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SXSW Day 2

(NERD=Highlight amongst many highlights of Day 2)

I woke up on Day Two asking what time it was the next day (definitely not morning).

1:45 was the reply.

"Shit! Dev is playing in 15 minutes!"

Luckily his Lightspeed Champion set was at the Urban Outfitters right by the University of Texas and our apartment just happened to be but blocks away as opposed to the mandatory bus ride and/or cab ride necessary to reach 6th Avenue where the majority of other SXSW activities were going on.

So we headed down after I threw on my Health shirt, jeans (purchased at Urban Outfitters none the less) and my new Saucony sneakers. Not a run, not a jog, but a brisk pace. We got there and couldn't quite figure out where he was. Did we somehow get the wrong Urban Outfitters even though plastered on the store's windows were bright notifications of a Lightspeed Champion set. A full length set might I add. I expected him to be performing in the ladies underwear section as Bloc Party had in 2005, but he was actually in the courtyard behind the store. He was like two songs in when Chloe and I made it out. I sat down and he immediately noticed me - waving and saying a quick quiet hello before then getting on with his performance.

Who should appear right after?! Why only Leia Jospe - my fave youthful New York event photog (and BrooklynVegan resident photog)! We've been flickr friends for years and we both share an abiding love of Test Icicles (pretty much our first connection on the photo-sharing site) so there was excitement to meet in person for the first time. Before the fest we talked about syncing up schedules and happily we continued to meet up time and time again throughout the fest, unplanned and planned for fun-tastic results to be revealed in my Day 3 post.

Dev's set was awesome. He had Mike his violinist which made me happy since it not only benefits the sound, but makes Dev a lot more comfortable to have company onstage. And guess what!?!?! Is this a first? HE DID NOT PLAY A SINGLE COVER!!!! Not even the Eugene McGuinness song that is so bonded to him it seems to appear in his sets more so than his own singles. But yeah - it still rocked. Afterwards I brought it up with him and it struck him as odd too that he'd failed to include a cover in his set.

"Never Met To Hurt You" (Good Shoes cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3 care of Who Killed the Mixtape?

So we gabbed and gabbed - it was really good seeing him again since I hadn't seen him since December. The last time we met up was to shoot his Christmas EP portraits in his flat the Big Chill and he has officially moved on from there (as has Simon) and is technically homeless, though it doesn't factor into his life all that much given he is on the road so much.

I asked if he was still planning to relocate to New York and while moving to the US by year end is still on the cards, his sights are decidedly more southern. Austin, TX in fact. We wants to get a house there in November to record his double album. Stay tuned. At year end he filled me in on all his plans for the double album. Granted time and plans shift, but if some stays the same, about a whole album's worth of material could carry vocals other than his own.

He said he'd get me into the impossible Q magazine party on Saturday (with Kate Nash) and we made casual plans to bump into each other at Press Here's party, but I totally dropped the ball on Saturday with calling him.

Edward Larrikin made his way over for a chat, at SXSW in support of his The Pan I Am project.

I snapped the two of them together then Chloe and I departed back to the apartment for memory card uploading and internet geekery. And guess what? We totally stayed in so freakin' long that we missed Be Your Own Pet's set at the Filter arty - one of my must sees. Thank god I saw them less than a week prior in Portland at the Doug Fir (my photos of the BYOP show on Pitchfork)

We did however make it over to the Filter party in time for Robyn. The second we got there who did I spy ahead of me? PEREZ HILTON, which was fairly predictable given who was "soon" to perform. I got a polaroid with him:

The people working the "door" (it was the top of an outdoor staircase) didn't even check the RSVP list and just doled out wristbands to anyone attempting to enter.

Robyn's set got underway quite later than billed to the point people surrounding me began questioning out loud to themselves whether they had read the schedule wrong and began assuring themselves that indeed they had and just happened to miscalculate her set time and that it was never supposed to be at 5. Well it was, but she didn't start until like 30-45 minutes later. It wasn't an entirely uncomfortable wait though. BYOP were gathered above her soundchecking band on an upper patio.

