must no excuses gig:morning benders at market hotel. shar has been crushin' on this outfit from berkeley since the yours truly vid went up. lush and layered harmonies carried by chris's amazing pipes. (pipes he used to apologize to me when i was in his way to the stage.) there's a great example of his talent via you tube of his cover of roy orbison's "crying". unfortunately, they didn't even play their single "excuses", that's garnered them praise. there was a bit of technical sound issues, but they did cover neil young's "bad fog of loneliness" as an encore. i yelled, "do it for bridge school". i don't think they heard. encores are indeed rare for opening bands but well-deserved in this case.
i actually pulled myself from drinks in les to go back to bushwick to see the much touted surfer blood, the main attraction for the night. i caught their sound check prior to morning benders hitting the stage. i really couldn't not go back to see their actual set. if you haven't heard them, listen to a nice segment npr did on them, including tracks "catholic pagan" and "swim". both songs were played tonight.
best warm-up to book club: colum mccann at powerhouse arena. shar had nominated the let the great world spin for book club and was recently approved for april's book choice. hurrah! i had gotten the book a month ago, but saved it on the off chance i would have an opportunity to discuss with fellow bookworms.
when bam notified me of this awesome opportunity for a free reading by colum, i would not let the crazy nor'easter stop me. colum sure has a way with voices. jac oddly enough asked me for audio book recs early this week and well i wish i had heard colum read earlier. he has a lovely way of evoking personalities with words and diction. of the passages he read, my anticipation for the characters and how their stories will intertwine has been piqued. colum revealed that j.j. abrams would be directing the adaptation to film when discussing whether or not cinema influences his writing. he admitted it did and said he uses quite a few film terms to explain writing to his students at hunter college. twas a lovely friday evening nestled in the snow.
really digging the re-imagining of "actor out of work" complete with sax. stripped down arrangements are my fav. the sparseness in "the party" brings out annie's ghostly vocals. shar hearts annie!
best better late than never: glowlounge with mark price. i was fortunate enough to catch the last in a series of artist talks at glowlab. christina was, as always, the perfect hostess. just about 10 of us in the space talking art with artist mark price. he is an earnest and sweet guy, who was patient enough to tell me about his process and all the diy ways to create your own screen prints. thanks mark!
lights went dim and slide show began. mark spoke of his early influences of the industrial landscapes he lived in proximity to outside of philly. starting largely with training with text for advertising, he toyed with the use of text juxtaposed to the images it related to in his prints. as his work progressed, the text fell away and what remained were drawings of disaster. at the center was a sinuous character often buried in the explosions and chaos.
his latest works he delivered to glow lab this night were panels in which he screened the edges as well. he said all the good secrets were at the top. here's an overhead shot.
best return: broken social scene. kevin drew and crew haven't made an album in like 5 years, so the new track "world sick" is a most pleasant revival. you can download the new track here. it's all the loverily orchestration that i have come to love about this canadian outfit.
shar unfortunately has not seen them live in all their glory and prolly won't since the nyc gig sold out. :(
speaking of missed shows, looks like i'm missing beach house too since that concert is sold out. to ease this heartbreak, vic and alex were at xpn for a quickie sesh. it's dreamy, floating on clouds melodies.
best yet to come gallery: glowlab, soon to be christina ray. i was fortunate enough to pop in when christina was in. i love when she's there because she gives me a full run down of all that's to come at the space. she's uber busy with the new name change happening during two upcoming ny art shows fountain and pulse. at the later, christina will be proud to present works from roberto molla, who will also be in attendance at the fair. christina ray and crew will be on hand at fountain to fundraise for swoon's latest project points of interestin braddock, pa. they will be selling screen prints from the braddock screen printing shop.
swoon's swimming cities of swtichback seas
next up for glowlab is mark price's glowlouge, which i'll be checking out. stay tuned for a write up. must fun with paper:gert & uwe tobias at team gallery. these twin brothers create colorful works on paper. here's a special woodblock print especially for their show at team. sorry for glare.
i really loved their playful cutting of books and plays on binding. the reflection of the fluorescent lighting adds a nice tiouch don't you think?
