Clockenflap 2009 – Saturday in Pictures

Saturday night and i’m contemplating my options.   I finally managed to get through the Clockenflap edit.  It was only last weekend but, for some reason, it feels like forever ago.  Something is strange about time here in Hong Kong…it sneaks up on you incredibly quickly and when you look back on it in retrospect it still zooms, but it seems to stretch too – like the credits in Star Wars.

The Cyberport in Pok Fu Lam was home to a 2 day music festival last weekend with the strange and, perhaps unfortunate, name of Clockenflap.  I scored a media pass and spent the better part of Saturday seeing how the indie culture in Hong Kong lives and hearing some new music.  The crowd was dressed for the occasion and well-behaved and, generally speaking , it felt like a family affair.  Soft, short grass in tiers down to a big stage it was the perfect combination of awesome, big production with the down-home feel of a little show.  Really a nice combination.

Indie Pop 'aint Noise Pollution

If i’m honest, theres’s only 2 bands that I will say something about of the 10 or so that I photographed.  It’s entirely possible that they were all amazing and noteworthy (well, probably not all) but there were two that really caught my attention – Chochuckmo and the all-powerful, electro clash machine that is Pet Conspiracy.

Chochuckmo is a rock band that has the full support of Time Out Hong Kong so it’s been hard not to hear about them here.  Considering all the hype, they still brought it.  The lead singer is definitely a rock star and the music was good.  Im not sure what they were singing about per se but perhaps I’ll pay more attention to the lyrics when I go see them again next week.  Here are a couple of my fav shots of them though feel free to check out my whole set right here.

Chochuckmo @ Clockenflap

Chochuckmo

Chochuckmo

Shortly after these guys left the stage the sun started to go down and with it, any doubt that Clockenflap would come and go without leaving me rocked.  Pet Conspiracy is an electro clash band from Beijing and from the moment their set started to the second it ended, every minute was charged.  They were totally awesome for lack of a better word.  The crowd lit up and by the end of the set there was a beer pouring, crowd surfing, body-slamming Chinese disco party in action.  I have since checked out all their videos on YouTube and downloaded the latest ep.  None of it is bad but it doesn’t touch what they do on stage.  Here’s a pretty tame and sweet track called ‘Love is Dead’ but don’t let that fool you….They are smart and sophisticated and brimming with awesome.  I can’t wait to see these guys again and if the gods are smiling on me than it will be a double bill with their American evil twins Heloise & the Savoir Faire.

Pet Conspiracy

Pet Conspiracy @ Clockenflap

Pet Conspiracy

Pet Conspiracy

Sex Machine - Pet Conspiracy

Pet Conspiracy

Pet Conspiracy

Pet Conspiracy

As I write their song ‘What Do You Want’ is playing loud and I’m wondering why I didn’t post that one for you…oh well.  Maybe another day.  If you’re curious to see more of the hot, hot Pet Conspiracy click here for more images and here for their MySpace page.  I’ve said it before and now i’ll say it again, Beijing rocks!

Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip was the poor purple-clad fool who had to follow an act that is hard to follow.  I’m not dialed in on whats cool with the DJ set thing but i’m pretty sure this wasn’t it.  It was all a little fragile sounding to me and lacking any real meat.  Maybe that was the point, i’m not sure.  In any case, he was wearing a rad purple suit so you’ve got to give that to him.  Click here to see that nice blazer i’m talking about.

Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) - Clockenflap DJ Set

There are more images and more stories to tell for sure but that’s what I feel like sharing.  Click here to peruse some more rock and ambiance shots if you’re so inclined…

At this very moment I am supposed to be packing my camera for a night of Swedish hip hop at Fringe Club but my motivation is lacking.  Im feeling cozy on my couch and reliving Clockenflap has proved nourishing enough to satiate my need for rock.

Music Is Life

World Wooshing By

The weekend went by so fast.  The upside of that is that the week did too.  Tomorrow is already Thursday and I’m thinking about investing in a seatbelt for life since it’s moving so fast.  I guess that’s basically a belt and I have plenty of those so maybe not…but hopefully you get my point.  I don’t know if its the subways and traffic that are making the world whoosh past me faster or if its age or maybe  the new job but, damn! time is flying.

Again, I had grand intentions that dissipated into a blurry swirl of sleeping late, finding food, taking pictures and feeling too tired to do much beyond find a seat and watch the city wash over me.  Toss in some hypnotic monkeys, hilarious street art and contemporary laser magic and it all looks like a lot more activity than it was.  Here’s a peek of some photos from last weekend. . .

cheeky

Dialectics of Void & Substance - Li Hui

pretty anklet

portals to my soul

bringing it

Hungry for a little more Hong Kong?  Perhaps a little street art?  Go on and click ‘em.