When it was time for Robyn to bounce down the staircase and rock the mic, she made it through one song before issues erupted. And you know what? Actually she didn't. While some of her bigger issues were able to wait until song number two, she actually had a little Ashlee Simpson lip-syncing issue about 30 seconds into song one. She dropped her mic and what is that I hear? She's still singing at the same volume? Her vocals for "Cobrastyle" (MP3) are still going? Robyn is lip-syncing? It must be said that she when picked the mic back up she made sure to ad-lib some vocals at a volume slightly higher than the choruses and such seemingly to prove she could sing in the live arena and that the vocals we heard while the mic was on the ground for too awkwardly long of a time were just for assistance - you know like how Uffie sings "live." Yeah...

Well all her programmed music decided not to work starting with song two so she abandoned her set list, took requests and performed SUPER stripped down numbers. The first up? "Show Me Love"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It picked up, got great and we headed out and over to the Fader Fort, but not before I decied that I would fo'sho be at her PDX show and then promptly bumping into Danny Masterson aka Hyde from That 70's show aka DJ MomJeans and Steve Aoki's current bitch. By bitch I mean Franki Chan replacement. Wait - this isn't coming out right. Or maybe it is...

Danny was very pleasant with zero pretentiousness present.

HipsterRunoff celebrated his birthday. I recommend that if you didn't receive an invite, you get in late on the party by checking out the post, though I hope/suspect you already have.

Let's speed this up shall we? I don't have too many photos from the following because my iphoto messed up and didn't save my photos and I deleted my memory card before realizing this truth. Single tear(s).

So yeah - we made it over to the Fader Fort where a Lou Reed tribute was well underway. We caught Joseph Arthur with a chick who he introduced in a way that I couldn't tell if she was apart of his regular band or a guest star for the day. She reminded me of Metric's Emily Haines, former girlfriend of Simon White (I'm gonna see if I can find a way to mention him in all my SXSW posts seeing as I'm seemingly on a roll having mentioned him in my Day 1 post. This task is underway for no reason at all other than I am weird). They played two songs.

My Morning Jacket played one song.

I hadn't seen them since Quart Festival in Norway in 2005. They were great, but said absolutely nothing and ran - literally ran - offstage. So abruptly that it kind of erased their entire two minute performance we'd just witnessed. An announcer came on and said it was because they had to rush to another gig.

Thurston Moore played one song. I have never seen either him solo or Sonic Youth live before (let alone ever heard a Sonic Youth song. Yeah. I just heard my first Captain Beefheart song a week ago. I'm well behind) and was a bit surprised by how into it he was. Like I think for being as into it as he was that he must be to a certain extent higher than most performers in all the performances he gives, but I'm really thinking he went above and beyond during his Fader Fort set. He jumped into the crowd, momentarily crowd surfed and then returned to the stage in a state of undress to make good with his amp and indulge in a relationship of non-gratuitous feedback.

In the mean time between every set Fluo Kids played on which was a little weird to be honest. Sometimes such opposing genres can co-exist in perfect harmony and sometimes they don't gel. They didn't quite gel at the Fader Fort but that doesn't mean either weren't enjoyable. They were just enjoyable when thought of as independent of each other rather than a joint package. Some set change overs were quick, some lingered on for AGES. After the tribute was over NERD took the stage and their set change over was NEW LEVELS. Longest one I've ever witnessed at any concert, but we are jumping ahead of ourselves. There was still one act to perform under the Lou Reed banner before everybody could Nose. That was Moby.

The bald one and his girls did their thing for a set and then surprise, surprise an unexpected guest adorned the stage for the second song and that guest was Lou Reed himself. And that was actually a surprise. "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" ha! How well does that Humphrey Bogart quote work?!!?! Because seriously - the only other chance to see Lou Reed during the fest was if you had a badge you could attend his key-note speech that was met with a lot of zzzzzs based on his stance towards new technology and music. Dave Allen has his say over on Pampelmoose about the address.

But anyway, I got to see him LIVE and without some $500 badge and I'm really thinking that worked out for me better in the long run - I wouldn't have preferred to catch him any other way.

They did "Walk on the Wild Side" which is maybe my favorite song or at least tied with "Perfect Day." My mom and I rewrote the lyrics to "Walk on the Wild Side" when I was in elementary school to sing to my cat Erin. Yeah. This family moment brought to you care of early Saturday morning broadcast (or maybe basic cable) TV. Or that shooting star at the end of NBC psa commercials: "The more you know..."

I wish I would've wrote something down about the set but I was too busy reliving it with everyone I know over the phone so sorry if details are sketch, but like Lou Reed said something really funny as he walked off stage about being punk. Like being first. I love his ego. He has earned it. Everyone cheered, he raised two fists triumphantly and then it was over.

