Science! Psuedo-science! Nature! Art! Nonsense!
March 2, 2026
concert, travel cosmic love, florence, florence and the machine, lisa, never let me go, noel, romey, sympathy magic, the dog days are over, ziggo dome 1 Comment
The Ziggo Dome is an excellent place to see a show. And Florence puts on quite the excellent show. We surprised Romey and Lisa with tickets day of (something planned for months and somehow kept secret). The show was superb.
Surly audience though..
We shall do this all again.
February 14, 2026
concert, cooking, mixology america, arroz con gandules, bad bunny, mofongo, pernil, puerto rico, racist bastards, super bowl, USofA 1 Comment
The racists bastards running our country at the moment did not understand a word of the Superbowl Halftime show that bad bunny put on.
Watch it here (the NFL piggies will not allow a local copy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6FuWd4wNd8
Fortunately we were able to snag a viewing when we invited ourselves over for a fabulous Puerto Rican feast hosted by Harold and Jen. I mean, pernil, arroz con gandules, and mofongo?! What’s not to like.
We brought along beer cheese and Generals Orders.
Oh, and those of you sent into a tizzy about the Latino aspects of American culture? You can fuck right off.
January 16, 2026
art, concert, music fiddle, gem, germany, guitars, lorsch, markus, sidekick, violin Leave a comment
An ideal room for some practice. Metal fiddle!
December 25, 2025
concert, travel all of tomorrow, austin, austin city limits, billy strings, bluegrass, cabin song, concert, katy daly, little maggie, shady grove, slow train, way downtown 1 Comment
Austin City Limits clinched the deal.
Lots of old school bluegrass. Ironically the standup bass was “unplugged” into an electric bass. The venue…yea please.
It all starts with fiddle.
November 22, 2025
concert, humor, music bad rye, concert, cyn, dear prudence, I want to destroy you, laibach, lewis, life is life, live musi, madonna of the wasps, oceanside, pink floyd, robyn, robyn hitchcock, rye, see emilly play, so you think you're in love, the atlantis, the beatles Leave a comment
All of these people are getting smaller. Remember how small David Byrne was? Well Robyn is getting just as small.
Actually it looks like Robyn is lots bigger than David.
I guess our thesis is just wrong. Right?
Emma opened.
Then came Robyn.
The band was tight. Those Nashville people. They just don’t loosen up.
Lewis and I got loose with the help of some very bad Rye. Why don’t these music venues sell booze that is good? Seriously. We’re 60 now and we will pay.
When we get loose we dance and sing. About which, if you don’t like our singing then come shoot your own dang videos!
For some reason, this made us utter, “Life is Life,” which in turn caused Lewis to think of this. We have no idea what you will think about that. We pause now for a slight Laibach break.
And we’re back with more Robyn content.
Oh no wait…this just in. This is actually Pink Floyd content. I love this song and all ancient Floyd of Yore.
Turns out Robyn can play anyone’s song!
We had a great time even if we did not get to have a 9:30 cupcake or sit in the bad view stool seats.
All 4 1 and 1 4 all.
Finally, a word from our sponsor.
November 12, 2025
concert, music, photography bear, billy strings, bluegrass, concert, jam band, live music, love like me, pittsburgh, psycho, richard petty, seney stretch, stratosphere blues, wait a minute 1 Comment
We had a great time the first time we went to a Billy Strings show, but we had an even more fun time when we went again. Our fearless leader was Betty. She knows not only the Billy Strings touring family, but also the ropes and the behind the scenes lore. We have learned by now that if you are going to go to Billy Strings, go with Betty.
We drove up Friday just in the nick of time to get stuck in rainy day Pittsburgh rush hour traffic on our way to the Monaco. Betty encouraged us to get to the show when the gates opened so we could get a good spot in the pit (which of course required having pit tickets), so we had a quick bite at the hotel and walked over to the show.
We’ll kick things off with pictures and videos of the Friday show (which later you can compare with the Saturday show posted below).
We were close enough to the stage to have a fantastic view of the band.
The crowd was enthusiastic and lots of fun. We only had minor issues with a gaggle of drunk hippie chicks who invaded our space. By and large the crowd controls itself really well and people have a great time together. (This is especially true of the special area at the very front of the pit where Billy stations himself.)
Billy is the best flat picker on the planet.
Just before halftime we went for some tequila and changed locations.
Soundboard
The Billy community gathered for a post-concert photo (this apparently happens after every show). Betty is in here somewhere.
Saturday morning, our intrepid leader got up early to secure super double plus good bands for us to get into the show with the first 100 people. Our place in the pit was even more incredible as a result. We are so grateful to just ride along. What a treat.
