should all be.

He opens with Chopin’s calming “Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor.”  I loved watching him slowly and deliberately play that last note.  It seems like he holds his finger above it for minutes, but it fits in perfectly.

Lang Lang’s latest passion is Bach – specifically the Goldberg Variations, a 75-minute-long cycle of immense complexity grounded in the composer’s durable beauty. Lang Lang offers the “18th and 19th variations,” pieces that in turn represent the strength of logic and the joy of the dance. It’s music, Lang Lang says, that “always brings me to play in another level of artistic thinking.”

These pieces are just magical.  Even if I don;t know them well, I can tell pretty immediately that they are Bach.  Lang Lang’s fluidity is wonderful, as is the way his whole body seems to be absorbing the music as he plays.

[READ: April 11, 2020]: Carnet de Voyage

From March 5 thru May 14, 2004 Craig Thompson was on an international book tour celebrating the success of his (fantastic) book Blankets.

This journal was his visual diary (no cameras were used, only his memory) of his trip.  His editors thought it would be interesting for him to document his trip (and it is).

He flies into Paris then a 2 hour plane trip to Lyon.  He draws pictures of where he has been and the people he has met (and some of their fascinating stories).  There’s some wonderful sketches of rooftops from hotel windows.

He does interviews for radio and magazines. He laughs that one of the photos shoots was in the streets of Paris, where he is all dressed up.  But really he’s a county bumpkin from Wisconsin. The drawing of himself as a glamorous guy and his bumpkin alter ego together is pretty hilarious.

On March 15 he left for Marrakesh, Morocco and this exotic location rally sets the stage for most of his artwork and what is sort of the only “plot” in the book.

He had also just broken up with his girlfriend which weighs on his mind quite a lot on the tour. (more…)

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Kurt Vile / Cate Le Bon / Stella Mozgawa (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 23, 2020) [POSTPONED/CANCELLED]

Posted in Cate Le Bon, Coronavirus, Courtney Barnett, Jersey City, NJ, Kurt Vile, Postponed, Quarantine, Stella Mozgawa, Warpaint, White Eagle Hall on April 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 23, 2020] Kurt Vile / Cate Le Bon / Stella Mozgawa [moved to September 4 which was CANCELLED on June 8].

indexI saw Kurt Vile at White Eagle Hall two years ago and his show was really great–more complex and interesting than I thought it would be (I imagined a lengthy chill out jam, which it was, but it was much more).

S and I also saw him tour with Courtney Barnett which was a totally cool show.

S. has been enjoying Kurt a lot this past year so I decided to get us both tickets to this reasonably close show.

I was actually quite excited that Cate le Bon was opening or playing with him or however that was going to work.  I have wanted to see the quirky Welsh singer for some time.  I was supposed to see her last summer but my plans changed and I couldn’t go.  I assumed that Cate would play first and then Kurt and they’d probably play some together.

Stella Mozgawa is the drummer for the band Warpaint.  She has also played drums for Kurt Vile and Cate Le Bon’s last couple of albums.

I’m not sure what she was going to do, but I sure how she is going to play with them in September.

UPDATE: On June 8, the show was formally cancelled.

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Juana Molina (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 22, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Juana Molina, Juana y Sus Hermanas, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Underground Arts on April 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 22, 2020] Juana Molina

indexJuana Molina is a wonderfully bizarre performer.

Molina is from Argentina and she plays a  blend of folk, electronica, and experimental pop (which I find to be more than a little out of the mainstream), playing with some great noises and percussion.

She recently released a more or less punk EP, Forfun, which she was the foundation of this tour.

This show was only cancelled a couple of days ago–they really held out until the last minute for this one.

This show was scheduled for the same night as the Real Estate/Palm show, so I was torn about which show to go to.  I really want to see Palm again, but I feel like Juana Molina would be a much more interesting and rare treat.

I do hope she reschedules.

Apparently it is common knowledge that her career began with her initial success coming as a massively popular comedic actress on the show “Juana y Sus Hermanas” in the early-1990s.  She walked away during the height of its popularity to pursue music.  The music was not well received at home, but she was embraced here in the States.

 

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Real Estate / Palm (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 22, 2020) [POSTPONED/CANCELLED]

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Palm, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Real Estate, Union Transfer on April 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: CANCELLED: April 22, 2020] Real Estate / Palm

indexI saw Real Estate open for Belle and Sebastian five years ago.  I enjoyed their mellow set and found them very pleasant.

Seeing as how they are from Ridgewood, NJ (about five minutes from where I grew up), I feel like I should like them so much more.

Mostly I like their sound in small doses–it’s a little too mellow for me.  But i do enjoy them.

Mostly, though, I was going to go to this show for openers Palm.  I have seen Palm twice, both times in small venues.  I would have liked to see them on a larger stage (although I can’t imagine a less comparable band for them to play with than Real Estate.