So I walked back to Flou Kids because I was going to interview Pharrell and get a photo of him with NERD's Pharrell Williams, but things got a bit hectic.

In the mean time I hijacked TonyX's sunglasses while My!Gay!Husband! hijacked a photo of me. I like it better that way anyway.

Can we just say SoCo forever!?!!

And I met my URB editor Josh which was enjoyable! I snapped a pic of him but of course that was on the memory card whose files did not survive.

Now it was time for NERD.

NERD's set change over was INSANELY LONG. DISGUSTINGLY LONG, but I survived and it was worth it for a number of reasons. One - Chad Hugo was fucking WITH THEM. If you've seen NERD live before this album cycle, you know that Chad does not tour or perform live with them. But he was there! Rocking hot sunglasses! Their white backing band of Spy Mob as been replaced with a a new band that... isn't white.

Ch-ch-changes.

Set list:

"Anti"
"Brain"
"Killjoy"
"Back Seat Love"
"Maybe"
"Rockstar"
"Spazz" <<<< HOT TRACK
"Fly or Die"
"Tape You" (Paris Hilton style?)
"Lapdance"
"Everyone Nose" (MP3)

Encore:
"Run to the Sun"
"She Wants to Move" but yr hogging her, yr guarding her...

They were ace AND THIS IS HOW I GOT MY FIRST PHOTO CREDIT IN ROLLINGSTONE. As you may know from my SXSW Update post, my NERD photo appeared front-page on RollingStone.com for over three days, but the pic also appears in the mag with Chris Rock on the cover (currently on newsstands - page 35, soon to disappear into periodical heaven). But seriously. I don't know the word for it. Milestone isn't it, but like this was/is really meaningful for me. Something has been achieved. Much like an angel has earned it's wings, a concert photog has earned their camera. Or something. It's just really special, but let's save that for the Hallmark channel...

Yeah - so in the process of only catching NERD's first seven songs, we missed Thieves Like Us at the Beauty Bar. We made it over shortly after they had finished, but by that time they had disappeared. BOO!!!! I mean - seriously. Everyone I've spoken to over email about SXSW scheduling knows they were seeded VERY HIGH on my must-see list and their manager was SO NICE to add me to their glist given it was a wristbands and badges show and I of course am poor and didn't have one. So yeah. They're on the verge of signing so those looking for a follow-up to their Kitsune single(s) can start celebration preparations!!!

We even went on a mad hunt for some guy in a pink shirt who would apparently hold the key to Thieves Like Us' current location according to those working the event, but alas he was no where to be found.

Now it was 11. We were but an hour away from the Playboy party. Operation: Get in whatever it takes starts... NOW.

To be continued...

One Night in Manchester

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week Day 5

The printed itinerary from Dev's manager Rene alloted us two hours to make it to Manchester from London, but knowing better we arranged an earlier departure time the night before so that we'd make it to scheduled radio sessions in time and perhaps have time to shop - Footballer's Wives style as Fifi referred to it as. Since there had been a day off in the tour schedule, we'd all headed back to London. Originally Patrick was going to ride the rails up to Manchester, but opted to come along in the car with Dev, Fifi, driver Tom Page and I. Needless to say it was a full load when we eventually took off, however our take-off was hampered by an hour as Patrick was late arriving to Dev's flat. Already bringing along a dollhouse for all the tour dates, Patrick showed up with a menagerie of instruments and odd toys bought at Shepherds Bush Market including an unfortunately sized goldfish balloon that took up what free breathing space there was in the car.

We made it to the University of Manchester radio station early! A first! Fifteen minutes after our arrival the station attendees came out to meet us and take us down to their lier adorned with posters that decried songstress Kate Nash. A recording session ensued including Patrick joining in for a Lightspeed Champion rendition of Wolf's song "Souvenirs" after an interview.

Then we hopped it over to the venue - a proper venue and seated as Patrick had requested. Many of the venues were being upgraded to standing to allow for people to make more money which Patrick didn't like. The hall was actually located just on the fringes of Manchester and apparently designed by someone with an obsession with the color pink. Everything was pink! From all the seats to the walls.

The promoter was especially generous with Dev's rider for the night - setting out a sole bag of crisps (aka potato chips) on a plate in his mirrored dressing room while tables overflowed with food in Patrick's allotted space.

