Wednesday, December 17, 2008

CSS @ Webster Hall NYC

Let me just preface this by saying that I was shocked to even be able to get tickets the night before the event. After nearly an entire autumn dominated by Rachael Yamagata making the rounds to promote her new album (at B&N Union Square, with the Hotel Cafe Tour, and on her solo tour at Bowery Ballroom), I was thrilled to find that one of the bands that I've been most curious about for the past year, Cansei de Ser Sexy, would be playing in New York. CSS is that band that has a really good look, and a really good story, and really interesting interviews in all the magazines, but I'd never actually listened to much of their stuff before. I'd heard the odd snippet on myspace, but hadn't had a proper sit down to see what they were all about. After the events of Wednesday night, I think it's pretty safe to say that I am a very grateful convert. First off, Webster Hall is one of my favorite venues. I've seen some of my all time favorite shows there: Corinne Bailey Rae, The Gossip, and now CSS...There's no barrier to keep the audience away from the stage (which can be both a good and bad thing at times), and the stage itself is not so high up (if you're over 5'4", you can rest your elbows on the edge quite comfortably until a crowd surfer lands on your head because you were looking at the stage and didn't see him coming...*sigh*).

The show opener was a band called Ssion (pronounce that however you like...). This involved a heavily mustachioed lead singer, a keyboardist/sound engineer, a drummer, and two scantily clad boy back-up dancers. The music was club funky house goodness and with the antics of their lead singer and the dancing boys, there was not a dull moment in their set. And I will say this: their stage set was really quite elaborate for an opening act at such a small venue.

On to the main attraction: CSS at Webster Hall was the most insane show I have attended in my adult life! Lovefoxxx took to the stage wearing a black and white mudcloth printed bodysuit (with matching ankle boots...that, I'm sure, were not easy to find), and a feathered headdress, giving her the appearance of one of Maurice Sendak's famous Wild Things...and in this case, appearances were not deceiving. The action and energy on stage translated into utter madness on the floor. Did I mention the insane amount of crowd surfers using crowd surfing itself to circumvent security and have themselves deposited directly onto the stage? One guy was just plain greedy! I'm sure he was passed over or near my head and onto stage at least four times. And I took more than one unsuspecting foot to the back of the head when I was so focused on the band's antics on stage that I neglected to notice whole human beings hurtling toward my cranium. What could bring even more madness than this? I'll tell you what: Lovefoxxx in the audience, that's what! Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!! Absolutepandemonium! And we loved it! She came down, not once, but twice...and toward the end of the show, after the "encore" (is it really an encore if you leave stage and we all know that you're coming back? I'm just sayin'...), Ana (keyboardist/guitarist extraordinaire) decided to have at it as well via a little crowd surfing. On her second go, she actually fell down into the audience and yours truly helped her up to her feet (so she wouldn't get trampled by all the people who didn't realise who the skinny girl at their feet was at first) and back on to the stage. Yeah, it was pretty awesome. I freely admit that there were a few times when I actually feared for my life (my life being my camera and her well being), but seeing CSS live at Webster Hall was, without question, one of my most exhilarating experiences in recent history...and I hope it's not too long before I can do it again! Oh, and did I forget to mention that I got a copy of the first cd signed by all the band members for the low low price of $12? Yeah, here's a shot of that, too. Jealous much?

Here's a snippet of what you missed...



