Hello Again!
Okay I haven't updated for a while and a lot have things have been happening. Believe it or not, but there's a lot of things going on in New York. Oh and it seems there were some really bad photos of me taken at Don Hills the night I arrived. While Sparks can make you seem happy and awake, it doesn't stop you from looking like you've just spent an entire day in airplane.
To start with, the cinematography class I've been doing has been really good so far. The teacher is a really great guy and most of the people in the class seem pretty cool. The equipment we get to work with is absolutely awesome. A great range of lights and really fancy professional dollies too. While I'm a bit behind the class it seems like I'm not the furthest behind and others have stuffed up much more than me, this has made me feel more comfortable. Yesterday I was actually showing people how to load and use the camera (it seems of the people who didn't know this stuff I was the only one who looked up and read the manuals... and then forgot everything when they got to class, reread them all over the weekend and came back an expert this week).
They call everything by different names over here it took me a while to discover that a 'stinger' is actually a power cord. Set procedure is the big thing that's taking me a while to get a hold of seeing as we actually follow a proper set procedure here. I got in trouble for not saying the correct thing when rolling the camera last week. We've always said "camera rolling" but your supposed to say "speed". The terminology comes from the fact that in early days you had to wait for the camera to get up to the full shooting speed and that's when you yell out. It actually turned out that my assistant camera man hadn't set the camera speed correctly so my not yelling "speed" was technically correct. I've learnt quite a lot already and there's still a lot more to go. It should be good.
This is going to be long, I better put the rest of this behind some cuts:
Crazily enough, the first band I go see in New York happens to be Australian and that band happens to be Architecture In Helsinki. Better yet, I got to in for free (the excitement should also be that I got in, I wasn't able to pay to get in because it had sold out). I tried to get permission to film the band live for Video Dingbat but the venue wouldn't let me. They don't even allow you to take pictures inside, although a lot of people did, just with out a flash (I even snapped this shitty camera phone shot). I did get an interview with Cameron that I did after their sound check. He's a really nice guy and found me a place behind the merch desk to store my gear so that I could stay and enjoy the show (having no ticket if I left I couldn't get back in).
The opening band was fellow Aussies Clue to Kalo. I liked their first album but since then they had completely fallen off my radar. Their dreamy folk/pop electronica blew me away and I ended up organising an interview with them as well (I'll hopefully have them up next week end, this city is very distracting). They also may be some of the nicest guys you'll meet. I'll go out on a limb and say that they're even nicer than Arcitecture in Helsinki and that's saying a lot. There's a chance they might be coming to Perth this year (one of the live band members is going to be visiting friends in Perth and I tried my best to talk the place up) so if they do, don't miss it! In the meantime put on your space cadet helmet and check out their album 'One Way, It's Every Way'.
I didn't pay much attention to the second band on the act, 33Hz. 80's synth pop revival stuff but with more of a George Michael meets Prince approach. They didn't sound anywhere near as that description does though. They weren't bad, just nothing special. After Clue To Kalo the audience really was in the mood to move so they did a good job of warming everyone up for...
ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI!!! First off let me tell you about the crowd, it was insane! Tons of energy and really responsive. There were a bunch of kids in tuxedos and fancy dresses who had apparently skipped their high school prom to come to the show (it was a 16+ show) and another group all in party hats (it was apparently someone's birthday). The band really fed off crowd reaction and put their Perth performance to shame (not their fault this crowd really put us to shame too). Super cool moments include some people in the balcony throwing confetti down timed perfectly with the song (I forget which one, I think it might have been Wishbone). They also got a couple to come on stage and waltz to another song (again I forget the song).
Afterwards went home, dropped my gear off, then went to this cool place called The Cake Shop for the after party. The Cake Shop is... well a cake shop, with a record store out the back and small dingy live venue underneath it (although you can still buy cakes and records during the shows). Watched the end of The Woggles (a really energetic band that plays 70's style rock somewhere in between The Rolling Stones and The Sex Pistols) play downstairs after browsing the store a bit. Talked some more with Mark from Clue to Kalo and got introduced to some cool locals (I also met some weirdos but I might save up my New York weirdo stories for another post as I'm sure I'll accumulate more). Hung out with them for a bit as Gus (from AIH) did his DJ thing and that was my Thursday night.
Friday was another big day. It was the opening of the 5th Avenue Apple Store (watch the 18:00 hour and try and spot me biting my nails through out the line) and the longest line (as in length not time) that I have ever seen! I got in line an hour and a half before the store was set to open and was placed about halfway around the block. Within the next hour the line went went entirely around the block back to where it started (and that's with zig/zag sections in the front and the end)! I unfortunately didn't get to see Steve Jobs himself and the opening festivities due to my place in line (I didn't line up as early as I was going to because there was really heavy rain, that didn't stop some people). But I did get my commemorative t-shirt as one of the first 2500 in the store and I still saw my fair share of celebrities.
