2010

Posted on September 1, 2010
Filed Under friends, music, photography | Leave a Comment

The Clifton Park show was bittersweet for me. I had SUCH a good time at the Interpol shows this summer, and I knew Clifton Park would be my last for a while. Even more than that, I knew that it would be my last time seeing Twin Tigers on the tour, and I feel like we became friends. I know when I’ll see Interpol again; with Twin Tigers I’m less sure. They’re a band with a lot of potential and they’ve done a lot of touring, so they’ll get up here eventually… But anyway, I knew it would be weird to say goodbye to everyone and it was a bit.

After the late night in Boston on Thursday I was pretty wiped out on Friday and had much to do. We would be heading down to Pennsylvania for a family visit immediately after the Clifton Park show, and in addition to needing to get myself ready for the show and to take pictures I had to pack and try to get the house together for our trip. It was a little bit of a struggle, but I managed to get on the road in time to make it to the venue just after doors opened.

I was on the guestlist in Clifton Park, and my photo pass for the night was actually labelled an all-access pass—though there was a note with it that specifically forbid me from photographing Interpol’s set. Alas. Northern Lights is a weird venue. It’s in what looks like an old strip mall kind of in the middle of nowhere. The stage is back in a corner and seems like it was just sort of dropped in the space. There’s a large bar that takes up almost half of the venue, and the whole place has an odd atmosphere (or lack thereof). There was a bathroom attendant—at least in the women’s room. My memory of the place is that all the walls were painted blue, there were glass doors at the back through which we could see the bands and crew walking past in between their sets, and the place was really cold. Whereas at some shows I end up sweating and frizzy, at this show I was very glad I’d grabbed a cardigan at the last minute. They had the a/c cranked the whole night. It just added to the weirdness of the night for me.

Some of Interpol’s gear was off to the left of the stage in crates and I could see labels on various drawers… things like “Paul’s strings,” “Daniel’s strings and cords,” and then a drawer labeled simply (if I’m not misremembering it) “Shite.”

The Postelles at Northern Lights.

Even in this relatively little venue there was a tiny photo pit. I managed to photograph The Postelles’ entire set. I think I was only supposed to do three songs, but there was another photographer shooting them and he just kept going, so I did, too. The reception for The Postelles was a sharp turn from the reaction they enjoyed the previous night. People clapped politely but briefly after each of their songs, and their perky singer seemed to be almost apologizing for everyone’s lack of familiarity with them and with their music. Before launching into one song, he said, “This is a new one,” and then paused and said “but everything is new to you.” They played with their usual verve, but it was clear that they had to work for it.

beer Twin Tigers, running with the devil (a.k.a. Hoo-ray beer).

When Twin Tigers came out on stage, I wonder if I was the first person ever in the history of the world to feel a tiny bit sad to hear the opening notes of Van Halen’s “Running with the Devil.” They played well, and while it wasn’t as amazing as the previous night in Boston, I think they sounded good and a decent portion of the audience got into what they were doing. I photographed the first three songs of their set and then took my spot up front behind the barrier.

Forrest Forrest Hall of Twin Tigers.

Aimee Aimee Morris of Twin Tigers.

Twin Tigers.

Interpol’s set was really tight, but seemed to go by so quickly. My friends agreed that it felt short. The band played very well, but it felt business-like. During the encore, one song blended right into the next. The setlist was a good one. We got “Mammoth” instead of “The Heinrich Maneuver” and a beautifully played “Leif Erikson,” which I had not yet heard on this tour. During “Leif” I exchanged a nice little look of recognition with Daniel. I tried to take some pictures with my phone. It was kind of pathetic, really. Their lighting was pretty easy as far as concerts go, and the stage was on the small side so I could have managed a lot of nice shots. After the encore as they were leaving the stage both Daniel and Sam nodded, smiled, and waved at me. That was sweet! It was like they knew that this would be my last show for a while.

Afterwards my friends and I went over to the merch table to say hi to the Twin Tigers people. They were busy with merch boxes and stuff, but we chatted a little bit. As the venue was kind of out of the way, they were trying to figure out where to go to do something. I couldn’t hang around long as we were heading out for Pennsylvania, so I couldn’t help them with their plans for the night. I bought a copy of their album, Gray Waves (on blue vinyl!) and had them all sign it for me. Matthew wrote me a little message, signed the inner sleeve, and then signed on Aimee’s behalf since she had once again disappeared.

