Washed Out headlined a show last weekend with the similar-sounding Small Black (Small Black at Cake Shop a few months ago) at the Williamsburg Hall of Music. You have to, of course, respect the fact that Earnest Greene has been helping to carve out the glo-fi scene for more than 6 months now, blazing the way for other bands. However, I feel that the chill (yet warm), nostalgic vocal & sample pairings still lend themselves more to design studio work music or relaxing at home, rather than live performance in a music venue. Thanks, though, to Big Dirty for giving me a heads-up about this musician and the subgenre last year.

Before the show, DLISH, Katie Scott, Jenn, and I met up for dinner at Relish, and after the show, more drinks until closing at Roebling Tea Room.

DLISH, during the Washed Out show in Williamsburg.

A common gull, a few weeks ago, in the basin at Washington, DC.

• On the subject of birds, the Canal Nest Colony has been pretty active recently, with a new, recently donated shipping container to serve as a headquarters on borrowed city property, and a revamped website (more content to come, obviously).  As usual, a thanks goes out to a handful of people and organizations, especially to Andy and Brett of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. The first community workshop of the season is April 24th.

Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

• Mr. Appalachia & Alison hosted a great dinner party for Moses’ parents this past Sunday evening at the D.Mo/Hans/Schlereth estate in South Slope, bringing the group together for some great homemade cooking: a main course of chicken, served with fresh salad, sauteed mushrooms, and french apple tart, among other appetizers and drinks.

Riding to work last week on Sixth Avenue in Brooklyn.

• I went on a great bike adventure around Brooklyn with David Downs this past Saturday afternoon. Since he rode his fixed-gear Bridgestone conversion, I decided to ride fixed too. We started at the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge, went through the edge of Fort Greene and Boerum Hill to get to the Gowanus area, then rode down the low-numbered avenues, parallel to the BQE for a while as we passed South Slope, Sunset Park, and eventually into Bay Ridge.  We took a right to cut through Owl’s Head Park, and swung by the pier before taking the waterfront path down and under the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge, and then, after a quick pit-stop at a Wendy’s, through Brighton Beach (briefly on the boardwalk), through Sheepshead Bay, and on the coastal path, ending up in Plum Beach, before needing to head back.  We took the more standard route back: a right onto Bedford in Sheepshead, up through scenic Midwood and then less-scenic Flatbush, before riding a half loop through Prospect Park and finally coming to a stop at South Slope. I took a few shots, but on 35mm, of which I haven’t quite finished the roll yet.

Just a quick quote from the Wikipedia entry about Plum Beach:

“Though this ‘beach’ is not clean enough to swim in and at times may smell awfully its a nice place to walk. There is also garbage all over the sand as well as some ‘ship wreks’ that of small boats. Relative remoteness combined with easy access to the Belt Parkway has made the beach attractive to people who are cruising for sex. This has occasionally led to violence.”

Haha, that’s the good stuff.

A letter from me to Shane.

Virginia, 2005.