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VazquezNYC uploaded a new video
(3 weeks ago)
As the band build momentum with "Love Like A Sunset, Part 1" w...
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As the band build momentum with "Love Like A Sunset, Part 1" which they perform herein with a rolling Feelies-ish tone that makes for a nice variation on the album version, the lead singer, who looks kinda like Monty Python's Eric, lays Idle, throbbing under the red light, glowing like an ember in the Tennessee night -- the stage is actually thumping wildly because of the hard stomping of musicians keeping time amidst the chaos that is life onstage.
Ultimately he rises like a, uh, Phoenix and "Love Like A Sunset, Part 2" feels more like a midnight sunrise, marking the dawn of a beautiful new day right in the middle of the night...When they hit their stride on "1901", all those chiming guitars needed were some sleigh bells and it woulda been Christmas under that Tennessee moon, albeit with a rail-thin Santa Claus, wading into the crowd with a reprise of the "falling, falling" chorus, capping off a brilliant set which proved once again that anything is possible on this stage -- make it That Stage, where I've filmed some of my very favorite shows at Bonnaroo over the years...there are just some places where magic happens and That Stage at Bonnaroo is a place I'm sure I'll leave a few ghosts.
Talking to folks in the crowd, I was surprised at how many persons who love the new Phoenix album hadn't heard the first, which remains for this fan a stone cold classic -- their repeat to form on this third LP has made for one of the nicer musical moments of 2009...I gotta give it up to them for staying on the case.
It's that time of the year again so watch this space for more images and video from Bonnaroo 2009, which -- tick bites notwithstanding -- was bloody brilliant. Watch this in full screen, high quality (hit the HQ button) if you can.
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VazquezNYC uploaded a new video
(2 months ago)
The title says it all. Simply put, this is one of the very greatest conc...
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The title says it all. Simply put, this is one of the very greatest concert experiences of my entire life. In addition to having to work my magazine's party, the biggest reason -- musically speaking -- that I went to Coachella was to see The Smiths reunite for just one night. 'Didn't happen, and I was working so hard at our party that I didn't really get away much until Sunday, when I made a mad dash to see Paul Weller, who also ranks very high on my list of must-see shows. When he brought my all-time biggest musical hero onstage, I completely lost it. 'Hard to hold a camera when you're sobbing tears of joy...moments like these are why I've chosen the unpredictable life of a music journo. As always, if you weren't there, this is for YOU.
When From The Jam were touring sans Paul Weller, I posted an open letter to Paul Weller (http://www.urb.com/permalink/2032/A-(Brief)-Open-Letter-To-Paul-Weller.html) offering to pay for his airfare and hotel if he'd re-form The Jam for one night in NYC...didn't happen. And when Morrissey played the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkAhYiAn1bA&feature=channel_page) I asked if it would be so bad for him and Johnny to go round the world just once more. Understandably again nothing happened, and I in fact, couldn't have paid for anybody's first class airfare and lodging -- I could do more like a $20 metro card and a spot on my couch, heh heh.
So I went to Coachella this year spending money I shouldn't have on airfare, because I really believed that Johnny Marr would join Morrisssey on stage -- I mean I really believed this was possible - and again, it didn't happen.
But after working all weekend at my mag's parties, I made it just in time for Weller's set and when he threw his guitar pick, I filmed it and the put it in my pocket thinking how cool it was that I'd gotten Paul Weller's pick, because sometimes it's just about the little things. And when he launched into "Wildwood" which for me is a very personal anthem, I felt like my trip to Cali had been worth it.
As I left the pit from Weller's show, I wasn't quite ready to leave even though I had to get ready to shoot My Bloody Valentine, so I stopped to interview two fans in the audience, and this proved to be the most fateful choice of my entire trip, because about ten minutes into the interview Mr. Weller announced that Johnny Marr would be joining him on A Town Called Malice and I just completely lost it as you can hear.
I don't know what the odds are that after working at my mag's party for three days straight, the first show that I was able to really make it to and film would deliver the very four minutes I had been seeking for a few years now, but screw the odds. If I had worried about odds, I wouldn't even be here -- in fact, if any of these cats onstage had been worried about odds they probably wouldn't even be here either. So here's to screwing the odds...as this song says, "stop apologizing for the things you've never done 'cos time is short and life is cruel, but it's up to us to change..."
