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So what happened here?

June 10, 2022 by Paul Debraski

For nearly fourteen years I was able to keep up this daily blog of books and music.

About a year ago I got a promotion and that changed everything.  I no longer had the time to post everything I wanted to.  Heck, I didn’t even seem to have the time to read all the short stories I wanted to.  Amusingly (or not), just before this new position, I had gotten a print subscription to the New Yorker.  This now means that I (like many others) have a two-foot stack of New Yorker magazines that I haven’t even looked at yet.

For a few weeks I was limiting myself to only the concerts that I went to because that was a little easier to write about.  Although back in the good old days, I used to include photo and links, and I pretty much have neither now. And I’m several shows behind as well.

So I’m still reading books and I think I may try to post some thoughts about them from time to time.  I’d also like to think I have time to write about my concerts, but even those are proving to be challenging.

So let’s consider the blog on hiatus more or less, with occasional posts about things I’ve read or listened to.

The good thing is that I like the new position and wouldn’t change it for the world. I guess I never realized how much down time my old position gave me!

Posted in Paul Debraski | 3 Comments »

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 »

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 dust, Laveda, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, The Belair Lip Bombs | 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 »

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 »

Puscifer / Dave Hill (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, April 3, 3026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 3, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 3, 3026] Puscifer / Dave Hill

I saw Puscifer this past summer as part of a triple bill with Primus and A Perfect Circle.  I didn’t know much about Puscifer except that it was one of Maynard Keenan’s bands.  But their live show was so great that when they announced this tour, I immediately grabbed a ticket to the Bethlehem show–Bethlehem?  Amazing.

But this show also fell within our Minnesota trip dates.  So I would miss this one too.  There were really some special shows to be missed in these few days.  Alas.

I saw Dave Hill open for Kevin McDonald Superstar.  HE was really funny and was a great guitar player as well.  I was really looking forward to seeing him too.  Interestingly Dave played at a small venue in Frenchtown (a venue I have yet to go to even though it is so close).   But that show was on the same night as my Baroness show. So, no luck for me.

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Dave Hill, Puscifer, Wind Creek Event Center | Leave a Comment »

Madison Cunningham / Annika Bennett (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, April 2, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 2, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 2, 2026] Madison Cunningham / Annika Bennett 

I saw Madison Cunningham and Juana Molina play together at Ardmore two years ago and I was blown away by her unique style and cool guitar playing.  She was far more of a delightful weirdo than I imagined. And I really looked forward to seeing her again.  When she announced this show at Ardmore I was torn because I really wanted to see Dirty Three.  And of course, given the rarity of a Dirty Three show, I was going to see them.

And then I found out that her new album Ace, was if not entirely, then at least mostly, performed on the piano.  And that’s cool and all, but I wanted to see her on guitar.  And yes, it’s very cool that she mixes things up, but since I never got to see her do Hospital the normal way, I would have been slightly disappointed in the new arrangement (even though the video below shows that it’s really cool).  I guess the point is that Madison Cunningham is going to put o a cool show no matter what she does.  So next time she comes around, it’s worth going.

Annika Bennett is a New York/Nashville singer. Her bio is interesting and I guess she’s been playing music for a long time in divergent styles.  Sadly, she has settled on a style that fueses pop concision, country clarity and indie introspection.  So a folksinger, basically.

 

Posted in Annika Bennett, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Madison Cunningham | Leave a Comment »

Dogma / Frayle (Fowler Blast Furnace Room-SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA, April 2, 3026) [POSTPONED]

April 2, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[POSTPONED: April 2, 3026] Dogma / Frayle

I heard about Dogma a few weeks ago.  I love a weird gimmick and it doesn’t get more gimmicky than nuns in corpse paint.  I though they would be fun to see, but this show was scheduled for a night that I already had two commitments so I knew I wouldn’t be going.

And then I investigated the band a little more an I found all kinds of shenanigans going on:

After three ex-members of the nun-themed metal group called out “the person who now controls the project,” saying that he betrayed “the artists, his partners, and the fans,” in late October, the last two weeks have snowballed into meteor-size ball, barrelling down at full speed. Elaborating that the three witnessed during tours “unilateral decisions, broken promises, manipulation, mistreatment, and lies to the fans. The person who now controls the project is a threat to Dogma’s future and is not an artist or a musician. He turned a band into a brand, and people into disposable pieces. He betrayed the artists, his partners, and the fans.”

The band has put out an album and it’s surprisingly poppy metal.  But the band is pretty talented and I enjoyed what I heard.  But I gather that the people who made the album are mostly no longer in the band (they all go by pseudonyms and are, basically easily replaced, I guess).  I don’t know anybody involved so I wouldn’t have missed anyone in particular.  But that still sucks.

But it’s all moot because their visas were held up too long for them to make this tour.  They are looking to reschedule.  I hope I can go if they come back because even though the scandals and everything are awful, it would be fun to see nuns in corpse paint in the tiny Blast Furnace Room.

Frayle is a doom metal band from Cleveland.  Their bio says they draw their inspiration from bands like Sleep, Portishead, Bjork, Kyuss, & Black Sabbath which is a wild mix.  The guitar bass and drum players all wear masks and the singer has some fascinating jewelry on her face.  I really like the way she under-sings the songs and would totally see them live if they come around.

 

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Dogma, Fowler Blast Furnace Room, Frayle | Leave a Comment »

Nish Kumar: Angry Humour From a Really Nice Guy (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 2, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 2, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 2, 2026] Nish Kumar

I missed a lot of shows when we went to Minnesota.  No one should have that many shows lined up, but this one hurt doubly.

Tonight I had a ticket for Dirty Three, a band I desperately wanted to see.  But when Nish Kumar (whom my wife and I had seen last year) announced a stop in Princeton!   Well, I wanted to check it out.  It conflicted with Dirty Three, but then my son said he really wanted to see him.  So I got us tickets for that show.  But we couldn’t make either.  Gah.

Nish is hilarious and I would definitely see him any time he came back to the area.  I hope Princeton treated him well and he wants to come baclk

Posted in McCarter Theatre, Nish Kumar, Princeton, NJ | Leave a Comment »

Dirty Three (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 2, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 2, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 2, 2026] Dirty 3

I have a list of bands that I want to see.  The list is pretty long, but I do have them ranked roughly by how much I want to see them.  I also have a category of bands that I assume will never tour again but that I want to see if they ever do.  And Dirty Three was on top of that list.  I couldn’t believe when they announced that they were playing Underground Arts.  I bought my ticket instantly and couldn’t wait to see them.

And then about a week before this show, my daughter told me that she wanted to go to Minnesota for a college visit.  And it had to be the first days of April.

I was obviously bummed but was really happy that the trip was fun and helped her decide on a school.

I assume that Dirty Three will never come back to the States (their previous visit was in 2003).   Huh, I didn’t realize that they had put out a new album in 2024 (first since 2012), so maybe if they make another album before ten years pass, they may come back again).

The show sounds like it was wild (of course) and they played for two and a half hours!  I wonder if anyone filmed it.

 

Posted in Dirty Three, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

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