Sweet Spirit, High Waisted, Spiral Heads, William Tyler, Renee Maskin, Father's Day, and a Wedding, 6/14 - 6/16, 2019

Sweet Spirit at Rough Trade NYC

Inspiration

So, here's how things have been going around here lately.

I had a great weekend. Spent Friday evening with CoolMom at a lovely wedding. On Saturday, I headed into Brooklyn to see Sweet Spirit, High Waisted, and Spiral Heads. Sunday was Father's Day, of course. CoolMom and the cooldaughters made it a great day full of hugs, gifts, and great food. That evening, I headed over to The Saint for the early show from Renee Maskin and William Tyler.

Throughout the weekend, I had some interactions that made me feel pretty good about the site. People mentioned how they'd like to see me keep on trucking here. I got compliments from several folks on my photographs, and I heard some pretty affirming and validating things about what I've been doing here for the last seven years.

Rejuvenated and inspired, I planned to write about all of that here yesterday. Then... ...I just didn't. That's how things have been going. Motivation -- even after a run of fantastic experiences -- has been tough. I'm working on it.

Anyway.

CoolMom and I headed out to New Hope on Friday night for a wedding. The weather was beautiful, and so was the ceremony. I'd had tickets for Sweet Spirit's Philly stop for a while, but I ended up handing those over to Chris Dickman while CoolMom and I celebrated with friends.

I did manage to hump it over to Rough Trade on Saturday for Sweet Spirit's Brooklyn show. I've mentioned it before, but there's just something about what Sabrina Ellis, Andrew Cashen, and their bands get across through their various projects that fills my heart with joy at every one of their live performances. Saturday was no different. Sweet Spirit is the poppier, more accessible maybe, offshoot of A Giant Dog; but all of the passion and abandon are still there. People around me bopped non-stop to new songs "Touch" and "Los Lonely Girls" as well as older tunes like "Pamela," "Rebel Rebel," "The Power," and "I Wanna Have You." Sweating and singing along with Sweet Spirit: I'll take it any chance I can get.

Sweet Spirit

Sweet Spirit

Sweet Spirit

I brought my little, crop sensor Sony and a few primes so that I could travel light. The lighting was  a little rough. It made me wish I'd brought one of the full frames. And there were moments when I got too wrapped up in things to snap pictures. I managed a few shots, though. Such a great band to shoot.

High Waisted were also on this bill; and I, honestly, can't remember the last time I caught one of their sets. On Ludlow remains one of my favorite records; and hearing "Party in the Back," "Trust," and "Shithead" again put a big smile on my face. That was helped by the fact that High Waisted always bring it during their live shows. Also nice was getting the chance to catch up over by the merch table.

High Waisted

High Waisted

Spiral Heads, the latest project of Simon O'Connor of Simon Doom, opened as the space was filling up. Jess Dye of High Waisted walked by just after Spiral Heads finished their set and echoed my own thoughts when she said to me, "Did you catch that last band? They fuckin' rocked."

Spiral Heads

Spiral Heads

After a really beautiful and lazy Father's Day spent out by the pool, I headed down to Asbury for the early show at The Saint featuring William Tyler and best bud, Renee Maskin. Whether it's with Lowlight or solo, every set from Renee is a unique and intimate experience. She lives in her songs; and, no matter how many times I hear them, they sound fresh and true.

Renee Maskin

Renee Maskin

William Tyler is a revelation. Tyler introduced most of his songs by relating what inspired them: solo drives through America's wide-open spaces, looking for life in the barren desert. And, as someone steeped in rock and pop, the idea to me that specific ideas could come across simply through the guitar, without lyrics, is a little foreign. But, damn, they do. The audience sat rapt and attentive; and, when I wasn't snapping a picture, I closed my eyes and let the sounds wash over me.

William Tyler

William Tyler

William Tyler

As I was leaving The Saint, I commented to a few friends that I'd had an "inspiring weekend." Inspiration hasn't come easily for me lately. That's not because the sources of inspiration have been fewer. I just think I've been less capable of responding to them than I have been in the past.

I managed to get all of the pictures from the weekend edited before going to bed on Sunday, and I woke up Monday with big plans to pump out some Real A+ Content ^TM. Then... well, we've been over this. Sweet Spirit, High Waisted, Renee Maskin, William Tyler, the coolfamily, and my friends all started to break through a bit this past weekend. Lots of cool stuff coming up in the next few weeks. Should be inspiring.

