Charlene Bowls Away Crowd @ The Gutter

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Last Friday (4/4/11) Stephanie Walsh from Side B Radio and I headed our to The Gutter in Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY, to check out Charlene Kaye perform with her band The Brilliant Eyes. This show was particularly exciting! This was the venue's forth live performance in their 'back room'. Also, Charlene debuted three new songs that will be featured on her newest CD release!

The Gutter is a dimly lit dive bar, with six (or seven?) lanes to bowl on. They have just expanded the venue with the 'back room', complete with standing room for almost 100, if not more, people and a full bar.

Charlene played a full set and encore, including three new songs and a cover song! The crowd was great, Charlene was an amazing performer as always. She is so lively on stage and frequents the crowd by jumping off stage and joining the hype. She uses any instrument around her, from shakers to a megaphone, there is never a time when she isn't moving with the music.

Be sure to follow Charlene on Twitter, and watch out for the interview with Charlene, which will b e released sometime this week.



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General Money's Black and White Event

After having General Money come to NY for two interviews and for Band's Aide, I took Young Bobby and my lovely Jess to go see the General up in New Hampshire. After driving up from NY, and having a delicious meal at Blue Latitudes, the crew headed over to the Dover Brick House to meet up with G.

The Brick House is tucked away in a corner of downtown Dover. The base floor was the main bar, and then upstairs is where the semi-formal was going to take place. General Money was already up there setting up for the event, checking the levels for the mics and the music, blowing up balloons, and setting up the promotions table with CDs, cupcakes, and General's Blast. Around 8 o'clock the doors opened and people slowly started to trickle in. By 9pm the place was almost full and the first performer Saint D was getting ready to take the stage. Everybody was getting their drink on (who was over 21) and the new hip-hop/r&b artist performed for the first time ever, and it was apparent. He had his hand in his pocket and seemed really nervous on stage. Good for the crowd the next act coming up had a little more experience on stage.


After Saint D and a short DJ intermission, Constantino was on stage next. He did a very good job getting into his songs and trying to get the crowd moving. He even had a song with another rapping friend of his Relapse. The crowd seemed to dig it, with his songs about partying and girls. But none of these guys could really even up to General Money.



From the moment General Money took the mic, the atmosphere of the crowd changed instantly. The General was out in the crowd, interacting with everyone in the room. People got up to dance as G brought them into his performance. That's one thing General Money is awesome at, he always brings his act to the people, and it's infectious. Every person there was having a blast. General Money provided not only an awesome performance, but also cupcakes, cds of the UN, stickers, and the opportunity to win a 16 gig ipod nano!

At the event was the whole Crank Records family. The guys behind General's Blast, Team Energy, set up a showcase of General Money's energy drink line. There was also Tristen from TNM Recording Studios. Luckily for him, he won the Ipod from the giveaway, which was great because out of all the sound equipment he has, an Ipod was probably the only thing he was missing. Everyone had an amazing time, and try to prove me wrong, but I learned that people in New Hampshire are way cooler and more laid back than anyone back on the Island.


Huge props to the General for putting on another amazing performance! I can't wait until the next show!

Check out all the photos HERE

Taking Concert Photography

Part of enjoying music is watching music. So for us, going to shows is a regular thing. We've written articles on the shows we've been to, all indie bands that have played locally at some club or bar. Over the course of these shows, we've been taking pictures of the bands, slowly learning how to take great pictures at these types of venues.

First off, you don't need a sick nasty SLR. I had been using a Canon Powershot SD1100, a point and click for most people. If you understand the connection between aperture, ISO, and shutter speed, you'll take awesome pictures. I'll talk more about these cameras in a minute though.

Don't be shy. Step up to the stage, make your way up there through the crowd. If you can get right next to the talent, you will have great angles and you'll be able to play with light a little more. Take a few pictures with flash on, you'll be able to capture a lot of expression and movement. Just keep in mind, if you want to capture more atmosphere in your photos, flash will kill all the lights in the room.

So take pictures with your flash off. If you are using a SLR with an extended flash on it, turn it away from the stage. This is where your ISOs and aperture matter the most. If you can capture pictures when the light is right, you can keep things pretty normal, ISO 400-800, with only a little extra exposure.

You will need to play with it. Practice at home in low lit areas and just take pictures on different settings. Just remember the exposure triangle.

If you don't have any equipment and you are interested in shopping around, I suggest these four cameras to start with looking. They are all under $600, just take a look at the used prices. These are all excellent cameras.

Partay!

105 Riv was the place to be on Saturday night. It was Anna Yvette & the Ohms' CD release party! It was such a good time, there were a lot of really great people there, all to congratulate and celebrate with Anna.

I felt very VIP walking into this joint. There was a door man letting people through a velvet rope, it was like walking into a place where everyone would know you. And it was a little like that. Everyone there was so nice. People were enjoying the open bar, talking and taking pictures; there was a lot going on in this cozy setting.

Anna, Louis (bass) and Vinny (drums) played a full set for everyone there. It was such an intimate setting, Louis was playing off of the stripper pole above everyone's heads and people sat all around the performance set up. It was a great show, they really know how to have a great time on stage. It's always awesome to see bands really get into their music, it brings out so much more of the emotion they are portraying through the sound as well as the visual.

It was a lot of fun, enjoy the pictures I took and check out their website to hear more about Anna Yvette and the Ohms!

A Saturday To Remember

I got the call from our friends in Piercing Silence on Saturday afternoon to come out that night to the Zebra Lounge in Copiague for an awesome show that they were part of. I couldn't let the opportunity pass, and made my way out east for the night.

It was a night full of rock. You had Abigail Roots, Piercing Silence, Undetermined, Atomic Fury, and Erocktica in the lineup. It was a pretty decent crowd, many different ages in there. The bar was pretty big, they had two tenders on it the whole night. I didn't see anything about drink specials, but there were shot girls there introducing a new tequila, Lunazul. Everybody was having a good time, enjoying drinks and the live music. The Zebra Lounge has live music every Friday and Saturday, and is always a 21+ establishment.

The set up for the bands was pretty simple. The stage was pretty deep, plenty of room for the musicians to move around. The sound system was ok, it seemed as though all the amps were plugged into two main monitors, and all the levels were controlled out of them. There were some slip ups when it came to the audio quality, but nothing major enough to really stand out.

It was the music that was the best. Piercing Silence played a few new songs as well as older ones. The progression of their music is moving and powerful. They have yet to find a lead singer, but in my opinion they don't need one. The way their songs unfold allows the listener to dwell in emotions. Very talented musicians, check them out.

The headlining band was Erocktica. I had heard about them, about how their live shows can get very wild. This was very true. The pictures that I posted up from the show are only half of them. The other half is meant for mature audiences ONLY. The show they put on can be compared to a Kiss concert. It is interactive, meant to be an eye opener, full of props and meant to rile up the audience. They had one dancer at this show, but they have 9 in total. They were so much fun, and if you have an open mind about sex, definitely check them out.

May 15th, Mondo Porno at Arlene's Grocery (95 Stanton NYC). Erocktica's DVD release party, you want to be there. Come in a devil or angle costume for five dollars off cover price, making it $10. BE THERE!

PICTURES HERE!!!

IF YOU WANT THE OTHER HALF OF THIS EROCKTICA SHOW, SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND DOB (date of birth). UnchartedWaves@gmail.com THAT'S ALL!