Today was a very interesting day, it was so bright, with a temperature that was not too hot, nor too cold, and nice light wind. There was a light rain here or there. On my way to my class at Mayo clinic, I saw the brightest rainbow I’d ever seen, going into the mountains when the angle allowed for it. I was listening to the alternative rock station, however it attacked my head at one point and I switched to the classical station.
Class was actually quite interesting today, far more than I expected, because we discussed body image. I thought I would be very quiet and get it done today, but that changed when the instructor asked about ideals of body today. That made me quite vocal and active in participation immediately! You know I had rants to contribute! We discussed that subject, along with the subject of self-esteem.
After class, I continued to listen to classical on the entire drive home. It was strange, the music played in sync with the drive. There was a soundtrack to the rain, the traffic, the beautiful sunset.
I’m not the nature-y type, and often I’d prefer to rock out, but there was just something different today… It was something that seemed deeper than I could comprehend, I knew it was meditative somehow and I knew enough for me to recognize life was special today. I could not stop my mind… I could not stop thinking of many things I wanted to do… Make digital paintings and sell them at Evermore Nevermore, photograph friends, do stomach crunches, watch Fantasia, put my hair up, email a friend, wash my face, play my sax at home, on the street, in a band, work on my dad’s website and merch, etc… I still don’t know what was/is going on, but I am home now and I am comfy and relaxed. As much as I dislike my husband’s new work schedule, I admit it feels very nice to relax in solitude. I’ve done a few of the things I thought about… I popped Fantasia in before I got on the laptop!
The man on Fantasia said something very interesting. (I’d like to interject to add the fact that I NEVER paid ANY attention to what that guy said when I was younger! It was alllllllll about the pegasus, unicorns, centaurs, pretty fish, faeries, troubled dinosaurs, etc… and of course I was terrified of Satan at the end! I digress…) He said that musicians/artists often misunderstand their own creations, and than Tchaikovsky didn’t like The Nutcracker. That’s really the funny thing about the biggest artists in history, I think a lot of them really have no idea just how much they effected the world or just how big they would get. Maybe some of them were smart/intuitive enough to foresee that, but certainly some had no clue. I know that I read Edgar Alan Poe had a very hard, starving-artist kind of life and didn’t have a proper funeral. As an artist, I would really like to effect the world for the better. I just hope that, if so, I can see that effect before the end.
I have been one busy bitch! OK, yes… I am always busy. I have been with the usual work and mundane tasks of course, but also big personal photo/website projects, more doctor’s appointments than ever before, multiple shows, etc!
I saw AFI on January 30, Polysics on February 3, and The Attitude etc. on February 4. Though I have to say the 4th takes the cake for being one of the best nights of my life, each of those shows were absolutely INCREDIBLE! I’m not talking “incredible” in the sense that I say every show I go to is (hey, I just know how to pick great shows :p), I mean that these were truly outstanding!
Admittedly, the AFI show wasn’t outstanding so much for AFI’s performance itself (which was still fan-fucking-tastic but seemingly short), but for me it was moreso the company I had. Dom and I went with Chris and I met up with Ashleigh and her friend Andrea and we all had SO MUCH fun together! We spoke of nostalgic memories of the old local music scene, hung out and drank, and rocked the fuck out! Really, it’s one of those “you had to be there” kind of things… It was a magical night. I am not doing a blog about THAT show because: 1) We were in the front and on the far side, and I couldn’t bring my big beautiful camera, so my pictures are nothing special. 2) I accidentally took my vids in the tiniest quality on the camera, so it’s just not worth it. Here are some phenominal photos by my acquaintance Alonso, click here.
Then… THEN… Polysics was mind blowing! Earth shattering! I already knew this, but their energy is through the roof! It’s definitely a crazy Japanese influence, never have I seen another band with their energy. (Our ears were ringing for 3 days afterward, ouch!) I also got to meet them, unlike last time, and I got a photo with Fumi and Kayo! I’m especially a fan of Kayo, not to discredit Fumi and her amazing bass skills. I’m glad I got to meet her because I heard a rumor that she’s leaving the band and they’re going on hiatus. (SAY IT ISN’T SO!!!) The reason that I’m not doing a whole blog about THIS show is that they didn’t allow photos and videos (and it would have been to easy to get caught, haha). It’s a damn shame, because I would have gotten some quality shit and I really think it would have been good promo for the band (of course, that may not matter if they ARE going on hiatus), not to mention my photos would have been better than the ones I saw in coverage that was allowed and I would have been willing to share as long as I got attribution. At least I was featured on the Phoenix New Time’s website for tweeting about the Polysics show! (Though they didn’t include my other good ones about the show, grr.)Â Check it out here.
