Myrtle Beach

A bunch of photos from my week long trip to Myrtle Beach. My favorite part of the trip was our visit to Alligator Adventure, where I fed a tortoise.

National Cherry Blossom Festival

A few photos from the first day of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It is not as warm as it appears in the images. Slideshow below.

DC Record Fair #4

Another DC Record Fair. This one was not as fruitful as the first two, in photos and records. The Black Cat is like a dungeon. Very little light and insanely crowded. But I left satisfied. Check out my photo blog and Flickr.

Snowpocolypse 2010

DC was hit by a snowpocolypse. Here are just a few of my photos. I have more on Facebook.

Raptor in Dupont Circle

I spotted a falcon/hawk (I'm not sure) in downtown D.C. in Dupont Circle. Luckily I had my camera. I've also been working on some new photo editing techniques in Photoshop, including using the Unsharp Mask filter... I love it.

DC / VA / PA

A few recent photos from DC and one from my trip to Pennsylvania. More on my photo blog.

Baltimore

Sarah and I spent some time at the Walters Art Museum last weekend, a museum I hadn't been to before and was pretty impressed with. These photos are from outside the museum, in front of a nearby cathedral. There are pictures from inside the museum and other spots on my Flickr page.

DC Record Fair #3

Today I attended the third DC Record Fair. I bought a lot of things. More pictures here!

CoverCast #4: 9/6

Download: ♪ CoverCast #4: 9/6



As I mentioned on The Cover Up, my job's been a little stressful recently. So this week I put together a mix of tracks that are good for keeping me sane during my daily 9 to 6. The impressive Astrud Gilberto edit by Shigeto comes from a free EP download available at the ISO50 blog. I've also used a track from Nicolay's fantastic new album, Shibuya: City Lights Vol. 2, released this week. Now get back to work.



1. Herb Pihofer - Hail Ceasar
2. Jeff Parker - Beanstalk
3. Koushik - Coolin’ (Instrumental)
4. Jackson Conti - São Paulo Nights
5. Astrud Gilberto - Berimbau (Shigeto Edit)
6. Triorganico - Correndo
7. Nicolay - Omotesando
8. 9dw - Thinking Makes A Mistake
9. Savath & Savalas - Pavo Real
10. Quantic & His Combo Barbaro - Undelivered Letter
11. Quarteto Novo - Síntese
12. Cut Chemist - Spoon
13. Samon Kawamura - Out-Take 0810-012
14. Bibio - All The Flowers
15. Tortoise - Charteroak Foundation
16. Toumani Diabaté - Elyne Road

Theodore Taylor Photography

I created a new blog specifically for showcasing my photography. It's not something I really need but I thought it would be fun to make. It is here.

Washington National Zoo

I love elephants. Also, lemurs. More here.

CoverCast #3: Three

Download: ♪ CoverCast #3: Three



Unfortunately, I didn't make many Cover Up posts this week. But I did put together a new CoverCast. This week I wanted to share some great electronic music and a touch of instrumental hip-hop. Some old, some new, some sort of new. Thanks to Ed for sharing the Joy Orbison track. It's crazy. Everyone loves dubstep these days, right?



1. Phaseone - Marty & Sonietta
2. MONO/POLY - The George Machine
3. The Clonious - Emora
4. Daedelus - Get Off Your HiHats
5. Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo
6. Clark - Mercy Sines
7. Zomby - One Foot Ahead Of The Other
8. Dr. Who Dat? - Laws of Clover
9. Squarepusher - Greenways Trajectory
10. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technopolis
11. Bumps - Tryplmeade Gorsmatch
12. Teebs - Untitled
13. Thavius Beck - Under Pressure
14. Ceephax - Hull Pressure
15. Plug - Brave Lick
16. Hudson Mohawke - Rising 5
17. Gonja Sufi - Ancestors
18. Ras G - Incoming
19. Stevo - Milky Way Driver
20. 00Genesis - Geomancer

CoverCast #2: Jazz Epic

Download: ♪ CoverCast #2: Jazz Epic



Very soon after I put together the first CoverCast, I decided to pull out some of my favorite records and stay up until 5 AM to create an epic 45 minute mix of loud, soul-churning jazz-fusion. This is the end product. The plan was to make a non-stop blend of heavy jazz-rock, like tracks two through five. But I decided to spread it out a bit, eventually splitting the mix into movements (ala the epic fusion suites of yore) with appropriately epic titles (I've never heard the word "PEREGRINATION" before). Fusion was a staple of my music diet in high school and on, so I hope you enjoy it. I know I did... Click the link or covers to downloat the zip file, which includes the tracklist.

