lottery league photo documentation nearly 99% complete

it is the last couple percent that giving me problems, i posted my dilemma on loumuenz.com where it went six weeks before i posted anything until today.

in the meantime i have hundreds of photos up from the BIG SHOW, they are here.

related links: my LL blog posts / official LL blog / LL myspace page / LL bowling night photos / LL practice sessions photos / LL slot selection photos / LL bowling night photos

postcards along a foreign shore

'postcards along a foreign shore' practices at the 'leroi da moor' studios off of st. claire & 55th in a brick building they share with a dance studio specializing in the 'balboa' & jitterbug dance styles. PAAFS was all seated for their practice and the only ones thats appeared for dancing was rafeeqs turtles but i think their dance was for food.

the best i could describe postcards sound would be 'free-rock' or free jazz with rock tendencies supplied by a couple guitars, rafeeq mentioned that he was hoping to get picked for a band that he could strap a guitar on though this was not the band that that opportunity would arise and feeq seemed happy with working the trumpet and fingering the keys.

i added a short video [37"] of a small part of their practice and although the picture is crap the audio sounds good or at least decent enough to give you a good representation of their sound.

photos / myspace / video

[POSTCARDS ALONG FOREIGN SHORES: Dustin Thomas (Casual Future), Matthew Robinson (To Be A Highpowered Executive, 20goto10), Kyle Farrell (Giants of Gender), Dan Polito (Karate For Kids), Rafeeq Washington (blktygr, Vernacular)]

related links: my LL blog posts / official LL blog / LL myspace page / LL bowling night photos / LL practice sessions photos / LL slot selection photos / LL bowling night photos

fuck is the new black

i wrote previously of the one band that has had five canceled or rescheduled practices and i showed up for all five of those practices with no avail. 'fuck is the new black' is the band i'm speaking of and the only reason i was so persistent is that their space [starkweather] is only 2 blocks from my place and it falls on an 'off' night for me and i genuinely wanted to see them.
the sixth attempt i was reassured by joe milan that this time things appear to be more promising and they are now practicing at scharfs space and joe even included a address on the email instead of 'the big house on 14th, north or maybe just south of clark'.

the practice was sort of a jam session and i say that in a good way. will scharf is pretty amazing to watch on drums, below his drum kit is a big pile of little splinters of wood from his sticks and his cymbals all have these ridges on the outside like you would see on a apple pie.
i thought previously that FITNB would be that one band might not make it but i'm pretty certain that their logistic problems are behind them and that they will be there along with everyone else on april 12 at the beachland for the BIG SHOW.

photos / myspace

[FUCK IS THE NEW BLACK: Will Scharf (Keelhaul, Craw), Jamie Bennett (Unsparing Sea)
Matt Valerino (Bella Sylva, Volcanos Awake), Joe Milan (Uva Ursi, Hookboy)]

related links: my LL blog posts / official LL blog / LL myspace page / LL bowling night photos / LL practice sessions photos / LL slot selection photos / LL bowling night photos

chicago UK / harsburg lip

i did not get a real good feel of 'harsburg lip' after stopping by their practice for 45 minutes a couple weeks ago and was trying to make it back there when their cellist was present but that never came to being.
the few photos i shot was when HP was recording guitar & drum tracks, i'll be interested what the vocals & cello add to their sound at THE BIG SHOW this upcoming saturday the 12 of april at the beachland.

photos / myspace

[HAPSBURG LIP: Mike Baranick (Machine Go Boom, Washout Corporation), Zach Starnik (JJ Magazine, Sammy Slims), Matthew Gengler (Aloha, The Perfect Guy),Tara Klein (Unsparing Sea, Akron Symphony Orchestra)]

'chicago UK' practices at the starkweather space that has been somewhat of a black hole for me when i was trying to shoot 'fuck is the new black' after four unsuccessful tries, i eventually did get to shoot FITNB and will have that posting later this week..
'chicago UK' has a hodgepodge of sounds going on in their that they were practicing which features short catchy lil rock/punk songs with silly lyrics, you can listen for yourself by going to their myspace page where they have 3 of their pop-jams ready to stream.
i did come away with some decent photos in the short 2o minutes i was there which was actually my lunch break of my monday evening job.

photos / myspace

[CHICAGO UK: Jon Thomas (Volcanos Awake), David Russel (Jerk, A Real Knife Head)
Ken Janssen (Hot Rails, The Vista Cruisers), Morte Treehorn (Kill The Hippies, Electric Man), Dave Cintron (Terminal Lovers, Dimbulb)]

related links: my LL blog posts / official LL blog / LL myspace page / LL bowling night photos / LL practice sessions photos / LL slot selection photos / LL bowling night photos

old dildo - hot fire video

the 'big show' @ the beachland was six days away [april 12, 2008] when i shot this practice and 'old dildo' is well prepared for that night after hearing them run flawlessly through a few songs including this video that was used with a P&S camera that i've i've previously mentioned. this 1'45" video has seven 15 second clips interwoven as one and just a portion of this complete song.

