It’s weird, as the music person here at Ballroom, sometimes I don’t get to enjoy the concerts in the moment, because I’m kind of a nervous person and always running around making sure everything’s running smoothly. Such is what happened for me at the Feist show, and I kind of missed the opening band, Mountain Man, who I’d never heard of. But we bought the record, and whoa, it’s pretty stunning. I’m trying to hunt down their origin story, learn more about them, but the whole thing’s a great reminder about how much amazing music and how many treasures are out there. WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED. –NI

Photo of Roberto Pugliese’s A Voice in the Desert by Robert D. Junior. Where is he from, who is he, we love his photos. They are rad (be sure to check out his photo of Matthew Day Jackson’s Sculpture for My Right Hand and every single shot from At the Drive-In). Just saw that his book, You Will Live Forever, a series of photographs exploring architectural apathy and personal isolation, is available from Shabazz Projects. Yours for $8, and only 100 copies printed. –NI

Just got the photos back from Feist — what a show. She was so lovely, and left the whole town with a special glow. Special thanks to Lesley Brown for her concert shots, and Alex Marks, who continues his amazing musician Polaroid series for us, against all the odds (see the series here). And thanks again to Marfa Public Radio and Marfa Book Company for making the whole show happen.

And to all poster & Feist lovers: you can buy the latest and greatest Feist poster here. Designed by Simone Rubi, it features the grandson of the chief of the Jumano Indians, one of the first tribes in West Texas. Holla. –nicki

The Crowley Theater. Photo by Lesley Brown.

Feist by Alex Marks

Feist. Photo by Lesley Brown.

By now, you must know about our Polaroid project, where the amazing and amazingly talented (and patient) photographer, Alex Marks, takes Polaroids of all of our visiting musicians

For At the Drive-In, who played here last Thursday, Alex braved the crowds and the heavies and the very loving moshpit to get these two shots

I will never stop loving this project

–nicki

Just wanted to give a big thanks to
org/archive/event/at-the-drive-in/#event-release”>At the Drive-In for an amazing show, and everyone who came out and shared the night with us — and special nods to Dan Chamberlin, Rob Crowley, Robert Lara, Karen Longshore, JP Schwartz, everyone at the Thunderbird Hotel, and especially Graham Williams and the team at Transmission Events, who made it all possible

We were honored to be involved

A few photos from last night, courtesy of Rob

More photos to come

— nicki

It’s happening

After the show, around 10:30 pm, local metal awesome band LBS — who take their “cues from the early Sabbath days with the speed of Slayer” will play at Lost Horse Saloon

A

NIGHT

TO

REMEMBER

–NICKI

LBS

The latest in our Polaroid series: Eleanor Friedberger, as photographed by Polaroid wizard Alex Marks. Favorite project ever. Many thanks to Alex and Eleanor for being such photogenic champs. You can see the whole series, bit by bit, here.

Just a recap of the amazing Eleanor Friedberger/J. Wise show this past weekend — big thanks to Eleanor, Josh, Tim Crowley, Jennifer Bell, and our sound and light team, Rob Crowley, Chris Hillen, and Gory Smelley (plus all the musicians who helped Eleanor during her recording session: Colt Miller, Chris Hillen, Joe Cashiola, and Ross Cashiola). We are incredibly lucky to work with all these folks.

Here are two videos from the night — I could’ve posted a million more. Photos to come.

Eleanor Friedberger is in town for her Ballroom residency, and she’s been tweeting about her time here (awesome). I’m totally stealing this picture from her of Colt Miller — he of Cobra Rock Boots, Thrift Store Cowboys, and a million other excellent ventures — who sat in during Eleanor’s recording session, playing banjo and pedal steel. Mad dope fresh. Can’t wait to hear the results.

New Yorkers: Vidas Perfectas, the new Spanish-language production of Robert Ashley’s Perfect Lives, returns to New York this Sunday, March 25, at Le Poisson Rouge. This one-night-only performance features the first and final episodes of the opera, El Parque (The Park) and El Patio De Atras (The Backyard), in partial staging. For all who missed the December 2011 premiere, this is your chance. Buy tickets now.

In other music news, I stumbled upon this video of Tinariwen playing “Tenere Taqqim Tossam,” their collaboration with TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe. When Tinariwen played here in November, I had this secret fantasy that Kyp and Tunde would join them onstage. That did not happen. But this is a nice taste of what could have been.

Video courtesy of Sound Crush Productions