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An Evening With Band of Horses (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, April 15, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 15, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 15, 206] An Evening With Band of Horses

My wife and I saw Band of Horses here about a year and a half ago.  The show was great.  When this show was announced, our friend Jonathan who lives nearby asked if we were going.  But it turned out we were going to The Last Dinner Party already on this night.  So we had gotten tickets for Philly.

We actually know a lot of people who went to this show and the consensus was that the sound was pretty bad.  So I guess we picked the right one (even if we didn’t actually have a choice). The did play two songs tonight that they didn’t for us (NW Apt. and Cigarettes, Wedding Bands) but I still think we got the better show.

Posted in Band of Horses, Montclair, NJ, Wellmont Theater | Leave a Comment »

Nick Offerman (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 12, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 12, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 12, 2026] Wanda Sykes

Whenever I think about comedians that I like, they’re usually British.  Because I receive ads for comedy clubs, I feel like there are hundreds of American comedians and I don’t know any of them. So I forget that there are quite a few American comedians who I really like.  Nick Offerman makes me laugh in anything he does and yet for some reason I have never really thought about going to his stand up show.

I had gone out the night before, but my wife wasn’t really interested in going out on a Sunday night, so we blew him off.  I’ll have to put him on my list of comedians to make sure I see at least once.

Posted in Nick Offerman, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Sunn O))) (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 11, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 11, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 11, 2026] Sunn O)))

I saw Sunn 0))) in 2017.

It was a pretty intense and amazing experience.  I didn’t think I would need to see them again, but when this tour was announced, I figured that roughly ten years was enough time between shows.

Sadly, t was scheduled for the same night that I had a ticket to see The Belair Lip Bombs.  Since this was their first time coming to the States and it was at the terrific PhilaMOCA, I decided to give Sunn O))) a miss.  However, I did consider that I might be able to sneak into the end of their set and catch maybe ten or fifteen minutes since my show was two bands with a small catalog of music.

My friend Jae went to the Sunn O))) show and I told him to text me when it ended.

I wasn’t sure how I would ask to get in to see the last few minutes of the show–if they’d make me pay or what.  But it was all moot.  Sunn O))) had no opener, and their set ended roughly at the same time as mine did.  He also laughed that they played the audio of banter from a Venom show.  Hilarious.

Jae said the show was great and I hope they come back again in a couple of years.

Here’s the clip that Sunn played (hilarious)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sunn O))), Union Transfer, Venom | Leave a Comment »

Laveda (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, April 11, 2026) [THE BELAIR LIP BOMBS]

April 11, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 11, 2026] Laveda

I hadn’t heard of Laveda, but when I listened to them before the show I was interested in their take on 90s grunge.  Then, as I was leaving the house, I saw that they were going to go on at 7:30 instead of 8.  But I wasn’t going to be arriving until like 8:45, so I was bummed to miss them.

However, traffic was light and for one reason or another the band didn’t go on until 7:45, so I was able to see their whole set and was right up near the stage.  Laveda is from Brooklyn.  They were founded by Ali Genevich (guitar, vocals) and Jacob Brooks (guitars and effects).

They opened with Strawberry, a heavy, crashing song with tons of distortion and feedback.  It was a great introduction to the band.  Ali sang all of the songs and had a quiet delivery that suited the songs.

When it ended, they played a noisy and lengthy feedback filled section. Brooks was on his needs playing with the effects pedals and generating feedback.  The noise resolved into the song Care.  It was this song that full won me over.  *’s guitar chords were great and reminded me a lot of Sonic Youth (their more commercial songs).  The bass was also great–a rumbling low end that propelled the song as much as the drums.  The song rocks for a solid 4 minutes and then ends with a very pretty quiet guitar part.  I actually assumed this was a new song, but I see it’s the end of Care, which makes me like the song even more. Continue Reading »

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Laveda, The Belair Lip Bombs, dust | Leave a Comment »

The Belair Lip Bombs [FREE AT NOON] (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia Pa, April 10, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 10, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 10, 2026] The Belair Lip Bombs [FREE AT NOON]

I really liked Hey You from The Belair Lip Bombs.  I was pretty excited to get a ticket to see them tomorrow night at PhilaMOCA.  Especially since it sold out pretty quickly.  Then they announced a Free at Noon for the day before the show (they were playing a show in NYC tonight, so they drove back and forth with all of their gear.

I grabbed a ticket because I thought that maybe I’d skip the PhilaMOCA show and go to see Sunn0))) on Saturday instead.  But I was busy that morning and didn’t feel like hauling ass all the way down to Philly especially since I had a ticket to their show.

