Music Photos
There is a music photography website that I've begun to work with, thanks mostly to the wonders of Flickr's social networking aspect. Trouble is, it's still in the beginning stages and doesn't have nearly enough manpower, so it gets updated in fits and spurts. Recently, I made my first submissions to this website, Rockscope, and we'll see what becomes of that. (I don't expect much, but I do know that I underestimate myself often.)
Regardless of what becomes of these two submissions, I want to post them somewhere, and what better place than here? So, see below. I had to send them in with a brief write-up, so I apologize in advance for my brief foray into music journalism. You'll may be seeing more of that, though.
Anyway! Photos!
Tyler Schwartz Group
Piano’s, New York, NY
March 15, 2008
http://www.myspace.com/tylerschwartzjazz
I don’t pretend to understand jazz. I never have and am not sure I ever will. What I do understand is rocking out and having a good time. Who doesn’t? So if you are anything like me, then one band you should know about is the Tyler Schwartz Group.
Take three absurdly talented jazz musicians, throw in a dance party with a drum and bass soundtrack and top it all off with a bit of wit and a few surprises, and the result is these three guys. The Tyler Schwartz Group consists of Tyler Schwartz himself, the charismatic saxophonist who leads the trio, Aaron Steele, a fast drummer who makes dance beats look simple, and keyboardist Dominic Fallacaro, who is able to mindbendingly play both organ accompaniment and a fantastic bass line at the same time.
The group just completed a month-long Saturday night residency at Piano’s in New York City, which Tyler rightly referred to as “the heart of the Lower East Side.” Original songs with names like “Intimidation by Vocabulary” and well-known covers like “SexyBack” made up the two sets they played each week. Singer Natalie John joined them the evening I photographed, lending a sweet, jazz standard feel to the music. By the time they finished playing, most of the open space in Piano’s lounge had turned into a dance party, perfectly setting the stage for the DJ who followed and making it no surprise that their other shows this year have been at small dance clubs and parties throughout the city.
If you are in need of a good time - or even if you aren’t - head out for an evening on the town the next time you see the Tyler Schwartz Group on the bill. You’ll regret it if you don’t.
The Constantines
Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
April 16, 2008
http://www.constantines.ca
Delayed a month due to injury, the Constantines returned to New York City ready to entertain the crowd at the Mercury Lounge. As one member of the audience loudly put it in a moment of downtime, “CONSTANTLY ROCKING!”
It’s a little hard to describe the Constantines’ music - melodic, syncopated, working in harmony with two guitars, sharp edges to the music and a little bit of a gruff voice. Their music is as ironically contradictory as their lyrics when they belt out, in unison, “We want the death of rock and roll!” Since they embody much of the good left in the genre, it would be hard to read that as anything but a cry for revolution.
And the crowd loved it.
The band played a mix of old songs from as far back as their debut album and new ones from the recently released Kensington Heights. People throughout the small venue sang along for the whole show.
Although this was my first time seeing the Constantines live, I have been listening for years, and was thrilled to see the way their music translates from disc to stage. I suspect the best is yet to come.
Feedback is much appreciated!
So, if they do appear on Rockscope, count on it being posted here. And count on it being further edited.
The other thing I'm going to get out of this is press passes. Not entirely sure how that works, so I'm going to have to read up on it, but that's part of the point of the website, as I've mentioned before. So, with all these good shows coming up over summer, I'm going to have to jump on that. Big time.
Also, thanks to NYU, I got a pass to CMJ for $75. Rock! I don't even know who's playing yet, but I'm going to use it for networking.
Oh, and did I mention I'm going to see Death Cab at McCarren Park Pool in June? I am. PJ convinced me. Didn't take much.
So, that's the type of thing I'm hoping to do for my website. And some good news on that front... At work I'm helping to assemble an intranet/office blog/wiki, and the consultant we're working with (boyfriend of a former employee and one of my neighbors) is using WordPress to build it. I asked him about it, and he said he might have a book for me and could give me some tips. So good news there!
Summer hours start in late June.
Tonight is the MORP (Prom backwards, see?), aka the NYU Navigators end of the year party. Good times to be had. More bass playing. =)
I'm seriously considering a trip to Montreal, on the train, over Memorial Day weekend. Who's with me???
To finish, I'll leave you with two bonus photos:
First, the awesome Cameron Orr dancing at Tyler's show.
Next, this is one of my recent favorite photos, from a Flickr contact, Matt Wysocki: Check it.
Late!
