OK, I am back in town and happy to say that in my absence none of you managed to burn the place down. And in this new reality of having a permanent fire season — the smoke from which I drove through in two separate states. I am not really joking and, looking at the […]
The Setlist
Our picks for the week’s best live music plus interviews and music news.
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Road Warrior
I am posting this edition of the Setlist from the road, having joined up with the herds of holiday travelers to celebrate the end of summer by driving for a ghastly amount of time to a faraway place. And while I am not towing a boat or driving an absurdly sized RV, I am nonetheless […]
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Labor and Lounge
I’m still buzzing from the Napalm Death show last Saturday so I will keep this brief. Have a safe Labor Day weekend and if you go on a trip, look out for the other drivers. And if you stick around, try to catch a few shows because, as that lovely Calvin and Hobbes collection reminds […]
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End of Summer Diversions
As I write this I am coming home from a great — but, sadly, too rare these days — evening of live music and I am bushed. Why so rare and why so bushed? Because I am trying to finish up a carpentry project this week so I can enjoy a small pocket of my […]
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Swap out Your Screen for Live Music
I am a bit wiped out right now. Not from my normal complaints, mind you. I am mostly solid in my resolve during the working hours of my life. No, let me do something a little gross for you, dear readers, and pull back the factory door to show how the sausage is made. Let […]
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Best of This Week’s Music
There’s a lot of music going on this week and with no real dull times to be had, so I won’t waste your time with a long intro. Sun’s out, guns out, boys and girls. It’s the dog days of summer and there is fun to be had every night after the beaches and rivers […]
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Altered States
While I enjoyed catching what is certainly the best set by The Tweeners I have ever seen last night, I am lamenting the fact that the venue — Blondies — serves only beer, cider and wine. Eschewing the first two as I always do, I was left with white wine for my evening’s pleasure. This […]
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Hail, August
OK, here we go. This Setlist week sees the transfer of days from one Roman emperor’s month to another’s. From the hot and chaotic days of Julius Caesar’s July to the more august days of — well — August, the month of a much longer-lived Caesar. History, namesakes, birthdays, gemstones and zodiacal creatures aside, there […]
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Punk Rock and the Beetles
When discussing the origin of life in the universe in the company of his peers, the British evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane — perhaps apocryphally — pointed out that the massive number of stars and beetle species suggested that the Creator would appear to be “endowed with a passion for stars, on the one hand, and […]
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Haunted by the Music
Having missed my chance to see the new much-ballyhooed fright flick Hereditary at the Minor, I decided to feed my obsession with all things horror by doing a deep dive into one of my favorite films of all time: The Shining. After watching film theory videos on Rob Ager’s excellent Collative Learning YouTube channel and […]
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Vinny in the Bardo
Early last week after my deadline had passed, I heard the sad news that Gregg DeVaney had succumbed to the aggressive brain cancer with which he was recently diagnosed. From the outside, it was shocking how quickly it came. I have known Gregg for three decades, since I was a child, and I would like […]
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Bells, Banjos and Puppets
As I write this from my friend’s porch on a hot afternoon in the last week of June, my ears are met with the sweet sounds of summer. No, wait, that’s just a rooster mindlessly screaming in the yard while it pecks around in the dry dirt for snacks. Meanwhile, spreading around me with the […]