Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Terry Pratchett–Men at Arms (1992) [Discworld #15] [Watch #2]

October 20, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: Fall 2021] Men at Arms

The Watch is back and it’s getting bigger.

And they are going to have to deal with another person who is trying to oust Patrician Vetinari.  This time the person in question is Edward D’eath a high ranking member of the Assassins Guild. D’eath has been doing genealogical research and he believes that Corporal Carrot might be the rightful heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork–the throne which even Lord Vetinari won’t sit on (but won’t remove either).

Meanwhile, Captain Sam Vimes is about to be married to Lady Sybil Ramkin (I can’t believe that the Vimes /Lady Sybil relationship was settled after just one book!)

Sam is delighted with Sybil, but he hates just about everything else about the upcoming marriage.  He hates that Sybil is one of the richest women in Ankh-Morpork.  He hates hobnobbing with the other rich people in the city (Sybil is really very different from everyone else, which is why he loves her). He is even rather uncomfortable with just how rich Sybil is.  There’s a very spot-on argument about how rich people even save money when they buy expensive things.  For instance, the average cop can’t afford to buy expensive shoes that last.  So instead he has to buy cheap shoed that wear out quickly.  Then he has to buy another pair.  And then another pair.  Three $20 pairs that don’t last as long as one $50 pair.

The worst thing for Sam is that he really doesn’t want to give up being a cop.  Well, maybe he kind of does, but it’s all he knows.  And he knows that he’ll miss it.  Even if things are changing around him. Continue Reading »

Posted in Anachronisms, Angua von Überwald, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Cuddy, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Death, Detritus, Discworld, Dwarfs, Fred Colon, Funny (ha ha), Guns, Lady Sybil Ramkin, Lord Vetinari, Magic, Nobby Nobbs, Samuel Vimes, Terry Pratchett, The Librarian, The Watch, Vampires, Violence, Werewolves, Wizards | Leave a Comment »

The Mountain Goats (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 19, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

October 19, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 19, 2021] The Mountain Goats

I’ve enjoyed a lot of The Mountain Goats’ music and I’d like to see them live, but their timing always seems to be terrible.

In addition to the several times that the John Darnielle solo show was postponed in Bethlehem, this show was added as part of a new tour following the cancellation of previous dates around the country.

This show happened to line up with two other shows that I wanted to go to that night.

Coincidentally, both of those other shows were cancelled, but by then, it was too late t even think about adding a new show to my week.

So, some day I’ll see them preferably in a place smaller than the Fillmore, as well).

Posted in John Darnielle, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Mountain Goats | Leave a Comment »

Torres (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 18, 2021)

October 19, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 18, 2021] Torres

This was my third time seeing Torres.  I had actually bought tickets for this show back in December of 2019.  She was going to be touring the album Silver Tongue, which I never got.  In a way I’m glad the show was pushed back to 2021, because her latest album Thirstier is outstanding.

Mackenzie Scott has fallen in love and Thirstier is a happy album.  And Mackenzie is ripping it up on stage.  She’s been wearing essentially workout clothes and she comes off stage covered in sweat.

Her band was amazing keyboard/synth player Erin Manning, was terrific even though I could never really see her from where I was.  Bryan Bisorti rocked out the drums and J.R. Bohannon played pedal steel and matched her on lead guitar.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Torres | Leave a Comment »

Diet Cig / Retirement Party (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, October 19, 2021) [CANCELLED]

October 19, 2021 by Paul Debraski

indexI have been wanting to see Diet Cig since I first saw their Tiny Desk Concert back in 2017.  Things are always conspiring for me to not see them.  This time it was that I already had tickets for the Waxahatchee show the same night.  This was going to be a hard choice, honestly.  Because I had seen Waxahatchee and really liked the new album (plus I already had the tickets!.

But then on September 1st the band wrote:

this was not an easy decision to come to but ultimately one we felt we had to make. we’re so sorry for the disappointment and we love you all so much 💓🌈💔 we’ve got a little surprise for folks who did buy tickets announcing soon so keep your eyes peeled for that! thank you so much for understanding and we promise to make it up to y’all next time we see you IRL!!!! 💓💓💓 xoxo A+N

So, problem solved for now.

I don’t know anything about Retirement Party.

Posted in Cancelled, Coronavirus, Diet Cig, Philadelphia, PA, Retirement Party | Leave a Comment »

Waxahatchee / Katy Kirby (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 19, 2021) [rescheduled date, rescheduled again and again] [POSTPONED]

October 19, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[POSTPONED: October 15, 2021] Waxahatchee / OHMME [rescheduled from April 14 and October 5, 2020 and May 16, 2021]

indexOriginally this concert featured support from OHMME, which was half the reason I wanted to see this show and not one of the other shows.  For whatever reason, OHMME was no longer at this show, and support was now from Katy Kirby, who has a very catchy song called “Traffic!” and plays some lovely folk songs.

