Concert survey

Rebecca Jade

In the spirit of Ask Roger Anything, a concert survey. 

First concert: MAYBE Jonathan Edwards at SUNY New Paltz? Did I see Pete Seeger earlier? I THINK Billy Preston was slightly later, but I am unsure.

Last concert: The last pop concert would be the New Edition/Boyz II Men/Toni Braxton concert in the Boston Garden on February 15. But the last concert was on March 14, when my wife and I saw and heard  the Albany Symphony Orchestra play Francisco del Pino: Ritual; Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4; and Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 7.

Next concert: I haven’t bought tickets, but maybe Alison Krauss and Union Station, whom we saw in 2003.

Best concert: I’m convinced it was Talking Heads at SPAC, and seeing (finally!) the Stop Making Sense movie in 2025 codified that. But it could also be the Temptations at the Colonie Coliseum during the Reunion tour, both from back in the 1980s. 

Worst concert: Diana Krall in 2023.

Loudest concert: MxPx opened for No Doubt in Albany in 1997. The sheer constant audio assault was unnerving. 

MOSTEST

Seen the most:  This is a tricky question, because I’ve probably seen Pete Seeger more than two dozen times. Were they “concerts”? Mostly, no. His show at Page Hall in the UAlbany downtown campus in the early 1980s, and possibly his performance on the Clearwater. But most were at political rallies of some sort.

I MAY have seen Lucinda Williams thrice, two times in Albany and once at SPAC. Pete Droge, I MUST have seen at least thrice, once opening for Tom Petty and once (or twice) elsewhere in Albany. I definitely saw him in the Boston area the evening after I had taped my JEOPARDY appearance in September 1998.

But, I’m going to go with Rebecca Jade, whom I saw perform in San Diego in 2018, in Syracuse in 2023, and in Horseheads, near Elmira, NY, in August 2024. Additionally, I saw her perform on Dave Koz’s Christmas shows in 2021 and 2024.  Moreover, during COVID, she performed online more than a dozen times, both at home and with Peter Sprague. This doesn’t count her backup singing for Sheila E. in 2017 and 2019.

Most surprising: I saw Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, and Amos Lee in ALB in 2007. Lee and Costello sounded great; Dylan’s sound was muddy.

Wish I could’ve seen: The Rolling Stones and The Who, both were in town at different times.

Concert where the support act became huge:  I saw Seals and Crofts, November 12, 1971, in New York City, Boz Scaggs opening.

Act you would like to see still touring: n/a

February rambling: One of Us

Vote for Rebecca Jade in the San Diego Music Awards!

It Always Could Have Been One of Us— Crises are often invisible until they reach communities insulated from consequence
Fact Check of FOTUS’s SOTU
Prison-Style Free Speech Censorship Is Coming for the Rest of Us
Marine Detained in Minneapolis Says Feds Copied His Phone Without a Warrant
Twitter and ICE & DHS: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Measles Hits an ICE Facility: What Happens Next.— When infectious disease and incarceration collide, the outcome is predictable
The EPA Just Made Our Air Less Safe to Breathe— Repealing the Endangerment Finding will shape our clinical reality for years to come
In South Korea, ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of carrying out an insurrection in his country when he declared martial law in 2024 to try to seize control from the opposing political party.
Kremlin officials used the February 23 Defender of the Fatherland Day holiday to set conditions to mitigate any domestic backlash that may result from limited rolling reserve involuntary callups in the future.
Chinese New Year 2026 and the Fire Horse
Obits and more
Jesse Jackson Witnessed Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination. Here’s How He Carried the Torch for the Civil Rights Movement Into the Future. ‘I am somebody.’ The Common Ground speech.
Robert Duvall, a Chameleon of an Actor Onscreen and Onstage, Dies at 95. I saw him in To Kill A Mockingbird, The Godfather, The Conversation, an episode of The Twilight Zone, and a bunch of other projects.
Eric Dane Dead at 53, 10 Months After Announcing ALS Diagnosis. In the final year of his life, the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Euphoria’ actor was a leading advocate for ALS research.
What Happened Was… (in memoriam, Tom Noonan)
The Tariff Decision. Gorsuch takes aim at fellow Supreme Court justices in the tariff decision
The Clock May Be Ticking on ‘60 Minutes’ as We Know It
Honoring Lincoln: Character Matters
Stephen Colbert’s interview with one of the Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas, James Talarico. Talarico is a Matthew 25 Christian, which I espouse. 
The Soul in the Creases (photography)
Voice actor Brian Hull wandering around Disneyland, doing Disney voices for the characters he imitates.
Want to Reach Nirvana? Try a Colonoscopy.
“Civilization”
Under Destruction: Munich Security Report 2026
Heather Cox Richardson, February 15, 2026: “At the Munich Security Conference last year…Vice President J.D. Vance announced the U.S. was switching sides in global affairs. Henceforth, it would work to destroy the values of representative democracy and the global systems of trade and security that the U.S. and partners constructed after World War II.