I looked up and through the windows at the front of the venue and saw Ezra standing there. I thought I was supposed to call him, but it was going on midnight and I can’t blame him for running out of things to do at that hour. I went outside and asked him if he could wait while I went to say goodbye to a few people. When I got back inside, it seemed like everyone had scattered. I headed back toward the stage and saw Matthew holding a box and talking to one of Interpol’s crew. While I was waiting for him, Sam’s drum tech came up to me and said he’d seen me at a lot of shows. I said that I’d been to a bunch and introduced myself. He asked how many shows I’d been to, and when I said twenty-something he said I won the prize. He dug into a black sack, pulled out three of Sam’s well-used (during the show, presumably) drumsticks, and gave them to me. Yay! He is really nice. I have heard people rave about what a good guy he is, and it was great to finally meet him after all this time.

CliftonParkstuff Sam’s drumsticks, my pass, and signed Twin Tigers vinyl

A minute later, I got Matthew’s attention and he came over. He seemed a bit surprised and disappointed when I said that my ride had arrived. We hugged and I told him to keep in touch with me if he thought of it, and he said to do the same. Then I headed back to the merch table to see if I could find any of the others and ran into Forrest. He was kind of all over the place and asked where my friends had gone. He wanted to party! We said farewell. Unfortunately I couldn’t find either Aimee or Chris.

And that was the end of my Interpol/Twin Tigers/sometimes Postelles Summer 2010 adventures. I had such a great time and met so many cool people. I would do it all again right now if I could. My next planned Interpol show is on my birthday in NYC. And maybe… maybe… I will see some more shows in the UK in December. Twin Tigers… you need to get your southern butts up here. I’ll see you guys later.

Interpol with Twin Tigers and The Postelles at the House of Blues in Boston, 8/5/2010

Posted on August 31, 2010
Filed Under friends, music, photography | 1 Comment

This review/rundown has been much too long coming.

The Boston show crept up on me. For some reason after the New Haven show I thought I had about a month until my next Interpol show, when really it was only two weeks away.

As the show was right here in my town, I arrived very early. There was no one else in line, so I sat across the street near the WEEI studios where there was more shade. I drank an iced green tea, checked to make sure my camera, lenses, and batteries were all accounted for and working, and watched as a couple of House of Blues people played wiffle ball in the street. Eventually two girls showed up and I crossed the street to line up. Those first two girls were really anti-social, alas. They didn’t talk to me at all—one girl had her back to me in a sort of pointed way the whole time. Sigh… typical Boston. It was so unlike my experiences at all of the other shows this summer. After a while, though, two more girls showed up and they were much more friendly. At one point one of these new companions saw Paul entering the venue and went over to say hello to him. We’re not sure exactly what she said, but whatever it was it had quite an effect on him. A little while later someone poked out of the venue and gave her a wonderful hand-written note from Paul and a shirt signed by the band.

For the Boston show I was reunited with my girl Sarah. She took the bus down from Portland and made her glorious arrival around 4PM. The weather was so gross—very humid and then it started pouring. We had a little area of shelter, but it was pretty nasty weather for waiting in line. We got suitably straggly/frizzy and wandered down the street to try to hear some of soundcheck. Interpol played a couple of new songs with which we weren’t familiar, along with a nice drawn-out version of “The Lighthouse” and some of the other usual soundcheck suspects.

While we were down there the Twin Tigers guys showed up and started unloading their gear. I felt disgusting and shy (I always seem to get all shy at first), but Sarah said they were trying to get my attention—I saw Forrest and said “Oh hi.” They were looking roughly as wrecked as I was—no doubt they’d been riding in a van all day and the weather was unforgiving. Everyone was in crappy jeans/shorts/t-shirts/frizz.

