I’m starting to become really excited for this summer, even though this random hot then cold New York weather has made me forget that June is only one week away! I’ve got big plans for summer activities, big plans! The following is only a short list of events I’m looking forward to doing this summer that should make for some good times.
Crowd at Warped Tour, 2004
✦ Free summer concerts
New York can’t be beat in the summer, especially with all of the free events that happen all over every borough. There’s so many good free outdoor concerts I look forward to every year, such as Siren Festival, the Williamsburg Waterfront “Pool Parties,” shows at Pier 54 and South Street Seaport, Celebrate Brooklyn, shows at The Yard in Gowanus (usually not free, but I love that lil’ outdoor venue), etc! And I just read that the Virgin Mobile Festival is going to be free again this year, which means driving down to Maryland! I went last year and saw some big names like Weezer, Blink 182 (throwback!), Franz Ferdinand and Girl Talk, so I’m excited to see who plays this year.
Last week, Peelander-Z played in Brooklyn again at the always fun Brooklyn Bowl (for those not from NY, it’s a bowling alley that doubles as a concert venue. You can bowl and watch the bands at the same time!). I hope by now you’re all familiar with this band, as I wrote about them the first time I ever saw them (which was ridiculous fun!), and when I saw them at SXSW last year. I brought my friend Krystalynne with me and it was the first time she’d seen them, or even heard of them, but I knew after the show she’d become a fan. I strongly urge everyone to see this band if they tour near you, because you don’t need to know any of their music to have a good time. Plus, they’re from Japan, so how can they not be fun? I also ended up playing bass onstage with them, again!
If you’ve been a casual reader of this blog, you’ve probably noticed that I enjoy going to shows to see my favorite bands live. In fact, my new years resolution for 2006 was to attend 100 shows, which I barely made by going to 101! So you can imagine that seeing such a high amount of shows can get somewhat monotonous; always surrounded by a crowd, looking up at the handful of people onstage, with nobody really paying attention to you. So I always enjoy something different, like when the band interacts with the crowd, or when people from the crowd get to interact with the band! I experienced the latter last night, mixed with one of my favorite things – karaoke!
Hopefully you are all familiar with the band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I actually booked them to play at my university in Boston in 2008, and I can confidently say that Ted Leo is a super nice, intelligent, and funny guy, and same with his band as well. Coinciding with the release of their latest album, The Brutalist Bricks, the Rx played a majority of the songs from the new record at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn last week, and after about an hour or so of new music they opened it up to karaoke!
This week has been lots of craziness as the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon has descended upon New York City! This year seems to be mostly about finding new bands and talent, since I haven’t heard of a majority of the bands that are playing this year. While it makes enthusiasm ahead of time a little low because you never know what you’re going to get with any new band, it makes new discoveries that much better when you see an act that put on a good show and has some good tunes that make you dance around!
Let’s start with Tuesday. I had to cover a showcase at the Cake Shop, and while I wrote down little snippets about each band I saw, the only band that really impressed me was the Hospital Bombers, who were much poppier than the other bands that played after. They are definitely a soundtrack to a breezy summer day laying out in a field somewhere, and I like the occasional female vocals and the violin is a cute touch as well.
I can finally think about SXSW last week without feeling exhausted! Below is just a fraction of the bands I saw. The week is such a blur that I’m already forgetting all the bands that I saw, both good AND bad! But I tried to provide links, pictures and video of all the bands I saw so it’s almost like you were there with me (except you were probably much less drunk ;)! This is a long one, so beware!
I actually arrived in Austin the Monday before the the music part of SXSW started. That was cool because I was able to go out and see my friend Marko DJ for a little bit, and also where I met a couple people I’d hang out with for the rest of the week! We danced to his set and then made our way to a few other places throughout the night to get our groove on which was a lot of fun and we ended up being out until 4am (note: bars in Austin close at 2am, I forgot that seems to be the norm outside of NYC) drinking free beers at the PureVolume House! And there was a group of guys dancing who were basically having a dance-off and they were AMAZING to watch. I wish I had half of their skills!
It’s the last day of SXSW! Obviously I have much to update on but definitely no time for that right now. So I will give you a preview of two videos that I did not take of Monotonix from Tel Aviv, Israel, who I saw Thursday night (or should I say Friday morning) starting at 2:45am. The show was at Ballet Austin and inside it was the sweatiest thing you can imagine, you can even see the windows all fogged up. The show eventually got shut down by the cops, but it was still a great time while it lasted. These videos can explain way more than I can in words, but still doesn’t capture the essence of being there::
As I’m writing this, I’m on a flight down to Austin, Texas for the annual South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival! I went for the first time last year through my college’s radio station and it was so much fun, and I’m excited to be going again this year!
This is my space to write about my antics & adventures in New York, along with updates about my other interests such as photography, travel, karaoke, dodgeball, & more!
