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Bombay Bicycle Club (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2024)

March 21, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 20, 2024] Bombay Bicycle Club

 

The show opened with bouncy horns and fanfare as they sang the song “Just a Little More Time.”  The live version was bigger and felt more fun than the record and I knew that this was going to be an enjoyable set.

This segued into the second song on the new album, which had lots of drums and a cool guitar riff and sound.  I really enjoyed watching guitarist Jamie MacColl, confidently playing these riff and getting such varied sounds.

The middle of the song has Jack Steadman whispering I want to let go and forget and he was indeed whispering it pretty quietly.  So much so that some jackass yelled “fix the mic” just before he started getting louder.  Duh. Continue Reading »

Posted in Bombay Bicycle Club, Mustard Service, Nagin, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Mustard Service (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2024) [BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB]

March 20, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: March 20, 2024] Mustard Service

Mustard Service is an indie rock band based in Miami, Florida, formed in 2015. Self-described as “zest pop”, the band’s music draws influences from rock, surf, jazz, funk, and bossa nova.

When they came out and started playing I thought they were joking.  They play with a total wedding band vibe.  There’s soft gently echoed guitars, wavery synths, and a kind of crooning vocal.

And yet, the lyrics are contemporary and funny.

The amusingly titled “Get Fucked” (which has no curses in the lyrics), features this gem:

So when I tell you, hun that I just need to go outside and smoke a blunt, the world seems like it’s spinning, I don’t wanna die, my skin might disagree, but then my heart, it flies, every single day I’m going down.

The songs are all mostly quite short, and yet there were solos galore.  Leo Cattani played a few great keyboard solos (with all kinds of settings on the machine).  And even Augusto “Tuto” Di Catarina had a brief bass solo in one of the songs.

Adam Perez on drums was always smiling and was quite amusing as he introduced “(Your Cat) Don’t Stand a Chance” by saying it was a song about their cat Smoky.  Amusingly it’s about cats fighting, but it’s smooth and discoey.

The band was a four piece for this show with Marco Rivero Ochoa on lead vocals and lead guitar.  Apparently the band has a lead guitarist guitar, Gabriel Marinuchi (or “Nuchi”) but he was not there.  Rivero Ochoa’s solos were good but not amazing or anything. Continue Reading »

Posted in Bombay Bicycle Club, Mustard Service, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Sleater-Kinney (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, March 18, 2024)

March 19, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: March 18, 2024] Sleater-Kinney 

This was my fifth time seeing Sleater-Kinney.  I saw them twice back at the turn of the century and then two more times in the last few years.

I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to see them again, but I thought a show at TLA would be a great way to see them and when my wife said she wanted to come along too, I knew it would be super fun.

The band has a new album out and they played 9 of ten songs from it.  However, they played 24 songs in total so it’s not even a majority of tracks.   (Interestingly they barely played anything from the other records “from this century.”

The older songs definitely got the most love from the audience, but I think this new album is quite good and most of the new songs received appropriate accolades.

They opened with “Hell” and “Needlessly Wild” a chance for both Corin and then Carrie to sing lead.

The setlist was pretty varied from there, including a number of older songs that I hadn’t heard live before.   Like “Oh!” from One Beat, a super fun song with great harmonies from the rest of the band.

The band this time was similar to their 2019 band: Angie Boylan (drums), Katie Harkin (guitars/keyboards) and Toko Yasuda (keyboards). but Katie Harkin, who has played with them a lot was replaced by Teeny Lieberson.  Their backing vocals were terrific–something I never really thought about with S-K before, but their voices really fleshed out the overall sound. Continue Reading »

Posted in Black Belt Eagle Scout, Philadelphia, PA, Sleater-Kinney, Theatre of Living Arts | Leave a Comment »

Black Belt Eagle Scout (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, March 18, 2024)

March 18, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: March 18, 2024] Black Belt Eagle Scout

I was pretty excited to see that Black Belt Eagle Scout was going to open for Sleater-Kinney.  I’ve wanted to see her /them for a while and this was a great opportunity to see them.

I had heard a few songs by them a couple of years back but I had also heard that the live show was terrific.

The band came out–a trio.  There were two guitars and drums.   Singing was Katherine Paul, a Swinomish/Iñupiaq singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Portland, Oregon.  Paul blends the vibe of Pacific Northwest rock with elements of Coast Salish traditional music

Her music is grungey in its tone, but it is also pretty slow, with Paul’s voice soaring in wonderful and at times unexpectedly places.  She is also an amazing guitar player, jamming out some killer solos as the songs (and the set) wrapped up.

