This week... let's not even go there. It's like everything that could go wrong in your worst nightmares has gone wrong, and then some.

I'd rather talk about seeing Antony & the Johnsons at Hammersmith Apollo last night. I went with Sooz (the ticket was her birthday present as she missed seeing Antony at the Barbican last October), but we had to leave Stu at home to try to sort out a serious computer crisis, which sucked a bit. After seeing Antony at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki in 2007, and then at the Barbican last year, I was a bit worried about how a venue like the Apollo would work. And, as it turned out, I had a reason to be worried.

I have waxed lyrical about the out-of-this-world quality of Antony Hegarty's voice, and the life-altering effect of experiencing his live performance, plenty of times before. And yes, those things were present yesterday. There's no other voice I have ever heard that can instantly move me to tears when it flows through me, and in that respect, I wasn't disappointed.

What I was disappointed, no, disgusted with, was the audience. Well, not everyone obviously. I'd say about 80 per cent of the people were there to actually listen, but the other 20 per cent did do their darnest to try to ruin the whole experience for everyone else. Seriously, if all you care about is running back and forth getting more beer, not giving a shit how much noise you are making or how it might be affecting the artist on stage, why not just go to a pub? Surely that would be a lot cheaper night out as well. I just cannot comprehend it. When something larger than life is happening right before your eyes and ears, and when the artist is clearly dragging out the start of the song waiting for people to quiet down, how can anyone in the same space not notice this and stop breathing, instead of carrying on with banging and running around? It's such an insult to the artist, and in this case, to everything that is good about the whole friggin humanity. At some point Antony clearly got annoyed and pulled back emotionally. The voice was still there, but it was clear he didn't want to give anything more to the audience. He did come back for two encores, one of which was the always amazing Cripple and the Starfish. To be honest, if it was me, I wouldn't have come back. But it was lovely that he did want to do that for the people that were there for him. I think everyone did try to make up for it by the huge standing ovation.

I am glad I went, even if it was a mix of elation and pure anger, and I'm sure I will in the future try to see him live when ever I get the chance. My overwhelming feeling throughout last night was put into words by someone commenting on a youtube video with 'The world doesn't deserve him'.

Oh and the picture from the concert is by Marc Broussely, who funnily enough is one of my clients (whom I've yet to meet), who's wedding I'm photographing in August. I had no idea he'd worked the gig until I saw his blog today! Funny coincidence. :D

Here's a clip of River of Sorrow from the Barbican in October 08.

Labels: Antony and the Johnsons, gig, Hammersmith Apollo, music, video

I've managed to avoid the O2 Arenta thus far as I'm not generally a fan of big venues, but I really wanted to see Snow Patrol so had to take the plunge. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The layout was really good, there was a clear view from every seat. And the seats were really comfy (yes, this is an old persons view of venues, get with it. :P), at least compared to the horrid plastic buckets of Wembley Arena.



The atmosphere was nice for such a big venue as well. Obviously it's not the same experience as being in the same physical space with the artist, but arenas give you another kind of rush, of being part of a huge collective experience.



The gig itself was good. Not mind-blowing or anything, but thoroughly enjoyable.









Aaaand here are a view videos I took.

Labels: concert, gig, London, music, O2 Arena, Snow Patrol, video

Remember this.

Zack Arias guest blogging for Scott Kelby.

Labels: photography, scott kelby, video, zach arias

It's funny. I dream of this sort of weekends where I have completely cleared my schedule and just do nothing. But every time a weekend like this gets to the Sunday I start feeling really down... like I've wasted time, missed opportunities, let life pass me by... Silly really.

I guess it doesn't help that my ankle injury, instead of getting better with the rest I've had, seems to have gotten worse. I dragged myself to the post office yesterday and it was such a painful trip I wasn't sure I was going to make it back! After that the ache has just gotten more and more constant an persistent, and I can't seem to put any weight on the foot. The sun outside my window seems to tease me, of course the weather looks perfect out there just when I'm stuck inside...



I've been toasting my feet in my lovely new slippers. The warmth helps the pain. And the strokable softness of them makes me smile every time I look at my feet. :)



I've also medicated my mood with a naughty breakfast of hot chocolate and de-frosted buns from Christmas...

I did see two good films this weekend. Yesterday I finally watched The Fall, by Tarsem Singh, the director behind one of my all time visual-inspiration films The Cell. The cinematography certainly didn't disappoint! Having been shot in 20 different countries, everything on the screen was just pure visual gluttony. And pleasingly the storyline wasn't bad either, certainly a step up from The Cell.



Today I've watched Thumbsucker. The script is an adaptation of a book with an unusually honest look at us humans as intrinsically faulty, with a desire to fix ourselves and the people around us. The film boasted an impressive cast, which turned what was essentially a teen coming to age drama, into something relevant to everyone. I can't fault any of the performances, the casting really was superb. Every word delivered was meaningful, even each and every throwaway side comment. I can thoroughly recommend this film if you want to watch something that should be depressing in revealing our limitations, but actually manages to be uplifting in delivering the message that all of us are somewhat defected. And that's ok.



I also have to mention that yesterday I got tickets to see Rachael Yamagata in February, and today I've been mostly listening to her new album 'Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart'. And it. Is. Brilliant.

Labels: movies, my life, photoblog, Rachael Yamagata, The Fall, Thumbsucker, video

~Lille~


~The Lady is a Tramp~

Labels: concert, gig, Lisa Hannigan, London, music, St John's Church, video

This is just to wish Stu & Nikki happy 30th birthday! Welcome to the dark side! :D

Labels: people, video

Gosh, what a week! I've packed in three different ailments, press week with catastrophic network-failure-lost-files incidents in the tune of your worst-nightmares, stress over S's company laying off 30% of their staff, and just general anxiety over not having enough time to get organised. Yes, it's safe to say this has been the worst week this year, no contest.

Santogold is getting me through it. I hope she gets me through this latest development that is yet another nasty cold too.

Labels: my life, santogold, video

Here are finally some videos from Monday's Heather Nova gig. It was quite a tricky spot to film from, hence all the shakiness, my arm was cramping quite badly. And damn that railing! :D She was awesome though, and her voice is just... otherworldly. She sang a couple of songs from her new album, including Beautiful Storm below. You can buy and download the album directly from her website. I recommend! It's fast becoming one of my favourites out her 8 albums.


~Heart and Shoulder~


~Heal~


~Beautiful Storm~


~Walk This World~


~Island~

Labels: concert, gig, Heather Nova, London, music, Shepherd's Bush Empire, video

I finally finished laying out Nikki's wedding book today. It ended up being 84 pages, and looks pretty good to me. Am very pleased with it. I think the fact that I'm a designer in my day job helps me automatically think about the layout when I'm taking the shots, which makes laying out quite easy (if still laborious). I'm thinking maybe photo shoots delivered as a book could be my little 'niche', if I was to start taking photography a bit more seriously... Hmm.

As a side note, one thing I've been meaning to mention is this wonderful website called The Selby, which showcases real homes of interesting people. It's really inspirational, not to mention addictive, snooping around in people's homes!


Fanny Bostrom, artist and Bill Gentle, photographer, at home - Brooklyn - August 18 2008

But yeah, I've been quite busy today so far. I've done the dishes, hoovered, put summer shoes and clothes into storage... Oh yeah and sent Stu to Rayleigh to do some washing as our washing machine is broken. :( Sooz is on her way over and I think we're gonna head out to try to make the most of the super nice weather (strange to pack summer stuff away when it's bright sunshine and +20C, but I know it won't last!).

Today's productivity made up for yesterday when I didn't get anything done, thanks to Marjut. She pointed me towards Fabchannel, which is where you can watch full concerts from many (of my favourite) artists. I even had to send Stu out to get a cable so I could hook my laptop to the telly and watch them full screen. :D What a great resource!

Labels: home, music, my life, photography, video

I got these honours from Eveluna and Emmie, respectively. Thanks very much girls! I think both of these have pretty much done the rounds in most (Finnish) blogs that I read, so I won't pass them on for now. I'm a little bit busy at the moment, getting ready for our first wedding anniversary present to eachother, an R.E.M. concert. I'm not sure whether to take my camera as these are the first tickets I've seen where it says that they categorically refuse entry from people carrying cameras. :| Not sure whether to be a wuss or not...

Oh and I spent most of the morning putting together this little one-day road trip video from Cornwall. If you're not a fan of driving, you might want to pass. :P

Labels: my life, surveys etc., travel, video

Phew. While it's nice to be able to fit more videos onto the card, it sure means a lot more work to get them all converted and uploaded! Anyways, here you go, Rufus Wainwright at Kenwood House. :)


~Vibrate~


~Nobody's Off the Hook~


~King of the Road~
(with Teddy Thompson)


~Going to a Town~


~Gay Messiah~


~Not Ready to Love~


~Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk~

Labels: concert, gig, Kenwood House, London, music, Rufus Wainwright, video

Phew! There are a lot of them! And these are not even all of the ones I filmed... :D The 8gb card is sure making a huge difference, I still had space left for over 40 minutes at the end of the gig.


~Head Over Feet~


~Unprodigal Daughter~


~Not as We~


~In Praise of the Vulnerable Man~


~Moratorium~


~Tapes~


~Underneath~


~Thank U~

Labels: Alanis Morissette, Brixton Academy, concert, gig, London, music, video

Went for a trip down memory lane with Miikka. Was quite nostalgic to drive around the places of my youth.



The video is probably pretty boring to anyone else but me. Don't care. :P



Then we went to visit Annis and her growing bump. It's so strange how much has happened already while we've been away! Got treated to a lovely meal, as is always the case with Annis.

Labels: my life, people, travel, video

This time videos are provided by Sooz.


~Hang~


~Could I Be You~

Labels: concert, gig, London, Matchbox Twenty, music, video, Wembley Arena

Last Wednesday Sooz and I went to see Sia at Koko in Camden. I was still feeling pretty rough with my flu so wasn't sure how well I'd deal with standing up for the whole night, but I was willing to do my best for the chance to see her perform live! Koko was cool, had that sort of decadent burlesque feel about it. Would have been interesting to have seen it when it was still operating as a night club.



It was a bit of a shock when we realised that Har Mar Superstar was the warm up act. For a minute there I wasn't sure if we were at the right gig. :D It was quite a disturbing experience to see him strip on stage to say the least...



It took what seemed like forever until Sia herself got on stage. I think it was about 9.30pm. That's quite late on a 'school night'! For an old person! I was feeling rather knackered already by the time she got on, which wasn't helped by some American bloke chucking their pint all over my jeans. He was very apologetic though and kept bringing me more and more tissues and saying "I'm so sorry about your pants", which was quite amusing at the time in my tired state.



Sia was worth all the effort though, her voice was just incredible. Unfortunately I started feeling worse and worse and in the end just had to leave before she finished. I'm still so annoyed about that. If only she would have started at least half an hour earlier! I got two songs on video, although the sound quality isn't all that.




~Lentil~



~Sunday~

Labels: concert, gig, Koko, London, music, Sia, video

My computer has been a bit temperamental and a disappearing disk has been causing a lot of trouble. But still, here are finally the clips from the David Gray gig as promised. Can't believe it's Monday tomorrow already...



~From Here You Can Almost See the Sea~



~This Years Love~

Labels: concert, David Gray, gig, Hammersmith Apollo, London, music, video

I've been catching up with my Sky+ recordings today and I must admit I was really surprised how much I loved David Cook's Billy Jean on American Idol. He hasn't really been my cup of tea until now...



For balance, here's Chris Cornell's version. It seems like there's a big hoopla about which of these is 'better'. How futile. Music is to be enjoyed, not debated.

Labels: music, video

As Sooz (allegedly) licked the seat on the train and got ill at the most inopportune time I talked Rachel into coming with me to see Reverend and the Makers at the Roundhouse yesterday. It was a fun night. Even though I must admit that this was one gig where I felt a teensy weensy bit old. :P What a cool and different venue though, I'd never been there before.








Here's a video clip as well for those who want to get a more 'authentic' experience. Luckily there's no actual moshing or beer throwing included in this broadcast.




~Heavyweight Champion of the World~

Other than that, there's not really anything new or exciting to report. I've been going to numerous interviews, up to the point that I'm getting very fed up of saying the same things over and over again, but I just haven't found the one yet. A couple of times I've felt like I've been close, but there's always something. There is one interview which I'm dying to hear back from at the moment. It's not really at all what I thought I wanted (I've really had to think hard about that, turns out that what I thought I wanted out of my career isn't really what I want at all...) but I can't help but feel excited when I think about the prospect. Having said that, it's anything but in the bag. They interviewed 6 other people, so just thinking about the odds makes me feel sick to my stomach. So I prefer not to think about it or get my hopes up. Just concentrating on the next interviews ahead of me. Life really does seem like one long wait at the moment.

Labels: concert, gig, London, music, my life, photoblog, Reverend and the Makers, Roundhouse, video

What a hellish travelling day it was yesterday. Ugh. I'll be so very happy when I'm finally done with all the monthly travelling. Only one trip to go now...

Here are some of the 'videos' I shot at the Damien Rice gig. Not the greatest quality, but I think the sound came out alright considering the size of Wembley Arena and where we were sitting. I haven't been writing reviews of gigs lately, mostly because I have so much other stuff on my mind that I can't really concentrate enough to write anything cohesive. But what I will say about this particular gig is that I was amazed how well all the songs were arranged to work at such a big venue. I was worried beforehand about how his music would work in a space like that, but the band absolutely kicked ass and I loved all the punchier versions of the songs. Especially Woman Like a Man blew my socks off. Awesome gig.


~The Professor~


~Rootless Tree~


~Then Go~
This is more of an audio recording. I had the screen covered so it wouldn't distract anyone else, but I was so enthralled myself that didn't remember to check where the camera was pointing at. So, just enjoy the music.


~Coconut Skins~
Annoyingly ran out of memory card space before the end...

Labels: concert, Damien Rice, gig, London, music, video, Wembley Arena

I finally managed to get my videos from the Jacob Golden gig off the memory cards and onto the interweb. I ran out of space on a card in the middle of Hold Your Hair Back (my favourite Jacob song), which was very annoying indeed, but I still managed to get quite a few full songs. So, here you are.



~Love you~



~Revenge Song~



~Shine a Light~



~Out Come the Wolves~

Labels: concert, Dingwalls, gig, Jacob Golden, London, music, video

Yay, well done to Jussi and Katja for winning the Eurovision Dance Contest! I only watched it last night (as the boys didn't let me to watch it on saturday!), and I must say that I thought the victory was well-deserved.

Labels: video

Oh how I wish I would have gone to see Joshua Radin do a solo gig at The Monto Water Rats as well. Thank god for YouTube and everyone having a digital camera. :D Here's Joshua singing Winter on the 6th of July.



And here's Tori doing her Winter at our gig in the Hammersmith Apollo on the 4th. It was magical.

Labels: music, video

I'm so in love with my new gold shoes. <3 They're like the third pair that I've gotten 'for the wedding'. Erm... But I do think these ones are it! They're just like in Dirty Dancing aren't they! Now we'll just have to start practising the dance I think. I shall include an example below for Stu to have nightmares about. :P

I can't believe the wedding is next week. Yikes. I'm sure there must be something huge and fundamentally important that I've forgotten to do. Hmm. I did order my bouquet today, that's something right. Oh and I started compiling a playlist for the reception as well, I currently have about 13 hours of music on it and need to cut it down to about 8. Quite daunting. Oh well, can't worry about that sort of stuff now, I've got my gold shoes on. :D

Also, as promised, I updated the wedding blog with a little write-up about the Hen Night happenings. We did have a wicked time! :D

Labels: my life, video, wardrobe

I'm not sure it's possible to put last nights experience into words. I don't think I know eloquent enough words not to turn something so magical into… less so. I've been told a lot of times that to really appreciate Antony and the Johnsons, you have to see them live. Well now I have. And it was almost a life-altering experience. Of course, if I was to say to you now that to really appreciate them, go see them live, those will be just words… until you do. It's absolutely impossible to tell you what it's like, you have to experience it yourself.

When I started listening to Antony it took me some time to 'get used to' his voice. Now I know exactly why that was. His voice is something so pure, so full, so three-dimensional, that it is impossible to capture the full miracle of it in a recording. It needs to be free for you to feel every nuance, for you to truly appreciate what a gift this man has.

The concert hall was sold out, packed to the rafters. It was boiling hot. I'm sure the people standing in the middle of the floor squashed by others were even more uncomfortable than us sitting in the back row. And yet, everyone, each and every person, was enraptured, hanging on to every note. I've never experienced such an atmosphere in a concert where the whole audience practically holds their breath, staying quiet as can be, because they don't want to miss any tiny note from this man's lips.

The whole time I was sitting there I was thinking what a miracle music is, the fact that there are people who are able to create such beauty is both humbling and mind-blowing – what an unbelievable gift we have as a human race. His voice was more than just another instrument; it was like a complete separate presence, it emoted so much, revealed secrets, connected with something primal and something sacred.

