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January 13, 2010

Prince Tributon - Market Market, Rosendale NY




So indulge me, if you will, as I do what I do every Friday evening through Monday afternoon (and any random occasion that it seems appropriate in between); sing the praises of Market Market. If you live in the Hudson Valley you probably already know about it in some capacity, either as that delightful little cafe off 32, or as that building that was, at some point in time, the Springtown Green Grocer. For those of you outside of the Hudson Valley, where ever you might be, this information is good to know in case you ever come North from New York City and begin to have a panic attack. MKTx2 can help. So let me just take a moment to say that the humble little building on the corner of Madeline Lane and Route 32 is, in fact, not the Springtown Green Grocer, nor has it been for nearly 3 years. It is, in reality, the premier purveyor of excellent foods in the greater New Paltz/Rosendale/High Falls area. Not only is the day to day menu solid and inviting, but the weekly specials are off the charts. From massive portions of organic, free-range chicken to delicious scallops with polenta, the food at Market Market is simply unrivaled. So when you're hungry on Friday night, think outside Main Street and enjoy an awesome dinner at Market Market.

Not only does MKTx2 have killer food, but it's just straight up a cool place. Case in point, the Tributon. Now, pretty much every weekend Market Market has live entertainment of some breed, be it local or touring musicians, or monthly events like Jazz night (first Tursday of every month) or Karaoke (3rd Friday of every month), but a couple months back it hosted what turned out to be it's biggest event, Tributon - a night of covers performed by local musicians, dedicated to the collective works of one artist. The first round was Madonna, and half of Rosendale turned out to see it. Last Saturday was round two, a night dedicated to the music of Prince. Now I can say I'm no large fan of either of these spotlighted musicians, but I'm a huge fan of everything that happened both nights.

From the haunting opening by Kelleigh Mckenzie with her banjo and amplified stomps; the dirty lyrics of Prince in contrast with her sweet face straight through to the techno-beat dance party that it ended with, care of Michael Truckpile. Throughout it was a steady mixture of funny and sincere, with acts like Julie Novak and her lounge rendition of Raspberry Beret and Altar Egos who sum up "So a nun and a rabbi walk into this bar..." and deliver a sermon via Prince's '7', or tender moments like Chris Kelly performing 'Under the Cherry Moon' (during which I was horrified to find that the crowd was a steady hum of chatter), and Market Market's own Lara Hope, who, as per usual, learned her song 20 minutes before the performance, though I challenge you to find even a single flaw.

Anyways, I caught almost the entire set with my camera, save a few where the audio was shot or at the end when a girl named Anna snuck on stage to sing 'Nothing Compares 2 U'. Since it was so dark that night I had to use nightshot, which is why everything is grainy and black and white, though it does have a pleasing artsy-fartsy sort of thing to it. If you weren't there, that's a shame, but there's good news! The third Tributon is coming on February 27th, featuring the music of David Bowie. If you want to sign up to perform, contact Jen, if you want to attend, just bring yourself and come early to enjoy some dinner.
December 31, 2009

Winter Retrospective: A Brief Summer-y



I do a lot of filming; pretty much everywhere I go I have my camera at hand. Sometimes you just don't have enough substance to make a movie, though. So what happens then? Typically if I don't have enough to work with when I get home, I just delete it. Sometimes I keep it around, and it floats around forever (like this beautiful footage of a running fire hydrant I took in Greenwich Village last winter). However, some moments are too precious to condemn to the recycling bin, and over the summer I collected quite a few of them.

Recently someone posted a short movie from Jon Anzalone's Bastille Day party, and it got me thinking about last summer and all the random moments I had recorded but done nothing with. For instance, the might and symbolic Bastille that Whitney and Miranda spent all day crafting, only to be squashed by the French Revolution (played here by Jon). That day I dug a pit, which was easily large enough to bury someone in, and spent a large portion of my day scooping handfuls of gritty Brooklyn sand and shards of glass from my spacious hole.

And though I was in a new place, it was hard feeling free. The confines of the MTA were behind me, and wide open roads were all around, but all I had to travel on was a bike. This suited me fine in Brooklyn, considering I could ride it anywhere I needed it. Here it's 15 miles between here and the next thing, 30 miles to anything interesting. The bike will take you pretty far, but as a means of transportation, it doesn't work effectively. On Rt-299, which I rode to the end of and back, I found a castle set back in the woods, which, apparently was a private residence. There were signs all over saying it was private property, but such signs are not applicable when you live in a fucking castle.