Video courtesy of lickyoats on youtube. cheers!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Rachael Yamagata @ Bowery Ballroom NYC

I know what you're thinking: Shirelle! More Rachael Yamagata?! WTF?! First of all, you can never have too much Rachael. You just can't. Second, there is a very specific set of circumstances and happenstances that have led us to the Rachael so often in the last few months. Many moons ago, when Rachael's first full-length album was released, I was packing up and getting ready to move back to the States from Japan. I'd read a couple of articles on her and downloaded a few songs (hey, her album wasn't available in Japan yet...and I bought it when I got back to the States). I was sitting in the airport reading Metropolis magazine (the go to guide for what to do in Tokyo), and saw that she was performing in Tokyo that week...but I was about to get on a plane, so no live Rachael for me. So, I moved from Japan back to Los Angeles, then a month later from Los Angeles to stay with family near Boston while I job and apartment hunted in New York. My plane landed in Boston, and I checked out a copy of The Improper Bostonian (a little go to guide for what to do in Boston), and found out that I'd just missed Rachael performing in Boston by three days!! Oh, the agony!! Fast forward to 2008, and Rachael was coming to NYC with the Hotel Cafe Tour. I got a ticket as soon as they went on sale...then, one day strolling through Union Square, I found out she'd be playing a few songs at the Barnes&Noble. Checked that out. Took photos. Posted photos on the blog. Side note: when I met her at the bookstore, I told her my tale of near misses, and she signed my cd like this:
Awesome!

A few weeks later, went to the Hotel Cafe Tour at the Bowery Ballroom. Got some kick ass shots. Posted the photos on the blog. Then, I got an update e-mail from Bowery Ballroom's mailing list and found out she'd be touring on her own in December...so I got tickets for me and Cristina (girl about town and partner in crime). Took photos. Photos posted here! So, stop complaining, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Okay, so the solo show at Bowery Ballroom: I considered it a particularly good omen when I was coming down the block to meet Cristina - who was very patiently waiting for me (and the tickets) outside in the drizzly rain - and I saw two figures standing outside having a smoke. I'm not a smoker myself, and generally find it to be a rather repulsive habit, but as I exchanged hellos with Cristina, I leaned in and said to her, "That girl smoking over there...is Rachael Yamagata." To which Cristina replied, "Really? 'Cause when they came out, she was all, "I hope it's okay for us to smoke over here."" Then Cristina asked me if I might not go over and give Rachael my general PSA that I recite whenever I see a friend smoking (it goes like this: "You shouldn't smoke. It's bad for you."). I demurred. On the one hand, the thought of a 40-year-old Rachael with yellow teeth and that phlegmy, hacking smoker's cough kinda breaks my heart. On the other hand, as I've mentioned before, I love her throaty, raspy voice. So, I find myself conflicted, and a little piece of me kinda hopes she never quits smoking if it will guarantee more record releases. Moving on...

The evening started off with opening act, The Low Anthem. As opening acts go, they were actually pretty cool. The Low End is a three person folk rock/blue grass kinda band. Some of the highlights were the constant instrument switches...like, "I loved playing clarinet on that first song, but now I feel like playing drums!" Another unexpectedly cool moment was when the lead singer (who never introduced himself, but I later googled and found out his name is Ben Knox Miller) petitioned the audience for "an older model cell phone with speaker phone". Someone was nice enough to oblige and at the end of the next song, Ben rang his own cell phone from the audience cell phone, put them both on speaker phone and held them up to each other, put them both between himself and the microphone, and whistled...and the feedback sound was something altogether otherwordly! I love it when people McGyver stuff together and it works! Go Low Anthem! Ben's voice is kind of like Duncan Sheik (from the first album, not the subsequent follow-ups that mostly sucked - sorry, but they did). Only Ben's voice has undertones that suggest he could totally kick Duncan Sheik's butt in a bar fight. Of course, Ben wouldn't actually get into a bar fight with Duncan Sheik. He'd probably say something like, "Whoa, I don't want to fight you Duncan Sheik...I just want to make music, man." Then he'd buy Duncan another beer and give him cab fare home. He just seems like that kind of guy. Other band members include Jocie Adams, who's voice lends an even more "Oh-Brother-Where-Art-Thou"-esqueness to the soulful, deep south churchiness of every song (plus, I love the band geekiness of a girl that plays the clarinet, the drums, and the guitar), and Jeff Prystowsky who sang back up and played an enormous upright bass and, I kid you not, a WWI portable pump organ. Worth a look-see for the pump organ and the instrumental musical chairs alone. Go see 'em!
Photo: Bust Magazine

