August 2008 Archives
Page of 3
So I am finally getting around to putting my photos from the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival online. I'm also trying out a new feature on information leafblower, namely new photo galleries hosted here on the site. Chan Marshall will be my guinea pig. Honestly I was less than impressed with her set at VFest, the first time I had ever seen her. But I can't really say I am a fan, so no surprise. She has a great voice, but nothing she did really grabbed me. This would be the pattern for the day on the North Stage.
[Photo Gallery] Cat Power at the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival
[mp3] Cat Power | Metal Heart
I received an embarrassment of great mp3's delivered to my inbox yesterday.
Could I be more excited about The Peth finally releasing their debut album? Of course not! The Peth include actor (and former member of Super Furry Animals) Rhys Ifans on vocals and my good friend Daf Ieuan (I can spell his name without looking it up and he has beaten me at FIFA on the Playstation, so I am allowed to call him good friend) who mans the drum kit for the Super Furries for his day job. Here's the first single, the appropriately named "Let's Go Fucking Mental." Sounds like an energetic slice of Fuzzy Logic. Yes please.
[mp3] The Peth | Lets Go Fucking Mental
If you go sign up for it on their site, you can get a free Chemical Brothers, "Hey Boy Hey Girl (Soulwax 2ManyDJ's Remix)." Or you could look for it other places on the interwebs.
Another record I am excited for is Sam Champion's Heavenly Bender. You can buy it at Amie Street right now for just $3! Here is a track off the record.
[mp3] Sam Champion | Be Mine Everyone
Lastly, Ra Ra Riot are doing the "Let's Give A Group of Bloggers Exclusive Video" thing. Watch:
"Dying Is Fine (Attic Session)" on P4K
"Too Too Too Fast (Attic Session)" on Stereogum
"Ghosts Under Rocks (Attic Session)" on Brooklyn Vegan
"Oh La (Attic Session)" on My Old Kentucky Blog
Rock 'N' Roll Star / Lyla / The Shock Of The Lightning *new* / Cigarettes And Alcohol / The Meaning Of Soul / To Be Where There's Life *new* / The Masterplan / Songbird / Slide Away / Morning Glory / Ain't Got Nothin *new* / The Importance of Being Idle / Wonderwall / Supersonic / Don't Look Back In Anger / Falling Down *new* / Champagne Supernova / I Am The Walrus
Wow. Personally I could do without "The Meaning of Soul" and "The Importance of Being Idle" but hard to complain about "Supersonic," (which I haven't heard live in AGES) "Cigarettes And Alcohol," "Slide Away" and "The Masterplan." Although WHY IN F@CK'S NAME WON'T THEY PLAY "THE HINDU TIMES?"
I get to see them in two weeks. Consider me jump-up-and-down excited.
[setlist via Popscene]
LA Times: What blogs do you read on a daily basis?
Howard Wolfson: Brooklyn Vegan, Idolator, Saidthegramaphone, some D.C.-based blogs like informationleafblower.
Obvs.
Info here, but nothing terribly exciting (at least for us 40D owners). The new Digic 4 processor is intriguing, but not enough to buy another new body. I want more focus points. More info here.
McEnroe served and volleyed as Borg stood stoic at the base line contesting points so complex and involved they felt like short stories. The best moments came at the end, a 34-point fourth set tiebreaker, won by McEnroe, followed by a 8-6 fifth-set loss so thrillingly close that Borg's fifth consecutive Wimbledon victory spoke to the brutal, bright-size-life way that singles tennis has of revealing a man and displaying what he is made of. It is a martial game: eliminate or be eliminated.
In other tennis news, the U.S. Open starts today! The Future Ms. Leaf and I will be there on Sunday! Can't wait. I bet Roddick doesn't make it past the quarters. He looked horrible at the Legg Mason. I also predict I am going to eat at Bonnie's at least once during my stay in NYC.
Do yourself a favor and click through. I've said it once, but I'll say it again, if you're not reading Newsweek's photoblogger's Olympic coverage, you are missing out.
Seems like every time I turn on the Olympics, it's either diving or boxing. Boooring. I still haven't seen the Redeem team play at all.
In other news, I have 457 saved items in my Bloglines account. Here are a few of them:
Matthew Sweet :: A Career: Thus Far...
A story in Business Week about a thriving newspaper industry in Germany surmises that the problems with US newspapers is not the internet it's the content.
Kelly Shimoda and the Art of the Text Message. Brilliant.
Japan Wins: Most Photogenic Public Works Project, EVER.
10 Pieces of Photo Gear Under $50 You Should Own.
50 photos of people all taken with my 50mm lens. Again, brilliant.