despite how i dogged the video capabilities of this camera, it does record decent audio for an outdated camera.
the name of this reggae tune is 'hot fire' that OD was practicing this evening. i only have 30 seconds of the hard/punk tune named 'rage' on video and will make an effort to upload that in the future.

i will have posting of lottery league each day this week leading up to the BIG SHOW april 12, 2008 at the beachland on 3 stages starting at 5pm.

photos / myspace / video

[OLD DILDO: Steve Mehlman (Roue, Pere Ubu), Scott Hosner (Black Wolf, Argyle Denial)
Jacob Trombetta (6 Parts 7), Buddy Akita (This Moment In Black History, The Teenage Knockouts)]

related links: my LL blog posts / official LL blog / LL myspace page / LL bowling night photos / LL practice sessions photos / LL slot selection photos / LL bowling night photos

dehumidifier VS humidifier recording video

dehumidifier VS humidifier is another lottery league band that has far varying musical tastes that differ with each other and are taking on a stoner-rock sound that i believe none of them has performed before. half of the band members are currently playing in pop-indie bands and the other half are known through their hard rock duos.

this is my first lottery league post that i have included video with. i enjoy documenting with video quite a bit but my five year old video handycam no longer records video after i fell off my bike on a patch of ice during a 7 degree evening a couple februarys ago.

the video i captured this evening was with my eight year old olympus UZI that is actually a 'point & shoot' digital camera that allows you to capture video in 15 second files. i shot about six 15 second videos to come up with this <2 minute video after editing which i only spent about 30 minutes on. i may have been able to get a better video if i spent more time editing but it was after 3am and i was dog tired.

the video shows rob recording gheramys vocals at the old tower after the other two DvsH members left for home. greg & JP never heard vocals on this song they recorded tonight so if you watch the video within the next couple days you will hear the song in its finished form before the other half of their band hears it. remember this video is just portions of the DvsH song 'wolf lies' which is actually about 4.5 minutes long.

when i heard them perform and record the song without vocals it reminded me of a captain beefheart tune that i still can't remember the name of, after hearing the vocals i'm reminded of the band kyuss.

photos / myspace / video

[DEHUMIDIFIER VS. HUMIDIFIER: Greg Hyland (Kiddo, The Twilight), JP Gamier (Zyklus II, Glocknein), Gheramy Demery (Poor Sailor, Golden Ox), Rob Resch (Ohm's Law, I Sing The Body Electric)]

related links: my LL blog posts / official LL blog / LL myspace page / LL bowling night photos / LL practice sessions photos / LL slot selection photos / LL bowling night photos

lottery league props

i'm quite certain i've been remiss with giving propers to a couple people that are instrumental in the lottery leagues success to date. jae kristoff is the fellow who thought up this great idea and had the motivation to get [nearly] hundreds involved & excited so much so that i consider the idea to be a huge success already without being close to the end game. i'm not sure exactly what the 'end-game' exactly is for the LL though the 'big-show' is april 12 at the beachland ballroom/tavern where all 33 bands will perform on three stages and there is a compilation CD planned to come out as well as a DVD but i believe the relationships and camaraderies amongst many of those involved that either did not know of each other or only knew through what they heard or read, will have a positive affect that will last for years in cleveland's music scene.

i wanted to write this post before the scene magazine article that features the lottery league arrives at local cafes & pubs later this afternoon, for the main reason that i doubt the article will detail much of jae's involvement in the project and that isn't the scene magazines fault because jae went out of his way to become unnoticed through all of this and divert attention away from him and towards the bands & musicians that have went out of their way to make their band and the project succeed.
jae had as much success as staying invisible as the creator of the league as he has had in getting the project off the ground. i did not quite realize jae's anonymity within the league until i was shooting a 'gandhi ss' practice a couple weeks ago that had the writer from the scene present interviewing members of the band and one of the questions the writer asked was 'how did you all become involved in this project' [i'm paraphrasing] and davis spoke up when others were searching for an answer and said 'well, i'm not really sure, i remember someone asking me and i said: eh, yah, sure!' [paraphrasing again], the others in the room gave similar answers. those replies don't seem so shocking unless you happen to know that davis grew up with jae in lorain and has been in a couple bands with him including 'self destruct button', it took me a few seconds to pick my jaw off the ground and realize what a coup jae pulled off with his anonymity.
i'm not sure if the writer interviewed jae and if she did, i'm sure his answer would of been the same as davis not unlike when the free times writer asked jae who it was that came up with punk-rock softball and he replied: 'i think it was lou menz'. heh.

there are also several more folks that deserves thanks for their time and effort: john delzoppo, michael pultz & ed sotelo belong on top of that list, alyssa, paul, laura, matt, mike also put aside time & effort as well as some others i'm sure i'm forgetting, my apologies.

jae probably won't appreciate me shining light on them here but i thought it was only right and i'm hoping the tentative title is not what i recently heard.

related links: my LL blog posts / official LL blog / LL myspace page / LL bowling night photos / LL practice sessions photos / LL slot selection photos / LL bowling night photos