January 2012
89 posts
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The Year in Review 2011: The Good, the Mediocre,...
I know, it’s taken me a bit longer than normal to officially put down my thoughts on the past year both musically and personally, and in fact it’s taken me a while to catch up on several outstanding posts towards the last two months of the year. Certainly, working full time, running this blog full time and somehow maintaining a social life creates some interesting dilemmas – and honestly I...
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The Black and White Project: Day 306: January 30,...
A view of the awning at the Ann Taylor Loft store on the corner of West 42nd and Broadway. What I found kind of amazing was the fact that they had so many unchanged, dead light bulbs.
Pedestrians crossing the intersections at West 42nd and Broadway with the Chrysler Building in the distant background. The Chrysler Building is one of my favorite buildings to look at on a daily basis.
For...
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Nova Social at Cake Shop 1/23/12
Nova Social
Cake Shop
January 23, 2012
Although it was a damp, miserable Monday night – the sort of night where you’d probably want to crawl back into bed –David Nagler and Thom Soriano, the duo behind Nova Social played a set at Cake Shop opening for Bright Light Blight Light. Perhaps more known nationally for their theme song for Cartoon Network’s Calling Cat-22 and their individual work...
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The Black and White Project: Days 303-305: January...
The last few days have been very busy, plus I’ve been experiencing some computer issues that have delayed a couple of posts but I’m back and running again and have to catch up on several things over the next few days. There usually isn’t enough time in a day but what can you do, except try to make the best of the time you have available.
Friday I had to run an errand after work...
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“Floating in Blue” is the first single...
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“Mission to Mars” by One Model Nation...
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With the forthcoming release of Nneka’s...
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I came across this song, “Squawk” by...
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The Black and White Project: Days 301-302: January...
Recently, I came across a series of photos taken in Brooklyn during the summer of 1974 and of New York in the very early 80s, and the photos show a New York that’s both familiar and alien, all while possessing a stark, almost post apocalyptic beauty. You couldn’t help but think that if civilization were to collapse that it would look a lot like some of the scenery the photographers...
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WatchMark Stewart’s forthcoming solo effort, The Politics of Envy will drop on March 26th, and much like his days in the Pop Group and other bands, the message has always been deeply political. “Automania” featuring Bobby Gillepsie of Primal Scream was written about Carlo Guilliani, an autonomous protestor who got killed protesting at the 2001 G8 Conference in Genoa. The song is loud,...
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Bob Boilen at NPR has called Liz Green’s...
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WatchNPR’s All Songs Considered First Watch: Video premiered this surreal, apocalyptic video for the Phenomenal Handclap Band’s latest single, “The Right One.” Set to some shiny, disco pop, you’ll see a dying world full of cloning run rampant, menacing obelisks, and Egyptian-inspired imagery. The song like a lot of their material is incredibly catchy.
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The Black and White Project: Days 299 - 300:...
Typical for someone who has a full time job and runs a blog full time, some things had been kind of crazy of late — but the great thing is that I’m heading into the proverbial home stretch with the Black and White Project. Tuesday, January 24, 2012 marked the 300th day of the project. I can see the end coming to the project and it’s kind of sad. What will I do after this? I have...
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WatchThe video for the Laureates’ “Robbers” off their impressive 2011 release, Spells debuted yesterday, and I think it’s a fun video as it employs silly costumes with evil, silent movie mustaches and playfully, surreal bits of animation.
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Modular Records released the lovely and incredibly...
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The Swedish born, New Orleans-based...
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The Black and White Project: Days 297 - 298:...
Saturday night, I went down to Southpaw to catch Nashville’s own Derobert and the Half Truths and two other soul groups, Jesse Dee and the Del Reys. And I must admit that there’s something about seeing black and white images of bands who specialize in such a classic, timeless sound.
And of course, the best highlight of the night, DeRobert and his Half-Truths.
For these...
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Alexcalibur at Arlene's Grocery 1/16/12
Last Monday, I got a chance to catch local band, Alexcalibur at Arlene’s Grocery for the first time in close to a year, I guess. Thanks to the fact that the subway was especially slow on a holiday Monday, I wound up missing the first 3 or 4 songs of the band’s set — thanks MTA, thanks very much. So I never really got a chance to commit any thoughts to paper while there; however,...
