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Jodi Taylor–Just One Damned Thing After Another [The Chronicles of St Mary’s, #1] (2013) [audiobook 2014]

July 1, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[LISTENED TO: July 2022] Just One Damned Thing After Another

This is the first book in a something-teen long series.

I sometimes wonder if I enjoy a series more for the narrator of the audio books than the quality of the books themselves.

I didn’t think that at the time of reading this, because i was swept up in the comedy and adventure and (yes, I’m saying it, time travel).  However, while looking for a cover image, I read a scathing review of this book and felt that I did agree with many of the criticisms.  I guess I just didn’t care.  And I wonder if that’s because Zara Ramm gave great voice to the lead character Max and also did an amazing job with all of the different characters (male and female from all over the place).

As we meet Madeline Maxwell (Max), she is in a bad way.  She has few prospects and fewer coins in her pocket.  She’s pretty desperate until she gets a surprise visit from a former teacher who tells her about a job with poor pay and worse conditions.

This leads to a job as a historian at St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research.  The cool thing about St. Mary’s is that historians travel to the past to “confirm” details of things that happened.  Essentially University researchers get to experience historical events first hand, including all of the dangers involved.  The Institute is a part of University of Thirsk. Continue Reading »

Posted in Adventure, Audiobooks, Death, Dinosaurs, Fears, Feminism, Fire, Funny (ha ha), History, Huh?, Jodi Taylor, Morality, Murder, Mystery, Supernatural, Thieves, Threats, Time Travel, Violence, Zara Ramm | Leave a Comment »

Bella Mackie–How to Kill Your Family (2021)

June 30, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[READ: June, 2022] How to Kill Your Family

This looked like the perfect book to read over Fathers Day weekend.

But it’s not an instruction manual for the average person.  No indeed, the reason Grace Bernard is planning to kill her family is twofold

Her mother died when she was young.  She learned while she was growing up that her biological father Simon wanted nothing to do with her (or her mother).  He promised them the world, because he pretty much owned the world.  He was part of a very wealthy family who bought and sold companies on a whim.  He was also very publicly (un)happily married with a child and this affair with Grace’s mother could not go public.

As the book opens, Grace is in Limehouse prison.  Ironically, even though she has already killed people, she is in prison for a murder that she did not actually commit–and had no intention of committing.

Grace is surprisingly, hilariously, above everyone else.    Her cellmate Kelly is pretty trashy.  She runs scams online.  She frequently gets caught, but she’s right back out there to do it again.  She drives Grace crazy.  And Grace looks down on Kelly and everyone like her–there’s some really funny lines of abject dismissal in the book:

She’s attractive, is Kelly. Big pouty lips, which I suspect are the result of cheap filler but look all right from a distance, and lots of red hair.  Sadly, her limited intelligence means she was easy to find when a man finally plucked up the courage to stop sending her money and contacted the police.  She’d had the money sent to her boyfriend’s account, the stupid cow, and has wound up doing an eighteen month stretch as a result.  Not an elegant crime, I warrant you, but I have no sympathy for her victims either. If you are delusional enough to believe that anyone wants to see a grainy iPhone picture of your flaccid little friend, you deserve to get bled for it.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Bella Mackie, Funny (ha ha), Murder, Prison | Leave a Comment »

K. Eason–Night Watch on the Hinterlands [The Weep #1] (2021)

June 29, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[READ: April 2023] Night Watch on the Hinterlands

I absolutely loved K. Eason’s The Thorne Chronicles (How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse).  I had no idea that she had a new duology out until this book came to my desk at work.

I had audiobooked the first duology and loved the world that Nicole Poole read to me.

But now I was jumping in to the print version.  Shockingly for me I haven’t been reading many books this year.  I have gotten so into the audiobook world that I’ve been listening far more than I’ve been reading.  And in some respects it was hard to get into this book because there’s a lot of made up stuff here and you really have to get into the world and the vocabulary and it was a bumpy start for me.

This book is set in the same world as the Rory Thorne books.  Yes, that is true.  But it is set far in the future so there is no overlap with characters or anything like that.  So that was a bit of a bummer.

There’s a lot of “hard” science fiction in this story, which is probably more of the reason why it was hard to get into it.  I accepted the new world, but you have to learn so much to get up to speed with everything that it can feel like a slog even if you are flying through the pages.

There are two main characters in this book.

Lieutenant Iari is a tenju templar (which you have to learn about and which I don’t think I fully did, but tenju are rather large humanoid race with tusks).  She was orphaned during the Expansion War and joined the templars because she believed in their mission.  The war is over now and her primary purpose is to stop The Brood.  Brood are deadly, seemingly invisible monsters that have come through a rip in the Void (which you have to learn about).  The rip is called The Weep, and I feel like I never quite got the hang of how or why the Weep happened.  The one thing that was clear was that the vakari inadvertently created The Weep during the war. Continue Reading »

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Aliens, Duology, Feminism, Funny (ha ha), Gender, K. Eason, Magic, Multiverse, Political Humor, Sci-fi, Science, Violence | Leave a Comment »

Sparks (Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA, June 28, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

June 28, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 28, 2023] Sparks

Last year I dragged myself all the way to New York City (which seems to get harder and harder to get to every time I try) to see Sparks at Town Hall.  I had never seen them and I was convinced they’d never play anywhere closer.