Free stuff! My photo passes (with the wrong date printed on them), the free ticket they gave me that I didn’t need, and a Twin Tigers sticker

Around 5:30 or so I went back to the car to change my clothes and attempt to neaten up. When I returned, Sarah and a few others had been moved to a different line. We were big enough suckers to go for the “Crash the Barricade” package, which gets you into the venue ½ an hour early. Oh, and supposedly the appeal of “free” water and “ice cream novelties” is also a part of the deal. Anyway, at this point I went to the ticket window, which can only be accessed from outside unless you work at the venue, to see about picking up my photo passes for The Postelles and Twin Tigers. They didn’t have the bands’ lists yet, though, so I had to keep going back to the window and checking. I ended up going into the venue with Sarah and having to go back out again twice to pick up my passes. The House of Blues staff were actually surprisingly cool about that. They’re not really supposed to allow re-entry, but they made an exception for me.

Sarah and I did manage to secure a good spot up front. Everyone around us was fine—mellow and not pushy.

The Postelles at HOB Boston The Postelles. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

I photographed The Postelles from the photo pit. I’d been told there wouldn’t be one, which seemed odd to me. In fact, the pit was pretty sizable, and the venue let me photograph their entire set, which was great. The crowd reaction to The Postelles was definitely the best I saw on their brief jaunt with Interpol. People really seemed to like them, and I think there were more photographers covering them than there were covering Twin Tigers. They already have another date scheduled up here in December supporting a band called fun.

Postelles/Twin Tigers After The Postelles. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

The opening notes of Van Halen’s “Running with the Devil” announced Twin Tigers’ set—they’d been taking the stage to that song for every show and I think I read in an interview somewhere that it was sort of their theme song for the tour. Uh-huh. They’d been slightly delayed as Aimee was having some kind of trouble with her gear and she was working with the Interpol crew to try to get it figured out. The crowd was really receptive for them, just as they had been for The Postelles, and they sounded as good as I’ve heard them, both in terms of their performance and especially in terms of the mix. Aimee told the crowd it was Matthew’s birthday and he looked a bit sheepish… like a little boy. Sweet! She said something about him being awesome. Aw… I’m pretty sure she invited the crowd to party with them afterwards. I particularly noticed Forrest’s guitar playing on this night and I was really impressed. At the end of their set (I was able to photograph their entire set, too) I bolted for the bar to get a drink and as I did Aimee got everyone to sing “Happy Birthday.”

Matthewathob
Matthew of Twin Tigers (with Forrest’s fluffy head in the bottom of the image). Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Interpol’s set was good. For some reason I never feel like the Interpol shows in Boston are as amazing as they are elsewhere. Maybe it’s just the familiarity of the town for me. The first time I saw them here in ’04 was quite good, and they did sound good at House of Blues. On this night, maybe it’s the setlist that made it a little less than perfect for me. They played “The Heinrich Maneuver” (blah) and didn’t play “Leif Erikson,” which would have been nice for Sarah—and the rest of us! I managed to take a small number of photos of their set from the crowd. The House of Blues staff had told me that all cameras were going to be allowed going forward anyway (really??). They seemed pretty confused about their own policy! I took advantage as much as I could.

Daniel at hob Daniel of Interpol. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Their full setlist from Boston went like this:

Success
Evil
Say Hello to the Angels
Summer Well
NARC
Lights
NYC
The Heinrich Maneuver
PDA
Barricade
Take You on a Cruise
Slow Hands
Not Even Jail
—
Hands Away
C’mere
Obstacle 1

They dedicated “PDA” to Wanda and made a point of giving setlists and sticks to a small group of fans that we’ve seen at a number of shows.

Interpol at hob Interpol. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Afterwards, I said a quick hello to Twin Tigers at the merch table. We went outside, and then the TT guys came out and invited us to join them at the Cask and Flagon. I’d never been there before. It’s a big old sports bar and it’s kind of goofy. I got myself a drink (probably my fourth on the night and not my last—a lot for me!) and bought beers for Aimee and Matthew. I asked them what they were drinking and they said they’d have pretty much anything. Aimee said she’s poor and honestly didn’t care what kind of beer she had–said she didn’t even have a place to live! I got her a PBR and Matthew a Bud.

Sarah and I both talked to Chris a bit. He’s a super nice guy. I told him how good I thought they sounded that night and he agreed that it was good.