 

“In their place, officials in the [regime]  and their media allies have embraced the Great Replacement theory that says Brown and Black migration to Europe and the U.S. is destroying ‘western civilization.’ Such migration must be stopped, they argue, and Brown and Black people purged from the U.S. and Europe. The end of equal rights for migrants will enable white Christian men to dominate society and pass laws that reinforce traditional religious and patriarchal hierarchies…”

“In his speech to the conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was less confrontational than Vance was last year, but the message was the same. He attacked all three of the pillars on which the U.S. has previously stood in foreign affairs. Global trade has ruined the U.S. economy, he said, while international institutions have undermined sovereignty, and ‘a climate cult’ has imposed energy policies that are ‘impoverishing our people.’

Newsweek: “On the surface, the applause for… Rubio’s weekend speech at the Munich Security Conference suggested he had assuaged European concerns. In reality, the speech underlined the immense division between Europe and America. It may have deepened it.”

MUSIC

VOTE for this year’s San Diego Music Awards! Rebecca Jade (the first niece) is up for Best R&B, Funk, or Soul Song –  Not Me No Way, and for Artist of the Year. You may vote once per day.

Montgomery Variations by Margaret Bonds
I Love To Tell The Story – Emmylou Harris, Robert Duvall, from my favorite Duvall movie, The Apostle (1997)
Sarah McLachlan: Tiny Desk Concert – February 12, 2026
Here Comes The Sun – Richie Havens
New York, New York – Tim Waurick four-party harmony
Walking On Sunshine  – Katrina & The Waves
She’s Leaving Home – Peter Sprague
I’m Just A Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)  – The Moody Blues
Coverville 1569: The Ed Sheeran Cover Story and 1570: Cover Stories for Otis Blackwell and MGMT
Hey Jude – Wilson Pickett

Genre Delve #12: Funk vs. Soul

And I Love Him – Esther Phillips

Michelle – Luther Vandross

K-Chuck Radio: The Romantic Pop of Nino Tempo and April Stevens

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown – The Ed Sullivan Show for November 17, 1968

Kate Smith, Irving Berlin, and God Bless America

January rambling: American Hegemony

Rebecca Jade sings the Beatles

Mark Carney Warns “American Hegemony” Is Destroying World Order in Candid Speech

World to exceed 1.5°C heating threshold by 2030

FBI puts the final nail in the coffin of free speech

Philadelphia is suing the regime over the decision to remove an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park depicting the factual history of slavery in the United States.

FOTUS’s  second term delivers massive gains for billionaires as working Americans face cuts and rising costs

Study Reveals Who Is Paying 96% of Regime Tariffs

New CDC guidance could revive childhood meningococcal disease, a rare but deadly disease

Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ)

The RootsTech 2026 schedule is live. The world’s largest family discovery event will be taking place March 5-7. Register to hear inspiring speakers, watch exciting keynotes, and get expert help discovering your family story.

The Dangerous Power of Predictive Markets

Also

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Releases 2026 Child Vax Schedule, No Longer Endorses CDC’s Version

Dealing with a sudden death or loss

Bruce Bilson Obituary: Director on The Patty Duke Show, Get Smart, Hogan’s HeroesPlease Don’t Eat the DaisiesThe Doris Day ShowThe Odd CoupleLove, American StyleB.J. and the BearBarney MillerThe Fall GuyHotelDinosaursThe Sentinel and Viper, among others

Forty years ago, they slipped the surly bond of earth

Baseball HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2026: Center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, and second baseman Jeff Kent.

The Trial of the Century: On the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes.

New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident

Element Ball: Letter Gothic

Now I Know: Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste So Awful? and Why Isn’t This Tennis Ball Bouncing? and The Meal That Makes You See Tiny People? and The Panhandle That Failed and Not The Frisco Kids and The $3 Grocery Bag That Became a Global Status Symbol and Every Rose Has Its … Jalen?