It didn't take long after The Low Anthem finished before Rachael herself took to the stage to much applause and declarations of adoration from the audience (mostly from the really loud girl standing just behind me to the right who sang along to all of the older songs way too loudly in my ear and insisted she personally knew Jeff from The Low Anthem, even though when she tried to get his attention after their set, he looked directly through her and then turned and went on his merry way). Okay, I may have declared my love for her shoes (boots, really) more than once, but I was not alone in this...and Rachael did not want to give up the details! Being the girl sleuth that I am, however, I happen to know that Rachael was featured in the latest issue of Bust magazine whilst wearing these self same shoes and for those that were there and also wondering, they are Steven by Steve Madden. She wore a shimmery emerald green baby doll dress (of nebulous provenance, but very, very chic), black tights with a fat run in them at the left knee, and the afore mentioned supercalifragilistic buckle-up, open-toe boots which I continue to covet and may have to buy myself for Christmas...*sigh*

She opened with the title track off her latest album, "Elephants". She was accompanied on the tiniest cello I've ever seen a grown man play by Daniel Cho. As animated as the audience was when Rachael came out, somehow this song never fails in descending a hush over a crowded room. The piano is sparse and the verses are simple, so it can only be that Rachael herself is so captivating that she sends on-lookers into a sort of melodically induced fugue state. She followed Elephants with Be Be Your Love, the opening piano licks of which sent up raucous cheers from anyone in the ballroom who fell in love with Rachael's voice at the release of her first LP in 2004 (or more recently on her myspace page), and then picked up the guitar for the newest incarnation of Sunday Afternoon. After that she declared that she was switching gears from heartbroken victim songs to songs with a decidedly more "You a**hole! F*ck You!" bent. Songs like Faster and Sidedish Friend got the crowd shouting along, and of course, the between song banter is always a good time with Rachael. During guitar tuning, people would shout out song requests and she would tell a funny story about the song and why she might or might not be doing that one this evening. One girl (guess which one) kept yelling her request for Woman, and Rachael finally had to address the issue. She said whenever she plays it, people think she's a lesbian...and maybe she should dispel all rumours right then and there by making out with a girl. Naturally, this elicited much excitement in the crowd (particularly from a very ardent fan at the back). Rachael took notice and assured her that she was very flattered by all the attention, and although the girl was very hot (Rachael's words, not mine), she may have to pass. I believe the phrase used was something like, "You are really hot...If I didn't have to work right now, up here, it would be all about you and me making out back stage." Then she laughed it all off. According to Rachael, the boys in the band always end up hooking up with girls at shows and stumbling back to the hotel or tour bus in the wee hours of the morning, while Rachael just goes back to the hotel, puts on her pajamas, and reads. A lot. And she says she likes it that way. She reads a lot of books and writes songs about animals. What's not to like?

Best part of the show? I'm sure this will be widely debated by other people who were there. But for my part, I particularly enjoyed Rachael's solo rendition of Duet where she hummed both the male and female parts of the middle verse intermittently ("...and then this part goes (in a deep 'male' vibrato) Hmmmm Hmmm...and then I go (in her own girlish voice) Hmmm Hmm Hmmmm. Hmmm Mmmm. Hmmm Mmmm Hmmm"). She was laughing so hard at herself that she could barely finish the song, and at one point, even had to stop to remember where she was supposed to be on the guitar part. Hilarious! Okay...Maybe you had to be there for that one...well, you should have been. 'Cause it was a good time. Check out the tour if she comes to a city near you.

Here's a taste of what you missed by not being there: Rachael performing What If I Leave?



