I’ve seen Pavement play many times over the years, from opening for Sonic Youth in 1993, to their reunion show in Stockton in 2010 for SF Weekly and yet again in Berkeley , but this was by far the closest I ever stood to Stephen Malkmus. Malkmus played the first of two free instores with the Jicks at Academy Records in Brooklyn. My spot just happened to be way too close for comfort.
Click on the link for more of my photos from Steven Malkmus and The Jicks at Academy Records on Brooklyn Vegan .
As anticipated, the line to enter the free, all ages show at House of Vans in Greenpoint was long, as throngs of punk and indie type kids arrived over two hours early to sit it out on the sidewalks. Shortly before doors opened, a seemingly unfair downpour soaked the hundreds of kids waiting to get in to the House of Vans for its 5th free show of the summer – either for the 5 bands, the free beer, or maybe just the free Boxed Water.
Jaja of Ninjasonik standing in the downpour:
The back patio of HOV feels like your BBQing with 500 of your closest friends – except your ordering french fries from the Frying Dutchman and trolling through ankle deep rain to get to the free Heineken Light beer stand. This show required maintaining a positive attitude, considering the band line up made no sense at all, leaving everyone bound to both love and hate something.
Starting the night was Team Robespierre, a synth-punk, electro pop cute boy band from Brooklyn. They were a fun segue, and audience energizing sound to Japanther, local Brooklyn punk duo.
Something about drummer Ian Vanek screaming and spitting into a yellow telephone receiver mic makes me curiously want to scale abandoned buildings with him and then have a picnic; his sound and persona bordering between sexy and horrifying.
Speaking of sexy, how did New Orleans’ Big Freedia The Queen Diva get the slot following, right before Against Me!? Perhaps it just fit in right before her scheduled next performance the same night at The Morgan in Bushwick, and (as she told me backstage) an exhausting day of photo shoots and interviews.
The Sissy Bounce Queen brought nothing short of high energy, ass shakin’ hits, and a whole crew of dancers, including bootie bumpin’ dancer “Frohawk” who raced out the door right after to sing onstage with Handsome Furs that same night. I overheard one guy saying,” I don’t get it. Just seems like a lot of asses all over the place.” Obviously, he is not familiar with Big Freedia’s ‘Azz Everywhere‘ hit yet.
Next up late 90′s Florida punk band Against Me! really threw the ass shakin’ good times out the door – and brought the mosh pit, angry youth punching moves out.
I watched a crowd surfing guy get pummeled over into the photo pit, and land straight down on his head, his eyes lids fluttering back, but he was okay. Another guy, not so lucky, was taken out in a stretcher with head injuries. All in all, a solid punk sound, and the show Against Me! put on must surely have redeemed their reputation to more than a few fans.
Finally Tokyo Police Club, really sweet, down-to-earth cuties from Ontario, Canada closed out the show with catchy indie rock hits from their new release titled “CHAMP”.
If you had started the night with a Four Loco then downed a few Heineken’s throughout the night, you were probably teetering on that fence between sugar crash and triple vision, and Tokyo Police Club provided a pleasantly poppy soundtrack for either.
Or as the young kids out back on the patio were doing at this point, music to make out to under the stormy Brooklyn skies.
More images from the House of Vans party on my Flickr.
I first discovered Aly Spaltro of Lady Lamb The Beekeeper thru a couple beautiful photographs by Shervin which led to his beautifully filmed, single take, video “Between Two Trees” of Aly’s band Lady Lamb The Beekeeper. Her voice is so stunning and original, I had to see her for myself.
These are photos of her show at Union Pool in Brooklyn back in June as part of L Magazine’s Northside Fest. She was unbelievably sweet and shy, but her vocals were bigger than the room!
Well, Union Pool’s stage lighting translates better in to video anyways. So does its sound.
Watch the video of her performing “Crane Your Neck”
And “Bird Balloon” and also “Between Two Trees”
And go see her play live. Its amazing what comes out of such a small girl’s lungs.
While in Puerto Rico recently, I did a shoot with the amazingly patient model Angy Aponte in El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rain forest in the Unite States. Angy was extremely hard working, patient, adventurous, and fun to collaborate with on this shoot. We had gone over a few ideas during the few weeks prior, mapped out some locations in El Yunque, but in general followed the sun and the roads leading deeper in the tropical forest. We left early to avoid the rain (as is expect in a rain forest) but luckily it never did. She very gracefully tromped across slippery rocks underneath a waterfall, balanced in high heels in deep mud, and endured bug bites standing in a wall of corn husk. She painted her face in neon orange stripes, changed clothes in the back of a van, and barely survived the 3 takes of colored smoke bombs we set off around her in a jungle of trees. For 6 hours we dripped sweat, climbed and hiked, and Angy somehow managed to make it look so casual in front of the camera. Never a complaint. Although she did confess to me, “I really don’t like lizards.” Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:
The rain forest closed at sunset, and we managed to push it to the very end. Almost as soon as we started the drive back to San Juan, Angy and I both fell asleep. We woke up in Santurce, to the ringing bell of an ice cream truck; Angy jumped out of the van and bought us ice cream sandwiches, the perfect thing to eat when you’re covered in mud and mosquito bites.
Santurce District of San Juan
Recent trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico – one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The people are beautiful (despite few weirdos) the beaches, the palm trees, the streets, the roosters, and the sunsets are beautiful, and the humid sudden down pours make the summer heat epically magical. I made an awesome friend for life my first day there, Pepo, who showed me cool local spots like this:
Thanks Pepo. For the best tacos I’ve ever had in my life.
Then I took a day trip to Old San Juan:
Old San Juan
Old San Juan Cemetary
Old San Juan Cemetary
Old San Juan Puerto Rico
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Went to the 2nd oldest churches on the Western Hemisphere, inadvertently crashed a wedding (which i photographed with my Holga)
Cathedral of San Juan de Bautista
Cathedral of San Juan de Bautista
Cooling off in a fountain.
Old San Juan
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
La Placita near Condado on a weekday night. The weekends are like a street party salsa explosion – but Monday’s, not so much.
La Placita, San Juan, Puerto Rico
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