In another attempt to get out in the world, I spent the day with my dear friends Kathleen Vecchia and Erin Boylan, who is the heir to the Boylan's soda fortune. We went to Kingston to rendezvous with a friend of theirs from Purchase, but had a lot of time to kill in the meantime so we checked out the waterfront in East Kingston. From the inside of a ramshackle building to the deserted shores of what used to be a brick factory, we wandered about and took in the sights. I guess we weren't supposed to be there, I hear it's a bad neighborhood, but whatever. We survived.

Closer to home I was able to find adventure, too, be it on the trails surrounding New Palts or out at Ian Cronin's mother's swank cabin in Esopus. What was supposed to be a weekly ritual stands alone as one of my most cherished moments when my ex co-workers from The Grey Dog's Coffee got together in the Hudson Valley to make dinner and play music (both of which I didn't help much with, but certainly enjoyed to products of). Abe Hawkins and The Don were also there, which was lovely because I adore them both.

Now if only it wasn't negative 1,000,000 out I could have some fun...

Music by The Donkeys
December 7, 2009

Oh, my nutsack: An Evening with Scrottum



Live from the 1st Annual Bearded Gentleman's Soirée, Ithaca, NY based duo performs a showcase of their crude-humor driven music.

Playlist:
Act one
1. resilience

2. girls take dumps and fart
3. teabag you
4. kids suck at singing
5. showing it to tim 

Act two

1. oh my nutsack
2. you've got a friend
3. local cheeseburger
4. anti-arachnid
5. port royal on the rocks
6. our trip to pizza hut 

Act three
1. meat licked

2. car farts
3. dog's talon
4. nutsack in the desert
5. gospel
6. one man's trash
7. down south necrophiliac 

Finale

1. paraphernalia
2. anderson
3. ugly baby
4. handshake #6
5. red devil
6. water
7. selfish bitch 

November 25, 2009

What a Concept: Top 10 Concept Albums

With the advent of recorded music came a phenomenal revolution, and the birth of an entire industry. What, before, was an art more akin to a verbal history of passed down stories or dusty tomes of hymns and prayers became a form of self expression and mystery. The world leapt at the opportunity to catalog the songs floating around and distribute them to people who didn't have access to great musicians. Once established, the music industry introduced the masses to the idea of the single. This was marketing more than art, but there was, above all, an art to the marketing. Bands were acquired as a resource and used until depleted.

But there was an oddball factor to the equation - the album. As opposed to the single, which featured a popular radio tune on one side of a 45 backed with another less popular B-side tune that often amounted to little more than filler. An album expanded this relationship, collecting a series of singles comingled with various fluff pieces and b-sides. For the most part, early albums were chaotic discs produced without concern for flow or staying power; they were simply a means of collecting songs produced solely for radio play in one easy place for consumers to purchase. This was a tumultuous period of the musical industry driven by a lust for money and the readiness of musicians to exploit themselves for the love of their craft, or, for their own monetary gain.

While some bands, by the nature of their subject matters, were able to produce albums that seemed somehow cohesive, it wasn't until people began making music with the album in mind that the industry stepped back from the cacophony of the single - just a step, mind you, as popular music today is still contingent upon the money brought in from singles, still, a step is a step. Once artists began to think of the album as a blank canvas as opposed to a collage was it a viable means of musical expression. Expanding the world view beyond 7 inches unlocked the deepest creativity in artists who were still searching for their place in the world and well established artists alike. Of course, once the album was looked at in this respect it only seemed natural that song writers would see this as an opportunity to create story book albums that carried out an objective of theme throughout the duration of the LP.

Thus the concept album was born, and thus the concept album flourished. By writing, not just a song but an album, artists were able to create unified music that had a beginning, middle, and an end, much like the motifs of classical pieces. Through song craft contemporary artists in the 60's were able to share narratives or discuss ideals through a complete work of art, as opposed to making brief commentaries through singles. Those who blazed the trails of concept work did so in such a remarkable ways that those albums stand as testament to the entire catalog of the artist's work. These albums are timeless, peerless, and consistently inspirational to today's most impressive artists.

I have compiled a list of my 10 favorite concept albums here. In the age of the iPod it's imperative to remember the power of the album, these following LP's should act as the gold standard for all aspiring songwriters.

