Des Ark, Death Vessel and Bower Birds

Photos by Shanda Boyett.  Copyright 2010.

Best Coast Played Music Hall of Williamsburg

I can't help it. I love the lo-fi surfer sound of Best Coast and their bitchy lead singer Bethany Cosantino who is my BFF on twitter. Most of the songs sound the same, but "Boyfriend", "Crazy for You", and "Honey" have stolen my heart. 

Plus, i was super-impressed during the show. Bethany is actually very talented. Great voice. Sound was great. She has a chick drummer - I always love that - and bassist is so fucking sexy in the most hair band, nerd way. I mean, he is like the male version of Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Kind of. It's the hair.

Anyyyywayyyy, I loved the show, and like the band even better after seeing them live. (Unlike the Village Voice, which totally hated on Bethany for no good reason.)

Check out my pics, and how much the bass player looks like a chunky male Venus.

Concert photos by Shanda Boyett.  Copyright 2010.

The Spaceship Photos - Broken Social Scene

The Boy and I walked over to Central Park Sept. 21 to catch Sea and Cake and Broken Social Scene at Rumsey Playfield.

We can't ever get over the convenience of walking to a concert, having a few beers, seeing a great show, and walking home.

The Boy pointed out the similarities between Sea and Cake and Broken Social Scene to The Grateful Dead. And Broken Social Scene, a music collective with no fewer than 6 front people playing at a time could be the greatest jam band ever - if they actually took time to jam.

From the start with Texaxo Bitches from the new album and Fire Eyed Boy from their self-titled album, it was beautiful and perfect, like listening to your i-phone.

While i applaud and respect the ability to recreate that kind of quality in the real world, I so wanted them to digress and take a chance and see what happened. I mean, there's so many of them, i can't believe this doesn't happen organically on a regular basis.

At one point, Kevin Drew, the "lead" singer and master of ceremonies, introduced himself to a new musician whom he had not met.

To be fair, later in the show, they did improvise a bit. But they could really take it further, becoming the next great jam band and going beyond explicit renditions of their songs, beautiful as they are.

And I think they have the spirit. At the end, Drew led the audience in a chant. "Fuck you. I won't do what you tell me." I wish BSS would do the same.

Nevertheless, I took some cool shots of the show that look like alien ships. Enjoy.