Lastly… the freaking The Attitude show was the best because it had so many of my great friends (including besties!) AND an epic line-up with high-energy performances!
Opiate For the Masses, with Elias Malin and Andy Gerold who are VERY special friends from their days in My Darling Murder
The Attitude, who have always been mutual friends with MDM and whose music video I was in
Special guests included Jay Gordon (Orgy), Chris Vrenna (Marilyn Manson/Nine Inch Nails), Andy Gerold (Marilyn Manson), Elias Malin (Kill Hannah/Hollywood Undead), Elias Andra (Dead by Sunrise/Julien-K). I definitely wanted to meet Chris Vrenna, and I freaking NEVER thought I’d see Jay Gordon perform, let alone meet and take pics with him!
…And not JUST those things, but ALSO I got photos with all of my friends, the band memebers I wanted to meet, band friends I didn’t expect to see there, and I got beautiful shots of the performance and HD videos to preserve this once-in-a-lifetime show! FUCK YEAH!! Everything went perfectly that night!
And THAT is why I AM doing a blog about the last show. (Concert #258 for me!) However, due to the aforementioned busy life I’ve been leading… not to mention the fact that I’ve already posted everything elsewhere… this is different from my typical Photo/Video blogs from shows, it’s a miniblog. (Ha, though it ended up being kind of longer anyway huh?)
You have 2 options:
1) You can view the slideshow below if you’re really lazy, or
2) You can CLICK HERE to go to the Flickr set I posted with the pics, where you can view them larger and comment them! Go to my YouTube account, to view the full HD videos (+ 2 low quality) and comment on them! (I had the vids on Flickr, but then realized that they only allow 90 seconds of video, regardless of whether your account is a Pro one. LAME!)
Hm… at the rate things are going lately… I’m slightly tempted to blog my media this way from now on! It does depend on the quality though, as my Flickr is for a bit higher quality stuff.
I have a shit-ton of photos I need to add to the galleries on this website, as well as updates I need to make the the Hobbies and Ambitions relating to Dom and I dancing (which we’ve been doing since about September of last year).
From what I could gather by my photo albums, I became a fan of The Cover Up 6 years ago, I was 17 or 18 years old. I believe the first time I saw them play was at Neckbeard’s, a venue in Tempe, Arizona that is now non-existent.
Here is a picture of Joe Cotela, the lead singer, performing at Neckbeards in 2004
And here’s Justyn Sena, bassist, that same night
It’s so funny to see how much they’ve changed… (If you are interested in seeing the pics of me with the TCU guys over the years and seeing how we evolved, you can go to my Kat With Bands gallery, and click on “The Cover Up”.) If I had more time I’d post my collection of fliers & posters from old TCU shows as well, they’re great… maybe one day I will.
That was near the very beginning of my present total of over 200-something concerts attended… It was around the time I had finally gained my independence and strength following the demise of an unhealthy year-long relationship. Today I am such a different person in many ways than I was back then, and yet so very me and so very damn proud of it.
It was around the time when Myspace was new and the world was going through a social evolution, for better or for worse. It was the time that I believe The Scene was alive, the local music scene that is. Though years along the way I lost touch with the scene because of full-time employment, becoming an adult, I believe that the local bands that were around at that time were far more substantial that the ones around now. They weren’t just trying to copy other musicians, and they weren’t just kids trying to be something they’re not… they were (and still are) truly talented.
It was not only the time of The Cover Up, but also the time of Mink Rebellion, For the Record, My Darling Murder, The Format, Adam Panic, and more… all of which broke up, reformed, or mysteriously disappeared. All of the concerts I religiously attended weekly really helped me become the woman I am today. It was actually at Neckbeards that I met one of my longest and most loyal friends, Brianne. These bands probably don’t even realize just how deeply sentimental I feel for them, or just how devastating and nonsensical it was to us when they were gone.
However, many of their members went on to new, and some better in a way, things. I miss what was, but I am not too selfish, I am proud of what they’ve become… some of them…
The only local bands that I was so close to that ended up still going strong this year were The Cover Up and Peachcake. Though a lot of the original members (incl live band) of Peachcake are sadly gone, they are still going very strong. I am so fucking proud of where they’ve gotten, their passion for art, freedom, improving the world, and most recently to my great joy – exposing their fans to women’s rights and expressing their concern about it… saving me from feeling completely alone.
