Queen of the Pavement | A stockpile of thoughts, stories and photos from helenadagmar.

Magnetic Zeros.

March 29, 2010 by helenadagmar

I think the phrase “magnetic zero” is absolutely genius, particularly as a band name. Not self-deprecating as much as just… owning your shit. After spending a few years strongly involved with the music industry, either through touring, or promoting, or actually getting paid to work in it, the phrase really resonates with what I’ve observed, seeing a full range of folks on the spectrum of artist vs. entrepreneur. Now, I’m not implying that an artist isn’t an entrepreneur. In my brain, a utopian world exists where artistry and entrepreneurship, instead of often being polarized on a spectrum, would coexist, happily together always. It does for some, but not nearly enough for me to sleep well at night.

Anyway. I could write about this forever but I’d rather just post some fun photos of a show I attended recently.

AB & The Sea, The Watson Twins, & Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

At the end of their set, E.Sharpe invited a crowd of folks on stage. I was expecting an epic dance party to ensue. Instead, he had everyone (several hundred folk) in the ENTIRE venue sit down (amazingly, everyone complied). He then sang us a lullaby. What a way to end one of the most epic stage performances I have EVER seen.

I know I’m long overdue for some posts. More is on the way!

END!

Posted in music makers · Tagged ab and the sea, edward sharpe, festival, live, magnetic zeros, music, noise pop, photos, san francisco, watson twins · 1 Comment

Folsom Street Fair 2010. (NSFW)

March 18, 2010 by helenadagmar

So these are a bit delayed, but here are a few photos from the recent Folsom Street Fair. I felt like this year was more crowded, and it wasn’t long before I was feeling a bit claustrophobic, so I didn’t stay long, which I sort of regret. It’s a day full of great photo ops.

It’s funny, looking at these photos I now realize that I shot many of the exact same people as last year (you can view last year’s post here).

Just a head’s up – these photos are NSFW (not safe for work). In other words, you may see a boob or two, because that’s just how people roll in San Francisco sometimes. If you are easily offended, you may just want to click back to the home screen browse my other posts instead. Otherwise, enjoy some good old-fashioned San Francisco people watching below.

Posted in Uncategorized · Leave a comment

A B & The Sea.

February 2, 2010 by helenadagmar

Formal shoots are an interesting situation for me. I don’t do them that often. It’s not like they’re that different from the other shooting I do… I shoot in the same style, my photos basically look the same as they always do. I guess it’s just the idea of HAVING to produce adequate photos. Because it’s an assignment and that’s what’s expected of me.

This particular assignment was to shoot the band A B & The Sea. They are a young group of guys who recently up and moved from Wisconsin to San Francisco, played some tunes and quickly got noticed by the right folks. They needed some new promo photos for Noisepop, at which they will be playing the closing party with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros/The Watson Twins. Can you imagine that being one of the earlier shows in your career?? I would pee my pants and/or have multiple seizures. In that order.

The boys were adorable and super easy to shoot with. We totally winged it on the one day this week that wasn’t supposed to rain, and a quick walk around the Mission got us the photos we needed.

Here are a few shots from the afternoon.

Take a gander at the boys at myspace.com/abandthesea, or catch them w/ Edward Sharpe/Watson Twins. I sure as hell will be there.

END!

Posted in music makers, san francisco · Tagged a b & the sea, a b and the sea, abandthesea, edward sharpe, figurehead management, magnetic zeros, mission, noisepop, photoshoot, promo, san francisco, watson twins · Leave a comment

Visit from Bowerbirds.

February 1, 2010 by helenadagmar

Bowerbirds visit! Hooray!

Phil and Beth are homies from Raleigh, NC (the town from which I moved to come here). They were part of a wonderful friend group who made summer 2009 the best I’ve had yet. They play in a band called Bowerbirds, and they are good. Very, very good.

They were to play The Independent on Thursday, and I happen to live a couple of blocks from it. Perfect grounds for reunion sleepover time.

