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Archive for the ‘Comedians’ Category

Gene Luen Yang & Mike Holmes–Secret Coders: Secrets & Sequences (2017)

Posted in Better Than Ezra, Canadian Music, Children's Books, Clark [Canadian band], Fears, First Second :01, Gene Luen Yang, Graphic Novel, Hebrew School Dropouts, John Tielli, John Wojewoda, Kevin Hearn, Mike Holmes, Paul Linklater, Paul Quarrington, Robots, Science, Selina Martin, Series, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Technology, The Buttless Chaps, The Imponderables, Threats, Unfinished series, tagged on November 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Fall Nationals, Night 3 of 10, The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (November 13, 2004).

The Rheostatics, live at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, November 13, 2004. This was the 3rd night of their 10 night Fall Nationals run at the Horseshoe.  This show was exactly 13 years ago!

I compared all of the setlists from the nine shows and was somewhat surprised to see just how much repeating they did. Most of the repeated songs are new ones–they played a lot from 2067, which makes sense.  But for a Fall Nationals, there’s really not a lot of “popular” or “rare” stuff.  But the band is in terrific form for all nine shows and the recordings are consistently great.

Over the PA, they’re playing some good music, which Martin says, “That was my brother’s [John Tielli] band, Clark, on the PA there.  We’re the Rheostatics project.

They open the show with “It” which is a fun way to start.  Martin is feeling a little silly and sings “I grew up on dinosaurs” and the rooooars to the delight of all.

You hear Martin say, “Woodstuck?”  They play and Dave sing a line and says “That’s wrong.”  But the rest of the song is right on and at the end after “hippie child,” Martin says “waah.”  Tim tells the story of someone bringing them a 24 track master of that song in Vancouver.  But he felt it was too heavy to bring home.  Although someone (Martin?) says that it is in fact in his basement.

“Happiness” seems to rock along really nicely.  After which Martin says, “It’s Saturday night in Bonertown.  The city where you can’t.” Dave: “But you can, its’ ok to have a boner.”  Mike: “Yeah, but can you smoke it?”

“Mumbletypeg” sounds a little sloppy at the beginning and Dave doesn’t sing the first line.  But they pull it together.  It’s followed by “Marginalized” which opens with a groovy drum before the funky bass and then an introduction of Chris Stringer on the keyboards.

Mike comments, it’s such a lovely extended summer up here.  Holy french fry lights, designed to beautifully bake us.

On “Four Little Songs,” each guy takes his verse: Martin, Tim, but when it’s Mike’s turn, Chris plays some crazy trippy synth noises.  Dave gets his verse and at the end, the fast riff devolves into utter chaos with Martin and Chris just making all kinds of weird ass noises.  They end the song with the bass thumps and state “By Mennen.”

Dave introduces “The Tarleks,” “here’s a song about a super salesmen”  Once again, Martin has a lot of fun singing it.

They play a zany version of “I Dig Music” and in the middle where Mike has to do his slow part (which he seems to really dislike), he says, “For the longest time I’ve been thinking Dave’s ideas were so gay and then he offered me a martini.”  After a sip MPW sings the Seymour Stein line and then they rock the end of the song.   I really enjoy Tim singing the “too bad.” backing vocals.

AS they start “Here Comes the Image” Dave notes the “double keyboard attack, eh?”  It’s really evident in the solo section as the one keyboard plays the solo and the other plays trippy sound effects.  Then up comes Jen Foster on accordion to join them for “Who Is This Man, And Why Is He Laughing?”  Martin is singing something in his robotic voice thing but I can’t tell if it’s just sounds or actual words.  At the end, Martin says, ”That’s a nice walk in the park, doncha think?”

Tim notes: “our heritage gets to shine in that song.  A little bit of Czech, little bit of Italian, little bit of French, little bit of Polish.  No English.”

“Pornography” opens with synths which is a nice change.  coincidentally, Dave says to someone: “You put your shirt back on, I see.  Good idea, sir.”

“We Went West” continues the rather mellow middle section of the show.  At some point Dave, I think says, “while you’re there check out the place mats they’re hilarious.”

Next up is “California Dreamline.”  Dave announces, “We’d like to invite Paul Linklater up for the next song.  He sang this song with us last year on guest vocalist night and we have guest vocalist night next Wednesday.  His rendition is pretty painful.

