K-Holes.

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HoZac Records Presents w/ K-Holes, Xray Eyeballs, My Teenage Stride, Making Friendz
Shea Stadium
Thursday, June 16

Better Than: Losing on a walk-off balk.

Half the fun of going to a show at Shea Stadium is walking to Shea Stadium. It's better when there's no one around except for you and the warehouses, so that when you turn from Waterbury onto Meadow you feel momentarily out of place until the venue's dimly lit staircase reveals itself. It's even better when what awaits you after walking up that staircase are the likes of K-Holes and Xray Eyeballs.

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Whatever show this was, it didn't make the list, remarkably. Pic by Rebecca Smeyne.

​Shea Stadium has been one of Brooklyn's finer DIY-type venues since opening in April 2009 -- after a quick move from Debevoise Avenue over to its current home at 20 Meadow Street (neighbor issues, alas), the spot has hosted hundreds of oft-chaotic rock shows that now live on as high-quality bootlegs in the fantastic Live at Shea Stadium archive overseen by venue owner/founder/soundman Adam Reich. "Recording (and eventually releasing the shows) was the original concept behind starting the space in the first place," he explains. "At first I was thinking about opening a more traditional studio, but I wanted to do something different with it. Something a little more exciting and interactive." And daunting, too -- it's tough to know where to start. So we asked Reich to pick his 10 favorites; after struggling with it a bit ("it's like picking your favorite child!), here's what he came up with.

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Cassie Ramone says hi. All photos by Georgia Kral.

​The Babies, Pygmy Shrews, and Unnatural Helpers
Shea Stadium
Monday, August 30

It's been a year since the Babies begged listeners to meet them in the city. In the time that's passed since, songwriters Cassie Ramone and Kevin Morby have toured extensively and released new material with their main bands, Vivian Girls and Woods. Last night, though, the Babies headlined a gig at Shea Stadium--one more step in the band's evolution from side project to full fledged New York presence. Indeed, just after the show Force Field PR, which handles both Woods and Vivian Girls, tweeted: "full length soon via Shrimper, fyi."

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Titus Andronicus and Ducktails, respectively. Pics by Georgia, way more below.

​Whew, what a whirlwind of a weekend! The L Magazine hosted the 2nd-annual Northside Festival, a major throwdown of bands, art, film, and more bands, all packed into multiple venues across Williamsburg and Greenpoint from Thursday through Sunday. Starting with Thursday night's kick-off party with Wavves, we partook of a lot of it--here's a taste of the (notably hot and sweaty) scene, direct from the front lines. While Vice's Creators Project blowout was a decidedly Manhattan affair complete with (slightly) cooler temperatures and fancy cocktails, much of the Northside Fest was DIY Brooklyn through and through. Yeah, we're talking humid warehouses and Miller High Life in a can.

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​Protip: If you're ever looking to get a show shut down as fast as possible, whip a bottle at a police car. "The plan was originally for Ryan Schreiber, founder of Pitchfork, and Patrick Stickles, lead singer of the grouchy New Jersey band Titus Andronicus, to DJ at Shea Stadium from 2 a.m. until dawn," notes the Observer's Leon Neyfakh of last night's ill-fated fete at Shea Stadium, official afterparty to the Wavves show at the Knitting Factory. Instead, some clown threw a bottle, and this happened instead:

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all photos by Rebecca Smeyne

Blastoids at Shea Stadium, somewhere in the vicinity of 5 am

Yes, bleary-eyed, Resolution-abiding, returned-to-work masses, this is what your weekday life is really like. But before we all slip back into the morass of parasitic assholes and mindless tasks, let's take a minute to remember exactly what notions of beauty and ambition and excitement filled your head on New Year's Eve. The novel you're going to write. The idea you're going to sell. The Jersey Shore cast member you're going to marry. It's 2010 and this is the rest of your life.

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