#philadelphia folk festival

[american-troubadour]

Phil Ochs performing at Philadelphia Folk Festival at Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford, Pennsylvania. August 24, 1968.

Photographed by Henry Horenstein

[paintingsandrecords]

a hobo clown; ink and watercolor

last eleven day’s listening:

love letter - everyone wants something beautiful

various - broadside ballads vol 1

various - philadelphia folk festival 1962 volume ii

r.e.m. - unplugged 1991

various - new folks

fugazi - steady diet of nothing

fugazi -red medicine

various - american history in ballad and song

[banjofilia]

John Hartford, Norman Blake

Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1972

[kickingdowndoors]

We're playing at the 2024 Philadelphia Folk Fest! We're taking a trip down memory lane to our set from 2018 on the Camp Stage!

[ajepyx]

Pics from "Sleep Until Noon" Screening at Philadelphia Independent Film Festival

Pics from "Sleep Until Noon" Screening at Philadelphia Independent Film Festival

Thank you Philadelphia Independent Film Festival for screening Milan Martin’s “Sleep Until Noon” music video and thanks to everyone who enjoyed it!

[1264doghouse]

John Prine, Bonnie Raitt & Steve Goodman - Philadelphia Folk Festival at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1972. Photo by Steve Ramm.

[shadowland]

Phil Ochs backstage at Philadelphia Folk Festival, photographed by © Jack Rosen (1966)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Will Bunch at The Philadelphia Inquirer:

The most wildly misunderstood yet commonly used word in American politics is “gaffe.” The dictionary defines it as “an unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder” — and that’s not wrong. But on the campaign trail, 95% of the time a much-talked-about “gaffe” is the blunder of a politician accidentally blurting out the truth. You’ve been hearing a lot about Donald Trump’s disastrous, Nazi-echoing rally at Madison Square Garden, and “comedian” Tony Hinchcliffe’s vote-killing “jokes” about Puerto Ricans and African Americans, and that’s been a game-changing development. But over the last week, it’s also been open-mic night for the Republicans who want to run Congress, and the embarrassing blunder of accidental truth-telling has been coming faster than Henny Youngman one-liners. Election Day will tell whether the joke is on the GOP, or on the American people for electing them.

[...] In fact, the current GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, with a 50-50 chance of clinging to that job next January, has been barnstorming America in a festival of truth-telling “gaffes,” including the revelation that his party dreams of not just gutting Obamacare — as McCormick suggested on that hot mic — but repealing the ACA altogether. This despite Trump’s September debate admission that after a decade of talking about this, he only has “concepts of a plan” (and in reality he doesn’t even have that) on how to replace a program that has saved thousands of American lives.

“No Obamacare,” Johnson responded to a voter’s comment during a news conference in Pennsylvania, before suggesting that Republicans, if it’s in their control, will make major but totally unspecified changes to a program that is broadly popular with the American public while currently insuring more than 21 million. He added: “The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work, and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.” Yeah, sure, Mike. But like Bluto in Animal House, the House speaker was now rolling. Only a day or so later, campaigning for an embattled House ally in upstate New York, Johnson replied to a student journalist from Syracuse University asking if Congress would also repeal 2022′s bipartisan CHIP and Science Act, which is aiding an $100 billion new plant in that New York candidate’s district creating thousands of new jobs. “I expect that we probably will but we haven’t developed that part of the agenda yet — we gotta get over the election first,” Johnson said.

This time, Johnson soon realized that he’d gone too far even for today’s Republicans, and he rolled back the comment with the hard-to-believe claim that he’d misheard the clearly audible student journalist just a few feet away. But while the semiconductor-aid program, and its large-scale job creation, appear to be safe for now, we should take Johnson, McCormick and their colleagues seriously, if not always literally. To reach their true spiritual goal of taking America back to a time when white men like them ruled without challenge — not only on Capitol Hill but in every household — they are willing to willy-nilly repeal anything passed not just by President Joe Biden but LBJ and maybe even FDR. They want to bring back an uneven playing field for women, Black and brown folks, or the LGBTQ community, even if it also hurts the white middle class they claim to be representing.

