This time I’m doing it different. I’m not gonna go in order. I’m not gonna message Caroline and Martin to ask for photos—I always feel at least a little annoying doing that. And I’ll have my last guest column for the foreseeable future.
A high level strategy update: Blaketheman1000 is back in Bushwick. Lulu Prost had this to say: “The culture has shifted.”
That’s right, team. COVID deals are dead & gone. The heart, soul and future of music is back in bk. And I’m relieved.
A new crop of moguls and community organizers have launched their long-awaited response to Harrison’s brand of indie sleaze. The Bushwick-centered “dirtybag twee” scene was temporarily banned from Instagram when they publicly declared war on The Dare.
More trend forecasting & social strategy analyses to come.
But first, some shows to look forward to. I’m playing The Broadway tonight with Lazylazy. 5 star legends up and down the bill. We’ll be hearing from Sean Henry, Ben Special, and Blums. I’m excited to use a distortion pedal.
Aaand I’m pumped to share that I’m hosting the after-party for the GIFT vinyl release show. Five free tickets have been reserved for the first people who comment on this post “joe kerwin sent me.”
Bring your business cards. If this one anything like their Sultan Room show, the music industry will be out in full force. Pull up ready to put pen to paper—somebody’s walkin out with a record deal.
Quite a few heavy hitters will be gracing our ears. We’ll have DJ sets from Aidan of Nation of Language, Jack from Beach Fossils, and Tyler from Perfectly Imperfect. I’m ready for a classic night at Baby’s, and I hope you’ll come hang : )
Next up, some shows that I’ve been thinking about but haven’t covered yet.
Frost Children On Ice
It’s a pretty significant sin-of-omission that I never covered this one. The Frost Children played on an ice skating rink at 99 Scott. I went so I could flex that I grew up playing hockey.
When I arrived, I couldn’t find the Frost Children. Which is on brand. If you’re a student of the host manifesto, you know that in some cases, event hosts may not show up at all. A few times, I’ve gone to parties expecting to hang with Angel and found that she wasn’t there. At least once at Rash, she had a body-double up on stage instead.
I ordered a non-alcoholic apple cider and listened to DJ Thank You. Charlie Yates of Grapenut Brunch Club was livestreaming the whole thing. I counted four fire pits and two women wearing tails. My skates were wicked dull.
I snuck away early because I was tired and cold. But first I got a pretzel and sausage.
Goodbye, Heaven
Grapenut Brunch Club is out here doing the lord’s work. They hosted Heaven’s final party.
Lulu’s set had me feeling like I was really in the thick of it—the belly of the beast.
Nothing hits harder in a than when your homie plays their own song. Lulu played Fox Bop and I launched. Then she sampled my fave Sidney Gish line, “These sweet instincts ruin my life,” and I got emotional again.
Alice went off. Heard she stage dived. I had kinda taken myself out of the game by that point. Time collapsed around me and I went home.
Grapenut Brunch Club does appear to be launching a large-scale industry takeover. They’re hosting Alice’s annual lunar new year rave. This blog is last on a long list of hosts. It sold out already.
YHWH Nailgun
A night of angry smart people music at The Broadway. With a guest appearance by roto toms.
Dorothy Carlos was there. I met her twin, Bella, for the first time. A while back, I bought a keychain Bella designed from her website. I told her and I couldn’t tell if it was nice or weird.
YHWH Nailgun comes Ursula-recommended. And I’m so glad I heard them. Percussive & noisy. The singer dances like a bird with its wings bent back. I will 100% be at the next one.
OK I Gotta Go Soundcheck at The Broadway
But I’m gonna send this before I leave. I wanted to include more shows in this one, but I’ll get em to you soon. Now, for my final guest column (unless I decide to do more guest columns). Serge is gonna tell us about his own event.
If you wanna hear about my encounter with Leonard Cohen, you’ll just have to tune in next time.
Drink.More.Water x May Rio
Hello beloved You Missed It readers. Long time fan first time contributor Young Warhol from Drink.More.Water here. Would like to thank Joe and everyone at Kerwin Bros. Enterprises Ltd. for giving me this opportunity. I’ve been a fan of this newsletter since sometime around the late summer/early fall, so when all of us on the Drink.More.Water decided to organize our first ever solo popup in the east village and throw and opening night party I knew I had to invite Joe Kerwin. Unfortunately, given that he’s a booked and busy man, He Missed It, so I’m here to fill in the gaps, with the help of a couple photos from the Cobrasnake.
It’s really been in the last few months that we’ve gotten to know and work with so many amazing artists, many of whom have been featured in this Substack wearing our clothes, namely Blaketheman1000, Shallow Halo, and May Rio. So, when we were putting together our first ever solo popup, in a bookstore/event space in EV, I was hoping we’d be able to get one of the lovely artists we’ve worked with to bless our opening night, and luckily May was down.
May rocks, she’s one of the first people I met in this scene. The night I met Blake at his Cactus Store show in Dimes Square back in August, alongside fellow You Missed It unpaid intern Charlie Baker. May and I ended up meeting for coffee later that week and I’ve styled her a few times since.
So anyways, it’s Thursday evening, the popup has just opened that afternoon. May came a little early to do sound check. Luckily fellow YMI contributor Christian aka Precious Human happened to swing by early as well and help with the sound setup because I am clueless when it comes to such things. We had a great turnout. Very even mix between the wonderful NYC friends I’ve made in the last few months and my completely separate friend group of college/high school/whatever offline friends. Was very cool to see the 2 groups mesh.
Since space in our rented venue was limited, May decided to do a stripped down guitar set, noting that she usually is accompanied by a full band and that this was unusual for her. But if that was the case, man did she not show it at all cause she was spectacular as always. She played about 6 or 7 songs, all unreleased stuff, not sure if it’s gonna be on her upcoming 2nd album or not. My favorite was one she did in the middle of the set, don’t think I caught the name of it, but she said it was a little country cause she’s from Texas and it was amazing, I’ll be looking out for the release of that one. She wore one of the sweaters from our most recent Szn 4 collection. Oh and the Cobrasnake came through and captured it all which was very cool. I’ll let Joe decide which of his pics he wants to use for this.
We had a venue hard out-time of 10, so when May finished around 9:30 I kicked everyone out pretty quickly. Myself, my offline friends, along with the NeoliberalHell crew and my good friend Jean-Luc aka NYC Clout Guy migrated over to Holiday Cocktail Bar on St Marks. Terrific night, hopefully Joe doesn’t miss the next one.