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Archive for the ‘Parenthood’ Category

An evening with Dawes (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 13, 2025)

Posted in Dawes, McCarter Theatre, Parenthood, Princeton, NJ on April 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 13, 2025] An evening with Dawes

My wife and I first encountered Dawes in 2013 when they (inexplicably) appeared on Parenthood, a show we watched pretty regularly.  I thought they were a fictional band, but indeed they are not and had two albums out at the time.  I can’t recall at all what their plot line had to do with anything, but Dawes became something of a punchline for us.  The AV Club (who loves Dawes and the episode) jokes that the main character says the word Dawes so much it’s like he wants to be in the band.

And yet, over the years, we heard more and more songs of their that we liked.  It seemed like every new album brought at least one or two songs that we thought were really catchy.  I hadn’t really considered seeing them live until they announced that they were playing at McCarter.  I mean, a show that close to my house?  Sign me up!

So I got us tickets and wondered who the opener would be.  Well, it turned out there was no opener.  So we were given two full sets (20 songs… evidently the typical how on this tour got 17 songs, so I guess it wasn’t a huge difference (except that we got to go home earlier).

This show also happened a few months after the band announced that everyone except the two brothers: Taylor (vocals, guitar) and Griffin Goldsmith (drums) was out of the band.  I had actually wondered if they were going to play just the two of them.  But they didn’t–it was a full band, and they sounded great.

I think we were both a little surprised at what the band looked like, since I clearly never looked at them (since Parenthood).  This tour was for their new album Oh Brother, which I didn’t really know, although I did know and like the song Still Strangers Sometimes–a perfect catchy song from them.  But they started with The Game, a deep cut that I didn’t know but which I thought was quite good.

But I was really psyched when they played Living in the Future, and even though When the Tequila Runs Out is kinda goofy, it was really fun live.  Speaking of fun, this crowd was really really rowdy.  More so than the band, I’d say,  I had no idea that Dawes had such a devoted fan base (one guy was overheard saying he’d seen them a dozen or so times).

And the crowd went nuts for songs that I didn’t know.  I knew a few songs from Good Luck with Whatever, but I didn’t know Me Especially or Didn’t Fix Me.  Nor did I know Right on Time from the album All Your Favorite Bands (which I think we owned).

But that was just a few songs I didn’t know before they played Most People, a ubiquitous song that sounded great live.  They ended the with the mellow A Little Bit of Everything and then finished up the set with  Someone Else’s Café/Doomscroller Tries to Relax from Misadventures of a Doomscroller.  I felt like I knew the song, but it seems like an unlikely radio song–but that guitar riff was really cool.

After a little break, Tyler came out by himself and played a pretty, acoustic Moon in the Water. (more…)

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Lauren Graham–Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) (2016)

Posted in Acting, Advice, Books about writers, Fashion, Food, Funny (ha ha), Gilmore Girls, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Hospitality, Lauren Graham, M.Y.O.B., Memoirs, NewsRadio, Non-fiction, Parenthood, Peter Krause, Project Runway, Romance, Seinfeld, Six Feet Under, Tiny Desk Concert on January 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »

talkingSOUNDTRACK: HOSPITALITY-Tiny Desk Concert #212 (April 30, 2012).

hospitalHospitality are a four piece band from New York.  They play fairly quiet, kind of delicate music.  Most of the songs have a delicately picked out guitar line on the electric guitar and strummed chords on the acoustic.  Amber Papini is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist.

“Sleepover” the first song, starts out even more quietly, with Papini picking out notes on the acoustic guitar while singing in what is practically a whisper.   There’s an interesting part in the middle where both guitars are picking out melodies and its the bass that is playing the most prominent line of the melody.

“The Birthday” picks things up a bit with a relatively more intense song.  The chords are louder and Papini sings more intensely.  This song ends with a whole series of “la da de das.”  Some songs can’t pull that off, but it works perfectly with this one–especially when the bassist adds harmony vocals–it’s super catchy.

“Betty Wang” opens with just the acoustic guitar and drums as Papini sings.  She won me over immediately with the echoed and rising notes of “so shy so shy so shy.”  With the electric guitar bursts and rather loud drumming this song is practically raucous.

The band is quite but their melodies are really catchy.

[READ: December 28, 2016] Talking as Fast as I Can

I was so excited that they were making a continuation of Gilmore Girls.  And while it was no doubt hard to live up to all the expectations of all of the fans, I thought the new series was great.  It captured the old show very nicely even though everyone had moved on ten years.

I wasn’t expecting a new book from Graham, and certainly not a memoir.  But, with some down time, she was able to push this book out as well as doing everything else she’s been doing lately.