Video courtesy of Ashmaaaa on youtube.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Hotel Cafe Tour @ Bowery Ballroom NYC

Hello All and Happy Halloween to the lot of you! On All Hallows' Eve Eve, I tripped over to the Bowery Ballroom (one of my favorite places in New York City) to see a show I've been holding a ticket to for more than a month...oh, the anticipation has been agony! So if you like the photos, you can click on them to get the full size view. And leave a comment! Let me know how you feel! Okay, before we begin, you should know that over the summer, i went to see She&Him at Terminal 5, and I was super excited (I just heart Zooey Deschanel and her voice is so sweet and her songs are so old school cool, right?). BUT, when I got to the door, security wouldn't let me in with my camera because it's too awesome. They said if I had a crappy point-and-shoot, it'd have been fine, but Artemis is just too wicked to get in without a press pass (Yes, my camera has a name...her name is Artemis). And I had no press pass. Can you believe I had to leave my camera in the coat check?!?! Apparently, I wasn't alone in this. The girl at coat check had a special area for everyone's camera gear...that made me a little less nauseous at the thought of leaving my baby with a stranger. All alone. In the dark. Poor Artemis. Poor me! I had a great time at the show, but was beside myself that I couldn't take any photos. Nothing to reminisce over...*sigh* Poor you! No photos of how adorable Zooey looked in her little blue vintage dress with the little satin headband and the giant flower on the side. So cute. But there's no evidence. It may as well have never even happened at all...I was determined that this would never happen to me again. I was determined that I should never again be separated from my camera when something as wonderful as live music is happening just beyond the large man at the door shaking his head. So, I decided that I would have to make my own press pass. I had no qualms about faking up a press pass (just in case someone working the door at the Hotel Cafe Tour should give me a hard time). I did all the graphics and whatnot at home on my own. Laminated it at Kinko's. Easy, peasy, one-two-threesy! Then, I thought, but what if someone tries to verify my fake sh*t? And this was actually the impetus for this very blog! Okay, there! I said it! I only started this blog as a front for my awesome new homemade press pass. And you know what? I'm not ashamed! I love my camera. I love live music. Apparently, I also love yammering on and on about whatever comes to mind when I sit down to write about what happens when my camera and the live music come together...I love this blog. I love you for reading it. Warm fuzzies! After all that worrying about keeping it real (or really, making it real, with my press pass), nobody said boo to me about my camera. I think I've gone off on a tangent. Let's get back on track. Hotel Cafe Tour. Bowery Ballroom. Rachael Yamagata. Meiko. Thao Nguyen. Samantha Crain. Emily Wells. Jenny Owen Youngs. Live music. Me and my camera and my shiny new press pass. Awesomeness. The Hotel Cafe is a little spot in Los Angeles where heaps of people turn up to perform. The tour is an extension of the cafe itself, and it's not just unsigned indies either...Rilo Kylie, Jason Mraz, and John Mayer have all performed on other legs of the Hotel Cafe Tour. This particular tour at this particular point in time, however, is the girls' tour. All girls. All the time...well, nearly. The backing band members are all boys, but they in their defense, they were all very talented, and lovable, and cute (you know, in that way that only sensitive, musician-type boys can be). The format is like no other show I've ever seen. Mostly in that it seemed to lack format. No opening acts. Every artist on equal footing (performance-wise...as far as notoriety, some were definitely more well-known than others - and by "some" I mean Rachael Yamagata). Everyone came up and did a few songs, and then left, and then came back and did a few more later, and then came on to back up another performer, and then left off stage again. I kind of liked the no-format format to be honest. It really does put all the artists on equal footing so it never feels like the person you're watching and listening to at the moment is any less important than the bigger name that follows. No openers. Just headliners. And we'll all headline together! It's a very girly concept, really. Apropos for such a vajayjay-centric kind of tour. So for anyone