Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time

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.

Hospital Bombers @ Cake Shop

I also saw Surf City and Male Bonding later that night at Cake Shop who were both good and I did enjoy them as well, but perhaps I’d enjoy their recorded stuff more than seeing them live (without knowing their music ahead of time, anyway).

Andrew WK @ NYU Kimmel Center

On Wednesday I went to see CMJ’s keynote speaker, Andrew WK! You already know that I love Andrew WK, so of course I was going to be at his panel! He gave a brief introduction and then pretty much opened the floor to questions for anyone to ask. He still dispelled his AWK wisdom, which is to believe in yourself and do what makes you happy, something I try to live by as well! It’s always nice to hear some reinforcing positive messages when it comes to things like that. But there were definitely parts of his talk that were funny as well. You never know what you’re going to get when Andrew WK gives a talk!

Bang Bang Eche @ Studio at Webster Hall

Later that night I saw another lineup of bands, but none impressed me until Bang Bang Eche. They’re roughly about 17 years old from New Zealand, and what caught my eye first was how energetic they (especially the lead singer) are. From the bands I saw earlier that night and the night before, none of them really rocked out when appropriate. This kid was all over the stage and jumped into the audience! Their music seems pretty complex for kids of their age, so I think that adds to the appeal, plus it’s just plain good and gets you up and dancing! I’ll definitely be looking for some music by these guys.

Bodega Girls @ Crash Mansion

Moving on to Thursday where I first saw Boston’s Bodega Girls after work. Note: there is only one girl in the band, and she doesn’t do much but try to dance sexily (is that a word?) onstage. Anyway, my friend Leila had seen them the night before and liked them, and it turned out that I shared her enthusiasm! Their first song, possibly titled “I Won’t Write You A Love Song”, was super catchy and dancey and it made me think I had heard it around somewhere before. I ended up dancing through the rest of their set, and I am excited to hear more from them!!

pow wow @ Cake Shop

I was able to quickly catch a few songs of the band pow wow. I don’t know anything about them, I just thought the description of them in the CMJ booklet sounded like something I’d like, and I saw that they only seemed to be playing this one show all week. I’m glad I was able to see even the three songs I did, because I loved their cute poppy sound, and it had all the girls dancing adorably in the venue. Might I mention that everyone in the band was adorable, including the girl guitarist who wore heels and a nice classy dress, and I kinda wanted to be her! I need to find out more information on them and get some music ASAP!

Hockey @ Mercury Lounge

Finally, my night ended at Mercury Lounge where I got to see probably one of the bigger buzzed bands at CMJ at this year, Hockey. I have their album and generally enjoy it, but live they sound much much better! Plus it’s also an automatic dance party! Everyone there seemed to be super into their set and it got pretty sweaty by the end of their set. Lots of energy plus catchy songs equals a great set! I wouldn’t mind seeing them play again, and perhaps with a longer set next time.

So those were the highlights of the past three days for me. Stay tuned for CMJ 2009 – Part Deux!

On a non-rainy day in June, I braved the annoying crowds of tourists in Times Square to attend a mostly New Yorker filled event: the annual Bubble Battle!

The idea is really simple – just show up…

blow bubbles…

and enjoy!

Check out the bubbles in real time! Who knew there could be so many bubbles in one place?!

Click here for more of my photos from the bubble battle!

If you’ve taken the time to delete the /goodtime from this site address, you might have noticed that I have a small collection of photographs that I’ve taken over the years. I think it’s safe to say that I have a photography hobby (I only have 9 or 10 different cameras!), and I’ve become increasingly interested in using film and experimenting with older cameras. The main film camera I use is a Holga FN, but aside from three focusing ranges, it’s basically a point and shoot medium format camera (or 35mm! I love shooting so you see the sprocket holes!). I’ve looking to expand my range and manual photographic abilities, and I think I’ve found a camera that will help me out with that!

A couple weeks ago when New York had its first lovely spring weather weekend, I was able to go to the Lomography store and borrow a Lubitel 166+ for a day! It’s the new version of an older twin lens reflex camera made in Russia as far back as 1946. What’s great and new about this version of the camera (compared to its original predecessor) is its ability to be able to use medium format or regular 35mm film, and you can also rewind back to any shot on the roll and take a double exposure! Developing medium format film is pretty expensive, so it’s nice having the option of using 35mm film instead.

Normally I am pretty precious with my film and don’t like to be forced to take photos, but since I was only borrowing it for a day I had to be fast! Even under pressure I was able to get some pretty nice photos and double exposures! Though I’m a little upset about two photos that I took that didn’t come out as I had hoped (the one downside to film!). I hardly ever take photos of people (outside of concert photography), but I asked two random people if I could take their photos. With the afternoon light and the guy’s bright pink shirt in front of a dark background I was excited to see how it came out. But somehow I pressed the shutter when I crossed the street, since there’s a huge truck in the middle of the photo! I’m not sure what happened, but in this case it wasn’t a happy mistake :(

Aside from that, I liked the fact that a lot of people stopped me on the street or on the subway asking me about the camera, since it looks so odd to what we’re used to, and you also look through it from the top! But I liked that and being able to chat about something I like with people on the street :) I’m looking into buying one of the original Lubitels on eBay (since I can’t afford this newer version), so hopefully in the not-too-distant future I shall have more Lubitel photos to share with you!

Last week I saw the Japanese band Peelander-Z for the first time at a private party. I’ve had multiple opportunities to have seen them live before, but last week was the first time I actually did. Now I am KICKING myself for not having seen them every chance I’ve had. They were SO much fun. I didn’t know any of their music going into it, all I knew was that it was punk, which it was. But their songs are super fun as well, and easy to yell along to. Songs like Mad Tiger, S.T.E.A.K. and Karaoke Party have easy repeating choruses that they encourage you to chant along with. And if you aren’t sure what you’re supposed to be saying, they have signs to go along with some of their songs!

They run into the audience a lot which is always fun. At one point they had a huge rope and had some people limbo under it and others jump rope. Later, Peelander Red jumped on top of the bar, and the bartender just kept pouring drinks like nothing was happening (and it was a pretty small bar area too!). They even had a bowling pin costume and set up 10 pins and Peelander Yellow (as the huge bowling pin) ran and slid into the bowling pins! Ridiculous and fun!

They also bring people onstage to play their instruments while they jump into the crowd for the human bowling, so I volunteered to play bass and it was awesome! Did I mention that I went to this show alone? Haha. Thanks so much to the dude who I handed my camera to for taking pictures!

Definitely check out Peelander-Z next time they come through your town! Even if you don’t know their music going into it (like I did) you will still have a good time guaranteed. Click here for more of my photos from the show!