I especially enjoyed Shake That Dog, You Are My Sister, Twilight, Bird Gehrl and Hope There's Someone. And of course the amusing, yet hauntingly beautiful cover of Beyoncé's Crazy In Love. For some reason I found it hard to relax into his rendition of Cripple and the Starfish though. I think the recorded version of that song is embedded somewhere so deep in me that it was impossible to fully let go of that and enjoy the arrangement. Having said that, the whole experience just from an emotional point of view, on a scale of 1 to 10, was about 645. Even Stu, who was pretty much dragged there against his will, said that he was completely blown away.

Here's a video of the Beyoncé cover from two days before in Sweden. I'm so happy our venue was much more intimate. The atmosphere seems completely different in such a big outside venue.

Labels: Antony and the Johnsons, concert, gig, Helsinki, Kulttuuritalo, music, video

Labels: video

Hehe. Quite brilliant. :P

Labels: video

Sooo what's up? I'm dog tired but I figured I oughta write something now or I never will. :P I don't know where all my time goes. Do I sound like a broken record much?



I went to see Maija Vilkkumaa in concert last night and wrote a little review about it (in finnish) on last.fm, which you can find here.



I was clever enough not to charge the battery of my camera beforehand, so obviously it ran out of battery pretty promptly. I did manage to snap a few pics, and as if by miracle the camera allowed me to shoot a tiny bit of video at the end of the gig before turning itself off for good.



In other news, I've made some progress on the wedding invites. Although I did run into trouble in the crucial cut & glue phase (this was never my strong point), so I'm taking them back to England next week for Susanna to finish them off. And yeah, I will write something in the wedding blog soon. Honestly! :D

I suppose, apart from the wedding stuff, the biggest development in our life at the moment is the fact that we decided to postpone our US road trip until next year, and instead move back to the UK by the end of this year. It's pretty damn sweet to feel like we have finally made a firm decision after all these years of umming and ahhing. However, I won't allow myself to think about the nightmare that is the logistics of it all yet… :| Let's do the wedding stress first eh.

Hmm. I think I should get some sleep. Maybe.

Labels: concert, Espoo, gig, Maija Vilkkumaa, music, my life, Tapiola-sali, video

This drive might look a bit familiar. :D Now with added snow.

Labels: my life, video

I shot a lot of really short clips so I could delete some if I ran out of space on my card, hence the final product is a bit more jerky than I'd like. Oh well.

Labels: my life, travel, video

It's been snowing all day today. I doubt it's going to stay on the ground though as it's now turned into rain and the temperature is +1C. Snow always delivers that transitional 'shock' into the winter which sucks, but on the other hand, it's kinda nice. It felt a lot lighter today.

Labels: my life, video

Don't feel like writing (or talking) at the moment. I will soon though.

Here's a video about last week.

Labels: my life, video

Most of you will find this boring. It's more of a 'living memory' for myself. For the patient ones who'll watch all of it there's a little reward of hearing my awful in-car-singing for a couple of seconds. :P

Labels: my life, video

So maybe I lied about the not doing more videoblogging. :P Well I didn't really lie... I wasn't going to do more. But there's something about it that fascinates me. Maybe it's the challenge? I've always been a crap public speaker/performer and maybe this sort of continued humiliation will do me good. :D Perfcet logic!

I went to the dentist yesterday... actually, he was called a 'tooth surgeon'. :| Should have known from the start that wasn't a good thing. It was supposed to be just a consultation but it ended with him pulling my tooth out. Seriously. :O I was rather shocked/terrified/traumatised. I slept a few hours last night but then woke up and couldn't stay in bed as being still makes me feel the pain more. So, from since about 3am until 6am I've been editing this video. It's not as easy as it seems!

Anyways, here's hoping this is slightly less embarrasing than the last one...

Labels: my life, video

Labels: video

Here's something cringeworthy for you. Because of some insane brainfart I decided that making a little video would be a good idea instead of ranting via text. I didn't realise just how painful it would turn out to be! :D I don't know why I can't speak like a normal person and why I have to fight really hard not to revert to baby talk. Especially the word 'washing machine' is impossible to say in a non-babyish manner. Sorry about that. :P

So, all together now.... criiiiinge!



Update: Now with a soundtrack. :D (Ta Sooz. :P)

Labels: my life, video

Rare exports.

Labels: video

Brokeback Mountain in 30 seconds.

:D

Labels: movies, social networking, video

Mad Cow

Labels: video