Brandi Carlile @ The Beacon Theater

This weekend I had the joy of seeing the amazing singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile and her band perform at the Beacon Theater. At a time when we're exposed daily to the depravity of human beings, it's such a joy to see someone who exemplifies the the beauty they can also create.

What made this show was great wasn't just that Brandi Carlile sang her heart, performing at the top of her game. It's that, throughout the show, she repeatedly thanked the audience for coming, about how much she loved NYC, and how much she loves her band. She talked about her family (she's got a wife and two kids), she talked about her band, and she expressed her gratitude to all of the people who make it possible for her to be a music superstar. It was one of the most touching concerts I've been to, well, ever. 

She even asked the audience to shout-out "Bababooye!" How cool is she?

"Live From Here" No More

The public radio show "Live From Here" has been cancelled.

For those of you who aren't public radio buffs, "Live From Here" was the successor to "A Prairie Home Companion", a similar variety show hosted by Garrison Keillor for nearly 40 years. Lots of music, lots of comedy, it was a fun and wacky hipster version of the Grand Old Opry. "Live" was hosted by the singer Chris Thile, and the show had recently re-located from St. Paul, MN (where "Prairie" and then "Live" originated from) to NYC.

The whole point of bringing the show here was so that it could attract lots of big name guests (it did!) but the financial impact COVID-19 was apparently too much for it to bare. It depended, in part, on ticket sales, and it's unlikely that live shows like this will return anytime soon. So now "Live From Here" is gone.

This is really, really sad. I loved the show. It ran on Saturday nights from 6-8 PM on WNYC, and was a staple of its Saturday night schedule. I'd listen to it either in the kitchen while making dinner or with my wife and kids in the car if we were going to or coming from someplace. It was a relief to turn it on and listen to some fun people having fun, being creative, singing and joking to their hearts content, giving us all a temporary reprieve from the horror-show of the world. "Live", like "Prairie" before it, was sort of an inverse to "Saturday Night Live" -- it was on radio early in the evening and had more music than comedy. It was a real treat.

A treat that has now been snatched away from us. It's another part of the cultural fabric of NYC that's unravelled and I hope that, maybe some day when this is all over, it can be resurrected. 

P.S. This is the show where I discovered Brandi Carlille!