In the mid-afternoon after some art, we returned to the Monaco at a perfect time. We spotted Billy and his dog Bear in the lobby and went over to pat the dog. As we rode the elevetor together, Romey talked about Maybelline while loving on Bear. It was a sweet moment.
We had a really fun time being 95 and 96 and goofing around with the others. This all meant we were on the floor just after 6 securing our location and meeting our neighbors. Betty knows everybody.
Razzle dazzle is required in this section of the pit. Caturday? (Or “pigturday” if you are wearing a Pink Floyd concert tee from the Animals tour.)
There was no goofing off.
This fella has been to 333 Billy shows.
Ring bling.
This was the view. Dang.
We were in charge of tequila procurement. That’s something we are mighty good at.
One of my favorite pictures from the show.
Billy deep in the moment.
Billy played some excellent old timey bluegrass.
Outstanding in all respects. We had even more fun Saturday than the other two shows we’ve attended. Betty must be on to something.
October 16, 2025
concert, music, photography concert, music, Roundabout, South Side of the Sky, video, VIP, warner theater, We Have Heaven, Wondrous Stories, yes Leave a comment
Yes they were phenomenal. Yes their songs are interesting. Yes they have a very high cheese factor. Yes we still love them.
Yes, Steve Howe is 78 years old. And he’s starting to slow down.
Here’s what I said to Gina about the whole thing:
Amazing and awful. The younguns in the rhythm section (Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen) are astounding (and Jon Davison too). But Steve Howe and Geoff Downes have lost the edge and can’t find the groove. So it was both magical to see the songs we love actually performed, and also frustrating to feel the train car push and pull of a busted machine.
Lots of love on the stage though. And you have to be forgiving of a 78 year old stunt guitarist.
FWIW, the audience was definitely in worse shape than the band. A bunch of creaking hippies and OG dungeonmasters. But it was Yes, and that was a thing. The Warner Theater is almost a good place to see a show (VIP treatment is still not very V).
Regardless of all that. These songs stand the test of time. Wow.
And holy shit this bass.
—-
October 16, 2025
concert, food berklee school of music, boston, cowboy jazz, jazz, julia, live music, mad monkfish, original Leave a comment
You know what else they have in the big city? They have Jazz, every Sunday, played by Berklee professors. There is even “cowboy jazz” about which we will say no more.
The drinks are not bad either.
We are sorry to report that Julia has joined a gang.
October 15, 2025
concert, dance, music boston, Burning Down the House, concert, David Byrne, Everybody's Coming to My House, his Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Life During Wartime, live music, Once in a Lifetime, Slippery People, video, Wang Theater, Who is the sky? 1 Comment
It was Boston. It was Wang. It was not Wang Chung.
Little David.
Big David.
Playing in a Church.
.
OK. OK. It wasn’t a church and it didn’t burn down. But boy was there dancing. Our whole balcony bounced…especially during the Talking Heads covers.
Maybe it was a church.
With naked people.
And very small performers way down there.
Floating up above the suburbs.
Running
Into the 1970s Rock and Roll gestalt
Anyway, hallelujah
The visuals were astounding. And the hits were hits. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
.
Things were white
And way down there
Little ants
Singing songs about Slippery People.
.
No wait, it’s New York. And we’re all in David’s apartment. I wish we were invited in.
Life During Wartime involves some kind of ice skating simulation
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This is the sort of thing you only experience Once in a Lifetime.
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Wait. Once in a Lifetime twice? What’s going on here.
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I guess we were invited after all. Everybody’s Coming to My House he said.
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And then it all came to a flaming end Burning Down the House.
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Goodbye band.
Goodbye very small David.
September 22, 2025
art, concert, travel audio, brazil, christian, concert, esperanza spalding, fabio, live music, romey, São Paulo, shotgun app, travel 1 Comment
When we were looking for a concert to attend Saturday night in the São Paulo Spring, we were surprised by the pickings. Not much going on even though the city is huge. A conversation in Brazil with a young show producer told the tale of why, the gist of it being that a post COVID explosion of creativity is drawing to a close and the performers are exhausted. But the constraints led us directly to an exceptional treat—Esperanza Spalding in Brazil.
Magical.
We did require some help from our new friend Christian (a USP fresh out Ph.D.) who was able to use the local shotgun app to get tickets. I tried that earlier from the US with no luck since the app required a Brazilian citizen ID number.
In a small world phenomenon, we ran into Fabio Kon and his wife while waiting in line to get into the venue.
It was nice to spend some time with the locals. LOL. Here are some pictures and videos of the show.
There was some waiting around to do from 8pm to 10pm, but it was all worth it.
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We were, in fact, in Brazil…as you can hear.
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A commentary in AI and jazz. Computer speed and human speed compared.
When we got back to the rosewood after the show, we had a late night snack at 1:30am.
