Tag: livemusic

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Photo of Social Distortion on stage at the Brooklyn Paramount on 12-SEP-2026.
Social Distortion at the Brooklyn Paramount. Photo credit: Tom Helmick

This week marked 25 years since the attacks on September 11th, 2021. There was markedly more coverage in the lead-up to the anniversary this year and many messages from all directions to never forget. Perhaps that’s a good thing since, as each year passes, there are fewer of us that have their own experience of that day.

I’ve never written about my experience in Manhattan on that day or those that followed here; I’m not sure I ever will. To mark this year, I’ll point to Anil Dash’s account in 23: What was 9/11? I think he accurately captures the feeling of those days.

On a brighter note, thanks to a good friend, I was lucky to see Social Distortion at Brooklyn Paramount. Descendents were on stage when we walked in and we were able stake out a spot over the main floor with great sight lines. Overall, it was a good show. I was happy that they included Ring of Fire early in the set—could have done with few more of their numbers from the 90s though.

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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..

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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.

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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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