Who needs an intro in these short, wet and cold days? By the time I get started the sun will have come and gone and we will all be mocked heartily by the massive frozen charioteers who pull the night across the sky at the bored whim of the gods. (Note: I have never actually […]
The Setlist
Our picks for the week’s best live music plus interviews and music news.
Posted inMusic
Hibernation Breaks
For all its vaunted pomp and first-tier-in-the-new-year position on the calendar, January is a pretty beige and uninspiring month here in the Northern Hemisphere. All through December it comes rushing up the stairs, hitting each landing on the way up like a tensioning string, only to knock forcefully on the protagonist’s door to deliver the […]
Posted inMusic
Ghosting 2018
It’s the last week of the year and you know what? I hate goodbyes. I hate them immensely and will duck out of a good time like the house is on fire if I am ever put on the spot to eulogize the evening. So I won’t say anything more here and instead let the […]
Posted inMusic
Christmases Merry, White and Blue
That juggernaut called the holidays has arrived and so, whether we like it or not, most of the bounty of our evening’s public pleasures have been displaced in its rampaging wake. Many of you are out of town and/or neck-deep in some family indulgence, which might seem somewhere between a chore and a court order. […]
Posted inMusic
A Cracking Good Time
When Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker debuted in St. Petersburg 126 years ago this week, it was generally considered to be a confusing and poor adaptation of the sourced Hoffmann and Dumas fairytale. The composer would die less than a year later, never knowing the heights of popularity that his work would enjoy in the middle […]
Posted inMusic
Let the Music Lift You
A dear and lifelong friend of mine died unexpectedly last week and, without any premeditation, he put me in the middle of a beautiful Eastern Orthodox funeral service that I saw from the church to its end at the grave, where I served as an ad hoc pallbearer. I will absolutely write more about him […]
Posted inMusic
Animal Instincts
I am writing this in my living room on my couch with a large Italian mastiff snoring like a Sardinian sow pig behind me. She doesn’t mean any offense and, in fact, Grinza is a sweet dog, stinkiness notwithstanding. She’s better company than most people, if I am being honest. I mention her because she […]
Posted inMusic
A Little Music, a Little Kindness
I am going to ignore the holiday altogether, as far as my music beat goes, because virtually no one books shows on that day. I will instead make a couple of suggestions for those of you who celebrate or discard this gluttonous holiday. Firstly, be nice to other people whether they are your family or […]
Posted inMusic
Back in Town
I have written here before about my antagonistic relationship with nostalgia and the withering contempt it generates in me. As Spider Jerusalem from Warren Ellis’ excellent comic book Transmetropolitan observes, “The future is an inherently good thing.” However, with all of the familiar faces and returning musicians in this week’s column, I find myself flexing […]
Posted inMusic
November Soundtrack
We are definitely into November, the 11th month of the year, helpfully named after the ninth month of the old Roman Calendar. Of course, it has had many other names throughout history. One of my favorites is Brumaire, the so-called “month of fog” in the argot of the French Revolution. On Nov. 9, 1799, came […]
Posted inMusic
Get to the Show and the Voting Booth
This has been an ugly and busy week. White terrorism has been in the news and in our own community someone was stabbed to death in Arcata in what I am sure was a tragically pointless dispute. Two lives are now ruined: the victim’s and the alleged attacker’s. This isn’t a crime to put on […]
Posted inMusic
Halloween Haunts
It’s the last week of October and you know what that means, fellow Halloweenies. So I am going to keep this intro brief and instead stuff the page with a week of goodies for your social calendar. Get out, have fun and be evil within reason — reason being a rare thing in the spooky […]