Dev filmed it as apart of his video clip of the day - it appears just a little more than half way through. Note all our disbelief as he pans his camera around haha:

(And of course the above clip was filmed via his Fuji camera. He got it cos both Fifi (see) and Patrick(see) are sponsored by Fuji - to the point where Patrick randomly sang "Fuji-la-la" - the the tune of the Fugee's "Fu-Gee-La" pretty much all the time)

A few seconds later in the video I'm going crazy with Patrick's children's "terrorist training toy." Seriously - it was the best thing EVER! He of course bought it at Shepherds Bush Market and was convinced of it being a terrorism tool as each button says something else and one says "war" repeatedly while another says "New York, New York" hahahahahaha. I used to be OBSESSED with found sounds and still carry an affinty, so I recorded some of it. I don't know if I'm convinced of it's message, but it sure is fun! Can anyone translate it?

Patrick Wolf's toy MP3 (1 min and 27 sec)

Dev took to his practically sold-out merch table as Fifi manned Patrick's. Two girls dressed in capes approached Dev. We couldn't decide whether they had simply chosen to dress up as casual super-heroes regardless of where they were going or if they'd dressed up in homage to Dev's frequent caped crusades on the many concert stages of the world.

The audience was rather subdued throughout both Lightspeed Champion's and Patrick Wolf's sets. During Patrick's encore the duo finally played their "Souvenirs" duet in the live setting in front of a crowd. Patrick messed up on the lyrics, but it was still a treat.

"Souvenirs" (Patrick Wolf Cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

After the show we headed back to Patrick's hotel for a few drinks. While Dev is a teetotaler, he did take a tiny sip from Fifi's white Russian from a straw. An exposed nerve in his mouth has made it so that wherever he goes, so does a handful of straws should the occasion arise that he needs to drink. The bar just off the lobby closed soon after our arrival so within the hour we caught a black cab to our castle for the night - ie Travelodge - a rite of passage for any band touring in the UK and residence of Dev's so often that he recognizes the staff members now.

Yes - Manchester also brought about the first date on the tour in which there was a hotel room! Oh the luxury of Travelodge. No internet - unless you want to pay five pounds per hour (!), no TV, no microwave, wonky heating, but three beds - one in the form of a couch. Now that's accommodation.

We had until noon the next day to check-out, so Tom took off for a walk, Dev hunted down Subway, and I got lost looking for a bottle of water as the hotel's vending machines were throughly under-stocked.

Now it was off to satellite town of Leicester! To play the Y Club. Where does the name come from you ask?

Well, it was actually part of the YMCA - it's doorsteps decorated with kids in tracksuits and not looking especially welcoming i.e. chavs. Dev looked on with indifference, inside his head and with Lil' Wayne cranked to deafening levels.

My Tour Blog Round-up!

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week - Day 4

I've wanted to photograph a tour for a bit and finally had my chance with the joint Lightspeed Champion and Patrick Wolf UK tour in November. In the beginning of October I sent Dev a message and bada bing, bada bang, he was up for it. Note: I'd just been fired from my day job - what a great time for an expensive-ish trip overseas! Whoo! The possibility of self-imposed poverty rocks! Pitched it as a photo diary to Pfork who declined, so I pitched a few glossy magazines and URB was psyched for it. I blogged the tour for their site. Keep an eye out for the issue in January featuring my words and Dev's photos in a photo-essay profile of his project.
It's really funny cos I always want to be involved at a photo level in the projects Dev's involved in and that drive always nets me bylines in big places - first, my desire to shoot Test Icicles portraits led me to hunting down the editor of German Vice who bestowed me with the privilege. Now kinda with URB where I will now be contributing regularly (believe you me - I am trying to establish Portland's music scene even further in URB's Next 1000 issue out in March).

On with the tour...

First stop was Brighton. Because Dev's manager Rene couldn't find a driver, Dev had to take the train while I caught the bus, by way of National Express. At this point we assumed the entire tour would be by train. You can read about the whole Brighton adventure on Urb.com including a Test Icicles run in, Dev getting some prayers in, a tap dancing class and Patrick Wolf singing Britney Spears songs.