The next guest is during “I am Drummstein” Ladies and gentlemen, the star of stage and sound in Belleville, Ontario, Mr Anthony Fragomeni:  “Too bad that you quit Vebron, wasn’t working out?  They kind of sucked.”  While they are in the middle grooving section, Tim says, “This is the Better Than Ezra part of the evening.”  In a real coincidence, on this same day in 2017, Barenaked Ladies announced a summer tour with Better Than Ezra opening.  I haven’t thought about them in ten years.

“Satan is the Whistler” is quiet and menacing to start.  Martin gets the fast guitar riff pretty well this time.  But he’s still being a little silly singing “moose away aroo aroo arroo” and then “Satan is the Whistler, Satan Live in Whistler, arooo!!!”

During the encore, they raffle off an item with a ticket.  When Tim reads out the number, someone whoops and Dave says, “There’s always one guy who claims he has won when he hasn’t won.  I wonder what void you’re trying to fill in your life.”  Then after a pause.  “Just kidding.”  No one claims the prize, so Dave says anyone can go to the merch table with it later.

“Little Bird, Little Bird” is insane.  It starts with some silliness when Dave mocks Tim for his hat and then says, “Tim you have to bring popping and snapping to country music.  It hasn’t happened yet.”  They play the song and then midway through the it stops with much laughing.  Dave says, “there’s no room for karate in this song.  Cant believe you re always trying to sneak your karate in there.”

Time retorts, “Wait a second, you guys made that “ho ha”part while I wasn’t in the studio and now it comes time to do it live and I’m the only one doing it?  Dave says: “We’re not going hoo ha and laughing in the middle of it.”
Tim asks the audience, “Who won the debate, Tim or Dave?”
Dave: “There was no debate because you’re not gonna do it any more.”
They compromise: “everybody ho ha and nobody karate.”
Tim mutters, “I hardly even karate’d I can’t believe you saw it.”
Dave: “I couldn’t help but see it, you almost took me out with one of those chops.”
Martin: “He’s feeling sensitive like a little bird.”

They finish the song and then Martin says, “okay we’ll do ‘PIN’ for ya.”  But before the song starts we get a run down of all of the opening acts for the next few shows:

Sunday matinée: Hebrew School Dropouts on at 4.
Monday night Selina Martin with the Formidable Forces of Bigness (Mike: Close enough Faceless Forces of Bigness).
Tuesday is free.  We’ll give about 61%.
Wednesday night Kevin Hearn is opening and it’s guest vocalist night.  Tim: “I’m definitely coming on Wednesday.”  Martin: “I’m going to come for every single night (get the bonus pack).”
Thursday is Killer Thursday Danny Michel.  And apparently John Wojewoda will do some Bluegrass Nightmare.
Friday the Buttless Chaps are flying in from Vancouver.
And Saturday, The Imponderables will be back.

After “PIN,” “Ozzy” sounds even more maudlin with the mandolin and backing vocals, but there’s a pretty wild solo.  There’s a special shout out to Chris Stringer: “you can’t tell but he’s actually playing all our parts for us. “

They end with a lovely ending “Making Progress” which has a wonderfully smooth ending.  Thanks to all the out of towners, out of country-ers and out of mind-ers.

Then the guys come back out to try to get rid of the raffle prize.  Tim runs through a bunch of numbers.  Come on, people get with it.  I wish I had money to burn. I remember when 50 cents meant something.  Finally he says, “Well come and get the fucking t-shirt, Oh. He’s a liar.”  This is so embarrassing… anyone show me half a ticket?

[READ: April 14, 2017] Secret Coders: Secrets & Sequences

Secret Coders 2 ended with a pretty big cliffhanger.  Tabitha and I were a little bummed that there wasn’t more of a recap at the beginning of this book.  We sure hope that book 4 has a bit of recap because we’ll never remember the ending of this one when its time for that book (which just came out).

The kids are able to use the repeat function of the turtles to scare of the mean old rugby players.  In the commotion, it sure looks like the Professor’s nose falls off (what?!).

The next day in school, one of the rugby players calls for a truce, he never realized that Principal Dean was such a bad guy.

The kids learn about parameters–how you can use the same code, but just change a variable to make a bigger object (in this case, triangles). (more…)

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Stig Sæterbakken–Self-Control (1998) [translation 2012]

Posted in Angst, Bob Newhart, Canadian Music, Delusions, Drinking, Fears, Film & TV, Foreign Books, Futility, Humiliation, Jimi Hendrix, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Karl Ove Knausgård, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Neil Young, Norway, Rheostatics, Sean Kinsella, Short Books, Stig Sæterbakken, Translation, tagged on September 29, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS–Fall Nationals The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, ON. Night 7 of 13 (November 16, 2003).

