[DID NOT ATTEND: June 7, 2022] Sigur Rós
Few bands are as amazing live as Sigur Rós. I can’t believe it has been five years since I’ve last seen them.
My wife and I were looking forward to this show so much.
And that’s when we learned that you can never schedule anything in June if you have kids. Our daughter won an award and it was scheduled for this evening.
What timing. Obviously, there was no chance for going to this show.
Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sigur Rós, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: March 2022] The Last Hero
The Last Hero is a Discworld illustrated short story or fable . Really what that means is that there’s only one main plot line since most Discworld stories have multiple plots that interweave and then come together. So it doesn’t really feel short because a full adventure happens–just without all of the ancillary characters.
And, perhaps most striking for any Discworld book is that this one is fully illustrated by Paul Kidby. Only every other page is full text. The rest are half picture or full picture. But the pictures are also very deatiled and will keep you busy for a while. This particualr version has 16 all new pages of illustrations.
The Last Hero is Cohen the Barbarian. We last saw him in Interesting Times when he became the Emperor of the Agatean Empire. But, well, being in charge of things is kind of boring. And, frankly, it’s no way for a hero to go out. When one of the Silver Horde died by choking on a concubine–I think you mean cucumber– Cohen decides they need a plan. So he gathers the rest of the Silver Horde for one last adventure.
The very first hero, “Fingers” Mazda, stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind (analogous to Prometheus), and was chained to a rock to be torn open daily by a giant eagle as punishment. Cohen’s plan is to give the fire back–in the form of a giant explosive packed into a large sled filled with explosive Agatean Thunder Clay. They plan to blow up the gods at their mountain home, Cori Celesti. Continue Reading »
Posted in Anachronisms, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Death, Discworld, Funny (ha ha), Hex, Josh Kirby, Leonard of Quirm, Magic, Mustrum Ridcully, Ponder Stibbons, Rincewind, Terry Pratchett, The Bursar, The Chair of Indefinite Studies, The Dean, The Lecturer in Recent Runes, The Librarian, The Senior Wrangler, Wizards, Wizards | Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: June 4, 2022] Crawlers
Out of the blue one day my daughter begged me to get her tickets to see a band I had never heard of. They were called Crawlers from the UK. They were touring the US for the first time and could she please please please go to a club called PhilaMOCA.
So Crawlers, it turns out are an alt-rock/punk band who are pretty darn cool.
We were in front of guitarist Amy Woodall and on the far side was bassist Liv Kettle who had the best look going on–great eye liner and huge kick ass boots.
Lead singer Holly Minto was up front engaging with everyone. She was fun and warm and welcoming and was just a delight. And in the back was Harry Breen smashing up the drum set. They’ve been playing together for a few years now and Minto and Kettle have been friends forever. They have a great stage rapport.
Crawlers had made some waves via TikTok and it was clear that their fan base was young, and they were especially speaking to young women. I tried my best to get out of the way to let the young women have the font, but I also didn’t want to leave me daughter by herself, so we kind of hung out near the front, but not too near. Continue Reading »
Posted in Crawlers, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, T., Thus Love | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: April 14, 2022] Thief of Time
The Death stories allow Pratchett to play around with new characters (in addition to old favorites).
So this story features a new character named Jeremy Clockson. Jeremy was a founding left a the Clockmaker’s guild. He is uncanny in his precision and was ultimately kicked out of the Guild for being too high strung.
One day a woman walks into his office (he makes the most precise clcks in Ankh-Morpork. her name is Myria LeJean. She is obnoxious and haughty and demands that Jeremy make the best clock that has ever been invented. He, knowing a thing or two about clocks, says that he has already created the most precise clocks ever. But she tells him about a clock that can be even more.
She offers him a lot of money to build it even as she knows that building such an amazing clock will be all the reward that Jeremy wants.
This is when Death gets involved. Because it turns out that if this clock is built it will literally be the end of the world–this clock will capture and stop time.
