An early look at twenty albums I loved in 2024.

 

This guy has been surreptitiously sneaking into my top 10 for favorite albums of 2024 list.

 A first for me...a friend of mine got arrested and is in jail.

It was someone who I knew had some problems with anger management, etc, but I had seen the good side of him and that he had been getting better in a lot of ways since I first met him...

I got a Linkedin message from one of his friends who reached out to me.  He told me that my friend wants my number so he can call me from jail.  Not even sure what I'd say.  

 Just got back from the Andre 3000 show, for the album New Blue Sun featuring the former Outkast rapper playing improvised jazz freak-outs for an entire show.  Opening was Serpentwithfeet, who really won me over with some heartfelt indie R & B.  Other guests Andre 3000 had on stage included Bilal, Carlos Nino, and a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, who was 100 years old.  

WXPN Review

 Just got back from my first Air concert, and probably the only time I will get to see them in my life since they rarely tour.  

I know I go to a lot of things, and I like a lot of what I go to for many reasons, but this was maybe a top 10-20 all time favorite for me.  It was something other-worldly.  

Air Setlist

WXPN write-up

I was able to experience this excellent Josh Redman jazz show this past weekend on the UPenn Campus.  

Another Vampire Weekend late night performance.  Although I didn't express it previously, their live show was one of the best out there, mostly because they just have so many great songs to draw from on any given night and they just play really really well.  Not to mention, the part of the show when they took requests for random cover songs from the audience.  

 One year later.  One year after the event that ignited my anger and fear more than anything in my lifetime.  I will never forget how I felt, and the way it changed things for me and Jews globally.  

 I’ll never forget how it seemed like so many people we called our friends turned on us, and how suddenly we were being called “zio-nazis” because we want to live and to get our friends and family members back.  

I'll never forget Jewish people turning on other Jewish people.  

I’ll never forget the daily barrage of twisted and hateful news stories.  

There’s a lot more I’d like to say, but that is all for now.

 

Vampire Weekend Setlist

WXPN write-up

 I just got back from seeing the War on Drugs and the National.  More to come soon.

WXPN Review

War on Drugs setlist

The National Setlist

Just got back from a fantastic PJ Harvey concert.  I've wanted to see her for many years, and this was her first American tour in a while.  More to come...

PJ Harvey Setlist

XPN Write-up

 

One of my favorite TV appearances and interviews, in which she talks about squeezing off goat testicles.

I just got back from seeing the Killers.  As expected, it was a really really big show with lots of confetti and laser-like lighting.  More to come when I have more time to write! But here's a setlist:

The Killers Setlist

 

 True life, I lost sleep trying to figure out what to wear to my company barbecue.  I almost wore a Hole shirt.  But I thought that wearing a shirt with a sneering Courtney Love on it would maybe make people not want to sit with me, so I wore a shirt with a pensive looking Lana Del Rey on it instead.

Just got back from a surprisingly good free Eve 6 show in Haddon Heights.  I've been saying for a while, they're a lot better looking back on them now than I remember them.    

                                       Eve 6 Setlist
 

I've been a big Malkmus guy for a while, and I count Pavement as one of my favorite bands.  I'm excited that he is working with Matt Sweeney from Chavez and starting this new group

 

I just got back from the free Everclear show in Pennsauken.  Art Alexis, in real life, seemed like the kind of guy you'd want to high five and throw your arms around.  He's full of gratitude and sober for many years after all that he went through.  Everclear's hits still hold up as some of the best of their era.  Also, they did a good cover of "Molly's Lips" by the Vaselines, which was also covered by Nirvana at one time too!

The setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/everclear/2024/jack-curtis-stadium-pennsauken-nj-2b55c44a.html

 I had a strange revelation in the middle of the night last night.  I need a Lemonheads shirt.

 I got my first letter of recommendation request this week. I will gladly be recommending my friend and trainee, Ms. Rivas, who was excellent in my time working with her.  

Let's just put it this way.  Kamala Harris gets Bon Iver to perform on her campaign trail, and Trump gets Kid Rock.  I think that says a lot.

I just got back from seeing Elvis Costello, and Daryl Hall (of the Philly soul architects Hall and Oates).  