As for The Cover Up… This year on November 20, they had their final show…
…BUT!!! They’re not fucking gone! Despite multiple shows in the past with announcements of members departing, all of the members ended up sticking around. They are sticking together, they are continuing a band, they have just moved on from The Cover Up. I was able to see this decision from a more mature standpoint than I would have in the past, and I think it’s a very good thing for them. I know some of what they’ve been through as TCU, and I think it will be good for their musical careers to change, to start fresh. I do not feel a deep sadness within me, a longing to have what’s lost again, like I do with some of the other bands.
I know that it’s not easy for them either… a huge change in something you’ve invested so much commitment into is never easy. On top of it, I’m sure they received a lot of negativity from well-meaning fans who said, “NOOO! This is terrible! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!”, and the like. I really look forward to their next project and shows!
(You know this is something I’m passionate about, because I didn’t even intend to write this much when posting this… it just flowed out, it didn’t feel like working… That’s the way it should be.)
Without further ado, here are the photos and videos, which I took with my gorgeous new camera I might add, from The Cover Up’s incredible final show at The Clubhouse… That night, and with their newest music, their mature sound really reflects how much they’ve grown. They truly are Arizona local music veterans.
1. Justyn setting up
2. Drummer Matt Reinhard signaling
3. Video of The Cover Up opening their set with “I’m Causing More Family Feuds Than Dick Dawson”
4. Accidental photo art – the perfect representation of the pure energy that The Cover Up’s performance produces!
5. Bassist Justyn Sena making musically immersed faces (Joe & Matt in the background)
6. Joe stomping around the stage (Matt in bg)
7. Guitarist Steve “Keve” Siminiski
8. Video of The Cover Up performing “Chauffer”
9. I’m completely in love with this shot. A wonderful portrayal of Joe’s intimate stage presence and how passionate their fans are, and then of course the gorgeous effect of the light rays.
10. JoCo!
11. – 13. Steve , Justyn, & Matt.. This photo would have been a lot better without the hairy arm in the corner…
A bit better…
BEST! This one’s pretty.
14. Video of The Cover Up performing “Cold Dead Hands”
15. Steve, Justyn, & Spanky (guitarist Marc Hernandez). I love the composition of this photo… TCU has often gotten me shots with great composition because of their placement on stage and how much they move around. Check out this awesome photo that I shot, developed, and handmade a print of for photography class.
16. Spanky milking it up, as usual. He was on the opposite end of the stage, so this is the only close-up I managed to capture.
17. Matt performing, drummers need love too! It just tends to be hard to get a deece shot of them, in the dark back.
18. Wicked cool shot of Steve… The photo looks like it has a Photoshop filter applied to it, but it wasn’t manipulated at all!
19. The Power of The Cover Up. Another accidental art shot… normally I don’t post my accident shots, but the ones from this show just came out really neatly abstract-like.
20. Video of The Cover Up performing “Beating a Dead Horse”
21. Joe… What I think makes this photo really special is that you can really see the joy glimmering in his eye, granted it’s easier to see when the photo is full-size.
22. Joe (& Spanky in the background)
23. Steve + Justyn shredding
24. Justyn + Joe working the crowd
25. & 26. The Passion of the Keve
27. Joe + Spank
28. Joe staring into the crowd
29. Another beautiful shot of Joe with crown + Spanky in front of rays of light
30. Crazy-hair Steve
31. Matt, Justyn, & Steve
32. Pretty, Extreme Angle Close-Up of Justyn
33. Another shot that I love the composition of… In a diagonal line toward the crowd: Justyn, Steve, Spanky, and then Joe behind.
34. & 35. Joe-ness
36. Justyn and Joe
37. Steve, Justyn, Matt, & Spanky
38. This picture’s quality sucks, it looks like it was taken in the early ’90s, but it’s amusing because of the way Steve’s hair is sticking up, haha
39. Video of The Cover Up closing their set with “Go Get Em’ Tiger”. This was a glorious ending to TCU’s final show, with the members of the crowd taking over the stage, rocking out, and ending in many hugs… it was rumored that some tears were also shed by a band member or two.
40. Joe kindly talking with a fan after the show.
41. & 42. Joe and Justyn doing beer pong at the afterparty!
43. Joe getting ready to shoot… and.. bromance?!?! o.O
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