who showed up after the theoretical 8pm show time (which in concert reality is an 8:30pm show time), they missed some great performances. Luckily, they can check out this blog and look at some pretty pictures, and it'll be just like they were there and didn't miss a thing. Holla! So, the evening kicked off with some great opening audience banter by Jason Kanakis - who not only hosted the evening, but also backed up the performers on guitar (acoustic and electric) and ukulele, followed by a lovely little lady (seriously, she can't be more than 5 feet tall) by the name of Samantha Crain. Admittedly, the evening was a blur of artists I'd never seen, heard, or even heard of before. That being said, Samantha rendered herself instantly memorable with her soulful voice and her simultaneous guitar and harmonica playing, not to mention her charming in-between chit-chat with the crowd. She sang about a preacher who drowns a churchgoer during a baptism. She talked about this trip's "New York Moment". This one involving her walk earlier that afternoon down Spring St. where they just happened to be filming "Ugly Betty", and someone mistook Samantha for America Ferrerra. It's not hard to see why...charming and adorable. According to a particularly zealous fan, THE cutest person in the whole world. Samantha graciously accepted the compliment, but asked in response, "Do you even know everyone in the whole world?"; and then after a moment's pause, "Is that Angie? [The compliment] doesn't count if it's from my publicist..." Adorable, no? Next to take the stage (well, a very well organised corner of the stage, really) was Emily Wells. For those of you who don't know who she is (and I certainly didn't before this), Emily Wells kicks ass. First of all, she plays violin. She also sings. She also plays guitar and xylophone and metalophone. She does all these things AT THE SAME TIME! Sort of. She has a table set up with a few different record-and-play-back devices, and since she did her entire set solo sans backing musicians, she would, for instance, start out playing a little melody on her violin, record it, loop it, and play it back while she added another sound to the mix and then sang over it all. I was impressed by the sheer organisational prowess involved in such an undertaking. To describe her sound: it's kind of like Break of Reality and Rasputina meets Martha Wainwright. Dark with some bright spots, and completely her own. The highlight of her second set was her cover of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy". Priceless...Though it did feel like I was the only person in the audience who seemed to know all the words and be singing along. Next, when Samantha Crain came back for another set, she announced that she was doing a cover of "99 Problems". We were all impressed...until she giggled and said, "No, not really...but maybe I'll work on that one for you guys for the next time..." When Thao Nguyen came out, she basically grabbed her guitar, plugged into the amp at center stage and proceeded to take the joint over. I have to say, she was probably the most enthusiastic performer of the whole night, and it was contagious. She had every person in the room jumping and swaying. Before she had even made it out to the middle of the stage, she'd already garnered several declarations of love and a couple of marriage proposals from points unseen in the audience. She even had her "Willie Nelson and Friends" moment when all of the other performers came out to join her on stage for one number. So adept at moving the crowd while still seemingly only playing for herself and the fun of it, she gave the impression that there are probably very few things she's not good at. Thao was loud and fun. Melodic, stage savvy, and ultimately captivating. Definitely worth a go-see. After waaaaaaaay too much anticipation, Rachael Yamagata , at long last, sneaked onto stage and sat herself down at the piano. It must be mentioned in a side note, that the piano was far, far stage right, and Rachael's face was mostly hidden behind the microphone. I decided it was time to put my newly obtained press credentials to work, and muscled my way as politely as possible over to the other side of the stage to get us all some decent shots. Yay, us! Cheers, cheers all around for laminates. But I digress...It hardly needs to be mentioned that Rachael Yamagata is a spectacular musician and author of the soundtrack to your latest break-up. She opened this particular set with the title track off her new double disc release, "Elephants". You could