These Lights Will Inspire You

36 hours of free, unrestrained weekend time and looking back on it from my couch right now, I don’t have much to say.  I was busy futzing around but it was all pretty uneventful…just some settling in, storing boxes, a little shopping and some fun with power point.  I had ideas of junk boats or beaches or other fun touristy tings but mostly I just relaxed.  I think it was necessary.  Gray matter seems concentrated in non-verbal and work-oriented areas so I’m not going to force the prose.  Here are some photos uploaded since I last wrote…

Shooting Shows in Asia

These Lights Will Inspire You

Belly of No Beast

Wandering Eye

I also got around to finally editing the last set that I shot in Innsbruck chez Chris…a Bye Bye Beana BBQ.  Say that three times fast!  Click here for the whole set.

Lone Wiener

Im hoping my words return in the next days…there’s a lot that I’d like to share.

The Light Finds Its Way

Rainbows can be a sign of good things to come or a reminder of good things that have already been.  I would like to believe that the rainbow that hungover Cherry Valley on the snow-capped day that I left the Alps was a bit of both.  A sweet reminder and a charmed farewell…

Cherry Valley Rainbow - Last Hours in Innsbruck

There was no rainbow or snow-capped peaks when we landed in HK but instead a hot, humid wind and some sun sparkling on Victoria Harbor.  I took the fact that the cats came home with me rather than sitting in quarantine for 4 months as a less colorful version of a good luck charm.  I can already tell that it is going to take some time to capture this place in a way that does justice to its energy and atmosphere but I did fire off a few photos to give you a taste.  Whereas the image above was my neighborhood last week, the image below is my neighborhood this week…

West towards Sheung Wan

I wake up every morning to boats and cranes and construction and ferries on the harbor with the steep skyline of Kowloon in the hazy distance but I haven’t shot the shot that I want to share with you.  It’s nice to smell salt air again and to be able to see more than a handful of kilometers in any direction…So I’ve done some limited wandering around the main drags that connect the different neighborhoods here and I am thrilled with my locale.  I was concerned that living in the “dried seafood district” would leave me both isolated and smelling funny but dried shark fin and crocodile parts are benign enough and the location is perfect.

Street Cleaning - Sheung Wan

There is less neon in my neck of the woods than in other neighborhoods but the light finds plenty of ways to slither and shimmer here…in the reflections of the wet streets, the mirrored gates, the shop windows filled with live, female crabs or sim cards or the bajillion other things that can be bought or sold in Hong Kong.  It’s beautiful in so many ways…though a very different kind of beauty than the pristine majesty of the Alps.

How I Carry My Visions of China

If I’m honest, I can’t yet imagine what my ‘groove’ here is going to look or feel like but with my first business trip to Guangzhou on the books for next Friday I have a feeling it’s going to reveal itself rather quickly.  One very exciting aspect to my new routine is the time on the tram and subway to catch up on all those books I skipped while driving to Wattens.  Coffee to go and public transportation..two great tastes that taste great together.

My Hood

My Lunch Today

Apartment pix will follow soon though I’m certain they will not do justice to the sweetness of my nest.  More images of the metropolis, its surroundings, its people and street art are also forthcoming…

Blu Wave Kinda Like Neu Wave

If you’re curious about more city pix from today, click here.  If you want a first glimpse at Hong Kong Street Art, well, click right here.

the child inside

Hard rain is washing away the weekend and in case the water doesn’t work alone rolling thunder is rattling away all traces and after a long blink it will be the first Monday in August.  Close your eyes and open them its Fall, blink again its Winter…close them for a half trip around the sun and you could find yourself on a new continent or with gray hair and grandchildren.  It’s true that time waits for no man…

