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Archive for the ‘Set in New Jersey!’ Category

Gabriel Kahane (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, December 7, 2015) [PUNCH BROTHERS]

Posted in Blade Runner, Die Hard, Loudon Wainwright III, New Brunswick, NJ, Pulp Fiction, Punch Brothers, Set in New Jersey!, State Theatre, Sufjan Stevens, Tiny Desk Concert on December 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 7, 2015] Gabriel Kahane

2015-12-07 20.42.05After seeing Punch Brothers on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, I found out that they were playing at State Theatre in New Brunswick (a great venue that often has amazing bands, but also has seats so its, you know, dignified).

I found out the day before the show that the opening act was Gabriel Kahane.  I was under the impression that I had never heard of him.  Well, technically I had never heard of him, but I had heard him as he has done arrangements for Loudon Wainwright III and Sufjan Stevens.  And, it turns out he wrote a song that Punch Brothers sing on their new EP.

Anyhow, I got to the stage about one minute late, so I missed the proper introduction.  I walked in as Kahane was standing on stage with his guitar.  And what he played sounded…nice.  He has a pleasant voice and was playing interesting chords.

I anticipated 40 minutes of pleasant, if unremarkable, solo songwriting stuff.  Then he sat at the piano. (more…)

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Guster (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, November 21, 2015 )

Posted in George Michael, Guster, Happy Birthday, Montclair, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Vangelis, Wellmont Theater on November 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 21, 2015] Guster        

2015-11-21 21.05.07We saw Guster just seven months ago in Philly.  And when I saw that they were playing again in New jersey (to a theater I’d never been to but at which a ton of great bands have played), I bought us some tickets.

It’s funny how many times we have seen them, and I’ve never considered them a favorite band or anything.  But I like all of their albums, I really like most of their songs, they put on a great show, they usually play cheap venues, and they are a whole lotta fun.  And yup, I’d see them again if they came back.  Maybe they are my favorite band.

What was especially great is that they played a very different set list from the show we saw just a few months ago.  Even though it may have technically been the same tour–it’s a little unclear, but it sounded like this may have been a three week jaunt.  But the stage had the same look as the last time–complete with blankets and other crocheted items strewn about the stage. (more…)

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Jenna Pizzi and Susan Sprague Yeske–The Pork Roll Cookbook (2015)

Posted in Cook Book, Jenna Pizzi, Pork Roll, Set in New Jersey!, Susan Sprague Yeske, Taylor Ham, The Front Bottoms on August 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

porkSOUNDTRACK: THE FRONT BOTTOMS-“Mountain” (2011).

fb The Front Bottoms have a new album coming out.  I’ve liked a lot of their songs and decided to dig a bit deeper in their catalog, and that’s when I discovered this song which led me to realize that they are from New Jersey (Woodcliff Lake, in fact).  As a New Jersey band they clearly grew up eating Taylor Ham sandwiches.  And so they get the honor of being attached to this book.

The Front Bottoms are a fun lightly punk pop band.  The singer Brian Sella sings slightly off kilter and sometimes is speaking more than singing. And their music is energetic and sorta sloppy (but not actually sloppy at all) and it all stems from a great ball of fun that the band seems to be having.  The songs are largely guitar and drum, although they have added keyboards and the occasional trumpet to flesh out these simple ditties.

This particular song has some rollicking drums, an introductory trumpet and simple strummed guitars.  It also features this perfect lyric:

“I bought fireworks, a big bag in Pennsylvania, I’m gonna light ’em up when I get home to Jersey.  They’ll probably arrest me they’ll probably ruin my whole summer.”

Their new album is coming out in a few weeks and features the super catchy song “Laugh Til i Cry.”

[READ: August 22, 2015] The Pork Roll Cookbook

I saw this book at the library and had to check it out.  I love pork roll, it’s a treat that my father loved and which my family simply doesn’t eat often enough.  Of course, since we’re from North Jersey we called it Taylor Ham.