Is it a gaffe that we’re learning in the campaign’s final hours that Team Trump plans to give enormous power over public health policy to former-candidate-turned-Trump-ally and anti-vaccine nutjob Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who tweeted Saturday night that he literally wants to take America back to the 1950s by removing fluoride — which has improved the dental health of U.S. children for decades — from public drinking water. Make all the jokes you want about the John Birch Society or Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove, but — just like Hinchcliffe’s MSG put-downs of Latinos and Black people — their push to unravel modern American progress is no laughing matter. Voters understand RFK Jr.’s words are serious because we’ve already seen in one hugely important area — reproductive rights — what happens when the barking dog of GOP policy nonsense actually catches the car. The Trump-fried U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe vs. Wade has taken women’s health care back more than 60 years, and now we are learning the stories of the women who are dying as a result. How many more Americans will die needlessly if Johnson, McCormick, Trump and their ilk keep driving their 1950s Rambler policies off the cliff?

[...] The GOP’s 11th-hour policy truth bombs aren’t getting the media attention they deserve. They are competing with the increasingly racist, violent and unhinged rhetoric from Trump’s allies but especially from the 78-year-old candidate himself, who seems to be descending into madness in what, either way, are (probably) his last days ever on the trail. We should be paying great attention to events like his nearly six-hour Manhattan hatefest. But understand that the cruelty is the point of the modern MAGA movement, and Trump’s despicable language and attitudes toward women and nonwhite men will be translated on Capitol Hill into cruel policies — political neutron bombs that will devastate everyone, even the folks lining up in Appalachia or the prairies of the Great Plains to vote for Trump.

Will Bunch delivers a truthbomb in his latest Philly Inquirer column that the GOP’s deranged quest to repeal CHIPS Act and Obamacare, along with pandering to anti-fluoride cranks, will doom them.

See Also:

HuffPost: Republicans Close Out Final Week Of 2024 Race By Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud

[zoekeating]

Dear Listeners,

It’s winter break here in Vermont so my son and I have been out on the slopes every day. For many years I have stayed away from fast slidey sports because I was afraid of injuring my hands. If my hands don’t work, how do I make music? But among the many bits of advice I’ve gotten in my parenting journey, “be into what your kid is into” has been one of the best. My lad needed someone to ride the lifts with and I needed to overcome my fear and learn how to fall properly, so here I am.

I found that skiing is not all that different from rollerblading, which I learned to do in Central Park the summer of my junior year. I brought the skates with me on my year abroad in Florence. On weekends there was this amazing city to explore but buses and museums and cafes cost money. And whenever I roamed the quiet streets and parks alone, I would be perpetually harassed, groped and even flashed by pathetic men. But rollerblading was free and, bonus, I am already quite tall, so with skates I was at least 6ft2in. No one ever messed with me on skates. I adapted to the cobblestones and explored all of Florence with exhilarating freedom.

One Sunday, as I was enjoying the expanses of asphalt in Parco delle Cascine, I came upon a group of folks on old-school rollerskates. They had a boombox and were dancing, just like the skaters of Central Park but without the sequined hot pants. They waved me over and exclaimed over my weird skates. They invited me to join them and for the rest of the school year, I spent every Sunday afternoon I could with the rollerskaters. We would gather, dancing and skating around obstacles, and once we had critical mass, tear off along the Arno and into the old city. We’d skate past the David, circle the Piazza della Signoria multiple times and whizz down the marble collanade along the Piazza Republica, ending in a bar, still on skates, for an espresso or aperativo. Those are some of my best memories of my year in Florence.

I continued the skating when I moved to San Francisco, zooming most days through Golden Gate Park to the beach and back again. Sometimes I’d join a similar group of mad skaters on Friday nights to roll fearlessly down hills and through tunnels. Skating was always a great source of joy. But then I moved away from the paved environment of the city and I transitioned to music full time. After acquiring a broken finger from an Evil Door and being shocked at how much that tiny injury impacted my ability to play, I quit skating.