ICE

Video Contradicts DHS Claims About Killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Heather Cox Richardson: “Video from the scene shows Pretti directing traffic on a street out of an area with agents around, then trying to help another person get up after she had been pushed to the ground by the agents. The agents then surround Pretti and shoot pepper spray into his face, then pull him to the ground from behind and hit him as he appears to be trying to keep his head off the ground. An agent appears to take a gun out of Pretti’s waistband during the struggle, then turns and leaves with it. A shot then stops Pretti’s movements, appearing to kill him, before nine more shots ring out, apparently as agents continued to fire into his body.It looked like an execution.” 

As William J. Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove noted: “Alex Pretti was killed by people who celebrated his death. They do not need better training. They demand a moral movement to disarm them and reconstruct democracy.”

Legal scholars and political scientists say the regime’s escalating ICE operation, National Guard brinkmanship, and Insurrection Act threats in Minnesota closely resemble conditions identified in civil war simulations, raising alarms about constitutional collapse and violent state-federal conflict. “We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants.”

A photo taken during a protest in south Minneapolis after federal agents killed Alex Pretti encapsulates a story unfolding on America’s streets.

Nurse Alex Pretti’s Death and the Symbolism of the Human Body

Fact Checks

“…when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” — Audre Lorde

Legal Eagle: Unbelievable ICE Memo Just Leaked

Six steps for researching the corporate enablers of ICE

To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers

Why FOTUS Is Finally Waving A White Flag In Minnesota

Pete Buttigieg believes The Ground Is Shifting

Three songs:

Streets of Minneapolis – Bruce Springsteen

ICE, F**K You – A Protest Song for Minneapolis – Scared Ketchup

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent
— often attributed to Thomas Jefferson

MUSIC

Got To Get You Into My Life and Roll Over Beethoven -Peter Sprague, featuring Rebecca Jade from the All You Need is Love album, which you can buy individual tracks or the album here

For No One – MonaLisa Twins

Coverville 1564: The New Order Cover Story IV and 1565: The Flaming Lips Cover Story and 1566: The Bob Weir Tribute

From the CBS Sunday Morning archives: The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir

K-Chuck Radio: A moment of Midnight Oil memory (Rob Hirst)

J. Eric Smith on Bob Weir and Rob Hirst

She’s Not Blind – Roberta Flack

It Ain’t Necessarily So – Ella Fitzgerald · Louis Armstrong

Piece of Denmark – Marsh Family parody of “Piece of My Heart” by Erma Franklin re Greenland/FOTUS

John Fogerty: Tiny Desk Concert 16 Jan 2026

Poseidon and Amphirite: An Ocean Fantasy by John Knowles Paine

I Zimbra – Talking Heads
Third movement from Bach’s Partita No. 3 for solo violin
More music
These Are The Days – the cast of All In The Family (1975)
Stand By Me – The Buzztones
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover– Postmodern Jukebox

Da Doo Ron Ron – the Crystals

Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel

The Man I’m Supposed To Be – Bill Callahan

Popular – Lemon Squeezy with a song from Wicked

Mercedes Benz – Mari Gazen  (Janis Joplin cover)

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da –  The Police

I Just Might – Bruno Mars

That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne and Friends (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder)

J. Eric Smith’s Genre Delve #9: Hip-Hop/Rap and #10: Reggae

Dec. rambling: empathy

Peter Spraugue and Rebecca Jade

Empathy is the new Christian battleground (I’m pro-empathy)

The casino-fication of news: New partnerships between the prediction market Kalshi and cable TV networks will transform every news event into a betting opportunity.

Why Pregnant Black Women Are Routinely Ignored in American Hospitals

Polypharmacy Is a Real Issue. Dismantling Public Health Won’t Fix It. — A healthy society needs more than just “quick fixes.”

As California Limits Water Use, People in Prison Face Punishment for Showering

Australia just enacted the world’s first social media ban for children under 16 years old.

African leaders convene to recognize and seek reparations for colonial-era crimes

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. ADOPTED 10 December 1984 BY  UN General Assembly resolution 39/46

Black History Has the Power to Ignite Movements. That’s Why the Right Fears It.

Remembering the heroes and the villains of World AIDS Day

A teenager redrew the Alabama voting map – and it’s now state law

Legendary Architect Frank Gehry Has Passed Away—These Are His 10 Most Iconic Designs

This Stunning Image Shows a Skydiver Falling Across the Face of the Sun. “The Fall of Icarus” –  Andrew McCarthy, Cosmic Background

The Unlikely Story of an E-mail Time Machine

Drop-Off Day for A Shooting Star

At least 31 languages have a word very similar to ‘huh?’

