Safe Haven Irish Music Session

Every Wednesday a group of talented traditional Irish musicians gather at a small bar in South Park Slope. I’ve always had some strange attachment to Ireland. It may just be due to my name and its ties to the country, but nevertheless Ireland has always interested me.

Anyway, when I was asked to photograph a session at Safe Haven, I jumped at the chance just for the fun of it. Thankfully the photos came out well in my opinion. It may be due to the Irish whiskey Noel kept pouring me throughout the night… or maybe just the fantastic vibe that evening.

I should remember to swing back by Safe Haven one of these Wednesdays.

So, this is a historic day. I just want to remember it…

Lykke Li at a different performance

Thanks again to my woman, I had the pleasure of attending the Lykke Li concert last night at the Highline Ballroom. Ever since a friend put me on to her and I put her on to my woman, Lykke Li has been on heavy rotation, so I was excited for a surprise concert and she certainly didn’t disappoint.

Similarly to the first time we saw Sia at Hiro, Lykke Li live is very different from her recorded sound. On stage she’s overflowing with energy, attitude and a general bombast that brought a harder edge to some of the softer songs and a rocking danceability to the whole show. I had mentioned to the women before the show, that my favorite tracks on the album were the remixes (especially the ones by CSS and The Black Kids), so having the whole show have that feel was excellent.

Anyway, I should remember to be on the lookout for new Lykky Li stuff and see her live again!

(photo by serhio)

Through the lucky acquisition of an überpass granting artist level access, I had the pleasure of attending the Saturday activities of the All Points West Music and Arts Festival.

Metric was the main draw for me, but unfortunately, they didn’t play such a great set and the majority of the people in the crowd didn’t seem to know them at all. Perhaps they’re simply better suited to smaller, in-doors venues. Of course, I had bought tickets to see them Friday night at the Highline Ballroom… but I should probably forget about how I blew that money by not even going.

A close second in terms of who I wanted to see was Sia. After catching her at the Hiro Ballroom, I expected her performance to be great… And I wasn’t disappointed. Compared to the Hiro show where she had some throat problems, she was absolutely incredible. The bonus is that we actually got to chat with her band mates a bit down in the artists village and see her back stage as well.

Then there was Radiohead. I haven’t been excited by Radiohead the past few years, so I wasn’t sure whether I’d be into the performance, but I was totally blown away. These guys deserve all the accolades they get… and maybe even more. They were tight as hell and rocked the crowd with awe inspiring deftness.

I should remember to rediscover the newer Radiohead albums.

I did by their new album Velocifero the next morning, so… maybe it’ll grow on me.

The real standout for me, though, was the opening act: Data Rock. I gotta remember to check these matching red tracksuit wearing guys out and perhaps catch them again sometime. (The drummer was especially awesome!)

(images by ananawa)

Talib Kweli was amazing this time around (none of the voice issues from last time), although I got the feeling that the crowd wasn’t really there to see him. The headliner they were there to see, Sean Paul, was terrible. He looked stoned out of his mind and was completely incapable to moving the crowd. Bam! Bam!

I gotta remember to keep this woman, she takes me to some cool shows.

My crappy iPhone capture above, shows how the band came out to start the show in crazy blacklight getups. It was trippy and fun and when they were done with the first song, Sia mentioned that she hoped no one had eaten mushrooms before the show. They then went into a great set of mostly new, unreleased songs off of her upcoming album called “Some People Have Real Problems” punctuated by Sia’s quirky and often dirty nonsequiters between songs.

First she introduced us to some seemingly random kid that joined her on stage for a couple songs. Another time, she dug around in her bra to retrieve a tooth that had been recently removed from the guitarist’s mouth. Another time, she managed to remember the names of 7 or 8 fans she had met before the show giving them all shout-outs. And yet another time, she offered to felate a member of the audience.

Sia was extremely fun and despite the fact that her voice was rough, the show was great. My favorite part was probably when she announced that she hates the ideas of encores, so she would do a “fake encore” by telling us that she would pretend to go off stage then come back so we could all get the feeling without the nonsense. This involved her hiding her face behind her hands while we clapped, then peaking out over them to begin the last song. Fantastic.

I should remember to catch her again sometime and hope that her voice is in better shape.

The park was pretty full of a fantastically diverse crowd. There was a decent sized ring of vendors with a surprisingly good sounding stage on one end. Unfortunately, the performers seemed as though they would have been more comfortable in a small club with everyone’s undivided attention as opposed to the wide open space they needed to fill with energy. One act, Liz something, even tried to teach the crowd about phonics… It didn’t go over well.

By the time Talib came on stage, people were dying for him. Unfortunately, I gotta say, he wasn’t as hot on stage as he is on wax. His voice, normally high-pitched and somewhat nasally (giving him a unique sound) was horse and scratchy. One very cool moment for me, though, was when he performed Old School from the ultra-geeky Dangerdoom album: The Mouse and The Mask. People who had known all the words to all the other tracks he’d been performing seemed to have never heard this fantastic song before. The worst part, though, was that they practically threw Talib and crew off the stage but turning down his mikes and music before his set was done. Lame.

I should remember to see whether it makes it to a second annual gig.

I should try to remember to catch a full-blown Cardigans show some time.

Update: Better photos here from the annoying guy right in front of us who wouldn’t stop taking pictures.

Then came the wave of b-sides and the fantastic bootleg performances some of which I still quote to this day: “I hear you and I’m getting the message!” It was some kind of perfect musical mirror for my life as my world expanded further and further out from the tiny island I grew up on where I first heard Today. Towards the tail end of this period I even ran into James Iha at a house party out in Brooklyn where… uhm… nefarious activities took place. All these things continued to build up the band in my mind.

Then one day… they just didn’t matter anymore.

Yeah, I bought Adore and enjoyed it, but something had changed. When Machina came out, I didn’t even bother picking it up and to this day, I don’t think I’ve listened to the whole thing.

Now, Smashing Pumpkins returns with an album pompously entitled Zeitgeist. I downloaded it yesterday, turned up the speakers, and blasting it, tried to re-open myself to the experience of bombastic drumming, fuzzy guitars and Billy Corgan’s eclectic vocals.

I have to admit, it rocked (especially tracks like United States and Tarantula).

It almost got me back to the magic I used to feel for the band… Almost. I don’t know. Some small thing was missing. Was that small thing missing from me and not from the music? Maybe.

Without a doubt, Zeitgeist is Smashing Pumpkins best album since Melon Collie, but that’s not saying much.  I should try to remember Smashing Pumpkins as the band I loved in the 90′s (complete with D’arcy and James Iha), not worry too much about the band they’ve become, and just enjoy these new tracks for what they are: some damn good rock songs.