A Free Concert At The Whitney Museum
FRIDAY, JULY 24TH 2009
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This afternoon I headed over to the Whitney Museum of American Art for artistic and musical reasons. I had read that there was a free concert for Yellow Fever and Woods at the museum in the evening, but not knowing just how popular these bands were I decided to come early, pay admission into the museum and poke around until the show.

I explored the exhibits of Dan Graham: Beyond and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen: The Music Room, but I wasn't really in the right mood so most of it just pissed me off. Art can be like that.

Luckily, once the bands went on stage my bad mood was lifted and I could appreciate the warm evening air and the pleasant indie music. The Whitney seemed to be the perfect venue; the tiered entrance and large outdoor patio allowed for visitors to listen from the second story outside, the ticket line, the patio or the basement level with the museum shop. It was a positive collective experience.

Does anyone know what the guy on the floor with the blanket is doing? He seemed to be mixing cassette tapes, but he also hooked up his headphones so that they actually acted like a microphone and he kept them around his neck and sang into them as needed.

The Decemberists at Radio City Music Hall
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10TH 2009
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The Hazards of Love, the fifth full length album by The Decemberists, is the only album that Justin and I have simultaneously enjoyed out of every artist either of us have listened to in the past three years. Thus, it was imperative that we went to the concert in NYC, as it may be the only concert we ever see together.

Our seats were awesome, period. We were directly center stage in the first row of the first mezzanine. I was jealous only of the VIP pit in front of the stage. We had no heads in our way, ample legroom and an elevated view of the stage - and of Colin Meloy, swoon.

The Decemberists played the entire Hazards of Love in one continuous breath, and it was soft and heavy and consuming. My photographs follow the narrative of the album (listed below), although I was unable to capture an image for every song. The simplicity of the set design catered to the audience's imagination, like a Rorschach inkblot test lends itself to the subconscious of the tested. The billowing fabric transitioned from thick forests to starry skies to hazardous waters.

SET 1: Prelude, The Hazards Of Love 1, Won't Want For Love/The Hazards Of Love 2, Isn't It A Lovely Night?
SET 2: The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid, An Interlude, The Rake's Song, The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing
SET 3: Annan Water, Margaret In Captivity, The Hazards Of Love 3 (Revenge!)
SET 4: The Wanting Comes In Waves (Reprise), The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned)

The last two photographs are from their second set, which included Billy Liar, July, July!, The Crane Wife 3, O Valencia, Sons and Daughters (shown), a cover of Crazy On You and a few others. And alas, Colin bidding us adieu!