Reliably a great time, the Spring 2012 MICA Fashion show, Milquetoast (hosted at the 2640 Space) was no exception. One of my favorite assignments every season, and always very different… it’s really fun to see what they come up with each year. This time, it was more of a group of themed performance art pieces than a traditional fashion show, but each piece served to highlight the student’s works, of course. I really recommend checking this out next time, if you live in Baltimore!

See the rest of the photos here!

 

Last weekend, checked out the Sweetlife Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion for the Baltimore Sun… a rainy, dreary day but the kids in attendance could not be deterred… lots of smiling youths who were partying HARD. Also, some pretty great food courtesy of local vendors (I had a Toki Underground pho dog, myself… yum!) Weird to see Kid Cudi rocking a huge stage at an arena, last time I saw him was a little more intimate…

Check all my photos from Sweetlife! (there are alot more than above, including other bands like Delta Spirit & Explosions In The Sky).

 

Another fun Unregistered Nurse show at the Golden West! i didn’t take too many of Quintron though, it was too crazy during his set… him and Miss Pussycat are always so fun to see!

See all the Dope Body / Quintron show pictures here!

ALSO: Once the Film Fest starts, check out my Liveblog & my Twitter. I’ll be posting pictures & commentary from the fest!

Here goes:

Thursday May 3rd:

Opening Night Shorts w/ host Andrew O’Hehir : MICA Brown Center : 8pm

Opening remarks and a program of 5 very different and interesting-sounding short films. Followed by a party! Who doesn’t love parties?

Friday May 4th:

Tchoupitoulas : The Windup Space : 4:30pm

A non-fiction/documentary-style film about three brother’s exploration of New Orleans over the course of one evening. With an introduction by the directors, Bill & Turner Ross. (Also playing Saturday)

Compliance : Charles Theater 1 : 4:30pm

A fictionalized account of the recent spate of crimes where an unknown caller would call a fast-food restaurant and claim to be from the corporate office, then convince the staff to perform all manner of unspeakable humiliations on each other. An unbelievable story, except totally based on reality. Introduced by the director, Craig Zobel. (Also playing Sunday; I’ll likely attend that one.)

Wanda (hosted by John Waters) : Charles Theater 1 : 7:30pm

John Waters presents a film every year that he curates for the festival. This film by Barbara Loden is this year’s pick. I’ve never heard of it, but it sounds interesting.

Saturday May 5th

This Is Not A Film : Charles Theater 4 : 12:00pm

One of the films I am most excited about, a documentary about an Iranian filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, who has been forbidden by his government to make films. This film itself was an illegal act, and had to be smuggled out of Iran to be seen by the world at large. (Also playing Friday at 7:30)

Shorts : The Passion of the WTF Shorts : Windup Space : 5:00pm

Oddball and cult short films. Click the link and read some of the descriptions… the Windup Space, home of Psychotronic Video Night, seems like the best place to watch these… with a pint in hand.

Tchoupitoulas : Charles Theater 4 : 7:00pm

A non-fiction/documentary-style film about three brother’s exploration of New Orleans over the course of one evening. With an introduction by the directors, Bill & Turner Ross. (Also playing Friday)

Jeff : Charles Theater 5 : 9:30pm

A documentary that interviews several people whose lives were impacted by Jeffrey Dahmer, interspersed with narrative scenes of moments in Dahmer’s life that – while not fixated on his crimes – add to the interviews. Introduced by director CJ Thompson. (Also playing Sunday)

God Bless America : Charles Theater 1 : 10:30pm

Bobcat Goldthwait’s newest film, presented by the director. He has been steadily building himself a second (third?) act of his career as an edgy writer/director whose films have a lot to say about American culture today. One of the most buzzed films of the festival.

V/H/S : MICA Brown Center : 11:00pm

An omnibus horror film with chapters by a variety of young horror directors, most notable being Ti West, director of the excellent House Of The Devil. Seems like a great way to cap the night off, but sadly starts after God Bless America.

