April 26, 2020 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: THE POP UPS-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #13 (April 23, 2020).
When my kids were little I tried pretty hard to introduce them to interesting children’s music. I often wonder if I ruined them by not just letting them enjoy Raffi. Because they don’t like much of what I listen to these days.
I’m not sure how long The Pop Ups have been making music, but this is sure a fun (and informative) children’s band.
The Pop Ups (Jason Rabinowitz (on the keytar) and Jacob Stein) sing the theme song to the wonderful NPR podcast Wow In The World and perform at Wow in the World live shows. In their Tiny Desk (home) concert, they save the earth from an asteroid, explain sound waves through a sing-a-long and a keytar, and encourage us all to invent and create.
Before the first song Jason introduces the greatest instrument in the world. The guitarino? No, the keytar. Then he talks about the kind of sound waves a synthesizer can produce: a square wave, a sine wave and sawtooth wave. “Synthesizer” is a song about making these sound waves–and you are encouraged to dance around and make those waves yourself.
Then Jacob wants to see if we can stump Jason with sounds the keytar can’t make: saxophone, whistle, marimba, organ? Nope, it can do them all.
The next song, “Meteor” introduces a puppet, Doctor Bronc the Brontosaurus. Dr. Bronc saw a meteor in the sky so he created a laser to shoot at the meteor. If everyone turned off their lights for one day, it would save enough energy to power the laser. The moral: “You can save the world when everybody tries!”
The final song “Inventors” introduces us to a woman I have never heard of. Mary Anderson in Alabama saw that snow was piling up on the street cars. She figured there was something that could clean off the snow and so she spent much of her time coming up with windshield wipers. Which we still use today!
Young inventors will help solve the problems that our generation made for you.
It’s sure inspirational, and a useful piece of history.
[READ: April 26, 2020] “Little Donald’s Sneeze”
I love any cartoon that is going to mock trump. It’s especially excellent if you can use his own words against him (which isn’t hard because he never stops saying stupid things.
I particularly enjoyed this cartoon because of its old-fashioned look. Since I can’t find the original cartoon this is based on (or maybe it’s just based on the general style of Winsor McCay’s strip), I can’t tell if Kuper did all of the art himself or if he judiciously used the original panels.
I also don’t know what’s at the header originally, but this one pretty succinctly describes the man who is killing people with his deceit.
The header of this cartoon lays it out clearly: He just simply couldn’t stop lying / He never told the truth!
Why is it that cartoonist knows this but news reporters can’t seem to catch on and actually believe him when he says things? Continue Reading »
Posted in Comic Strips, Coronavirus, Dinosaurs, donald tRUMP, Idiots, Liars, Little Sammy Sneeze, Mary Anderson, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Parades, Peter Kuper, Political Humor, Quarantine, The Pop Ups, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Winsor McCay, Wow in the World | Leave a Comment »
April 25, 2020 by Paul Debraski
[POSTPONED: April 25, 2020] Okilly Dokilly / P-Funk North
I saw Okilly Dokilly open for Mac Sabbath last summer. The show was bizarre for sure.
Okilly Dokilly are a goof to be sure. All five guys dress like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons and all of the lyrics are things that Ned has said. Except that the band plays pretty extreme metal (death growls and whatnot). They call it Nedal music.
It’s very funny and quite surreal. And the band puts on a pretty darn good show.
I wasn’t sure if I’d ever need to see them again, but when I saw that they were playing a at a pub in New Brunswick (not far from me at all), I thought it would be a fun place to see them again.
I hope they do come back there.
P-Funk North is “a musical cocktail with a reggae rock core. PFN, which means North Plainfield, is in reference to our hometown in NJ and being George Clinton’s neighbor to the north.” I listened to one or two of their songs and thought they were okay–not really my thing. But they have five records out so I guess they are in it for the long haul.
Maybe they’re awesome live.
Posted in Blackthorn Restaurant and Irish Pub, Coronavirus, George Clinton, Mac Sabbath, New Brunswick, NJ, P-Funk North, Postponed, Quarantine | Leave a Comment »
April 25, 2020 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: NICK HAKIM-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #12 (April 22, 2020).
I had a mixed reaction to Nick Hakim”s Tony Desk, although the blurb writer says he loved it.
Whenever I’m asked to name my favorite Tiny Desk concerts, Nick Hakim’s 2018 performance sits near the very top. He and his four bandmates reset the bar for intimacy at the Desk with their hushed groove.
