THE DAY OF MORNING/MOURNING. ATP Day 3.

It has a double meaning. "Day of Morning," because we literally didn't get back to the hotel room until the next morning, and the second "Day of Mourning," means I was sad cause it was over. Aw, sad face. 

This is just one of the many--and I mean many--markings from DJ Shepard Fairy. The analogy for how many markings there were on the Asbury Park boardwalk is "...he was like a very scared chihuahua, a very scared chihuahua with a very full bladder, just pissing everywhere."

Day 3 Rules -- RULE # 1 as follows...NO PINBALL. As you may have heard it is like the crack cocaine.
RULE # 2 Try to stay awake despite the lack of sleep and constant flashes of Michael McDonald karaoke bombs.
RULE # 3 Unlike the night before...make it to the Berkeley Disco on time.

We ate pizza and then went to sleep it off at the Earth show. As surreal as it was, I had never been to a show in which it was considered acceptable, even respectful, to close your eyes and just drift...

EARTH

Earth photo via NPR.org

I felt a bit embarrassed about my inability to keep my head up during the first couple of songs, but it was then that I nervously laughed, looked behind me and realized...everyone was closing their eyes. I can't say for sure if everyone was sleeping, all I know is the experience was one of collaborative meditation. After leaving the show--happy and with a slightly more awake demeanor--I had to wonder..."was this planned?" Is ATP truly this cognizant of their target audience? Probably. That is a great attribute though. It's like Cheers, where everybody knows when you're hung-over, half asleep, and completely comfortable. If you are taking a midday nap and really just want to meditate into a heavenly coma like we did then click HERE.

What do you want to do when you're slightly tired but also not tired enough to sleep? You drink a Bloody Mary and watch Belle De Jour in the Berkeley theatre. Bondage is comforting, most especially when you're sipping on vodka and watching Catharine Deneuve play out your sexual fantasies, I mean...her character's sexual fantasies...

via DVDBEAVER.com

After imbibing, we headed over to...

PUBLIC ENEMY

Never in my life have I seen so many white folk "fighting the power"--aside from Occupy Wall Street. I have also never in my life shouted "Flavor Flav!" with such voracity, and most importantly, honesty. Listen HERE to be a cop killer.

Chuck D photo via NPR.org

On to the last one...

PORTISHEAD NIGHT 2

Portishead Night Two was a lot like Portishead Night One. I was completely elated hearing personally influential songs like "Wandering Star" and "Glorybox" finally live. I had such moments with those songs in middle school and to see them more than a decade later truly resonates with the child-like innocence most everyone tries so hard to keep alive and enthusiastic. I'd say the only let down was their identical set list. I would've loved to hear songs that I've only heard played viscerally on live albums. Another plus for me, Chuck D came on stage during "Machine Gun" and free-styled. Which at the time I thought was "so awesome and sporadic," but then I heard "...they did the same thing in Barcelona," which totally killed it for everybody. Most everybody but me. Because I wasn't in Barcelona when they did it the first time--but I was at ATP, so I'm happy, and isn't that what truly matters? The concert portion of this night is now over. We had a couple of activities to choose from--a movie, dance in a bowling alley with members of aforementioned bands, or go back to the hotel and sleep it off. We chose dancing in a bowling alley, obviously.

This is our reaction to DJ Shepard Fairy's music selection. No bueno.

Everyone else didn't seem to mind the tunage. So we drank heavily, and not surprisingly, that aided in the music flowing through us almost as smoothly as the drinks did. 

3:00 AM
The Berkeley Disco is an underground thing. It's on the down-low, the hush hush, the speak and easy. I honestly don't remember much from this point on. I started doing the Laura Palmer all over the place.

All I can say about the Berkeley Disco is it's two parts Marie Antoinette, one part David Lynch, and, that you've got to experience it for yourself. After that, all I remember is a white ape with an astronaut's helmet dancing on the side of somebody's home, and walking back to the hotel room on the boardwalk watching the sunrise over the Atlantic. No biggie. ATP is everything I ever expected and more out of a music festival and I hope I've done it justice here and here and here. If I didn't do it justice with my sometimes shoddy, slightly inebriated visuals and expounded descriptors, it looks like I'll be getting another chance. ATP Asbury Park 2012 is right around the summer corner and the tickets for the fest and jet plane have been picked and booked. So, there she blows. Till next time ATP...and hey, maybe this time around, I'll see you there.

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES.

"All Tomorrow's Peonies Dress"
Dress-- Vintage, The Loved One
Earrings-Vintage, Hodgsons
Shoes--Kenneth Cole

REMEMBER,VOTE FOR AFTON CON GANAS ON REFINERY 29 TODAY. CLICK HERE.

CATCHING UP.

I come from the East baring gifts. We really do have a shitload to catch-up on. However, now is not the time. I've barely had time to sort the days. I'm quite lost in a space and time continuum, but, that doesn't mean I'm breaking my promise. I still, will be your mirror to ATP in Asbury Park. For now, I want to leave you with what is occupying my mind in terms of musical inspiration whilst I get all my gifts, i.e. post materials and souvenirs, in order and out of my dangerously HEAVY suitcase. Literally, there are 2 tags hanging off of my suitcase. One that reads "HEAVY" and the other reading "USE WITH CAUTION WHEN LIFTING." What can I say... I brought my A-game. SO, here is what I'm listening to right now on shuffle. Surprisingly, all of it works very well together. NICE music on shuffle right now...
FUTURE ISLANDS-"The Great Fire"

FEIST-"Anti-Pioneer"

James Blake-"Enough Thunder" EP

EARTH-"Waltz(A Multiplicity of Doors)"

Since the ALBUM hasn't released yet--ANYTHING M83 has released that is new and/or remixed

JEFF MANGUM and Neutral Milk Hotel-"Naomi"

Enjoy, I am.