Last week I got confirmation that a plan I was working on succeeded and, as a result, I will be packing up life in Austria over the course of the next 2 months and moving East.  Next stop:  Hong Kong.  Time is moving so I’m moving with it.  It was not an unexpected result…but it is still taking some time to digest the notion of hitting refresh again.  As this new plot unfolds and the wheels, jet engines and propellers pick up speed I’ll share more.  For this moment we will stay present and not leap ahead…All this mental preparation for the path forward could be one subconscious reason why I spent the weekend regressing.  Cotton candy, circus acts, jungle gyms and bubble gum ice cream.  I was a 33 year old kid this weekend and tried to see this town through the eyes of that child.  Here’s what that looked like…

walk the line - frankcello cirkus

seeing things clearly - frankcello cirkus

fire eater - frankcello cirkus

still a child on the inside - frankcello cirkus

home spun sweetness - frankcello cirkus

perhaps you remember my last visit to the circus…or maybe not.  if you feel like seeing the camel butts, sword walkers and trick ponies from yesterday, click here.  the way to and from the circus and around town were also noteworthy, colorful experiences.  here are some favorites

olympia

IBK Street Art

primary choices

fun

slice of life

Pastel colors, blue skys…sunshine and many, many miles around town on foot were sprinkled with QT with friends and some very funny kitties.  Tonight I close my eyes early and get ready for a big Big, BIG, B I G week.

Sunday Doozer

Feel free to click here, here or here to see some other images captured this weekend.

The Music of Movement: Part 1 – Beijing & Mutianyu

In bed, listening to tunes and curled around my laptop like its a lover, I couldn’t fall asleep.  I wore myself out yesterday and should have been swimming in stars and the mist that was my dreams of yesterday, today and tomorrow but I was awake.  Wide awake. I feel like if I were sitting upright that  I would be on the edge of my seat…perched as though something certain is about to happen.  I’m pretty certain that the only thing I should expect is uncertainty, though, so I’m curious about what gives.  The endorphins from China and Mongolia did not dissipate upon my arrival home but, instead, channeled themselves right into the next adventure and I think it is this excitement that I am anticipating.  That said, I think it’s time to reflect on my past trip before I depart on the next one…

The whole holiday was a movement of music.  The rhythm and cadence of my movements was well choreographed and the itinerary was well-designed to carry me through.  A brief stop in Cairo could be equivalent to that moment before the concert when the lights go out and the audience wonders whats about to happen.  It was a clear departure from my current reality and an indicator that, like in the theater, it was time to suspend my disbelief and just let go.  A comedy of errors, between 2 broken buses, a ridiculous pig flu quarantine and over-friendly Air Egypt flight attendants, I was just happy to find my gate and some tea.  Prayers and chanting from a mosque echoed out into the terminal where I was sitting and they must have been heard because Allah carried us safely to Peking.

im out

5 days and nights alone in Beijing to feel myself away, shake off work and have some real quality time with the city was a perfect beginning.  I slipped slowly and sublimely into a groove that felt oddly like Orchard Street.  Same smells as the funny markets near my house, I felt closer to ‘home’ than I have in a while.  The melody began to take shape as I wandered all of Beijing – baseline of foot steps, the creaky rattle of the rickshaw, the echos and bells of the subway, the deafening squeak of the buses breaks, the spinning prayer wheels at the Llama Temple and the bi-lingual and ineffective conversation with the taxi drivers.

Rickshaw Driver - Beijing, China

Around the time that I was in sync with myself it was time to meet my guide and travel companion and begin a more structured exploration of the city.  At this point we got more ’serious’ about making sure that the history – the vast and long history – of the city was explored.  Between my days alone and with Tom, I saw : Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace, Forbidden City,  Temple of Heaven, Drum & Bell Towers, Panjiayuan Market, Silk Street, Longtan Park, Beihai Lake, the 798 Art District, the Birds Nest & Watercube, Monument to the Peoples Heros, Llama Temple, Dongyue Temple, Qianhai Lake, Donganmen Dajie and the night market, Ritan Park, a Peking Opera, some Kung Fu and countles hutongs throughout the city. To go through all of this would be a comprehensive travel guide and that is not on the agenda but feel free to ask me if you have any particular questions about these places or Beijing in general.

Summer Palace - Beijing, China

Hutong - Beijing, China

Restoration - Llama Temple - Beijing, China

Zhaoheng Gate - Temple of Heaven Park - Beijing, China

What I can say is that I was both saddened and inspired by what I saw.  The city is in flux, recovering from the INSANE growth spurt that was the Olympic games.  Tearing  down and building up, the air is always thick with brick dust and something that feels like a cross between hope and capitalism.  The locals that I connected with offered great insight on how that growth has dramatically changed their lives for the better – mainly in the form of mass transit, renovated monuments and public service announcements about enjoying themselves – and it was a unique perspective.  I still can’t put words to it but I also sensed a profound contradiction there.  Walls protecting more walls protecting courtyards with nothing in them maintained a symmetrical sense of power and control and ‘beauty’ but in a totally superficial way.  Meditation and self control focus on inner strength and substance yet there appears to be some ‘muscle’ or layer missing that connects this ’supreme’ facade with this inner power.  I got the sense that things were either all or nothing and can’t really explain it better than that.  What I can say is that the Emperor was surely a very lonely guy and China is a country in the midst of a fast and all-consuming transition.