It was worth the grief because the show was wonderful.

So imagine my surprise when one year later they announced a show at the Keswick Theatre.  Keswick is kind of a pain to get to but it’s a nice enough venue.  And for Sparks I was willing  to make the effort.

And then Sloan announced their local show for the same night–I’m honestly shocked how often bands winds up in Philly on the same night.  It’s a little weird, frankly.

So even though I have only seen Sparks once and I have seen Sloan four times, I assumed the Sparks show would be very similar while the Sloan show would be quite different.  Plus, my wife and I have been enjoying seeing Sloan together the last few times.

And so, I blew off Sparks for Sloan. Continue Reading »

Posted in Glenside, PA, Keswick Theatre, Sparks | Leave a Comment »

An evening with Sloan (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, June 28, 2023)

June 28, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 28, 2023] Sloan

This is my fifth time seeing Sloan (and S’s third time).  And while I know that they have a new record out (and they played every song from it), I am so impressed by the number of new songs they played at this show.

Every time I’ve seen Sloan, they’ve done “An Evening with” which I love.  I do enjoy an opening act most of the time, but it’s so great getting two sets–two and a half hours–of music from the band you really like.

I’m always a little bummed that Sloan aren’t bigger here–they play such huge places in Canada.  But here they wind up in 250 person capacity venues.  Of course, everyone there is a huge fan, so that’s gotta feel pretty good.  Plus, I don’t want to see them in an arena.

Their new album Steady is really good and they started off the show with three new songs, one from each vocalist.  I love that they started out with a song from Patrick–his songs are so catchy.  They followed it with a Jay song–so distinctive.  And ended the trilogy with a Chris song–poppy and catchy with great harmonies from Patrick.

They jumped back to Twice Removed with a classic song I can’t believe I haven’t heard them play before, “I Can Feel It.”

Jay doesn’t have as many songs as the other guys so we tend to hear a few of the same songs from him when he sings.  But Between the Bridges is my favorite album of theirs so I’m always happy to hear a song from it.

After the new “Human Nature” with a killer melody, Andrew, the drummer, came out from behind the kit.  This is always fun, because Jay switches to bass and Chris switches to drums while Andrew sings and plays guitar. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Music, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Sloan | Leave a Comment »

Feeble Little Horse / Full Body 2 (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, June 27, 2023) [CANCELLED]

June 27, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[CANCELLED: June 27, 2023] Feeble Little Horse / Full Body 2

I heard about Feeble Little Horse from All Songs Considered.  They had an interesting sound and I was intrigued when I heard they were playing Johnny Brenda’s.  It turned out that this show was the same night my son was flying out to Denver.  So I just figured I wouldn’t be going out that night anyhow.

I didn’t buy tickets, so I didn’t hear that their whole tour had been cancelled.  Just a few days before they were supposed to tour (on the 23rd), they announced:

Feeble Little Horse have canceled their upcoming tour of North America, which was set to begin in Washington, D.C., on June 25. “[W]e were so excited and this tour meant the world to us,” the band wrote in a statement, “we have been blown away by all the recent support we have received but for now we have to take a step back and reassess our little world for our continued health.” Read the rest of the message below.

The Pittsburgh-based band issued its second album, Girl With Fish, in mid-June after announcing it with the summer tour in February. Feeble Little Horse reissued their debut, Hayday, last year. Feeble Little Horse have not yet indicated whether the 12-date tour will be rescheduled.

I don’t know what’s up with their health, but I did have to laugh that a 12 date tour seemed too much for them.  Their post actually sounded like they were breaking up, so we’ll see.

Full Body 2 is (according to WKNC)

an explorative band from Rochester, N.Y. [who] have found their niche tapping into a bold blend of digital rock, shoegaze, and curated electronic chaos. Composed of Cassidy Rose Hammond, Dylan Vaisey, and Jack Chaffer, this trio created Full Body 2 in 2020 as a one-off project from their former indie-rock band Full Body. Full Body 2 provides us with music that encourages creativity. It is motivating and refreshing. They are defined by their unique use of sound collage and abstract vocal work. Full Body 2 is positive, energetic, and undeniably loud. Upon the release of “Demo 01” in 2020, their explosive, curated sound took root and the band quickly shifted gears from Full Body into Full Body 2– the once ephemeral project taking ownership of its permanence.

I hadn’t heard of either band, but I really like the shoegaze feel (one of the rare recent bands who are shoegaze without being really heavy).  It’s a wall of ethereal electronic sound and is really good.

