Tag Archives: Pictures

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The Great Religious Swindle of Union Square

Photos and Words by Carlos Detres

Well, May 21st came and went without a single unusual casualty inflicted by either of the Horsemen. The epicenter of the Apocalypse seemed to be in the heart of New York City in Union Square. The wisest of the wise embraced New York City streets, dripping beer and various narcotics onto the pavement and floorboard of multiple bars. Alarms and sirens commingled with the chorus of singing Amish/Quakers/Shakers/Mormons (whatever affiliation they were) and the warnings of preacher men barking from behind the planted crucifix where people had funny photos taken of themselves. Later, a long-haired man, a blonde double of Jesus Christ from a Western hemisphere painting took to the crucifix and let his hands dangle there for onlookers to gasp at.

Foreboding clouds loomed nearby as the clock ticked closer to 6PM. It was then that I began to wonder, Which time zone is God in? Christians gathered across the street from Whole Foods and sang for Jesus while a nearby prayer station offered services for your soul…just in case. While taking pictures, a sudden creeping feeling came through to my brain and heart. People wearing colorful clothes danced in Union Square behind the Christian singers. Fake Jesus wandered near his cross, the prayer station, the preacher man, the people dressed as zombies lumbering by, and then the clouds, slowly pressing over us. My god, I thought. If the end were near, this is exactly how it would happen.

It was 5:57 pm. I perched myself on the cross, aimed my camera into the crowd to await the Rapture when a sudden chorus began counting down to zero. I realized that the end, if it was really coming, was only a few seconds away. When they reached zero, the crowd erupted into cheers:

New Year’s Eve Part II.

Osama bin Laden is Dead Part II.

The end of the world had run out of time. Perhaps deities above saved the day or perhaps the ramblings of an old man in need of some fast cash just got rich.

Afterwards, I looked for those Christians. The preacher man. Even Jesus but none were to be found. Taken by the light into Heaven? Shamefully retreated to their churches for heap loads of “what’s next?” Maybe…after all, how else is a church going to make 80 million dollars besides spreading false alarms about the end of the world? Back to the drawing board. Maybe next year they’ll bring on bigger dramatics by a hired hand from Universal Studios.


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Violens, Pablo Picasso @ Cameo, February 4, 2011

Photos and Words by William Ruben Helms

My friend Jenn and I pushed our way through a crowded Cameo Art Space last Friday, a few songs into the Pablco Piccaso set and we were both immediately impressed. Their music struck me as being dark, seductive and anxious. We’re talking about oddly syncopated drums, buzzing, angular guitar lines and the like. Their lead singer, an incredibly thin, nerdy looking guy – the sort who kind of looks like he could be the in the IT department of your company – yelped, screamed and crooned with an incredible baritone voice that reminded me of having an uncanny resemblance to Jim Morrison and Ian Astbury of the Cult.

After that impressive set, Violens got on the stage. And I must admit that seeing a band seeing a band at various parts of a lengthy tour can offer a strange, mixed bag of results. Early in a tour, you may see a rougher, rawer version of your favorite act and later on you may see a much more polished, cleaned up show. And sometimes seeing a band at different venues can offer different results – one venue may have frustrating acoustic issues while a different venue may have the best sound set up you’ve ever heard. The last time I saw Violens at Santos Party House back in December, their show was marred by sound issues and more. Their Cameo Art Space show was by far the superior of the two shows I’ve seen. The band seemed much more energetic, more focused, and even tighter than what I remembered. Perhaps it was the smaller venue or a crowd that was much more receptive to the tunes on their fantastic Amoral, but the material as I was hearing it again just seemed to translate better. “Acid Reign,” “Full Collision” “It Couldn’t Be Perceived” and other songs popped to life. Live, I think both Jenn and I were reminded of why we loved Violens’ Amoral album, as the songs are so well written.

There were three things that were admittedly in my opinion a little troubling – as my friend Jenn said to me as we were leaving, “they didn’t really connect with the audience” which was true to some extent. The new material that they had testing had seemed at least live to be okay but nothing spectacular. And either we were having such a great time that we didn’t notice it or the set seemed extremely truncated. Still even with those complaints, it was a decent show; it just unfortunately wouldn’t be on my list of best shows I’ve seen this year.

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The John Hilliard Photographs I “Borrowed” from the Internet

By Carlos Detres

Sorry, John Hilliard but I had to.

Your haunting imagery struck the right side of my brain with a lightning bolt of inspiration.

So here’s what I mean. I mean photos like these.

It’s poetry.

I have your book but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. But I’ve seen the pictures.

Lovely.

Photos: Rubblebucket Live @ Le Poisson Rouge, December 29, 2010

Photos + Words by Carlos Detres

The band Rubblebucket was a part of an impressive set of bands that included the sultry soul, brass, rock, groove band Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds and Rebirth Brass Band (more on them in another post). Rubblebucket employs brass instruments, indie-punk bass, and roots percussion to create a original blend of musical styles enjoyed by the packed audience at Le Poisson Rouge.

Rubblebucket was joined by the trumpet player of Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds and continued with the band as they marched through the audience while playing their instruments as an ode to a New Orleans second line. The crowd ate it up even as the band emptied out of the room.

FREE MP3 of “Triangular Daisies” (right click here)

Photos: Violens Live @ Santos Party House, December 11, 2010

Photos and Words by William Ruben Helms

In the midst of an extensive world tour, supporting their excellent debut album, Amoral, Violens made a return trip to the New York area with a set at Santos Party House on Saturday night. Their set along with their opening acts – Cavemen and the impressive electronica duo Light Asylum – was marred with some frustrating sound issues: the vocals and the bass, the instrument that really makes some of the best songs on Amoral were difficult to hear at times over the other instruments. Strangely, Violens either seemed a bit off or some of the material – songs such as “Trance Like Turn,” and “It Couldn’t Be Perceived” – don’t translate as well live, as they do on the album. Something seemed inexplicably missing during several songs and it carried through their set in some way. Despite these issues, I have to say that Violens’ songs are fantastic, atmospheric and at points, downright trippy. Much like their album they straddle that tightrope between the familiar and the brilliantly novel but I think I would have wanted a little bit more.

Photos: Day of the Dead — Zombie Con 2010 REVEALED

Photos and Words by Carlos Detres

Blue skies, white swollen clouds drifted endlessly to the west and beneath this glorious pastiche of normalcy, a horde gathered at Kennedy’s to enact a day long tribute to that great genre of horror, which began with Night of the Living Dead way back in 1968.

Zombie films were a little different than all of the other films of this genre. Lifeless drones ambling toward an insatiable appetite, as infinite as death itself, have always been the a stripped down reflection of us; ugly in our desires and empty as a hungry ghost. The organizers cleverly utilized a political theme as you’ll be able to see in the pictures below. The occupants of the Time Warner building are still cleaning up after we ransacked it. For one day these zombies had a free pass to the city. The police just stood aside, unsure what to do. I took pictures, smiling from ear to ear — the happiest among the undead.

Big hugs go out to my zombie friends. I didn’t black out this time! Hooray!

Photographer: Angela Datre

Angela Datre is a photographer from New York.
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Datre approaches her work the same way, be it an athlete, a musician, a friend, a stranger, a still life, or a landscape she’s shooting– her goal is to make everything interesting through emotion, light, and space.
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Angela Datre can be contacted at me@angeladatre.com
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