Continue here...!

November 7, 2009

1 YR NDSA: PXL ED.

Over the last few weeks I've been avoiding the reoccurring messages in my inbox saying "AUTO RENEWAL FAILED" (namely because I have not had steady internet for the last few weeks), which detailed the fact that my hosting was about to expire and the card information they had on file was no longer current. At first I thought it was a convenient situation, since my mind wasn't made up to whether or not I was even going to continue to run this webpage. I have had moderate success sharing videos of live concerts and even just recently had the chance to debut my animated music video for Casper & the Cookies, but still I feel like the things that I was most proud of were the things no one really cared about; my epic New Years trip to Athens, GA, the marathon trek to Chicago and back in three days or less, or the monumental day we concquered the Mohonk.

But instead of this I decided to bite the bullet and carry on. I like going on adventures, and sharing them with complete strangers makes me feel like I'm wandering with some sort of purpose. So I washed another 100-some-odd-dollars down the toilet and renewed. So I guess the world is stuck with another year of this nonsense.

However, the good news, after over a year my PXL-2000 camera is finally functional. When I started this webpage it was with all intents to solely post PXL videos. Of course I'm glad that I've found other niches, but I'm also elated that I finally got this ancient piece of equipment up to speed with the modern world. I bought the camera back in Brooklyn and installed RCA jacks for audio and video out, so it could be recorded directly to digital format on a slave camera (aiptek). I soldered and altered and was pretty proud of myself, but still I couldn't get it to work. In the end it ended up just sitting around, a constant $80 reminder of my overzealous spending.

Just recently while I was at Market Market in Rosendale I mentioned the camera to a friend of mine who is savvy with the technical stuff, Brian Macaluso who runs a computer repair shop in New Paltz, and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about it. So the next day I brought it by the shop and he took a look at it, instantly identifying that what was lacking was a ground wire. Just in case any of you amateurs out there are thinking of doing any circutry, just be aware that ground wires are important and cannot be neglected. In a second flat Brian soldered on a new ground and we were in business. The next day I rerouted it to run off one 9-volt instead of 6 AA batteries and took it outside.

The footage is incredible; it's simultaneously beautiful and spooky. It's the kind of camera that you'd have with you if you ever saw a real life Bigfoot. Just defined enough to suggest that something is happening, but vague enough that you have to fill in the blanks. It flickers like old super 8 film, but circumvents the need for pricey developing and provides you with immediate review of your work. I just walked around for a while filming some stuff; old barns, Miranda, my cat Chip, a stream in the woods. This is basically just a test run, but it's worth checking out for sure. I still have a few glitches that need to be addressed with the camera, but once it's up and running expect more of this to come.



Music by Black Mold.


October 28, 2009

Casper & the Cookies - Little King



So, pretty much one million years ago I was talking to my pal Jason Nesmith on the phone. Now this was back when he was finishing up production on Casper & the Cookies' new album Modern Silence. For a while I had been thinking about doing some sort of animated video for them, and as the timing had worked out, I had just lost my job. I figured that drawing the same thing over and over hundreds of times per day seemed like an acceptable way to pass the time and offered to make a music video for the launch of the new album. He was elated and I was elated and everyone seemed to be onboard with the idea. Of course the only animating experience I had prior was several seconds of a pirate sword fight scribbled on tracing paper I did for fun back in High School. 

That was way back in February, and the goal was a finished product for the mid-May record release. That seemed like a reasonable deadline, so I began drawing with a panoramic of  downtown Athens, GA. Before I knew it, two episode of Lost had elapsed and I hadn't even colored the damn scene. Of course that trial was followed by the concept of 'moving pictures'. I found that when it came to making things move, I had no idea what I was doing. The next few days were dedicated to walk cycles, which seemed to challenge me in every aspect, from the arms to the legs. It just never added up. I was practicing with a lanky drawing of Frank Zappa, and when the gait was proper, the arms were out of sync, and somehow there were always extra frames in there. What the hell?

The months went by, and, still jobless, I kept trucking on the music video. I remember a moment of reflection when I finally broke the 1 minute milemark. I was thinking back to the beginning and it occurred to me that this project was entirely too big for me; I simply wasn't experienced enough and honestly I'm not much of an artist. I'd spend entire days trying to make these cartoon Cookies move around the way I thought they ought to, and often enough ended up scrapping the entire days work only to start anew the next day. It was tough work, no joke, and that deadline was fast approaching.

