brownie

I'm less than a mile from the Charlie Browns ..small world

Wow, very small!

Nice! Glad you had fun! I'm from Scotch Plains? You?

I'm in Parsippany. Many years ago, I used to work in Murray Hill and my coworkers and I would sometimes go to Scotch Plains for lunch or dinner. These days, I only get there to meet an old friend from those days at the Charlie Brown's there near Westfield.

In South Orange?! Nice I live a few miles from there! Great venue!

Yes, first time I've been to SOPAC. Somehow I didn't know it existed until recently, which is odd since I'm only a half hour away myself.

 

I loved the venue! I want to see all of my favorite bands there!

 

And the Furs were awesome! I don't even want to think about how many years it's been since I last saw them. This may have been the most enjoyable Furs show I've ever seen....the crowd was totally into it and Richard Butler ate it up and fed off it. There was dancing in the aisles! (including by me)

Psychedlic Furs

Sweet, we could say hi at the show if you'd like. I wasn't sure if any other Wilcoers followed him!

Sure, that would be fun. PM me closer to the day and we'll sort it out.

Joseph Arthur on New Years Day in NYC

Hey, I'm going to that one too!

 

I also have Kermit Ruffins coming up in February.

Yes!

 

It's been practically the only thing I've listened to in my car for at least a month, probably more than a month. The more I hear it, the more I love it. I still don't feel like I know it inside out yet, though. (I don't spend huge amounts of time in the car every day.)

NRBQ via Yo La Tengo's cover of What Can I Say on their Fakebook album.

 

I went on to become a bigger fan of NRBQ than of Yo La Tengo!

 

There's also a song in there which reminds me of Pavement's noodling guitar lines.

That would be Down From Above, no? Every time that song plays I think I'm listening to Pavement.

 

I am really coming to love this album. I find myself listening to it more and more as time goes on, finding more and more subtle details that draw me in. That hasn't happened to me with the last few Wilco albums, so I'm very glad to see myself really falling for Jeff's music in a long-term kind of way again.

I gave Sukierae its first listen on a road trip yesterday. The two songs I found myself repeating right off the bat are Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood (wow, what a great sound to open the album with) and Summer Noon.

 

It's definitely a great "car" album!

i opted for Dumptruck instead. have fun!

Wow, Dumptruck?! I loved this band back in the day. I didn't know they were still around!

 

I would love to hear about this show.

I'm about halfway through my first listen via a stream on The Guardian site.

 

My first reaction is that many of the songs have very "different" sonic things going on, which is definitely engaging and makes for very interesting listening. This is a good thing.

Just home from a free Emmylou Harris/Rodney Crowell show. Great stuff. Emmylou never changes. This is a good thing.

I saw Jerry Seinfeld last night. I laughed so hard, my face hurt.

The show was very enjoyable. The last few songs were the best....among them, Ain't That Enough, The Concept, and Sparky's Dream were all played back to back to back....that was enough to nearly make my head explode.

 

I had only seen this band once before, many years ago when they opened for Radiohead, when Radiohead was still a fairly small band. At the time, I wasn't really familiar with their material. I'm glad I finally got to see them again after all these years!

Teenage Fanclub

Seeing that Queen Adam Lambert thing tonight.

A few weeks ago I saw a Queen tribute band called Almost Queen who were surprisingly good. In fact, there is a quote from Howard Stern on Almost Queen's website that says the Almost Queen show is better than the current Queen (+ Adam Lambert) that's touring now.

 

In the past week I've seen Matthew Sweet (great) and NRBQ (first time I've seen them since it's become Terry Adams and 3 Guys I Don't Know - not sure what to make of that show, actually).

Too funny!  I've lived in NJ my entire life, so I guess I have to respond to this one.  

 

 

To live in NJ you should

* Love Springsteen, Sinatra or Bon Jovi

 

Never a big fan of either Springsteen or Bon Jovi, but I do love a lot of Sinatra.  (Although never a "huge" fan.)

 

 

* Know the best hole in the wall pizza joints

 

Reservoir Tavern in Boonton

 

 

* Know what exit you live off of on the Parkway (135/137) or Turnpike (14 A)

 

I don't live anywhere near either of those highways, but if I had to choose, I'd say Exit 145 off the Parkway and 15W off the Turnpike.  And then add about a half hour of drive time.

 

 

* Go to the shore over the summer

 

Absolutely!  It's day trips for me now, always to Point Pleasant Beach, 2 or 3 times a year.  My family used to stay there for a couple of weeks each year when I was a kid.

