Category: Travel
Protected: The Logic of Guesswork
Mosh Oh My Gosh
Fall Concert Wishlist:
9/5 Slipknot in Milwaukee
9/8 Atmosphere & Eyedeas in Minneapolis (Pop Sensation research)
9/15 Manson in Milwaukee
9/20 Alice In Chains in Milwaukee
9/26 Arctic Monkeys in Milwaukee
10/3 Tanglefoot far away
10/6 Butthole Surfers at Barrymore
10/18 Richie Havens in Chicago
It’s plan-making time again. As it turns out, I have a couple of new ideas to share.
The plans have been laid out for an urgent trip this weekend to Austin for the Cocker Spaniels and The Kominas show on Sunday. Any updates while I’m there will be on from @kaitfoley. I’m hatching a inspired plan for SXSW and think Twitter would help make SXSW a reunion and ecstatic instead of a social media and music clusterfu*k for lack of a better word. From what I hear, right now it sounds more like a zoo – Kominas bring your swords.
Pop Sensation Productions is working hard on a comic book series about how awesome we are and a radio series about underground music. We don’t know if it’s final yet but the first two shows are obvious to us. This is important so listen up. First, Taqwacores and potentially Afropunks too if they’ll entertain the idea with us. The second is about underground rap weirdos like Eyedeas & Abilities. If you haven’t seen the video for “Junk,” MTVU has it here but heed this warning: you’re in for a frenetic conniption of awesome. Sit down, get a glass of water, and enjoy the type of insanity the Midwest incites.
Goodbye Wisconsin!
Wild Nights in Harlem
The ‘hawk in the photo is Basim Usmani of The Kominas. It was taken last month at a screening of New Muslim Cool in Harlem, NYC.
Please credit photos to Kaitlin Foley.
Pros at Work
A little piece of lovely hip-hop:
I’ve spent the past week in NYC and Boston and there are so many updates that will come out in time, not to mention photos that I have yet to edit.
Hung out with The Kominas, realized Boston’s music scene is boss, and visited Harvard with Ms. Jillian York and others. There’s much to say but for now, enjoy the beats. This video is an intersection of my home (the midwest) and Boston’s scene. Meet the Rhymesayers family if you haven’t as well.
And to close my abbreviated post and speaking of home: I went to see the documentary New Muslim Cool and a Kominas performance before the show in Harlem. Again, photos to come but for now, the soundtrack has a great remix of their song “9000 miles” that is all about home and thinking about what it means.
Here’s a sample from blip:
It’s something to think on while I do the same. I’ve got a truckload of lyrics to push through, gladly. Thanks to the Kominas for sharing them.
Travel sign
It’s a sign. Okay, a year late, but still.
Revisit Travel Photos from the Inauguration and NYC
All of my photos from the Inauguration ceremony and address are hosted on Flickr if you’d like to see more, please check them out! I’ve also posted photos from each day of my trip to Washington DC in a photo hunt for the Inauguration, and photos from my brief stay in NYC as well.
Finally, a Polished Photo Set for Inauguration 2009
Bottleneck at L'Enfant Metro Station.
Emon woke me up at 3:30 am. I personally thought it was a miracle we made it to the metro station in Maryland by 5 am, and it actually wasn’t too busy despite all the hype beforehand. The foot traffic wasn’t too bad, but getting through the escalators and ticket machines took forever. We ended up taking the L’Enfant Plaza stop.
Metro Crowd at L'Enfant.
The Capitol Building in the distance.
Here’s a shot right outside the station. You can get a sense of what the crowd was like. At this point, I was trying to figure out the best way to get into the mall, and Twittering from my phone. Emon found where to get coffee while I google mapped our way to 14th Street and Independence Ave.
Around 6 am, right outside L'Enfant Metro Station.
We ended up as close as you could get without paying for tickets: around 4th Street, on the mall. Around that time, my phone stopped working. I managed to get a couple emails out to people back in Madison, but the network connection died soon afterward.
Early Morning view of the Capitol Building, around 6 or 7 am.
People started to faint because the crowd at the front was packed tight. So, we decided to comb the crowd and take photos after waiting there for three hours. Turns out, the gates surrounding the mall had a pretty cool subculture going on and was a good place to get away from the huge mass of people.
Hanging out by the gates pre-inauguration. The gates followed along the north side of the mall, along with about a million toilets.
Special Police hanging out at the gates.
A place to sit down.
We caught our breath and headed back into the crowd to wait for the ceremony to begin.
There really were that many free flags. Wish I could say there were free juice boxes.
Blanket nation.
Beach ball toss before the actual swearing-in began.
Cute kid.
After hours of waiting in the cold, listening to the Inaugural concert again on the jumboscreens, and suffering through Shakira’s awkward performance, the ceremony began. First things first, Bush had to go.
The face a guy made when Bush was booed for the second, maybe third time. Ouch!
Reactions during Obama's speech.
The ceremony was epic and Obama’s speech left me without words (hence the photopost). As for the walk home, it was complicated by the exodus of people from the National Mall.
Lots of people, only one metro station.
Many took to the streets, bridges, and even interstate by foot instead.
The walk home. Yes, we can.
All of my photos are hosted on flickr. If you would like to see more from the trip to DC, please check them out!
Nighttime Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge
On my last day in NYC, Midwest Airlines called asking me if I would like to reschedule my flight. It was the third time they had rescheduled my flight this trip. Also, we had just returned from running around Washington DC for the past four days and five hours in a car traveling back to Manhattan. So, I was already exhausted and fed up with making new travel plans. Enter Emon, who made the best of it. He came up with the idea that we take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and restored my hope in making my extra night in NYC fun and memorable. Photos, captions, and some links below.
Brooklyn Bridge Photos
Foot traffic on our way to the nearest Starbuck’s. I had to get that fix to even to keep my eyes open at this point: first day back from Inauguration 2009.
“Entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge”
“Cars on the Bridge”
I caught a construction man at work on a building over on the other side of the bridge with my long lens.
“Walking the Line”
Manhattan Skyline (View from the Bridge)
View from the other side!
Bridge, skyline, street all in one photo.
Water Street Photos
This was the site of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle pressroom (the newspaper was published from 1841 to 1955, and revived from 1960 to 1963). Click on the image for more info from wikipedia.
We caught a glimpse of St. Ann’s Warehouse without anyone around. There was one other man taking photos that night with his dog in the car. Nobody else was around. Usually, the place is bustling with attendees for one of their live performances. Click on the photo for more info about current performances.
About 25 years ago, Jane Walentas began to restore this 1922 carousel. Now finished, it’s stored away in Brooklyn. Click on the photo for more info about Jane’s project.
More From Brooklyn
(The blue is mine)
“Valentines Day Bar”
Click here to view the entire photo set on flickr.
Washington DC Day 4 Photos
I’ve been in post-Inauguration rehab for the past week. Before I get back to blogging full-force, here are my photos from our trip back from Washington DC for the Inauguration and my last night in New York City. First, a couple of photos from Union Station (our last stop in Washington DC) and next up, a walk across Brooklyn Bridge in NYC.
The closest I came to meeting President Obama.
Pepsi Campaigned Harder Than Obama
Union Station Clock
Union Station Crowd
Click here to view the entire photo set from day 4 in Washington DC.