For a memoir, this book is a little skimpy (208 pages), and yet, if that’s all she had to say I’m glad it wasn’t padded out with a ton of fluff.  Plus, Graham doesn’t tell us everything about everything.  She talks about her childhood, about acting, about being single and about Parenthood and Gilmore Girls.  It’s all done in what has become Graham’s trademark style (although since we are reading it and not hearing her, the pace is probably much slower). (more…)

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Fall TV 2014

Posted in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Andrea Anders, Black-ish, Bob's Burgers, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Drunk History, Elementary, Face Off, Fargo, Forever, Halt and Catch Fire, Manhattan Love Story, Married, Marry Me, Modern Family, Mulaney, New Girl, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Selfie, Sleepy Hollow, The Big Bang Theory, The Goldbergs, The Simpsons, TV 2014, Welcome to Sweden, You're the Worst on October 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

fallFall has traditionally been the time when the networks unveil their best news shows.  And, amusingly, within two weeks one or two are usually cancelled.  This Fall has been something of an exception with the first show not getting cancelled until after four whole episodes!  What staying power the networks have! I also have to wonder if now that the first domino has fallen if other shows will get the axe next.  I also wonder why American networks don’t simply do what the British networks do and ask for 6 episodes in a season so that if a show doesn’t get renewed at least its story is finished.

I have imagined that people wonder why we don’t watch all the shows that get huge raves from people In the Know, and the primary reason is that we don’t have any premium channels and can’t be bothered to watch things on our computer.  So, yeah, someday we’ll binge watch Veep or maybe Game of Thrones (actually, Sarah will never watch that), but for now, we’re still a broadcast TV family.

To follow-up on a couple of shows from the summer: we actually never even watched Fargo, despite my being excited to watch it.  I read about how violent it was and just decided to give it a miss.  And Halt and Catch Fire was mildly intriguing, but not enough for us to watch more than two episodes.  Two shows that we did enjoy quite a lot were Married (terribly uninspired name, guys) and You’re the Worst.  They were both shockingly raunchy.

Of the two, You’re the Worst was much funnier.  In addition to the two main characters, who were just so unpleasant, the supporting cast was awesome.  I haven’t heard if the show was renewed, but I hope so.  Oh, I see it was, hooray.  Married was a bit more problematic for me, as I love Judy Green and Nat Faxon, but the show just wasn’t all that funny.  It certainly had moments, again mostly from the great supporting cast, but the main plot lines between Greer and Faxon were just so negative and hopeless that it didn’t really inspire much humor.

Two other great comedies that we saw this summer were new to us.  A Comedy Central show that we missed last season but loved this season was Drunk History.  Holy cow is that show funny.  The reenactments are simply genius, and I am so curious to know if these people actually know the history that they are talking about or if they are given scripts or what.  We need to find Season 1 to see what we missed.  And Garfunkel and Oates is a fantastic show starring the great comedy team of, well Garfunkel and Oates.  I’ve enjoyed their music videos a whole lot and was delighted by their show as well.  Hooray for Kate and Riki.

We also watched Welcome to Sweden which was pretty dreadful–so much potential but no chemistry and no comic timing.  I assumed it had been cancelled, but I just read that it was renewed.  Huh.

Anyway, on to the Fall and new shows:

So last time, I did a tally of networks.  Let’s see who wins this time:
ABC: 6 FOX: 5 NBC: 4  CBS: 3  SyFy: 1 Comedy Central: 1

ABC has finally surpassed FOX.  I find that somewhat hard to believe, but they did it.  CBS and NBC just can’t seem to boost those averages.
(more…)

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Spring TV 2014

Posted in Archer, Bob's Burgers, Elementary, Face Off, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, New Girl, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Project Runway, Sleepy Hollow, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, TV 2014, Workaholics on March 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

2014 continues to throw new shows into the mix while other shows are already reaching their conclusions.  It’s very hard to keep regular track of shows when networks don’t follow the rules.  It also means that new shows pop up and quickly become favorites before going away possibly never to be seen again.

We’ve learned about the cancellation of a number of shows (but fortunately, none of the great ones and surprisingly not all of the bad ones).  And of course I’ll be sad to see How I Met Your Mother end, but it had a very good run.  And Cosmos has been mind blowing.

But I find that more and more my attention is turning to cable shows.  Although we don’t watch horror shows, I’m intrigued by Fargo.  And the cable shows are so much better at taking risks with their comedies.  We started to watch Orphan Black a while ago and then lost it, but I think we’ll be trying to catch up this summer.  And in old TV news, we just learned about Destroy Build Destroy (from 2010) and we are hooked.  Good thing there’s only 20 or so episodes.