The show was lovely. Julie Doiran opened, and this photo does a good job of describing her. Her voice is absolutely beautiful and she is hilarious. She apparently got her boots from North Carolina. I am not one bit surprised.

The birds have a new addition – Dan “Yan” Westerlund. I had not met him before tonight, but I traveled around the country with his brother this summer, who is in Megafaun, who was touring with the Bowerbirds at the time. I have also stayed with his best friend in Tuscon, Arizona. Worlds colliding.

Will Hackney from Trekky Records also came along to tour manage and guest on mandolin and vocals. I had never met him before, but we both weren’t sure how this was possible, as we shared many many friends while I lived in NC.

We spent the rest of the night having a slumber party, drinking white russians and catching up on life. Come morning, we were up and ready for adventure.

All of us except Phil and Beth, that is. After a couple of hours of waiting for them to rise, we decided to greet them at the bedroom door with a morning song about breakfast. They finally got up.

We grabbed a tasty breakfast at Kate’s Kitchen, passing by Beth’s new favorite store – Silky Touch. Then we headed to Alamo Square, a block away from my house, to run around and reminisce about Full House.

We tumbled down the hill for a while.

As we all got back home, Beth and I went out into my jungle yard and I photographed her new dress and bonnet, compliments of artist Monica Canilao, while the boys packed.

With that, I reluctantly sent them off to continue their trek across the US. It was difficult not to jump in the van with them.

Seriously, go listen to them right now. bowerbirds.org. That is all.

END!

Posted in san francisco · Tagged alamo square, beth tacular, bowerbirds, california, concert, dan westerlund, independent, julian doiran, kate's kitchen, live, music, phil moore, san francisco, sf, silky touch, tour, will hackney · 6 Comments

Performance week.

January 31, 2010 by helenadagmar

This has been the most interesting of weeks.

Some of you may know that one of my (many) life dreams is to tour the country teaching workshops about the new music industry and building your web presence to take best advantage of evolving technologies.

Some of you may also know that I’m a pretty hardcore believer of building preferences through experience, then focusing on what you want and things inevitably manifest themselves in some form or fashion to be exactly that.

Anyway, such thought processes worked again. I found myself teaching at the SF Musician & Promoter Workshop on Monday night.

Never did I expect that to happen so quickly… not because I don’t know my shit, but rather because I just moved here six months ago and didn’t expect to meet people with similar mindsets and creative intentions in such a quick time frame. That said, I also didn’t know I’d be working at a record label and flying around attending conferences + festivals and working with artists and creatives for a living so quickly either.

The workshop was led by industry expert Corey Denis, and taught by Corey, Dustin Mitchell, Ali Watkins, Jessica Zollman and myself. The turnout was great, and it was nice to see some faces in the SF music and tech industries, both new and familiar. I’m stoked to begin working on the next round of workshops and seeing how this develops.

The rest of the week’s excursions consisted mostly of shows. It was SO NICE to get out and actually see live music for a change! Sometimes I get so busy working on the business side that I forget to relax and go actually enjoy music. It’s nice to sit back and listen again.

It all started with a wonderful little solo act accompanying my dinner at Gracias Madre in the Mission.

Then progressed to Hemlock Tavern a few days later…

Silian Rail

Boomsnake (I love everything about what this band is doing – go to their website. Now.)

Worker Bee

I just noticed that every single subject that night was wearing red. I knew something seemed more repetitive than normal…

Next – Family Folk Opry w/ Kyle Field (Little Wings), Matt Adams (The Blank Tapes), Kacey Johansing, Moomaw, and Mark Matos (Mark Matos & Os Beaches).

There are plenty of photos from Thursday’s Bowerbirds show as well, but that’ll wait until the next post. To tide you over, here are some typical orphan photos from the week:

That’s enough photos for one post. END!

Posted in san francisco · Tagged ali watkins, boomsnake, concerts, corey denis, dustin mitchell, family folk opry, gracias madre, hemlock tavern, jessica zollman, kacey johansing, kyle field, little wings, live, mark matos, matt adams, moomaw, music, musician and promoter workshop, musicworkshopsf, os beaches, porto franco records, san francisco, sf, shows, silian rail, the blank tapes, worker bee, yoshis · 1 Comment

New York, chilly times.