This show has been postponed so many times it is ridiculous.  It was finally rescheduled on the night before a special day in our house.  So, although I had two tickets, S. wasn’t going to go.  Then on October 15, just hours before they were supposed to go on stage for their first sold out show at Union Transfer, they forwarded this message:

Waxahatchee has postponed the last few shows of their tour including the Philadelphia dates on October 15 & 19.

We are confirming new dates right now and will send out those details in a few days.

Your tickets will be good for the new date (no need to do anything). If you cannot make the new date, we will be happy to refund you, however, we ask that all requests be made after the new date is announced.

From the band: “This morning, a member of our touring party tested positive for Covid. The rest of the band/crew have tested negative, but out of an abundance of caution, we have to postone these last 4 shows of our 6+ week tour. We hope to be able to reschedule them for early in the new year.”

Thank you.

— xo UT

This one worked in my favor.  And I’m looking forward to that rescheduled show next year.

wxa

Posted in Cancelled, Coronavirus, Jeff Tweedy, Katy Kirby, OHMME, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Union Transfer, Waxahatchee | Leave a Comment »

Sarah Jaffe (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 18, 2021) [TORRES]

October 18, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 18, 2021] Sarah Jaffe

I had convinced myself that the opening act for this tour was Sarah Jarosz.  Probably because I would like to see Jarosz and I knew that she was touring at the same time.  Although sonically it didn’t really make any sense (and I assume that Jarosz is probably bigger than Torres.

But anyhow, a few days before the show I confirmed that the opening act was Sarah Jaffe, whom I had never heard of.

Jaffe came out of stage and proved to be a versatile musician.  She sang, she played guitar, she rapped, she played synth pop.  All within a brief opening set. Continue Reading »

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Sarah Jaffe, Sarah Jarosz, Torres | Leave a Comment »

Frankie and the Witch Fingers / Acid Dad / Hooveriii (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, October 18, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

October 18, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 18, 2021] Frankie and the Witch Fingers / Acid Dad / Hooveriii

Over the quarantine, I have discovered the good fun of the Levitation online concert series and The Reverberation Appreciation Society.  I’ve enjoyed some great concerts from psychedelic garage bands.  So when it was announce with little fanfare that two bands I have really gotten to enjoy: Hooveriii and Acid Dad were going to be playing at PhilaMOCA with Frankie & the Witch Fingers (who i didn’t know), I was really excited at a chance for a night of psychedelic fun.  Then it turned out to be on the same night as the Torres show.

The Torres show that I bought tickets for in December of 2019!

It was a really hard choice to pick which show to go to.  Even though I had tickets for Torres already, they weren’t that expensive and I bought them almost three years ago!  I spend the week before this show trying to decide who I wanted to see.  I had seen Torres twice before (she’s amazing live).  I had never seen any of the other three.  Up until that morning I was still trying to decide.

Then as the morning struck, I decided that I would go to this show.  At work, I watched some live footage of Frankie and then i watched a recent live show from KEXP with Torres.  And after listening to the interview with Torres, she won out.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see all three bands together again, but I’m sure that at least the two openers will be back around.

But Markit Aneight was there to record all three bands

Frankie and the Witch Fingers

Acid Dad

Hooveriii

Posted in Acid Dad, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Full show video, Hooveriii, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Torres | Leave a Comment »

Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, October 17, 2021) [rescheduled date, rescheduled again and again] [POSTPONED]

October 17, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[POSTPONED: October 17, 2021] Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly [rescheduled from July 18, 2020, April 17, 2021; moved to March 9, 2022]

indexOut of the blue, and very close to the time of the shows, this tour was cancelled and postponed until next year.