(I'd been looking forward to seeing Brighton's Pier. Saw it in the dark)

I came back to London as planned that night, only Dev did not, which I didn't learn of until after 1am. Due to Rene not transferring money into his bank account, Dev's phone bill did not get paid and he was levied a 300 pound fine and was no longer able to make outgoing calls. That caused a big kink in everything. Cue me outside his flat until near 4am (while hoards of foxes ran around having their fun) until I knocked on random doors at his direction on my mobile and ended up sleeping in the kitchen of Millers care of Pre and Comanechi's Akiko. That was sehr fun - she was recording, so we rewrote a song of hers, talked some Karen O solo material and had toast. Oh, and she cut her foot, but didn't feel it and thought she'd just stepped in ketchup so there was a trail of blood all over the floor.

In honor of riding the rails, a very appropriately covered person:

"Devil Inside Your Soul" (Train Chronicles Cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

Next stop was Exeter. Dev got a driver! Patrick's van broke down! Interview cancelations! Spice Girls songs! Read on Urb.com about what happened on the cobblestone streets of Exeter and at the venue which had a metal horse outside of it causing me to sing the Simon Bookish song of the same name (complete with inflection).

Patrick Wolf's tour manager Stuart really wasn't nice to me. After the show I went into the dressing room to check on my recharging laptop where four boxes of pizza were stacked near the garbage containing about two slices each. Even though this was a "solo tour" Patrick had a large crew along for the ride including his hairdresser Harri who said I could have a piece. As I was going to take a bite, Stuart walked in and grabbed the slice out of my hand and said I wasn't allowed to have any (while every one else was). I looked at Patrick thinking he was joking. He wasn't. It was like that a lot.

While Dev packed up his merch inside, his driver Tom and I sat in the parking lot. Previous to this short tour, Tom has driven for many acts including those on Dev's label Domino and for Feist. He hadn't heard Test Icicles so I played him a few tracks. Soon Dev was approaching. We decided maybe we should stop listening to "Who Ate All the Offal" and "What's Michelle Like" cos that might be weird. hahahaha

Bristol was my favorite afternoon/night. It was the most fun and relaxed one - everyone was in a positive mood. I assumed that on this tour there'd be at least an hour of free time to experience the cities. Not so. Every minute for Dev was scheduled for press. The second he arrived into each city it was time for a radio session, then to the venue for soundcheck and as soon as that was completed (it typically only lasted for two songs since he only had a guitar) it was time for in person interviews until stage time.

We made it to Bristol about an hour late, but still with enough time for everything to be just dandy which you can see plenty of photos of and read about on Urb.com

Another concert-goer had fun at the show in Bristol too!

We had a day off in London on the 24th before continuing on so I used the time to go to a party in a warehouse. Next was Manchester and partially Leicester which never went up on Urb, so that full blog will be my conclusion to this theme week.

I will be uploading ALL of my photos from headdresses to hotel rooms from the tour onto my flickr as soon as the New Year kicks in so stay tuned to it come the beginning of January.

Black Cab Sessions

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week - Day 3

Right before I arrived in London (in an airport in Minnesota in fact), Dev said he'd be back to his flat around 9pm on the day to let me in as he had ten million things to do during the day that would keep him away. Doubts he'd be able to leave his flat by the 10:30am time he was scheduled for entertained themselves in my head given his habit/penchant for only leaving the flat in the evening, not to mention an unabashed love of the internet. When I showed up with my too much luggage around 12-ish in the afternoon, he hadn't quite made it out of the Big Chill, so all was good - after a hug I instantly started boiling some water to make some Annie Chun as he further checked his schedule.
I assumed his appointments for the day were meeting up with friends before two weeks spent on the road, but oh no, I was wrong. My god was his schedule packed - with everything from business meetings with accountants and his management to press, press, and more press. And then more press after that - photoshoots, interviews, and videos shoots.
Just prior, he'd been in Europe doing near 80 interviews in 5 days. When he went to New york for two days in October, his schedule had been similarly packed - if not more - doing shoots and interviews with every publication including my book club read Nylon. One shoot was with the guy who shot the portraits in the Strokes' Is This It album booklet. Talk about perfect pairing.
This is in addition to endless online press commitments he's continually emailed.
Major hectic!

So on his schedule for the day (aside from the couple of appointments he'd missed) was a Black Cab Sessions filming - basically the equivalent to Blogotheque: Take Away Shows, but always in a cab. Because Dev's laptop doesn't carry the correct software necessary to open the schedules his manager Rene sends him, we misread it as shooting at 3. Um no - 1pm more like it. We'd already got on a bus to go by his management when he received a call from Rene alerting him to the correct cab timing and we headed off to the Old Blue Last where the cab was waiting.

