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The Decemberists: 20 Years Before the Mast: 20th Anniversary Tour (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, August 17, 2021) [rescheduled date CANCELLED]

August 17, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[CANCELLED: August 17, 2021] The Decemberists: 20 Years Before the Mast [rescheduled from August 18, 2020]

indexOn March 17, The Decemberists officially cancelled this tour.  I had SUCH GOOD SEATS FOR THIS SHOW!!!!  If They are cancelling a show in August, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the summer.

* Tour Update * We were really hoping against hope to be able to bring this 20th/21st anniversary show on the road this summer. And while there’s every reason to be optimistic about the state of the pandemic and the possibility of live shows in the future, we don’t think it’s going to happen in July and August of this year. There’s so much uncertainty about playing these shows safely, especially the indoor ones, that we thought the best decision is to cancel. Yeah, we’re bummed. Refunds are available now at point of purchase. We plan on touring next summer; whether that will be in the vein of a similar tour or something new altogether, it’s too soon to say. We promise to be out there again, seeing all your shining, singing faces — covered or uncovered. In the meantime, we’re putting together a different kind of anniversary celebration, and we’ll be in touch on that soon. Yours, The Decemberists

I’ve been a fan of The Decemberists for years and I am surprised by how few times I’ve seen them.  We were supposed to see them two years ago and then Colin Meloy’s voice went out just in time for our show, so that was cancelled.

I was surprised that this tour didn’t include a stop in Red Bank, but a show at the Met in Philly is almost as good.

I was really really hoping that this show wouldn’t be postponed–it seemed like a milestone date somehow.  Plus, I had AMAZING seats.  Fortunately, the show was postponed to exactly a year minus a day away (as many shows tend to be) and my amazing seats are still good.

Here’s their official word on the postponement from May 27:

Adored Mailing List Recipients,

As you might remember from previous emails, there was some discussion over whether or not 2020 was *in fact* the 20th Anniversary of The Decemberists. Did the band start out in 2000? Or was 2001 our proper debut? There are recollections of Decemberists shows happening in 2000 in some form, and yet our first website and logo proclaimed us “Est. 2001” — for reasons lost to time. Well, we’re happy to report that that controversy is settled once and for all, and it only took a global pandemic to do so.

And so: Twenty Years Before the Mast, The Decemberists’ 20th Anniversary Tour will be coming to your town in the summer of 2021, not this summer.

Posted in Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, The Decemberists, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Phish: Summer Tour 2021 (Atlantic City Beach, Atlantic City, NJ, August 15, 2021) [night 3 of 3] [rescheduled from August 16, 2020]

August 16, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2021] Phish

I got home at an absurdly late hour on Sunday morning and then spent a day prepping to head right back down to Atlantic City for night 2 (for me).  There was the threat of rain, but it held off until after the show.

Having already been to this venue I had a better feel for where I wanted to stand.  I also thought that the sound was a lot worse tonight.  Possibly because the wind was blowing off the ocean–maybe causing some of the sound to get lost.  Or, and this seems more likely, I was standing a little further away and I think the sound was echoing off some of the other buildings in a different way. Whatever the case, Trey’s guitar seemed to come and go for me.  But I haven’t heard anyone else say anything, so it must have been where I was standing.

Nevertheless, it was a great set with some wonderful deep cuts for me to check off.  I may not have checked off a ton of songs from my “gotta see list,” but in the two shows, they played 18 songs I hadn’t seen live before.  That’s pretty wild. Continue Reading »

Posted in Atlantic City, NJ, Kasvot Växt, Phish | Leave a Comment »

Garcia Peoples (Lucky Snake Room, Showboat Casino, Atlantic City, NJ) August 14, 2021) [Free after-Phish show]

August 15, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED [some]: August 14, 2021] Garcia Peoples

A few days before the Phish show in Atlantic City, Garcia Peoples announced that they’d be playing a free show in the Showboat Casino after the show.  Their set started at 11:30.  Phish ended a little after 11.  But realistically there was no way to get to the Showboat for 11:30.

I was prepared though and walked to the far exit where there were fewer people  But it’s still over half a mile away.  So I arrived at the stage sometime before midnight.  They were mid-song and they sounded great.

There were about three other people there and we settled in and enjoyed the music.  Slowly over the course of the next thirty minutes, more people showed up and some even started dancing.

I recognized some of the songs, like “World’s Illusion” and I’m quite certain that they played a bunch of new songs as well–they have a new album in the works.  They also did a few extended jams, which were really great. Continue Reading »

Posted in Atlantic City, NJ, Garcia Peoples, Phish, Showboat Casino | Leave a Comment »

Phish: Summer Tour 2021 (Atlantic City Beach, Atlantic City, NJ, August 14, 2021) [night 2 of 3] [rescheduled from August 15, 2020]

August 14, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 14, 2021] Phish

Atlantic City is not a convenient location for me–2 hours at best.  And yet when Phish announced a three night residency on the back in 2020, I jumped at the tickets.  Unsurprisingly, the show was postponed to 2021.  I thought it might get postponed again as COVID cases started rising, but they plugged along and played an amazing three night miniseries.

I had intended to go Saturday and Sunday, then something came up and I considered switching my Saturday to Friday.  And while Saturday was great, Friday had several songs on my “gotta see live” list as well as a Fish vacuum solo!  I can’t believe they did that on the first night.

However, the second night proved to be pretty great.  If for no other reason than I got to stand in the Atlantic Ocean and watch Phish play.  There was a lifeguard who made sure people didn’t go out too deep (thankless job!) but I was at least knee deep from some of the show.  I was also quite far away from the 36,000 (!) people who apparently attended.

I’m guessing Phish fans are smart enough to get vaccinated (no proof was required at our show).  I masked up, but few others did. But as far as I can tell, it was not a superspreader event at all.  I did venture into the middle of the crowd a few times (masked and no where near the dense pit), but mostly I stayed in the water.

They started out with “Llama.”  “Llama” was a song I hadn’t seen live before, so auspicious start.  Then I realized they were playing it differently–a slow “Llama.”  It’s hard enough tryin to keep track of songs you need to hear without them playing different versions of the songs too.  I do love the fast “Llama,” but this slow version was groovy and very cool. Continue Reading »

Posted in Atlantic City, NJ, Bob Marley, Kasvot Växt, Led Zeppelin, Phish, The Who | Leave a Comment »

Phish: Summer Tour 2021 (Atlantic City Beach, Atlantic City, NJ, August 13, 2021) [night 1 of 3–DID NOT ATTEND]

August 13, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 13, 2021] Phish [rescheduled from August 14, 15 & 16, 2020]

Phish (like everyone else) postponed their 2020 tour, which was going to stop in Atlantic City for three nights.  I didn’t think I could manage three nights driving back and forth to Atlantic City (both physically and familially), so I chose two. Saturday and Sunday.  Two years later and the shows finally went on as scheduled and I did not go to the Friday show (because of course I assumed Saturday would be the killer night).

Turns out Friday was pretty amazing and, I think I would have preferred the Friday to the Saturday.  If for no other reason that Fish did a vacuum cleaner solo–something I’ve never seen in person.

The main reason to see Phish over and over is to see if you can catch all of their songs at some point.  The Friday show also proved to chock full of songs I hadn’t see before:

Cars Trucks Buses
AC/DC Bag
Wolfman’s Brother
I Didn’t Know
Possum

So from my perspective it would have been a great show.  Fortunately, my Saturday and Sunday shows (especially the Sunday show) were pretty great.

 

Posted in Atlantic City, NJ, Coronavirus, Phish | 2 Comments »

Simon Rich–New Teeth: Stories (2021)

August 12, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: FLOCK OF DIMES-Tiny Desk Concert #246 (August 10, 2021).

Flock of Dimes is a fun band name.  It’s the solo project of Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner (I thought Wye Oak was a solo project as well–no, it’s a duo).  [Gee, why wasn’t Andy Stack invited to this sing along?]

For this Home Concert, the solo project turns huge with nine people sitting around having a big ol’ sing along (I’ll assume they are all vaccinated and that this was filmed before Delta took off).

The setup is pretty simple: three guitars (I love that the guys on the couch are lefty (Michael Libramento, baritone guitar) and righty (Alan Good Parker, tenor guitar) so it looks appealingly symmetrical). some percussion and a lot of voices (the men on the right of the screen seems somewhat less invested).

The friends who are singing along include the three singers from Mountain Man: Amelia Randall Meath, Molly Sarlé and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig.  Meath is also in Sylvan Esso and her bandmate Nick Sanborn is also present (he’s one of the less invested men).  The set is filmed at Sylvan Esso’s new studio in Durham, N.C., called Betty’s.

“Two” is a bouncy number with lots of percussion.  I like the way the backing singers join in from time to time, but not constantly–it introduces new voices throughout.

One of the invested men is percussionist Matthew McCaughan from Bon Iver–he’s got a full complement of instruments at hand.  Joe Westerland (from Megafaun) is the other percussionist, he’s just a bit more subtle in his actions, but you can see him gently tapping through “Two.”

“Price of Blue” is a little slower but it has a wonderful melody.  The harmonies really standout on this song.

I don’t know the originals of these songs, but I have to assume the blurb is correct

These acoustic performances actually shed new light, thanks to radiant and radically different arrangements, while fully capturing the warmth we look for from Tiny Desk concerts.

Whatever the case, the backing vocals are tremendous.  You can really hear Molly Sarlé’s gorgeous harmony vocals.

“Awake For The Sunrise” feels like an old fashioned fire side sing along.  I’ve enjoyed Wye Oak’s music but I don’t know it very well.  I rather like Wassner’s delivery here–but i feel like these songs might not be as good without these harmonies!

[READ: August 12, 2021] New Teeth

I’m guessing that Simon Rich had a baby.

This collection of stories is loaded with stories about little kids.  And that’s all right because he has a very funny take on being a parent.

The other stories tackle the corporate environment and are full of fish-out-of-water stories.

“Learning the Ropes” is about being a new parent.  But it is written from the point of view of two pirates. And hilarity ensues.

What’s odd to me is that in his first books, his stories were really short, but I feel like lately his stories have gotten much longer–sometimes too long.  This one in particular kind of dragged at times, because it’s pretty much a one-note joke: what? pirates raising a little girl?!  One pirate is a concerned parent which means he wants them both to care about the child.  It’s got a few very funny moments, and of course, when the pirates who speak in pirate style (“The only man I trust is me first mate”) say things like “Arr… it be called ‘limit testing.’ She be acting out because she be craving discipline,” well, that’s classic Simon Rich right there. Continue Reading »

Posted in Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, Amelia Meath, Babe Ruth, Babies, Baseball, Corporate skewering, Death, Fantasy, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, Josh Gad, Megafaun, Molly Sarlé, Monsters, Morality, Mountain Man, New Yorker, Pirates, Short Story, Simon Rich, Sylvan Esso, Technology, Wye Oak, Yuck! | Leave a Comment »

Primo Levi–“Bear Meat” (New Yorker, January 8, 2007)

August 11, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK:  BEN HOWARD-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #245 (August 9, 2021).

I don’t really know who Ben Howard is.  he is not one of “The Bens” (that was Ben Folds, Ben Kweller and Ben Lee).  For this Tiny Desk (Home) Concert it’s just him and his guitars.  But the blurb suggests the album these songs are from is quite different.

Having spent time with Collections from the Whiteout, Ben Howard’s sonically adventurous fourth album, I was curious to see how he would adapt these songs to the Tiny Desk (home) concert format. So when the opening shot shows Ben in a room alone, an acoustic guitar in hand, it was both an “oh yeah!” and an “uh-oh” moment. Gone were all those textures that he, Aaron Dessner, and a load of talented musicians had worked on, but front and center was that delicate, reflective voice that I love. It’s a voice that, in the recent past, was often swarming in effects and buried in reverb.

Ben plays four songs.  The first, “Follies Fixtures” is on acoustic guitar.

So as Ben Howard opens his Tiny Desk with the album’s opening track, I found myself zeroing in on the oblique and painterly images of “Follies Fixtures”: “Walk with me to the burning spire. / We can count the dеad on Ender’s pyre. / The dusty towns whеre the number’s found / Don’t quite match the missing.”

This song reminds me of Jose Gonzales in this format.

Howard then switches to electric guitar for the rest of the songs.  He adds drum machine for “Far Out.”

“Thanks for having me and allowing me to play the slight variations of songs that I’m forced to settle with at the moment,” Ben says, and with that he kicks on the drum machine …. Watch those fingers on the guitar and hear that tone. “Far Out,” indeed.

His guitar playing is really something in this song, with soft chords and lot so harmonics as well as great use of the low note riffage in between.

“I I Forget Where We Were” is a moody song–he creates soft chords that swell as he sings.

He later premieres a new tune, “Oldest Trick In The Book.”

He laughs saying he just spent the last ten minutes tuning his guitar so we’ll be happy to know he’s in tune.

This song is the slowest with some really deep resonating bass notes (and no drum machine).  It’s fun watching hi play a solo and low notes at the same time with his finger picking style.

[READ: July 15, 2021] “Bear Meat”

This very short story was translated from the Italian by Alessandra Bastagli.

It begins with the comment that spending evenings in a mountain hut after a four- five- or six hour climb is pretty wonderful. The people you find there don’t speak much.  But these clumbers should not be confused with the ones who do speak a lot–hot shot clumbers, extreme climbers.  The adventurers may be worthy but this story is not about them.

The narrator arrived and there were several men there–eating and drinking.  Once the wine began flowing (at that altitude and temperature it is a metabolic necessity) they began talking about their initiation into serious climbing. Continue Reading »

Posted in Alessandra Bastagli, Mountain Climbing, New Yorker, Primo Levi, Short Story | Leave a Comment »

K. Eason–How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge: Arithmancy and Anarchy: The Thorne Chronicles Series, Book 2 (2020) [audiobook 2020–Nicole Poole]

August 10, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[LISTENED TO: Summer 2021] How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge

The only thing better than finishing an awesome book is discovering that there’s a sequel and the quality and integrity of the sequel is just as strong as the original story.