MONTH OF AUDIBLE INDULGENCE. BON IVER. SEPTEMBER 19, 2011.

My favorite accessory. The man to the left, to the left.

BON IVER  >  JAMES BLAKE

Translation. Seeing Bon Iver immediately after James Blake was a bad move--for James Blake. I went to the Bon Iver show with expectation bias. I expected the show to be enjoyable, even really good--these days (and by these days I mean, we are living in an age where people are touting Rebecca Black as a good performer, it hurts me to even write her name) good alone is high expectations. What I didn't expect, at all, was for this show and this man, to completely blow my mind. Bon Iver was astounding, incandescent, influential, penetrating, and a word I used at the show of which I can't seem to remember, because apparently I have an emotional attachment to the memory and or show description amnesia. He quieted an enormous crowd of people. A grouping of people, one might say, that has an entire generation's worth of self-righteous opinions and enough bravado to talk during and in between sets.  No, no, no, not at this show. This crowd was silent, aside from the few obligatory I love yous and the deafening applause and opera-style screaming afterward. It was the silence that caught me off guard in the first place, and that is now I think the tell-tale sign of not only respect and admiration for the performer, but a sign that a show is going to blow your mind. If you'd like and want to understand as much as possible the experience of which I'm failing to describe...then watch these below. But do me one solid and go see Justin Vernon in person. You will not regret it, no matter what the price. His voice alone, which is even more hauntingly romantic up close and personal, is worth all the pesos, euros, and dolla bills ya'll--in the world.

BON IVER at the Shrine Auditorium on September 19, 2011

Justin Vernon is a force to be reckoned with. (Still not good enough! I'll think of the word. It'll bubble up I promise.) EDIT** I remembered the word I used at the show that seemed to encompass every feeling I had about Bon Iver at his show. It was PROLIFIC--but, now that I've looked prolific up in my handy dictionary/thesaurus, I may have misspoke when using the word prolific. Several times. Oh well, at the very least I've remembered it, and regained the synapse I might have lost if it weren't for my love of words I apparently misuse.

Afton's "Bon Iver" Outfit
Dress--Vintage
Shoes--Jeffrey Campbell "Litas", Solestruck
Purse--Vintage, The Loved One
Jewels--Vintage

MONTH OF AUDIBLE INDULGENCE. JAMES BLAKE. SEPTEMBER 18, 2011.

James Blake at the Henry Fonda Music Box on September 18, 2011
Not only is he a panty dropper...

...but he almost was the cause of a building drop. No, literally, the Music Box felt like it could have collapsed. So severely, we were mapping our exit strategy just in case. What can I say James...you would have been great--if the arena suited your sound. Case in point, if you get a chance, see him at a smaller arena, like the Troubadour. Or just love him from afar. I still do.

James Blake - Limit To Your Love from James Blake on Vimeo.

Afton's "Wilhelm Scream" Outfit
Dress--Anzevino and Florence
Mesh Leotard--my closet
Shoes--Jeffrey Campbell, Solestruck
Velvet Purse--The Loved One 
Star Earrings and Ring--Vintage

MONTH OF AUDIBLE INDULGENCE. NIGHT ONE. HANDSOME FURS. SEPTEMBER 2, 2011.

Night One of the Month of Audible Indulgence. Handsome Furs at the Echoplex. 

All that shake and no spillage. I'm a very talented dancer ya know.

After greeting all of our guests as I pulled into the driveway, I was hurried into getting ready for UMAMI Burger, the successfully touted restaurant that has developed a menu of burgers all imbued with the "fifth taste." Umami Burger is undoubtedly my favorite burger in L.A. However, I have recently (and by recent I mean literally right before my overview of this week's decadent posts) decided to stay off meat and drink for a while, and now, (meaning while I write this post) the idea of abstaining from Umami Burger has one doubting the sturdiness of thine's own discipline. With that being said, on the night of the Handsome Furs show, I had the most decadent of decadent Truffle Burgers. The most decadent and yet so satisfactory I almost didn't throw away my friend's 5 day-old leftovers. Now, veggies are my friend. This is my mantra.

Look at him he's practically eating the microphone. Point blank, they're so good and so crazy--crazy good. Poison Ivy and the Joker. That's all I kept thinking. What a team. The chemistry between them surged like an electrical current pulsing through my gorging veins, feeding on their simultaneous glances toward's one another and--choreographed or not--seamless keyboard switching and insane guitar transitions. Completely cool. Yes I'm a band geek, but not in the way you might've assumed.

We all danced our asses off.

and so did they.

Till the next post...Fuck Yeah.

Afton's "Handsome Furs" Outfit (completely lackluster I think...)
Blouse--Vintage, my closet
Jeans--Kill City
Shoes--Pierre Hardy for Gap
Hat--H&M
Rings--Vintage and Jewelmint