The Modern Log

I needed to clear my palate after that Kiely debacle. Never ever never ever never get tired of this. PS That’s my (soon-to-be) tattoo! 

Last night, we went to the diner across the street for the first time. It’s called Trellis. I had a Reuben. It was great. The pickle on the side was particularly spectacular. The fountain coke was in the top 10 fountain cokes I’ve had. (I’m really into fountain cokes). Everyone else there knew each other, [...]

Guess what? I primarily think about Joel Plaskett songs! (When I’m not thinking about work and moving and doing my laundry, that is.)
Anyway, one Joel Plaskett song, called “On & On & On,” has a bit about a cat. I have a cat, so this is particularly interesting to me. Joel’s cat, White Fang, is [...]

Warning: If you offer all-you-can-drink as a $5 brunch add on, we are going to get way more than our $5 worth. El Fano y Maracas, thank you for a lovely afternoon!

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Joel Plaskett Emergency / “Face of the Earth”

I missed the Joel Plaskett Emergency’s Ashtray Rock when it was out – something about “Fashionable People” just terrified me – but after hearing him perform this in Brooklyn these last couple of times, “Face of the Earth” is now one of my all-time favorites by anyone.
“I [...]

I am pleased to report that last night’s Joel Plaskett show was gorgeous, revelatory and wasn’t packed full of rude, drunk Canadians.
More later.

To commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, I present one of Joel Plaskett’s songs that reference the Berlin Wall (yes, there’s more than one.)
This here is called “Through & Through & Through.” It’s on his triple-album Three (get it? get it!) and it’s terrific.
If you come to Union Hall in Brooklyn on Friday, you’ll [...]

Last night, Fran Healy and Andy Dunlop of Travis did a show at Joe’s Pub, The Chronological Acoustical Journey Through the Travis Back Catalogue.
It was spectacular. 
This here is “Driftwood,” which isn’t my all-time favorite Travis song (there are about six or seven different tracks that could fit that bill on any given day), but the [...]

Joel Plaskett is playing next Friday, November 13, at Union Hall in Brooklyn. You should go. I will. I’m even skipping a sweet VIP theater event with free booze, THAT’s how important it is.

Good things come if you take the bait!

As a Rangers fan, my reasons to love Sean Avery are many and varied. And who could get into them all right now? His latest attempt to make our lives better is a website, which features glories like in-flight photos of the boys eating junk food in shorts.
You’re a good man, Sean Avery. And if [...]

Veronica was using that Facebook interview application, and it asked what flower I’d be.  She picked a daisy. “Yay!” I thought, “James!” But she was thinking Marc Jacobs. Either way, a win.
Here’s James, the last time I saw them, at the Stone Pony. It was September 2008, and the set was amazing. The song I’m [...]

This is my first Wordpress iPhone post. I hope it works!

Quest for Fire played in New York this weekend. Two shows, the Bell House (very good) and the Mercury Lounge (bleeping transcendent.)
During the Merc show I tweeted this:
Slackjawed and tingly watching this band kill it. Imagine this is what stripclubs are like for those so inclined.11:39 PM Jun 6th from Twitterrific
Which basically says it [...]

Mike Viola has cured me of my longstanding music misogyny. My last two favorite albums have been by female artists – first Kelly Jones’s SheBang!, now Mandy Moore’s Amanda Leigh – at least partially because of Mr.Viola’s writing and production (and excellent taste in picking interesting and talented women to work with).
I’ve been behind Mandy [...]

FINALLY!!!

Now imagine you’re four years old and hear this every day. Of course you are going to sing it. And of course your mom is going to ask you to please stop singing it in public.

This is the lovely Dollie’s true life response to my innocent, offhand comment about PETA asking Pet Shop Boys to change their name:
What? It’s Pet SHOP, not Pet Slaughter. Why don’t they make Slaughter change their name too?

Although, Slaughter could be referring to human slaugher. I guess PETA doesn’t have a problem with that. But [...]

Here’s how it went:
There was a show tonight, a Mike Viola show. It was at the Living Room. These are always very good. It’s been 12 years this month that we first saw Mike, so it was even more exciting.
Tonight, there were many new songs. Those are often very good. One new song was introduced [...]

This has happened twice. There’s a song. It’s a cover. You expect to be unimpressed, but the vocal is perfection. You can’t even believe how pure and strong and exactly right it is. And then, the song ends, and there’s applause. It was live?! It was live.
The first time, it was Maxwell’s “This Woman’s Work.” [...]

Why do I continue to find this terrible character so funny? It’s all Ludacris. He’s almost as perfect as Phil Hartman in “Chopping Broccoli.”

Tonight I went to a work thing where they handed out free wine. I suggest that work do this every night. It made me very agreeable and enjoyant. There was a show at work and I watched it and then I went to the bar in work (not too many people have a bar in [...]