After listening obsessively to LVL UP’s body of work the last six months or so, I finally was able to get to one of their shows. The NYC band (yet another outfit to emerge from the Purchase scene) played on a four act bill at Shea Saturday night. I slipped in a nap after the job and got to the venue in time to see the night’s opening band Doubting Thomas Cruise Control.

DTCC had just hit the stage as I arrived and they were great. And loud. Shea often strays from the ascending order of importance concept in putting a night’s music together and Doubting Thomas Cruise Control proved that notion. Frontman Bobby Cardos is a wonderful singer/songwriter. He leads a confident cast that at times can make sounds reminiscent of Richmond Fontaine and The Van Pelt.

The tune “$10 ATM” sounded great as did “N.D.A.” which included a thoroughbred racing reference. Sings Cardos: “I’m content placing bets on horses that could scratch.”

The audience deliberately arrived early to see DTCC and I can see why. I want to see them again for sure.

LVL UP played the night’s second to last slot and they were as solid as I expected based on their recorded output and several clips of live performances on You Tube. LVL UP’s first three songs went around the horn vocally: Dave Benton to Nick Corbo and then over to Mike Caridi who hunches way over when he plays big hooks. Greg Rutkin is a great drummer. He also drummed on Slight’s set just prior to LVL UP.

The rotating nature of vocal responsibilities in LVL UP makes it interesting especially because Benton, Corbo and Caridi all have distinct singing/songwriting styles.

Corbo and Caridi have backed Mitski when available. Corbo’s the regular drummer in Crying.

Admission was eight dollars. 12-ounce cans of cold Bud remain just three bucks. What’s not to like about Shea? The club’s boss Adam Reich was on hand to keep the night on pace. Eric Harm (Wicked Kind and Titus Andronicus) worked the small bar. A live recording of the Lame Drivers played in advance of the LVL UP set. The woman at the door is very nice. I think you have to put Shea in the top three best places to see a band right now.

-Charlie Rose choked badly on his 60 Minutes shot with Larry David. With rare one-on-one access to the comedian, Rose prefaced the piece that aired last Sunday by asking “Who is Larry David?” Rose unfortunately never even scratched the surface of that query. Rose clearly failed to prepare for his subject. It would have helped and probably inspired Rose had he listened to Howard Stern’s recent radio interview with David. Rose sounded dumb when he and David went for a visit to the apartment Larry grew up in. “It’s a million miles from Broadway to Brooklyn,” said Rose who expressed disappointment that a trip down memory lane didn’t elicit emotion from his subject.

-Kind of hard to believe the MTA stuck to its scheduled shutdown of the 7 train between Times Square and Jackson Heights last weekend given Sunday’s popular staging of the St. Pat’s for All parade in Sunnyside. The 7 is what most folks from outside the Queens neighborhood would take to reach the parade. Numerous prominent officials who support the parade called on the MTA to run 7 service for the benefit of the parade but the transportation agency said ridership data from years’ past did not warrant altering the train line’s maintenance schedule.

-If you saw any of Susan Rice’s AIPAC speech on Monday, you’d know the US won’t be party to a nukes deal that doesn‘t keep a tight harness on Iran‘s ambition to build The Bomb. There’s diplomacy at work here. The US under Obama can have Israel’s back AND push for a negotiated halt to Iran’s nukes simultaneously. That’s not completely crazy. And Netanyahu’s distrust is fine, too. But it’s the height of disrespect to John Boehner’s leadership position, the august House chamber and the US presidency for the Speaker to invite Bibi to his lectern without running it by Obama first. The president is justifiably outraged given both the egregious violation of balance of power protocol and the horrible timing of incendiary politically-motivated escalation of rhetoric during delicate peace talks. I blame Boehner way more than Netanyahu. The US looks like a fool to the world for the widely-transmitted images of a packed house chamber of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle giving standing ovations to a scare-mongering underminer. It’s horrible. Not because debate on the subject isn’t warranted. But both the timing and use of the venue threaten to torpedo what was already a longshot effort to gain a diplomatic solution.