Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, DJ Big Wiz = Hail Mary Mallon @ Amoeba SF

Trecked up to Amoeba on Monday to see Aesop Rock. Having all his gear stolen the previous night before the Fillmore show, the turnout at Amoeba was quite large as it clearly encompassed much of the crowd who lost out due to the cancelled show the night prior. The room was packed with aisle upon aisle of locals as well as people who were boasting about how far they drove to come watch the show, staying extra nights in the city due to their cancelled show misfortune. Die hards do it right.

The show was, as you can only imagine, fucking off-the-chain fantastic. Props to Big Wiz who had minor problems the whole show while working with brand new gear; still rocked it. Rob Sonic also was nothing short of amazing ..and then there's Aesop who slayed and then filet'd us with his sheer intensity and charisma. As the crowd chanted lyrics off a new track Take the brain out, leave the heart in... Take the brain out, leave the heart in... the back and forth energy between the crowd and the stage alone was enough to disconnect self from brainpiece and just be part of the collective audience members throwing their arms and fists and words at the stage.

Homemade Mummy - Aesop Rock

Take the brain out.. leave the heart in

I would also like to say that seeing rap and hip hop artists live is quite an experience, and even if you aren't particularly fond of the genre - take my word for it - go see a show anyway. You'll thank me later, promise. The connection and interactivity between the artist and the stage is completely different than the vibe at any other type of show. You really just have to get your bad self out to a show - you'll thank me later, promise.

Here's a handful of photos I took and a few video clips because what the hell, why not.
As well as some tracks you should probably hear from the new album (aka the whole album...) - Skelethon - which you can download on iTunes here or listen to below.


Aesop Rock - Skelethon (full album)
 Womp womp. 

Thanks Aesop for having such a great beard and putting on a killer show. 

Today a thousand sea lions got up and left a pier
They had successfully invaded and secured for 20 years
Some said it was the food supply or shifting weather patterns
Truthfully a whole community of scientists are baffled
In '89 maybe 10 showed up at the wharf
As if guided by the trident of poseidon to cavort
Each a lumbering and boisterous glutton
Like a half-ton annoyance ‘til the heart-warming story went public
You'll need a montage, animals arriving in droves
A bottom dollar turns a nuisance to the pride of your cove
Which bring us back up to this morning when the colony dove
I got a couple unsubstantiated thoughts of my own they go
Maybe it'd feel more majestic and less fatty
If a 12 year old wasn't beaning it with salt water taffy
Every 5 fucking seconds, sounds like your basic
Liberating moment of collective "fuck fame" shit


...and then Aesop Rock jumped up and clicked his heels.

Diary: Coding Is Code For Modern Witchcraft

Modern witchcraft and magic - with numbers - and lots of these + signs that I still don't know what they are for but moving on.. Last night I decided to install a local host on my computer to play with wordpress layouts in hopes of coding one myself to spiff up this here blog or (gasp) possibly create something new. Right? This is how I spent my Sunday night folks, and do I regret it? Hell to the no I would never.

Now comes the fun part, tweaking widgets and disrupting various layout elements until they look just right but the problem is still that coding is a strange foreign language that uses numbers and letters and symbols all mixed up in a jambalaya of god I don't know what any of this means. If I wanted to read the DaVinci code I would have read it back before the movie came out but I didn't and I wont so why does this have to be so complicated why cant this stuff just work -tosses laptop at the wall-

I didn't really do that but it would have provided much relief to my eternal coding frustration..

Here comes the second guessing stages of this tedious and gruelling process - why am I switching from blogspot anyway? - second and third and fourth guessing myself.. well I don't really know the answer to that question other than I like to try figuring things out and learning about building internetty things and making them cute and girly and very unprofessional looking but aesthetically pixelated AWESOME. So, while I'm not blogging (often) I am most likely listening to loud music and figuring what all the +'s mean and why I stopped teaching myself proper CSS and HTML when I was 12 years old. oh lawd have mercy.

cue replacing photos with songs i have been listening to on repeat to break up massif text splurge: GO

The Cure - The Lovecats

All computer magic aside, San Fran is a cool city. I wandered around the other day and found the lomo store and the Hermes store and other boutiques like Acrimony, along with the usual Haight street vintage staples and a goodwill or two. You know the drill. I liked walking into the Hermes store wearing cutoffs, I think I will do that again but next time I will plan better and wear something super out of place so the bros working there wearing the suits look at me even funnier. I think one of them quite enjoyed my presence though he was quite the talkative bunny =^.^= and was asking me all about Canada and why I decided to move to this here little city all of a sudden. I should count how many times I tell people I just wanted a change I am sure I'm about on par with Obama by now. Yes We CAN(ada). The people at the mulberry store were quite nice too and I think taken aback also by what I was wearing but also for knowing their catalog inside out and sideways.

