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Champagne Jam 2022 (Brooklyn Bowl, The Foundry, Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, December 16-17, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

December 17, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 17-18, 2022] Champagne Jam 2022

Every year for quite some time, The Front Bottoms have been doing a Champagne Jam at the close of the calendar year.  Brooklyn Vegan talked about in 2019:

The Front Bottoms‘ annual holiday concert Champagne Jam has taken place in NYC and NJ in the past, and this year it moves to Philadelphia. It happens December 21 (the Saturday before Christmas) at The Fillmore Philly Complex.

2022 saw them return to Philly, which has three venues all more or less connected.  I don’t know how the set times are structured–if there’s any way to see everyone (probably not).  But then again, I dind;t want to see everyone.

I bought my son and I tickets to the Saturday December 17 show figuring it was one last opportunity to see The Front Bottoms (since we kept missing them for one reason or another).  Then we wound up scheduling our own holiday jam for the same night.

So we weren’t going to go to the Friday night show anyhow, but here’s the full lineup:

Friday, December 16, 2022 in the Lobby

  • DJ Spicy Brown

Friday, December 16 2022 at The Foundry 

  • Flycatcher are from New Brunswick, NJ  According to The Deli
    • Flycatcher are a four-piece rock combo hailing from New Brunswick, New Jersey, three of whom have immaculately sculpted facial hair (well ok one of them has a bushy beard but still it’s neatly trimmed and shaped). On the musical side of things Flycatcher carry on in the fine tradition of immaculately sculpted extremely catchy power-pop-that-rocks made in the Tristate Area with oft-witty lyrics and a distinctly que será, será attitude as established by such legendary acts as Fountains of Wayne, The Feelies, The Smithereens, and the ripe-for-revival Cucumbers.
    • They sound like they are worth checking out–the one song I’ve listened to is pretty slackery.
  • Sweet Pill is an emo band from New Jersey. The band consists of vocalist Zayna Youssef, guitarist Jayce Williams, guitarist Sean McCall, bassist Ryan Cullen, and drummer Chris Kearney.  The video I watched for High Hopes was super catchy (and set in a bowling alley).
  • Another Michael is a band who have opened for a bunch of shows I haven’t gone to.  They play a kind of mellow indie rock with lead Michael’s vocals veering into R&B styles.  Not quite my thing.  But that’s only one dud in a bill I didn’t even think about going to.
  • Slothrust are from Boston.  In a review from The Revue (in Canada) from 2021, they talk about an evolving band:
    • In the 8 years we’ve been covering Slothrust, we’ve seen the band change a lot musically. They’ve shifted from the early days of jazz-infused grunge, which eventually grew into much bigger and less easy to classify sounds. Each record feels like a rebirth, from Everyone Else having a fine polish on that distinctive Slothrust sound but expanding on it at the same time. The Pact felt like an even more diverse records, with the band diving more into electronic sounds and even diving into poppier sounds. It set up any future releases nicely to dive even more into the trio’s widening approach. Their latest record, Parallel Timeline, heralds yet another rebirth of the band.  “Cranium” kicks off the record and immediately sets the tone. This is a slower Slothrust, as the chugging basslines and heavy drums are nowhere to be found. All the things that make Leah Wellbaum stand out as an artist, however, are on full display. Her voice, her surreal lyrics, and, at about halfway through the song, her guitar work. “Once More For The Ocean” hits a bit harder, kicking of with a ripping guitar solo, but it stays a bit in that pop realm with a bunch of sections that just beg to be sung along with.

Sounds like a really good night and some bands I should be on the look out for.

Friday, December 16, 2022 at Fillmore Philadelphia

  • Lunar Vacation I saw Lunar Vacation open for The Beths and they were great.  I’d happily see them again.
  • Emperor X is from Louisville, Kentucky (and presumably not the Emperor X from Berlin).  He plays a kind of low-fi pop that I see is described as a “bummer jam” which is absolutely not my thing.
  • Joyce Manor is a punk band from California who I always think are someone else.  Their latest album 40 oz to Fresno was described by The New York Times (!!!) as “relentlessly tuneful 17-minute collection of all-killer, no-filler power-pop.”  I rather like their clean punk sound.
  • The Front Bottoms are the stars of the night and the main attraction.  They were, no doubt fantastic, and I love that they give a lot of other New Jersey bands a platform.

Saturday, December 17, 2022 at Brooklyn Bowl

  • Shannen Moser I’ve seen Shannen Moser twice.  Her intense folk songs are quite good
  • Shane Henderson was the singer of Valencia and now does mostly production.
  • Tom May has “lived the dream” of being a full time, working, self-supporting folk musician.  Tom is also the founder and host of the nationally-syndicated live radio program, River City Folk.
  • Kevin Devine is someone I love and I was really looking forward to seeing his set–and hoping that it didn’t conflict with any of the other headliners.