Whereas Real Estate plays pretty songs, Palm plays chaotic, untethered, truly original songs.  They are magnificent and I love watching them play their bizarre songs.

There aren’t too many bands where I’ve thought “I need to see them a lot more,” but Palm is one of those bands.

This show was postponed, although I am really not sure if Palm will be with then when it gets rescheduled.  We’ll see.

UPDATE: On May 19 the band formally cancelled the show/tour

With all of the uncertainty about when we’ll be able to play live shows again, we have no choice but to formally cancel all of our announced headline shows including the previously postponed dates.

Please know that this is devastating for us on every level, but we have no doubt that it is the right decision to make.

Stay strong everyone, we will be back!

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Lotus Land (Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA, April 20, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Coronavirus, Lotus Land, Postponed, Quarantine, Rush, Steelstacks on April 20, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 20, 2020] Lotus Land [moved to October 30]

indexI 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.

I put this on my calendar as a show to see if there weren’t much else going on at the time. Well, it turned out to be a hugely busy concert month so I probably wouldn’t have gone.

However, Lotus Land seem to tour up and down the East Coast pretty much constantly, including this rescheduled show in October.  I suspect I’ll be able to see them some time in the not too distant future.

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Jens Lekman (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 19, 2020) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Every Little Thing, Jens Lekman, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Union Transfer on April 19, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: April 19, 2020] Jens Lekman

indexI have really enjoyed Jens Lekman over the years. His Tiny Desk Concert is tremendous.  He was even the subject of a request in an episode of Every Little Thing, a podcast that S and I really like.  (A caller could not get a fragment of a song out of his head and it was one of Lekman’s).

I have been wanting to see him live for years (he last came around in 2017, but I missed it).  But this night is a special person’s birthday so there was no way I was going to go out.

Lekman has cancelled his entire tour, but I have to assume he’ll be back soon.  And I hope it won’t be on another birthday.

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Dead Can Dance / Agnes Obel (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 17, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Agnes Obel, Coronavirus, Dead Can Dance, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, The Met Philadelphia on April 17, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 17, 2020] Dead Can Dance / Agnes Obel [moved to April 23, 2021]

indexI really enjoyed Dead Can Dance’s mix of cultural touchstones on their earlier albums. I have a bunch of their releases up until they broke up.

Somehow I missed their reunion entirely.  I also missed their subsequent reunion and new albums.

They haven’t played in this area for 8 years and I was pretty pleased to finally experience them live.  I bought a ticket for this show and then a few days later it was announced that they would be playing the State Theatre in New Brunswick.  Since that venue is about three times closer to me, I snatched up a great seat for that show and figured I could sell the Philly ticket.

Then a couple months ago the Theatre announced that the New Brunswick show was unexpectedly cancelled. No reason was given.  I don’t think it was sales as it looked like they sold well.  So that sucked, but I was glad I still had this ticket.

Agnes Obel is a Danish born singer who plays quirky atmospheric chamber pop.  I have heard great things about her for many years but never really investigated her music.  I was looking forward to learning about her in this setting.

She was actually scheduled to open for The The on their 2018 tour.  However, the three New York area shows had different openers, so I didn’t get to see her then.

I hope they all come back around together.

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Margaret Glaspy / Kate Davis (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 16, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Kate Davis, Margaret Glaspy, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Underground Arts on April 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 16, 2020] Margaret Glaspy / Kate Davis

indexI loved Glaspy’s album Emotions and Math and I really wanted to see her perform it live.  Turned out she had played in Philly a couple of months before I first heard the album.

So I figured she’d be back soon.  Now here it is four years and a new album later and she’s finally coming back around.

However, this show conflicted with Kishi Bashi, so I was going to miss out on it anyhow.

Kate Davis is a former jazz prodigy who has suing jazz standards and played Carnegie hall.  Now she has gone indie rock.  She has a really nice voice and her songs seem to start quietly and conclude with a grunge-lite flourish.

 

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Kishi Bashi / Tall Tall Trees (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 16, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Jersey City, NJ, Kishi Bashi, Postponed, Quarantine, Tall Tall Trees, White Eagle Hall on April 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 16, 2020] Kishi Bashi / Tall Tall Trees

indexWe saw Kishi Bashi back in November and it was one of the best concerts I have ever been too.  The spectacle was amazing. We were in exactly the right place to help him crowd surf and he played the encore in the middle of the audience.  It was also his birthday.

When I saw that he was playing again and at White Eagle Hall, I wasn’t sure if seeing him again so soon after the other show would somehow diminish the previous show.  But it was worth the risk.

Now with the delay, even more time will have past which makes the show even more appealing.

Tall Tall Trees is the banjo player is Kishi Bashi’s band.  He’s a fantastic player, using his banjo as a percussive as well as a stringed instrument.  I like his albums (although not quite as much as I want to).  I imagined he’d be terrific live.

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