unexpected live sound: taken by trees at knitting factory. victoria was how i last remembered her in concert. cold and not uber chatty. she opened up with video footage from her trip to pakistan, which inspired her last album east of eden. i was a bit bummed because the sufi wind instrumentation was replaced with synth keys. it totally took away from the worldly album that i fell in love with. i did enjoy victoria more this time around. she was more chattier than last time, though that's not much convo. announcing that she would play an old song before "too young" and "lost and found". saying she would be doing a song by someone else before "my girls". she thanked us for being quiet for an acoustic rendition of "tidens gang".
the one rare wind instrument
headliner el perro del mar
i enjoyed her more the second time around. she was busting out the dance moves. i think she's learned a few form touring with lykke li.
this winter olympics fairy tale came true last night. shen and zhou came out of retirement to attempt to get the gold medal that alluded them in three other olympics. their long program wasn't perfect, but the passion was. the same passion that sent them to the top in the short program. shar hasn't been this stoked about pair skating since goordeeva and grinkov. now i wanna hit the rink. any one wanna join me this weekend?
best worth the wait (in the snow) performance: holly miranda at other music. shar fell in love with holly after hearing her rendition of "ex-factor" in the black cab sessions. i finally got a chance to see her live and for free at her record release partay.
we jammed into the cozy store with cd racks pushed to the edges for holly plus band to rip some tunes.
holly was kind enough to sign my 7"x. she likes my name. :)
the in-store was a perfect intimate way to witness holly in her gorgeous glory. if you haven't seen her yet, i advise you do. here's lil taste by yours truly's nate chan.
best new york moment:y-3 show for ny fashion week. shar's not much of a fashion plate, but she does admire the art of clothing. y-3 is up my alley too since it's more a casual sports wear line from adidas by yohji yamamoto. my roomie happened upon 2 passes, so off we went for the show at the park avenue armory, which is an ahmazing space. the location was a set for trading places and that episode of satc where charlotte gets her tartan dress torn by trey. fashion faux pas indeed.
the show began with some precise beams of light across the long catwalk. meow! this lighting scheme reminded me of the fever ray concert.
yohji incorporated masks in the second half of the show
these trenches were promptly stripped and thrown at the end of the catwalk
mom and dad rule and sent me my lucky money for chinese new year. sad that i'm not able to celebrate with them. shar had to take care of nye dinner and pulled off one of mom's signature dishes. whew! found out i missed out on this while in my year of the tiger hooplah.
this year especially i've been asked a lot about our traditions and honestly i don't know all of them. if you are curious, here's a good run down.
must visit:morgan library. shar's been wanting to hit up the jane austen exhibit and the venue. they have glass elevators and the security guards have a great sense of humor. i was greeted with a question of whether i had some dinner for him in my mary poppins-like bag. niiice!
it was happening last night. (note: morgan library has free admission friday night from 7-9pm.) the exhibit was not packed but cozy. there's something enthralling from seeing ms. austen's actual penmanship. here's an example of jane's cross writing. paper was a luxury, so often times they would write over to conserve.
the exhibit also had a great short film, the divine jane, directed by francesco carrozzini. watch it below. there are more additional vids from luminaries giving their reflections on austen. one of favs is cornel west.
the piece made me interweb carrozzini and i came across this jgl gem. i think jane would have found him swoon-worthy as well.
catch it now fltgc: keith haring mural at deitch. shar's already heard from the grapevine about jeffrey deitch's departure for the west coast. jac and i headed over to get in some deitch. i never saw the mural when i was in sf. this kindergartner didn't have the opportunity to hang in south of market children center. i went to grandma's. wish i knew about haring at 5. i think we would have been friends
best hometown goodness: morning benders' "excuses". yours truly just pumps out another great moment in indie music straight from my hometown. bravo nate chan! this performance was the genius of lead singer chris chu's admiration for phil spector. he even wrote him a letter. wish shar could have been a back-up singer. looked like a ton of fun with chris from girls and john vanderslice in tow. check him out taking snaps with his iphone at the 5:24 mark.
jonsi of sigur ros has a solo album coming out april 6. he plays two shows at terminal 5 may 8 and 9. home friends, jonsi stops by zellerbach on april 15. he was on soundcheck and this fab sesh just went up on npr. it's all acousticky goodness with falsetto quivers.
