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.
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.
Once upon a late spring's eve, I befriended a phenomenal deejay who goes by the name of DJ Reborn of the much lauded and Village Voice featured Ubiquita collective. When I found out she was spinning again in a neighborhood not too far from my own in Brooklyn, I resolved instantly that I should go. As the date drew nearer, I was receiving more and more information on the event. It would be at Southpaw in Park Slope. It was a co-production between Ubiquita and U People to kick off Pride month in June. It would be a fundraising event for the U People Documentary, a film shot during the filming of Hanifah Walidah's "Make A Move" music video featuring a Brooklyn brownstone filled with 30 women of color - straight, gay, and trans -discussing what it means to be Black and LGBT in America today. You can order the DVD directly from the U People website. (and while you're at it, get on the mailing list because Hanifah and Olive know how to throw a party!) It would be $20 to get in. Featured artists performing would be Shelley Nicole's Blakbushe, Hanifah Walidah featuring Helen Foulard of Les Nubians, and (wait for it....) Staceyann Chin. Let me say that again in case you missed it: STACEYANN CHIN!!!! Staceyann Chin, world renown poet and spoken word artist. Staceyann Chin of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam fame. Staceyann Muthaf*cking Chin. So, as you might imagine, I was even more excited about the event. The event listing said that it started at 7pm. Now, I wasn't sure if that was 7pm Real World time or 7pm CP time, so I decided to head over from work straightaway (I didn't want to take the chance that Staceyann's busy schedule would have her performing first at a punctual event and I might miss it because I wanted to go home and get even cuter...so i just went with my usual cute...and my camera). In my rush to get to the show on time, I mistakenly forgot my camera battery in the charger at my jobby-job. Thankfully, I realised this before I got on the train and raced back to pick it up before it was too late. Then I dashed back to the subway and headed to Park Slope. The friend that was meeting me had already arrived, but the venue was not quite up and grooving yet (CP time after all), so we went to grab something to eat. I don't want to name names and blacken the reputation of any Park Slope eateries, but the place my friend chose had the slowest service this side of purgatory! And though I love her to pieces, my girl was taking waaaaay too long to eat something that had already taken waaaaay too long to arrive at the table; and I'm like a five-year-old in a bank line with my mum once my attention span stops working. So after over an hour, I had to excuse myself from the table and agree to meet her back at Southpaw when she was finished. I got back to the spot and it looked like things were starting to jump off. A good-size and good looking crowd had begun to form and there were some sounds pumping through the speakers. I scoped out my surroundings with my camera, taking a few test shots here and there to check the lighting, etc. Then I sidled up to the bar and ordered my drink (Shirley Temple. Very red. Four cherries.). Not long after, my friend re-arrived and we took a seat in a little elevated, comfy lounge area to take in the ambiance and feel the vibe of the evening. Now, when I first got there, like I said, Southpaw wasn't really much to look at. A cavernous event space with dim lighting, a dusty floor, a red-lit bar, and a naked performance stage. But by this time, the place was getting pretty packed, and it really did look like a good time about to go off. It never ceases to amaze me how the energy of the people in a space can be so transformative to the space itself. Southpaw was lookin' kinda cute! The first act to take the stage (after a spirited introduction from Ubiquita event coordinator Kim Knox) was Shelley Nicole's Blakbusche. Funk. And then some more funk. Funk like I wanted my Uncle John to come back from the other side just to watch this show with me because I'm not sure if anyone else I know could fully understand this funk. Shelley Nicole killed it. It was soul. It was funk. It was rock and roll. It was some love in your ear is what it was. A good time was had by all. Not a single ass was left unshaken when she departed the stage. Next to take the stage was - DA da da DAAAAHHH - Staceyann Chin! She got up and just started talking sh*t with the audience. A little back and forth about her hope to score a booty call out of tonight's engagement (as it was very low-key and the opening of pride month). She listed some pretty stiff criteria for anyone taking on this challenge. No abbreviated text messaging (wut r u up 2? call me l8r!), and please respect the rules of capitalisation and punctuation. And I can't stress this enough: Grammar. Grammar. Grammar. In short: Spelling, right. Grammar, tight. Staceyann is a force! She's tall and lithe, and takes up every inch of the stage with her presence. At every rise and fall of her voice, every facial expression, every mimed action, she illustrated her words with her body and took the audience