I wasn’t really interested in pork roll recipes because, well, you really only ever need to eat it with egg and cheese on a roll (or bagel).

But the beginning of the book gives a fascinating history of this local delicacy which barely makes it beyond the New Jersey border. (more…)

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My Morning Jacket (Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ, July 25, 2015)

Posted in Hippos, Jim James, Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Neil Young, Roger Waters, Set in New Jersey!, St. Vincent on July 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 25, 2015] My Morning Jacket

2015-07-25 22.10.21I had made a list of bands that I really wanted to see.  My Morning Jacket was pretty near the top of it.  My friend Jay and I marveled over singer Jim James’ use of a cape (which sadly he did not wear at this show).  Of course, it wasn’t just the cape we wanted to see, it was the whole band.

So when they were announced to headline the XPNFest, I knew I had to get tickets (the fact that St. Vincent was co-headlining was a huge bonus).

While the crowd was good for St. Vincent, they were ecstatic for MMJ.  Everyone was on their feet the whole show.  And what a show.  The band played for 2 and a half hours, running through much of their new album as well as classics from their past few records.

I had heard that MMJ were a big time jam band, and indeed they were.  In fact, even though Neil Young did some amazing jamming and soloing during his recent set, this was the first real “jam band” show I’ve been to.  Where the band takes a song in different directions, wending through different moods and styles like the 20 minute “Deodato”–more on that later.

2015-07-25 23.27.05In fact, each song was extended by some impressive soloing.  Interestingly, Jim James took a number of solos that were just himself on stage.  And I felt like his solos weren’t really that impressive.  There was a bluesy one that was very cool and one or two others that were more textural than “impressive.”  It’s clear that lead guitarist Carl Broemel can solo amazingly, but he didn’t get any features, just wailing solos during the songs.

I was pretty excited that they started with “Off the Record” which had some pretty impressive jamming in the middle.  Jim James was wearing an awesome jacket with neon stripes all over it and a pair of sunglasses that he never removed.  It was 90 degrees out that day.  How did he stand it? (more…)

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St. Vincent (Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ, July 25, 2015) [MY MORNING JACKET]

Posted in Calexico, First Aid Kit, Fly Golden Eagle, My Morning Jacket, Prince, Set in New Jersey!, St. Vincent on July 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 25, 2015] St. Vincent

2015-07-25 20.41.29I’ve enjoyed all the St. Vincent records–each one more than the previous one.  This past year Bob and Robin from NPR both claimed that the St. Vincent live show was the best that they saw that year.  Since then, I have been hell bent on seeing her (she played NY right after they raved about her but it was sold out).  She has been touring Europe for a while now so I never expected to see her anytime soon.

And then it was announced: St. Vincent AND My Morning Jacket, another band that I’ve been dying to see, would headline this years XPNFEST.  As with last year’s fest, we considered going to the all day show–again, $45 for a 3 day pass (and when I found out that kids can get a day pass for $5–jeez!).  So maybe next year if we don’t like the headliners, we’ll go for the day (I wouldn’t keep the kids up till midnight watching headliners).  But as we saw this year, the venue is shaded, there’s lots to see and lots of free stuff (which the kids love) they even have a Kids Corner section, so next year, if there’s some good bands like this year (Calexico, First Aid Kid, Fly Golden Eagle), it would totally be a fun day out.

But never mind that, we were there for St. Vincent. (more…)

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Neil Young + Promise of the Real (Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ, July 16, 2015)

Posted in Band of Horses, Buffalo Springfield, Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson, Neil Young, Promise of the Real, Set in New Jersey! on July 18, 2015| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2015] Neil Young + Promise of the Real

2015-07-16 22.28.13Sarah has always wanted to see Neil Young.  And she finally got to, back in October.  And now here it is just nine months later and she gets to see him again.

I enjoyed his previous show quite a lot, but said I didn’t need to see him again unless he was with a band (which I assumed would be Crazy Horse).  But here he was with a new band (just what does Crazy Horse do in their off years?).  The band was Promise of the Real, which features Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson’s son) and for this tour also featured Willie’s other son Micah (whom I gather is not usually in the band?).  I knew nothing about POTR, but I did get the new Monsanto album, so I got a sense of what they sounded like.

