WhyDontHipstersDance: The Foals

11/10/10

Austin City Limits, The Sessions

Oh Austin, the music capital of the country. I friggin' love this city, and somewhere in my future there's a ranch here with my name written all over it.

What has it been, 4 straight years at SXSW? This was my first ACL, and although the town was more chill, the crowd at Zilker park was 10K deeper than past years. That makes 60,000 kids.

It wouldn't be the same without stops at South Congress Cafe for migas, Joe's for Iced Turbos, and Stubbs for the best show of the weekend.

How cute is my friend Lauren's (co-founder of The Sessions) house?

CJ, co-founder of The Sessions

A quick stop at the festival Friday included Beach House, Amos Lee, Phish, and a new favorite, Angus & Julia Stone. Bummed I had to miss The Strokes.

Saturday morning started with a rooftop set featuring none other than Angus & Julia Stone--brother & sister duo from Australia--sure to be in your repertoire if they're not already.

Angus & Julia Stone

Kate & I: Groupies on set

The shoot was produced by friends (also our hosts for the weekend) The Sessions, a local company passionate about bringing artists together in downtown Austin for music, art, and up and coming talent.

Then off to the festival for Broken Bells, Temper Trap & holy CRAP Monsters of Folk. It was fate--I had to miss their only show in NYC earlier in the year, but was able to catch this two hour set, and probably their last. It was good to see you again Jim and M.

Monsters of Folk

The Foals

Everyone at Stubbs was taken aback by the Foals, who opened for The Black Keys
. Kate and I had a mission to get into this show and clearly we didn't fail. The trip was way too short--I look forward to coming back in March, Austin!

Angus' guitar case

10/21/08

Treasure Island

After the Phili MMJ show, I hopped on a flight to LA to attend my very first VMAs. As I first stepped onto the Paramount Studio lot Paris Hilton & family almost ran me over in a golf cart! I was working, but the excitement was contagious. I did my working bit and the rest of the night consisted of catching the short Kanye performance “in space,” and running into a bunch of wasted Real Worlders, whilst sipping on some champagne gratis. Later that week I tried to get into the sold out Ratatat show to no avail-my coworker (Wilson) was even playing the MTV card very vehemently! No worries though, because I had just seen them in NYC.

Soon after I flew to San Fran to spend some quality time with my sister and attended another great MMJ show at the beautiful Greek Theatre (again a light drizzle and more amazing-ness, I swear Jim James winked at me), spending the rest of the weekend shooting all sorts of goodness for MTVU at the Treasure Island Music Festival. We had ourselves a raw warehouse space and a talented Director of Photography shooting some bands from the festival that would stop by, play amidst beautiful lighting set-ups, and send shivers down my spine. Some standouts included Fleet Foxes, The Foals, and CSS. For the last band, I was sent to pick up Jack White and the crew from The Raconteurs. Oooh what a moment. I really stood back from it all while we were shooting them, giggling at how lucky I was. I've never seen the director so giddy! After shooting all day, the crew and I would rush through backstage to VIP, casually passing members of Vampire Weekend, having a quick conversation with Tokyo Police Club, and catching the last performances of the night--TV On The Radio, The Kills, Tegan & Sara, and The Raconteurs. Photos of the trip are posted on my Facebook album “Work.” Earlier this year we did a similar shoot at the SXSW festival in Austin for Ahead of the Curve. It's sensational work.