Hakim plays three songs from his upcoming album WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD
from the corner of his dark bedroom with a keyboard, guitar and stacks of audio components.
His vocals on all three tracks are quiet and echoing, as if he is whispering down a long hall. In fact all of the music sounds muted and soft, with a feeling of hazy smoke floating around,.
“QADIR,” is a haunting dedication to a fallen friend. He plays guitar–mostly slow muted echoing guitar chords. When the song ends, he activates a mini applause effect box which is pretty funny.
He takes a few loud slurps from his drink and gives a big “ahhh,” before starting the next song. For “GODS DIRTY WORK” he switches to the keys. His singing style is exactly the same, although the song may be a little slower.
He adds a little more fake applause and then a somewhat creepy echoing laughter as he switches the drum beat for “CRUMPY.”
Honestly, all three songs sound a lot alike and seems really slow and hazy. It’s weird how upbeat and smiling he is, in contrast to the music. I wonder how he makes everything seem so quiet.
[READ: April 15, 2020] Nicotine
I really enjoyed Nell Zink’s two other novels, but somehow I missed this one entirely when it came out. I couldn’t imagine what it was about with that title and boy I never expected it to go where it did.
I actually had a slightly hard time getting into the book. That may have been because it was Quarantine and it was hard to ficus or it was because the opening of the book was so puzzling. And yet by the end I was totally hooked. But the beginning:
A thirteen year old girl stands in a landscape made almost entirely of garbage, screaming at a common domestic sow.
Then a white man comes and takes the girl away. Her name is Amalia. Continue Reading »
Posted in Anarchy, Cigarettes, Coronavirus, Nell Zink, Nick Hakim, Nicotine, NPR/PRI/PBS, Nudism, Prison, Quarantine, Religion, Romance, Runaways, Set in New Jersey!, Sex, Sexual Assault, Squatters, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), Wall Street, Yuck! | Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2020 by Paul Debraski
[POSTPONED: August 27, 2020] Joywave
I don’t know all that much about Joywave, but Union Transfer hyped this show a lot, which made me very curious about them.
For some reason I thought they were European, but they are from Rochester, New York.
They’ve been around since 2010 and apparently have had some buzz around them. Their music is kind of alt-rock with a lot of synth. I’m not sure I would have gone (so many other shows that night) but this postponement gives me more time to check them out.
Posted in Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2020 by Paul Debraski
[POSTPONED: April 24, 2020] Tigers Jaw / Gladie / Kayleigh Goldsworthy [moved to July 18]
Tigers Jaw is a band I know from a Tiny Desk Concert. They played poppy gentle rock. I had seen a poster for one of their shows up in a local sub shop recently. At the time, the band was Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins and they traded off lead vocals and harmonies wonderfully. Their new pictures show four members, so perhaps they have fleshed out their sound.
Gladie is a band that has formed out of the ashes of Cayetana, a Philadelphia band that I’ve heard of for years but don’t know anything about. Shame they broke up I guess, but Gladie has resulted. Gladie plays gentle alt pop sung by Augusta Koch.
Kayleigh Goldsworthy is also from Philadelphia. She has a great 90s alt rock sound. Her album has a full band, but I imagine she’d be playing solo.
I have never been to Garwood, but it’s not too far. It seems like a good club to check out. It turns out that late April was a very busy concert time for me so I wasn’t going to go to this show. But maybe the postponed date will work out.
Posted in Cayetana, Coronavirus, Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, Gladie, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Tigers Jaw | Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2020 by Paul Debraski
[POSTPONED: March 17, 2020] Kevin Devine / Petal / Jaded Hart / Pearla
The Asbury Park Music + Film Festival was scheduled for April 23-26.
There was going to be a lot of Music and movies at various locations throughout Asbury Park.
I actually wasn’t interested in the festival, but I was quite interested in seeing Kevin Devine (especially after his Kenny O’Brien St. Patrick’s Day show was cancelled).
Unsurprisingly, the entire Festival has been postponed, with the intention of rescheduling this summer.
Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band was one of my favorite recent shows. Having seen him with the full band, I was interested to see him solo again (I’ve seen him solo twice).
I have also seen Petal twice before. The first time she was solo, the second time with a full band. While I didn’t really need to see her again, she puts on an emotionally charged show and since she and Kevin are mates, I’m sure they would have done something together.