Of course the release of Modern Silence wasn't the only thing happening mid May, I was also moving out of Brooklyn around the same time. Of course I didn't have that pesky employment to worry about, but I was then splitting my time between the moving process and the animating process. The weekend before I moved the Cookies actually came through town to play a few shows. I felt entirely guilty for not sending them home with a finished product, but I was resolved to get it to them soon.

Upstate was inspiring in a lot of ways, and stifling in many more. I worked hard on the project and the stuff I was doing looked a lot cooler than the stuff I had been doing. I started getting input from friends and started feeling a certain sense of pride. Once I finally got to the home stretch it all fell into place so quickly. The last hurdle I had to jump was the run cycles for, in my opinion, the most pivotal scene - the hallway chase. Once I finished the last frame of the last run cycle I resolved to never animate another (and I'm fairly certain this is something I can stick with). With the video finally completed, this is early October mind you, I excitedly let Jason know I was done and only had to convert the files to the proper format and send them along.

Except nothing every goes that easily; my aging laptop couldn't deal with the stress of converting a massive avi file into a more manageable format and size, and none of the many, many high end programs I tried could provide me with closure. I was downloading everything that had any glimmer of hope and was let down every time. When I was about to unload the raw files on my friends and say "you deal with this", I tried one last solution - that crummy Windows Movie Maker program that comes pre-installed with Vista. It's bare-bones interface was easy on my resources and was able to, finally, put all the pieces of the puzzle together in a neat little package with very little quality lost in the translation. And with that, it was over.

I can't stress enough how important it is to me to share this wonderful band with the world, I would do just about anything to bring them the success they deserve and have worked so hard for. Of course I believe in them 100%, which is why I set to do something so daft in the first place. In honor of the music video release, The Cookies are having a massive sale on their gorgeous double 180 gram vinyl release of Modern Silence. For only $15 you can pick up this extremely limited record featuring an epic 18 tracks from Jason Nesmith, Kay Stanton, and Jim Hix, as well as a slew of Athens musicians on the closing track. For your own sake, I urge everyone to pick up one of these, or maybe even a couple.
October 17, 2009

Celebration for the Rebirth of the Derelict Bridge



I have been pretty fascinated by the Poughkeepsie Bridge for a while now. It's that spooky looking rail bridge that runs adjacent to the Mid Hudson Bridge, if you've been to Poughkeepsie, you know the one. So interesting is the history and so peculiar it's construction, I even have it playing a pivotal role in the story I've been working on for ages now. Something great has happened to the bridge, though - it's been transformed from an intimidating skeleton to a unique park that spans the distance of one of our nations greatest rivers, The Hudson.

I was there for the grand opening, and much to my surprise, as soon as I showed up a parade was beginning. Featuring a king's ransom of strange characters, from a unicycle brigade to a troupe of colorful aliens, the parade made its way across the 1.25 mile bridge. At the forefront was a wonderful discovery as well, an Eastern European gypsy folk band from Brooklyn, The Raya Brass Band. More on them later.
October 1, 2009

All Tomorrow's Parties NY 2009: The Flaming Lips

When I was a young man I listened to a lot of garbage - the louder, the angstier, the better in my book. I latched on to any silly rock band that presented ironic, tortured music and thought to myself how great it was that there was at least one person out there that understood the way I felt. Well, then I grew the fuck up. I can't pinpoint exactly what changed, or what sparked my interest in musical talent and my subsequent aversion to self-pity, but I attribute most of it to the year 1998.

Sometime there in the late 90's music got good for me, and as I proceeded to mature throughout high school it was these and other similar artists who became the backing bands to my daily routine. One of the most influential albums in my possession was Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips. It was so whimsical and creative... It was flat out weird, in a completely unapologetic way. Even to this day the album continues to evolve and songs that once just sounded nice seem to be whispering new truths. With what was left of my childish naivety, I decided that Wayne Coyne would have to adopt me. I was raised without a father, and he doesn't have any kids - it just seemed to make sense. I wrote up a few drafts of carefully worded letters begging him to take me under his wing, but was unable to find the mailing address, so I put the dream on hold.