Fast forward to Vermont. Like many people did during the pandemic, I got back on skates except this time with padding, wrist guards and a helmet. And then, as my boy learned to snowboard, I learned to ski. We still ride the lifts together but now he zips down black diamond trails while I ski carefully down the easy ones. He is mystified as to how I can bear to do the same runs over and over but I like it that way. It’s like a meditation. I focus on perfecting my technique and try to make each turn better than the last. It feels similar to one of the things I enjoy about playing the cello, which is noticing tiny details and gradually polishing them. How can I improve this one phrase that I have played thousands of times? It never gets old or boring for me.

I hope it never gets boring for you either! Next week I’ll get back to work improving my old songs and figuring out to play some of my new ones in time for my concerts in March.

March 15 - ArtYard in Frenchtown,NJ

March 16 - Underground Arts in Philadelphia, PA opening up for my old friend The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

March 17 - Le Poisson Rouge in NYC

March 21 - St John’s Cathedral at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN

And one more

April 6 - Unitarian Univeralist Church in Burlington VT, accompanied by mesmerizing visuals by Alex Reeves

also, outside my solo work on April 7 I’ll be a part of composer Randal Pierce’s ensemble, performing his live soundtrack to George Méliès’ silent cinematic masterpiece, A Trip to the Moon

6:30 and 8:30pm shows

More about all the events happening in Burlington around the eclipse

Thank you for listening and please wear a helmet when you are going fast.

celloly yours, Z

[kenster865]

Bonnie Raitt at The Philadelphia Folk Festival August 1971, Photo by David Gahr

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

The Incredible String Band - Philadelphia Folk Festival, August 24, 1969

I've been digging into the appropriately big/huge Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending: An Incredible String Band Compendium lately. Like the ISB itself, the newly revised & expanded book is sprawling, messy and awesome, going into exquisite/excruciating detail about all aspects of the band's life and afterlife.

As a soundtrack, I'm checking out some rare-ish live tapes; this Philadelphia Folk Fest gig came hot on the heels of the Incredible String Band's infamous Woodstock set, during which they tried and failed to win over hundreds of thousands of muddy hippies. Oh well! But it's interesting that the ISB was such a big band at this point — they were headlining the Philly Folk Fest and had topped the bill at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens immediately following Woodstock. An only-in-the-1960s crossover? Maybe!

In his foreword to Be Glad, the freaking Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (2002-2012) writes: "For those of us who fell in love with the ISB, there was a feeling of breathing the air of a very expansive imagination indeed. It was all right to be enchanted — but not bewitched — by colossal and antique symbols; all right at the same time to be thinking about the experiences of 'ordinary' first loves and first betrayals; and all right to find the earnest nonsense of real hallucinogenic maunderings funny. There was no one quite like them; we liked to think it was a very grown-up taste, but that makes it sound too serious."

[american-troubadour]

Phil Ochs performing at Philadelphia Folk Festival at Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford, Pennsylvania. August 24, 1968.

Photographed by Diana Davies

[hang-on-lil-tomato]

Rhys Darby at The Keswick Oct 17, 2023

What a GREAT time!

I realized today how much LOVE was in that room! Love for rhys, for his “essence” (har har) and love right back at us!

it was a delightful time, rhys doing his greatest hits,

he can’t promote OFMD, which is fine since half the audience was dressed as pirates. We know about his little pirate rom com.

but…he very subtlety did a riff on “come back to me” and not so subtlety did “I did a punch”. Pretty awesome ways he had of sneaking that stuff in!

he got the best cheers for that bit of fan service.

his opening act was great, and he was doing a bit about usa tv, and CSi. It was ok, but it was kind of flat for him until he said something about the kind of shows you guys watch are about gay pirates, and we all went wild.

I met a cool fan with the same name as me, she was just back from NYCC. That was great! So we hung out, had dinner, and chatted. It was so nice to rave on with someone about OFMD details, and of course Rhysie. Really made the experience so much better, because I always go alone to things.