hear a pin drop in the ballroom. No one even sang along, they were all so transfixed by her voice. Raspy, throaty, gravely...call it what you will, but regardless of the inevitable comparisons to other singers like Fiona Apple and Alanis Morissette, Rachael's voice is a creature all its own. Is it wrong to hope that she never quits smoking? Her set was too short, and we had to wait too long to have her back on stage again. Clearly, she had split her performances between piano songs and guitar songs, and this was the piano song set. *sigh* Meiko's first words upon taking up the microphone were, "Damn, Rachael!" Admittedly, Miss Y. is a pretty tough act to follow. All the more because she really does play to herself moreso than to the crowd. She appreciates and enjoys the applause, but she doesn't really seem to need it. That being said, Meiko picked up her guitar and took us all on a ride through some very cleverly worded musical stylings. It must be noted that she wore the sparkliest emerald green eye shadow...around which revolved a good deal of her back and forth banter with the audience. Someone even yelled out that they liked her blush, which she mis-heard as something else entirely and asked them to repeat it...then spell it. "Ah, BLUSH...with an L. That L is important...'Cause that would have been awkward..." Lovely and very entertaining. I believe my favorite of her songs that evening was called "Real, Real Sweet" and was about the girlfriend of a friend who was convinced that there was more than just friendship going on between Meiko and her man. Trust me, you wanna run and find that one for your mp3 player. And remember: it's not rude if it's in a song...An unexpected surprise on this leg of the Hotel Cafe Tour was none other than Jenny Owen Youngs. She'd performed the night before in Philadelphia and wasn't really scheduled for the show at the Bowery, but since New York is her hometown, she came out and gave us a little something. Her banter, not just with the audience, but most notably with Jason Kanakis (who backed her up on mandolin) was hilarious! They discussed skull duggery and skull buggery, among other things. She was relieved to get a laugh for it in NYC because in Philly when she brought up skull f*cking..."Hmmm...not so much." Take Jenny, a song containing the hook "What the f*ck was I thinking?", add in Jason Kanikis and Jason Kanakis' mustache, and wacky hi-jinks are bound to ensue. Jenny was like Dorothy Parker with a guitar...and I loved it! It cannot go unsaid that Rachael Yamagata's second, guitar song set was awesome. She played a new song and a couple of older ones. All were thoroughly enjoyed and rocked out to by the crowd. It also cannot go without saying that it is extremely difficult to get a good photo of Rachael Yamagata while she is performing. This is mainly attributed to the fact that the lighting could not compete with her hair. Rachael has really great hair. It's dark and thick, and everything a shampoo commercial could ever hope for. It is cut just so that it almost entirely engulfs her face, bangs hanging down nearly to her nose. In case you're wondering (and I can tell that you are), this all plays into making it (as I've already said) extremely difficult to get a good photo of her. More to the point, it makes it extremely difficult to get a good photo of her where you can actually see her face. There is one other factor that makes getting a good photo of Rachael so very troublesome. (If you're reading this, Rachael, I apologise, but it's true). The fact is Rachael doesn't perform "pretty". It's part of what makes her so entrancing to watch. She is so into what she's doing, she's not concerned with how she looks while she's doing it. Rachael has "Rock Face". This is the condition where any kind of emotion conveyed while rocking out (which Rachael does on every song, even the slow ones) causes the face the contort, giving the rocker the look of one who is a) shocked , b) in agonising pain, or c) smelling something completely wretched. It's not her fault. She just rocks so hard, it really can't be helped. She performed a new song from the new double disc, "Faster", and something from her first full length LP, "Worn Me Down". Of course she had Rock Face! You may be wondering now, how it is that I've managed to take such awesome photos of Rachael where you can actually see her face. That answer is easy. I'm the shizzle. Peace out my babies!!! See you at the next show... Enjoy this snippet of Jenny Owen Youngs performance of her song "F*ck Was I Thinking?".