So I blew this one off.  Interestingly, they played 9 songs at the Free at Noon and 11 songs at the PhilaMOCA show.  Huh.

You can hear their set here.

Posted in Free at Noon, Philadelphia, PA, The Belair Lip Bombs, World Cafe Live | Leave a Comment »

Atsuko Okatsuka (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 9, 2026)

April 10, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 9, 2026] Atsuko Okatsuka

I had not heard of Atsuko Okatsuka when this show was announced (with the striking image to the right).

I have been going to a lot of comedians this year and reading the blurb and the fact that it was so close I thought it might be worth checking her out.  After buying the tickets, I watched some of her special on TV and wasn’t that excited by the opening moments.  But since I didn’t know if this was the routine she was going to do, I didn’t watch anymore.

So I wasn’t that excited going in.  And it turned out that my wife had a commitment that she couldn’t get out of.  So I almost stayed home.  But again, it was close, so I went.

And I’m so glad I did, because she was hilarious.

She started with a routine about her playing a video game in which you own restaurants.  I didn’t think this could be an extended riff, but it was and each level of the joke made it funnier.  From the fact that she is very very busy (she has so many restaurants) to the part where she is making so much money (in the game) but losing so much money (in real life) as she upgrades.  To how her husband found out about her spending on the games (snitch accountant) to a hilarious joke about her caveman cafe and the dinosaur that runs it with her.   Any paleontologists in the audience?

She spun this off into a series of jokes about how having a phone and doomscrolling is very healthy because otherwise you are left alone with your own thoughts!

I really enjoyed her take on depression commercials–do you really want to be like the people in the “after” scenes?  I really enjoyed the sequence (and the big payoff at the end) about the white man who is excellent at kendo.  She explained that this man has trained for years and is really impressive.  At first she thought it was racist, but realized that he is so sincere and devoted that it is honoring rather than appropriating.  Although she acknowledged that if he hurt himself and someone asked her to finish the routine, THAT would be racist.

The only person who is more Japanese than this man is her father, who is the quintessential Japanese man.  She went to visit him and that’s when she learned she had a brother (from her father’s first marriage).  She was unsure if she wanted to meet him, but when she did and he said, do you want to pretend po be cats while waiting online, that she knew she’d found a kindred spirit.

She crammed so much good material into an hour.  It was a great set.  At the end she did a brief Q&A which turned into a fan fest of people who went to the show wearing a wig that looked like her hair.  I had no idea this was a thing.  Apparently it is.  And she loves it.

I’m sorry my wife couldn’t make it, but I’m really glad I went.

Posted in Atsuko Okatsuka, Maddy Kelly, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ | Leave a Comment »

Maddy Kelly (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 9, 2026) [ATSUKO OKATSUKA]

April 9, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: April 9, 2026] Maddy Kelly

Maddy Kelly is a comedian from New York. As with most unannounced opening acts,

She had a funny setup to the fact that she looks really young.  People ask if she’s still in school and she says no, I do stand up.  The reply is that always amusing.  I also got a real kick out of her blood donation story.  She went to the bathroom after having given blood and the blood hadn’t clotted.  When she told the nurse she bled in the bathroom, the nurse was concerned and asked if it was her first time.

She coupled the age joke with the fact that she’s half Indian and half Irish but that she looks like a teenaged Latina girl.  And her poor all white Irish grandparents who just don’t understand her at all.

She opened the show by asking if anyone was brought there not knowing who the comedian was.  The person who brings you to a show like this just looks at you the whole time trying to see if you’re enjoying it.

After a few minutes of personal jokes she switched to politics and was delightfully brutal to ***mp.  It’s so surprising that someone so good looking could be so evil.

Her political jokes were really funny–coming at the evil folks in charge from a slightly different angle than usual.

Her set was short, but I could have listened to her for twice as long.  I’d like to see her if she comes around again.

 

Posted in Atsuko Okatsuka, Maddy Kelly, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ | Leave a Comment »

Art Brut: Band Bang Rock n Roll plus hits / Party Nerves (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 6, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 6, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 6, 2026] Art Brut: Band Bang Rock n Roll plus hits / Party Nerves

We had returned from Minnesota on Sunday and this show was the following night.  I loved this album (and the follow up) when this came out.  Eddie Argos was a weird but fun frontman.  I thought about getting a ticket for this but I had so many shows lines up the previous week that I just opted not to get one.  But since I had cancelled those shows while in MN, I thought that I would grab a last minute ticket for this one (which had not sold out yet).