SAM'S DODGEY CAMERA PHONE CELEBRITY SNAPS!!!
KEVIN BACON
SPIKE LEE (and some other famous guy whose name I forget but through the power of Live Journal comments we have discovered that he is non other than James Woods. If he ends up in the next Spike Lee film, then you saw it here first!)
TRIUMPH THE INSULT COMIC DOG
JOHN LEGEND
KANYE WEST
Some of the Queer Eye For The Straight Guy guys were there as well. Plus I think there were some sports players too who I didn't recognise.
The place is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year. After seeing The Da Vinci Code with some of my room mates we went down there and it was still packed at 3:45am (no line though).
Saturday night I checked experimental drone/noise guys The Psychic Ills down at The Knitting Factory (which is about two blocks from where I'm staying). Was a good show but nothing really note worthy happened (except that it was really cold and I ran back to my room between bands to grab a jacket).
Monday night I went into Williamsburg to see Art Brut do a free show at Soundfix. Soundfix is sort of a similar concept to The Cake Shop (although very different in style) it's got record store that joins onto a bar/cafe and the bar/cafe has a room for a band to play. I think there must be a few places like that around, they're really cool. Although it was hard to get a good view of the band due to the crowd (there was no stage) it was an awesome show (again with a very responsive crowd). The vocal mic didn't work for the first song (We Formed A Band) so the singer just came into the crowd shouted as loud as he could and got most of the audience to sing with him. They played a good 45 minutes and letting the audience request every second song. The singers styled seemed more conversational than singing compared to the record which I actually preferred. He extended lyrics to explain things and added in extra little quips as well. They kind of ended up sounding like the indie rock version of The Streets which I really liked. Hopefully that will follow onto the next album (they played a new song that was really good, AIH played a lot of new stuff as well which was sounding great as well).
Williamsburg itself is pretty interesting. Very different from Manhattan. Very laid back and seems to have record stores every second block instead of McDonalds or a Starbucks. It seems like the place is populated entirely by hipsters and hippies. I also had a really nice cream cheese, tomato, and basil bagel from The Bagel Blacksmith.
Okay, I think I've gone on long enough for now but I just want to leave you with these images because I think they are funny (or at least the last one is, you know it's like the punch-line or something... so don't skip ahead you need the set up first... which isn't really that good... anyway...). These decorate the subway walls and depict the people you see in the subway.
Here's a busy woman reading a book on her way to work:
School Kids on excursion, traveling family? Something like that:
Now this one I can relate to, the confused backpacker (with a toolbox?):
And here's a homeless guy going through the trash!
I'm having a great time but I miss you guys tons!
To start with, the cinematography class I've been doing has been really good so far. The teacher is a really great guy and most of the people in the class seem pretty cool. The equipment we get to work with is absolutely awesome. A great range of lights and really fancy professional dollies too. While I'm a bit behind the class it seems like I'm not the furthest behind and others have stuffed up much more than me, this has made me feel more comfortable. Yesterday I was actually showing people how to load and use the camera (it seems of the people who didn't know this stuff I was the only one who looked up and read the manuals... and then forgot everything when they got to class, reread them all over the weekend and came back an expert this week).
They call everything by different names over here it took me a while to discover that a 'stinger' is actually a power cord. Set procedure is the big thing that's taking me a while to get a hold of seeing as we actually follow a proper set procedure here. I got in trouble for not saying the correct thing when rolling the camera last week. We've always said "camera rolling" but your supposed to say "speed". The terminology comes from the fact that in early days you had to wait for the camera to get up to the full shooting speed and that's when you yell out. It actually turned out that my assistant camera man hadn't set the camera speed correctly so my not yelling "speed" was technically correct. I've learnt quite a lot already and there's still a lot more to go. It should be good.
This is going to be long, I better put the rest of this behind some cuts:
Crazily enough, the first band I go see in New York happens to be Australian and that band happens to be Architecture In Helsinki. Better yet, I got to in for free (the excitement should also be that I got in, I wasn't able to pay to get in because it had sold out). I tried to get permission to film the band live for Video Dingbat but the venue wouldn't let me. They don't even allow you to take pictures inside, although a lot of people did, just with out a flash (I even snapped this shitty camera phone shot). I did get an interview with Cameron that I did after their sound check. He's a really nice guy and found me a place behind the merch desk to store my gear so that I could stay and enjoy the show (having no ticket if I left I couldn't get back in).
The opening band was fellow Aussies Clue to Kalo. I liked their first album but since then they had completely fallen off my radar. Their dreamy folk/pop electronica blew me away and I ended up organising an interview with them as well (I'll hopefully have them up next week end, this city is very distracting). They also may be some of the nicest guys you'll meet. I'll go out on a limb and say that they're even nicer than Arcitecture in Helsinki and that's saying a lot. There's a chance they might be coming to Perth this year (one of the live band members is going to be visiting friends in Perth and I tried my best to talk the place up) so if they do, don't miss it! In the meantime put on your space cadet helmet and check out their album 'One Way, It's Every Way'.