Side note: I recently discovered that Jenny Owen Youngs mentioned on her own blog that i mentioned her on my own blog.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Rachael Yamagata Live In-Store @ Barnes&Noble Union Square- NYC


Okay, so as a little surprise, I was passing through Union Square early this week and noticed that Rachael Yamagata was doing an in-store appearance/performance/cd signing at Barnes&Noble on Thursday. As I am a HUGE Rachael Yamagata fan and had no other social obligations on Thursday evening, I made it a point to turn up to said appearance/performance/cd signing...with my camera of course. As luck would have it, I was moved up to one of the very close-up "Reserved" row seats because some very important losers didn't show up in time. Yay Me! And Yay You...Because you get to see the photos....and stay tuned. I'll also be snapping photos of Rachael at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on 30th October.
Just at the start....


Sometimes...you can actually see her face!



Just before a song...


Taking questions from the moderator...



Inside the music


All introspective and thinky...

Here's a little live vid of Rachael performing "Sunday Afternoon" at the event.



Video courtesy of JoThere on Youtube.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

COMING SOON

Keep an eye out for up close and personal photos that make you feel like you were there!
Performances from some of your favorite artists:

AESOP ROCK
RACHAEL YAMAGATA
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
ZAP MAMA
LES NUBIANS
SARAH BLASKO
ALICE SMITH
JANELLE MONAE
THE GOSSIP
MANY MORE...

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Aesop Rock at the McCarren Pool in Brooklyn, NY

One lovely summer's morning (okay, afternoon really), I awoke to the excited twitterings of my flatmate who very much wanted to know if I would accompany her to a free show at the McCarren Pool in Brooklyn. "What free show?" I inquired. "AESOP ROCK!!!!" she replied, barely able to contain herself. Needless to say, I quickly dressed, grabbed my camera, and headed out the door with her.


Upon arriving at the McCarren Pool, we were informed by event staff that I could not, in fact, bring my yummy and delicious Mr. Softee rootbeer float into the venue. Mind you, they were not selling McCarren-style rootbeer floats inside, but they wouldn't let me in with mine. You should also be well advised that you'd better find somewhere else to take your bike. It's fantastic to bike through Brooklyn in the summertime, but they won't let you take it inside the venue. This family (so cute with their fun hair and tattoos and cool kid in his bike-child's seat) had to ride around for quite some time looking for a place they felt safe locking up their bikes while they were inside. So, if you go to the McCarren Pool on your bike, don't say I didn't warn you.

I'd never been inside the Pool before. It's run down (obviously, or it would still be an actual swimming pool and not a concert venue...yay for run down!). Somehow, though, like so many parts of Brooklyn, it still manages to make run down look beautiful...especially if you're with good company on a perfect summer day in August. The pool is everything trendy, hipster-ridden Williamsburg is all about. It's shabby, but just enough to still be chic.

The crowd was amazing. Thankfully, not just a bunch of shaggy-haired, striped scarf wearing, Manhattan-transplanted, pretentious, artsy, trendy hipsters...and not just trendy-ass hipster posers either. The people watching was stellar. Some of my favorites: Two Sikh boys in pink turbans (who knew all the words to every song that Aesop Rock'ed! p.s. I kinda have a thing for Sikh boys in turbans), some girls laying down on the bottom of the pretty blue paint chipped pool, a toddler with some music -buffering headphones on (bright pink - more very cool parents need to get these for their kids, btw). When Aesop Rock took the stage with Rob Sonic as his trusty companion and partner in rhyme, the crowd went bananas! The surge of bodies pushing toward the stage actually lifted me up off my feet momentarily. Backed by DJ Big Whiz on the wheels of steel, Aesop took the crowd on a lyrical journey through his musical catalogue. For real, for those that didn't already know, suddenly "Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, and Knives" seemed like the hot new anthem and something to maybe do some research on if you want to get some street cred. Personally, I had to stop taking photos and just stand with my hand to my heart when the beat dropped for "Daylight". I confess, I may have had a little tear in my eye. That was a very moving moment in hip hop for yours truly. Joined throughout the show by the likes of Rob Sonic, El-P, and Yak Ballz, Aesop gave the performance of the summer and made an entire corner of Brooklyn thank God for run down swimming pools and free summer shows.