Despite my fanatic devotion to the Lips, I never had the opportunity to see them live. The year I left to go to college they decided to play the New York State Fair for free, and even though I wasn't able to go, that was as close as I got. That is, until they decided to take on the task of curating the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Monticello, NY. I scraped together some money and bought a ticket, and thought that perhaps I could meet with him after the show and join the family. As soon as the crowd started to clear, I waited until the security was distracted and snuck back stage. In a cold folding chair I waited patiently for Wayne to come by, which he surely would have to at some point. Finally I saw him coming down the hall, but as he approached I felt myself freeze, and when I walked on by I couldn't even muster the courage to say hi. I've met many of my musical heroes, but never have I felt so intimidated by someone before. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.




Playlist:
    1. Silver Trembling Hands
    2. Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
    3. Fight Test
    4. Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear
    5. Convinced of the Hex
    6. Vein of Stars
    7. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
    8. The W.A.N.D.
    9. Do You Realize??

A few notes about the set: Due to complications with my camera I was unable to record the set in it's entirety. For this I apologize. From what you can see here, which is a vast majority of the show, it was all very amazing. I would also like to take a moment to thank ehaw2000 who so graciously lent me a very nice audio recording of the show; without which these videos would be useless. I also want to take the time to thank his late friend Cary who passed away due to cancer. I guess it's important to live life while you can, right? Thank you both, and I hope everyone enjoys the show!
September 25, 2009

All Tomorrow's Parties NY 2009: Sufjan Stevens

Somewhere between Michigan and Illinois is an oft overlooked little gem known as Seven Swans. It is dismissed for various reasons, ranging from its strong religious overtones to it's lack of pop appeal, though those who can overcome these hurdles value the record as a true folk masterpiece. Seven Swans, though recorded simultaneously, was released after Sufjan started his lofty quest to dedicate a recording to each of the 50 states (a project which, even after 6 years, has only seen two states fulfilled).

In the spirit of ATP, Sufjan announced he would be playing Seven Swans in it's entirety for his festival set, a record which he described as "early afternoon hangover special". The band performed in tacky oversized tie dyed t-shirts provided by the kitschy on-site gift shop. The playlist below offers the entire set, and in much better quality than the other videos floating around. Enjoy!




Playlist:
  1. All the Trees of the Field will clap their hands
  2. The Dress Looks Nice on You
  3. In the Devil's Territory
  4. To Be Alone with You
  5. Abraham
  6. Sister
  7. Size Too Small
  8. We Won't Need Legs to Stand
  9. A Good Man Is Hard to Find
  10. He Woke Me Up Again
  11. Seven Swans
  12. The Transfiguration
September 21, 2009

All Tomorrow's Parties NY 2009: Iron & Wine

For over a decade ATP has been hosting massive music festivals all over the world. What started as a weekend day-camp style music festival in England, the brainchild of Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch, evolved rapidly into a phenomenon in England, Australlia, and, for the last two years, upstate New York. Adapting the community feel of the musical camp to the desolate surroundings of the Hudson Valley's dying resort scene was easy, and the moment you show up at Kutsher's in Monticello, NY and survey the landscape of trend-setters and musicians alike, you feel instantly at home.

I bought a weekend ticket for the 2009 festival back when I had money to buy such things. It was easily the most expensive ticket I ever purchased, but considering that it was going to cross three of my top 'must see' artists off my ever-expanding list, the price seemed worth it. This year's event was curated by The Flaming Lips, one of my all time favorites, and the three days were laden with other power players in my music library; Iron & Wine punctuating Friday night, Sufjan Stevens starting Saturday, and the Lips finishing the event off on Sunday. Of course the entire weekend was saturated with phenomenal bands like Circulatory System, Deerhoof, Akron/Family, and Animal Collective. You couldn't go wrong.

Anyways, I spent a great deal of time trying to capture as much of the festival as I could on video, so I could share it with my loyal viewers. Some of it turned out exceptional, some of it was a bust. Tonight I'm offering up the entire Iron & Wine set, sans the witty banter between songs. The video playlist is below in it's entirety, so do enjoy!



Playlist:
  1. Such Great Heights
  2. Woman King
  3. Sunset Soon Forgotten
  4. Upward Over The Mountain
  5. Peace Beneath The City
  6. Naked As We Came
  7. He Lays In The Reins
  8. The Trapeze Swinger
  9. Mouth of the River
  10. Resurrection Fern
  11. Sodom, South Georgia
  12. Flightless Bird, American Mouth

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