After a while I was sort of off to one side hanging out with Matthew, who had been texting a lot at first—birthday stuff, he said. He is a Braves fan… said something about being a poet—not exactly an amazing one (his assessment)—and then made some comment to the effect that the former poet laureate was nothing special. It was interesting to hear him and Forrest pulling out all this literary stuff. He mentioned that Sam is helping them—with label business, I think. I think I asked about them working on new tunes—wish I could remember the substance of what he said about that. I also asked if he thought they’d be on the tour with Interpol much longer and he said something like, “Sam likes us, but they all have their friends.” I told him that Forrest’s guitar playing had especially impressed me that night, and he seemed to get a tad defensive (!), saying that it was about the interplay of the two guitars. I was only making an observation about Forrest’s playing on that night—not saying that one or the other of them was a better guitarist. I told him they’d sounded especially good and he agreed and said that it’s hard not to perform well when you come out on stage and see all those people.

The night got pretty drunk and silly from then on. Sarah and Chris danced in the next room. Forrest and his latest girlie friend were somewhat entwined and they may also have danced a bit—not sure. Several drinks were consumed and foolishness perpetrated. Though it would probably be blackmail material, I SO wish we had some snapshots of the debauchery.

Eventually it got late enough and the bar got lame enough that the band wanted to head out. I was sad to say goodnight. The bar was lame, but we were having a good time anyway.

I had NOT been thinking and as I’d had so much to drink poor darling wonderful Sarah was forced to drive the two of us home! Medals for Sarah.

Memories of March

Posted on August 30, 2010
Filed Under daytripping, me and my brain, photography | Leave a Comment

Winter fade

March

St. Vincent with tUnE-yArDs and Basia Bulat at Central Park Summerstage, 8/1/2010

Posted on August 24, 2010
Filed Under daytripping, friends, music, photography | 3 Comments

The Interpol show at Toad’s Place in New Haven was great for so many reasons, not the least of which is that the photos that I took got picked up by qromag.com and led to my being asked to cover St. Vincent, tUnE-yArDs, and Basia Bulat for them at Central Park Summerstage a week later. The show was on a Sunday, and I’m a fan of St. Vincent anyway–especially live. I’d photographed her once before, back in 2008 at the Middle East with none other than Basia Bulat. tUnE-yArDs was new to me, but came with my good friend Doug’s endorsement, so the whole thing was really a no-brainer.

We’ve decided that it’s much nicer to approach New York by car from the North than it is to approach it from the South. From the North you pass through Scarsdale and that whole area, whereas from the South it’s all Jersey and tunnels. We arrived in time to pick up my pass, scope out the food and drink offerings, and generally get the lay of the land. We got a reasonable deal on parking in a garage practically across the street from Summerstage as well. There was a pretty cool booth set up–it may be there for all the shows–where you could buy custom silk-screened t-shirts. I realized once I got home that Merrill Garbus, the woman behind tUnE-yArDs, was purchasing a shirt when I was photographing the booth.

Merrill Garbus buying a shirt The fabulous Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs) buying a custom-silkscreened t-shirt at Central Park Summerstage before her show with St. Vincent and Basia Bulat. Merrill, I promise that I took better pictures of you that day–see below!

There was a big photo pit, and quite a few other photographers were working the show. It was supposed to rain, but nary a drop fell all afternoon.

Basia Bulat exudes a genuine sweetness. She’s the kind of performer that you can describe as refreshing and not feel cheesy or cliched for saying it. I’m not positive, but it looked to me like she was playing with the same group she had assembled when we saw her back in 2008, including her brother on drums.

Basia Bulat at Central Park Summerstage. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Highlights for me were “In the Night” and “Before I Knew,” both from the album Oh, My Darling. The rest was good, too, but I admit that my previous familiarity with those two songs made them stand out for me.

Basia Bulat at Central Park Summerstage Basia Bulat. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Next up was tUnE-yArDs. I think it would be fair to say that she pretty much stole the show. That’s saying something, because both Basia Bulat and St. Vincent played well.

tUnE-yArDs. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

People say she ratchets everything up a notch for her live performances, and now that I’ve heard her recorded material, I can vouch for that assessment. It’s not that the recordings aren’t enjoyable, but the live performance has significantly more kick, more fire. She drew in the crowd almost immediately and had everyone dancing, at one point jumping up and down, and cheering for more. When she sang “throw your money on the ground” in “Yes You,” I swear a few people were probably emptying their pockets.

tUnE-yArDs at Central Park Summerstage. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Her set left me wondering what we can expect from her new record, which I believe she is finishing up as soon as she wraps up her current tour. If she captures half of what she showed live, the record’s going to be awfully good. Good friend Doug (mentioned above) pointed us to a live recording of a show she did at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn the next night. I HIGHLY recommend it.