Intro
1. Laurence Welk & Orchestra - Moon River / Soundcraftsman - Instructional Test Record

Movement I : The Vivication
2. Tony Williams - Some Hip Drum Sh!t
3. The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Vital Transformation
4. Jean-Luc Ponty - Enigmatic Ocean, Pt. 2
5. Al Di Meola - Morning Fire

Movement II : The Peregrination
6. Weather Report - Scarlet Woman / Trazana Beverley - No Assistance
7. Airto Moreira - Wake Up Song
8. Larry Corryell & The Eleventh House - Yin
9. The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Worlds / Arthur Ashe - Learn Tennis
10. Tony Williams - This Night This Song

Movement III : The Ascension
11. McCoy Tyner - Fly With The Wind
12. Flora Purim - Open Your Eyes (You Can Fly)
13. Ashok Ingle - Raga Darbari / Devadip Carlos Santana & Turiya Alice Coltrane - Guru Sri Chinmoy Aphorism

Movement IV : The Resurrection
14. Stanley Clarke - Life Is Just A Game

CoverCast #1: G4G4

Download: ♪ CoverCast #1: G4G4

Today I'm posting G4G4, the first ever mixtape (I don't want to call it a podcast) for my Cover Up blog. I've wanted to create a mix for a while, so I pulled together some of my favorite tracks and artists from this year to see what I could come up with. It's mostly a selection of hip-hop and electronic music. The track list is below and you can click the covers to download. I plan on doing some more mixes later. For the front and back cover I used photos I took at the Freer & Sackler Galleries in D.C. (I put a slideshow below for fun). I hope you guys listen and enjoy.

1. Triorganico - Balloons
2. Blu - Amnesia
3. Prefuse 73 - Regalo
4. Mabanua - Liquid
5. Misel Quitno - Pull It Down Somewhen
6. ZKPRZ - Phantasmagoria
7. Flying Lotus - Parisian Goldfish (Take Remix)
8. Harmonic 313 - Dirtbox
9. Willie Isz - Shine
10. Samon Kawamura - cp2sk (Featuring Christian Prommer)
11. J Dilla - Spacecowboy vs. Bobble Head
12. CO$$ - Be Like You (Featuring Terem)
13. Exile - Stay Tuned (Here)
14. Dak - fortheSUN
15. The Gaslamp Killer - Baiafro
16. Luke Vibert - Computer Complex
17. Squarepusher - Seb-1.02
18. 9DW - Begin To Sing For Appetite

The Budos Band & Chopteeth

Last Thursday I went to see The Budos Band and Chopteeth perform at The Black Cat. The show was amazing, but I didn't get many good photos. The lighting was dark enough when Chopteeth was opening. As The Budos Band took the stage they lowered the lighting even more. So I did a few long-exposures. I took the last few seconds to take some flash shots, since they're not technically allowed. But that's all fine because it was a really intense show! More photos on Flickr.

DC Asian Festival

Pictures of a few of the dancers at the DC Asian Festival in Reston, Virginia. More here.

Otakon 2009

When I was in high school I was a serious anime fan. I attended the Otakon anime convention in Baltimore, MD 5 years in a row. When I finally got to college, I became less interested with the scene and stopped going. But I decided to revisit the convention this year with three of my cousins and my girlfriend. It was wild. I also managed to get some decent photos, although the overwhelming amount of people to take photos of made it hard to concentrate. I posted a lot more on Flickr.

July 4th At The Washington Monument

I went to the Washington Monmument to see fireworks on July 4th. Other than the millions of people trying to leave the area at once, it was fun. More photos here.

DC Caribbean Carnival

Thanks to my cousin and grandfather I had the chance to go to the DC Caribbean Carnival. It was basically a parade down Georgia Avenue celebrating Caribbean cultures with loud music, colorful costumes and a lot of dancing. Of course, I took this as an opportunity to take some crazy photos. There are more here.

Duke Ellington Jazz Festival

I got a nice surprise this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday I attended the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival on the Mall in front of the Washington Monument. I saw a few groups, but the highlights for me were The Terence Blanchard Quintet and The Nicholas Payton Quartet.

What made Nicholas Payton's set so special was the surprise inclusion of two of my current favorite musicians, bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding (top) and drummer Karriem Riggins (second). I had no idea they would be performing, so I was a little bit in shock when I saw them setting up for their equipment. It was the highlight of my week. Maybe my month! I managed to take some interesting shots, thanks to being able to get right in front of the stage. There are more shots here.