Many Death stories have to do with the Auditors, and of course the Auditors are behind this, too. The find humanity too messy to deal with, and they want to remove humanity so that the universe will run more smoothly. They have sent Myris as a human to try to learn. But she soon becomes taken over by human behavior and she kind of… likes Jeremy.
She also sends Jeremy an Igor to work with him. I love the Igor characters and was delighted to see another one make an appearance.
As with most of the latter Death stories, Death is really enforced by Miss Susan–Death’s granddaughter. Death him self cannot get involved when the Auditors cause trouble. But Susan can stop them as long as Death doesn’t reveal too much.
I loved seeing Susan’s life as a teacher (her headmistress doesn’t like her, but the kids love her)
In the other major thread, we meet Lu-Tze–a powerful member of the History Monks masquerading as a humble sweeper. There’s some wonderful karate movie shenanigans in this story. With Lu Tze presenting as a lowly sweeper when he is indeed the most feared member of the Monks. He works with a monk who creates with weapons called Qu.
And yet whenever he is called upon to do something that involves attacking or violence, he seems to just use trickery to get things to happen.
He is also given an apprentice, Lobsang. Lobsang is a name that jumped out at me so much, that it made me think I must have remembered this story very well and yet I didn’t. I just remembered the name Lobsang. Huh.
Lu-Tze and Lobsang are in charge of making sure that time isn’t destroyed. Lobsang is considered a pain in the butt by the other monks.
Lobsang is a spoiled kid, who is bored at school and cant be taught because he knows everything. Even Lu-Tze is not impressed with him, until he is able to bend time is ways that only the eldest Monks are able to do. In fact, no one should be able to do the things he can do. Lu-Tze realizes that Lobsang is naturally gifted at time shaping, he just needs to know how to control his gift.
Incidentally, the main abbot of the monastery has been reincarnated serval times. He is presently a baby but he is also very wise, so his conversation is constantly interrupted his baser needs.
‘Ah, Sweeper,’ he burbled, awkwardly tossing aside a yellow ball and brightening up. ‘And how are the mountains? Wanna bikkit wanna bikkit!’
‘I’m definitely getting vulcanism, reverend one. It’s very encouraging.’
‘And you are in persistent good health?’ said the abbot, while his pudgy little hand banged a wooden giraffe against the bars. ‘Yes, your reverence. It’s good to see you up and about again.’
‘Only for a few steps so far, alas bikkit bikkit wanna bikkit. Unfortunately, young bodies have a mind of their own BIKKIT! ‘You sent me a message, your reverence? It said, “Put this one to the test.”’
As the apocalypse looms, Death recalls that he and the other four horsemen must ride forth. But it has been a really long time and War is now married (he has to ask his wife if he likes meat–no it gives him wind). Famine and Pestilence aren’t that keen on doing anything either. Leave it to Death to find the long lost horseman of the Apocalayse–a man who is now a milkman named Ronnie Soak. Ronnie hasn’t thought about riding forth in years. But he becomes essential to the plot.
There is a huge pile of time travel in this book, as well as eastern philosophy and thoughts of what it means to be human,
There’s some really high concepts in a story in which the bad guys are defeated with chocolate. And in which other characters are decapitated with no ill effects.
I love Susan as a character and the way that the Jeremy story and the Lobsang story combine is pretty masterful
And don’t forget Rule One. Rule One is “Do not act incautiously when confronting a little bald wrinkly smiling man”
It’s a great story.
Here’s the list of all Discworld books in order:
1. The Colour of Magic
2. The Light Fantastic
3. Equal Rites
4. Mort
5. Sourcery
6. Wyrd Sisters
7. Pyramids
8. Guards! Guards!
9. Faust Eric
10. Moving Pictures
11. Reaper Man
12. Witches Abroad
13. Small Gods
14. Lords and Ladies
15. Men at Arms
16. Soul Music
17. Interesting Times
18. Maskerade
19. Feet of Clay
20. Hogfather
21. Jingo
22. The Last Continent
23. Carpe Jugulum
24. The Fifth Elephant
25. The Truth
26. Thief of Time
27. The Last Hero
28. The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents
29. Night Watch
30. The Wee Free Men
31. Monstrous Regiment
32. A Hat Full of Sky
33. Going Postal
34. Thud!
35. Wintersmith
36. Making Money
37. Unseen Academicals
38. I Shall Wear Midnight
39. Snuff
40. Raising Steam
41. The Shepherd’s Crown
Posted in Alfred, Auditors of Reality, Binky, Clocks, Death, Death of Rats, Discworld, Funny (ha ha), History Monks, James Bond, Lobsang, Lu-Tze, Magic, Quoth (the raven), Susan Sto-Helit, Terry Pratchett, Unfinished series | Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: June 4, 2022] Thus Love
Out of the blue one day my daughter begged me to get her tickets to see a band I had never heard of. They were called Crawlers from the UK. They were touring the US for the first time and could she please please please go to a club called PhilaMOCA.
Now I happened to love PhilaMOCA. When they needed fundraising I supported them and looked forward to them reopening their doors. I hadn’t been back since they reopened, so I was pretty interested to see the place again. But I was even more interested to check out this band and see what had my daughter so interested.
PhilaMOCA has a supersmall capacity so I grabbed tickets for us immediately assuming the show would sell out.
But when we arrived (the renovations look great, even if it means the capacity is even smaller now), there was hardly anyone there. Continue Reading »
Posted in Crawlers, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Thus Love | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: April 2022] The Truth
This story is set in Ankh-Morpork but it’s not about the Watch. Or Lord Vetenari. Well, it sort of is about both of them, but not really.
This story is about The Truth. And also about a new character called William de Worde. William is a black sheep of a famous and wealthy Ankh-Morpork family. He has always been interested in writing and in finding the truth.
His job was to write an occasional message to various important figures around the Disc with information about what’s going on in Ankh-Morpork. He quickly learned that he could write his message, have the Engraver’s guild print multiple copies and just change a few things for each one. This made him a lot more money.
Then there was big news in Ankh-Morpork–the arrival of movable type from the dwarfs, particularly Gunilla Goodmountain.
William, through a series of events, inadvertently becomes the spokesperson for the movable type (even though he had nothing to do with it) and starts a newspaper. The paper is supposed to be named Ankh-Morpork Items but they get the type wrong and it became The Ankh-Morpork Times.
He is assisted by the dwarfs and Sacharissa Cripslock–a fiery reporter who proves very useful. Continue Reading »
Posted in Altogether Andrews, Anachronisms, Angua von Überwald, Arnold Sideways, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Cheery Littlebottom, Coffin Henry, Death, Detritus, Discworld, Dogs, Dorfl, Dwarfs, Foul Ol' Ron, Fred Colon, Funny (ha ha), Golems, Guns, Lady Sybil Ramkin, Lord Vetinari, Magic, Newspapers, Nobby Nobbs, Sacharissa Cripslock, Samuel Vimes, Terry Pratchett, The Duck Man, The Librarian, The Watch, Vampires, Violence, Werewolves, William de Worde, Wizards | Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: June 3, 2022] Kurt Vile & The Violators
Since the last time I saw Kurt Vile (2018), S. has become a huge fan of Kurt and his music. So when he announced he was touring, and would be ending his run in his home town, of course we grabbed tickets.
I had seen Kurt playing in New Jersey four years ago and he was a delight. He switches instruments almost every song. he doesn’t talk a lot, but he seems to be having a really good time and is happy that we’re there with him.
It was amazing that he played almost none of the same songs tonight that he did four years ago. True he had two new albums to showcase since that time, but even the older cuts were mixed up (except for his biggest hit which I couldn’t imagine him not playing and “Waking on a Pretty Day”).
Kurt is pretty much exactly what you get on record–his delivery is pretty much the same, his guitar playing is the same. he comes across as the most natural performer you’ve ever seen. Like he literally just walked in and started playing.