It was a long afternoon, and though I was honestly starting to feel a little wiped out by the time St. Vincent got started, her set did not disappoint. What did disappoint a little bit was the sound. From where I was standing for most of her set–kind of off to the side–I couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong, but people were calling out for the sound guys to turn down the bass. It was a bit distracting, but I didn’t notice it after a while.

St. Vincent at Central Park Summerstage. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Every time I see her perform I am struck both by her cuteness and by her seriousness as an artist. She assembled quite an impressive backing band–including, I realized toward the end of the show, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, a guy I knew briefly in school back in State College.

St. Vincent at Central Park Summerstage. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

I’d seen her on one of her first shows in support of her second album, Actor, and at that time the songs sounded perfectly fine to me–but just fine. As I would expect, the songs sound much better now that she’s been playing them live for a while. As before, the one older tune that she pulled out was “Your Lips Are Red,” which includes one of my favorite lines: “Your skin’s so fair, it’s not fair.” I know Actor was only released last year, and it’s a good album, but I find myself ready for new material from her.

The show wrapped up slightly early–just in time for us to get back to our car before the garage rate went up. On top of the show itself and the experience of photographing it (outdoors, in the daytime, which was good practice since I’m used to shooting in smaller, darker places at night), it was nice to just be in New York on a Sunday. I look forward to doing more of this sort of thing when the right opportunities present themselves.

Interpol with Twin Tigers and The Postelles at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT, 7/24/2010

Posted on August 24, 2010
Filed Under friends, music, photography, travel | Leave a Comment

The New Haven show might be the highlight of the current Interpol tour for me so far, though the Buffalo show and the Boston and Clifton Park shows rivaled it in various ways, too. In terms of Interpol’s performance and sound, New Haven was far and away the best. I don’t know if I’ll be able capture here what a great night is was, but I’ll try.

Paul Banks of Interpol at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

My friends and I actually drove into New Haven the night before the show and stayed at a nearby hotel. The day of the show was very warm and we were first in line by a long stretch, so we hung out in a coffee shop near the venue for a little while. Toad’s Place is in a nice neighborhood around Yale and there were a lot of beautiful old buildings and little shops and restaurants around. The guys working there were super friendly and at one point they let us look through one of the stage doors to get a feel for the size and setup of the venue.

We again heard most of soundcheck, which on this night included “Success,” “Barricade,” “Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down,” “The Heinrich Maneuver” (boo!), “Barricade” (again, twice more), “Stella” (again), “The Lighthouse” (which I’ve still never heard live), and “Summer Well.”

Across from Toad's Place
Across the street from Toad’s Place, taken on my Android.

About an hour before the doors were set to open I felt particularly gross from having been out in the heat for much of the afternoon, so I drove back to our hotel and changed. I returned to the venue a new person after washing up and putting on a dress. When I got back quite a few more people had lined up. Twin Tigers were moving their gear into the venue, and Matthew came up to me and said hello. Nice to know they hadn’t forgotten me.

I’d heard that Toad’s Place is a legendary club—that heavy hitters like the Rolling Stones have played classic shows there and that a show at Toad’s Place was not one to miss. At one point I wasn’t sure I was going to make it down for this show, but I am SO GLAD that I changed my mind and went. The venue has a great feel—laid back in one way but full of energy in another. It’s a good size—it holds something like 1200 people but retains a sense of intimacy. Everyone there—from the people attending the show to the crew to the guys at the bar to the bands—seemed to be in good spirits that night.

Right when we got in the venue and took our spot at the front I noticed a woman behind me holding a nice-looking camera. I tried to ask if she had a photo pass, but I don’t think she heard me. A girl behind me said that she used to work there and that they didn’t care about cameras. That was all I needed to hear. I’d been wanting to photograph an Interpol show for ages, and my DSLR and lenses were just waiting for me a few blocks away in my car. I ran out to get them.

On my way back from my car I ran into another friend of mine from New York who was also going to the show. More happy goodness on this night!

One of my companions for these shows likes to buy cocktails—sometimes for me and sometimes for herself—but one way or another she usually makes sure that I get plenty to drink and am feeling fine. On this night she accomplished her mission with flying colors. I was in a great mood.

The Postelles at Toad's Place The Postelles at Toad’s Place. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

By the time Twin Tigers took the stage I was on cloud nine. I had my camera, the sound at the venue was tremendous, I was surrounded by friends, I had a perfect spot up front, and I’d had a few. I took lots of pictures and made a number of silly comments during their set.

Aimee of Twin Tigers at Toad's Place Aimee Morris of Twin Tigers. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Matthew Rain at Toad's Place Matthew Rain of Twin Tigers. Photo by Terri Wise.

Interpol’s set was electric. The lighting was probably the best I’d seen on the tour up to that point, and it might have seemed even more that way to me since I was paying particular attention as I was attempting to take pictures–and because I was feeling giddy and more than a little tipsy.

Paul at Toad's Place Paul Banks of Interpol. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

I alternated between dancing and snapping away.

Daniel Kessler of Interpol. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

They played “Barricade” live for the first time and I was thrilled—love that song. Paul was literally dripping with sweat by the end of the main set and changed his shirt for the encore. I was very pleased that they chose not to play “The Heinrich Maneuver,” even though they’d checked it.

The night’s setlist looked like this:

Success
Evil
Say Hello to the Angels
Summer Well
NARC
Lights
NYC
Mammoth
PDA
Barricade
Take You on a Cruise
Slow Hands
Obstacle 1
——–
Hands Away
Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
Not Even Jail

As far as this tour goes, it was a great setlist for me. I much prefer “Mammoth” to “The Heinrich Maneuver,” and think it works much better live–it has a much better intensity and was a much better fit on this night. As mentioned before, I love “Hands Away” and I don’t think they’d started swapping it out for “Leif Erikson” (which I also love) at any of the shows yet. “Stella” again fit the intensity of the night. It was just right.

Daniel Kessler at Toad's Place Daniel Kessler of Interpol at Toad’s Place. Photo by Terri Wise, www.qromag.com.

Afterwards I wandered over to the merch table to say hi to the Twin Tigers people and we gabbed for a while. We talked to Forrest about The Smiths and Stereolab, and found out that they had scored a swank hotel (Down comforters! A big flat-screen TV!) for cheap–maybe less than we were paying, while we had ended up in a fine but pretty boring place a short drive away. They wanted to hang out more, and I very much would have liked to, but my friend wanted to get back to the hotel and wasn’t sure she could find it on her own, so I had to go. Matthew made me promise to hang out after the Boston show on his birthday and I said I definitely would.

Interpol with Twin Tigers at Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY, 6/22/2010

Posted on August 23, 2010
Filed Under friends, music, photography, travel | Leave a Comment

We all dragged ourselves out of bed the morning after the Interpol show in Rochester and drove to Buffalo. It’s only about an hour away, and we arrived pretty early in the day.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Buffalo, but it’s a really friendly town. Lots of locals chatted us up around the venue–and gave us tourist literature! It was a little bit rainy, but the cooler temperatures were more than welcome and the rain was sort of refreshing after the warmth of the previous day. Close to show time some of our friends from the previous night arrived in line and we got to chat a bit. A photographer for www.mybuffalo.com took our picture as we were waiting.

JayneMeJimmyMaria Jayne, Me, Jimmy, and Maria outside Town Ballroom in Buffalo. Photo by Eric Syty, www.mybuffalo.com.

Town Ballroom in Buffalo is much nicer than the previous night’s venue, Water Street Music Hall in Rochester. It’s newer, cleaner, and air conditioned! Drinks were cheap. We love Buffalo! Jayne once again had a photo pass. I paid a little more attention to Twin Tigers’ set and found myself really enjoying their tunes. Initially I got a sort of 90s feel from their music… a tiny bit of Sonic Youth, a bit of My Bloody Valentine (Isn’t Anything, maybe), and something else that I couldn’t put my finger on. They’re noisy but melodic, heavy but pretty. In my mess of things from this trip, I have a map of Buffalo on which I’d written during their set, among other things:
m–a bit slack-jawed
the shame
but it’s OK bc he wears good shoes
what to expect from a hawks fan?