 This was the all ages Sunday afternoon 7th show of the Rheostatics 13 night Fall Nationals run at the Horseshoe.  Rheostatics Live has recordings of nights 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7.

This is the final concert available on Rheostatics Live for the 2013 Fall Nationals.  It was an all-ages show and as such was a bit more delicate than some of the other shows.

Hip Lingo opened the night. And then the band begins with a sweet mostly acoustic version of “Song of the Garden.”  Then Tim says, “This song “Loving Arms” was written by Dot, our good friend.

Once again, during “Aliens,” at the “distraction” line, someone starts playing the guitar melody from “When Winter Comes” and it does serve as a kind of distraction–they flub the song a bit.   Later, in the quiet part Tim starts playing the melody for “Artenings Made of Gold” on the bass.

“Tarleks” is described as the second in the Alien trilogy.  Mike asks if Martin has another yet to come.  Martin says, “I got a pack of em.”  They miss the segue to the middle but just play one more measure and catch up.

Tim says “we brought some spongy earplugs down if anyone needs them.”  (They’re so nice).

Dave has a question for the kids in the audience.  “Ozzy Osbourne funny or scary?”  Kids:  funny.  Martin:  funny and sad.  Dave says this is a song about the twilight of Ozzy’s career (Martin: and his awareness).

“King of the Past” is a quieter version.  You can really hear Martin doing great backing vocals.

They acknowledge Maureen at the craft table–it’s make your own DVD night.  Martin: She’ll give you a dirty look ’cause shes really mean.

A pretty “Northern Wish” and then a gentle “PIN.”  After the song, Martin plays the riff to PIN one more time.  Mike says: always time to practice.  And then a lovely “Mumbletypeg.”

There’s some joking and then someone says, “By the end of this run we hope to have beautifully constructed spice rack. There’s one shot of Mike on the DVD where mike looks like this.  We call it building the spice rack.  When you can’t come up with any more intense ideas at the end of a song so you just end up pounding the wall.”

This is a song about a girl.  “Claire.”  Was she a girl or a hallucination?  Or was she a really fast car?

For “Take Me In Your Hand,” it’s Mike and Martin singing gently with acoustic guitar.

During a pause Dave says, in case anyone is interested, Edmonton is beating Montreal 24-21 in the 3rd quarter of the Grey Cup.  Good game, jeez, we should get this over with.  Just kidding.  Strangely here’s a song about the CFL [“Palomar”].  We’re trying to get Tim to stop writing songs about football but he can’t.  It’s like a virus with him.  It’s quiet with some great backing vocals especially at the end.

“Here’s a song about nutrition.  More bands should write about nutrition.  A song about nutrition with a political sensibility.”  They start “Brea, Meat, Peas and Rice.”  Dave gets excited: “Really.  A clapping crowd, eh?”

He says Hi to his daughter Cecilia and then says “My dad is here.  Do you wanna watch the Grey Cup?  It’s on in the dressing room.”  Mike says, “Supportive father, extra supportive son.”

Before the next song, Martin says, “This is the actual Fender Strat that Jimi Hendrix ate at Mariposa.  See there’s the bandage.   He used to put pastrami in his sweatband so he could get nourishment while he was playing.”  It’s a beautiful “Here Comes the Image” with a special thanks to MPW on keys.

“Little Bird” starts very quietly with percussion in the form of “shhs” but it gets big by the middle.

Introducing “Stolen Car,” Martin says, “This is a song about stealing really expensive stuff… or dreaming about stealing it.”
Dave: “Sort of like The Bob Newhart show.  It was all a dream.”
Martin: “Really? the last Bob Newhart?  How old is Bob Newhart?  He must be like 95 [he was 74!].  He’s been going forever.  He looks the same.  He was on the TV.”
Dave: “Wow he’s going places if he’s on that thing.  Although I don’t think it will supplant the radio.”

Then Dave tells a story about his friend who had two interesting concepts:

what if the telephone followed the internet and people thought wow I can finally actually talk to someone!

But even better: what if when you farted it was colored.  It would make life way more interesting–Stand at the top of the CN tower and watch all the colors.  At night the CN Tower would be gorgeous.”

Martin says, “This is a very serious song.”
Dave: “It wouldn’t be very serious if you did it in Donald Duck voice.  It would have a whole new feel.”
Martin: “I can’t do Donald Duck voice.”
Dave: “Ala George Jones.  He talked in Donald Duck voice for a year.  My friend saw him play in the States and he did five songs in Donald Duck voice and that was it.  And they loved it.”
Martin: “Was he bitter or is he really funny?”
Dave: “I think he just liked the voice.”
Martin: “That’s a pretty high commitment.”