I enjoyed the way “My Blood Runs Through this Land” got bigger and bigger, with her singing wordless lines (again, such a good voice) and cool lyrics like

I know you speak through me IFeel it in the sound of waterTouching all the rocks I feelNo one can takе this moment away ’causeMy blood runs through this land IFind it in the land and sеa

“Treeline” opened with Camas Logue playing big soft drum with mallets–yes it felt tribal, but not like a stereotype.  Fancy Dance followed and it was faster and much shorter (barely 2 minutes) which came as a but of a surprise after the first two five minute songs.

What was really interesting to me about their set is that there was no bass player.   It was like they took a page out of the Sleater-Kinney playbook: two guitars and no bass.  (apparently there is typically a bass player, but they were not missed in this set).  The second guitarist Claire Puckett mostly played chords, but also played lead lines and even soloed a bit with Katherine at the end.

The set seems to have moved through the band’s output, with only one song from the previous album.   And then three songs from the debut, which the crowd seemed  to really like.

She dedicated “Indians Never Die” to the Lenape Indians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  It had a simple but super catchy chord progression and they jammed the heck out of it at the end.

Sam, A Dream was my favorite song of the set.  After the song moves slowly along, it picks up in the middle and Paul plays a very cool hammered on riff that isn’t complicated but sounds great.  I love the way the band played around that riff and then returned to it at the end.

They ended with the fantastic “Soft Stud” and the recurring line “I know you’re taken/need you want you.”  Like many of her songs, the basics of the song are simple, but the way the song gets bigger and adds new elements (like the simple but catchy guitar riff that comes in halfway through) is really exciting, with Paul absolutely rocking out the guitar solo at the end of the show.

It was a great set.

  1. My Blood Runs Through This Land ≅
  2. Treeline ≅
  3. Fancy Dance ≅
  4. My Heart Dreams ∇
  5. Indians Never Die Ô
  6. Sam, a Dream Ô
  7. Loss & Relax %
  8. Soft Stud Ô
≅ The Land, the Water, the Sky (2023)
% 2019 single
∇ At the Party With My Brown Friends (2019)
Ô Mother of My Children (2017)

 

Posted in Black Belt Eagle Scout, Philadelphia, PA, Sleater-Kinney, Theatre of Living Arts | Leave a Comment »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Five Orange Pips” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1891)

March 17, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: February 4, 2024] “The Five Orange Pips”

The fifth story in this collection is notable to me for the context of the mystery more than the mystery itself.

A gentleman named John Openshaw tells Holmes that his Uncle Elias has been killed.  As a young man, Elias went to Florida, joined the Confederate Army, made some money and came back to England.  John lives on his estate.

Recently Elias received a mysterious letter from India with the initials K.K.K. on it.  The only thing the letter contained was five orange seeds (pips).  Elias frekaed out and became even more reclusive.

Elias was found dead on the grounds of his house, but it was ruled a suicide.  John did not believe it was a suicide.

John’s father inherited the estate.  He soon received a similarly peculiar note with orange pips.  This note told him to leave Elias’s papers at the sundial.  But Elias had burnt the papers.  John’s father was dead soon after–this one ruled an accident.

John has now received a letter asking for the papers and that’s why he has come to Holmes.

What’s most notable about this story is that the K.K.K. (and this seems really obvious now, but who would have guessed) stands for Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was effectively defunct at the time he wrote this.  Sadly it has been revitalized since this writing and remains the scourge that it was at the time.

Obviously, Holmes didn’t go after the Klan, but it’s nice to know that the ship carrying the Klansmen was destroyed in the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Australia, Blackmail, Lady Lamb, Magana, Mitski, Murder, Mystery, Racism, Regrets, Robbery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story | Leave a Comment »

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum / Stinking Lizaveta / Zoë Keating (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 16, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

March 16, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 16, 2024] Sleepytime Gorilla Museum / Stinking Lizaveta / Zoë Keating

Underground Arts had a special year-end sale.  12 future shows for $18 each.  It’s a good deal if you plan to go to a lot of shows there.   And I find myself wanting to go to more and more shows there.

Well, my cost per show went up a bit because I wound up not going to this show.  My son was home from college, and that more important that checking out this strange band, although I would still like to see them sometime.

I actually only even paid any attention to this show because Stinking Lizaveta was opening for them.  They are a local Philly band that I have yet to see, but who I have missed now about six times.

This lineup was pretty fascinating.

