The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. Live at Neumos.
Seattle, WA. October 11, 2008

What’s better than free live music? Not much—although getting drunk to help kids might be close. Local bars and spirit makers sponsored a week in Seattle known as “A Drink for the Kids.” On certain nights, participating establishments donated a portion of their sales to The Vera Project, an all ages music venue in Seattle. The week culminated in a music extravaganza at Neumos on Saturday, October 11. New Zealand’s The Ruby Suns opened up with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band playing second before headliner Tokyo Police Club. Julie won a couple of tickets from The Stranger and took me along. I, of course, invited the Nikon and a few lenses. (continue reading…)

Robin Pecknold of the Fleet Foxes.
Capitol Hill Block Party. July 26, 2008.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 105mm.
Aperture Priority. 1/100 sec @ f/5.3. ISO 400.

The Fleet Foxes are incredibly good. Like disgustingly, filthy good. I mean that literally and figuratively. I caught the Fleet Foxes on Saturday at the Capitol Hill Block Party. They played during that space in the day where you are not sure if it’s late afternoon or early evening. That ambiguous hour complimented their timeless sound well. Listening to the Fleet Foxes feels like the first time you figured out how to use your dad’s record player and dug into some Beatles or Simon and Garfunkel. Even though the Fleet Foxes sound like everything you’ve ever heard, their music rings with an urgency and newness that is unmistakably born of this generation.

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United State of Electronica. CHBP Main Stage.
Capitol Hill Block Party. July 25, 2008.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 200mm.
Aperture Priority. 1/125 sec @ f/5.6. ISO 400.

Two months ago it was not raining in Seattle. Another one of Seattle’s delightful cliches happened to be center stage: music. The annual Capitol Hill Block Party took over the intersection of Pike & Broadway during the last weekend in July. I, with camera in hand, hit the two day festival with Sharat (among others). In addition to a great lineup, the weekend was sufficiently stocked with hipsters, hipster altercations (the now infamous Peter-chair incident), Girl Talk nonsense, and PBR.