Mission of Burma, Fucked Up, Ponytail & Jemina Pearl | Pool Parties 2009.07.12

I couldn't have been more excited for the first "Pool Party" of the summer, this year at Brooklyn Waterfront. For the past three years, these events have been a staple in my summer weekends, having the luxury of spending the day outside with free music and hipster watching. I frankly was thrilled to hear that the pool was getting a new location -- the vast amounts of concrete and lack of shade was not a friend to my Irish skin. Down at the waterfront there still was a good deal of concrete, but luckily there was some grass and a nice breeze from the beautiful view of Manhattan. Plus, I remembered sunscreen this year.

For a day filled of sets from bands I wasn't completely familiar with (other than Mission of Burma who I saw last year at Pitchfork) I ended up having quite a fun time. Up first was Jemina Pearl of Be Your Own Pet fame, who's spunky tunes made for a great kick off to the day. I was surprised at how melodic her songs were, and impressed when hearing it was their first official show. Sure, there were some misteps here and there, but their energy under the hot Brooklyn sun sure made up for it.



Ponytail was up next, and I think I may have caught them once before as I remember asking Pat how old the lead singer was. Not totally my type of music, I still enjoyed seeing a crowd go bonkers with each new sound emoted from her voice.



The most surprising set of the day goes to Fucked Up who, if you know my musical taste at all, usually wouldn't be my cup of tea. But I can't help but encourage bands who give it their all, and lead singer "Pink Eye" did just that. Playing most of the show from the crowd, I was in awe of his dedication as he poured sweat and tears all over the hands and faces of the kids up front. Like I said, the music itself wasn't exactly what I'd listen to on a rainy day, but they put on one hell of a show.



Next up was headliners Mission of Burma, who I decided to take in from side stage sitting in a nice green pasture. I couldn't help but be distracted from the incredible views the Waterfront offers of the Manhattan skyline. And while listening to the band, I couldn't have asked for a better closing to the day.



All in all, it was a great start of what looks to be an incredible line up of shows. Hopefully the crew will think twice about the roped off beer area (boo) and provide more choices of food (sorry vegetarians, you'll find no luck here). There were definitely some aspects of the original location that I'll definitely miss (long live slip 'n slide) but I'm definitely embracing the change!

this is why i should not blog.

I used to tell funny stories about my tendencies to stalk (I mean, admire) pseudo rockstars, but when I started seeing these people more than once after exclaiming my love for them publicly on the Internet, it stopped. I have to be a professional a lot more these days, which yields the 13-year-old inside to hide more and more these days. But since I'm on this kick of not really caring what I write in here any more, I'll entertain you with a little anecdote of a usual Sunday afternoon.

So even after an exhausting day yesterday at Siren Fest, I couldn't miss this Sunday at McCarren pool because of its stellar lineup: Oxford Collapse, Annuals, and Band of Horses. But we'll get to them a little bit later. So I spent the morning nursing my sunburn and then made my way up to the L train. Now I was perfectly fine minding my own business, listening to the new Justice album on my iPod and reading this weeks Entertainment Weekly but I happened to walk in front of a certain lead singer who was sitting on the bench reading the newspapers. And it happened to be Keith Murray from We Are Scientists (I wont link to avoid any more embarrassment).

The "normal" thing in this situation would either be to totally ignore him completely, or get up the nerve to say hi, re-introduce yourself and laugh about that one time you interviewed them and it was totally awkward. But no, I never said I was normal. Instead, I decided to be covert and snap a picture of this guy on my sidekick, thinking I could get away with it.

But I didn't.

There's a flash.

Needless to say, any chance of me hiding in the background was completely shot to shit when the flash went off and he looked up. I immediately grabbed my magazine and pretended to be deep concentration reading about the new Simpsons movie. About 30 seconds later the train came, and Keith got up. Instead of walking straight ahead into the doors, and thus being in the same train as me, he sprinted down as far as he could.

And this, my friends, is why I should not blog.

But I'm never one to let a little embarrassment go to my head, so when Keith was at McCarren pool to perform with Oxford Collapse I pretending the whole situation never happened. I mean, it's not like I followed him there, of course. The rest of the day was nice and hot, with three bands I've written about here before many a times. It's very strange to say but I'm looking forward to getting back into the working week. These weekends have worn me out completely.

Oxford Collapse and friends:

Annuals:

Band Of Horses:

More pictures on flickr.