Even though the song is serious, when he sings he build a fence for all his friends, he throws in “all two of them.”

During the encore, Dave thanks everyone under 18 who came out.

Then comes “Harvest,” sung by Dave’s daughter or son (it sounds like he says Hi Sessi.  She/he is adorable (four/six years old depending).  She says “Harvest by Neil Young.”  How’s it feel to be onstage?  Good.  She does a really good job.  And then it’s over and she says over and over “I wanna do it again, Can I?”  he starts crying a bit, Dave says, “We’ll do one next year a longer one next year.  Your father needs to sing some now.”  “NO!”

They play a boppy version of “Home Again,” in which Martin mutters something about “living in the ass of an uncaring god.”  And they end with a romping version of “Legal Age Life at Variety Store”

[READ: February 10, 2017] Self-Control 

Did I pick up this book by Stig Sæterbakken because his name is Stig and his last name has a character I can’t pronounce?  Yes.  But also because I had heard about Stig from Karl Ove, my favorite Norwegian writer.  He had raved about Stig (and is blurbed on this book).

This book is evidently the second book in the “S” trilogy.  Although as I understand it they are only loosely connected–same characters but the stories aren’t directly sequential.

Andreas Feldt is a conflicted man–primarily internally conflicted.  I’m not sure if book one tells us about this, but as this book opens we learn that Andreas hasn’t seen his adult daughters in many years–talked to one of them, but not seen her.  He is meeting her for lunch.

The talk is awkward, certainly, and eventually he blurts out “Your mother and I are getting a divorce.”  Her reaction is fairly flat.  And later we learn that it is not even true–he just said it. (more…)

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Chuck Klosterman–But What If We’re Wrong: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past (2016)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, Advice, Books about music, Books about writers, Brian Greene, Chuck Klosterman, David Byrne, Essays, Football, Gambling, George Saunders, Herman Melville, History, Idiots, Junot Díaz, Music, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nostalgia, Politicians, Rheostatics, Ronald Reagan, Russia, Science, Seth Meyers, Sports, Superstitions, Technology, The Clash, Video Games, War, tagged on September 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »

klosetrSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS–Fall Nationals The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, ON. Night 1 of 13 (November 10, 2003).

This was the 1st night of their 13 night Fall Nationals run at the Horseshoe.  Rheostatics Live has recordings of nights 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7.

 The sound quality of this show is great, although it’s quite disconcerting how quiet it is between songs—must be soundboard with no audience pick up at all.

Dave chats with the crowd of course: “Always exciting on opening night—a tingle in the air.  We’re basking in the glow of David Miller’s victory tonight even if he doesn’t know the words to “Born to Run.”

David Raymond Miller is the president and CEO of WWF-Canada, the Canadian division of the international World Wildlife Fund. A former politician, Miller was the 63rd Mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010. He entered politics as a member of the New Democratic Party, although his mayoral campaign and terms in office were without any formal party affiliation. He did not renew his party membership in 2007.  After declining poll numbers, Miller announced on September 25, 2009, that he would not seek a third term as mayor in the 2010 election, citing family reasons.  He was replaced by Rob frickin Ford.

They play a lot of songs from their not yet released album (not until 2004, in fact) 2067.

They open with “The Tarleks” which is follows by 2001’s “Song of the Garden” and then back to 2067 with “I Dig Music.”  The new songs sound similar to the release but perhaps the words might not be solidified yet—there’s also no “too fucking bad” in “I Dig Music.”

Tim’s “In It Now” comes next with that cool opening riff.   It segues into one of my favorite Tim-sung songs “Marginalized” also from 2067.  I love the drums, the guitar riff, everything about it—although they are off-key as they start.

Dave says, “We’re surprising ourselves a little by playing new stuff.   But when Martin asks for requests and people say “Saskatchewan” Martin starts playing it (see, the squeaky wheel…).

“Fan letter for Ozzy Osbourne” (also from 2067)  it sounds a bit more spare and sad (with no wailing vocal at the end).  It’s followed by “a very old song we wrote in 1989, I think, but it still applies on this special occasion.”  He says it’s called “You can’t go back to Woodstock baby you were just 2 years old you, you weren’t even born.”

There’s a quiet “In This Town” that’s followed by a lengthy “When Winter Comes.”  This song features a remarkably pedestrian guitar solo (sloppy and very un-Martin like).

