Category Archives: Arts and Culture

The Collected Brian LaRue New Yorker Caption Contest Submissions

For reasons I can no longer remember, but that probably had something to do with needing another vector through which I could scream my frustrations and disappointments in being forced to exist as a human being in the physical world, … Continue reading

Posted in Arts and Culture, The Internet, Wit | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Posted in Arts and Culture, Bad Advice Musicians Hear | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

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

Posted in Arts and Culture, Bad Advice Musicians Hear | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Cryptonet Theory: Where the “Advanced” People Hang Out, When They Can

One afternoon some years back, I was texting with my friend Andrew about our reliance on social media for informing our IRL social and cultural lives. Neither of us was thrilled about it. “There must be this set of people … Continue reading

Posted in Arts and Culture, The Internet | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted in Arts and Culture, Wit | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted in Arts and Culture, Wit | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted in Arts and Culture, Social Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 , , , , , , , | Leave a comment