Do you have the S/S '12 scalloped edge cookie Mini Alexa in blush pink? or are those all sold out...? what about the cookie Bayswater? 

cue deer caught in the headlights salesdude. Oh how I love window shopping (but not as much as real shopping obv). Oh and I most definitely WILL find this bag eventually.... get in mah closet

Finding the lomo store (which was much smaller than I had anticipated) was what my mission for the day was though, and find it I did. the people working there were suuuuper nice and helpful, but I kind of expected that. There are some workshops coming up there that I think I will go to so I can try out the new mini fisheye 110 camera. It looks cute but I am convinced I will look like a weirdo carrying such a baby camera around.. Not really though I'm sure I look weird as it is. Going through iPhone withdrawl has made me realize that I don't even really need the phone per say because I don't make calls so much (and even text has gravitated more towards facebook or tweet which doesn't require phone service for reals..), but more the ability to take photos on the go or things I find funny or crude or myself of course. To remedy this I figure I don't really need an iPhone (although I would like one once the 5 comes out) but a camera, and an iPod to feed my musical brainwaves. Enter: toy cams. Unfortunately I forgot my holga in Toronto so I will have to wait 2 whole weeks to get it, same with my canon.. wondering what I was thinking leaving all cameras behind but when have I ever been able to decipher what I think let alone why. 


San Fran so far has been greatly exciting and fun. Thrifting is so much better here than Toronto, I already have a bunch of DIY clothes projects I need to get moving on as well as some great finds I cant wait to photograph and post up on here (camera woes, we meet again). Once I get this coding thing figured out - and I will - its just a matter of time before I can get a new layout that is fantastically cute and pretty up and running as well as other ideas I have for my blog or website or whatever. Also, I have been on tumblr more lately so follow me over there and check out my inspiring images and whatever I find on tumblr, as well as music and little baby mini rants about things I find rant worthy. I really never intended this blog to become as personal as it has, but hey rules are for schmucks and personal brand isn't really in my vocabulary so to hell with all of that. Hey, I just came here to dance..

M.I.A. - Haters

What a wordy post about random happenings that really didn't need to be shared with anyone, but I decided to anyway. When you don't have a camera and you are used to having a camera you start going loopy noodles and talking too much rather than showing what you want to show with images. Alas, this is the internet and I will talk about myself if I want to - hey.. be thankful I don't drone on and on about myself in person (because who really likes that?)

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

Aesop rock later at Amoeba (6pm) I am beyond excited to see him live..

but for now I am off to Dee Eye Why BYE! 
<3

Taken To The Bu

"I just wanted a change" - me to the countless people who have and continue asking me why I decided to up and move from the city I love - Toronto; to the city I will grow to love - San Francisco -  possibly more than the dot. I just wanted a change, and so here I am finally in this great and little compact city. Brace yourselves, who really knows what is ahead. Taking "Yours to Discover" south of the border.

While I meandered down to Malibu for a week just short after my arrival, I can already feel tan lines fading now that I am back in the fog yet I almost don't even care. So much to explore and check out, friends to make, people to meet; needless to say I am quite excited - fog and all. 

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - That's Whats Up

I have been feeling inspired lately to create something. Like that feeling you get right when you are on the brink of a fucking good idea that you know will encompass most of your time going forward. You know the one, right? Well I am teetering on the edge of this trying to clog my mind with gobs of inspiring stuff, diy, photos, you know the drill. In terms of blogging I would like to blog more and more interesting and just better content. I want to spend days taking photos and wandering around in the unknown. I want to listen to everything, and keep searching for more I haven't heard. But in the name of the Spice Girls - what I really, really want is to build an outlet that is exactly what I want it to be. I want to do it just for myself, and if others care to wade through whatever tidbits of anything I have to show them, that's what I want.

Now it's just about grabbing life by the balls and making this happen, which is exactly what I'm going to do.

Last weeks in Toronto: NXNE – Music, Mayhem, Memories

I don't normally do posts like this, and have no intention of making a habit out of talking about parties. However, NXNE is music related and was absolutely awesome so I have decided (albeit way late) to write about some of the stuff that happened during the Toronto festival. These past few weeks have been nothing short of crazy, so lets start from the beginning and play a little catch up.

I won a pair of mundo combo passes to NXNE fest this year on twitter which showed itself to be one of the highlights of my summer so far. Rebecca was my fearless wing woman and partner in crime every step along the debauchery cladden path of blood, sweat, and stolen iphones that was the Toronto music festival. I definitely owe her more than a few rounds of drinks for putting up (and keeping up) with me for the better part of a week of bar hopping, parties, and god know what else. Raymbo made it one hell of a week too, who brings the party? Raymi does. She drankin’ all yo’ draaaaanks. Lol and moving on..

I started my festival experience with the free Metric show at sugar beach. It was rainy, I watched many people tumble down, down the side of a very large and slippery rock desperate to get closer to her hipster highness, Emily Haines. Being a munchkin shortstuff that I am, I was beyond happy & satisfied with catching a glimpse or two of her velvet boots. They played a lot of their new synthetic album that dropped the next day officially at their opera house show, so no one really knew what was going on until the end. But metric is metric, and I got the feeling that it was worth braving the rain and coming out just to twirl and dance to their final tune of the set - the ever popular “monster hospital”. Honorable mention to Matt shore - for being the ultimate Metric fanboy – you are the coolest, and to Shawn Hawaii - for saving me from the torrential downpour that showed up shortly after the show – my hero.

Lost Kitten - Metric

After that the week became a nice blurry haze – naturally – of bar hopping, live music, wild parties, and eternally memorable moments. I was lucky to catch doldrum5 at the drake underground, illscarlett at the harbourfront redpath stage, the sadies at the horseshoe, buck 65 at the coolest backyard BBQ I have been to in a while, and purity ring at Wrongbar to name a few.. but the highlights of my week were definitely the hundred in the hands & of course hitting it out of the park and headlining the event – the flaming lips – who were absolutely extraordinary and almost made up for my iPhone being stolen later that evening. The hundred in the hands was the band that opened for purity ring at Wrongbar. Being a personal favourite of mine, I was super excited to see them, and they definitely did not disappoint. Playing the song I was itching to hear first – dressed in dresden – they singlehandedly made my night, and contributed greatly to making NXNE a highly enjoyable week and an incredible experience. Then the flaming lips happened a few days later and blew mine (and likely everyone else’s) mind at Dundas Square. Nothing like a life sized hamster ball to start a performance. Totally awesome. Nothing like being pressed up against close to a dozen guys at once, being elbowed in the face numerous times, rushing the security bros at the exit of the beer garden – all for a closer view to jump/dance/mosh – as the lips play their classic “do you realize” to close the show. I would jump at the chance to do it all again, any time, any place. Also, the lips were oozing with class when they gave notice to the victims of the Radiohead stage collapsing earlier that day at Downsview Park. Great show, greater people.

Dressed in Dresden - The Hundred in the Hands

Of course, there were other parties, and shows, and drunken adventures that ended in my phone being stolen right out of my paws. However, I wanted to go to NXNE for the music. It was all about the music for me, and those are the moments that shone through. For others, maybe they were there for the cinema or the interactive social media pow wow that was going on at the Hyatt during the daytime hours – but I am brutally pleased with not waking up for the 9:30am panels and having caught some of my favourite bands play late into the previous night instead. Well wicked & well worth it. Thank you NXNE fest for the tickets, they went to great use and I cannot thank you enough for the experience.

Do You Realize - The Flaming Lips

As I said before, My phone was stolen along with all my video footage, photos, and other tidbits from the event.. but here are some of the photos I tweeted or managed to make it through the madness along my adventures. Next time I will buy an iPhone leash, or invest in lots of duct tape and attach it to my hand. iPhone safety just got srs for moi.

N.T.F. - illScarlett