January 30, 2010 by helenadagmar

I took a quick hiatus from my North Carolina hiatus to visit New York. I had originally planned on being in NC for an entire month over the winter, but ended up planning this mini-trek within that month. It was literally a vacation within my vacation. It’s an odd concept. Maybe you’ll try it sometime… probably not.

I was actually going for more productive purposes… primarily for the APAP (the Association of Performing Arts Presenters) Conference in Manhattan, to represent Porto Franco Records. It was an exhausting, work-filled week, but I managed to come away with quite a few great experiences and new friends under my belt.

NYC Highlights:
- Immediately remembering how it feels to have your facial extremities being eaten off by ever-present winter New York temperatures
- Falling completely in love with New York all over again despite these ever-present winter New York temperatures
- Meeting folks with similar outlooks on the new music industry (so refreshing and validating)
- Forcing myself to speak in front of groups of industry professionals 10-30 years my senior
- Feeling validated when I was introducing concepts to them that made sense
- Murray’s Bagels and their selection of 16 types of smoked fish
- Conversationally life-altering lunch with Mark Schoneveld
- Walking along the Highline and realizing I desperately miss innovative public use of modern architecture and I must live in NYC at some point in the future
- Seeing and catching up with Mariana Garcia, Matt Bauer, Mikey Lythcott, Brooks Wood, Mark Woloszyn, Greg Galant, Sam Rhodes, Masa Tanaka, + more.
- Mikey’s roof (as always)

And some photos. I didn’t shoot much, as it was freezing and it wouldn’t take long before my camera froze. But here are the few I actually took from the week.

See you soon, NY. xoxo

Posted in Travel Stories · Tagged apap, conference, manhattan, new york city, porto franco records · 2 Comments

Raleigh Phase 2. (handcuffed.)

January 21, 2010 by helenadagmar

Raleigh phase 2 was all that I love about Raleigh. My friends make adventure.

This particular adventure was centered around the birthday of my dear friend Tim Lytvinenko. If you kept up with my blogs this summer, you know that Tim toured the country with me with Bowerbirds + Megafaun, and he takes care of Raleigh for me while I’m in California. He’s a kickass web developer and is doing some incredible work with Luceo Images (who happen to be showing in NYC right now – go find them if you’re in the area). You should check them out.

Anyway. For Tim’s birthday:

- A big group of compadres gathered at Tim’s for an epic curry feast, courtesy of his family.
- We kicked around a large ball containing ice cream ingredients until ice cream was formed. Flavors: avocado and Guinness. Yum.
- One full, we all sat down and began a white elephant gift exchange of sorts – the only real difference being that, instead of people picking gifts, ladies were picking men.
- Once men were drawn/selected, the pairs were matched up and handcuffed together. Yes, you read that right.
- All of us, once handcuffed (there must have been at least a dozen pairs), headed to the bus stop to be shipped to the one and only Glenwood South to do what we never do… go dancing on Glenwood South. Destination #1 = The Pourch. (punny, yes.)
- We quickly dominated the club, dancing in attached pairs, sometimes getting creative and find ways to interlock multiple cuffed groups of people into one giant dancing human mass.
- It wasn’t long until we all got kicked out. No big reason… just for being handcuffed.
- We then found the R-Line, which toted us to our favorite downtown neighborhood, where we only had time to run to Landmark and Busy Bee, where we danced, still handcuffed, til the bars closed. People began finding ways to disconnect, but Chad and I were determined to be the clustercuffs winners and stay hooked together until approximately 3 AM. We deemed ourselves winners until Logan and Stefanie arrived and were in fact handcuffed the longest. Assholes.
- Then we all danced around Tim’s living room until 6 in the morning.

Normal birthdays FTW!

Ok, here are some photos. I didn’t bring my camera downtown, as it’s not really possible to take photos while handcuffed… you’ll just have to imagine the chaos for yourself.

Raleigh adventures, I love you. Please don’t ever change.

