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Category Archives: Arts and Culture
The Thing About the Mountain Analogy
I spent my late teens and half of my 20s as a serial monomaniac. I wanted to be a professional musician. I wanted to publish books of fiction and poetry. Basically, I wanted to be an “artist,” and I really … Continue reading
Posted in Arts and Culture, Thinking About Media
Tagged around the mountain, goals, monomania, work ethic, workflow
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Bad Advice Musicians Hear, Part 2: Start Your Own Music Scene
In the second installment of the Bad Advice Musicians Hear series, we’re going to get into one of the more daunting pieces of “advice” young musicians will hear as they’re coming up and trying to gain a foothold in their … Continue reading
Introducing: Bad Advice Musicians Hear (The Series)
I’ve been playing in rock bands since I was a teenager, and while the realities of being a gigging musician have taken loads of wild turns over that time, one truism has held throughout: When you’re a young musician, you … Continue reading
Video: Brian LaRue Performing on Live at Main Drag
Right around the Fourth of July, 2020, I appeared on an episode of Live at Main Drag, the webseries filmed at Main Drag Music in Williamsburg, playing three songs by Shelter Dogs solo, on a guitar that is not mine. … Continue reading
Posted in Arts and Culture
Tagged blondie, brian larue, brooklyn, diy, elvis costello, ernie banks, gays and lesbians living in a transgender society, glits, jamie frey, live at main drag, live music, main drag music, music webseries, nyc music, olivia russin, sean spada, Shelter Dogs, stuart solomon, the regrets
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Product Review: Żywiec Session IPA
I lived for about six and a half years on the outskirts of Greenpoint, Brooklyn (New York City’s Little Poland), and for the last two and a half years I’ve lived in Ridgewood, Queens (NYC’s other Little Poland). In that … Continue reading
In Appreciation of the Fourth of July, the Greatest of the Cookout Holidays
There are a lot of positive, cool things about the Covid vaccine becoming widely available here in NYC, and one of them is the timing. If you’re a reasonably social person, losing a social summer is a gigantic bum-out. Two … Continue reading
On the Three-Part Creative Cycle: A Suggestion
During the first few months of the Covid pandemic in 2020, there was a lot of chatter about how we all can “use this time.” The presumption was that “sheltering in place,” staying at or close to home, our social … Continue reading
I Was a Teenaged Ska Kid: A Mostly Unapologetic Confession
In 2017, my former colleague Brian Slattery (author, Spaceman Blues, Lost Everything, and more) invited me to contribute a “long personal essay” to the journal the New Haven Review, where he’s a long-time editor. Because it is essentially unthinkable for … Continue reading
Posted in Arts and Culture
Tagged diy, New Haven Review, punk, ska, ska-punk, Tune Inn, Webster Theater, youth culture
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ICYMI: The Band I’m In Is Called Shelter Dogs
I’m the primary singer, guitarist and songwriter in the garage rock/powerpop band Shelter Dogs, and that isn’t new. But in the time since this blog went on hiatus, Shelter Dogs came out of its own hiatus, and we’ve been up … Continue reading
Hey, It's Brian LaRue 