I was looking up some ethical shopping stuff today (I know, totally granola of me) and read that Diesel Jeans were actually produced more ethically than Calvin Klein jeans. So with that in mind, I’d like to mention that Diesel Jeans is planning what sounds like an amazing party “event” on it’s 30th birthday…on the same day in 17 different cities across the world, one of which is our very own NYC.

The location of the October 11th party is “top secret” (er.. it’s Pier 3 in DUMBO) but will feature a truly star-studded musical lineup like M.I.A. and Hot Chip… and you can get tickets by stopping by the Diesel stores in NYC, or a number of bars/record shops in the city.

Oooorrrr… you can send an email to contest @ themodernage.org with the subject line “DIESEL,” and your name, address, and telephone number in the email body. I’ll pick 5 people who will each receive a pair of tickets delivered at your doorstep. (Sorry, you must be 21+.) That’s right, you + M.I.A. + free food + cotton candy. Sounds rad, right? (The giveaway has ended, sorry!)

If this awesome sorta SFW video is any indication, this fiesta is going to rock:

Also on October 10th, there will be some limited edition “Dirty Thirty” jeans for sale at the Diesel store for only $50.

More info on the jeans:

‘Dirty Thirty’ denim will be available in two top selling styles: Matic for women and Heeven for men. The product features unique detailing such as a back patch with the xXx sign in Roman numerals to commemorate Diesel’s 30 years along with the words ‘Dirty Thirty’.’ Side embroidery will state the dates 1978-2008 and buttons will be customized with ‘Diesel 1978.’

So after the Ting Tings/MGMT Pool Party I ended up and some random black metal concert taking place in a giant warehouse/workspace in Long Island City, right next to the Deitch Long Island City and just feet from the East River.

Needless to say, the view was awesome:

I have absolutely no idea what the name of the band that played was, nor who was actually throwing the party, but what I do know is there were two GIANT pigs roasting on sticks, that were eventually served as pork sandwiches.

Before heading home, I also shot this picture of the CRAZY sky:

Despite the inclement weather at the beginning of the afternoon (thunder–check, lightening–check), an enormous line fully wrapped around McCarren Pool by 2:00pm today for the free Pool Party show starring the Ting Tings and Brooklyn-rock darlings, MGMT. It was pretty nuts.

Once inside, it was just as insane–a sea of umbrellas and ugly DELL freebie towels littered the crowd. Around 2:45, the audience burst into uproarious applause as the Ting Tings took the stage. The dynamic duo of Jules De Martino (drums, guitar, vocals) and Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drum) blew through their set with such enormous energy, enthusiasm, and elegance, they were by far the best thing to take the stage the entire day.

Hit songs “That’s Not My Name” and “Shut Up and Let Me Go” (you know, that iPod commercial song) stirred the crowd into a delicious tizzy, with the later featuring an extended ending that allowed for three double dutch jump ropers to perform tricks as Katie White banged on a bass drum emblazoned with the band’s name.

This guy could not hold it in long enough…he had to V.I.Pee against the brick wall…immediately.

By the time MGMT hit the stage, the venue was at full capacity, with folks peering behind the gates around the side of the pool, trying to get a glimpse (and a listen) of the happenings inside. The sky had cleared up, and the umbrellas collapsed, and the ponchos were put away.

The concrete pool is always greener from the other side, ain’t it?

I’d been quite excited to see MGMT, after falling in love with their two big singles, “Electric Feel” and “Time to Pretend,” but after hearing a little bit about their weird backstory, I knew that this performance had the potential to be amazingly awesome, or amazingly horrible. Well, it was neither–but it was far from amazing. A bit mundane, with little to no surprises.

The sad thing was, that apart from the 4 songs on their album that are particularly good (the two aforementioned tunes plus “The Youth” and “Kids”), the audience (or at least I) seemed less than impressed. There’s something about MGMT and their reoccurring jam band-style musical freakouts that just don’t come off as particularly interesting or aurally stimulating. In those moments, when bikini-clad girls rode on the shoulders of male companions, swaying back and forth, and the swells of overzealous guitar solos took hold that the concert felt like a bad hippie trip meets Lollapalooza. Scary, I know.