along with her on the journey. Even as she stuttered out the last few lines of her last piece and gracefully demurred and bowed out from the stage, the crowd was cheering her on and begging her to continue just a little more...She certainly left them all wanting and waiting to see what she'll come up with next. Last get up and give it to the crowd was Hanifah Walidah (Miss U People herself!). Her set, from top to bottom was not just soulful, but full of spunk and humor. Miss Walidah is most definitely an all around performer. She sang her little face off, and also managed to make time to joke with the back up singers and introduce the world to some incredible musicians as well. On bass was Ganessa James (who also played bass with Shelley Nicole earlier in the evening). This girl is so much fun to watch hiding out in the background! As a bass player, she is pretty much designed to be low-key and in the background, but if you can peak over and around the edge of Hanifah's personality to catch Ganessa in the back, you can see that she is sincerely having the time of her life, slapping out basslines and dancing with her eyes closed. On guitar was a young lady that Hanifah found on MySpace (thank heaven for the internet, right?), Michelle Williams. This sista's skills were completely off the chain! Seriously, she is making me re-think my long-held belief that the bass player is, without fail, always the coolest person in the band. She switched between three different guitars. The last one was some kind of creature I'd never even seen before. It had a double-wide fret and ten or twelve strings and an odd shaped body. I don't know what it was called, but Michelle played the hell outta that thing! The live performances were followed by the ladies of Ubiquita (DeeJays Reborn, Moni, Selly, and SheRock) on the turntables to keep the party going. Up first was DJ Reborn making it do what it do with her own special blend of old school funk and soul mixed with contemporary hip hop and r&b. Next up was SheRock, and this is definitely not a misnomer. SheRock the ones and twos like nobody's business! Kept my body rockin'...Unfortunately, my jobby-job does not involve staying up all night in Brooklyn hot spots and shakin' ass (though I often wish it were...*sigh*), so I had to cut out before Moni and Selly took to the tables. Life is so unfair...Until next time my lovelies!
Check out Hanifah Walidah's music video for her song, 'Make A Move':
I have been smitten with The Gossip and the overwhelming awesomeness of the band's frontwoman, Beth Ditto, ever since the the uber-cheesy, way low-tech, Super Mario Paint-looking video for "Standing In The Way Of Control" first dropped on Logo network's NewNowNext music series. At the first glance, I was preparing myself for a lame, tepid attempt at synth-rock from some people who never would have gotten their video on at all if someone from the band weren't gay, bi, or trans ('cause Logo likes to be supportive, even when the band sucks sometimes)...then she started singing. I couldn't even take in the lyrics to see what the song was about until about the fifth or sixth time I rewound it on the TiVo. I was just so transfixed by her voice. Big and broad and loud without reducing to a shout. It was like Aretha Franklin decided to give her Queen of Soul title a rest and take on the mantle of Queen of Rock, just to see how it feels. Beth Ditto hops, twists, twitters, and vibrates her way around the video set in a way so completely unselfconscious it gives the impression that the band was just kind of messing around and never really meant for anyone to see this video at all. Needless to say, I am, to this very day, completely gutted to know that my favorite karaoke bar (Sing Sing on St. Mark's Place) doesn't have this song. They have "Jealous Girls", but not "Standing in the Way of Control". Is there no justice in this world? "Jealous Girls" is a great song, but "Standing in the Way of Control" is an anthem! Possibly the best karaoke song in the history of...EVER! Gutted. Just gutted. (Sing Sing, can you hear me? Are you reading this? Help a girl out!) So anyway...Webster Hall. Don't ask me who opened. I'm sure I took some photos, but clearly nothing memorable. I'm sure they were very good (whoever they were). And really, when you think about it, it's probably best to be the forgettable opening act to The Gossip than to be the total train wreck that tries to follow them onstage, right? So, let's not worry our pretty little heads about such things. Let's think only happy thoughts. Thoughts like: The Gossip. Beth Ditto. Happy Warm Fuzzies. Rainbows. Unicorns. Hugs. When The Gossip hits the stage, let's just say it's something to see. For anyone who's never been inside Webster Hall, you should know that it's one of those super old school, New York landmark, throwback venues with an up close and personal, intimate feel to it. When you see a performance there, it's a standing room only situation. There's a VIP area up in the balcony with little tables and it's all cutesy and whatnot, but for my own personal enjoyment, I'd rather be down on the floor, squished up against the stage (Yes, right up against the stage. No barriers to keep us a respectable distance from