Sunday May 6th:

From Morning Til Midnight : Charles Theater 1 : 11:00am

Alloy Orchestra performs live along with this German Expressionist silent film which was until recently thought to be lost. The extreme visual style should give the live orchestra quite a lot to work with… sounds like a good way to start the day!

Jeff : Charles Theater 4 : 12:00pm

A documentary that interviews several people whose lives were impacted by Jeffrey Dahmer, interspersed with narrative scenes of moments in Dahmer’s life that – while not fixated on his crimes – add to the interviews. Introduced by director CJ Thompson. (Second showing, in case you couldn’t see it on Saturday.)

Compliance : Charles Theater 4 : 2:30pm

A fictionalized account of the recent spate of crimes where an unknown caller would call a fast-food restaurant and claim to be from the corporate office, then convince the staff to perform all manner of unspeakable humiliations on each other. An unbelievable story, except totally based on reality. Introduced by the director, Craig Zobel. (Second showing, if you couldn’t make it on Friday)

Dark Horse : Charles Theater 1 : 7:00pm

The closing film of the fest, the newest feature by Todd Solondz, with an introduction by the director, one of the most controversial and acclaimed American directors of his generation.

 

 

This was a great show… to celebrate the release of Ed Schrader’s Music Beat’s new album JAZZ MIND, out now on Load Records (it is great, you should get it!).

Black Pus is Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt, Mindflayer, drawing comic books)’s one man drums+electronics band, and it was really fun… the crowd went crazy for him and his wall of sound, constantly stage-diving and dancing. One girl next to me went up easily 12 times in a row… pretty fun. Even Chester got into the action!

Ed and Devin’s set was energetic and awesome… everyone singing along, dancing, the crowd spill forward onto the stage over and over… there was an amazing moment when the power died and Ed led the crowd in a capella version of Air Show, which was just awesome to have happen.

See all the Black Pus & Ed Schrader photos from Floristree here!

 

• BUY PRINTS of photos from this show!
• See all the photos on flickr.
• Read the Washington Post review.

Wow. I had never heard of this band before, though I realized once I was there that I had heard their hit single “Tonight Tonight”, but WOW. This was the first show I have been to where the crowd (comprised mostly of teenage girls) was louder than the music… much louder. A sold out 9:30, all screaming in unison, without much pause! Pretty wild.

 

Always a blast to see live, New Orleans’ own Queen Diva Big Freedia graced Baltimore with her presence a few weeks back and it was a sweaty, azz-filled evening. I’ve seen her show many times, but never get tired of it. Don’t miss Freedia if she comes to your town!

See all the photos from this show here!

Trying to get all these SXSW photos out the door… but I keep taking more photos. It’s a never ending cycle… anyway, I saw Lower Dens play a day show at SXSW for the Sun. One of my favorite new Baltimore bands, really looking forward to their next record. The out of crowd town seemed to love them too, based on the response from the large crowd at this early show.

• See all the Lower Dens photos in my SXSW 2012: Day 3 set
• See more photos of Baltimore Bands At SXSW at the Baltimore Sun

I had never even heard of this band when I shot them the other day for the Post, but they had a good sound and the singer/guitarist Brittany Howard has a great voice and really strong stage presence… this was fun.

See the rest of the Alabama Shakes photos (and others) in my APRIL SHOWS set.

This was a pretty great time. No openers, just Bruce & the band. I can’t say I am a deep cuts-style Springsteen fan, but I of course like many of his songs and he is an icon… it was great to get to shoot this for the Post. And the (sold out) crowd loved him, as you would expect.

• Click here to buy prints from this show.
• Or click here to see all the photos on flickr.
• Read the Washington Post review of the show.

Friday me and Jenn Mizgata did a photo booth thing at the Hippo for Deep In The Game/Cullen’s Birthday. It was a LOT of fun and I got to see DDM live, finally, which was a treat – so wild and frenetic. Really good time. Happy birthday Cullen!

• See all my photos on Flickr. Or check my Facebook, if we’re friends. Please tag/comment people, there are too many for me to do it.
• Here is a slideshow of all my photos.
• See all of Jenn Mizgata’s photos from the same night on her flickr.