Northside Festival, Night 2: Donovan Blanc, Sharkmuffin, Tweens, Marnie Stern

Tweens were impressive during their set at Rough Trade NYC on Friday night.

Warsaw / Bar Matchless / Rough Trade NYC

Yesterday was a typically busy Saturday for us. CoolDaughter #1 had her 7:30-9 AM swim practice. CoolDaughter #2 had her 9:30-10:15 AM swim lesson and a softball game at 11. Their summer camp had its annual pre-camp "Day of Fun" yesterday afternoon, and CD1 had a birthday party from 6-8 PM.

I had some driving / breakfast-getting duties for CD1's swimming, and I like to help out at CD2's games. I love pitching and coaching at the softball games, and CD2 is definitely getting better. There was no way that I'd miss it so that I could wander around Brooklyn alone in the early part of the day. I did want to get there in time for The Blind Shake, though. That meant squeezing in some photo editing before I had to leave and no writing about the events of Friday night at Northside.

So, I'm doing this thing today where I'm writing about two nights ago. Then, one day from now, I'll write about two nights before that. Let's see if I can keep things straight.

Just as I pulled up to my parking spot next to McCarren Park on Friday night, the skies let loose with a biblical downpour. Little kids playing baseball and soccer in the park scattered, along with their parents, to their own cars; and the gutter quickly flooded with several inches of water. Scary thunder and lightning, too.

Never good at preparation, I hadn't brought an umbrella or a camera bag; so I moved the car closer to Warsaw where I'd spend the first part of the night at the Captured Tracks showcase. Things let up enough that it wasn't so bad standing out front in the drizzle with all the mindie kids there to see Craft Spells and Beach Fossils in about three or four hours. I'd come to see openers Donovan Blanc (pronounced "blahnk"), the new-fangled version of New Brunswick's Honeydrum, who will be releasing their debut LP for Captured Tracks on June 24th.

Warsaw is a big performance space in Greenpoint's Polish National Home: "Where pierogies meet punk." You can get pierogies, kielbasa, and bottles of Żywiec from a lady behind a plastic, checkered tablecloth-covered folding table in the "Warsaw Bistro." The venue holds about 800.

Donovan Blanc did a set of easy-going, laid back, quiet pop. As with Honeydrum, there were similarities to the hook-filled, lo-fi pop of Ariel Pink; but things weren't lo-fi anymore. Frontman Joseph Black put out kind of a chill and lounge-y vibe. The group concocted a drink for the evening called "Summerly Heaven," which should give you an idea of their whole schtick.

I left after the set -- to the incredulous "No Re-entry!" exclamations from the door people -- so that I could head down the block to catch Sharkmuffin at Bar Matchless. Fronted by Holmdel native Tarra Thiessen, Brooklyn's Sharkmuffin are a band I've been following for a while. Their short set of garage pop provided a nice jolt of energy following all the chill vibes from up the block. The band room at Matchless is a wonderfully small and tomblike space where no phone reception shall enter; and Thiessen's coffin-shaped, rose-topped guitar case at the foot of the stage was just right.

It is my new mission to bridge the divide that exists between our own local scene and the other thriving metropolitan area scenes like Jersey City and Brooklyn. As I'd been doing at every show where I got the chance, I told Thiessen that we'd love to see her and her band down in Asbury Park soon. She was more than receptive. Baby steps.

From there it was off to Williamsburg to catch Tweens and Marnie Stern at Rough Trade NYC. After a bit of an ordeal trying to find parking, I made it into the really nice performance space at the back of the huge record store just in time for Tweens. I loved them.

Featuring Peyton Copes (bass) and Jerri Queen (drums) of Vacation and fronted by Bridget Battle (guitar / vocals), the Cincinnati trio play high-energy, snotty, 60s girl group-inspired pop punk. Single "Be Mean" had the whole place screaming the chorus.

Guitar shredder extraordinaire, Marnie Stern, followed. She played solo, accompanied only by backing tracks from her Mac. Stern said the performance was a first for her; but after a few initial hiccups, she got into the groove and mesmerized those who remained with her unique combination of experimental guitar riffage and pop rock.

When it was done, I headed back to my car and drove home to get what rest I could for the full day that would start early the next morning. Words and pics on that one on Monday, I guess.

I won't be heading back up to the festival today. That means I'll miss some bands like Ovlov, Creepoid, Alvvays, and Hey Anna. But in order to be a cooldad, you've first gotta be a dad. I'll be reveling in that with my lovely girls today.

Here are some shots from Friday. Flickr for more... blah, blah...