We woke up, Mark, Molly and I, and went to the water to eat our sandwiches. I heard a booming system blasting 'IDM' ("intelligent dance music"). I kept thinking, "Damn, it's unusual for white hipster kids to have great soundsystems."

But then we got to the park and realized that some kids had set up a very professional system. We watched a few people dance. A retarded Hasidic girl swayed to the music as her less mobile friends watched. I liked that.





We went to Supercore and drew for a bit and then went off to see the free concerts at the abandoned McCarren Pool. On Sunday, Deerhoof, Beirut, Apollo Sunshine, The Harlem Shakes, and DJ Questlove were playing. I only caught Deerhoof and Beirut.



Then we went to a picnic at McCarren Park. Ashley was having a good-bye party. I just met her and she's already leaving.







The group fragmented. I was supposed to get wine and re-going Ashley and co., but ended up at Planet Thai. Eventually, we went to Ashley's place and talked about The Tipping Point, Freakonomics, and Guns, Germs and Steel, and then to Black Betty's to dance to Brazillian music until the wee hours.

Everyone is jizzing themselves over Beirut, but I saw them play live about two months ago and was really underwhelmed. Hello, hype machine.

Oh, and Deerhoof must have the busiest booking agents in the city. I think they play every other day.

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apparently they have really polished their show in the past few months. they had never performed live when they started getting popular!

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Hmmm...maybe I will give them another try--I saw them in the back of soundfix ("saw" might not be the right word--it was so crowded that I never actually saw a band member). I read an interview with them recently about how they got famous and then suddenly their band name is associated with a country at war which made things awkward (kind of like Anthrax a few year ago)--they seemed charming - http://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/features/18856/index.html

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They were just OK to me. Nothing to write home about. A ton of WASPy kids have been trying to do gypsy music in the city for decades and most have them have done it to better effect. I am not a stickler for authenticity, but when it comes to Eastern European gypsy music, Beirut should leave it to the real deal.

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Yeah, it's hard to do and most of them don't do it well. The Zorn crew rocked the klezmer music in the mid 90s, but they were all crazy jazz guys who dug up the kick ass musicians. Gogol Bordello is making a new version of gypsy music which is why it's so cool. I found Beirut boring.

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I wasn't too into them. Partially it's because someone told me they sounded like Gogol Bordello, which couldn't be further from the truth. I just wasn't expecting their sort of music and wasn't in the mood for it.

I'm not a giant fan of Deerhoof, but every time I see them they put on wonderful shows. (Kind of like Of Montreal, whose recorded music I don't like, but whose live act I love.)

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Isn't is strange how different the two can be--it really speaks worlds about production vs. raw talent.

I've never heard Beirut's album but it seems like something I would listen to while studying.

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sunday was a special magical brooklyn day.
everything fell into place!

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Yeah. But I was exhausted on Monday.

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Sticks and stones may break my bones but bad pictures will NEVER hurt me. bring it on Old Man Swain.

But hey can I have that picture of me sticking food in my mouth. It might have to go on Le Myspace.

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Oh and I WILL get a new camera soon. Fine fine fine.

And also it's important to remember that digital always performs better in daylight.

And also, dude, how frikkin snazzy does Mark look in that photo? He shoulda been puttin the moves on the laaaadieez like whoa!

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You even make Mark look bad. And that's hard to do.

On the other hand, I used to make my old Swedish model friend look bad. I had the magic touch for making people ugz.

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Oops I meant to say how frikkin snazzy does Benjamin look. And I was referrring to YOUR photos, dude.

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looks like fun...

how was beirut? any good?

lauren, good taste mr swain

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They were 'Eh.'

I didn't get a chance to make moves. Oh well. At least my libido is coming back.

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eh? oh well...I kinda think the dude sounds like stephen merrit a la magnetic fields in some of the songs...but that's probably just me.

I asked faye how they were and she didn't even know who of the people performing was who...common of her.

yep, at least it's coming back....

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I'm offended that my state flag is on the hip of some flabby hairy guy.

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This guy is a 5TH generation Californian. His family has been there for 150 years. He owns that tattoo (and probably the land you're standing on).

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That doesn't change the fact that my state flag is on the hip of some flabby hairy guy.

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...it's probably more his state flag than yours. His family probably created it. If he were here he'd probably tell you to step.

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i don't like beirut. no matter how i look at it, it comes of as overbearingly pretentious but not, especially considering the guy is only 19. i don't know, it's just weird, y'know?

more importantly, how was derr hoof? I really liked milkman, and actually haven't checked out the new one..

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Yep.

I don't really like Deerhoof's recorded music. However, I love them live.

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I liked Deerhoof a lot better before they put me through 2 hours of the worst sort of spoken-word opening act shenanigans to catch them at DC9.

Grudges, grudges.

And Beirut shouldn't be compared to Gogol Bordello at all. That's like comparing John Mellancamp to Guns and Roses because they make "American Music". If Beirut has a present tense analogue, I'd nominate DeVotchKa... who also probably do it better.

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That's what I've been screaming. Apparently these hipster know it alls don't know DeVotchKa who DEFINITELY do the genre 100X better!

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That's right! Troy Swain, you stupid hipster shit eater know-it-all! Eat hipster shit!

Actually, maybe 60% of the people I've talked to on the subject hate DeVotchKa. And sometimes, DeVotchKa can be pretty stupid and hard to defend. But for all of that, I'd take "Such A Lovely Thing" or "Enemy Guns" over the entire Beirut discography.

And apparently, Beirut is a bonerkilling live experience, whereas DeVotchKa might even get you laid...

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...I'd agree. DeVotchKa could maybe gete you laid. Gogol Bordello followed by a 2 hour DJ set by Hutz (of Gogol Bordello) could definitely get you laid.

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My last experience with Gogol Bordello as DJ Hutz was waiting 2 hours for fuckface to show up (he didn't), and nobody getting laid.

DeVotchKa actually gets Portlanders to move asses, though. I was impressed enough that I wrote a whole entry about it.

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That's the second song. I went through a period for like a month where I literally only listened to Deerhoof.

http://www.betaparticle.com/blog/template_permalink.asp?id=139

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Thank you!

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