Arts Desk » Big Shoulders Ball

Big Shoulders Ball: More Pictures

Jason Cherkis — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:46:25 +0000

On Monday night, the Black Cat hosted the Big Shoulders Ball. We were there. We took pictures. We shot some video of Ted Leo and Andrew Bird. By now, other sites have weighed in. DCist posted its review. So yeah this show has pretty much been blogged about enough. It was a great night–one that I was perhaps too tired to even think about yesterday or immediately following the show! But there were some great performances by Ted Leo, the Waco Brothers, Andrew Bird, and Honeyboy Edwards. What made the night so unique–compared to the other balls–was that it was a) actually fun; b) it felt homemade; 3) you didn't have to wear a tux (dress was "thrift store formal"; 4) speakers actually mentioned things like healthcare and unions.

I have a few more pictures that I didn't have time to post the other morning. So here they are.

Honeyboy Edwards

Icy Demons

Ken Vandermark

Tortoise

Jon Langford

The Waco Brothers

Thomas Frank

Ted Leo

Watch: Andrew Bird and Ted Leo @ Big Shoulder’s Ball

Jason Cherkis — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:48:54 +0000

We wrote about Monday's awesome Big Shoulders Ball. There were more than a few transcendent moments. The show was reviewed by Brooklyn Vegan and Pitchfork, and captured by everyone else with a flickr account. But we got video. We captured two of the sweeter moments:

Ted Leo covering Pete Seeger:

Andrew Bird with members of Eleventh Dream Day, Tortoise, and Sally Timms:

Big Shoulders Ball Photos

Jason Cherkis — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:17:41 +0000

Last night I went to the Big Shoulders Ball at the Black Cat. The show was tons of fun and without all the pomp and cheese cubes. The ball was "thrift store formal." And it was a benefit too. Highlights: Ted Leo covering Pete Seeger and Curtis Mayfield. Andrew Bird's wondrous violin plucking that he looped and looped. Tortoise finding a rhythm and sticking to it. Ken Vandermark's tribute to Sun Ra. And Honeyboy Edwards showing how the blues used to be played. Here are a few pics. I'll have more tomorrow and some video:

Ted Leo

Sally Timms

Andrew Bird