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VazquezNYC uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
The fighting girls worked it out, my camera goes blurry as I raise a pea...
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The fighting girls worked it out, my camera goes blurry as I raise a peace sign in the air, and all was good in Austin. 'Not a lot else to say except thanks to PJ Harvey, her band, and the lovely lady from SXSW staff that made sure I was able to film this, the first of more than a few performances and interviews with directors that I'll be posting from SXSW Film, Gaming, and Music Festivals. 'See you all in 2010.
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VazquezNYC uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
"I was DJing on the back of a van on the beach at sort of six in th...
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"I was DJing on the back of a van on the beach at sort of six in the morning..." Thus begins this two-part oral history of The Prodigy. These brothers met in classic style: DJing, trading mixtapes and demos, trying to get into parties for free...unbeknownst to them there lay ahead a twenty-year relationship that would find them defining a scene, being reviled by a scene (at times they finish each other's sentences as they look back), making peace with the whole affair, creating a live act from the soundsystem culture they knew, "being ballsy enough to be our own band" and sharing a stage with huge bands that spoke to a completely different audience, during a "turning point" gig at Rothskilde Fest alongside The Chili Peppers, Biohazard, Helmet -- all established bands who "gave us respect" backstage after the show, and made them realize that they were right about themselves all along, which is a great thing that everyone should eventually learn...
They also reflect on hearing the first Rage Against The Machine album and Dr Dre's "The Chronic" as key fresh sounds, discovering the L.A. scene, touring with Cybersonik and Moby (That was fun...NOT!" quips Liam), rushing into the studio in the a.m. to see who would "claim the track", rebelling against the UK's Criminal Justice Bill which most bizarrely and quite frighteningly singled out cars with four or more young persons and music with repetitious beats for heavy prosecution, their creation of "Poison" as a reaction to the at times tyrannical pitch-up of drum and bass...They also speak honestly about the strains they faced, 'not speaking for a year, and dealing with the classic struggles that can tear apart the unique, fragile bond that comes through collaboration...
Speaking about the past with artists who've helped define a time can be difficult; so often the artists -- understandably -- prefer to speak about new stuff, but sometimes you can get them on the right day and they'll just sit and reflect honestly, and this was the case with these brothers, in a New York hotel room just ten hours after coming offstage, triumphant.
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VazquezNYC uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
This is part one of two. "I was DJing on the back of a van on the ...
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This is part one of two. "I was DJing on the back of a van on the beach at sort of six in the morning..." Thus begins this two-part oral history of The Prodigy. These brothers met in classic style: DJing, trading mixtapes and demos, trying to get into parties for free...unbeknownst to them there lay ahead a twenty-year relationship that would find them defining a scene, being reviled by a scene (at times they finish each other's sentences as they look back), making peace with the whole affair, creating a live act from the soundsystem culture they knew, "being ballsy enough to be our own band" and sharing a stage with huge bands that spoke to a completely different audience, during a "turning point" gig at Rothskilde Fest alongside The Chili Peppers, Biohazard, Helmet -- all established bands who "gave us respect" backstage after the show, and made them realize that they were right about themselves all along, which is a great thing that everyone should eventually learn...
They also reflect on hearing the first Rage Against The Machine album and Dr Dre's "The Chronic" as key fresh sounds, discovering the L.A. scene, touring with Cybersonik and Moby (That was fun...NOT!" quips Liam), rushing into the studio in the a.m. to see who would "claim the track", rebelling against the UK's Criminal Justice Bill which most bizarrely and quite frighteningly singled out cars with four or more young persons and music with repetitious beats for heavy prosecution, their creation of "Poison" as a reaction to the at times tyrannical pitch-up of drum and bass...They also speak honestly about the strains they faced, 'not speaking for a year, and dealing with the classic struggles that can tear apart the unique, fragile bond that comes through collaboration...
Speaking about the past with artists who've helped define a time can be difficult; so often the artists -- understandably -- prefer to speak about new stuff, but sometimes you can get them on the right day and they'll just sit and reflect honestly, and this was the case with these brothers, in a New York hotel room just ten hours after coming offstage, triumphant.
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