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"Make it epic!" Dan Deacon's roadie was yelling in my ear as he held up a stack of stage monitors, working to keep the speakers upright despite the mass of bodies pummeling into them. He wanted me to take a shot of Deacon's so-called Trippy Green Skull — an object that often stands in for the man himself at his absurdly egalitarian shows, due to the fact that it's just about the only thing than can be seen from a distance of more than a few feet — from behind. That way, he reasoned, you'd be able to see the crowd spazzing out from the glowing skull's perspective. There was only one problem: I was standing just a few inches from the skull and had only packed a 50mm lens: not exactly ideal conditions for taking a wide-angle shot. While I may have failed terribly at 'making it epic,' Deacon did not, fighting against all odds to turn in a set on Friday night that was almost impossibly energetic, given the circumstances.
Admittedly, the Hirshhorn's After Hours party was a bizarre venue for Deacon from the start. While it was clear that the usual, neon-clad, sweaty masses present at Dan Deacon shows had showed up in force, the rest of the crowd, a mix of art enthusiasts, revelers and socialites, wasn't quite sure what to do with the night's performance, watching from a safe distance as if horrified, amazed or both. Add to this strange mix a late start, technical problems with the mixer and a rent-a-cop who attempted to shut the show down halfway through, and you'd think you'd have the makings of a disaster.
But you'd be wrong. From the minute he hit the stage (well, card table) until the last note was wrung from his hacked together setup, Deacon had the crowd singing along, dancing and even crowd surfing. As per his usual antics, he enticed the audience into a dance-off, incited a foot race around the museum plaza's fountain and led what was surely the largest game of follow the leader ever held under the Hirshhorn donut. Sure, none of this is probably surprising if you've managed to see Deacon before. But judging by some of the reactions spotted at the Hirshhorn on Friday night, quite a few feathers were ruffled regardless. Mission accomplished.
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those glasses are totally meant to be ironic, right?
because who in their right mind buys glasses that big, unless you're out there looking for some level of hipster "credibility" or something like that.
I was just gonna say, Dan Deacon's grandmother just called. She was looking for her glasses and wants them back.
that party was a joke.
let me correct myself:
that "party" was a JOKE.
Somehow it wasn't as awesome as I hoped it would be. Not his kind of venue. That fountain got in the way.
You guys are harsh! For DC, this was nothing short of triumphant. And, may I add, his glasses are tight.
My two cents expounded: http://theantidc.blogspot.com/2008/11/mind-little-bit-blown.html
And to the photographer: GREAT photos!
the anti dc: tight? ha! how does having lenses in front of the middle of his cheeks help the man see? is he a new breed of primate that sees through organs other than his eyeballs?
I didn't really pay attention to Deacon when I was there, so I apologize for sounding like an tangential whiner, but are the lines for the bathrooms always that ridiculous? At some point they turned both the indoor bathrooms into women's rooms, and made the men line up outside at the 4 urinals. I stood in that line for a good 20 minutes, and I heard the women's wasn't much better.
Just wondering if next year I should prepare better with some adult diapers.
IMGoph: Would you prefer he went for the pince-nez, or, dare I suggest, the rarely done double monocle? Actually, on second thought, those things are equally as tight.
...wonders when these party poseur photosets will become mind-numbingly redundant?
Riiiight n----
"I didn't really pay attention to Deacon when I was there, so I apologize for sounding like an tangential whiner, but are the lines for the bathrooms always that ridiculous?"
Dan Deacon is well known for making extensive use of the brown note in his music. That would explain the long lines.
haha @ brown note