- ian
P.S. Note to Facebook users: The import settings on Facebook or LJ - one of the two - mean that embedded Youtube videos don't translate and come out as a weird piece of code. If you want to see them (which you do!), then click on the tiny link at the top that says "View original post."
Regardless of what becomes of these two submissions, I want to post them somewhere, and what better place than here? So, see below. I had to send them in with a brief write-up, so I apologize in advance for my brief foray into music journalism. You'll may be seeing more of that, though.
Anyway! Photos!
Tyler Schwartz Group
Piano’s, New York, NY
March 15, 2008
http://www.myspace.com/tylerschwartzjazz
I don’t pretend to understand jazz. I never have and am not sure I ever will. What I do understand is rocking out and having a good time. Who doesn’t? So if you are anything like me, then one band you should know about is the Tyler Schwartz Group.
Take three absurdly talented jazz musicians, throw in a dance party with a drum and bass soundtrack and top it all off with a bit of wit and a few surprises, and the result is these three guys. The Tyler Schwartz Group consists of Tyler Schwartz himself, the charismatic saxophonist who leads the trio, Aaron Steele, a fast drummer who makes dance beats look simple, and keyboardist Dominic Fallacaro, who is able to mindbendingly play both organ accompaniment and a fantastic bass line at the same time.
The group just completed a month-long Saturday night residency at Piano’s in New York City, which Tyler rightly referred to as “the heart of the Lower East Side.” Original songs with names like “Intimidation by Vocabulary” and well-known covers like “SexyBack” made up the two sets they played each week. Singer Natalie John joined them the evening I photographed, lending a sweet, jazz standard feel to the music. By the time they finished playing, most of the open space in Piano’s lounge had turned into a dance party, perfectly setting the stage for the DJ who followed and making it no surprise that their other shows this year have been at small dance clubs and parties throughout the city.
If you are in need of a good time - or even if you aren’t - head out for an evening on the town the next time you see the Tyler Schwartz Group on the bill. You’ll regret it if you don’t.
The Constantines
Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
April 16, 2008
http://www.constantines.ca
Delayed a month due to injury, the Constantines returned to New York City ready to entertain the crowd at the Mercury Lounge. As one member of the audience loudly put it in a moment of downtime, “CONSTANTLY ROCKING!”
It’s a little hard to describe the Constantines’ music - melodic, syncopated, working in harmony with two guitars, sharp edges to the music and a little bit of a gruff voice. Their music is as ironically contradictory as their lyrics when they belt out, in unison, “We want the death of rock and roll!” Since they embody much of the good left in the genre, it would be hard to read that as anything but a cry for revolution.
And the crowd loved it.
The band played a mix of old songs from as far back as their debut album and new ones from the recently released Kensington Heights. People throughout the small venue sang along for the whole show.
Although this was my first time seeing the Constantines live, I have been listening for years, and was thrilled to see the way their music translates from disc to stage. I suspect the best is yet to come.
Feedback is much appreciated!
So, if they do appear on Rockscope, count on it being posted here. And count on it being further edited.
The other thing I'm going to get out of this is press passes. Not entirely sure how that works, so I'm going to have to read up on it, but that's part of the point of the website, as I've mentioned before. So, with all these good shows coming up over summer, I'm going to have to jump on that. Big time.
Also, thanks to NYU, I got a pass to CMJ for $75. Rock! I don't even know who's playing yet, but I'm going to use it for networking.
Oh, and did I mention I'm going to see Death Cab at McCarren Park Pool in June? I am. PJ convinced me. Didn't take much.
So, that's the type of thing I'm hoping to do for my website. And some good news on that front... At work I'm helping to assemble an intranet/office blog/wiki, and the consultant we're working with (boyfriend of a former employee and one of my neighbors) is using WordPress to build it. I asked him about it, and he said he might have a book for me and could give me some tips. So good news there!
Summer hours start in late June.
Tonight is the MORP (Prom backwards, see?), aka the NYU Navigators end of the year party. Good times to be had. More bass playing. =)
I'm seriously considering a trip to Montreal, on the train, over Memorial Day weekend. Who's with me???
To finish, I'll leave you with two bonus photos:
First, the awesome Cameron Orr dancing at Tyler's show.
Next, this is one of my recent favorite photos, from a Flickr contact, Matt Wysocki: Check it.
Late!
- ian
P.S. Note to Facebook users: The import settings on Facebook or LJ - one of the two - mean that embedded Youtube videos don't translate and come out as a weird piece of code. If you want to see them (which you do!), then click on the tiny link at the top that says "View original post."