We drove around the city getting a good view of London as the meter racked it's way up to 18 pounds. Dev did two songs: "Tell Me What it's Worth" and "Heart in a Cage," which I requested when he was searching for what would be the second song.

"Heart In A Cage" (live Strokes cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

He ran through a couple chords in his flat before we left for about 30 seconds, but other than that - no other notes had been played by him before they pushed record on the camera.

Wanna watch the final product?

Also featured? The Kooks, St. Vincent and Eugene Mcguinness amongst many others.

Dev was still doing his daily video-blogging at the time, so I shot some of it with his camera which I dropped repeatedly (in the car, on the sidewalk, etc. hahahaha :(
Watch our DIY cinema:

Dev shot me in his kitchen and laughing hysterically in the cab too which is right before I took over in the video.

Lightspeed Christmas

Lightspeed Champion Theme Week - Day 2

Last year Dev released a single track "Happy Birthday Jesus" (MP3) (which he deems as "the worst song ever written") to commemorate Christmas. This year - a whole EP!
He received a myspace message asking if he'd be doing anything special musically for the holiday and yes in fact he did in the form of Lightspeed Champion's Garageband Xmas E.P.
Garageband Xmas E.P tracklisting:

1.INTRO I Forgot To Wrap Your Present (PERFORMED BY VICTORIA HESKETH)
2.Happy New Year (ABBA Cover)
3."Another Song About Being Alone At Xmas" Lightspeed Champion MP3
4.I Forgot To Wrap Your Present...My Bad
5.OUTRO I Forgot To Wrap Your Present (PERFORMED BY VICTORIA HESKETH)
6.(BONUS TRACK) Perfect Harmony 2

Download the whole thing via zshare.

"Perfect Harmony 2" features guest vocals by Patrick Wolf and Trash Pussies DJ Fifi Brown.

The day after Klaxons at Brixton and after his 3am return from a gig in Sheffield, we went to the pound store across from his street and bought four santa hats, magenta tinsel, mittens, a plastic North Pole plaque, a gold bag to cut faux ornaments out of and a cane and got our Christmas photo on at his flat.

When Dev hears a song he doesn't just hear it - he sees the chords. I asked if he could play "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and he said probably even though he hadn't heard it in a bit. Then I asked if he could play "Winter Wonderland" and got the same answer. In a few minutes later and sat in front of his computer, he took "Winter Wonderland" to task - and it was kinda magic to watch - he is so talented. He got it on his first try - perfectly - and he wasn't strumming just the basics - no there were intricate chords!! It was amazing to watch him work it out and master it in under two minutes.

Before abandoning his youtube channel due to negative feedback, he recorded a video for Garageband Xmas E.P track "Another Song About Being Alone At Xmas" that became a featured video on youtube!!! Excitement! Of course I had to screencap the occasion!

^^Right there! First vid under featured!^^
View the video (filmed on his hot pink Fuji camera) below:

PS - if you know anything about Dev's taste, you know he hails the Killers as the best band on earth. We spent far too much time waiting for their neue Christmas video to load so he could show me. Notice the green ribon around his neck in our photos? Yep - that's an ode to Mr. Flowers. I bought the ribbon at Mills End. Shout out! Here's "Don't Shoot Me Santa":

And look who got seasonal!
"Yule Shoot Your Eye Out" Fall Out Boy MP3

Why don't we get local while we're at it?
"Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!" Eskimo & Sons MP3

a track title which ties into this photo:

That E&S song is apart of a Portland hoilday comp that you should check out and buy!

And this is how I celebrated Christmas on Not on the Guest List last year.

Happy ho-ho-holidazzzzzze!