Speaking of the Monsanto album….  Lyrically it’s strident and a little obvious, but musically it’s really quite good–a lot of variety with some good loose rock.  And when they played it live, where it really loosened up, it sounded even better.

But back to the show.  Sarah and I predicted that he would play the entire Monsanto album, talk a lot about GMOs, and then maybe play a few classics.  We could not have been more wrong.

The show opened (well, actually, the concert opened with a Native American dance which we missed–I gather they were going to march on Washington and asked if they could address the crowd first) with two people planting seeds along the stage.  They put out plants and scattered seeds all over the place (I can’t believe no one slipped on them!  And then Neil came out.  It was like the previous show.  He played a few acoustic pieces on his various instruments: (more…)

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Band of Horses (Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ, July 16, 2015) [NEIL YOUNG + PROMISE OF THE REAL]

Posted in Band of Horses, Neil Young, Set in New Jersey! on July 17, 2015| 2 Comments »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2015] Band of Horses

2015-07-16 19.36.14It was almost exactly a year ago that Sarah and I saw Band of Horses in this exact venue (we had much better seats last year, though).

Last year they co-headlined with Beck.  This year they were opening for Neil Young, which meant a much shorter set.  Because the parking situation was insane ($25 and a 7-10 minute walk to the stadium?) we wound up missing the first song.

They sounded great.  Although I have to admit that even though I was incredibly psyched to hear them, I couldn’t really settle into the show.  This had to do with a) the sun setting at an awkward angle and b) the guy sitting next to me who was talking a lot.  The Bank Center is a nice venue with really good sound, but I was amazed at how chattering people were able to rise above the music.

They played pretty much the same set that they did last year (although last year they played an amazing cover of Neil Young’s “Powderfinger,” which for obvious reasons they did not do this year).

They were a lot more no-nonsense as well, with very little chatter.  Indeed, their set was really quite short (although I never actually checked the time, I’d say maybe 35 minutes).  I love that they still let the noise ring out between songs (either feedback or drums or something).  And Ben Bridwell’s voice still sounds fantastic.

The setlist that I have below may not be exactly right.  But if it is, I am quite bummed that we missed “The First Song,” since they didn’t play it last time.  Of course, I love every other song, so that’s okay.

Sarah and I agreed that we need to see them headline a small venue, so guys, do please come back so we can watch your whole set (and finally get to see “St. Augustine.”

2014 2015
For Annabelle The First Song
Laredo Compliments
Powderfinger Laredo
Factory The Great Salt Lake
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands Is there a Ghost
Ode to LRC Cigarettes, Wedding Bands
NW Apartment No One’s Gonna Love You
The General Specific Ode to LRC
No One’s Gonna Love You The Funeral
Weed Party
Is there a Ghost
Island on the Coast
The Great Salt Lake
The Funeral

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Camelot (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, May 3, 2015)

Posted in Camelot, King Arthur, New Brunswick, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, State Theatre, Theater on May 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 3, 2015] Camelot

camelot2I have been raving about every show that I’ve seen lately, so it’s really about time that I wasn’t head over heels by something, right?

Sarah and her mom love Camelot, the musical–Sarah grew up listening to it.  When I saw that it was being staged at The State Theater, it seemed like a great Mother’s Day present for both of them.  Well, a last minute change of plans meant that Sarah’s mom couldn’t go. So we took Tabitha, who enjoyed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

I don’t know the Camelot story at all, in fact, despite my (what I assumed was good) knowledge of King Arthur, I was not aware of the love triangle with him Guinevere and Lancelot (I guess I just liked the fighting). I also had no idea that Arthur was trying to set up a law by court rather than a law by might.  Which is pretty interesting.  Sarah said I should read The Once and Future King which the musical is mostly based on.