the performers at Webster Hall), with my camera snapping away, the ground vibrating under my feet, and the music pulsing through me. If the bass isn't regulating my heartbeat, how can I be sure I'm really alive, right? Beth addressed the audience between songs in a manner that can really only be described, in a word, as neighborly. She came off not as your best friend, but like your big sister's best friend who is secretly nice to you when your sister isn't looking. She talked to the crowd about the songs and what inspired them. She talked about her roots in smalltown USA and what made her proud to represent the midwest. She talked about fighting against ignorance and the distant-but-not-so-distant 2008 presidential elections. She talked about hope, for the present as well as for the future, and how each and every one of us can find some way to make a positive difference in the world. For nearly ninety minutes, there was not a single pause or a lull in the momentum. One of the highlights of the show was the band's very own rendition of the Aaliyah classic "Are You That Somebody?" Naturally, Beth put her own unmistakable vocal spin on it, but the fact that this slow and purring r&b song was so completely unexpected at a rock show instantly succeeded in uniting the audience in the warm-fuzziest sing-a-long I've ever, to this point in time, had the privilege to be a part of. At one point, she had the entire hall repeating after her, chanting the words "I am special. We are special." And she meant it. Nothing further illustrates this point more than when, during the encore, an excited and ambitious young man in silver a silver jacket and a bowler hat climbed up onto the stage to get up and shake it with Miss Ditto herself. Just as event security was about to drag him off stage, Beth insisted it was okay...then she invited everyone else who felt like it to come up on stage, and even pulled a few people up herself! Not to be outdone by her dancing, singing, shouting acolytes who were now up on stage, Beth descended the stage quite literally into the arms of the frenzied crowd. She sang, danced, chanted, hugged, and sincerely thanked as many people as could lay hands on her for being part of the evening's experience. One that, I'm sure, no one in attendance that night will soon (if ever) forget. Like I said: The Gossip. Beth Ditto. Happy Warm Fuzzies. Rainbows. Unicorns. Hugs.
Here's a little taste of what it was like to be there. Beth belting out 'Standing In The Way Of Control':
Video courtesy of susanna27 on youtube.
And because I loved it so much, here's a bit of their cover of Aaliyah's 'Are You That Somebody':
In a strange twist of fate, I fell in love with Corinne one day while strolling through the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. I spotted her cd and instantly thought I would like it (and her) based solely on the cover art (I'm superficial and shallow and tend to be drawn toward pretty things in pretty packaging...). Unfortunately, at that time, it was only available as a British import, and I'm not in the habit of paying $24 for a single cd...so I waited. Then I waited some more. Then I found out she was having a US cd release and jumped on it without hesitation. I was not disappointed. Moreover, I was actually kind of amazed that more people didn't know about her and I hyped her cd like I invented that sh*t myself! On September 23rd, I had the good fortune to see Corinne Bailey Rae perform at one of my favorite venues in New York City, Webster Hall. The old school charm and unimposing size of Webster Hall was well-suited to Corinne's music and personality. She performed as if singing only for her own amusement, most of the time with her eyes closed and a serene smile upon her face. More than once, she seemed genuinely startled out of her reverie by the applause at the end of a song, or if she opened her eyes briefly, by the room full of fans that were singing along to her every word. Every facial expression, every vocal inflection, every shrug of her shoulders, and every gesture of hand...Corinne gave the feeling that she'd invited you over for a cup of tea when her favorite song just happened to come on the radio, and she simply couldn't help but sing along. Apart from the performance itself - which was effortlessly sweet and moving, endearing Corinne to all who watched and listened - the music was no less inspired. The songs are sparsely, simply written, yet so truthful, one can't help but be moved by the emotion behind the words. Ever more unique, I find, Corinne's songs and voice have the ability to capture joy in a way that is often overlooked in a landscape of bump'n'grind ballads and emo-punk depressive rock torch songs. Even when the songs tend toward more melancholy territory (as in "Til It Happens To You" and "Seasons Change"), it is never in a woe-is-me vein, but rather, has the effect of your best friend giving you a big hug and saying, "Yeah, that really sucks. Just let it all out." If she comes to a city near you, do whatever you have to do to make sure you don't miss it. Now, when is that next album coming?...*sigh*
This is actually from a show she did in Leeds, but I thought I'd spread the love anyway...enjoy!
Just at the start....