The lineup has completely changed as well.  Initially, the support was from KMFDM an Front Line Assembly.  Then KMFDM was replaced with Helmet.  Now for the show next year, we have The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity.  I had pretty much decided i wasn’t going to go to this show anyhow, but it always lingered in the back of my mind as something I might want to do.  Of course, I’d much rather go to the Wellmont than Franklin Music hall, so it’s unlikely I’d go to this show anyhow.

~~~~

This show was moved to April which seemed reasonable at the time.  I see now that it has been pushed back to October which actually seems optimistic.  I am very bummed to see that KMFDM is no longer on the tour, as They would have been a great opener.  I like Helmet, but I think KMFDM would have been more fun.  If I’m going to one of these two shows (Montclair being the other one) it would certainly Montclair.

I’ve been a fan of Ministry for decades.  I even liked the first album With Sympathy (and listen to it now more than their hardercore stuff).  But when Land of Rape and Honey came out, it was the most intense thing in the world. It was incredible.

They put out a series of great heavy albums, although by 1999’s Filth Pig either I stopped enjoying it or they just weren’t as good.

So I guess it has been two decades since I cared about Ministry.  However, Al Jourgensen and his band keep touring and, since I’ve seen Slayer now, I thought I should see what a ministry experience is like.

I wanted to go to their show in 2018, (I was really interested in seeing opening band Igorr) but the date just didn’t work for me.

Although I hadn’t yet gotten tickets for this show, I was looking forward to this retro bill.

I liked KMFDM more in theory than actually listening to them–I have one album I think). But I always appreciated them (especially the joke that their initials stand for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode–actually it is Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, “no pity for the majority”).  Only one guy is still in the band, but I’d be curious to see what their proto-Rammstein show would be like.

Front Line Assembly was one of the few bands on the industrial label Waxtrax that I never really got into.  I liked many bands on the label, but really never had much exposure to FLA (in the days before you could listen to things online).   I’m curious what 1980s industrial music sounds like in 2020.

Now that I see that the show is also going to be at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, I will definitely try to get to that one instead.

Posted in Coronavirus, Corrosion of Conformity, Depeche Mode, Feminism, Franklin Music Hall, Front Line Assembly, Igorrr, KMFDM, Ministry, Montclair, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Rammstein, The Melvins, Wax Trax!, Wellmont Theater | Leave a Comment »

Jade Bird: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, October 15, 2021)

October 16, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 15, 2021] Jade Bird

I’ve really enjoyed the rocking songs that Jade Bird releases.  Her voice is so powerful and big that I rally wanted to see her live.  Well, we did kind of see her live at Newport Folk Festival, but that was more hearing her as we were walking around.  So when she announced a tour I definitely wanted to see her.

But it turned out that her show at Underground Arts was Thursday the 14th and I’d already had three shows in a row that week.  (One did get cancelled, but I didn’t change my plans).  So I wouldn’t get to see her.  Until WXPN announced that she’d be playing a Free at Noon (one of the few they did this year).

A Free at Noon show is weird for me.  I have to leave at least 90 minutes before the show for travel time and parking and then it takes me an hour at least to get back to work. So that’s two and a half hours, not including the show which is usually an hour.  So, if traffic is bad, it could be a four hour Free at Noon for me.  But if you have extra vacation time, why not use it?

So I drove down to Philly and got a great spot on the street.  I actually wound up being very early because of the lack of traffic.  And that was fine.  I got a spot right by the stage and waited for Jade Bird to come out. Continue Reading »

Posted in Free at Noon, Jade Bird, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live | Leave a Comment »

Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, October 16, 2021) [rescheduled, rescheduled again][POSTPONED]

October 16, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[POSTPONED: October 16, 2021] Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly [rescheduled from July 18, 2020, April 16, 2021; moved to March 12, 2022]

indexOut of the blue, and very close to the time of the shows, this tour was cancelled and postponed until next year.

The lineup has completely changed as well.  Initially, the support was from KMFDM an Front Line Assembly.  Then KMFDM was replaced with Helmet.  Now for the show next year, we have The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity.  I had pretty much decided i wasn’t going to go to this show anyhow, but it always lingered in the back of my mind as something I might want to do.  Of course, I’d much rather go to the Wellmont than Franklin Music Hall, although I’m in no rush to get tickets for this.

~~~~

This show was moved to April which seemed reasonable at the time.  I see now that it has been pushed back to October which actually seems optimistic.  I am very bummed to see that KMFDM is no longer on the tour, as They would have been a great opener.  I like Helmet, but I think KMFDM would have been more fun.  If I’m going to one of these two shows (Philly the other one) it would certainly be this one.

I’ve been a fan of Ministry for decades.  I even liked the first album With Sympathy (and listen to it now more than their hardercore stuff).  But when Land of Rape and Honey came out, it was the most intense thing in the world. It was incredible.

They put out a series of great heavy albums, although by 1999’s Filth Pig either I stopped enjoying it or they just weren’t as good.

So I guess it has been two decades since I cared about Ministry.  However, Al Jourgensen and his band keep touring and, since I’ve seen Slayer now, I thought I should see what a ministry experience is like.

I wanted to go to their show in 2018, (I was really interested in seeing opening band Igorr) but the date just didn’t work for me.

Although I hadn’t yet gotten tickets for this show, I was looking forward to this retro bill.

I liked KMFDM more in theory than actually listening to them–I have one album I think). But I always appreciated them (especially the joke that their initials stand for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode–actually it is Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, “no pity for the majority”).  Only one guy is still in the band, but I’d be curious to see what their proto-Rammstein show would be like.

Front Line Assembly was one of the few bands on the industrial label Waxtrax that I never really got into.  I liked many bands on the label, but really never had much exposure to FLA (in the days before you could listen to things online).   I’m curious what 1980s industrial music sounds like in 2020.

Now that I see that the show is also going to be at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, I will definitely try to get to that one instead.

Posted in Coronavirus, Corrosion of Conformity, Depeche Mode, Feminism, Franklin Music Hall, Front Line Assembly, Igorrr, KMFDM, Ministry, Montclair, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Rammstein, The Melvins, Wax Trax!, Wellmont Theater | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »