Summer 2022

Where have I been and what have I been up to?

Well, a lot of everything. Lots of concerts, lots of hikes, some travel, and lots of quality time with friends and family. Let’s update you with a few photos!

Discovery Park

I’ve been going on many different hikes throughout the past year and it has been so wonderful to see more of the PNW. Along a few of these hikes, my best friend Angela was my companion. She has also been getting into hiking on her own during the last year. It’s always so nice spending time with her, and she gave me an excuse to bring my camera with on our hike in Discovery Park.

Anna Eisch

Finally truly getting back into shooting some shows - for Anna Eisch, who had just release her new EP, I Know About Emily. My good friend Maddie was shooting some video footage, and I attended and took some still photos. Anna and Maddie are also close friends and it was so nice to watch her perform at the new Café Racer!

Justin!

Justin was in town briefly and we all grabbed dinner in Ballard!

A rare photo taken on my camera by someone else of me! Love these two so much, I have known them both since high school and cherish few people the way I do them.

Lusio Lights Festival

I have been a fan and attended other Lusio Lights productions throughout the year, but have never made it to their big festival in the Summertime before. This year we went - it was held at Mary Olson Farm in Kent and it was spectacular. Quite the party - kids were running around mad, and we were all transfixed by the different art installations and projections.

Lucky Sweater Clothing Swap

My best friend Angela is a core member of the app Lucky Sweater, that helps to promote finding slow fashion clothing and facilitate trades between members. Different local swaps in person were held throughout the country and she hosted the Seattle event.

Seattle Design Festival 2022 - Block Party

I didn’t have any friends (models) to come with me to the Seattle Design Festival this year, so I went alone. I haven’t missed one of these since I started going many years ago. This year’s theme was “Connection” and it really translated well within the different art installations. My favorite was probably the circular ping pong table that had a rotating net. Plants were given away for free, Seattle housing was discussed, there was a happy map where you could add a place in Seattle that brought you happiness - I added “Neumos” to the map.

Velocity Music Festival 2022

Bad Snacks

Velocity was back this year, finally! It’s been a minute. The festival holds a trade show, seminars, workshops, and live music. I only went to the trade show and a few of the live sets - I so love to go because the crowd that attends is so different from my other shows as it is a celebration of Synthesizers - it is quite niche. This year the festival sold out. My friend Maddie was also a volunteer handling video for the festival and I found an awesome new artist - Bad Snacks!

Golf Alpha Bravo, Dark Dazey, and The Groovy Nobody

Golf Alpha Bravo

Dark Dazey

The Groovy Nobody

John Maus at Washington Hall 12.1.18

If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, it probably has led to music, and then to my favorite musicians that I’ve gotten to photograph and which moments have stood out the most to me. It always comes back to John Maus. I’ve written about him here, here, here, and most recently, here.  Having said so much already, why write about him again?

This Saturday night, Maus performed a solo show at Washington Hall in Seattle. The venue was large for Maus and the crowd mature.  The stage at Washington Hall has an outline of lights, directing your attention to the only person on stage. 

Upon Maus’ arrival, he took a few moments huddled to himself before playing his initial backing track to sing over. This is a ritual of Maus’, a moment of silence before the coming eruption of emotion and sound.  Although this is par for the course for Maus, there is a subtle elephant.

This tour is Maus’ first solo tour in 6+ years.  After about 5 years of digital silence, Maus reemerged with his album Screen Memories and returned with a backing band in 2017.  He toured with his band until Summer 2018, when his band mate and brother Joe Maus unexpectedly passed away while on tour in Latvia.

The rest of that European tour was cancelled, life changed, and Maus announced this solo tour.

Returning for the longest solo set I’ve ever seen him perform, Maus plunged through his many songs.  Starting with “My Whole World’s Coming Apart,” and then later “Keep Pushing On,” and “And the Rain” – songs so resonating in this present moment and the many to come.  The crowd was audible, but it took until about halfway through the set, right around “Rights for Gays” or “Pure Rockets,” for it to feel like a true John Maus set.  The ones I remember from his previous solo days.  A small mosh circle was formed and people thrusted their firsts towards Maus while he was motioning towards them.    