The set was fascinating.  Gigantic metal “waves” on the right side that represented a forest and/or a tree and/or other things dominated the scene.  The left side of the stage had various set that dropped from the rafters–a kingly backdrop, a bed, and other items. (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–“Learning to Fly” Part 1 of 4 (Popular Mechanics, May 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Popular Mechanics, Set in New Jersey!, The Mountain Goats, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on May 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Popular-MechanicsSOUNDTRACK: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS-Tiny Desk Concert #41 (January 3, 2010).

mgI have talked about Tiny Desk Concerts off an on (more than 100, if I’m counting right), but I never really made a concerted effort to do them all.  So now I’ve decided to make the effort.  My plan is to post two old concerts a week and also mention new ones when they pop up.  Since there are nearly 450 concerts, this will take ages and ages.  But I’ve been really enjoying the bands I like and it’s been fun listening to the bands I didn’t know.  And two a week seems reasonable enough.

I know the Mountain Goats, although I don’t know them all that well–I keep meaning to listen to them more.  So this is a good place to start.  It’s just John Darnielle and his guitar.

These four songs are simple enough and yet they have s much passion and inventiveness.  Darnielle is known primarily for his lyrics, but he throws a good melody over his songs too.

He plays two (then) new songs, the quiet “Hebrews 11:40” and the loud “Pslams 40:2.”  His voice is instantly recognizable in either song–it more or less just sounds like him singing louder, and yet there’s something slightly different in his rollicking singing voice–a bigger intensity, perhaps.

He also plays two old songs.  The slow “Color in Your Cheeks” and the rollicking “Going to Georgia” (which he starts and then interrupts and then starts again).

While his lyrics are serious, his between song banter is charming and funny (“I am permanently a young man, no matter how old I get”).  I just saw that the Mountain Goats were on Seth Meyers’s show, I’ll have to check that out too.

Watch the Tiny Desk Concert here.

[READ: April 21, 2015] “Learning to Fly Part 1”

I was going to let my Popular Mechanics subscription lapse.  I enjoy it a bit, but don’t really read it all that much.  But this issue has some good articles and the start of this four part essay by an author I really like.  Who knew that authors wrote for such unlikely places?

I suspect that Popular Mechanics readers probably aren’t used to long form essays, because this first part, called “Takeoff” is only four pages long–this is not a Harper’s essay we’re looking at, here.  But the writing is still really good.

Ferris talks about the two things that contributed to his decision to take flying lessons.  The first was the death of his father and the second was his absolute fear of flying. (more…)

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Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre (RVCC Arts, Branchburg, NJ, April 18, 2015)

Posted in Acrobats, Animals, Branchburg, NJ, C., Cats, Dogs, Funny (ha ha), Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on April 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 18, 2015] Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre

popvichThis show was playing at McCarter Theater and at RVCC. It was at least $10/ticket cheaper at RVCC, so good for us!  The RVCC show was a general admission seating situation, so we got there much earlier than we normally do for shows.  Of course, so did everyone else and we wound up sitting pretty far back (I was glad that people were actually coming to an RVCC show!).

But that was okay, because we could still see all of the action and all of the pets perfectly.

Some fascinating things to note about Popovich before I even get to the show.  Despite the name, the show is not only pets.  In fact there are a lot of human clowns and acrobats and performers on stage as well.  Evidently Popovich is quite well-known and has appeared on many TV shows.  And the whole show is told as a vague kind of story.

pop tvWhen we arrived, one of the troupe was standing in the aisle with a cat on his shoulder.  T. got to pet the cat, which was sweet.  Then a man in a cool green outfit (a big flared jumpsuit) with some white face on came down the aisle eating popcorn.  He played some jokes on people in the audience and then climbed on stage.  He was a kind of warm up, doing cheesy jokes (the fingers transferring from one hand to the other joke), and then doing a bit with a balloon that he could not move.  He was a really convincing mime and that bit was great, especially when the other guy came out and tried to pull the balloon away and couldn’t.  It was all simple but when it’s done well, it’s really magical. (more…)

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