Photo of Joe Jackson with the band on stage at the Beacon Theatre. Left to right: Joe Jackson at the keyboard, Doug Yowell on drums, Graham Maby on bass, Felipe Fournier on percussion and Teddy Kumpel on guitar.
Photo credit: @dougyowell on Instagram

Caught an evening with Joe Jackson and the band at the Beacon Theatre on Saturday night. He began the show at the piano, solo for the first song. Then he was joined by his long time bassist, Graham Maby for the second. These guys have been playing together for 50 years. I wonder if they think about how special that is while they’re on stage, just the two of them. Maybe after thousands of performances, they don’t. But, I like to think they do.

The rest of the band joined them, one by one from the wings for the third number and proceeded to rock the Beacon. It was a wonderful show with plenty of newer material mixed in with the classics from his extensive catalog. He even played Home Town, one of my favorites, and a pleasant surprise.

I did some quality procrastineering this week and created a little menu bar pomodoro timer. It already helped me break a procrastination spell this weekend, so it’s not a total loss. If you also suffer from procrastination from time to time, the pomodoro technique can help jump start things. You don’t even need my fancy application, you can just use the timer on your phone.


Links

There are a lot of links this week—so many that I’ve decided to categorize them..

Photo of the marquee and crowd outside of Webster Hall in New York City. The text on the marquee is: "SUGAR - SOLD OUT - MAY 2, 3 & 4."

Caught the last of Sugar’s three night run at Webster Hall. Excellent show (set list) with three special guests at the end. Of the shows I’ve been to recently, this was a particularly well-behaved crowd, I didn’t see any of the over self-medication that I’d seen in the past.

Closed on the old apartment this week. It feels great to be closing that chapter of transition, which started over a year ago.


Links

Photo of a whole-wheat, sourdough sandwich loaf on a stove top.

Checked out Luna at Bowery Ballroom on Thursday night, they put on a great show. Based on observations from some recent shows, I have some advice for my fellow middle-aged concert goers: If you want to stay on your feet, maybe have one less edible.

Hadn’t made sourdough since before we moved due to the general moving chaos and then a malfunctioning oven. Despite both me and the starter being out of practice, we managed to turn out a reasonable looking loaf. The new kitchen is such that the stand mixer is on the counter and available for use at any time. At some point, I really need to take advantage of that for some different types of bread.


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Photo of of a band on stage.
Marky Ramone’s Holiday Blitzkrieg at Gramercy Theatre 2025-12-05. Credit: Kenny Rennard

For the one or two of you following along in real time, this post is a full week late, sorry. I mention so as not to confuse about the dates. Marky Ramone’s Holiday Blitzkrieg was a week ago Friday last Friday, not last Friday.

Timing issues aside, Marky and the band did not disappoint. More than thirty numbers delivered in rapid fire with absolutely zero banter in between. Big thanks to Kenny for scoring the tickets for this event.

In other musical news, the new Jamulus server setup I mentioned last week passed its first live test with flying colors. With the whole band on, everyone sounded great and there was minimal noise. In fact, I don’t think it has ever performed as well as it did in the last jam session. We’ll have to get a few more sessions in before declaring victory, but this is very promising.


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Black and white photo of Antibalas on stage at Brooklyn Bowl.
Antibalas at Brooklyn Bowl 2025-11-15. Credit: Kenny Rennard

Caught Antibalas at Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday night—phenomenal show. They were super tight and had great energy for the whole set. There were several alumni present as well, at one point, there were no less than fifteen guys on stage. Thanks to Kenny for trekking out to Williamsburg on a rainy night, not to mention providing this excellent picture.

Speaking of Williamsburg, it’s been a minute since I’ve been in that area around Brooklyn Bowl. What’s with all the massive, brightly lit billboards for Cartier, Sapphire Reserve cards and other high-end brands? Is it just me, or do they make Wythe Ave. feel more Sunset Strip than Williamsburg?

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