Les Savy Fav @ BAM, Brooklyn, NY 1/29/10

This man (dressed as a monkey):

played this venue (an opera house):

Ok, let's back up a little. For those of you who've never experienced the spectacle of a Les Savy Fav show, Friday night's show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music opera house (BAM) was an unconventional place to start. These art-punk guys have been at it for over a decade and are consummate pros at infusing rock with DIY theatrics so maybe playing an opera house wasn't that much of a stretch for the band?!

Ok, so who am I trying to kid, because obviously the ushers at BAM had NO idea what they were in for when lead singer Tim Harrington took the stage, clad only in shiny purple spandex leggings, beard adorned with close pins and limberly pranced around with near balletic movement inviting the somberly seated crowd to take to their feet and GASP stand as close to the stage as humanly possible. Dude also proceeded to give himself an atomic wedgie with the black briefs over said leggings WHILE SINGING. The man suffers for his art. Cue the sound of monocles room-wide breaking.

To close out the set Tim changed into a homemade monkey costume and re-wrote the lyrics to Cats' "Memories" to "MOOONKIES". If anyone has a video of this, I will give you my first born. It's kinda impossible to take any video or photographic footage there, given the rigidity of usher/security guard nazi. (and that is why I really love Bill for stealthily taking these photos <3)

The Sweat Descends - Les Savy Fav

My cat is more internet famous than me.

Dear Readers,

The indie-verse works in mysterious ways.

It's been a loooooong two days. Yesterday I flew down to Florida to visit my grandma for the Thanksgiving holiday, with the intent of catching the Mountain Goats show in Orlando. However upon deplaning I was greeted by the most saddening voicemail ever from co-blogger Julie: the show was canceled on account of John Darniele getting sick! NOOOOOOOOOO! EPIC FAIL. Get well soon JD! (However a concert did end up going on. Final Fantasy played and Peter Hughes did a solo set, as did various other performers. A seperate post is pending to justly describe the awesomeness.)

BUT I was also greeted with a super-awesome email from Tim Harrington, the zany and wonderful lead singer of Les Savy Fav. I didn't recall signing up for a LSF mailing list or personally emailing him, so I was colored confused. I click the mouse. Here's what the message said:

Hey You guys remember how you sent me pictures of your cats lo those many months ago? Well, I've finally posted the BEARDO episode I used them for- it is kind of an endurance joke but your cute cats are all up front- Thanks So much, I hope you enjoy!

OH YEAH! Now that he mentioned it I *DID* send him a photo of my beloved Mudpie. There she is at the 0:37 mark. Good job on making it on Pitchfork before me, Mudpie. You are clearly hipper than your owner.
Watch her here:

Les Savy Fav @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple 3/13/09

Les Savy Fav’s concert at Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple doubled as the ultimate pajama party. There were pillow fights, a spooky round of Bloody Mary and even exfoliating facials. Clad in a floral nightie, bald and bearded lead singer Tim Harrington struck just about every rock star pose within the show’s first five minutes as he leapt on to a stage overflowing with leopard printed pillows. Said pillows were quickly ripped to shreds with feathers flying into the mosh pit below, putting a decidedly punk rock spin on the slumber parties of my girlhood. Speaking of shredding, the Brooklyn art-punkers ripped through jams spanning their nearly fifteen-year long career. As the title goes, we partied like the “Year Before the Year 2000” and bassist (and French Kiss Records founder) Syd Butler even rode Tim like a horse during a rousing rendition of “The Equestrian”.

Eventually stripping off his nightgown, a lavender pantied Tim ran into the crowd like a madman, singing, shouting and dancing amongst a crowd of fanatical devotees. As a virgin to the Les Savy Fav experience I was in total awe of the spectacle. In the spirit of the greatest of punk ethos, the line between artist and audience was essentially obliterated. Even prior to coming to their performance Hairy Harrington himself meandered through the audience and greeted fans by smearing their cheeks with creamy facial masks. It was a pre-show bonding ritual unlikely to ever be replicate –in all senses a most refreshing experience. To answer their titular question “Who Rocks the Party,” Les Savy Fav most certainly did.

P.S. The guy standing next to Tim is my boyfriend. He loves shooting zombies. We tracked Tim down after the show and chatted for a bit. Tim also informed us his fake eyelashes fell off during the show, haha. For more photos click here

Hold on to Your Genre - Les Savy Fav