 

Posted in Feeble Little Horse, Full Body, Full Body 2, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Weezer / Future Islands / Joyce Manor (Mann Center, Philadelphia PA, June 27, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

June 27, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 27, 2023] Weezer /Future Islands / Joyce Manor

Weezer has turned into the Barenaked Ladies for me.

What does that mean?

Well, I have seen Barenaked Ladies a bunch of times (starting back in the days before Steven Page left). In the last decade or so, they have been doing a Last Tour of Summer every summer, where they have two opening bands and they play most of their hits.   Every year the shows are fairly similar with a few new songs thrown in the mix.  But I have since decided I would go based on the opening bands.  If they pick one (or two) bands I really want  to see, then I’ll go.  If they pick bands I actively don’t like, I won’t go.  This year, they picked two bands I didn’t like (I would have happily seen Semisonic, but they were only on the west coast).

Now it appears that Weezer will also be doing an annual summer tour.  I’ve only seen Weezer three times, but they’ve all been fairly recently, so I find myself in the same boat.  I’d be happy to see Weezer again, but only if the opening bands are ones I want to see.

And look at the support bands!  Modest Mouse!  Spoon!  Momma!  even White Reaper. Continue Reading »

Posted in Future Islands, Joyce Manor, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Weezer | Leave a Comment »

Mondo Cozmo (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, June 24, 2023)

June 27, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 24, 2023] Mondo Cozmo

We had enjoyed Illinois, but as my wife said, when Mondo Cozmo started playing it was like, “ah yes, this is a professional band.”  And I know what she meant, somehow Mondo Cozmo stepped up the quality of the performance.  Everything felt a little bigger, a little more polished.

So we had known some Mondo Cozmo songs from hearing them on WXPN.  As of a few days ago I could say I didn’t really remember the songs I knew, although when I played the albums on Spotify they came flooding back.   Suffice it to say we didn’t know most of the songs.

But as soon as Joshua Keith Ostrander started playing (acoustic guitar for the first song) and singing “Meant for Livin'” it was clear why they were the headliners (even if Illinois helped him out when he was first starting).  And by the chorus, we knew that we had picked a perfect show to see.

The band sounded great, Josh’s voice was fantastic and the songs were all catchy as hell.  Even if you didn’t feel comfortable singing along yet, you could easily clap along.

“Meant for Livin'” has a kind of Dylanesque feel of folk rap and and a big ripping chorus.  And I could see from the way that she was smiling  that my wife was happy she came along.

“Black Cadillac” was even bigger, with a fun bass line and another sing along chorus and  fun ending “Give me some sugar.” Continue Reading »

Posted in Illinois, Mondo Cozmo, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

Illinois (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, June 24, 2023) [MONDO COZMO]

June 26, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 24, 2023] Illinois

I was looking forward to seeing this show, but I felt bad that I was going out two nights in a row so I asked my wife if she wanted to come along.  I never ask her along to show I know she’ll hate, and I know sometimes she’s iffy about going out at all, but she said yes, and that made it all the more fun.

The opening band was Illinois who I had never heard of, but whom the crowd absolutely had. The crowd sang along to almost every song and I’m guessing that if I knew the music a little better I would have had as much fun as everyone else.

As it was, it felt like a fantastic cover band playing covers that I’d never heard before.

Turns out Illinois is from Bucks County, PA, so they’re locals.  And the locals were really into seeing them.

The songs had a stomping kinda country feel and I was never exactly sure what vibe the band was going for. Continue Reading »

Posted in Illinois, Mondo Cozmo, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts | 1 Comment »

Spotlights (Ortlieb’s, Philadelphia, PA, June 23, 2023)

June 25, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 24, 2023] Spotlights

I saw Spotlights open for Deftones back in 2016.  I hadn’t heard of them before, but their live show left a lasting impression on me.  I had been trying to see them again since then, but it never worked out for one reason or another.

Finally, they were playing at Ortlieb’s, a bar I’d never been to. So it was cool to check out this venue and see  this band.

The openers started late for one reason or another and so Spotlights didn’t go on until after 10.  They were supposed to end at 11 (a dance party in the main part of the bar was scheduled for 11).  They said they were going to be quick, which I guess meant minimal banter because it didn’t see to shorten their set at all.

The one thing I had remembered from their show was how big and loud this trio sounded.  Originally, Spotlights was a duo–husband and wife Mario and Sarah Quintero–but they seemed to have taken drummer Chris Enriquez into their family and he is a beast.  Enriquez is a perfect compliment to their wall of sound.

And indeed, when Sarah plugged in her bass, the sound was so big my arm hairs vibrated. They played four songs from their new album.  One of which (“Algorithmic” I think) got a huge response from the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, Ortlieb’s holds about 75 people.  So it was a close, tiny room.  A guy next to me even put his vinyl purchases on the stage (which was about six inches high).  Of course, mid-set, Mario asked him to move them so he (Mario) could stand there and interact with the crowd.  Mario eventually came onto the floor and gave that guy a hug.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Heatmap, LaMacchia, Ortlieb's, Philadelphia, PA, Spotlights | Leave a Comment »

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