Thursday, January 31, 2013

Sound City...

This evening we went to the lovely Sunshine Cinema to see a special screening of Dave Grohl's new film - Sound City...


The film is a brilliant documentary all about Sound City recording studios, from all the artists that have recorded their and all the amazing stories they have to tell, to the rare Neve recording desk that gave all the records recorded there such a unique sound.

I had never heard of Sound City before I heard about the film, but once I realised just how many people had recorded there, and the albums that had been recorded there I quickly realised it was a pretty big part of music history.


There were interviews with Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Nirvana, Rick Springsteen, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, John Fogarty and a whole load of other people. They all recorded music there at one stage or another.

In fact Tom Petty recorded a LOT of his albums there, he and the Heartbreakers were even Johnny Cash's session band for the album he recorded there. There were loads of great stories throughout the film but one of the best ones, I thought, was about how Mick Fleetwood first came to meet Stevie Nicks and Linsday Buckingham. They had both recorded an album there (when they were a duo) and Mick Fleetwood was visiting the studio to have a look at the Neve board as he was thinking of recording something there. When he was there the studio played the Nicks & Buckingham album to demonstrate the quality.

Apparently Fleetwood was listening to it super loud and Buckingham was in another studio and could hear his song playing, so he went to go and see who was playing it so loudly... that was the first time they met. A little later Mick Fleetwood's guitarist quit just before they were due to start recording so he asked Lindsay - he said that he'd only play if Stevie Nicks could play too... and that was that! 

Unfortunately the studio's closed now (due to the new digital age of music recording), but Dave Grohl managed to buy the Neve recording desk and put it in his own studio - 606. As well as tell the story about the songs recorded at Sound City, he wanted to bring some of the big artists back and make new records together using the same recording equipment as all those years ago...

So at the end of the film are these amazing sessions with Stevie Nicks and Rick Springsteen writing and playing new songs with Dave Grohl, and then right at the end it shows when Paul McCartney and the three members of Nirvana all got together, had a little jam and ended up writing a brilliant song together!

So now, there's a super group called the Sound City players (Foo Fighters + Nick, Fogarty, Springsteen) who have been doing a couple of gigs to promote the film and the new album that's out... hopefully they'll be coming to New York soon!!!

It was an absolutely brilliant documentary, it was full of people who are so passionate about what they do and so inspiring too - it was fantastic. I can't wait to watch it again...


How & Nosm...

Tomorrow is the opening night of a new exhibition of work from How & Nosm - the artists who's work is currently up on the Bowery mural wall (and dotted around Brooklyn). 

The windows to the building where the pop-up exhibition is being held are all covered up, so there's no peeking (I tried) - but they've got some nice teaser pieces up on display instead...


We're not going to be able to make it to the opening night tomorrow (we have some other very exciting art related plans... more on that soon), but hopefully we'll be able to go and see it at some point this weekend.

Custom Paint Job...


Monday, January 28, 2013

Friendly Notice...

The friendly folk of BedStuy...

More Bushwick Bounty...

Another weekend, another mooch around Bushwick...

I think that's three weekends in a row now that I've walked into Bushwick and I'm still finding new (new to me, but old) pieces of amazing street art. I'll be available for walking tours soon!

Bushwick Bangers...

 I remember seeing this very patriotic people carrier not long after I first moved out to New York, this was the first I've seen again since.

50 & 50 Project...

On Saturday afternoon we braved the cold and went to the Ace Hotel ato see the 50 & 50 - State Mottos Project exhibition...
The project is a collection of 50 little posters each with one of the 50 state mottos on. The mottos have been illustrated by 50 designers from each of the states - and the whole thing has been curated by Brooklyn designer/illustrator Dan Cassaro...

It was such a great idea for a project - each of the mottos are so different and each of the illustrators styles are so varied, but having the colours limited to red, white and blue helps pull them all together. It was great to see some of the more obscure mottos, which I imagine most people have forgotten about...



It was a brilliant little exhibition, we both came away full of ideas wanting to do projects of our own.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Hole In The Wall...

Brrrrrrrrryant Park...

It has been absolutely bloody freezing these past few days. My long-johns have become my new best friends. It's been so cold in fact that the fountain in Bryant Park has frozen up...


 I'm not really sure why they didn't just turn it off - but I'm glad they didn't as it created the most amazing ice sculpture. There was still water squirting out from the huge thick mounds of ice and ginormous icicles hanging down form the big basin.

Behind the fountain people were enjoying some other ice...

Jamaican Me Hungry...

I saw this beautiful old Chevrolet truck near work this morning - it was setting up to sell Jamaican Patties at lunch. I didn't try the patties but I did love the van...

 It was still there serving food as we left work this evening - it seemed funny seeing a bright and cheery Jamaican van covered in a thin layer of snow. Seeing this van brightened up a very cold and grey day.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Little Library...

When I was mooching around Bushwick I spotted that tiny Library that was near Lorimer Street last year. I'm not sure if it's the same one, of a new one just for children books - but it was great to see it again...

More Bushwick...