I am a huge fan of some of Kurt’s songs. I love “Loading Zones” and could listen to him play that song for ages. Continue Reading »
Posted in Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Natural Information Society, Philadelphia, PA, The War on Drugs, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: June 4, 2022] La Femme / Cumgirl8
I heard about La Femme through the Levitation Sessions releases. I have enjoyed just about everything that Levitation has released in this series–most of it trippy psychedelia.
La Femme is a different beast though. While still trippy, the are more of a disco-based, Kraftwerk-inspired form of Parisian punk psych pop. They could be trashy psych as played by techno acts, or prickly electro as louche sophisti-noir. Whatever the case, I though they’d be fun to see live.
I found out about this show pretty late in the game and it happened to be on the same night as the Crawlers show that my daughter really wanted to go see. So I hope La Femme comes back around sooner rather than later.
Cumgirl8 sounds like the name of a band that is trying too hard. But they are getting some good review for their music.
Like this from V Magazine.
Founded on the idea of taking back control and fighting against toxicity, cumgirl8 is true adventurist-punk group. The group has received praise from the likes of Stereogum and Fader, and their latest song, “dumb bitch,” has already garnered over 15,000 listens on Spotify.
They remind me of a British 70s punk band ala The Slits (I thought they were British–they are not). The music is weird, with a pulsing bass that follows the main vocal line and jagged, echoing guitars.
Here’s an interesting factoid about the band: singer and bass player Lida Fox and guitarist Veronika Vilim are both models, as in big baller runway Marc Jacobs type shit, with drummer/synth tweaker/producer Chase Noelle having played in BOYTOY and others.
I wonder how much durability they’ll have.
Posted in Cumgirl8, La Femme, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: April 2022] The Fifth Elephant
This is a story of Ankh-Morpork and progress. Ankh-Morpork has just introduced a series of clacks–semaphore towers–to provide quick communication between distant places. It’s expensive, but businesses in the know are all getting c-mail addresses.
Incidentally, the movie The Fifth Element came out in 1997 and was clearly an inspiration for the title–although very little about that film falls into place here. Rather, the fifth elephant of the title is believes to have been one of the elephants who held up the world but who fell to the Disc and caused craters of fat deposits that are found underground in Uberwald (which produces the best fat on the disc). Fat deposits are a very valuable commodity.
Uberwald factors heavily in this story. Ankh-Morpork now has the largest dwarf city on the Disc. And the progressive dwarfs in Ankh-Morpork are able to sway elections back home–where the more traditional dwarfs (deep down dwarfs) don’t think highly of the dwarfs who have left.
An upcoming election for Dwarf king was swayed by the Ankh-Morpork contingent and Rhys Rhysson, a progressive dwarf is set to become King. But this has made many old school dwarfs very unhappy and rumors of an internal war start brewing. Continue Reading »
Posted in Anachronisms, Angua von Überwald, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Cheery Littlebottom, Death, Detritus, Discworld, Dorfl, Dwarfs, Fred Colon, Funny (ha ha), Gender, Lady Sybil Ramkin, Lord Vetinari, Magic, Nobby Nobbs, Political Humor, Politicians, Samuel Vimes, Technology, Terry Pratchett, The Watch, Vampires, Violence, Werewolves, Wizards | Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: June 3, 2022] Natural Information Society
Since the last time I saw Kurt Vile (2018), S. has become a huge fan of Kurt and his music.
So when he announced a tour that would be culminating at Union Transfer, obviously we were going to go. I’m a fan of the opener Chastity Belt, but I was bummed that they weren’t opening our leg of the tour. So that left two possibilities for us: Sun Ra Arkestra or Natural Information Society.
I had seen Sun Ra Arkestra and enjoyed their wild free jazz craziness. I knew S. wouldn’t like them. But it turned out that the question was moot because I was taking my daughter to another show on the Sun Ra night anyhow. So Natural Information Society it was.
I had never heard of them and had no idea what they were like. Continue Reading »
Posted in Full show video, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Natural Information Society, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »
I Just Read About That... 