Dave says they were recording audio commentary from a show two years ago (for what?  is this available somewhere?).  He says that night wasn’t a very good patter night.  Good music night, though.

Tim says, “So we overdubbed good stage banter. … Till I sparked up a fattie and giggled like a moron.”
Martin: “till you sparked up a fattie and the ridiculousness of the situation became glaringly apparent.”
Dave: “Martin I can’t believe you just said ‘sparked up a fattie.'”
Martin: “The times they are a-changing.”

Martin introduces “Aliens” by saying “This would be a b-minor chord.  The whole thing seems a little weird–Martin does some odd voices and weird guitar noises—it almost sounds out of tune or like it’s just the wrong guitar.

Back to a new song with “Polar Bears and Trees” and they have fun chanting the “hey hey ho ho” section.

Dave calms things down with some details: We got some stuff planned over the next 13 days. Lucky 13.  Thursday there’s going to be 25 guest vocalists.  We’re gonna mail it in, basically.  And then on Saturday we have “Tim Vebron and the Rheostars.”  According to a review, this “band” is a goof: “Martin was wearing a lei and suspenders, MPW looked like an extra from THX1138.”   You can also get a pass to all 13 shows for $75.  For some good old live live Canadian shield rock.

Dave asks, “Tim did you get a contact high during aliens?  Some wise acre lit a marijuana cigarette.”  Tim:  “It’s just kicking in now.  I’m hungry.”

“PIN” sound great although in “Legal Age Life,” the sound drops out at 58 seconds and comes back on at 1:35.  During the song, Dave shouts G and they shift to “Crocodile Rock.”  It kind of clunkily falls back in to “LAL,” but it’s fun to see them jamming and exploring a bit.

Dave says “Crocodile Rock” was a very complicate dance, but it didn’t catch on.  I think the dance involved implements didn’t it. Tongs?”

“Stolen Car” starts quietly but builds and builds to a noisy climactic guitar solo.  Its pretty exciting.

During the encore break there’s repeated chants for “Horses.  Horses.”

You can hear Dave say, “‘Soul Glue?’ We’re not going to do that tonight, we’re going to say it for a special occasion.”  The audience member shouts, “the hell with you.” Dave: “Ok, bye. Yes I am going to hell.”

What song do you think cleans the palate for the song to come after it—A sherbet?

There’s some amusing commentary between Dace and the audience.  And then a little more local politics: “Did you think that was good speech by David Miller?  I didn’t. I don’t want to be a bad guy coz it’s his night but…”  Then Dave imagines a “David Miller ascension-to-power film starring Ed Begley Jr.”

The encore includes a rollicking “Satan is the Whistler” followed by a solid cover of The Clash’s “London Calling.”  Tim’s a little sloppy on the bass, but the guitar sound is perfect and Dave’s got the vocal sound just right.  As they leave you can still here that guy calling for “Horses.”

[READ: July 1, 2016] What If We’re Wrong?

I have enjoyed a lot of the essays I’ve read by Klosterman.  But I’ve never read one of his books before.  I saw him on Seth Meyers one night and this book sounded cool.  And then I saw it at work, so I grabbed it .

Klosterman is clever and funny and this book is clever and funny.  Although I found it a little long–every section of the book felt like it could have been shorter and it wouldn’t have lost any impact.  However, I loved the premise and I loved all of the examples.  I just got a little tired of each section before it ended.

So what is this book (with the upside down cover) about?  Well, as the blurb says, our cultural is pretty causally certain about things.  No matter how many times we are wrong, we know exactly how things are going to go. Until they do not go that way any more.  “What once seemed inevitable eventually becomes absurd.”  So what will people think of 2015/16 in 100 years?  And while some things seem like they may be obvious about how tastes change, he also wonders if our ideas about gravity will change.

This came out before the horrors of the 2016 election and I read it before them, so the whole premise of the book is even more magnified. (more…)

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Eddie Izzard–Believe Me (2017) [audiobook 2017–Eddie Izzard]

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Acting, Adventure, Advice, Africa, Astronauts, Audiobooks, Autobiographies, Chickens, Christmas, donald tRUMP, Eddie Izzard, Eddie Izzard, Food, Funny (ha ha), Gender, Hippos, History, Hospitals, King Arthur, Kissing, Macaroni in Warm Milk, Marathon, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Memoirs, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Morality, NASA, Nazis, Nelson Mandela, Non-fiction, Politicians, Racism, Religion, Running, Science, Sex, Sexism, Soccer, Spike Milligan, Steve McQueen, Technology, The Bible, The Great Escape, Transgender, Translation, Travel on September 17, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: September 13, 2017] Believe Me

When I saw that Eddie Izzard had a book out I was pretty interested to read it.  I have loved his stand-up since 1997 or 1998 and I was lucky enough to see him on his Circle Tour (on the date they recorded it!).  I have been keeping up with his career and trying to see him in whatever he does (although I like my comedy more than drama and he has certainly made the shift towards drama in recent years).

