Thursday Night Procrastination

The best license plates are always on Prospect St.

My review of Kanye West's VH1 Storytellers got printed in the Georgetown Voice. More to come.

-NKD

Mercedes by the Jesuit cemetary

I couldn't ignore this one. I've never seen a VA plate like this before.

Wounded Warrior Project

-NKD

Monday & Tuesday

Wale

above: skull and crossbones air-freshener!

below: Caps fan with a new Wrangler

stickers

I saw this window and thought it was cool. all red and white stickers.

Julian Casablancas @ 9:30 Club 1/12/10

I'll just jump into this.

I loved how modern it sounded. So often in the now past deacde there has been so much new music that is great, but it's influences are so obvious that the music sounds more like a tribute. Casablancas' new music (which I was previously unfamiliar with) sounded like 2006’s First Impressions Of Earth after removing the influence of the Strokes’ first two records.

I thought he and his band gave a great show. Great lights. I also loved the way the band was set up. So often the audience can never see the face of the drummer. It’s rare to see a rock band with more than 5 members, but this one had 7, (college age to 40+ year-olds) which gave it a thick sound. The group used equipment that looked expensive, as opposed to an indie aesthetic of old, broken instruments that has become popular with many groups. I loved how it was a rock band and not an indie band trying to sound avant garde. The synth line from “11^th Dimension” could have been taken from Prince’s "1999".

I’ve never seen a front man who had as much power as he did over his audience. The first thing I noticed when I stepped in the club was how many high schoolers there were, and how many of them were girls. all dolled up. lots of moms.

no bullshit. very good vibes. the crowd was in the palm of his hand. I’ve been to so many concerts where the band seemed so uninterested, but Casablancas looked so pleased when he could make the crowd go nuts on every whim .

Stay tuned and watch for me at the DMV Helps Haiti Benefit Concert on Monday. Should be a good one.

-NKD

Album Review #1: Kanye West - VH1 Storytellers

I even surprised myself when I bought this. These days I rarely buy cds, but I’m a Kanye fan, and though I could have easily found this album online for free, I wanted it. My biggest disappointment was the absence of any liner notes.

To preface, VH1 Storytellers was released in a strange places in West’s career. The Glow In The Dark Tour had been a huge success, but many of his fans were cautious, wary, and indecisive in their conclusions on the new album. 808s sounded drastically different from any of Kanye’s previous albums. Sonically it was a departure from his signature sound, gone were the soul samples and hooks by featured artists. Kanye was singing his own hooks thanks to auto tune, and the album featured sparse, electronic instrumentation. This was a let down to many of his fans who were anticipating another album of party jams. If Storytellers was anything, it was an important opportunity for Kanye to show his fans that he was still able of bringing energy into his live performances and even rock the crowd with songs off 808s.

Listening to this album jarred my mind. Stream-of-consciousness rap has become more prevalent in hip-hop after Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. The songs included on Storytellers are better than any freestyle because of how personal Kanye allows himself to be. Kanye constructs songs as opposed to taking something off the top of his head and releasing it. Lyrics are connected thematically throughout whole songs and not one line, one rhyme, repeat. Most of all it shows how much Kanye had moved beyond hip-hop to become a pop artist. What I like most about this album is the way sterile, electronic tracks from 808s sounded more filled-out with live instruments and back up vocalists. In the Q&A, Kanye mentioned how performing in arenas had influenced his songwriting, which shows his desire to be a successful performer and to craft music, not merely make it. His own freestyles aren’t as much about how much or how fast, but more just saunters through his soundscapes, usually finding themselves back to ear-fulfilling choruses.

Kanye’s Storytellers performance foreshadowed what we would see him do in 2009. From his video collaboration with Spike Jonze to his post VMA interview with Jay Leno, it was a year that gave us glimpses into the darker areas of Kanye’s psyche. Additionally, Kanye was in the midst of his “gay fish” phase, and it wouldn’t be long before he would be pictured with his menagerie of fashion forward fame monsters with Karl Lagerfeld at Paris fashion week.

West recently announced that he is in the studio again, and it seems like he has a new, positive confidence about him. 808s was a statement that he would do anything he wanted to express himself creatively. I feel that fans who accepted 808s will follow Kanye wherever he goes creatively, but those who found it a disappointment will never be pleased with his work again.

The album. There are a few noticeable gaps in the set list. Where is “Paranoid”, arguably the best song on 808s? And only nine tracks? Live releases are for fans, and the fans deserve more than 9 tracks. $12 for both CD and DVD is a very reasonable price for what would have been priced at $20+ a few years ago. It’s reported that there were 3 hours of footage taken. They could have pumped up the track list for the CD even if the songs didn’t air. what about bonus tracks?

insufficient!

This release is only for fans who want an interesting snapshot. The performances are good, but they aren't anything we haven’t heard from him before. The Q&A content reveals interesting info about Kanye’s creative process and where he draws his inspiration. VH1 Storytellers is a good album, but it could have been an essential live album in Kanye’s discography, like say, a Glow In The Dark Tour disc would be. The tracklist could have been expanded, and there could have been liner notes with photography from the performance. fans only.

-NKD

LPP (License Plate Post)

I like license plates. Whenever I see a good one I take a picture of it.

License Plate #1

This (above) is on display in Elephant House in Yarmouthport, Massachusetts. Ogdred was one of Edward Gorey's numerous anagram pen names, and this was on his yellow Volkswagon Beetle.

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

This one (above) was in a parking lot in Middlebury, VT.

These are all I have. I look forward to posting more soon.

-NKD

Test Run

Before I do anything ridiculous, I'm going to preface this thing.

I decided to start blogging because I needed a space to post things that is larger than Facebook or Twitter. I look forward to posting collections of poor, cell phone quality photos of things I like, in addition to album reviews, goings on, etc.

This is a photo from a recent trip to Brooklyn.

(test photo)

My next post will be about my interest in license plates from around the country.

-NKD