AimeeofTwinTigersinBuffalo Aimee Morris of Twin Tigers at Town Ballroom in Buffalo. Photo by Jayne Yong, www.qromag.com.

Interpol’s set was excellent–so much better than the first night in terms of energy and the overall performance. Sam seemed way happier. I think Dave Pajo and Brandon Curtis improve with every show, and it was really apparent to me that they were sounding better already with the guys on this night.

I had my point-and-shoot with me and figured I’d take a stab at snapping a few pictures. They’re not terrible, considering.

PaulDaveBrandoninBuffalo Paul Banks, Dave Pajo, and Brandon Curtis. Photo by Terri Wise (me!).

DanielKesslerinBuffalo Daniel Kessler of Interpol at Town Ballroom in Buffalo. Photo by Terri Wise (me!).

Setlist:
Success
Evil
Say Hello to the Angels
Summer Well
NARC
Lights
NYC
Mammoth
PDA
Take You On a Cruise
Slow Hands
Obstacle 1
—–
Hands Away
Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
Not Even Jail

I think it was on this night that Jayne and I were really hamming it up during some songs—particularly “Slow Hands.” We crooned and held hands and made Daniel laugh.

After the show everyone spilled out from the ballroom into a large bar area. Jayne ran into The National’s tour manager (Jayne has been to a ton of their shows over the last year or so) and they had a chuckle. We stopped by the Twin Tigers merch table to say hello. Some girl was totally coming on to Matthew—like in his face practically kissing him right there. I could see him writing down his phone number on a piece of paper. What a player! He continued flirting with me after she left and when we were walking off to find Sam and the guys he asked if we were coming back. Later on behind the venue Jayne saw him walk by and shouted “Matthew’s getting laid tonight!” It was pretty funny.

Anyway… We hung out a long time and got a chance to say hello to all of the Interpol guys except Paul. Brandon and Dave were both really nice. Brandon seemed very genuinely interested in our opinions on the performance. Jayne told him she thought Daniel messed up too much! And he looked as though he were going to be sure to tell Daniel that. (For what it’s worth, I thought it was a cleaner performance overall than the one in Rochester.) Dave was incredibly humble and seemed a little more shy than the others. He said he knew he had big shoes to fill. I assured him that he was doing a good job. Then Sam came out. He looked so good and seemed about 1000x happier than he had the previous night. He said the show felt good. We took a bunch of pictures with him. Actually, Brandon took a bunch of them for us.

MeSamJayneBuffalo Me, Sam, and Jayne after the show in Buffalo. We danced our butts off at the show and you can tell we were a little wrecked here (especially me). I love this picture, though. Taken on Jayne’s camera by Brandon Curtis (of Secret Machines and now the touring keyboardist with Interpol).

We got to talk to Daniel briefly as well. I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him like that in a long time. Also got a picture with him, which I think is very funny. His tie kind of matches what I’m wearing and I think the picture looks like we’re coming from a wedding.

DanielandMeinBuffalo Daniel and me coming from a wedding… well, actually, no… Just hanging out after the show in Buffalo. I look pretty terrible. Jayne took this (but is in no way responsible for me looking terrible).

Sarah was there with us after the show, but she kind of hung back. I think she felt a bit weird about approaching the guys as she’s only met them a few times before. After Sam spoke to us, he made a point of walking over to Sarah, introducing himself, shaking her hand, and thanking her for coming out to the show. He’s so great!

We were so hyped after everything that we stayed up and ordered food to be delivered to our room. I had a great time with mah girls! It was a little like a slumber party, and I would do it again right this second if I could. Didn’t get to sleep until probably 4AM.

The next day, Sarah and I continued the girl times in the car on the long ride back to Boston. I was soooo sad to say goodbye to Jayne. I miss her! Maybe maybe maybe I will get to see her in the UK later this year.

My Collections: Vintage Christmas Ornaments–The Stripes

Posted on January 11, 2010
Filed Under christmas, collections, me and my brain, nostalgia, photography | 1 Comment

While taking down our Christmas tree this past weekend, I decided to take pictures of my vintage ornaments before putting them away. Over the next several days (weeks?) I’ll be posting pictures and any info I feel like adding about my collection of vintage Christmas ornaments. I won’t post every single ornament, but I’ll include quite a few of them. I also hope to post more about my much bigger collection of vintage Christmas postcards, and I may get into some of my other collections and treasures as well (socks, books, music). But I’m starting off with what gave me the idea–the ornaments.