I didn't pay much attention to the second band on the act, 33Hz. 80's synth pop revival stuff but with more of a George Michael meets Prince approach. They didn't sound anywhere near as that description does though. They weren't bad, just nothing special. After Clue To Kalo the audience really was in the mood to move so they did a good job of warming everyone up for...
ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI!!! First off let me tell you about the crowd, it was insane! Tons of energy and really responsive. There were a bunch of kids in tuxedos and fancy dresses who had apparently skipped their high school prom to come to the show (it was a 16+ show) and another group all in party hats (it was apparently someone's birthday). The band really fed off crowd reaction and put their Perth performance to shame (not their fault this crowd really put us to shame too). Super cool moments include some people in the balcony throwing confetti down timed perfectly with the song (I forget which one, I think it might have been Wishbone). They also got a couple to come on stage and waltz to another song (again I forget the song).
Afterwards went home, dropped my gear off, then went to this cool place called The Cake Shop for the after party. The Cake Shop is... well a cake shop, with a record store out the back and small dingy live venue underneath it (although you can still buy cakes and records during the shows). Watched the end of The Woggles (a really energetic band that plays 70's style rock somewhere in between The Rolling Stones and The Sex Pistols) play downstairs after browsing the store a bit. Talked some more with Mark from Clue to Kalo and got introduced to some cool locals (I also met some weirdos but I might save up my New York weirdo stories for another post as I'm sure I'll accumulate more). Hung out with them for a bit as Gus (from AIH) did his DJ thing and that was my Thursday night.
Friday was another big day. It was the opening of the 5th Avenue Apple Store (watch the 18:00 hour and try and spot me biting my nails through out the line) and the longest line (as in length not time) that I have ever seen! I got in line an hour and a half before the store was set to open and was placed about halfway around the block. Within the next hour the line went went entirely around the block back to where it started (and that's with zig/zag sections in the front and the end)! I unfortunately didn't get to see Steve Jobs himself and the opening festivities due to my place in line (I didn't line up as early as I was going to because there was really heavy rain, that didn't stop some people). But I did get my commemorative t-shirt as one of the first 2500 in the store and I still saw my fair share of celebrities.
SAM'S DODGEY CAMERA PHONE CELEBRITY SNAPS!!!
KEVIN BACON
SPIKE LEE (and some other famous guy whose name I forget but through the power of Live Journal comments we have discovered that he is non other than James Woods. If he ends up in the next Spike Lee film, then you saw it here first!)
TRIUMPH THE INSULT COMIC DOG
JOHN LEGEND
KANYE WEST
Some of the Queer Eye For The Straight Guy guys were there as well. Plus I think there were some sports players too who I didn't recognise.
The place is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year. After seeing The Da Vinci Code with some of my room mates we went down there and it was still packed at 3:45am (no line though).
Saturday night I checked experimental drone/noise guys The Psychic Ills down at The Knitting Factory (which is about two blocks from where I'm staying). Was a good show but nothing really note worthy happened (except that it was really cold and I ran back to my room between bands to grab a jacket).
Monday night I went into Williamsburg to see Art Brut do a free show at Soundfix. Soundfix is sort of a similar concept to The Cake Shop (although very different in style) it's got record store that joins onto a bar/cafe and the bar/cafe has a room for a band to play. I think there must be a few places like that around, they're really cool. Although it was hard to get a good view of the band due to the crowd (there was no stage) it was an awesome show (again with a very responsive crowd). The vocal mic didn't work for the first song (We Formed A Band) so the singer just came into the crowd shouted as loud as he could and got most of the audience to sing with him. They played a good 45 minutes and letting the audience request every second song. The singers styled seemed more conversational than singing compared to the record which I actually preferred. He extended lyrics to explain things and added in extra little quips as well. They kind of ended up sounding like the indie rock version of The Streets which I really liked. Hopefully that will follow onto the next album (they played a new song that was really good, AIH played a lot of new stuff as well which was sounding great as well).
Williamsburg itself is pretty interesting. Very different from Manhattan. Very laid back and seems to have record stores every second block instead of McDonalds or a Starbucks. It seems like the place is populated entirely by hipsters and hippies. I also had a really nice cream cheese, tomato, and basil bagel from The Bagel Blacksmith.
Okay, I think I've gone on long enough for now but I just want to leave you with these images because I think they are funny (or at least the last one is, you know it's like the punch-line or something... so don't skip ahead you need the set up first... which isn't really that good... anyway...). These decorate the subway walls and depict the people you see in the subway.
Here's a busy woman reading a book on her way to work:
School Kids on excursion, traveling family? Something like that:
Now this one I can relate to, the confused backpacker (with a toolbox?):
And here's a homeless guy going through the trash!
I'm having a great time but I miss you guys tons!