I thought an autobiography or memoir by him would be pretty interesting (even if he claims to be boring).  But when I saw that he read the audiobook, I knew I had to give it a listen (even if it was 12 discs)!

Amusingly, there was a long delay at the library.  The lady at the counter (who is not the librarian–we librarians know the difference) said if I knew his voice, I could just read the book to myself in his voice.  It was an amusing thought, and I possibly could do that, ….yes, but Eddie’s voice is just so fantastic that it never would have worked properly.  Plus, he throws in easily an extra hours worth of footnotes and rambles that aren’t in the print book!  That’s right, an extra hour’s worth of nonsense if you do the audio.   True you don;t get to see the pictures, but it’s a fair trade-off.

Well the book finally came in and I had plenty of driving time to make short work of this 12 hours behemoth.  And I laughed and laughed.  And cried and cried.

Because while Eddie Izzard is an action transvestite (transgender, now) and one of the best stand-ups around, he is also an extremely warm and thoughtful person. He worked very hard to become the success he is.  And he has used his fame to do some absolutely wonderful things for humanity–including raising millions of dollars.  Not bad for an atheist who is sometimes in girl mode and sometimes in boy mode. (more…)

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The Organist: Season 3 [podcast] (2015-2016)

Posted in Afrofuturism, Architecture, Black Press Radio, Booker T. Jones, Busdriver, Can, Charlie Parker, Christopher Knowles, Christopher Owens, Clarice Lispector, Cream, David Bowie, David Shields, Flying Lotus, Garry Shandling, George Clinton, Girls, Graham Lambkin, Jenny Slate, Jerry Seinfeld, Joice Heth, Joshua Beckman, Katrina Dodson, KCRW 89.9 FM--Santa Monica, CA, Kite, Larry David, Leftfield, Lena Dunham, Lil B, Louis Chude-Sokei, McSweeney's, Mel Brooks, MMuseumm, Octavia Butler, Orson Welles, Philip Glass, Poltergeist, Ramones, Rush, Sarah Vowell, Scott McClanahan, Serpico, Sex Pistols, Shabazz Palaces, Sun Ra, The Byrds, The New York Times, The Organist, Weird Dude Energy, William Bell on July 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: March 2017] The Organist

organistAfter really enjoying The Organist in 2015, the season ended and I hadn’t heard that there were going to be anymore.  So I stopped looking for them.  And then the other day I got an email reminding me about recent episodes.  Well, sure enough there had been an entire season last year and they were already part way through this year’s season.

So I’m playing some catch up here.  But they are timeless, so it’s okay.

Each cast has a section in brackets–this text comes from the Organist’s own site.  The rest is my own commentary.

The Organist is a free podcast from KCRW & McSweeney’s.  As of this writing, they are up to episode 82. (more…)

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Frank Conniff–Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films That Changed My Life in No Way Whatsoever (2016)

Posted in A Hard Day's Night, Allen Ginsberg, Amazing Colossal Man, Anachronisms, Arch Hall, Audrey Hepburn, Bedtime for Bonzo, Bill Evans, Bride of the Monster, Carrot Top, Catalina Caper, Christmas, Consumerism, Daddy-O, Dr. Strangelove, Drinking, Drugs, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ed Wood, Eegah!, End of the World, Fantasy, Feminism, Francis Coleman, Frank Conniff, Freaks, Fred Astaire, Funny (ha ha), Funny Face, Gangsters, Gender, Greed, History, Hoax, Horror, Huh?, Humiliation, I Accuse My Parents, Idiots, Insomnia, It Conquered the World, Jack Webb, Joe Don Baker, John Coltrane, Kissing, Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp, LGBTQ, Mad Max, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Marriage Trouble, Meta, Miles Davis, Military, Minnesota, Mitchell, Monsters, Morality, MST3K, Murder, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Nightmares, Non-fiction, Outer Space, Planet of the Apes, Pod People, Political Humor, Red Zone Cuba, Regrets, Religion, Research, Revenge, Robert Mitchum, Robots, Rocket Attack USA, Romance, Ronald Reagan, Russia, Santa Claus, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Sci-fi, Secret Agent Super Dragon, Sex, Sexism, Short Books, Sidehackers, Supernatural, Surreal, Ta-Ku & Wafia, Teenagers from Outer Space, The Beatniks, The Brain That Wouldn't Die, The Day the Earth Froze, The Girl in Lover's Lane, The Last Time I Saw Archie, The Painted Hills, The Thing with Two Heads, Time of the Apes, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, Western, William S. Burroughs, Yuck!, Zombies on May 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

tvfrankSOUNDTRACK: TA-KU & WAFIA-Tiny Desk Concert #577 (November 6, 2016).