Really, what would an outdoor concert be without inebriated teenagers and dirty old men clamoring to take their photos?

In fact, many people cleared out of the Pool even before the encore–and the lengthy callback was met with lukewarm appreciation until the band segued into a karaoke-style version of “Kids”–simply playing a pre-recorded loop as they sung over it. (OK, minus the guitar solo toward the end and semi-front man Andrew VanWyngarden hiding under a tie dyed blanket, tinkling on the keyboards.)

“Fame! I’m gonna live foreeeevverrrr!”

But all that said, the day totally rocked–much in part to the phenomenally upbeat vibe that the Ting Tings set from the start.

Celebs on hand were not out of the ordinary: Sean Lennon, Agyness Deyn, Kirsten Dunst, Alex Kapranos, er… John Norris??

What she doesn’t know is, he’s not Jack White. What he doesn’t know is, she’s not Lindsay Lohan.

More ovah at Heart on a Stick, Music Snobbery, The Music Slut

So long-time White Stripes fans who attended the 4-night stand at the Bowery Ballroom in 2002 may remember sketchy peeps in white lab coats running around the building, filming something. As it was revealed later, it was footage being shot for a documentary entitled “Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children” shot/directed/edited by one George Roca.

A still of Meg and Jack from “Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children”

The film only saw one public screening, at the 2004 Seattle Film Festival–despite the fact that the White Stripes did not give their approval to screen or distribute the film. A June 23, 2004 post on the White Stripes’ official site, the band made it known that they were extremely unhappy with the film, and that they had a signed contract from Roca that gave the band all rights to the footage.

According to an MTV News interview with Roca, after the band saw a rough cut of the footage, they extended positive words about the documentary–but only a short time later, the band released a live concert music video for “Black Math,” (below) which mirrored the style of the footage Roca had shown them, and the band cut off all communication.

“Black Math” (live) music video in black, white, and red.

I kinda forgot about the documentary, only hearing about it in passing–almost as it if never existed, gathering a myth of its own. I heard about a friend of a friend who had seen it, maybe, and said it was pretty cool, etc.

But it seems as though a few months ago someone had managed to get a copy of the documentary and upload some clips of it to the internet, and only recently did I become aware of it.

The footage is almost impossible to watch–it’s highly stylized…with blurry, high-contrast black, white, and red (natch) images filling up the screen, and the sound quality is abysmal. The interviews are hard to hear, captured in the middle of a myriad of backstage chatter–you can vaguely make out things like Jack talking about his –er– admiration for starlets like Kirsten Dunst and Cameron Diaz, and one moment where Meg accuses the director of trying to steal Jack’s soul. Strokes Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. appear for a few brief moments in the clips, chatting and taking pictures with Meg and Jack.

Were you there? Identify yourself!

Probably the most joy I got out of trying to watch it was trying to spy myself in the concert footage. Even though it’s pretty cool to see footage of the White Stripes “back when.” the clips are pretty mundane, and I cannot stress enough how HORRIBLE the sound quality is–(seriously, a documentary about a musical group as great as the Stripes deserves better sound than this!) I can see why the Stripes put a kibosh to the film’s release.

For fans who are not deterred by the aforementioned technical hurdles of the clips, I’m sure you’ll be crafty enough to find the footage–it’s not that hard. I’m going to refrain from linking to them directly for obvious reasons, and I ask you to refrain from posting the links to the video in the comments as well.

Here are pictures I took at 3 of the 4 shows (couldn’t go to the Sunday show… had school work! Sold my PAIR OF TICKETS to some random person on the Ryan Adams message boards for FACE VALUE–ah, the pre-Craigslist days. Hilarious). Go ahead, try to figure out if I’m any of those blurry people in the footage, I sure couldn’t! April 5, April 6, April 8

Thanks for the heads–you know who you are.