Everything from the first story is in place here: the characters, the narrator, the tone, and, delightfully, Nicole Poole to read it.

Obviously, there are massive spoilers in this book for the first story.  So make sure you read that one first.

But to sum up, Rory successfully avoid an arranged marriage (while not upsetting her arranged husband).  She is able to shut down a coup on Urse and ultimately kick-starts a revolution.  Not bad for an under age Princess.

But she is done with being a Princess.  She rescinds her life and goes off to become a space pirate.  She has taken her former royal bodyguards, Thorsdottir and Zhang (so yes, there’s even more time given to these two great characters!) with her.  They pledge to protect Rory so they guess they just go with her?  And Jaed has come along with them too, mostly because he has nowhere else to go (literally) and he crushes on Rory, too.

So Rory’s team aren’t so much space pirates as do-gooders.  They are more like salvagers who might intercept smugglers (this is the equivalent of her telling her mom she’s going to follow Phish and make jewelry).

And for all concerned, Grytt is still in the story although as it starts, she is on Lanscott farming sheep (!) with Rory’s former betrothed Ivar (!!) former crow prince of the Free Worlds of Tadesh {No they are not “together” Grytt is mostly just minding the poor boy while she is “relaxing”).  Grytt by the way needed more implants after the last book and is probably 3/5 mecha to human.  Which she seems to prefer, honestly. Continue Reading »

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Aliens, Assassination, Audiobooks, Deafness, Duology, Fairies, Feminism, Funny (ha ha), Gender, K. Eason, Magic, Multiverse, Nicole Poole, Outer Space, Political Humor, Sci-fi, Science, Violence | Leave a Comment »

K. Eason–How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse: Arithmancy and Anarchy: The Thorne Chronicles Series, Book 1 (2019) [audiobook 2019–Nicole Poole]

August 9, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[LISTENED TO: Summer 2021] How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse

This book title appealed to me immediately.  And I loved it.  The story is convoluted in the best way and Nicole Poole is an excellent reader.

The one bad thing about an audio book as opposed to reading the book yourself is that you don’t get to see how certain words are spelled (although it saves all the trouble of trying to figure out how to pronounce them).

The book is set in a futuristic world where space travel is common and war is far more common.

Rory was born into the Thorne family as something of a surprise.  There hadn’t been a female offspring in the Thorne family for ten generations.  The name Rory was reserved for first born males.  But it was determined that the name was gender-neutral enough that the girl could also have the name, no matter how unsettled it made people.

Then Eason sets about establishing this world–with great detail and thoroughness.  Some of which I’ll try to capture. The story is set on the Thorne Consortium, the planet where Rory’s father is King.

Rory’s mother is the Consort.  She was from Kreshti, “a small independent and allied planet on which skill with combat training was considered both a plain necessity.”

Incidentally, the narrator is telling the story as a history lesson and she is far from neutral.

They are both served by the Vizier, a man gifted in arithmancy and scholarship.  “Finding quaint, forgotten, and neglected customs was his second favorite pastime in the multiverse. Explaining to others the relevance of those ancient customs was the first.”

The Vizier discovered that it was customary to invite the faeries to bestow blessings on each new born girl.  The King is annoyed by this–it never happened for any of the boys (and they had invented void-flight with no magic needed). Continue Reading »

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

Japanese Breakfast (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, August 7, 2021)

August 8, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 7, 2021] Japanese Breakfast

A few nights before this show, Union Transfer sent out this message

Japanese Breakfast have requested that all attendees for the remainder of their tour be vaccinated OR have tested negative for Covid in the 48 hours prior to attending a show.

And nothing made me happier than reading that.  We arrived especially early thinking that the vaccination process would be slow, but the UT staff were efficient and friendly and I think everyone was pleased to feel safe and secure.

And anyone not vaccinated?  Well, fuck em, they can stay home.

I saw Japanese Breakfast three years ago and found the show to be a lot of fun.  I also bought a fun poster that proudly adorns our breakfast area.  Since then, they have released a new album and S. has really gotten into them.

When it was announced that Japanese Breakfast would be playing the first post-pandemic show at Union Transfer, I knew we’d want to go.  I grabbed tickets immediately and it sold out almost as fast.  They added a second show and then a third show.  One of those shows was actually BEFORE our show, which meant we didn’t get to go to the venue’s inaugural show, which was a tiny (very tiny) but disappointing.

She ultimately wound up selling out five nights in a row–a Union Transfer record.  Go Michelle!

She also noted that the folks on our night were “spicier” than the Friday night crowd.  No doubt because we were the big fans who grabbed tickets right away.  Or she was just saying that. Continue Reading »

Posted in Dolly Parton, Japanese Breakfast, Little Big League, OHMME, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

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