emancipation (from a ghost) and proclamation (of what to do afterwards)

I haven't posted in over a year and I feel really bad about that, but if you're wondering what I've been up since:

• I've been soldiering on with There Goes the Fear.
• I covered Great Escape 2012 alone (boo) and Liverpool Sound City 2012 (mostly alone but with John to run our hosted stage at the Liverpool Academy of Arts with our friends the Temper Trap, Clock Opera, and Dear Prudence).
• I started Music in Notes with encouragement from a friend.
• I went to Australia to cover the inaugural ARIA Week in November 2012; it so happened that was the same week as my birthday so I got to celebrate it at the famous Oxford Art Factory, a place I had seen so many times on Australian gig listings and band routings through Oz but assumed I would never visit.
• I covered SXSW 2013 (again, alone); however, I wasn't really alone as for the final 2 days I got to pal around with the exceedingly chivalrous Crookes, who made me laugh, smile, and forget that I was lonely, including me in a Friday night out that will be memorable for years to come.
• I was on holiday in Britain for 22 days in May, an absolutely glorious time (never again, unfortunately, unless I quit my job [hardly likely]).
• I covered Liverpool Sound City 2013 (with John and Martin, TGTF crew yay!) and Great Escape 2013 (with John, TGTF tag team, yay!) again; we are likely going again next year, just not sure who is going to which.
• I'm never mentioning the word Delphic again after an incident in Liverpool that shocked and upset me at the time but now I'm like meh, fine; bridges have been burnt.
• I visited Scotland for the first time (Glasgow - thumbs up; Edinburgh - thumbs down).
• I visited Newcastle for the first time (it's beautiful!) and got to meet Martin's family (super nice good people!).
• (thanks to an entirely last minute announcement) I visited Sheffield for the first time, and now I'm in love (in multiple senses of the word); probably not a good position for me to be in, but I'll let the chips fall where they may.
• I took it upon myself to organise a two music Web site-collaboration for the purpose of promo for the Crookes in London, when they played the Scala, their biggest London show to date (I've not seen the interview or session videos yet but I have every faith they will be fine); in the process I got to meet the lovely Heartbreaks from Morecambe and were touched by the Northern boys' warmness.
• I came back home, entirely unhappy to be back in America because I started missing England *immediately* after, which is a major problem considering my boss forbids me to leave the country again until 2014.
• I was asked by a friend to assist on, with my editing skills, a new project that makes me very nervous but I hope will bring us closer together as friends (we'll see).

I think that brings you up to speed? Below is a live video I filmed at the Crookes' show at the Scala on 21 May 2013. It's of the single 'Dance in Colour', which is absolutely beautiful.

I am really bad about not posting to this thing.

all I can say is that b/c I write so much for TGTF and This is Fake DIY, it's becoming increasingly less desirable to write about music on here, even about Lammo's Thursday Roundtable. although I regularly tune in without fail, I just want to listen to the tracks and let them sink in that said, I have some exciting things happening very soon:

• I am attending both the Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City as an official delegate
• TGTF will have a stage at Sound City that will feature the Temper Trap, Clock Opera and Dear Prudence on Friday 18 May and
• hell yeah, I'm finally having another holiday in England, although I'll really only have 5 days to myself (3 in London, though I'm planning a day trip to Cambridge, and 1 each in Brighton and in Liverpool, but those are really to get to the towns and check out the lay of the land before the festivals).

why don't I put a video up here today, one that you wouldn't expect? I wish people would stop banging on about how awful One Direction. I'm pleased that Duran Duran, not them, were chosen for the Olympics opening ceremony. that said, for what they are, and for the nice message of this song - girls, you are beautiful the way you are - I think they're a heck of a lot better than any misogynistic, foul-mouthed rapper. this is a pop song not trying to be anything else but a pop song. deal with it.'

when lighting is not a blogger's best friend

I generally do not use this blog as a place to rant but reading my TGTF email gave me pause today, from a commenter named "Paul" in regards to my recent DC9 Slow Club live review:

"Mary- turn off you [sic] flash. It's rude."

I've had a look through all the photos I took that night. Of the 94 photos I took of all three bands, 5 were with flash. This comment is particularly annoying to me because I was not being annoying and using flash for every photo. What was the problem then? I can tell you the problem. DC9, due to its size, isn't large enough for professional lighting rigs. I can usually get away with no flash at the 9:30 Club (look at this Erasure live review as an example) because the lighting onstage is enough to light up the bands on stage.

I realize flash is annoying not only to the artists but also to the fans. If I didn't, I would have used flash on every photo. Did I? No. When possible, I try to use whatever lighting is available, and try to make up for it with the exposure settings on my camera. The provided lighting ALWAYS makes a photo look better compared to one with flash. I'm no expert but I've gotten some good shots over the years that I'm proud of, so I would consider myself a functional gig photographer. Provided I get to the gig early enough to be up front.

That said, I would like to point out something about the way I blog, and how blogging is done in general. There are three types of people who cover live gigs:

• people who contribute only writing to blogs, so when they cover live gigs, they only provide a write-up
• people who only take photos and don't do any write-up (general professional photographers, some of whom actually get paid by print or online publications)
• people who take photos and do a write-up (very rare' some are like me and aren't using fancy SLRs, and even more rare, the folks with fancy SLRs that do awesome write-ups: not common at all)

I give as an example the photos taken by a photographer of a DC-based blog at the same show. Her photos are better than mine: that should be expected as she's a photographer and has a way fancier camera. I'm not. Peter, if you think I used my flash too much, you should bring your complaint up with her also. She also used flash but for *every* photo. I should know. Half the time she was either in front of me or near me and I tried desperately to look away from her when possible because her flash was going off. I'm not even counting any of the other fans who were there, taking photos with flash also. It happens.

I don't really care if someone doesn't like my photos. Feel free to rip on them all you want; I take photos at gigs not because I have to, it's because I like to and it's for the promotion of bands. That's what each of the three types of contributors above are trying to do.

The reason why there are better and better bands coming to DC as the years go on? It's a direct result of what we bloggers do. Have a problem with what I'm doing? Come and see me about it. But I doubt you would, would you?