Misc. Daily Archives

Friday
Tonight brings us an early drinkathon at the D.C. Sports Blogger Happy Hour (which I never got around to making a flyer for - sorry Jamie).

The late drinkathon brings us to a house party on or around O street. Tomorrow morning's gonna hurt.

Saturday

Still waiting on word about my White Stripes tickets, they are playing at GMU's Patriot Center.

If that falls through The Velvet Lounge has an excellent show that will be my back-up plan. Donny Hue & the Colors, Nethers Nikki solo and the Griznar Musical Collective. Donny Hue & the Colors features Aaron and Mike of Nethers and Olivia and Randy from Washington Social Club. I still haven't seen Nethers perform this year (!!!!) and this looks to be my best chance for the foreseeable future. Plus Nikki and Olivia are two of my favorite artists (if not my two favorite artists) in the city, so I'm hoping I can maybe see both shows.

[MP3] Donny Hue & the Colors | Real Long Time

Sunday
After sleeping in, I have a sports filled night ahead of me. I'm thinking about heading out The Goodman League in the early afternoon to see if I can get a spot for the 7 p.m. game which is supposed to feature Agent Zero v. Kevin Durant. Like Woah. D.C. United face Mexico's Club America at RFK in Superliga action at 8 p.m.

No rest for the weary!

And that new rule is from now on I'm keeping my fucking mouth shut until after the fact whenever big things happen or I get big news. Otherwise the news keeps getting rescheduled. First the Morrissey gigs and now the thing yesterday, which I can't talk about because it might still happen. But I digress...

Not sure what everyone else's plans for the weekend are, but I'll be heading to the land of people that don't drive so good, aka Maryland, to take in Whartscape, which gets shadier and shadier the more I find out about it. If there are no posts on this site on Monday, call the cops. But since I'm a music blogger, I guess I'm duty bound to go check out Dan Deacon. Seriously though, seeing Spankrock should be fun.

One show I'm sad to miss on Sunday night is the Bishop Allen show. DCeiver won't freakin' shut up about them. They're his [insert name of whatever band I'm obsessing about this week].

Here are some MPfree's of theirs:
[MP3] Bishop Allen | Rain
[MP3] Bishop Allen | Click Click Click Click

Did anyone else watch the MLS All-Star game last night? If not you missed the interview with David Beckham at halftime. The one in which he said he probably wouldn't play on Saturday against Chelsea. While he was saying that ESPN ran a graphic on the screen that said "Will make his U.S. debut Saturday v. Chelsea." So I guess this weekend we'll find out who's really running things in the Beckham camp.

Two other news items of note, both regarding photography.

First is the NFL making photographers wear vests with sponsor logos, which is total BS. That's a good way to be seen as impartial, no? Wearing a vest with Reebok and Canon logos on it?

Second is the whole Band of Horses hates cameraphones, which I totally agree with. I always find it funny how publicists stress to me "NO FLASH" whenever I get a photo pass at the 9:30 Club. I never say it, but the people they really need to worry about are everyone with Point and Shoots and cameraphones. They're the ones snapping away with their flashes. Not the "pros"* (with a few notable exceptions). I also can never understand why people standing at the back of the venue try and take pictures on their cell phones. They're way too far away from the action and it just comes out as this big unidentifiable glob of bad lighting. And yes, I am a camera snob.

At the same time, I realize that more and more people are bringing their cameras to shows and it can get annoying. That said, I rarely go to a show without my camera. DSLR's are fairly cheap now and more and more people are getting into photography. I'm not sure what the breaking point is going to be, but we'll get their soon.

For bigger shows, I just try and get my shots and get out of the way so people can enjoy the show. That's why I don't mind the "First three / no flash" rule at concerts for photo passes. I can never tell you what happens during the first three songs of a show I'm shooting, because I'm busy working and not really paying attention to the music. At the Travis show I totally forgot they played "Writing to Reach You" because they played it third and I was too busy working my way to the center of the venue to get a better vantage point to stop and listen. So I totally buy the "People are too busy messing with their cameras to enjoy the show" argument. But after the third song, I put my camera away and enjoy the show like everyone else. In most cases I also move to the back of the venue, so if I grabbed someone else's spot while I was battling for position up front, I can give it back to them. People are generally cool with that and I certainly try and be as unobtrusive as I can be (given the fact that I have all this gear hanging around my neck and waist). There are right ways and wrong ways to go about all of this. I guess what I'm trying to day is get your shots early and then put everything away and enjoy the show. A win/win for everyone.

* Please note I don't consider myself a "pro." I always tell people I'm a professional amateur, which I think is about right.

So then, my weekend in a nutshell:

Friday

Friday night Ms. Smith and I ventured to the Black Cat to see The Vita Ruins. They were giving away free copies of their E.P., Thanks For Your Concern (But We're OK), so I grabbed a few for you readers (more on that in a sec). The band sound not unlike Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- swirling, feedback-drenched guitars, sinister vocals and a driving back beat. They're obviously big shoegazer fans, which is always a good thing in my book. They drew a decent amount of people to the show, many of which were photographers, causing one person to remark "I've never seen so many photographers for a band I've never heard of." I'll be sending the copies of the E.P. I snagged as a consolation prize to those that didn't win those Editors CD's. So keep an eye on your inbox if you entered.

Saturday

Saturday I ran errands during the day (I need a new camera bag) and tried to stay out of the heat. Later that night I took in the D.C. United v. FC Dallas match at RFK. Expect a short recap on DCist later today.

Sunday

Can you name a better way to spend Sunday than drinking beer, eating BBQ and watching football? I think not. My only complaint was that the Brazil v. Argentina match was such a snoozer. Oh well. I spent the rest of the night editing photos. Exciting, no?

Yes, sometime my lyrics are sexist
But you lovely bitches and ho's should know
I'm trying to correct this.

Brilliant. Methinks HBO hitched it's wagon to the wrong show.

Make yours here. Post a link!