But earlier in the day I went to the knee doctor for some pain and he gave me a cortisone shot.  It hurt so much that evening that there was absolutely no way I would have been able to tolerate standing for the show.  (The shot felt much better by the following night).  So I’m glad I didn’t buy a ticket even though I’m sure it was a fun show.

I’ve seen Party Nerves open for other bands three times.  I was delighted to think I could have seen them a 4th time without really meaning to.  They are a great.  As I’d said before:

All three members are super in tune with each other, but fairly or unfairly, most of the attention has to go to guitarist Woolly since he’s the one playing the lightning fast, non-stop surf guitar riffs. Yup, rocking surf guitar that reminds me of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet (the band who made The Kids in the Hall theme song), although listening to them this time, they have more urgency and intensity that Shadowy’s laid back vibe).

Posted in Art Brut, Johnny Brenda's, Party Nerves, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Circle Jerks / Gorilla Biscuits / Negative Approach (Archer Music Hall, Allentown, PA. March 31, 2026 // Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, April 3 & 4, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 5, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 31, April 3, April 4, 2026] Circle Jerks / Gorilla Biscuits / Negative Approach

I liked a lot of 80s punks, but I was never really into Circle Jerks.  I mean, they were legends of course, but for whatever reason I never got their music.  When these shows were announced I was actually surprised that Circle Jerks were still a thing.  Actually, I guess they are once again a thing.  They tend to reunite and then stop and reunite and stop.  They’ve been touring now since 2019 (but haven’t released any new music since 1995).  I Really did consider going to this show. I mean, it’s the Circle Jerks after all.  And they were playing THREE dates.  But I was completely shut out on all of these dates.

The March 31 date was the same night as The Teeth who I didn’t want to miss.  April 3 I had tickets to Puscifer and April 4th I had tickets to Nothing.  And then we wound up going to  Minnesota the first few days of April, so I wouldn’t have been able to go anyway.

I’m not sure what an old school punk show like this would be like–is it all old punks in a pit or is it all young kids in a pit an old guys standing around.  I mean I do love seeing that they played 31 songs in roughly an hour–nice old school punk.  And since they played two dates in Philly, they probably won’t come back around any time soon.  Oh well.  Not a bucket list band, but it would have been fun.

All I know about Gorilla Biscuits is that I bought their Start Today CD in college and it had 99 tracks, which was a really fun at the time.  I hadn’t really thought about them much since then, and was kind of surprised to see that they were touring (which I guess they have been doing since 2005?).  They have released no new music since Start Today (1988).  So I guess their shows aren’t very different each night.  I’m not sure I would have recognized many of the songs but it would have been fun to see them too.  They played about 40 minutes (not bad since they released about 30 minutes of music)

Negative Approach is yet another hardcore band who is still around but who hasn’t out out new music since their debut album Tied Down (1983).  I’m aware of the band but really know very little about them.  Unlike the other three bands, when they started playing again in 2006, only the singer remained–everyone else was new.  But it’s the same guys since 2006 which is longer than the original incarnation lasted (1981-1984).  They played for about 30 minutes)

It sounds like a fun night of old school punk and I wish I’d been able to go.

Posted in Circle Jerks, Gigi Perez, Gorilla Biscuits, Negative Approach, Nikole, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts | Leave a Comment »

Wax Jaw / KulfiGirls / Lash Out (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 4, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 4, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 4, 2026] Wax Jaw / KulfiGirls / Lash Out

I was such a huge fan of Wax Jaw and I wanted to see them every chance I got.  And then for some reason, I wasn’t that excited about this show.  Have I outgrown them?  I don’t know.  Maybe it’s because I already had a ticket to a different show that night that I wasn’t thinking about this show too much.  Of coure, we wound up going to Minnesota so I wouldn’t have been able to go anyhow.

KulfiGirls are a Philadelphia-based rock band fronted by lead vocalist Abi Natesh who, through her use of the South Indian Saraswati veena, presents a novel “carnatic rock” sound inspired by diverse genres of pop and rock. 

I hadn’t heard of them, but holy cow I would have absolutely gone to this show for KulfiGirls.  Their mix of South Indian music and indie rock is really exciting and interesting.  And Abi’s voice is fantastic.  I’m going to have to check them out.

Lash Out is a Philadelphia band made up of Taylor and Tessa.  They are very low-fi and their songs are really short (on bandcamp, they do a cover of Big Lizard in My Backyard).  Also on their bandcamp is a collection of demos and their debut album Lash Out (which doesn’t sound much more polished than the demos.  Their songs are simple and short and decidedly DIY.

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, KulfiGirls, Lash Out, Philadelphia, PA, Wax Jaw | Leave a Comment »

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