Saturday, December 17, 2022 at The Foundry

  • Riverby are from Philly.  They are a fun indie rock band with a loose sound (and a cover of “Walk Through the Fire” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  • Hotline TNT is the shoegaze/indie rock project of singer-songwriter Will Anderson (a.k.a. Flip Sandy). The project began after Anderson moved from Vancouver to Minneapolis. Now based in New York, Anderson still handles the songwriting himself and has played live shows with several different lineups.
  • Kid Sister is a rapper who has appeared with Sault.

Saturday, December 17, 2022 at Fillmore Philadelphia

  • Prince Daddy & The Hyena is an American rock band from Albany, New York, formed in 2014 described as indie rock with punk and “slacker” influences
  • Soul Glo is a band I really want to see. They are an extreme punk band and will probably scare the heck out of me.  It would have been safest to see them amid all of these other bands
  • Titus Andronicus is a band I should probably love, but I just can’t get into them.
  • The Front Bottoms headlining a second night.

This seems like a really fun festival.

Jordan Norris nicely posted a video of The Front Bottoms from both shows

Friday night:

Saturday night

Also

Also, The Flycatcher review had these two videos (because of a song called sodas in the freezer)

And a Shasta commercial

Posted in Another Michael, Chmpagne Jam, Flycatcher, Joyce Manor, Kevin Devine, Lunar Vacation, Philadelphia, PA, Riverby, Shannen Moser, Slothrust, Soul Glo, Sweet Pill, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Front Bottoms, Titus Andronicus | Leave a Comment »

Modest Mouse (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, December 15, 2022)

December 17, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: December 15, 2022] Modest Mouse 

Last year, Modest Mouse was the first concert I saw after the pandemic. This year, Modest Mouse was the last concert I’ll see in 2022 (nothing dramatic about that, I just don’t have any more shows lined up until next year).

As I’ve said before, I wasn’t planning to see them.  In fact, I felt like I had seen them even more recently than last year.  But this was a special tour–the 25th anniversary tour of their album The Lonesome Crowded West, with a really stripped down band.  Last time I saw them, there were six people on stage (there were like nine the previous show).  This time it’s just a four piece: Isaac Brock and co-founder Jeremiah Green joined by (regular) bassist Russell Higbee and guitarist Simon O’Connor who played last time I saw them.

This meant a stripped down, really rocking show.  Which befits the far more stripped down and rocking sound of this earlier album. 

Normally I’m all about seeing the opening band.  But I’ve had a few liberating experiences lately where i have deliberately blown off the opening band and been pleased with the decision.  I hadn’t heard of the band Mattress.  I looked them up before the show and learned that Mattress is the project of Rex Marshall.  And that the act is pretty much Marshall wearing a gold lame suit and acting like an abrasive lounge singer.

I listened to a song online and decided that I did not need to stand through that.  Sidenote:  It reminded me a lot of Wetface the weird, is-it-a-joke band who opened for Built to Spill this summer.  I sat through that twice and consider that my penance.  (incidentally, I often think of Built to Spill and Modest Mouse in the same breath for some reason, so it’s interesting that they would have similar bands on this year’s tour).

So that mean I got to the Fillmore around 8:45.  The evening happened to be one of the rainiest nights in recent memory.  It rained hard.  All day.  I very much considered not going to this show because of the weather.  But I decided to go and drove through the terrible lashing rain.  I kinda thought that the rain might keep others away and, if I was arriving late, maybe I could get free parking at the the Fillmore lot.  Indeed no.  In fact, it was full.  So I went past the lot and immediately got lost in the bowels of the roads beneath 95.  Holy cow.  I drove for about 8 minutes in crazy rain knowing where I was but having not idea where I actually was.  I finally found my way to the casino for parking and hurries across to the venue only to find a lineup! Continue Reading »

Posted in Mattress, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Lori Hahnel–“Dearest Clara” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #17] (2022)

December 17, 2022 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 17, 2022] “Dearest Clara”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 17. Lori Hahnel, author of Vermin, has practiced her scales enough for one day.

As Hahnel explains, “Dearest Clara” came out of the work I’ve been doing the past few years on a novel based on the life of Clara Schumann, the 19th-century German composer and pianist.

This is a few diary entries from Schumann (nee Clara Wieck). Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Clara Schumann, Dresden Germany, Hingston & Olsen, Lori Hahnel, Robert Schumann, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar | Leave a Comment »

Lemonheads / Juliana Hatfield / On Being an Angel (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, December 16, 2022) (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 21, 2022) [RESCHEDULED DATE] [DID NOT ATTEND]

December 16, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 16, 2022] The Lemonheads / Juliana Hatfield / On Being an Angel [moved from April 21, 2022]

Back in 2018, I saw Evan Dando play a solo set in Jersey City.  It was him with an acoustic guitar and he played over forty songs.

It was a shambolic affair, but fun.  I didn’t really feel compelled to see him again, but I thought it would be fun to see him with a band.  And when he announced this 30th Anniversary of It’s a Shame About Ray, my favorite album of theirs, I grabbed a ticket.

This show had been announced for a pretty long time before any other American dates were added.  I never bothered to get a ticket for it and eventually it sold out.  I’d much rather go to Union Transfer than a sold out White Eagle Hall show.  So, it was an easy decision.

It sounds like he played some extra or different songs at WEH (we didn’t get Mrs. Robinson).   But that’s okay.

Leah Hennessey was supposed to open but she was replaced by Juliana Hatfield and On Being an Angel.

I was a big fan of Juliana Hatfield back in the 90s.  I thought she was the bomb.  She had toured Philly back in 2015 and I considered going because it was the Juliana Hatfield Three playing again (I should have gone!).  She also played in 2019, but I wasn’t quite as sure about that one for some reason.  But here she was opening for The Lemonheads!

A few minutes after On Being an Angel cleared their stuff, Juliana came out.  It was just her and her guitar plugged into a tiny amp.  The volume was perfect  She sounded great.

On Being an Angel are a four-piece from Austin.  Given that they were opening for Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield, I was expecting a sound that fit in with them.

They were actually a bit heavier and a bit more fuzzy than I would have expected.  And I loved their sound instantly.

And then singer Paige stepped up to the mic and…we couldn’t hear her at all.  Was it Union Transfer’s fault?  That seemed unlikely.  We were very close to the stage and that can certainly impact how you hear a band, but it seemed like the lead guitar (from Nick) was just cranked up super loud and drowned out everything else.

Posted in Hennessey, Jersey City, NJ, Juliana Hatfield, Leah Hennessey, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, White Eagle Hall | Leave a Comment »

Lemonheads (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022)

December 16, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2022] Lemonheads

Back in 2018, I saw Evan Dando play a solo set in Jersey City.  It was him with an acoustic guitar and he played over forty songs.

It was a shambolic affair, but fun.  I didn’t really feel compelled to see him again, but I thought it would be fun to see him with a band.  And when he announced this 30th Anniversary of It’s a Shame About Ray, my favorite album of theirs, I grabbed a ticket.

Juliana Hatfield finished and didn’t really need to clear her gear (as we’ll see).  And yet for some reason, it took Evan and the other two guys almost 45 minutes to come out on stage.  

This wasn’t an auspicious sign.  I was actually 40% surprised the show hadn’t been cancelled outright.  But it sounds like Evan Dando has gotten his shit (somewhat) together, so maybe this is a new lease on life for him.  

Eventually the band came out on stage.  Bassist Farley Glavin and drummer Lee Falco came out first.  Then Evan came out on stage, grabbed an acoustic guitar and they launched right into “Into Your Arms.”  This is one of my favorite songs of the 90s–so sweet and delightful.  I had literally no idea that it was a cover until I was reading someone else’s review of this tour (it was written by Australian duo Love Positions (Robyn St. Clare (who wrote the song) and Nic Dalton).  It sounded like he hadn’t really warmed up yet and this was his way of easing into the show.  He didn’t hit any of the higher notes.  But he still wounded quite good. Continue Reading »

Posted in Juliana Hatfield, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Erika Swyler–“Good Neighbors” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #16] (2022)

December 16, 2022 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 16, 2022] “Good Neighbors”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 16. Erika Swyler, author of Light from Other Stars, doesn’t like the sound of those hoofprints.

I loved the audacity of this story.  A couple is mourning the loss of their old neighborhood.  I loved this:

You bought a starter house, then a show house or a major renovation, then you retired to somewhere else, leaving an enormous home behind to mark where you’d been.

When Janie and Phil bought their house thirty years ago they were living in the woods part of suburbia.  But now they lived in the shadows of mansions.  The Hutchinson’s, like everyone else apparently, seemed to be moving to Boca. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Erika Swyler, Hingston & Olsen, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar | Leave a Comment »

Juliana Hatfield (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022) [LEMONHEADS]

December 15, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2022] Juliana Hatfield

I was a big fan of Juliana Hatfield back in the 90s.  I thought she was the bomb.  And I was really excited to see her play live when she opened for the B-52s at Boston College back in 1993.  I actually hated the B-52s (they were so overplayed at my college in 1991 that I never wanted to hear “Love Shack” again in my life) so I left before they came on.

And then, some time around 2000 I lost track of her.  I was always happy to hear she was putting out new music, but I didn’t give it much of a listen.  However, her 2018 album that is all covers of Olivia Newton John songs is pretty sweet.

She had toured Philly back in 2015 and I considered going because it was the Juliana Hatfield Three playing again (I should have gone!).  She also played in 2019, but I wasn’t quite as sure about that one for some reason.  But here she was opening for The Lemonheads!

A few minutes after On Being an Angel cleared their stuff, Juliana came out.  It was just her and her guitar plugged into a tiny amp.  The volume was perfect  She sounded great as she started singing a song I knew immediately.. Continue Reading »

Posted in Juliana Hatfield, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Rebecca Watson–“Punchline” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #15] (2022)

December 15, 2022 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 15, 2022] “Punchline”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 15. Rebecca Watson, author of little scratch, is wondering if you’ve heard the one about two people who walk into a bar.

I really enjoyed this delightfully odd story of getting to know someone, sort of. 

The narrator, whose name is not Briony, met a man at a her friend Amy’s birthday party.  Their eyes didn’t meet across a crowed room. Rather they met in a mirror.

They didn’t introduce themselves, but they did wind up spending the night together.  The fact that they didn’t know each others’ names was part of the thrill.

The next morning he said he knew her name (were they really drunk enough not to ask each other last night?)  He said it was Bryony (It isn’t).  She replied that it was coincidence how similar their names are since his name was clearly Brian.  he said he would call her Brian, short for Bryony. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Rebecca Watson, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar | Leave a Comment »

On Being an Angel (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022) [THE LEMONHEADS]

December 14, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2022] On Being an Angel

On Being an Angel are a four-piece from Austin.  Given that they were opening for Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield, I was expecting a sound that fit in with them.

They were actually a bit heavier and a bit more fuzzy than I would have expected.  And I loved their sound instantly. 

And then singer Paige stepped up to the mic and…we couldn’t hear her at all.  Was it Union Transfer’s fault?  That seemed unlikely.  We were very close to the stage and that can certainly impact how you hear a band, but it seemed like the lead guitar (from Nick) was just cranked up super loud and drowned out everything else.

The guy next to me even typed out on his phone (fix the vocal levels) but no one reacted to that.

Then I saw this comment in a 2019 review of them in Austin: “[On Being an Angel] tore apart the crowd’s broken chatter with a roaring wall of sound. Rumbling electric fuzz nearly drowned out Paige Applin’s faint vocals as the slowcore quartet played.”  The rest of the band sounded great–a big grungy sound that I was really excited to hear on record, too.

But when I listened to the (first) record, the sound was really different–far more mellow, far less noise.  The opener, “Eyes Shut” has a fantastic 90s alt rock sound with a catchy lead guitar riff.  But on record, it’s a quiet folk song with no riff at all.

The newer record (on being a tape vol. 2) has a much heavier sound.–much more satisfying.  Paige’s vocals are also forward in the mix.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Juliana Hatfield, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Foals / Inner Wave / Glove (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

December 14, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 14, 2022] Foals / Inner Wave / Glove

Back in 2008, Foals were a weird indie rock band.  Cryptic, with odd instrumental passages.  By their third album, Holy Fire, they had ditched all of that for huge bombast.  But it was still great, “Inhaler” was my favorite song of the year, getting bigger and bigger until it somehow exploded.

I kind of forgot about them, and then heard that they were releasing a two part epic: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost.

In 2022, they released their most recent album, Life is Yours, recording now as a trio.  I actually hadn’t heard anything from the album.

I had tickets to see the Lemonheads that night.  And I really wanted to see them, so Foals would have to wait until next time.

Although now that I check the setlist, I think that Foals show might have been the better bet.  Maybe.

Inner Wave was going to open for Chicano Batman when I saw them in 2020, but when the show was rescheduled, there was a new opening band.

Inner Wave is a five-piece ensemble, and three of the bandmates – lead vocalist and guitarist Pablo Sotelo, bassist and vocalist Jean Pierre Narvaez, and guitarist and keyboard player Elijah Trujillo – go all the way back to middle school. Some back-in-the-day homies left the band in 2016, and keyboardist Chris Runners and drummer Luis Portillo joined the group. [They are] an indie rock quintet who seamlessly float between psychedelic and synthwave sounds.

I can see them opening for Chicano Batman with their retro sounds and soft vocals.  I don’t exactly see it working with Foals.

Glove opened for A Place to Bury Strangers, a show I did not go to.  Glove is a retro synth band, in the vein of Depeche Mode or New Order.  They’re from Tampa but look like they are straight out of the 80’s UK music scene.

I don’t quite see them opening for Foals either, unless the new Foals music is a lot more synthy.

 

 

 

Posted in Foals, Franklin Music Hall, Glove, Inner Wave, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

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