Steve was also joking about “where the hell are we? Rhys asked me to a show in Philly with him, but this isn’t Philly, is it?”

GLENSIDE, we shouted. It’s actually a very cute, upscale, suburban bedroom community for Philly. And we call everything around here Philadelphia, so that’s hysterical.

philadelphia factory outlets is in Sanatogo,

Philadelphia folk festival is in Schwenksville.

today I told everyone at school I saw Rhys Darby, and they looked at me like “Is that a band?” 😂🤣😂

Rhys asked the audience if anyone was local to Glenside. YES! And you’ve heard of me?

😂🤣

the capacity was 1300 but I estimate it was only 3/4 on attendance max, so maybe 800, but many DEVOUT fans. The orchestra was filled with SUPERFANS.

Anyone who pays any attention to my silly blah blah blog know I adore Rhys, but these folks are NEXT LEVEL. I had an excellent seat, but I’m glad I wasn’t quite in the gravy basket with the priesthood up front. May Rhys Bless Them from on high.

no merch table, just two guys doing stand up. Just down and dirty, simple and great.

unfortunately he and Steve couldn’t meet and greet as they had to drive up to Connecticut. But Rhys and he drove by and honked at the crowd in front of the theater. Unfortunately for me, I was on the wrong side of the street.

see Rhys LIVE! It’s a special experience.

oh, and don’t use AXL ticketing with their stupid app. Luckily I was prepared with my proof of purchase, ID and CC. Never again!

but I’d definitely see Rhys again.

the audience is part of the show!

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 1.24

Holidays

BCPB (Black & Can’t Play Basketball) Awareness Day

Big Garden Bird Watch (UK)

Bull Day (French Republic)

Colorist Appreciation Day

Day of the Foreign Intelligence Service (Ukraine)

Economic Liberation Day (Togo)

Fiesta de Ekeko (Bolivia)

Foreign Intelligence Service Day (Ukraine)

Global Belly Laugh Day (at 1:24 pm local time)

Gold Rush Day (California)

Healthcare Continuing EducationProfessionals Day

Heart to Heart Day

International ALGS (Alagille Syndrome) Awareness Day

Internal Combustion Engine Day

International Day of Education

International Day of the Endangered Lawyer

International Mobile Phone Recycling Day

International Women’s Sport Day

Juan Pablo Duarte Day (Dominican Republic)

"Just Do It" Day

Macintosh Computer Day

Microwave Oven Day

Minimoog Day

Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day

National ALGS Awareness Day

National Compliment Day

National Girl Child Day (India)

National Heroes Day (Cayman Islands)

National Readathon Day

Paul Pitcher Day (UK)

Social Sipping and Nibbling Rehearsal Day

Square Dance Day [also 11.29]

Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day

Tax Ruled Unconstitutional Day

Tricknology Day

TV Game Show Day

World Day for African and Afro-descendant Culture

Zaevion Dobson Day (Tennessee)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Beer Can Day (a.k.a. Beer Can Appreciation Day)

Eskimo Pie Day

National Hot Cereal Day

National Lobster Thermidor Day

National Peanut Butter Day

Nature Celebrations

Change a Pet's Life Day

Saffron Crocus (The Beauty of Moderation; Korean Birth Flowers)

Independence, Flag & Related Days

Fundamental Orders (A Frame of Gov’t; Connecticut; 1639)

Uttar Pradesh Day (India)

Washington, D.C. (Federal District Proclaimed; 1791)

Ziua Micii Unirii (Unification Day of the Romanian Principalities; Romania; 1859)

4th Friday in January

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flapjack Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Flirtatious Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

National Activity Professionals Day [4th Friday]

Newman Day (a.k.a. Newman's Day, 24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.) [Bates College] (Friday nearest 1.26) [also 3.30 & 4.24]

Preschool Health and Fitness Day [Last Friday]

Stout & Chowder Festival (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) [Last Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Thorrablot (a.k.a. Þorrablót; Midwinter Festival; Pagan Iceland) [Friday after 1.19]