Lightdreams

Lightspeed Champion Week Day 1

Last year I used to blog about dreams I had that involved musicians. Then I let the tradition lapse after a really rad dream about Turbo Fruits coming to Portland and never returned to the post topic. Of the few I did blog, those entries have kinda come back to haunt me hahahaha. This blog does mention "neurotic" in the sidebar.
Anyway - last night I had a dream where Lightspeed Champion, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Gossip played a gig in a movie-theatre like auditorium. Could those three acts be anymore different? I'm pretty sure it was a movie theatre. I was still on tour with Dev and after his set we took seats and watched the show go on. Soon BRMC's Nick Jago came over with a detached flash head and started making it flash at us. Then he started talking about Dev's flickr stream and talking about them taking photos together. He said he was taking photos of us by just using his flash -- with no camera attached. Whaaaa? He was taking strobist to new levels - he'd modified the flash so that on slave mode it took polaroids - like inside the body of the 580ex, was a pack of polaroids and after each shot he'd have to manually adjust them - kinda like a pinhole camera.
He said he'd show me how to modify mine.
I went to take a shower backstage and the drain was clogged. Beth Ditto came by and said she knew how to fix it as she wanted to take a shower after another sweaty Gossip set. It took forever and we didn't get too far.
Back in the regular part of the auditorium the night had wound down so the only option if Nick Jago was going to demonstrate how to modify a flash into a polaroid camera was to spend the night at Dev's which happened to actually be Reverend Run's house in the dream. At this point Beth invited herself along because she still wanted to take a shower.
We all slept on the basketball court. So did two security guards - Ralph - gigantic in weight and height, bald head and handlebar mustache and Josh from my former job at a mall, not for security purposes, but just because they were there (?). They made me fetch them sleeping bags too.
The next day it was really sunny. Beth was up early and hanging around the joint tourbus outside in a mini-dress in LA like sunny conditions on the suburban street that near identical houses lined - we were at Reverend Run's house after all.
And at some point word came that Jimmy Kimmel had booked Naive New Beaters to play on his show. Yessss! That part of the dream had nothing to do with anything else. I wish of all parts that that would become reality.
That's kinda where the dream ended.

So where in reality did this come from? See above photo - as before falling asleep I'd just been looking at my Foals pictures from their Rough Trade instore on Brick lane for the first time and in many of my photos one dancing photog can be seen unleashing his inner strobist. When Yannis asked why I was in the UK afterwards I briefly mentioned Dev which got him talking about their joint upcoming Observer cover. Boy - did he go on about that. Then I took a polaroid of him. The polaroid/Nick Jago factor may have come from the polaroid I took of him at Bumbershoot with Greg's camera. Oh - and I just got to my mom's place and Seattle and her bathroom sink drain is clogged...

"Another Fight" (Theoretical Girl Cover) Lightspeed Champion MP3

Hmm... I'm on tour

(Dev in Dalston yesterday by me, but I'm too lazy to run it through photoshop to add the credit)

So yeah - I'll do more once the tour blog starts running on Urb.com. I was in London. Right now I'm in Exeter taking photos of Lightspeed Champion/Patrick Wolf tour, which is...
Even though I have NO money whatsoever (I brought an entire duffle bag full of food because I could only afford food in USD as opposed to pounds and it's all locked away in Dev's flat right now), I had to buy a 14.99 bottle of tequila today because alcohol is the only way I'm going to survive and Dev's rider is non-existent. They're still soundchecking right now even though doors were supposed to open an hour ago. Patrick's van broke down outside of Brighton today which partially caused the delay. A 150 pound cab ride later, he's here. I think Dev is too (his driver and I came separate from him), but I left for food and am now in the venue's cafe using wifi. Anyway - yeah more to come. All I can say is thank god for Meg and Akiko last night.

"Stay The Fuck Away From Me" Lightspeed Champion MP3

Lightspeed Champion sure gets around

So immediately after watching this I had a dream where a supposed friend of mine planned a horrendous birthday party for me. Both in the dream and real life she is a supposed friend and in the dream she asked what I wanted. I gave a precise list and then she goes and arranges a slumber party in my former elementary school Edwards. That would be great, only it's her plan to show horror movies-which is the opposite of great. The second the guy comes out in the ski mask on screen I am screaming and screaming, so the party immediately switches to live entertainment. Only it's my least favorite band (I can't remember who, but it surprisingly wasn't Weezer).
Anyway, with enough protest, I get my way and Klaxons come out to close out my party at midnight. Mind you in my dream this is all occuring in Portland. Yeah. . . so close to reality.

So here is Dev, ex-Test Icicles as he's so frequently billed on every DJing flyer known to man in London (Nambucca, People Are Germs, Cyrille Regis, Spiel Club). He's performing above with Klaxons, in which resides one of his good friends Simon.

Here he is with Whirlwind Heat. They toured with Test Icicles earlier this year in the UK.

'How Do You Do' Lightspeed Heat MP3

Oh god-and Acid Slutz too. Best give up while ahead. I'd be here all day listing all his collaborations and projects, all of which sadly no longer includes Naked Babes.

Myspace: www.myspace.com/lightspeedchampion