 

 

* Know the *official area where North Jersey Turns to South Jersey

 

The Driscoll Bridge on the Parkway.  (Did I get that one right?  That's always been my personal marker.)

 

 

* Get Taylor Ham Sandwiches at Diners

 

Heck, not only did I eat them at diners, I used to make them at home!  I wouldn't touch that stuff these days.

 

 

* Know that no other state in the country knows what a diner is (Must be open 24/7 and have a 10 page plus menu) and  feature greek specialties and breakfast all day

 

Diners are great.  No matter what you want to eat, they have it.   

 

 

* Realize the diversity of the most densely packed state in the country. Being surrounded by the Ocean, NYC, Philidelphia, Farmlands creates nice diversity

 

Diversity is great.      Most of my time is spent in typical suburbia, but anything I want to do (city or country) is within easy reach.

 

 

*Realize that both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are in NJ

 

Of course!

 

 

*Know that both the Giants and the Jets play in NJ and the Super Bowl is in NJ this year!

 

But sadly, neither Giants nor Jets will be in the Super Bowl.  (Jets fan here, but I root for the Giants when they're the local team in the Super Bowl.)  I'm having a hard time getting enthused about the Super Bowl this year, with no local team in contention.  Also, I hear there's a high probability of a big snowstorm around Super Bowl time.  That should be interesting.    And I hate that new stadium.  

No.  I don't think I have a favorite band any more.  My favorite band is whichever one is knocking me out at the moment.  And that seems to fluctuate between at least 10 different bands/artists these days, and almost seems to depend on which one I last listened to with any purpose and intensity.  Wilco is definitely among my favorites, but I can't pick one.  The last time I could zoom in on one favorite was almost 10 years ago.

I really hate the whole deluxe edition thing. Unless its like 10 years later or something.

Or why not just have the deluxe edition option when the album is initially released?

 

I love Yo La Tengo, and I love this album.  I would have gone for a deluxe edition on the first go around.  But I'm not buying it again.

I was at Neil's showcase in NYC on Thursday promoting this album.  He had a 9 piece string section, a drummer, a keyboardist (the arranger), and Neil mostly played grand piano.  The show was phenomenal, and the new songs were unlike anything I've heard from Neil before.  Almost jazzy, very late night vibe.  Fabulous.

I was pretty disappointed in most of the Tame Impala record.  

Agreed.  I loved the last one, but can't seem to get any excitement going for this one.

I'm sorry to have to bring this discussion back to teacher salaries, but I thought I would put this up to make teachers who do not have the good fortune to work in New York envious of their Empire State colleagues:

 

Kingston, NY is the only New York town to crack the top twenty best places for teachers to work. Kingston beat them out with its affordable cost of living index of 108 and the second highest median salary in the Northeast of $78,040. The city was the first capital of the State of New York for twenty years before Albany. The school district covers 640 teachers over eleven elementary schools. - See more at: http://www.valuepenguin.com/2013/09/best-cities-teachers-northeast#sthash.IJdY0qbc.dpuf

Well, I guess if the only thing that puts a place to work in the top twenty is salary, then people might think this is okay.

 

Honestly, salary has become almost secondary in this job.  The harrassment from both students and administration outweighs any salary for me.

 DAMN forgot about Christie. I think he could be President. He scares the bejesus out of me.

Really?  You think he could be President?  I don't see it.  He just seems too "in your face" to me.

 

Mind you, Chris Christie was born and raised, and still lives, within 25 miles of where I have lived my entire life.

 

If anyone here is from NJ, it has been offered up to me by others who were born and raised here, that he is trying to be "Nicky Newark."  *laughs*  Those from northern NJ know exactly what I"m talking about.  Others, sorry, I honestly can't explain it, you'd have to have grown up in northern NJ.

Don't internalize a statement not made about you.

Okay, I admit that I saw red when I'd read that statement and responded rashly.

 

More reasoned response:

 

Your statement implies that more teachers are skating by than not.  I just don't see it.  Not in my school, anyway (a public school of about 1300 students), nor in the other high school in my town which is about the same size.  We all work like dogs.  Math, science, English, social studies, etc.  Maybe there are a few who skate by, they are a few.  I would have to think hard to actually name one.   

 

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that for a teacher to be all things to all students (which is what the current climate out there seems to encourage), a teacher can have no life outside of work.   Those who are not teachers cannot imagine how mentally and emotionally exhausting this job is, aside from all the paperwork.  That level is just unsustainable over the long term.