Archaeologists Find Evidence of a Bronze City in Kazakhstan

Now I Know: The Cost of Being a Simpsons Superfan and A Free Race Ticket, With Ups and Downs, and The Book That Got Americans Hanged  and The Worst of the Best is Still Pretty Amazing, and Let’s Have a Book Burning? and The Country of Cookie Dough

“Underinclusive”

A MAGA National Security Strategy; the document, which you should try to read if you can stomach it

Boat strikes: War crime or “fake news” hoax?

How he flipped America’s race conversation

Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation For Children Changed By CDC As Academy Of Pediatrics Opposes Decision

U.S. Wants to Scrutinize Foreign Tourists’ Social Media History. Even visitors from countries like Britain and France, whose citizens don’t need visas, would have to share five years’ worth of social media.
Get ready to consume more forever chemicals.
Daily Show: Immigration Double Standard and Jordan Klepper’s Give the Man a Prize 

Is sleepy Donald the new ‘Sleepy Joe’?

New poll paints a grim picture of a nation under financial strain

MUSIC

Nowhere Man – Peter Sprague,  featuring Rebecca Jade

Song For Bob Dylan – David Bowie

Girl From the North Country – Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
Beautiful Strangers – Mavis Staples 

The Gadabout, Part II – Bryce Dessner from the Train Dreams soundtrack from the Netflix film

It’s Beginning To Look Like F This and RFK! -Randy Rainbow Song Parodies

Alex Chilton  – The Replacements 

La Mer by Claude Debussy

David Byrne: Tiny Desk Concert, 1 Dec 2025

Bees by Jerskin Fendrix from the motion picture Bugonia

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way – Waylon Jennings

The Fountains of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.

Peg – Steely Dan

New Directive – Nine Inch Nails from the movie TRON: Ares

Coverville 1559: The 22nd Annual Beatles Thanksgiving Cover Story and 1560: The Alex Chilton Cover Story

From the soundtrack to One Battle After Another by Jonny Greenwood

Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile) – Van Morrison

By the River, the second movement of the ‘Florida Suite’ by Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums and Best Music Videos of 2025

One of my favorite companies,  Joel Whitburn’s Record Research, has a future.

Seattle-based musician and chocolatier Aaron Lindstrom wanted to create a space that combined his two passions: chocolate and music. Cocoa Legato is a unique bean-to-bar chocolate factory and café that hosts live music performances and focuses on producing naturally vegan dark chocolate.  12/01/2025

Sunday Stealing is F.A.B. yet again

More Brilliant Than The Sun

Law and Order TorntoWelcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Since it’s Thanksgiving weekend, we’re going to keep this simple. We stole this from a blogger named Idzie, who called this the F.A.B. (film, audio, book) meme.

F.A.B. yet again

F. Film: What movie or TV show are you watching? 

I stumbled onto Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Since 1990, I have watched a representative sampling of most L&O programs, enough to anticipate their beats. But the rhythm of this show, while familiar, is fresh enough with its Canadianisms to enjoy.

Wikipedia: “The series premiered on February 22, 2024, on Citytv, and became the #1 prime-time drama of the year in Canada by attracting 1.1 million views on the first episode. The first season ran for 10 episodes; in June 2024, it was renewed for a second and third season.”

It stars Aden Young as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff, Kathleen Munroe as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman, K. C. Collins as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester, and Karen Robinson as Inspector Vivienne Holness. In the first few episodes, the latter two had far too little to do; that’s been rectified a bit.

In the US, the CW has been broadcasting the first season – I just finished episode 9. Season 2, already completed in Canada, will air in the US in 2026.

Music

A. Audio: What are you listening to?

I have finally allowed myself to listen to Advent/Christmas music. Also, I’ve been playing the CDs of Rebecca Jade, who, as it turns out, is the daughter of my sister Leslie; in other words, the first niece. Check out her videos;  I’m particularly fond of Peter Sprague’s and her take on Wichita Lineman.

B. Book: What are you reading?

My daughter borrowed a book from a Western Massachusetts college library and insisted I read it before she has to return it in late January. It is titled More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction by Kodwo Eshun. Buying the book, which was published in 1998, would cost north of $400.

I can tell you that the Discontents, which you would call the table of contents, namechecks Miles Davis, Grandmaster Flash, Cypress Hill, Funkadelic, Kraftwerk, the Jungle Brothers, Sun Ra, Alice and John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders. The index mentions others, such as John Cage, Chic, Queen, Public Enemy, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Sly and the Family Stone.

Being an obedient parent,  I shall have read it by the deadline.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

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