Ta-ku & Wafia are Australian, and I knew nothing else about them.  So:

The chemistry between Australian singer-producer Ta-ku and his fellow Aussie singer-songwriter Wafia becomes apparent the instant you hear their voices intertwined in song. On their first collaborative EP, (m)edian, they draw on their individual experiences to touch on subjects like compromise in relationships as they trade verses and harmonize over hollow melodies.  With production characterized by weary low-end rumbles and resonant keys, the two float above the music, playing off each other’s harmonies.

Although the blurb mentions a few bands that the duo sounds like I couldn’t help thinking they sound The xx (although a bit poppier).

“Treading Water” especially sounds like The xx.  Both of their voices sound really close to that band (although Wafia’s high notes and r&b inclinations do impact that somewhat).  It’s funny that they are just sitting there with their eyes closed, hands folded singing gently.

“Me in the Middle” is another pretty, simple keyboard song with depth in the lyrics and vocals.

Introducing, “Love Somebody,” she says its their favorite on their EP and he interjects Go but it now, which makes her giggle.  Her voice is really quite lovely.  I could see them hitting big both in pop circles and in some alternative circles if they market themselves well.

[READ: November 10, 2016] 25 MST3K Films that Changed My Life in No Way Whatsoever

As you might guess from the title, Frank Conniff was involved with MST3K.  He was TV’s Frank and, as we learn from this book, he was the guy who was forced to watch every movie first and decide whether it could be used for the show.  This “job” was created because they had watched a bit of Sidehackers and decided it would be fun to use.  So Comedy Central bought the rights (“They paid in the high two figures”) and then discovered that there was a brutal rape scene (“don’t know why I need to cal it a ‘brutal’ rape scene any kind of rape ,loud or quiet, violent or Cosby-style, is brutal”) that would sure be hard to joke about (they edited it out for the show which “had a minimal effect on the overall mediocrity of the project.”

The book opens with an FBI warning like the videotapes except for this book it stands for Federal Bureau of Incoherence because the document contains “many pop culture references that are obscure, out of date, annoying and of no practical use to anyone.”   So each chapter goes through and explains these obscure references for us all. (more…)

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Seth Meyers (Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, NJ, February 4, 2017)

Posted in Late Night with Seth Meyers, Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, NJ, Seth Meyers on February 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 4, 2017] Seth Meyers

sethI’d always liked Seth Meyers on Weekend Update, but I never thought all that much about him beyond that.  But when he started hosting Late Night, I realized that he was really really funny.  And in the past year or so he has been outstanding.  Whether political or personal, his jokes are usually right on the money.  And, even better, when they fail, he knows how to make fun of himself and his writers perfectly.

So, when I saw that he was going to be doing standup at MPAC, I grabbed tickets pretty quickly.

This event wasn’t on the MPAC main calendar, because it was listed as The Drew Forum Speaker Series.  I had no idea what this was, but I didn’t care, I wanted to see Seth.

When the show started, a woman, presumably from Drew came out and gave a pretty lavish introduction–atypical for a standup.  And she said that other people who have spoken in this series include Jon Oliver and a guy from Fox whose name I won’t mention.  And then I got worried that this was some kind of Q&A panel or something like that.

But it wasn’t.  It was Seth doing standup. But, I have to gripe that his set was really short.  See the end. (more…)

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Blue Öyster Cult (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, December 8, 2016)

Posted in Blue Öyster Cult, Buck Dharma, George Carlin, Kasim Sulton, New Brunswick, NJ, Richie Castellano, Set in New Jersey!, State Theatre, Todd Rundgren on December 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 8, 2016] Blue Öyster Cult

2016-12-08-21-26-13I saw a whole bunch of concerts this year. I didn’t expect to end my concert year with Blue Öyster Cult.  But, I enjoyed them when I saw them last, and when I saw they were playing at the State Theater in New Brunswick (and I was able to score a 4th row seat) I decided to see them again.