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
-jamie oliver
shar's mentioned jamie's ted prize and last night he announced his wish, which was broadcast live on cnn. a room delegates offered services and introductions to movers and shakers in the food industry. it was all quite moving. good luck with jamie this year on his wish.
here's a good vid from the founders of ted explaining the prize selection process.
this cali gal is enjoying my first snow day ever. glad to be in my pjs. happy to have cleaned the apartment in prep for chinese new year. wish it would stop a little so shar could go sledding in fort greene park. no end in sight.
might build a snowman and some snowballs. maybe pictures to come... pictures, but hanna has the ones of snowballs. i protected her was two swift shot to a neighbors back. toss, tuck , roll. works like a charm.
beacon of musical collab goodness: silver lake via npr. okay all the cool kids are living in silver lake. that's not a new thing, but npr is having a collision of silver lake goodness. the new local natives' album, "gorilla manor" is streaming now. enjoy below.
also, there's a great kexp sesh with fool's goldhere. members of that band often frequent edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, who did a fab tiny desk concert back in november. also the dreaded time period when shar snoozed on the triple bill to see all these bands at bowery. boo on shar! this vid cheers me up everytime tho.
best bedside travel:the sweet life in paris. david lebovitz's autobiography of his transition into the parisan life was just the perfect travel literature on this snowy brooklyn day. shar got her yoga and trader joe's run in before cozy up indoors to devour the pages of slp. (fitting that david mentioned both as his to do's on his trip back to sf). my pal jeanie, who is a sf bay areaian, recommended david's blog and from there i put slp on my book queue at the library.
wrapped in my a.p.c. shawl for additional frenchy immersion, i finished this book in a couple hours. shar hasn't completed such a feat in quite a few years. the book is a breezy, comical read, which i highly recommend to lovers of paris, chocolate, san francisco and general escapist non-fiction (think david sedaris meets anthony bourdain with a sprinkle of alice waters). from line cutting to dreaded last minute visitors, david seems to put his personal je ne sais quoi to each story.
i love how he rationalizes salted butter in baking because i have been scolded for such an act. thanks david for making me feel better about my baking choices and providing a lovely saturday afternoon.
belated concert venue: gilman opera house at bam. shar was wowed by the grandeur of the space. i've been to bam cafe, but not the opera house. i was more than happy to have my first time at the venue be for the antlers and ra ra riot. i'd seen both the bands before, but tonight's gig was a whole other monster.
when peter, darby and mike hit the stage, it was a stark contrast to the cozy nature in which i saw them last time. the acoustics in the venue were suited the crescendo of melodious cacophony. that's an oxymoron, but it's really the right description for it. the applause throughout prompted peter to say how he was going to miss brooklyn when they leave in a few days. awwww, we'll miss you too. they'll be in my hometown on monday. hey home friends, go see the antlers at the warfield. you won't be sorry. peter will have you at his falsetto.
ra ra riot was suited to play an opera house with alexandra and rebecca on electric cello and violin. in fact, they were joined on stage with additional strings and horns. the gang played a ton from the rhumb line, like "can you tell", "ghosts under rocks", and "oh la". during my fav "dying is fine", wes doled out high fives across the audience hugging the stage. they also played three new tunes from their forthcoming album due out this summer. the sextet was in fine form and looking forward to more new tunes.
unexpected performance: atlas sound at bell house. bradford was adorable with beanie on. the first couple tunes were aiiight, until his lopping equipment went wonky. there was some beating and yelling, but bradford ended up doing most of the second half acoustic. i have to say atlas sound is much better recorded, but i kinda assumed with the nature of the sound effects. hard to replicate live.
i was quite impressed by memory tapes. they are dance-tastic. shar wasn't so keen on the uber distorted vocals though. just play the beats and the chords. no need for forced lyrics. for a more comprehensive review, hit up bv.
must no excuses gig: morning benders at market hotel. shar has been crushin' on this outfit from berkeley since the yours truly vid went up. lush and layered harmonies carried by chris's amazing pipes. (pipes he used to apologize to me when i was in his way to the stage.) there's a great example of his talent via you tube of his cover of roy orbison's "crying". unfortunately, they didn't even play their single "excuses", that's garnered them praise. there was a bit of technical sound issues, but they did cover neil young's "bad fog of loneliness" as an encore. i yelled, "do it for bridge school". i don't think they heard. encores are indeed rare for opening bands but well-deserved in this case.
i actually pulled myself from drinks in les to go back to bushwick to see the much touted surfer blood, the main attraction for the night. i caught their sound check prior to morning benders hitting the stage. i really couldn't not go back to see their actual set. if you haven't heard them, listen to a nice segment npr did on them, including tracks "catholic pagan" and "swim". both songs were played tonight.