Weekly Holidays beginning January 24 (3rd Full Week of January)

Baltimore Restaurant Week (Baltimore, Maryland) [thru 2.2]

Data Privacy Week (thru 1.28)

Festivals Beginning January 24, 2025

Ann Arbor Folk Festival (Ann Arbor, Michigan) [thru 1.25]

Aukland Folk Festival (Aukland,New Zealand) [thru 1.26]

Fan Expo Portland (Portland, Oregon) [thru 1.26]

Foggy Longbritches Folk Festival (Brooksville, Florida) [thru 1.26]

First Taste Oregon (Salem, Oregon) [thru 1.25]

Göteborg Film Festival (Gothenburg, Sweden) [thru 2.2]

GWA (Georgia Watermelon Ass’n) Annual Meeting & Conference (Braselton, Georgia) [thru 1.26]

HIPPOLOGICA (Berlin, Germany) [thru 1.26]

Lakeland Pigfest (Lakeland, Florida) [thru 1.25]

Naples Seafood & Music Festival (Naples, Florida)

Naples Winter Wine Festival (Naples, Florida)

Pacific Poultry Breeders Association Winter Show (Lodi, California) [thru 1.26]

Feast Days

Alacitas (Aymara Indian Pot-Bellied God of Property; Everyday Wicca)

Babylas of Antioch (Christian; Martyr)

Blessing of the Candle of the Happy Women Pagan Purification Ceremony; Hungary)

Cadoc Day (Wales)

Cat Sacrifice Day (Aix-En Province, France)

Ekeko Festival (God of Abundance; Bolivia) [Lasts 3 Weeks]

Exuperantius of Cingoli (Christian; Saint)

The Fairy-Four Paganalia (Shamanism)

Feast of Our Lady of Peace (Roman Catholic)

Feast of Seed-Time (Feati Sementini; Ancient Rome)

Felician of Foligno (Christian; Martyr)

Francis de Sales (Christian; Saint) [Journalists, Editors, Writers]

Invent a God Day (Pastafarian)

John Belushi (Hedonism; Saint)

Jools Holland (Humanism)

Klaatu Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Macedonius of Syria (Christian; Saint)

Paganalia: Gaea’s Day (Celebration of the Country Farmer; Pagan)

Pendulum Dowsing to Find Lost Things (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

The Pendragon Legend, by Antal Szerb (Novel; 1934)

Pratulin Martyrs (Greek Catholic Church)

Sailing of Bast (Ancient Egypt)

Sementivae begins (Ancient Roman festival honoring Ceres (Goddess of Agriculture) and Tellus (Mother Earth)

Solomon (Positivist; Saint)

Stanley the Mouse (Muppetism)

Suranus of Umbria (Christian; Saint)

Timothy, disciple of St. Paul (Christian; Martyr)

Twrch Trwyth Day (Boar hunted by King Arthur; Celtic Book of Days)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chinese: Month 12 (Ding-Chou), Day 25 (Gui-Si)

Day Pillar: Water Snake

12-Day Officers/12 Gods: Stable Day (定 Ding) [Auspicious]

Holidays:

None Today

Secular Saints Days

Vicki Baum (Literature)

John Belushi (Entertainment)

Konstantin Bogaevsky (Art)

Cassandre (Art)

William Congreve (Literature)

Pierre de Beaumarchais (Literature)

Neil Diamond (Music)

Mahmoud Farshchian (Art)

Jools Holland (Music)

Machio Kaku (Music)

C.L. Moore (Literature)

Robert Motherwell (Art)

Aaron Neville (Music)

Mary Lou Retton (Sports)

John Romita Sr. (Art)

Kristen Schaal (Entertainment)

Ester Šimerová-Martinčeková (Art)

Vasily Surikov (Art)

Sharon Tate (Entertainment)

Gillis van Coninxloo (Art)

Edith Wharton (Literature)

Warren Zevon (Music)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

Absent Minded Willie (Gaumont Kartoon Komics Cartoon; 1917)