Posted in Travel Stories · Tagged adventure, birthday, busy bee, chad, clustercuffs, dancing, downtown, landmark, logan, pourch, raleigh, stefanie, tim lytvinenko · Leave a comment

New Bern orphan photos.

January 21, 2010 by helenadagmar

I spent most of my month-long east-coast hiatus hiding in New Bern, the city in which I grew up and where my mother still resides. After a year of incredible chaos, I was really looking forward to nothing more than sitting down on a couch in bumfuck eastern NC, doing my work in solitude and hanging out with no one except my mother and my cat (I’m a long-distance cat owner until I can justify flying Raphael to SF), drinking Bailey’s and watching Oprah.

Of course, after a day or two I began to get stir crazy and began to contact humanity again, as well as take some photos of all you can really photograph in New Bern during the winter – myself, my cat, bear statues, and whoever happened to wander into my mother’s house. Enjoy.

END!

Posted in Travel Stories · Tagged 2009, anne, annette, helena, kane, nc, new bern, raphael, winter · 2 Comments

Raleigh phase 1.

January 5, 2010 by helenadagmar

As you may have inferred from my New Year’s post and wedding post, I’m in NC. As per usual, I’ve taken my travel time to extremes and am hopping around the east coast for a MONTH.

It’s cold here. I have realized how ridiculously spoiled I have become living in SF. I can function completely without a car, I don’t wear pants half of the time because it’s between 50-80 degrees all year, and coffee is as thick as espresso. Oh, and the surplus of cornerstores with awesome juice selections. And the lack of jesus billboards and general perceptions of “weird.”

I can work via le internets, so I can still maintain my projects from wherever, which is really nice. It will be nice to get back to the new SF homeland though, as while most of my projects are online, they’re very locally-intensive, and you can’t do much local bay-area work from the east coast. Well, you can, but it just doesn’t feel right. I’m ready to see real faces instead of email addresses and twitter names.

There are plenty of real Raleigh faces to bide my time, though.

I’ve just been doing what I usually do in Raleigh. Work on projects in Helio’s or Morning Times all day, then when I become restless, begin wandering around downtown, seeing and catching up with familiar faces on every corner, grabbing Lebanese food at Sitti, BBQ + Aventinus at Raleigh Times, local bands + Big Boss at Tir Na Nog, ginger ale at Foundation, greyhounds at Landmark, the sting at Busy Bee… inevitably getting into adventures that last me through the rest of the night. Wake up on friend’s couch, get up and do it all over again.

Note: I bought my entire family Luchador wrestling masks for Christmas. They happened to make their way around Raleigh before I wrapped them.

END!

Posted in Travel Stories, north carolina · Tagged busy bee, foundation, helios, landmark, morning times, raleigh, raleigh times, sitti · 6 Comments

Winter wedding times.

January 4, 2010 by helenadagmar

So I had a rather daunting (+ exciting) task ahead of me over the holidays – shooting my first wedding.

The exciting part – Shooting for the Coleman family, who I’ve known for almost half of my lifetime. Seeing and catching up with wonderful people I haven’t seen in years. Seeing the bride, Molly, for the first time since I was fourteen. Taking pictures of beautiful people + fun times.

The daunting part – If you miss a shot, you can’t go back and retake it. If you miss lots of shots/ don’t present a set of incredible, beautiful photos, you are liable for an eternity of resentment for failing to capture the pinnacle of epic photo days. No pressure.

Solution – I decided to chill out and shoot it like I’m there hanging out and just happen to be taking pictures to accompany a story for my blog.

I flew down to New Bern, NC, my hometown, to shoot the wedding at the church in which I grew up, then the reception at The Chelsea, a whopping block from my mom’s house. It was great to see so many faces from my adolescence. Half of folks didn’t recognize me at first. I guess it really has been a while… 8 years or so for some of them.

Ben + Molly were beautiful, and it was amazing to see multiple generations of married children + parents + grandparents, all still completely happy and totally in love. It certainly gives me hope for humanity.

Here are some of my personal faves from the day.