Underworld's setlist at Virgin Fest. I still need to upload those photos.
The Baltimore Round Robin tour sounds like a very Baltimore thing to do. Especially because THEY ARE SKIPPING DC. Seriously, they should just make signs that say "F DC."
MOP + Sesame Street = awesome.
WOXY Lounge Act Recap - Thao w/ The Get Down Stay Down. Although teetering into very Ani DiFranco territory at times, she was pretty damn good at the Black Cat last week.
Sad news. Jerry Finn has passed away. That makes me incredibly sad.
Lastly, Happy Bday to Amanda, one day early.
A few days ago I started receiving a few hits here and there from a blog called Gotham Acme. I clicked through to check it out and see that it is written by someone named Howard Wolfson. I immediately start wondering if it was that Howard Wolfson.
Well, turns out it is (thanks for clearing that up Jason). And he reads the leafblower! Sweetness. Fitting, I guess, as I voted for Hillary in the primary.
And for all of you clicking through from the HuffPo or Gotham Acme and looking for some indie-rock recommendations, I heartily endorse The Rhumb Line, from Ra Ra Riot, out this week on Barsuk Records. Perhaps my favorite album of the year, at least until October 7th.
Here is a little taste:
[mp3] Ra Ra Riot | Dying Is Fine
Also Ra Ra Riot is playing the Black Cat on October 12th. You'd be a fool not to attend.
Last Friday I got an IM from Malitz asking me if I wanted to spend Monday following the Jonas Brothers around town on Monday. At first I thought he was joking, but after he assured me he was not, I immediately said yes. Who wouldn't want to spend the day in close proximity to the biggest boy band in the world? I can hear the indie rock snickers from here, but hear me out. I had a lot of fun on Monday. It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
My new favorite saying is "I am not a photojournalist, but I play one on the internet," and Monday gave me an opportunity to do just that. I shot the band at the White House, a packed press event at Madame Tussaud's, another smaller, more intimate press event at the venue, soundcheck and then the gig itself (You can see the evidence over at Washingtonpost.com).
Perhaps the best part was the way we got this access. We had an actual press pool and our group got to follow the band around in very close proximity all day. A press pool is a very unique (some might say innovative) way to cover a rock band.
The band's head of publicity for the tour was formerly in charge of the press pool following the Mitt Romney Presidential campaign, so this was something she was very familiar with organizing. The number of people in the pool ebbed and flowed during the day, depending on deadlines and whatnot, but we had a cool little group, including Malitz, Fox 5's Stacey Cohan, D.C. media maven Tammy Haddad, tween 'zine Twist Magazine and KOL, the kid's version of AOL. I was on the Fox 5 news at 5 and will be part of a future Newsweek video feature about the whole day.
The band, for their part, was very down to earth (as much as teenage millionaires can be) and have obviously been coached very well in all things media. Every time they entered a room, they introduced themselves and shook hands with everyone and were always incredibly polite. I also have tremendous respect for their work ethic. They had a very full day and still did a three hour meet and greet with a group of 350 or so fans right before they went on stage! When I took the assignment last week I had no idea that it would end up being such big news (well, it is D.C. in August after all) but it was very cool to have a front row seat to the whole thing.
The best part was the event at Madame Tussaud's. When we pulled up, the throng of female teens momentarily mistook Malitz for one of the JoBros. We saw looks of ecstasy turn into agony in three seconds flat. Then we got out and were ushered downstairs and planted on the front row for the statue unveilings. The girls who got access to the event were incredibly loud, all of them were just screaming their heads off the entire time. It was complete pandemonium when the curtain went down and the band was revealed to them, standing next to their wax counterparts. After a quick round of photos and some questions, the band was ushered out of the room just as quickly as they got there. We quickly followed through the same door and them we all slipped out a side entrance back into the venue's garage. After loading the band into their Escalade, we jumped into our van and our small caravan was off to the venue. Only we were being chased by girls running down the street. One of them ran out into traffic! And then we realized that TMZ was tailing us with a video camera. It was straight out of A Hard Day's Night.
Going out on tour with a band is awesome. Even better when you get to go home and sleep in your own bed. And as a bonus, we had enough downtime for me to edit all the photos I took during the day, so I had everything loaded and edited before we even started home.
I think we can safely file this post under "Things I never thought I would do" and "Posts I never thought would appear on information leafblower." But yes, it's true, I spent the better part of 13 hours hanging with the Jonas Brothers yesterday as they did all sorts of things in and around Washington D.C. I don't have time to elaborate on the whole thing right now, but you can go and read about it on Washington Post's Post Rock blog and also peep the photos on the Washington Post photo page.
