Archive for the ‘concert’ tag

Two minutes and forty seven seconds.

I get to shoot my first film this week and words can hardly describe how excited I am. The main reason I switched schools was so that I could actually work with film, and after a year and a half I get to shoot 100′ of 16mm black and white reversal. While this is a big deal for me, 100′ is not a lot of film. So I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how I want to use my 4008 frames. The idea I’ve settled on is pretty cool, it’s simple yet clever and should be easy to shoot. Which is great because I’m very much use to a video work flow, and film is unforgiving at best. I get to set my focus with a measuring tape, frame my shots in an inaccurate viewfinder, and depth of field? Well, I have to consult a chart to even have a chance of controlling that. I’m proud to say I am pretty handy with a light meter these days, and my knowledge of lighting has grown to a respectable level. For most of my shots I’ll only get one or two takes though, so while I can prepare for most anything, I’ll still need a lot of luck for this project to really turn out.
Which I hope it does, because visually this has the potential to be by far the best thing I’ve shot… and that measly 100′ of film is $85.

I got to see David Bazan in Tucson on friday. I was sorta on the fence about going to the show until a few weeks ago, but I am so glad I went. It was amazing. Me and two guys made the drive down to Solar Culture in Tucson and while I wish David had been in Phoenix, the venue was worth the drive. The place is an art gallery by day and at night it has concerts on a little stage, which makes for a intimate and unique atmosphere. The acoustics were good, which can be rough at smaller places, but it was just the overall feeling of the place that really made it work. The show was only $10, and the guy at the door was just taking cash with a small money box for change, which is better then an ass hole bouncer or some huge commercial ticketing system. After getting in we looked around and saw that most people had bought in their own drinks, which the venue is totally cool with. So we went to a gas station and got a six pack and enjoyed a few cheap beers with the show. A concert sans the ~$8 beer? What’s not to love? The first act was some local guy, who was awful but after him was J Tillman. I had never heard of him, but he was really quite good. His sound is sorta Iron and Wine -esque and his voice is just off the charts. I’d definitely check him out if you’re like me and had never heard of him.
Then David Bazan took the stage, and I immediately noticed something a bit different about him. Earlier in the night I had seen a balding, bearded man making a phone call near the front of the venue. I thought to myself, “Is that David? Nah, he was shorter then I am, there is no way.” Its funny how you can sometimes idolize people in odd ways. David Bazan has always struck me as a hulking beast of a man, with a lumber jack beard and a straight face, he just seemed like Paul Bunyan with a guitar.
So to set the record straight, David Bazan is an excellent singer/songwriter, a hulking, beast of a man… who is also like 5’6”.
He played a wide variety of songs, from his solo stuff to old Pedro The Lion tunes. He also played a bit of Headphones and apologized for not playing “Natural Disaster” because he didn’t know the synth part very well. He did play “Bad Things To Such Good People” which was amazing. He played the first riff while getting himself set between songs and I (and most of the people around me) yelled in excitement. It’s a dark and complicated song, but hearing it live was great. Also I couldn’t help thinking about Luke playing it in the back yard of the Juanita House with the rest of us trying to sing along, good times.

I saw I’m Not There last night, it’s a movie about Bob Dylan where Bob Dylan is played by five different actors. Each story line follows a different time in his life or aspect of his character. While it’s not the most cohesive movie I’ve seen in recent memory it was really fun to watch. Dylan is portrayed as an old soul who is running from his past by an eleven year old african american boy. As a conflicted husband and father by Heath Ledger, a spiritual person and preacher by Christian Bale. A young poet who speaks his mind by Ben Whishaw, an old hermit by Richard Gere and finally as a jaded and misunderstood rock star by none other then Cate Blanchett. It’s a really fun watch, if you can catch it, I highly recommend seeing it.

Keep it chill, I’ll do my best too do the same.
Dave Hildreth

the SHINS!

Wow, the shins were everything i thought they would be
[if you are reading this on facebook you won't see the picture because facebook's rss reader is lame]

the show last night was GREAT, really it was just super. i had been looking forward to it for quite a while now and it did not dissapoint.

we got to the venue early, it was at the celebrity theatre in phoenix and right as it walked in i knew it was going to be a good show. the venue was awesome, very unique. It is a circular building with room for standing around the round stage and wrap around stadium steating behind that. there is simply not a bad seat in the house and though we stood up at the stage, if we had sat it would have been just as good because as the band started to rock so did the stage. we’ll not exactly rocked but rather it spun, first clockwise then back. while the bands were playing the whole stage rotated so that every few minutes the band was right in front you. it wasn’t a huge place, and felt very intimate. the acoustics were awesome, who knows what sort of voodoo they came up with to make a round dome sound that good, but it had a great sound.

first up was Viva Voce, i didn’t know what to expect out of the opening band, i had never heard of them and didn’t care enough to look them up before the show. i have been surprised by opening acts before but they really stole the show. after joking with some friends about how we could just walk out on stage and people would clap because know one knows what most opening bands look like, out came a long haired guy and a familiar looking woman. recently the shins had made the rounds on the late night talk shows, Conan, Letterman even SNL but with them was a woman singing backup on a few songs. the shins are an all male group so it was always sort of a mystery where this chick came from. but there she was, guitar in hand and along with her husband on the drums they announced “We are Viva Voce and this is from our new album.” Later admitting “eh, we wont lie you all… they are all from our new album” they rocked. Their music is sort of like the white stripes only better, its folk music with screaming guitar licks and i loved every minute of it. Playing first a pink Les Paul (which andrea now openly covets) and later a white double necked guitar the two X chromosomes of the duo really rocked. it was fun to see not only a female lead guitarist but also the on stage interaction between the couple. Needless to say i now like Viva Voce and i think most of you would too :D

the shins took the stage soon after and they started off my playing the first 3 tracks from their new album. Sort of a bold move if you ask me, the beginning of their new album is a lot different then their previous two endeavors. The crowd loved it and sang along with their new single. They then switched to a few from chutes too narrow (my favorite of their records) and then a few from their first cd. the band was obviously having fun on stage and looked like they were happy to be in town and the crowd was very much into it. They finished up, what seemed to be, a short set and walked off stage to roaring applause. to me it seemed like they were pandering a bit for an encore, which of coarse they got. The played 5 more songs in the encore including 2 covers, neither of which i knew but the people i was with really like the second one.
one thing i didn’t really know about the shins until last night was how often the band members traded instruments. Almost every song there was someone different was playing bass, and on the songs that required a keyboard it was anyone’s guess who was going to play it. Anita Robinson of aforementioned viva voce joined them for a few songs from their new album. however on every other song everything but drums was done by committee.

after the show we headed out to chandler to where john lives and watched some of cannibal the musical. it had been a long time since the last time i saw it and i had forgotten so much of its charm. my only hope is that one day i too can make a movie where all the native americans are asian.

david

Viva Voce

The opening band was awesome

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