Zoë Keating opened the show.  I have discovered that she recently played at ArtYard in Frenchtown and I’m going to want to check her out live.  Here’s her bio

I am a cellist and composer, born in Canada and currently based in Vermont. I use live sampling and repetition to layer the sound of my cello and create rhythmically dense, immersive music. I’m known for both my use of technology – which I use to sample my cello onstage – and for my DIY approach, releasing my music without the help of a record label. In addition to performing, I also write music for TV, film and dance.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Stinking Lizaveta, Underground Arts, Zoë Keating | Leave a Comment »

Mary Timony: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, March 15, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

March 15, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 15, 2024] Mary Timony 

Mary Timony is one of indie rock’s great guitar players.  I really enjoyed her band Helium, although I haven’t really listened to them in quite some time.

I didn’t go to her show last week, so i thought I had a nice gift of a Free at Noon today.  I grabbed a ticket even though I knew I had a doctor’s appointment earlier that morning.  I assumed t he appointment would be quick and I could get to World Cafe just in time.

Well, it turned out the appointment went really long and I was still in the office as of 11:30.  So, there was no way I could ever get to the venue on time.

So, I had to miss Mary once more. Continue Reading »

Posted in Free at Noon, Mary Timony, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Neshanic and Neshanic Station: Images of America (1999)

March 14, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: March 2024] Neshanic and Neshanic Station

My son bought me this book for Christmas.  It’s a historical look at our town, assembled by the Neshanic Station Historical Society.

I’m fairly certain every town has one of the books in the Images of America series.  And they are basically lots of photos of interesting (or not) scenes from the history of the area.

Obviously, the bigger the area, the likelihood there is for more pictures.

Neshanic and Neshanic Station are small villages that are part of Hillsborough and Branchburg respectively and it’s pretty clear that initially one or two families owned much of the area.

It was once a fairly thriving area, with a train station and a lot of businesses.  Most of those businesses are now residences.  There were two schools in the area both are now gone.  The train station is no more, although the train does still pass through.

It’s now a sweet, quiet place to live with a lot of historical information available.

The book shows lots of pictures of what it was like in the early 1900s through the 1950s with a couple of contemporary (circa 1990s) photos as well.

A lot of the same names appear in the photos– I do wonder if a call for pictures from other families was put forth.

My favorite parts were seeing the roads that I know now as the were–unpaved and with no houses when the village was first founded.  And seeing that one of those original schools was possibly on our current property–maybe a metal detector is called for!

It was interesting reading this and realizing just how much is different in the 25 years since the book came out.

 

Posted in Branchburg, NJ, Hillsborough NJ, History, Set in New Jersey! | Leave a Comment »

Caza–Kris Kool (1970) [ 2020 reprint]

March 13, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: February 2024] Kris Kool

Caza is Philippe Cazaumayou, a French illustartor who has been working since the 1960s.  This was his first novel and it is as psychedelic as one might expect from a comic made in 1970.

There’s sex, there’s trippy colors, there’s outer space, there’s even a plot of sorts.

Kris Kool “has known the sumptuous vertigo of sinking among the moribund asteroids… [his] eyes were burnt by the truly dense flames of the sun’s corona.”

Kris is talking to a naked woman [we learn later that she is a “Lectronic Party Doll–For bachelors only”] about his spacecraft–that he sold it to the scrapyard and doesn’t have enough for a new one.  This adventurer can’t possibly end his days like this can he?

Fortunately a rogue named Bluebeard offers him a job piloting an illegal ship for Gweene.  The Gweene is a hot woman with tattoos all over her body and… no face.   She offers him a job to go to the Mandrakes from Venus, the flowerwomen that Kris believes are a myth.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Caza, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Infinity, Outer Space, Sex, Sexism, Violence, Virginity (Loss of) | Leave a Comment »

Brent Butt–“Huge” (2023)

March 13, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: January 2024] Huge

Brent Butt is a Canadian comedian (treasure) who created Corner Gas.

His humor (at least in the show, I’ve never seen his stand up) is fairly PG–a few jackasses thrown in, but mostly (the show at least) is about living with weirdos who you love and hate.

So, imagine my surprise to find that there’s bad words in here–and pretty intense (but not graphic) violence!  This is not Corner Gas: The Book.

It is about stand up comedy though.  And it follows three main characters (in 1994).

Dale is the main character.  He’s been a comedian for years and is reliably very funny.  But his star is fading and now that he is his forties, he’s finding himself doing smaller shows.  He also has an ex-wife and daughter who he wants to support. Once he gets through this run of shows he’ll have enough to give her what she needs. Continue Reading »

Posted in Brent Butt, Canadian Content, Comedians, Funny (ha ha), Murder, Thrillers, Violence | Leave a Comment »

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