TRKfest, 07/21/12

Piedmont Family Reunion, TRKfest, Trotter Building, Durham NC, 07/21/12, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

Rainy weather forced a move of TRKfest from the Piedmont Biofuels farm to the Trotter Building in Durham. Happily, that put it a couple minutes from my house, and everything ran very smoothly.

After the lovely set by Megafaun & Midtown Dickens playing that was a mix of covers and songs by one of the bands, the stage cleared the tone shifted to, well, this:

At times it was a little surreal to watch the one-off Misfits cover band shift the festival to a rock show to end the night. Below a few photos from earlier in the day, followed by more Lost Skulls.

Full photo set

Trekky Records Collective, ArtsCenter

Trekky Records Collective, ArtsCenter, Carrboro NC, 12/15/11, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

Last night’s Trekky Records annual showcase had far too many bands and bands for the night for me to keep up with.

But it was a little chaotic and delightful.

And, for me it rings in the holiday season.

So it is now time for seasonal music. (First four albums, always: Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You, the bootleg Springsteen holiday album, Beach Boys’ Christmas, David DeBoy’s Crabs for Christmas.)

Best Shots of 2010: 11-15

11. Kaia Wilson, The Butchies, Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC, 07/21/10
Sony a350, 50mm fixed, 800iso, f/1,7, 1/15
I love that Kaia was still enough in the spot light that I could overexpose at 1/15 and still get really sharp detail and shadows.

12. Shaft of Sunlight, Sunrise, Isle of Palms, SC, 11/27/10
Sony a350, 50mm fixed, 200iso, f/5.0, 1/200
It’s so rare that I capture such perfect sunlight. To really understand why I love this photo you have to know the quote, “Sudden in a shaft of sunlight, Even while the dust moves, There rises the hidden laughter” from TS Eliot’s Four Quartets. In this case it isn’t about he technical details just lucky timing and a good eye.

13. Hammer No More the Fingers, TRKfest, Pittsboro, NC, 06/26/10
Sony a350, 18-125mm lens at 35mm, 800 iso, f4.5, 1/25
TRKfest took place outside at Piedmont Biofuels so virtually all the lighting was from the superbright LED stage lights. I love how quickly the light falls off here leave them in almost silhouette. (and Duncan’s hat)

14. Magician Michael Casey, Papa Mojo’s, Durham NC, 05/21/10
Sony a350, 50mm fixed, 3200iso, f/1.4, 1/15
Sometimes you need every bit of light you can get in. Not a stage show (obviously) but Michael working the crowd with magic. This is my camera pushed:3200iso, f/1.4. and handheld at 1/15. It’s grainy as heck (the a350 only looks great to 1600) but it gets the moment exactly right.

15. Charlie Humphrey, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC, 05/06/10
Sony a350, 50mm fixed, 1600 iso, f/2.2, 1/20
506 has gotten better about being something other than aggressively red in camera. But the red occasionally pays off, like here – hitting off the brass just right. I love all the lines in this photo, from the “X” on his hand to the lines of the trumpet, to, even, the hard crease in his pants.

Top Shows of 2010: A Category All Their Own

Onward, Soldiers, Fullsteam, Troika, 11/05/10, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

I’ve seen some blogs list individual festival sets as concerts on their top shows roundups. But for me, while festivals are full of great individual performances, it’s hard for me to single out any one set from a festival because part of the glory is that it is just so much music, packed into a short time that you are almost overwhelmed.
So instead, here are the top 3 festivals I went to this year. I can’t compare them to individual sets and I can’t break then apart, so here they are in their own list.

Troika Music Festival, Durham, NC, 11/04-11/06 – From Birds & Arrows set to open the festival to Hammer No More The Fingers set to close the festival, it was just a solidly good time. I didn’t see a bad set all weekend. More than just the music, though, this festival was a celebration of local music scene. Well put together and smoothly run. Full-venues while still feeling very friendly. A+ – will attend again. Highlights: Mosadi Music, Django Haskins doing most of his set completely unplugged & standing on a chair, walking from Minor Stars to Dillon Fence to Onward, Soldiers for a great 1-2-3 punch, Free Electric State, Chatham County Line, Last Year’s Men, Hammer No More The Fingers.

Hopscotch Music Festival, Raleigh, NC, 09/09-09/11 – It’s been a couple of months since Hopscotch and my favorite thing about it is that no one I talk to about it has the same highlights. The day parties gave great exposure to local bands and had some of the best sets of the festival. It was perfectly diverse with more than enough space to find new favorites and hear old ones. My highlights. All Tiny Creatures, Lucero, The Beast, Bellafea, Hog, Red Collar, Aquarelle, Balmorhea, Bear in Heaven, Tortoise.

This Machine Kills Cancer, Durham, NC, 06/19 – The morning of this I had a flat and then had too go to work for 4 hours, but still, with a donut on my back tire, I made it to this show for almost the full day. It was hotter than blazes and it was perfect. I didn’t see a bad set. And it can’t really be summed up by listing highlighted sets. This was a day of music about the power of a strong community. It was glorious.

Time for toys and time for cheer

Trekky Yuletide Orchestra, Trekky Records’ Christmas at the Cradle, Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro NC, 12/16/10, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for toys and time for cheer
We’ve been good, but we can’t last
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast

Want a plane that loops the loop
Me, I want a hula hoop
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don’t be late.