I did a couple of photo sessions with Baltimore band Arboretum to help promote their record on Thrill Jockey. Great guys, we had a lot of fun. See all the photos (or most of them) here on flickr!

• See all my Van Halen photos.
• Read the Washington Post review here.

This was a fun show. Everyone was in good form, DLR looked and sounded good (maybe a bit less acrobatics than the old days, but what can ya do), Eddie seemed healthy, Alex was a machine and… well, then there’s Wolfgang. He seemed to be having fun, at least.

See more photos from this show in my SXSW 2012 Day Two set!

See many more photos from this show HERE.

This was fucking awesome. One of the few things I said going into this SXSW that I had to be there for and, I think, the only one of those things I made it to (besides the always-amazing bridge party, which was shut down by the cops). Sleepytime Trio was a band I loved in my younger years, but never got to see, not sure if they ever even played Baton Rouge or not.

The show was great, completly chaotic and spastic… in the backyard of a dingy blues bar on the eastside of Austin. So fun. Jason Hamacher threw people around and did wrestling moves, so it felt like old times. Brian Lowit even got on the mic…. One of the most fun times I had this year at SXSW.

See all my Dope Body at SXSW shots here.

I woke up early on my second day to catch Dope Body play at Scoot Inn, at the Thrasher/Converse stage. So many sponsored stages this year. They were great and still full of energy, even bright & early, as you can see here:

The Night Beats

White Mystery

See more photos of these bands and more here!

Three fun bands at one of my favorite places to see shows in Austin, Trailer Space Records. Trailer Space is my FAVORITE place to see shows at SXSW – always unofficial, always cool bands, always a chill/fun vibe, always no bullshit. This year I was there for the Burger Records Fest on Wednesday and it was great – flying beer (at one point a store worker/owner/person came up to the mic to declare “we sell records, so do not pour beer on the records”), fireworks, a dancing dog, tons of kids having fun and great music. So awesome.

A sad note is that I spoke to someone from Trailer Space over email and it seems as though they are in some hard times… so buy records there if you are in Austin! I asked if maybe they would have shirts for sale on their site again and they said they would let me know, I’ll post about it if they do… great place, I hope I can go again next year!

See the rest of the Psychic TV & Celebration photos here.

This show was a real surprise. I knew what to expect from Celebration, one of the best (and most long-lived, at this point) current band in Baltimore… I have seen them many times, own all their records… so I knew they were gonna be great. But Psychic TV… that’s another matter. Genesis P-Orridge’s project post-Throbbing Gristle has gone through so many manifestations through the years (and I honestly lost track a long time ago), so I didn’t know what to expect. I was honestly expecting some 80s “I.C. Water”-era proto-rave… instead, what I got was 90 minutes of rollicking prog-rock, including at least two Hawkwind covers (but maybe three?) and some great banter by Orridge, include a claim (which I don’t think is true?) of actually having been a member of Hawkwind. Anyway, great, really unexpected show.

Today I attended the Trayvon Martin rally at the Baltimore City Hall. It was packed full of people, include on the steps, which surprised me. The overall feel was positive, with everyone I interacted with being friendly. There were a few people with sort of wingnuts signs there, and a surprising amount of t-shirt vendors, but in general it felt like a very honest, positive event. I’m glad I went.

See some photos above and some more photos here.

(Posted via Instagram for sake of being able to post them “as it happened”. Follow me on twitter or instagram at @joshsisk to see more liveblogs when I do them.)

Last night I went to the candlelight vigil for the Charles Village Video Americain, which closed it’s doors yesterday after years in the neighborhood. Customers, fans, employees, and the owner and his family spoke about how the store affected them over the years.

I decided to just use instagram for these in the interest of being able to post them as it happened, and I will be attempting to do more “from the scene” sort of liveblogging posts on my Twitter (@joshsisk), so follow me there if you are interested! More finished versions of these photos will make it to my site eventually.