Duan Gate - Forbidden City - Beijing, China

Offerings - Dongyue Temple - Beijing, China

Majong

Private Home - Hutong

A day before departing we headed about 2 hours north of the city to Mutianyu to see the Great Wall.  A ride up in the cable car that carried Slick Willy some years ago was funny and, from what I was told, an honor.  The throngs of tourists make this a difficult experience to absorb but that was true with a lot of what I visited in China.  Regardless, its a sight to behold.

Mutianyu - Great Wall of China

Mutianyu - Great Wall of China

"Be Loyal to Chairman Mao"

This search for meaning and understanding stayed with me the entire time I traveled in China and I look forward to seeing more of the country and discovering more.  Some high points for me in the city were the 798 Art District, Tiananmen Square, Ritan Park at 8am, buying electronics, eating any variety of fascinating (and sometimes tongue curling) street food, watching karaoke in Longtan Park, $8 full body massages (i think i had 4), a glimpse inside a private courtyard and, naturally, some quality time with the Great Wall.

798 Art District - Beijing, China

Peking Opera

Watch out for the stinky tofu - street food - Beijing, China

Ritan Park - Early Morning

Rainy Day - Summer Palace

You can get a better sense of what I saw by taking a pass through the images from Cairo, Beijing and Mutianyu right here.  For those of you particularly interested in Beijing’s art scene, click here for a focused album on the 798 District.  By the end of 9 days I had a handle on the town and was ready to shift gears and depart, across the Gobi to Mongolia.  Stay tuned for a recap about how the music changed on the leg from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.  Paul Simon was right, ‘everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance.  everybody thinks its cool.’

Special Plums - yum!!

Buying Time

I find that every time I head to a flea market I am always drawn to the same things….clocks, religious art, mirrors, cameras and portraits of strangers.  Could an analyst read something into this?  I was contemplating this thought sifting through a pile of clocks at this mornings flea market.  Maybe I’m trying to by myself some time…

I’m listening to This American Life and the theme is “This I Used to Believe.” If you had to write a 3 minute essay about something that you used to believe in, but you don’t anymore, what would you say?

There’s a lot on my mind right now…too much to try to translate into words so, instead, we will take an existentialist approach, a game of sorts….Via images and titles let’s see if you can’t get an idea of where the Bean stands

Any Way You Can Get Here

Don't We All

From Where I Stand

Dream Girl

One Day Me

Today Me

Guardian

Then and Then

Sitting in a whirlpool yesterday outside, in the sun, overlooking the mountains in Seefeld I had a perfect opportunity to look back on the last busy week…reflect on all the comings and goings…but that’s not what happened.  Instead I let the steam rise up over me and thought of nothing at all.  The idea was that a day of wellness would be a nice way to digest my adventures in Zurich, my seminar in Pfäffikon, my continued intensity in the office and my hopes for a Spring that, at the moment, is covered in snow.

A little bug found strength in the heat and water yesterday and morphed into a full on head cold. The massage only made that head cold comfortable so, again, I write this from an infected fog; hazy and lazy and sick. I feel like I’m sick quite often these days.  It could be that that’s true and my immune system isn’t yet used to all this fresh air or it could also be that time is just moving quickly and my colds are as frequent as they’ve always been.  Regardless, it is a beautiful sunny Sunday and I’m inside with my cats and 2 seasons of Big Love.

I can’t imagine that my memories of Switzerland are going to improve any in the coming days so I’ll do my best to re-cap things now.  Saturday I caught up with my Aunt and Uncle for some wandering, dinner and, naturally an opera.  We saw a wild interpretation of Hayden’s opera La Fedeltà Premiata that was all free love and funky.  The theater was beautiful.

Sunday we headed out to Rapperswill to connect with some family.  Turns out that I have a second cousin living there with his wife and 2 daughters.  We shared lunch and had a wonderful afternoon together.  Fresh bread and long, lost family makes for an interesting afternoon.

After dropping Shelly and David off for another night in the Landestheater, I headed to West Zurich and then pounded the pavement for many, many hours taking photos and finding my way back to my neighborhood after some french cinema and some wurst.  Tons of street art and a glimpse of the city was a nice way to spend the evening.  I’m gonna share some of my favorite photos with you now but you can find all of there here, street art or zurich.