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The Black and White Project: Day 296: January 20,...
Last night, I went out to Hell Gate Social in Astoria to catch the 5 Pointz Benefit, and all of the artists who came out and performed killed it — especially the headlining act, Homeboy Sandman. There will be more on that later but for the time being, some black and white pictures …
Before the artists performed, they had a running video display of breakdancers doing their thing in...
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The Black and White Project: Day 295: January 19,...
After a meeting with my boss about some work-related stuff — don’t worry, it was good — I had to run a couple of errands around Union Square as I’ve been coming down with a little bit of a cold.
As the man in the foreground rushes into my photo, and west towards Fifth Avenue, you’ll see a fairly common scene: as vendors sell their various wares, curious pedestrians...
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The Black and White Project: Day 294: January 18,...
Will you always, always be here as this photo indicates? Seriously though, I got out of the office, walked around Times Square and I imagine that because of the weather, not many people were really out and about doing anything strange. So that left me with the Times Square 1,2,3,7 A,C,E,N,Q,R and S train station and the hope that I might come across something that might be profound —...
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When the San Francisco-based band Eux Autres...
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The Black and White Project: Day 293: January 17,...
I stayed behind at the office until a little after 6 to finish up something and to kill a little bit of time before I headed down to Cielo in the Meatpacking District to catch Nigerian singer/songwriter Nneka perform an intimate acoustic preview of material from her forthcoming album, Soul is Heavy. I had started out by walking down Broadway and when I didn’t see anything I figured that I...
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Anna Rose at Tammany Hall 1/13/12
Anna Rose
Tammany Hall
January 13, 2012
Oddly enough, when I had heard that Anna Rose Menken was performing at Tammany Hall last Friday, I hadn’t remembered that I had been there a few years before when it was the Annex, known mostly for electronica, techno and goth nights. Of course, with the name change, there was a definitive change in the clientele; most of the crowd talked fairly audibly...
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The Black and White Project: Day 292: January 16,...
Last night, after a busy day of posting audio and video, I went down to Arlene’s Grocery to catch Alexcalibur play a free, Monday night set. Thanks to the trains being slow, I wound up missing the first couple of songs of the set but the photos that make up the Black and White Project post for day 292 come from that post.
For these photos and the rest of the photos of the...
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Their album X is for Love came out last year but...
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WatchSome great, uplifting hip hop is sometimes what is needed to get your day started. With it’s twinkling piano chords and guitar, this track by Rediculus featuring Koncept, Craig G. and Pair-a-Dyce titled, “More Than Ruff” is kind of reminiscent of Kool G. Rap’s “Ill Street Blues” or of Scarface’s “Keep Me Down.”
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WatchThe New York-based electronica act Avan Lava is set to release their sophomore EP Flex Fantasy and it’s a change of direction for the act — from this video preview of the first single, “It’s Never Over” has the band playing a much more uptempo, disco-influenced sort of techno. In some way this track is reminiscent of Escort and of Miami Horror’s Illumination...
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The Black and White Project: Day 291: January 15,...
This year was the first time in my career that I had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off, so I stopped by the regular bar for a few pints of Guinness, and I needed to go out to take some kind of photos for Sunday when I came across this random bit of graffiti on East Houston Street near First Avenue.
There’s nothing like waiting for an F train at 2nd Avenue when you’ve had way too...
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The Black and White Project: Day 290: January 14,...
V.S. is a big San Francisco 49er fan, so I went out to New Jersey to watch the New Orleans Saints vs. San Francisco 49ers game that afternoon. Suffice to say that V.S. was quite pleased with the result. And after we went into the city to catch what turned out to be a very boring, one-sided Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots game. So there was a lot of wandering around the metropolitan area as...
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The Black and White Project Day 289: January 13,...
Running a blog such as this, I frequently get invited to shows across a large section of the metropolitan area — a true perk of the job, I must admit. Last night, I was invited to catch the very lovely Anna Rose at Tammany Hall and these photos come from that set. Of course, there will be more on that a bit later as I’m still trying to catch up on a few needed things. But for now...