So last time, I did a tally of networks.  Let’s see who wins this time (nightly shows like Late Night boost the numbers so I put them in parentheses):
FOX: 5 NBC: 4 (6)  CBS: 3 (4)  ABC: 3 SyFy: 3 Comedy Central: 2 (4) Lifetime: 1  IFC: 1 FX: 1

I can’t believe Fox still wins, but it has four comedies that I really like.  Actually Fox comedies are almost always good until they cancel them.
NBC is teetering away, but Thursday night helps it.
CBS is the old person’s network, and they’re losing a comedy that I like (and none of those promised new comedies look any good).
ABC is slowing building it’s comedy line up back, which is nice
And the cable networks combined really shine.

Oh and speaking of TV…how awesome was the Veronica Mars movie!!!!!!
(more…)

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TV Fall 2013

Posted in Archer, Ben and Kate, Bob's Burgers, Bunheads, Elementary, Face Off, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, New Girl, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Project Runway, Sleepy Hollow, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, TV 2013, Workaholics on November 29, 2013| 2 Comments »

Fall 2013 brought in a whole slew of new shows that we wanted to check out.  And while we dropped some after an episode, we still have a few that are lingering on the DVR which we are never really all that excited to watch them.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that a couple of shows that we thought were sure goners are still around.  And of course, there’s always those shows that we never watched and when we see an ad for it we say, “that’s still on?”

So last time, I did a tally of networks.  Let’s see who wins this time:
NBC: 4  FOX: 6   CBS: 3  Comedy Central: 1  FX: 1  ABC: 3  Lifetime: 1 SyFy: 1   (more…)

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Lauren Graham–Someday, Someday Maybe (2013)

Posted in Acting, All Songs Considered, Black Francis, Frank Black, Funny (ha ha), Gilmore Girls, J.D. Salinger, Kim Deal, Lauren Graham, Parenthood, Pixies, Romance, The Huffington Post on July 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

laurenSOUNDTRACK: PIXIES-“Bagboy” (2013).

pixies-bagboyThe first Pixies song in nine years…doesn’t feature Kim Deal on it.  Which is kind of a shame.  She was with them for a lot of the recent tours, but she went back to the Breeders recently.  I assume that everyone else from the lineup is still in the band.

But the real question is what does the song sound like?  Well, to me it doesn’t sound like the Pixies.  It sounds very much like a 90s song, but by… some other bands of the time.  Even Frank Black’s (or is it Black Francis’) voice sounds different—less brittle (despite the brittleness of what he is saying).

The song begins with keyboards and a kind of dance (electronic) drum sound.  I actually thought I clicked the wrong link when it started.  There’s chanted backing vocals while Black is singing/talking.  It all sounds very familiar but not like the Pixies.  Even the guitars sound different–less bright with a bit more flash in the solos.

The part that does sound like the Pixies is the chorus which has soaring guitars and a female singer (unknown to me at this point but she sounds a lot like Deal) singing “bagboy” while Black shouts the same.  The chorus is a comforting reminder of the Pixies’ sound.

I understand that in nine years (and countless Frank Black albums) the Pixies are going to sound different.  And while the tone is definitely Pixies, something is missing from the track, which I hope the rest of the album (should there be one) replaces.

[READ: June 28, 2013] Someday, Someday Maybe

I’ve been a fan of Lauren Graham the actress since I had a major (age appropriate) crush on her during The Gilmore Girls.  I haven’t seen everything she’s been in, but I also enjoy Parenthood quite a bit and initially tuned in because of her.  And now she’s written a book.

This book is pretty far from my usual thing (and in an interview on Huffington Post she says she doesn’t think many men will read the book).  I gather they won’t but I’m glad I did.

Set in 19995, Graham creates a wonderfully flawed character in Franny, a struggling actress who has moved to New York City and has given herself three years to become successful.  At the end of the three years, if she hasn’t made it, she’ll move back to Chicago to be with her long-term boyfriend, Clark.

She lives in Brooklyn with her best friend who is also in the business but as a production assistant (it’s nice to have them not be fighting for the same jobs).  They recently added a new roommate Dan, a writer who seems oblivious to the women (he is so focused on his screenplay that he doesn’t even seem to notice them watching TV).  It seemed apparent from the get go that there was going to be a romantic interest there.  And there was.

But first we get to see Franny’s trials and tribulations starting two and a half months until her deadline.  She’s still taking acting classes, and while she hasn’t gotten offered anything yet, she seems to be well-regarded in class.  And, she has the big showcase coming up—the performance when agents come to watch them do their thing.

And then, hurrah! (more…)

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TV 2013

Posted in 30 Rock, Archer, Ben and Kate, Bob's Burgers, Bunheads, Community, Elementary, Face Off, Go On, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, New Girl, New Scandinavian Cooking, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, Project Runway, The Big Bang Theory, The Mind of a Chef, The Office, The Simpsons, Tosh.0, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, TV 2013, Workaholics on February 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

2013 has been cruel to TV that I like.  Between the shows that have been cancelled and the shows that are ending, there’s not much to look forward to for the Spring.  Ben and Kate is gone, the US version of The Inbetweeners is gone, Don’t Trust the B—- is done (but we had stopped watching anyhow), 30 Rock is done, The Office is finishing up, Parenthood & Bunheads have budget issues which means there is some amount of question about their future and The Mindy Show is awful.