Alice Foils the Pirates (Ub Iwerks Disney Cartoon; 1927)

Amerika, by Franz Kafka (Novel; 1927)

By the Beautiful Sea (Fleischer Screen Songs Cartoon; 1931)

Championship of the Universe Race (Auto/Airplane Race; 1914)

Chicago (Film; 2003)

Clement Lorimer, by Angus Reach (Novel; 1848)

The Courier (Film; 2020)

Danse Macabre, by Camille Saint-Saëns (Tone Poem; 1874)

Evil Ways, by Santana (Song; 19870)

Façade, by Eidth Sitwell (Poem; 1922)

Farewell My Ugly or Knots to You (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 18; 1960)

Felix Flirts with Fate (Felix the Cat Cartoon; 1926)

Fierce Creatures (Film; 1997)

Go Ask Alice, by Beatrice Sparks (Novel; 1971)

Grand Hotel, by Vicki Baum (Novel; 1929)

The Grapes of Wrath (Film; 1940)

Hairless Hector (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

Heir Restorer (Casper Paramount Cartoon; 1958)

A Hollywood Detour (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1942)

Ideas on the Aesthetics of Music, by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubert (Essays; 1787)

Jirel of Joiry, by C.L. Moore (Novel; 1934)

Jules et Jim (Film; 1978)

Kings of the Wild Frontier, by Adam & The Ants (Album; 1981)

The Köln Concert, recorded by Keith Jarrett (Live Album; 1975)

The Little Brown Jug (Aesop’s Film Fable Cartoon; 1926)

Mickey’s Toontown (Disneyland Attraction; 1993)

Mouse-Placed Kitten (WB MM Cartoon; 1959)

Musica-Lulu (Little Lulu; 1947)

My Chauffeur (Film; 1986)

The 19th Hole Club, featuring Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Noah’s Outing, featuring Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

No Other One (Fleischer Screen Songs Cartoon; 1936)

The Oompahs (Jolly Frolics UPA Cartoon; 1952)

Pluto’s Playmate (Pluto Disney Cartoon; 1941)

A Real Bug’s Life (Documentary TV Series; 2024)

The Rude Intruder (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1972)

Setting Free the Bears, by John Irving (Novel; 1968)

Shift: Third Shift — Pact, by Hugh Howey (Novel; 2013)

Skid Row, by Skid Row (Album; 1989)

Snake in the Gracias (Tijuana Toads Cartoon; 1971)

Teddy Bear, recorded by Elvis Presley (Song; 1957)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Film; 1948)

21, by Adele (Album; 2011)

Two for the Ripsaw or Goodbye Mr. Chips (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 17; 1960)

Waco (TV Mini-Series; 2018)

The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy, by Viktor E. Frankl (Philosophy Book; 1969)

The Yellow Kid (Comic Strip; 1897) [1st Newspaper Comic Strip]

Today’s Name Days

Franz, Thurid, Vera (Austria)

Bogoslav, Felicijan, Franjo (Croatia)

Milena (Czech Republic)

Timotheus (Denmark)

Naima, Naimi (Estonia)

Senja (Finland)

François (France)

Bernd, Franz, Thurid, Vera (Germany)

Filon, Polyxene, Polyxeni, Xene, Xeni, Zosimas (Greece)

Timót (Hungary)

Francesco (Italy)

Eglons, Krišs, Ksenija (Latvia)

Artūras, Felicija, Gaivilė, Mažvydas, Šarūnas, Vilgaudas (Lithuania)

Jarl, Joar (Norway)

Chwalibóg, Felicja, Mirogniew, Rafaela, Rafał, Tymoteusz (Poland)

Xenia (Romania)

Timotej (Slovakia)

Francisco, Paz, Xenia (Spain)

Erika (Sweden)

Roxanna, Roxoliana (Ukraine)

Oral, Orel, Tim, Timmy, Timon, Timothy, Vera, Verena (USA)

National Name Days:

National Matthew Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 24 of 2025; 341 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 4 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar:

Druid Tree Calendar: Elm (Jan 12-24) [Day 13 of 13]