I hadn’t heard of Jaded Hart and when I looked them up, I misspelled the name as Jaded Heart which brought up a German metal band which seemed–incongruous. Looking up Jaded Hart, though, I can’t find much of anything about them. There’s a musician named Christopher Wilkerson who comes up in the search, but his Jaded Hart is a cover band from the 1990s. But I’m thinking it’s not that Jaded Hart.
Pearla is a 23 year old singer-songwriter from Brooklyn. She sings a kind of mildly psychedelic folk pop.
I’m quite curious what the lineup will look like come summer time.
Posted in Asbury Park Music + Film Festival, Asbury Park, NJ, Coronavirus, House of Independents, Jaded Hart, Jaded Heart, Kenny O'Brien & The O'Douls, Kevin Devine, Pearla, Petal, Postponed, Quarantine | Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2020 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: LANG LANG-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #11 (April 17, 2020).
Lang Lang is a superstar pianist whom I have never heard of. But I agree with the blurb that it’s neat to see a fantastic pianist playing at home. He seems relaxed and loose. And the camera angle allows us to see his fingers (and his whole swaying body) pretty clearly.
Here’s something unique: a chance to eavesdrop on the superstar pianist Lang Lang at home.
The 37-year-old pianist, who typically plays sold-out shows to thousands, says he’s taking his recent solitary time to learn new repertoire at home in Shanghai, China. And home is where he thinks we should all be.
He opens with Chopin’s calming “Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor.” I loved watching him slowly and deliberately play that last note. It seems like he holds his finger above it for minutes, but it fits in perfectly.
Lang Lang’s latest passion is Bach – specifically the Goldberg Variations, a 75-minute-long cycle of immense complexity grounded in the composer’s durable beauty. Lang Lang offers the “18th and 19th variations,” pieces that in turn represent the strength of logic and the joy of the dance. It’s music, Lang Lang says, that “always brings me to play in another level of artistic thinking.”
These pieces are just magical. Even if I don;t know them well, I can tell pretty immediately that they are Bach. Lang Lang’s fluidity is wonderful, as is the way his whole body seems to be absorbing the music as he plays.
[READ: April 11, 2020]: Carnet de Voyage
From March 5 thru May 14, 2004 Craig Thompson was on an international book tour celebrating the success of his (fantastic) book Blankets.
This journal was his visual diary (no cameras were used, only his memory) of his trip. His editors thought it would be interesting for him to document his trip (and it is).
He flies into Paris then a 2 hour plane trip to Lyon. He draws pictures of where he has been and the people he has met (and some of their fascinating stories). There’s some wonderful sketches of rooftops from hotel windows.
He does interviews for radio and magazines. He laughs that one of the photos shoots was in the streets of Paris, where he is all dressed up. But really he’s a county bumpkin from Wisconsin. The drawing of himself as a glamorous guy and his bumpkin alter ego together is pretty hilarious.
On March 15 he left for Marrakesh, Morocco and this exotic location rally sets the stage for most of his artwork and what is sort of the only “plot” in the book.
He had also just broken up with his girlfriend which weighs on his mind quite a lot on the tour. Continue Reading »
Posted in Airplanes, Autobiographies, Babies, Barcelona, Spain, Bilbao, Spain, Books about writers, Bookstores, Camels, Cats, Coronavirus, Craig Thompson, Drawn & Quarterly, Erlangen, Germany, France, Frankfurt, Germany, Frédéric Chopin, Geneva, Switzerland, Graphic Novel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lang Lang, Lewis Trondheim, London England, Lyon, France, Marrakesh, Morocco, Memoirs, Mike Allred, Montpelier, France, NPR/PRI/PBS, Paris, France, Quarantine, Relationships, Sex, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Yuck! | Leave a Comment »
April 23, 2020 by Paul Debraski
[POSTPONED: April 23, 2020] Kurt Vile / Cate Le Bon / Stella Mozgawa [moved to September 4 which was CANCELLED on June 8].
I saw Kurt Vile at White Eagle Hall two years ago and his show was really great–more complex and interesting than I thought it would be (I imagined a lengthy chill out jam, which it was, but it was much more).
S and I also saw him tour with Courtney Barnett which was a totally cool show.
S. has been enjoying Kurt a lot this past year so I decided to get us both tickets to this reasonably close show.
I was actually quite excited that Cate le Bon was opening or playing with him or however that was going to work. I have wanted to see the quirky Welsh singer for some time. I was supposed to see her last summer but my plans changed and I couldn’t go. I assumed that Cate would play first and then Kurt and they’d probably play some together.