And yet, after that introduction, it’s not like there’s nothing on.

So here’s what’s on our schedule as February draws to a close.  I never bothered to tally shows by network before but let’s see:
NBC: 4  FOX: 3   CBS: 3  Comedy Central: 2  FX: 2   PBS: 2  ABC: 1  Lifetime: 1 SyFy: 1  IFC: 1 (more…)

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TV Fall / Winter 2012-2013: When New Shows Couldn’t Replace Outgoing Shows

Posted in 2 Broke Girls, 30 Rock, America's Next Top Model, Animal Practice, Archer, Ben and Kate, Bob's Burgers, Comic Book Men, Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23, Elementary, Face Off, Glee, Go On, Grimm, Hot Set, How I Met Your Mother, Key and Peele, Modern Family, Neighbors, New Girl, Once Upon a Time, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Project Runway, Reaper, The Big Bang Theory, The Inbetweeners, The Mindy Project, The New Normal, The Office, The Simpsons, thirtysomething, Tosh.0, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, TV 2012, Underemployed, Up All Night on November 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

This season signals the end of a lot of shows, shows that have been with us for a long time.  This season also promised a slew of new comedies that were going to be amazing (I know they promise that every year, but some of them got really strong praise from objective sources).  And yet, here we are, half way through the season (Grimm is taking a Mid-Winter break or some such thing) and I didn’t really like anything new.

Next season is shaping up to be rather a wasteland. (more…)

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TV Spring / Summer 2012: more cancellations, more free time

Posted in 2 Broke Girls, 30 Rock, America's Next Top Model, Archer, Are You There, Chelsea?, Bob's Burgers, Breaking In, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Community, Face Off, Glee, Grimm, How I Met Your Mother, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Modern Family, New Girl, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Project Runway, Ringer, South Park, The Office, The Simpsons, TV 2012, Up All Night, Warehouse 13, Work of Art on May 13, 2012| 3 Comments »

I was planning to wait until the season finales before writing about our spring/summer TV watching.  But then this week, NBC announced that they would be either not renewing or renewing in a very limited capacity 30 Rock, Community and Parks and Recreation.  Wow, talk about throwing a bomb on your programming.  Thursday night NBC has been a powerhouse for the last few years with 5 shows, (yes, five, with their crazy programming flip flops) that were strong.  Interestingly, The Office, the only show not chopped, has been the weakest of the bunch.  I wanted the season with Michael Scott to be good but it really wasn’t.

Since I first wrote that some more details have emerged and it seems that all three shows have been picked up for 13 episodes–with, as I gather, room to expand if the new shows that NBC tries to fill their shoes with suck.  If you want a positive spin on this, read the A.V. Club dude’s take on it (at the bottom of the post, final bullet point, although the whole post will tell you why it is such a good show if you’re not watching it.).

When I posted about TV last, Karen left a comment that we watch a lot of TV and that has stuck with me. I still don’t feel like we do…  We watch a lot of shows, but we don’t channel surf, we don’t just have the TV on.  We have appointment TV, is how I like to think of it.  And, of course, while there a lot of titles, many drop off the list (by us or the networks) and quite a few are only 13 episodes long.  But man, there has been a serious drop off in numbers after this season.

So let’s see what has been removed from the last post: (more…)

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TV Winter 2012

Posted in 2 Broke Girls, 30 Rock, Allen Gregory, America's Next Top Model, Archer, Are You There, Chelsea?, Bob's Burgers, Breaking In, Chuck, Comic Book Men, Face Off, Glee, Grimm, How I Met Your Mother, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Key and Peele, Modern Family, New Girl, Once Upon a Time, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, Project Runway, Ringer, The Big Bang Theory, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, The Office, The Simpsons, Tosh.0, TV 2012, Up All Night, Workaholics on March 10, 2012| 2 Comments »

The TV Season scheduling continues to confuse me.  It’s February and two shows are done already.  And new shows are starting this week.  I actually appreciate this rolling schedule because it means new shows instead of repeats.

So hey, networks, why not go all the way and just let the shows run for twenty weeks and then end.  Stop showing reruns (or better yet, rerun them at like 2 in the morning so we can watch them if we miss them) and the introduce a new show for the next half a year.  We wouldn’t have this six weeks off nonsense of Community and Glee or three weeks of repeats of other shows.

I’m picking this week to write this simply because of the ending of the two shows.  We haven’t had a look at the new ones yet, so it’s a clean slate.

Somehow we don’t even have time to watch movies anymore, so the TV shows must be very good. (more…)

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