Hmm. New Year’s Resolutions. Not really my thing. I always want to be healthier, make more money, and finish writing that novel. How is a new year going to make me more likely to do any of that? After all, New Year’s Day is arbitrary. One year, I had three of them. One on January 1st in Singapore; another a couple weeks later in India when the Tamils ran painted bullocks through town and threw apple-bananas in the air; and a third a month later when I ate Indian-Chinese food to celebrate the Year of the Horse. Read More
ByGD
Concerted Resolution
ByGD
Edda of Angist
Angist is one of my favorite death metal bands, in large part due to Edda’s inhuman growl that sometimes give way to an eerie black metal wail. Although they don’t play live terribly often (the local scene just isn’t big enough to support a ton of heavy metal shows) I have had the good luck to see them perform each of the three times I’ve been to Iceland. This photo is from the first time – an official Airwaves show at a bar called Amsterdam in 2012.
ByGD
Solstafir Seven
Solstafir at Barboza in Seattle December 2014
Yesterday I saw Solstafir at El Corazon. It was Mother’s Day, and I’m sure I’ll do some kind of post about that later. For once, I didn’t spend half the show trying to get usable photos and I didn’t run a narrative in my head drafting the review I would write in the morning. I just watched the show. Read More
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Asgeir Trausti in a Pub
My most popular post ever was about watching too many Asgeir Trausti sets at Iceland Airwaves in 2012. One of those shows was in a German pub so packed I couldn’t get close enough to take a good picture. In fact, I could only see the stage by standing on a bench. Even then, for part of the show a man standing directly in front of me blocked my view. Welcome to the Nordic countries, shorty!
Over the weekend I saw Asgeir four more times, and I saw two other shows in the same venue. One of them was a father/son duo playing chillwave; there was lots of room to spread out. The other was the band Reykjavik! That show was even more crowded than Asgeir, but I made it to the front anyway, had a blast, and left with torn clothes soaked through with other peoples’ sweat.
When I search that street on Google maps, I can’t find that German pub anymore. It looks like it has been replaced by a joint called The Dubliner.