Members of Elvis Costello's touring band were out sick, but I was still so glad I got to see one of my favorite artists of all time in the flesh.  I was really obsessed with this dub reggae version of "Watching the Detectives."  Also, I loved the pianist and the melodica playing.  

And I don't know why I dismissed Hall and Oates as cornball music for a while, but those songs just endure.  

I know I'll be listening to Elvis Costello and Hall and Oates albums for life.

Elvis Costello Setlist

Daryl Hall Setlist

 

 I journeyed out again, this time seeing the free Gin Blossoms show along with some fireworks.  They still got it! I was happy to hear some familiar songs, as well as a Plimsouls "Million Miles Away" cover and a "Folsom Prison Blues" Johnny Cash cover.

Gin Blossoms Setlist

 I somehow made the journey out to see Alanis Morrisette show last night over in Camden.  I think I've kind of taken for granted how good she was/is.  At one point she had a set up where she was playing in a spot in the middle of the audience, probably less than 100 feet from me.  

Also, Joan Jett was there, so I got to see some people with pink mohawks, while hearing some stuff I like, including a cover of "Androgynous" by the Replacements, and "Bad Reputation" which I always remember as the theme for the TV show Freaks and Geeks.  

Joan Jett during "Cherry Bomb."

Alanis Morissette

Joan Jett setlist

Alanis Morrisette Setlist

I am still upset that the Sixers passed on Dalton Knecht, but Jared McCain is growing on me.  Even though he paints his nails and does these tik tok videos, we all have our nerd hobbies.  We need to embrace him, show him some Philly love and just let the kid play.

If they can tear down posters of our hostages, I can rip down a sticker like this.  This one in Haddon Township outside a restaurant on a pole.

 

 I am completely sickened by the fact that so many people are saying that the Israeli hostages who were rescued from Hamas look so healthy, etc.

I wish that people knew that a world that hates the Jewish people is a broken one that is on the verge of collapse. 

A wise and well thought out response to Macklemore's "Hinds Hall".  I've been saying all along, why didn't Macklemore do a song for any of the Israeli hostages or victims?  

 This week, I want to my first ever meeting of third generation descendants of Holocaust survivors (through Zoom).  Basically, we're all a mess.  

I am especially sick of hearing the term "zio-nazi," and letting them hijack the term "zionist" from us and letting them use it to support their wishes to wipe us off the planet.

They had me at "rape is a legitimate form of resistance"!

 Not sure how much more of this crap I can take.  They're whole narrative is "we've been suffering all the time at the hands of Jews" as they try to kill us at every opportunity they can and every time progress is made towards anything.  And the world just believes them and if we say something is anti-semitic, they just say that we think everything is anti-semitic.  

I'm okay with Palestinian lives mattering, but I'm not okay with Jewish and Israeli lives not mattering.  It's beyond frightening.  It is not the Holocaust, and they'll keep saying it and calling us "zionazis" only because we believe in our right to live.

 

I had the opportunity to see Kemasi Washington last night.  Although I wasn't feeling so great, the guy makes other worldly sounds, and I know his albums will be in my rotation in the future. 

 The world we live in makes me sick, really.  I've been trying the whole ignore it all and just do what I do strategy, but its not working.  

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Just got back from the first ever Haddonfield Music Festival, where I saw Jeffrey Gaines amongst others, including Matt Cappy (guy who taught me trumpet over twenty years ago!) What a sweet event.

 

I want to be in the Vampire Weekend choir. 

I saw Kim Gordon with Sonic Youth back in the day.  One of my favorite groups.  She's still making music.  It is very challenging, but I'm starting to "get" her new album.

 I try so hard to just leave the bad things behind, then I get certain days where it just all comes back...

Loving this new track with the upright bass and "so watcha want" era beastie boys aesthetic of the video.  I have tickets to see them in the fall.

 Strangely enough, weekends don’t really do it for me.  I guess that means I am one of those people who lives to work, rather than works to live.  Not sure if that is a good or bad thing. 

This is why De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising is one of my favorite hip hop albums.

Got tickets to this show.  

I saw these guys open for Depeche Mode.  And another time way back when.

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Just finished Jeff Tweedy's latest book!