My own photo gallery on the WaPo! Pretty sweet.
File under: Does Not Want!
Russell Crowe to play Bill Hicks?
"I have another project based on the life of comedian Bill Hicks, which is going from treatment to draft stage with Kiwi writer Mark Staufer."It is understood he is considering playing the main role of Hicks -- a controversial and brilliant American comedian who battled drug and alcohol abuse before dying from cancer at 32.
No No No No No No!
[via Vulture]
I know content has been scarce around here lately (Thank you Noel for the new Oasis single - something to listen to AND blog about), but lest you think I'm slacking over here, this is what I've been up to for the last eight or nine days:
Last Saturday: Virgin Mobile Festival: Day One
Last Sunday: Virgin Mobile Festival: Day Two
Monday: Day off (woo!)
Tuesday: US Open Cup: D.C. United v. NE Revolution @ RFK
Wednesday: Legg Mason Tennis Classic second round @ Rock Creek Park
Thursday: Covering four concerts in one night for the Washington Post
Friday: Legg Mason Tennis Classic quarterfinals @ Rock Creek Park
Saturday: Legg Mason Tennis Classic semifinals @ Rock Creek Park
Sunday: Legg Mason Tennis Classic finals @ Rock Creek Park
The write up and photos of the Legg Mason Finals should be up some time this morning over on DCist. I still have tennis photos from this weekend that I need to post. Same for the Virgin Mobile Festival. I'll get them up as soon as I can.
I bring all this up mainly to let you know that all that is nothing compared to what I am doing today. Stay tuned.
The new Oasis song is 10x better than ANYTHING on the new Verve record. At least Noel knows what a hook is.
I think we've lost Captain Rock for good. A sad day.
My feet and back hurt. Go look at some of my photos and read a partial review over on DCist. We'll have part two tomorrow. More photos should be popping up elsewhere online as well.
I had hoped to suck it up and go see Jukebox The Ghost and These United States at Fort Reno tonight, but that's not gonna happen. I have a busy week and really need to take the time off when I can get it.
More soon.
Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything
Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything
I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible
I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible
Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy
Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy
You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In
You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In
Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager
Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager
Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing
Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing
Wow. That was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Period.
I don't know what I am more excited about, seeing KoL again (they were brilliant at the 9:30 Club last year) or finally seeing The Whigs. And by "finally seeing The Whigs" I mean, I finally listened to the album a few months ago and it awesome and I am so pissed that I missed them the 34 times they played here last year.
Also on the bill, We Are Sceintists. They were pretty damn great last weekend at the Black Cat. The material from their first record is fairly awesome. I need to cop Brain Thrust Mastery.
The tour dates are as follows:
September
23 New York, NY Webster Hall w/The Whigs
October (w/The Stills and We Are Scientists)
11 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
12 San Diego, CA House of Blues
15 Los Angeles, CA Nokia Theatre
17 and 18 San Francisco, CA Warfield Theatre
20 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
21 Portland, OR Schnitzer Hall
23 Denver, CO The Fillmore Auditorium
25 Austin, TX Austin Music Hall
26 Oklahoma City, OK Bricktown Events Center
28 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless Theater
29 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
31 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
November (w/The Whigs and We Are Scientists)
1 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre
3 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
5 Milwaukee, WI The Eagles Ballroom
7 Toronto, ONT Kool Haus
8 Detroit, MI The Fillmore
10 Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall
12 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
15 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory Ballroom
18 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle
19 Nashville, TN Nashville Municipal Auditorium
A Photo Editor talks to Simon Barnett, Directory of Photography for Newsweek, about his plans for covering a sporting event on the scale of this year's Olympic games.
Tell me a little bit about working on an event of this magnitude from a DoP's point of view. Lot's of meetings, last minute adjustments of coverage and a ton of frames to edit?For us, this is the first time that our focus is overwhelmingly to our web presence, so with that we've come up with a new approach to editing. Each of the three photographers will manage their own photo blog, editing and uploading their best images -along with, I hope, some very personal anecdotes about what it's like to be there experiencing it. I hope this creates a form of photo "Survivor" between them, where they are in a kind of creative competition. Then, I'll go in to their blogs each day and edit what I deem to be the 'best of' which will be up on a showcased Newsweek.com gallery around noon each day. It's kind of photographic natural selection.
Sounds awesome. Updating my RSS feeds as we speak.
So long Manny. From what everyone says, it was time for you to go. But I have nothing but love for you. Thanks for 2004 and 2007.
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