I saw a show last night at the FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH. My first thoughts were "ABANDONED CHURCH?? PARADISO??" But then, how could that be, this isn't Amsterdam after all, only Philadelphia. I have heard some good things about this church in the past though and apparently the hold a lot of good shows so it can't be that bad, huh?
Well, I was right, it was a pretty chill spot. Very intimate, low stage, and we were right fucking close which made it more fun. It's not really someplace I prefer over club type venues but it was pretty gnarly. Sunday School plays take place on the same stage, there are little kid drawings all over the walls, and the stage is covered with a colorful rug that attempts to teach the ABC's. Where was THAT in Paradiso...
So, Karl Blau came on stage and opened first. More like Karl BLEH,
GET IT? He kinda sucked. He had two recorders which he beatboxed and played the bassline into while he riffed and sang over it. It was interesting...but that's about it. Meh. I didn't even manage to snag a picture of him. Shade.
Next up was Saturday Looks Good to Me. Alright, these bros were better than Blau but not by much. Again interesting music but nothing to get excited about. Worthy of a few pictures, I guess.
And for the main event we saw The BLOW. The BLOW, for those of you who don't know is Khaela Maricich and YATCH. YATCH recently left Khaela, so now The BLOW is just Khaela doing her own thing. She's a one woman artist who sings on top of a CD (kareokeish). SOUNDS LAME, I know, but the tunes and pretty bouncy and she dances like a maniac. I was slightly reminded of HNATIW, except no synths or drum machines to sit on. Check the pics and CHECK the vid. Shit's fun.
The first time she jumped into the crowd NO ONE EXPECTED IT and she fell to the floor. She climbed back on stage and said "This time I'll aim or those guys." The crowd was ready the second time. It was great. Rad socks too.
She had this whole thing with this piece of plastic. It was some metaphor for her boyfriend or something. It was so bizarre it was hilarious. She was very funny all around too, she joked with the audience and talked a bunch about ridiculous stuff. One of her things was "explaining being alive". She explained it by saying "You know what it's like? It's like everything. You know, all of this. Yeeaaah. Yeah you know it's like all of everything like this." It made no sense. Then she would go om about how if the audience was a polar bear, and in order to make good music she had to flirt with it, but like with the whole audience. Polar bear. She was so weird she was great.
DANCE DANCE DANCE She was so fun to watch. "TAKE IT OFF" lollolololllol
It was a fun night. A Wednesday too! Word.
For those of you who don't know Drencrom is one f the spiked milks that Alex drinks in the Korova Milkbar in A Clockwork Orange . Drencrom is a shortened version of Adrenochrome which is basically adrenaline in drug form. RAD.
Do you see that little Asian boy in the red shirt? His name is Nhut. Pronounced: "Nuh". I hang out with him all the fucking time. He's so rad. He's TINY, too. Last First Friday Nhut sold over $150 worth of paintings and stuff. I don't know how he does it, but I'm getting myself a little portfolio together and I'm going to make myself some CASH.
I can't remember how much this guy was selling these for but nearly everything at First Friday is super cheap. It's mostly cool stuff too.
Fucking spray ork man. This guy had a huge crowd around him watching him do his thing. I wish I had gotten a chance to see the end result :(
Jackie was selling a bunch of decks she painted.
See those characters on the upper right there. I met the guy that does those, he actually goes to uArts. These dudes he's created are EVERYWHERE. There is a sticker up on just about every mailbox and newspaper bin in the city. I never thought I'd actually meet the dude. So awesome. Apparently he's getting his OWN shoe with VANS as well. Fuckshitman,iwantthatsobad.
Here's some more of his stuff in a gallery. I love that character so much.
I took advantage of the Monster Truck. They were just pouring these free Monsters into my arms so I had to keep them. I ended up putting about fifteen in two plastic bags and fashioning some completely uncomfortable makeshift backpack. I proceeded to bike the next 15 blocks in uncomfortable agony. BUT NOW MY FRIDGE IS FULL OF MONSTER IT'S OKAY.
Friends. We had to pack up all of the stuff they were super fast becuasssse:
PO PO GETTIN US DOWN. I thought this First Friday thing was deemed A-Okay by the State of PA but apparently not. The police were giving everybody a hard time about not having any permits to sell things and they were threatening citations.
He was not fun. He looks fun. He was not fun. This is what he ACTUALLY said when this picture was taken: "I used to be a photographer. I could use this baby arm as a prop. You know what I would do with it?! It'd put it here! It's a penis!" He later told me to soak magic mushrooms in a jar of honey for a month and then lick the honey.
The first time she jumped into the crowd NO ONE EXPECTED IT and she fell to the floor. She climbed back on stage and said "This time I'll aim or those guys." The crowd was ready the second time. It was great. Rad socks too.
She had this whole thing with this piece of plastic. It was some metaphor for her boyfriend or something. It was so bizarre it was hilarious. She was very funny all around too, she joked with the audience and talked a bunch about ridiculous stuff. One of her things was "explaining being alive". She explained it by saying "You know what it's like? It's like everything. You know, all of this. Yeeaaah. Yeah you know it's like all of everything like this." It made no sense. Then she would go om about how if the audience was a polar bear, and in order to make good music she had to flirt with it, but like with the whole audience. Polar bear. She was so weird she was great.
It's on the back of my sketch pad.
There is the stencil for the shadows next to it. I had to cut out a new stencil for each layer of color.
IT'S TINY. You have no idea how long it takes to make all of those tiny tiny cuts over and over again. White was the background layer so that stencil was just the outline of the whole figure. They Grey layer is mid tones and the black holds the darkest shadows.
Totally tagged up wall on South St. This shit is too high profile not to be commissioned by the city though. DAYM CELL OWTZ
In case you forgot: DEMS STILL BE MURDERERING
That's what I would call my deli too. 
Fancy entrance type gateway into China Town.
This is a picture of a chubby fire hydrant. THATSNOTTHEONLYTHINGCHUBBYINTHEPICTURELOLOLOL. The picture doesn't really do it justice but trust me. One to many Pudgie Patty's I think...
This is either the best invention in the world or the grossest. It's little pudding either way.
This movie poster was up on the wall of some grocery store in China Town. I glanced at it as I walked by and UPON FURTHER INSPECTION:
HE HAS A THIRD EYE. We MUST find and watch this movie Sooner than later please.