I didn’t realize that Blue Öyster Cult was also the first band I saw this year (back in January).  So, it was a year bookended with BÖC.

While I enjoyed the previous show, I thought it seemed like the guys were getting a little creaky (understandable since they are in their late 60s).  But they seemed much more “on” during this show.  Eric Bloom was chatty and fun, his voice sounded great and he seemed a lot more energetic than last time.  And that made the show much more fun.  As did sitting really close–I was able to actually see the BÖC on his guitar. (more…)

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Weezer (Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, December 3, 2016)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Hari Konabolu, Kiss, Sands Bethlehem Event Center, The Menzingers, Weezer on December 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 3, 2016] Weezer

2016-12-03-21-34-05Comedian Hari Kondabolu has a funny bit called “How Weezer Broke My Heart.”  He says that he was a huge fan in the late 1990s but when he went to the show a few years ago he discovered that their fanbase is still fourteen years old and that he was the creepy old dude–at 28!  But he rejects that and says that Weezer are the creepy old dudes–forty-year old men singing songs that teenagers can relate to is really creepy.

Well, my show was full of college students (and at least one dad who brought his daughter who was either too young to drive or maybe they bond over Weezer–I didn’t ask–but more on them later).  I may have been the creepy old dude, but since Rivers Cuomo and I are basically the same age, we’re both the creepy old dudes.

It was cool to like Weezer for about two years (circa 1996).  But before and after it decidedly wasn’t.  Nevertheless, I’ve always enjoyed them.  I often wish that Rivers Cuomo would write more substantial songs (musically and lyrically since he studied classical composition and graduated with a B.A. in English from Harvard) but it’s hard to deny how much fun his dumb songs are.

I thought about seeing them this summer, but decided against it.  However, when they announced they were playing in Bethlehem, a close venue that I like, I decided it was time to see them.  I’d been checking their recent setlists (to see what albums they were laying songs from–I try to never look at actual songs), and I was bummed to see that they weren’t playing anything from Pinkerton, the cool person’s favorite Weezer album.  In fact it seemed like the sets came mostly from their self titled albums (blue, green, red and white).

But whatever, because even if they weren’t playing my favorite album, I knew that they’d be playing a bunch of songs that I knew and liked, right? (more…)

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The Avett Brothers (Live at Musikfest, Sands Steel Stage at PNC Plaza, Bethlehem, PA, August 14, 2016)

Posted in Amy Schumer, Bethlehem, PA, Bob Dylan, Langhorne Slim, Musikfest, The Avett Brothers, Willie Nelson on August 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 14, 2016] The Avett Brothers

2016-08-14 21.01.57Sarah and I were supposed to go see The Avett Brothers but our child care debacle meant that only I could go.  Other people did bring their kids to the show (there were quite a few kids, actually).  Once I showed up, I suggested that she come with the kids but they were settled in for the night by then.  This would have been a much more fun show with Sarah–The Avett Brothers are a fun band meant to be shared with your neighbors.

But at the same time, among a sea of really short people, the two guys right in front of me were gigantic.  And worse yet, they talked to each other throughout the show by leaning in to each other.  I tried to watch the first two songs between their giant heads but they kept leaning in and blocking my entire view.  So I moved to the side of them and the guy next to me asked me to move back to give him more room.  Well, since I had paid for two tickets I was using the space.  So if Sarah had been there, we would have been really tightly packed and one of us would have seen nothing.

When I joked that since Sarah couldn’t come I hoped the show would be terrible so she wouldn’t miss anything, she retorted with a line from the great Amy Schumer Abusive Relationship sketch: “I hope the next time you got to a concert that the band doesn’t play the song you want to hear and instead they just play songs from their NEW ALBUM.”  And that came true when they did not play the couple of songs I really wanted to hear and did in fact play six songs from their new album.  I like a bunch of Avett Brothers songs quite a lot, although I don’t know a lot of their catalog.  I don’t have their first releases and I haven’t gotten their newest album (although I have listened to the new album a few times and did like it).

So if I’m not a huge fan, why go?  Well,I had heard that their live shows were epic–fun and wild with sing alongs and foot stomping and covers and all that good stuff.  So my expectations were high for a good time.  The crowd seemed largely into it–although as I said the people on either side of me were real drags.  It was even weirder when during a couple of slow songs, there was a lot of chatter around me.  I think everyone was distracted by the flashes of lightning that filled the sky in the distance.  Knowing that previous shows were cancelled, those flashes were worrisome.  The lightning stay far away and were actually very cool to see and despite the threats, it never rained on us and nothing was cancelled. (more…)

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