July 27, 2008

The Heavy Hearts, Capitol Hill Block Party 2008

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 5:34 pm

The Heavy Hearts at King Cobra, Seattle.

King Cobra was busy, but it was a welcome retreat the street party that clogged the arteries of Pike street and the banks of its swelling tributaries. When The Heavy Hearts took the stage at King Cobra I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d neither seen the band nor previewed any of their available tracks on the interwebs. Wow. A dual bass guitar assault of low end and a wave of trebled up post punk heavy rock washed over the room. Almost immediately (after busting out ear protection), I decided to pull out the flash and run it hand held off camera to try to capture some of the maniacal energy unfolding on stage. I took long exposures, about 1-2 seconds and set the flash to fire on the rear curtain. Some of the results are online in The Heavy Hearts photo gallery.

So, that’s it. That was the Capitol Hill Block Party for me. After experiencing the crowds on Friday, I skipped Saturday. I guess I’ll stick to taking photos of bands before they get huge… or don’t get huge. Fine by me.

Les Savy Fav, Capitol Hill Block Party 2008

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 4:58 pm

I put the camera over my head and took one crappy photo of Les Savy Fav. Too bad, this was one of the bands I was really looking forward to seeing. Unfortunately, I hate crowds of drunken jerk offs more than I care to grin and bear it. Onward to King Cobra to see The Heavy Hearts.

The Dodos, Capitol Hill Block Party 2008

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 4:49 pm

The Dodos are a three piece from San Francisco with a refreshing approach to song craft. Slide guitars in alternate tunings, live loop sampling, foot tapping tambourine on an unconventional drum setup, trombones, trumpets, vibraphones… even a whipped garbage can as an auxiliary percussive addition. At one point, as the band stomped along, the entire live room at Neumo’s was bobbing to the beat. The floor was a boat in the ocean rocking up and down in perfect four over four. I found it an incommunicable experience — more of a moment. Sometimes live music is more about just “being there”. This was one of those moments. Outside in the beer garden, I chatted with a guy who intended to tape The Dodos’ block party set with his mini disc player. I hope he finds this post, because I’d really like to hear that.

There was a mostly unused mic stand right in front of me I wish I could have moved, because some of these shots would have been brilliant… Check out the photo gallery of The Dodos. A side note for anyone who might be interested, I took these photos at 4000 ISO with the Nikon D300. Yes, 4000.

Thee Emergency, Capitol Hill Block Party 2008

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 4:19 pm

thee emergency live at Nuemo\'s, Capitol Hill Block Party, July 2008
On arrival at the Capitol Hill Block Party Friday night I quickly realized it was going to be quite a bit bigger than I expected. The block was packed tight and it was difficult to move around. I didn’t have it in me to try to fight the crowd for good photo vantage and I only had a 17-55… Ultimately, I headed over to Neumo’s where I caught Thee Emergency performing an inspired set of retro, soulful garage rock from a decent position stage right. Check out the photo gallery of Thee Emergency at Neumo’s.

June 30, 2008

The Turn Ons

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 12:19 am

The Turn Ons from Seattle at their record release party at The Comet Tavern. There are more photos in the gallery. How about this action, eh? Five posts in a row from the world’s worst blogger: me.

The Triumphant Returns

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 12:16 am

The Triumphant Returns from Spokane. There are more photos in the gallery.

The Apple War

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 12:15 am

The Apple War last night at The Comet Tavern in Seattle. There are more photos in the gallery.

The Green Pajamas

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 12:13 am

Seattle’s Psychedelic pop stalwarts The Green Pajamas live at King Cobra last weekend. There are more photos in the gallery.

The Weekend Session

Filed under: music,photography,rock,seattle — sparkrobot @ 12:11 am

The Weekend Session at King Cobra last Saturday night. There are more photos in the gallery.

June 2, 2008

Bo Diddley dies at age 79

Filed under: music,rock — sparkrobot @ 10:43 am

The weird thing is, I had Who Do You Love? running through my head just this morning as I was thinking about the reissue Bo Diddley model Gretsch I contemplated purchasing from Guitar Maniacs a couple of years back.

More at the Seattle Times.