Stella Mozgawa is the drummer for the band Warpaint. She has also played drums for Kurt Vile and Cate Le Bon’s last couple of albums.
I’m not sure what she was going to do, but I sure how she is going to play with them in September.
UPDATE: On June 8, the show was formally cancelled.
Posted in Cate Le Bon, Coronavirus, Courtney Barnett, Jersey City, NJ, Kurt Vile, Postponed, Quarantine, Stella Mozgawa, Warpaint, White Eagle Hall | Leave a Comment »
April 23, 2020 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: LAURA MARLING-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #10 (April 16, 2010).
I have become a huge fan of Laura Marling over the last few years. I was so looking forward to her solo performance this past March. It was one of my bigger coronavirus disappointments that the intimate show is not going to be rescheduled.
Marling has been doing regular guitar lessons about her own songs (her tunings and playing style is unique and wonderful to see demonstrated). You can see the past (and future) ones here.
(While many artists have postponed the release of their new music in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Laura Marling rushed to change the release date of her album from late summer to April.
As of right now her album is only available digitally. The physical release is slated for summer.
On this Tiny Desk (home) concert, we find her in her living room, with an intimate performance of songs from her just-released record Song For Our Daughter. The album is an homage to a future generation of women and to Maya Angelou’s Letter to My Daughter, a collection of essays addressed to a fictional daughter. The warm, home setting makes room for Laura Marling’s extraordinary voice to shine.
“Held Down” has a lot of backing vocals and arrangements on the record and this stripped down version sounds amazing without it all.
“Strange Girl” demonstrates her deeper singing style in a fast and bouncy song.
“Song For Our Daughter” is a slower song, beautiful and thoughtful.
I just cannot get over how beautiful her voice is. These personal performances almost make up for not seeing her live.
[READ: April 20, 2020] Mac B. Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime
This is the second book in a new series illustrated by Mike Lowery. It begins
My name is Mac Barnett. I am an author. But before I was an author, I was a kid. And when I was a kid, I was a spy. An author’s job is to make up stories. But the story you are about to read is true.
This actually happened to me.
It’s 1989 and Mac is at the mini golf course. But he is there not for the mini golf but for the video games. He is playing Spy Master 2–the arcade update to the home game. Mac was just about to beat the big boss–something no one else had ever done before. People were cheering him on. Except for Derek Lafoy (who did not invite Mac to his birthday party in the previous book). Derek called him Mac Barn Head and chanted “Choke!”
But this book isn’t about video games, its about the Queen of England who called Mac at the golf course to tell him that she thought the Crown Jewels were going to be stolen again. (In the previous book Mac helped rescue the Crown jewels for the Queen). Continue Reading »
Posted in Children's Books, Coronavirus, Funny (ha ha), Laura Marling, Mac Barnett, Mike Lowery, Miniature Golf, Mysteries, NPR/PRI/PBS, Quarantine, Thieves, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert | Leave a Comment »
April 22, 2020 by Paul Debraski
[POSTPONED: April 22, 2020] Juana Molina
Juana Molina is a wonderfully bizarre performer.
Molina is from Argentina and she plays a blend of folk, electronica, and experimental pop (which I find to be more than a little out of the mainstream), playing with some great noises and percussion.
She recently released a more or less punk EP, Forfun, which she was the foundation of this tour.
This show was only cancelled a couple of days ago–they really held out until the last minute for this one.
This show was scheduled for the same night as the Real Estate/Palm show, so I was torn about which show to go to. I really want to see Palm again, but I feel like Juana Molina would be a much more interesting and rare treat.
I do hope she reschedules.
Apparently it is common knowledge that her career began with her initial success coming as a massively popular comedic actress on the show “Juana y Sus Hermanas” in the early-1990s. She walked away during the height of its popularity to pursue music. The music was not well received at home, but she was embraced here in the States.
Posted in Coronavirus, Juana Molina, Juana y Sus Hermanas, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »
« Newer Posts - Older Posts »
SOUNDTRACK: THE POP UPS-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #13 (April 23, 2020).
When my kids were little I tried pretty hard to introduce them to interesting children’s music. I often wonder if I ruined them by not just letting them enjoy Raffi. Because they don’t like much of what I listen to these days.
I Just Read About That... 