Graves Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 4 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Ding-Chou), Day 25 (Gui-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Coptic: 16 Tubah 1741

Hebrew: 24 Teveth 5785

Islamic: 24 Rajab 1446

J Cal: 24 White; Threesday [24 of 30]

Julian: 11 January 2025

Moon: 24%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 24 Moses (1st Month) [Solomon]

Runic Half Month: Elhaz (Elk) [Day 3 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 35 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of January

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 5 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 10 of 29)

Schmidt Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 24 of 25)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 5 of 28)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Capricornus (Day 6 of 28)

[thebowerypresents]

Geese Prepare for Next Chapter at Sold-Out Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday Night

Geese – Music Hall of Williamsburg – December 6, 2024

In a series of year-in-review features, several New York Times critics use variations on a term one of them called “algorithm breakers” — that is, output that eludes “easy categorization, keeping us off balance.” The term in that particular instance was for movies, but it could just as easily apply to other art forms. Maybe I liked it because it helps with a band not at all easily described: Brooklyn’s Geese. Not in the lazy “they’re genre-benders, wow!” kind of way, but because, like fellow shape-shifters (and recent tour mates) King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, theirs is a sound that thrives at the pressure points of where different rock styles clash into near chaos but hold steady to create invigorating music. They hit a little weird at first — and you’re reaching for why. But they’re under your skin already.

Geese’s first record, 2021’s Projector, had jittery post-punk for days, running the gamut from Television to Radiohead. The next record, 2023’s mesmerizing 3D Country, felt like a mutation, taking that sound every which way from chamber-folk to scuzzy-noise jamband, from pretty to zany to screamy. At times and in moments, they’re the kind of band you sort of can hear whatever sound you want in (I hear Beck at his most experimental). But in aggregate, they don’t feel derivative, and you’re more apt to marvel at how what they have hangs together at the brink of where it’s about to come apart at the seams and wobble off the front of the stage. 

Wouldn’t you know it: Geese also have a festival. Friday night was the second of three shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg, part of the band’s second-annual Geesefest, each with a different collection of cannily curated openers. (Friday had NYC’s Guerilla Toss, filling the room with big-rock-sound pow, and earlier, Philadelphia’s Cold Court, doing a ferocious jazz-punk thing.) Over a nearly two-hour set, Geese frontman Cameron Winter and his rambunctious cohorts served a little bit of everything, throwing back to Projector with “Rain Dance” and a punched-up “Fantasies/Survival,” peeling off more than half of 3D Country with standouts including a raging “Mysterious Love,” a woozy “Domoto” and, to close the show, the tender “Tomorrow’s Crusades,” Winter’s pained-happy falsetto carrying the “Where would I be without you” refrain. 

The story of the night, actually, was new songs: three billed as Geese tunes and one (the terrific “Drinking Age”) from Winter’s own just-released solo album. Each was a flavor of Geese, showcased in well-selected places in the overall set, without distinctly pointing to a direction the band might be headed with their next mutation. But most of all, the band seemed to love playing them, seemed to love their abandon, seemed to love their people, seemed to love this moment they’ve hit where they’re graduating to bigger things and have a lot of growth to celebrate. The crowd knew it, too: We all savored the rush of what already felt like an underplay-sized room for Geese. It’s the excitingly early, not just promisingly early stage: not quite Chapter 1 of their story anymore, and certainty that many more chapters are on the way. —Chad Berndtson | @Cberndtson

Photos courtesy of Toby Tenenbaum | @tobytenenbaum

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SLEEP UNTIL NOON Screening May 8th at Philadelphia Independent Film Festival

SLEEP UNTIL NOON Screening May 8th at Philadelphia Independent Film Festival

For those of you in the Philadelphia area, our music video for Milan Lazistan’s “Sleep Until Noon” will be screening on the opening night of the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival on Wednesday, May 8th in the 8:45pm block! Screenings will take place at Canal Street Film Center (941 N Front Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123). General admission tickets for $15 can be purchased online or at the…