In general, I collect what I like. I’m not looking for the most valuable items or necessarily for a particular manufacturer or artist. Instead, I’m looking for what appeals to me–and in the case of vintage ornaments, they have to be genuinely old, not reproductions. I think most of my vintage ornaments are from the 1930s-1950s. Perhaps someone with a lot of knowledge in this area will come upon these posts and tell me more about what I’ve got (and also let me know if I have any misinformation).

Just because, I’ll start with the stripes. Some of these are a bit newer–50s and 60s. I’ll share some older ones in future posts. The clear–or unsilvered–ones may be from the 40s. The story goes that during WWII metals were needed for the war effort, so Christmas ornaments produced during this time were made with unsilvered glass.

This next one seems older. The glass is heavier and sort of frosted and it shows a different sort of wear.

This next one also seems older to me. It’s a bit smaller than many, and something about the glass and the way it’s worn makes me think it’s older.

I love the colors of the one below.

Dolores Del Rio

Posted on January 9, 2010
Filed Under art, films, nostalgia, photography, the telly | 2 Comments

Watching Flying Down to Rio on TCM, I was moved to check out more about the film’s star, Dolores Del Rio. In my search, I came across some strange, wonderful, and sometimes creepy images.

(Photographer for the above two images: Slim Aarons)

A restyled doll by Juan Albuerne

And a beautiful one…

And a fabulous one…

Just a couple things I thought I’d share on a Saturday

Posted on October 10, 2009
Filed Under photography, sports in general, wide world of vacation | 2 Comments

Click on the links.

Amazing:
The Berlin Reunion
Photos
Video

Funny:
I’ve Seen My Share of Bodies (don’t worry–it’s not that inappropriate!)

Why we love Suki, part 3876559

Posted on April 22, 2009
Filed Under Blather, family, photography, the pusses, this old house | Leave a Comment

Suki

There’s nothing like the ways of a cat to make you stop what you’re doing, forget about stress and tasks, and just say “tee hee!” and be happy. I recently went through a lot of papers and files in my office and produced 5+ bags of recycling. In the midst of moving furniture out of the office, we discovered Suki as you see her here. Never to be deterred from perching in the sun’s rays, and as much a fan of little nesting places as the next cat, she found that this particular bag of recycling would do quite nicely, thank you.

keep looking »

Song of the Day

Autolux-Robots in the Garden

Photos

My Photos on Flickr

The Knitting Turnip

On My Needles

Rhapsody in Tweed cabled pullover for Ezra! using Tahki Donegal Tweed in Forest, from Fall 2004 Interweave Knits. I've just picked this one up again, so it's moving up in the queue!

Sweater with Cable Patterns pullover using Araucania Nature Wool Chunky in Mauve, from Rebecca Magazine Number 28

Heather Pullover using Classic Elite Wings in Larkspur, from Rowan’s A Season’s Tale... This needs the knit doctor. I'm going to have to frog back a little bit and redo the shoulder area. Long story.

Hush Pullover using Jo Sharp DK wool in Wine, from Rowan’s Calmer Collection

More scoop on my knitting endeavors can be found at my home on Ravelry (clicky here).

the shy turnip

Interpol with Twin Tigers and The Postelles at Northern Lights in Clifton Park, NY 8/6/2010

Interpol with Twin Tigers and The Postelles at the House of Blues in Boston, 8/5/2010

Memories of March

St. Vincent with tUnE-yArDs and Basia Bulat at Central Park Summerstage, 8/1/2010

Interpol with Twin Tigers and The Postelles at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT, 7/24/2010

Interpol with Twin Tigers at Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY, 6/22/2010

My Collections: Vintage Christmas Ornaments–The Stripes

Dolores Del Rio

Just a couple things I thought I’d share on a Saturday

Why we love Suki, part 3876559

Song of the Day

Photos

The Knitting Turnip

On My Needles

Links

Another place or two to find me

Everything Else

Flickr

friends

music

Recent Reads

Recently

Categories

Archives