(this one is better bigger)

Monday morning I bid farwell to Zurich, Shelly and David and headed to Pfäffikon where I spent 2 1/2 days on a project management seminar.  It was a useful class and I’m sure it will come in handy one of these days…here is a glimpse of a sunset that I caught on the lake before it was time to pack it in

Here to Tianamen Square

No real profound thoughts on my mind today…just an everday, average Hump Day in Innsbruck.  The gray skies and wet snow falling don’t make me want to leap out of my apartment and into the world so I’m combing iTunes looking for a little inspirado while catching up on some news and strategizing how, exactly, im gonna kick this days ass from here…to right over there.

Don’t see the player??  I dare you to f-ing click it!

Aside from my duties with the Crystal Kraft, today’s the day I’m gonna ask China to let me in for my trip in May.  Oddly enough I already got my visum for Moscow eventhough it’s likely I won’t even really need it for my 14 hour layover but I wanted to cover the bases.  If my ass isn’t broken from the Gobi camelwalk and the freewheeling Mongolian horses then I might want to scoot over to Red Square for a photo opp.  Regardless,  the application for China is already downloaded and I just need to ship ‘er out…preparing for travel is almost, though not really, as awesome as getting on a jet plane and taking off.  It gives me goosebumps.

Now, for no particular reason, I will share some photos with you from Sunday’s ramble…can you detect a theme?

You likey the graffiti?  You wanna little more?  Noch einmal, I dare you to f-ing click it!

LaZ SunDAZE

I went for a walk on sunday and I want to share it with you.  Here’s a song for your stroll…

Don’t see the player?  Click here.

Beana = Borge (kind of)

ok friends.  i am on the cusp of what will hopefully be a mellower week than last week but in case things move too fast (again) i wanted to drop a line.  the wedding undertaking from last weekend has proved to be a very serious job.  what began as photo editing morphed into website building, slideshow crafting and a basic overhaul of BeanaBernPhotography.  the energy expended sitting before a mac is easier to dole out than the energy needed to run up a mountain and, this weekend, i expended my share of both sorts.

friday was our Betriebsausflug which is basically just a another word for company outing.  we headed to Maurach, above Achensee, and though the meteriologist said sun, it looked a lot like this…

actually, it looked exactly like that.  we had a choice of a big walk or a little one and, naturally, the competitive (not really) group mentality saw me go big.  there was no pressure at all to do so but something made me think it was the ‘right call’ anyway.  here are some photos of the hike.  it looks more like an expedition from the photos but it was only about a 2 hour outing.

Look really closely on this one and you can see everybody coming down from the peak.  A few of us decided to turn around before we reached the slippery and cloud covered summit and headed back to the hut for lunch.  It was a lovely day…so much crisp, mountain air that it was a tad overwhelming but lovely noetheless.  Here is my favorite photo from the outing.  This is my very sweet friend Julia.  Take 2 seconds and check out the whole album, if you’re inclined.

After the day outside I hunkered back down with my computer to try and finish some work so that I could free up the weekend.  Like a lotus, though, the more work I finished the more work was revealed beneath.  This workaholic-ness is not a new trend or a new directions I am trying out…Its just a foundation that Im trying to build so that when and if more photographic work arrives (i hope) ill be ready.  I worked until about 4am on Saturday morning.  I knew by 2am that whatever I had planned for Saturday was toast so I just kept going.

Saturday, in a nutshell…I was the Borge.  Those of you not acquainted with the Borge will know what Im talking about one day.  The entire day and night I banged my head against some code that is smarter than me and ended up finding a solution that isn’t what I hoped for but will be fine.  It isn’t quite 100% yet but it will become that way this week.  It was time for a real wesbite for my ever-expanding body of work and a little more stuff to make it easy for people to hire me.  Go ahead and take a peek…and please let me know how you like my new address.

It feels great to build something though I have to admit that I am looking forward to finsinhing this job so I can enjoy a break, my friends here and autumn in Tirol before im off to New York City at the end of the month.  Before I fly though there is still lots to do on the workfront and still lots of fun to be had on the music front.  Tuesday or Wednesday Built to Spill will do their thing at the weekender and next weekend a musical friend from the US will be a few villages over with something certainly bad ass.   There were 3 or four other things that sounded exciting so stay tuned for some rock shots to come….and, of course, after the bride and groom see them, you will also get a peek at that amazing event.

Here’s a little Built to Spill for you now…Distopian Dream Girl.  Sounds all too familiar tonight.

oh oh oh…i almost forgot.  a few weeks ago my friend Chris pointed out some bad ass Innsbruck street art.  It took me a while but I finally documented it.  amazing!