A glance around the room and you could visibly see people dancing, jamming, responding and receiving (whatever you want to call it) in their own ways to the performance.  A look up to one of the ledges along the side of the venue and you’d find a timid family seated right next to another group of friends who were completely lost in their rhythmic swaying to each song.

In a brief and somber slowness towards the end of the evening, Maus performed “And Heaven Turned to Her Weeping,” from Songs, a song I did not know he ever performed live.  Via statics from setlist.fm, it looks like their data shows he performed it before in 2007, but has performed it a few times now in 2018.   A few lyrics from the ballad include:

“Even though you’re far away from me, you’re in my dreams // and it’s hard to erase you from my memories… Cause this is the time for loving you // but you’re not here with me”.

Maus returned for two encores, another first for me -  the second of his encores ending on his iconic “Believer,” from We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves.

As a fan, it is worrisome that this might be Maus’ farewell to Seattle, for now; a gift of another solo tour where he extends himself as much as possible on stage for us.  As someone who feels like a friend, I am happy and proud for John, who has no doubt had an incredibly difficult year, but still delivers the most passionate performance I have seen to date.

I’m now reminded of a moment in which John once asked me how his live shows compare to the many others I attend & my answer remains the same: they don’t.

R.I.P. Joe Maus 1988-2018.

Lost Under Heaven & Cold Soda at the High Dive 10.30.18

Lost Under Heaven, a duo consisting of Ebony Hoorn and Ellery James Roberts, came through Seattle a couple of weeks ago debuting some new music from their upcoming release Love Hates What You’ve Become, slated to be release in January 2019.

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Lost Under Heaven

First of all, I knew a Lost Under Heaven (LUH) show was going to be fun. I’ve never been to one before, but I have seen Ellery James Roberts perform before, in one of my previously-favorite bands, WU LYF. The band broke up shortly after I saw them perform live, and after their first album. Roberts is an assertive frontman - his vocals croon and he’s got a feral stage presence.

Hoorn is a complementary addition to Roberts’ vocals - their harmonizing is surprisingly pleasant - she takes off the edge of the harsher male vocals while holding her own mysterious and melancholic notes.

With LUH, many of their songs offer familiar community chanting opportunities, similar to WU LYF’s songs. With songs like LUH’s latest single “Post Millenial Tension,” it’s easy to get caught up in the bold lyrics “Everybody singing fuck the world // Close your eyes and we’ll be alright … My generation’s burning // Still we sing our lovesongs.”

Also, with their song “Lament” from their first album Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing, Roberts beseeched the crowed to help him sing along to the lyrics “To the powers of old, to the powers that be // You have fucked up this world but you won’t fuck with me”.

The atmosphere was a loving one. The crowd offered and followed through with buying the band drinks throughout the night, and there were friendly conversations between songs, which usually ended up with us talking about a meme, and them acknowledging how silly it was we were talking about memes during their performance.

Laughter aside, LUH came to play their music and they took their performance seriously. At one point they opted to restart a song to get a climax just right after a beat was missed, and they indicated they would likely be back very soon for another show in 2019, after the new album drops.

Unfortunately, only a handful of people filled the High Dive for this powerful performance. When you looked behind you, there was a very empty back of the house, and it was so easy to tell because the 50 or so people who were there were all crowded near the stage, hanging onto the performance until the very end.

Cold Soda

Locals Cold Soda, opened for the evening. Many of us were taken by surprise because we didn’t realize the band is made up of Cave Singers band members.

Come to find out, Cold Soda is the more dance-y version of Cave Singers. They were a very easy listening opener, eager to play their music but not nearly as loud as the set that followed them with LUH. The music was very welcoming and sounded great at the High Dive stage.