03.31.09

RAZZURRECTION 04.04.09

He’s back…......

03.29.09

Contemporary Fridays at CAC

Well, our PROJECTMILL-CAC debut collaboration went off without a hitch Friday night!  It looked awesome, it felt awesome, there were awesome waffles, awesome video projections, awesome laser-pointer art fun, awesome photo booth fun, awesome dancing, awesome buttons, and possibly the most awesome part of all… PM pal Mike brought in a ton of lil sugar cookies with the PROJECTMILL logo on them!  And guess what his last name is??  Baker!  What a coinkydink!  Enjoy some choice selections from the evening below:

03.26.09

Not Done Reminiscing…

Toy Band had a fan page once:

http://community.livejournal.com/toyband

They even made it teal and purple!  How sweet.

And the Unicorns were our biggest supporters:

http://www.prefixmag.com/features/the-unicorns/we-spent-an-hour-with-these-dudes-and-didnt-find-o/12354/

See that picture?  Alden (right) is even wearing a TB button!

Oh, memories.

03.26.09

West Coast Wunderkinds

Here’s a blast from the past.  While Googling myself, as I do often (shut up; like you don’t), I came across this gem of a Montreal music blurb:

http://www.montrealmirror.com/2004/093004/cover_music.html

It’s 2004 and Pete (Phil) and I are 21.  (So what if that just revealed my real age to the world; I am strong and confident and know that Botox has made itself quite available to the middle class, so I’ll be fine.)  But look at us there, we youngins, playing out internationally (Canada), wearing ridiculous clothes, banging on children’s toys.  I can’t be sure if looking back makes me sad that the past is in the past, or proud that I’ve done so many fun and stupid things in my life.  Either way, just thought I’d post this, as evidence to myself and the world that even though I’ve failed at many many things, I was once considered a “West Coast Wunderkind” by a cool French Canadian music journalist.

03.26.09

Contemporary Fridays: spin / ft. PROJECTMILL

PROJECTMILL’s getting klassy!  This Friday is our debut event at the fabulous Contemporary Arts Center downtown, where we’re curating this month’s “Contemporary Fridays: spin” celebration.  This will be the first in a series of four PM/CAC collaborations planned for this year.  We’re very excited.  Here is our snappily written official press release:

Once again the Contemporary Arts Center becomes the ultimate stop on the Final Friday gallery stroll. On March 27 the CAC keeps its doors open late to welcome all of downtown’s charismatic party people in for a night of drinks, DJs and dancing. Peruse the shop and stroll through the galleries until 9PM when the party comes to life in Kaplan Hall with PROJECTMILL.  This Cincinnati creative collective brings their unique sense of nightlife to the CAC, combining forces to put the art in party. Grab a drink from the cash bar, sample some hors d’oeuvres from unique downtown eateries, lounge beneath Tara Donovan’s enchanting cloud cover, and dance the night away with all the other swanky sophisticates as PROJECTMILL DJs keep you moving those feet till 1AM.

Do you get that you’re supposed to look kind of nice?  We want you to get that.  Please come, but don’t look poor.

Kisses!
Mandy

03.24.09

SXSW 2009

South by Southwest 2009 basically marks the one-year anniversary of PROJECTMILL proper.  Last sxsw was the first year we did something as an official ‘group’ with ‘business cards.’  I’d say in a year, we’ve come a really long way.

This year, we went down to shoot video for a bunch of awesome shows. It was all super cool and fun and successful, replete with mass amounts of TexMex and margaritas, as always.  After our 20-hour drive into Austin…

...we crashed for a bit at our luxury Econolodge…

...before heading out to the Fader FORT where I met Graham Coxon of Blur and took a really ugly picture with him:

I do that to myself like every time I meet a celebrity.  I get too excited and smile too wide and look like a retard lardass.  And my crazed eyes glow red.  And I’m not good enough in photoshop to fix that.  Anyway.

Thursday was the best day, Gorilla vs. Booze day.  It’s at this awesome old 50s lounge called the Peacock:

GvBooze was a sweet sweet lineup of Wavves, Vivian Girls, Girls, The Golden Filter, Harlem, White Denim, and someone else I can never remember whenever I catologue these acts.  Look at me being all “professional videographer”...

Later I had too many margaritas and rocked out at a Bad Veins show:

And later still, I met Joseph Gordon Levitt at a restaurant and had the following conversation with him:
Mandy:  Hi Joseph Gordon Levitt.
JGL:  Hi.  (Makes his way over to table where I’m sitting to shake my hand.)  What’s your name?
Mandy:  Mandy.
JGL:  But what’s your full name?
Mandy:  Mandy Jane Levy.  My last name’s not unlike yours!
JGL:  Ah, well we are descendents of the same Moses!
(A chuckle, a compliment on the movie Brick, and a polite goodbye).

After a drink at the Four Seasons with Bad Veins and the badly-dressed clientele of a MySpace private party, we returned home to the good ol’ Econolodge.

I don’t have many pictures to document the rest of our time, but basically, we spent 8 or 9 hours a day filming at Hot Freaks, which was awesome, and then we would eat, and then we would have a margarita, and then we would go home to the Econolodge.  Saturday I was able to meet up with Sister Sam in time to give her my Fader wristband before heading out for the car ride back home.  And of course, she got in, and of course, Kanye West played a surprise show, and of course, she was in the front row.  But the rest of us schmucks had to be on the road to make it into work on Monday morning!  How lame.  I love to party.

03.16.09

Cincitidarod 2009

In the end, this Streetcar Named Delirious business was about the worst mistake of my life.  I mean, it was super fun and really successful and a perfect day and supports a great cause, but gosh dang, I had NO idea how hard it was going to be!

Forget five miles.  Try seven.  Uphill.  Running hard the whole time.  Carrying shopping carts up and down countless flights of stairs and bridges.  Then there were tests of strength, agility, wisdom, talent, and gluttony.  I was nearly in tears after the first 5 minutes and threatened to quit at least thrice.  I thought I was going to be taking an easy walk through the city, dressed like an idiot, singing along to the Killers, spraying silly string on the passersby… but no.  This was basically a marathon.  And Mandy doesn’t do marathons.  So basically, my attitude sucked, which I’m sure didn’t help my team win any awards.  (Conveniently enough, we didn’t.)  Anyway though, PROJECTMILL commemorated the event with a fun video montage, shot by Projectors Charlie, Josh, and various 3CDC cameramen, and edited by Projector Pete, the minute he got home from a five-week tour of Europe with shitgaze darling (that’s a conundrum!) Wavves.

Enjoy!

03.09.09

Dance_MF:  Who Killed Razzlebear?

DMF March was really mf-ing awesome.  Razzlebear is dead, and every DMF patron is a prime suspect in our Whodunit case.  We took mug shots of attendees as they entered the bar, had them fill out Clue-esque “I Killed Razzlebear in the ______ with the _______” sort of Mad Libs cards, printed out a giant line-up of past DMF characters, and danced all night with eyes in the back of our heads.  One of the coolest parts of the evening, I think, was gracefully herding a couple hundred sweaty dancers and convincing them to “Stroll” for free prizes.  Upon my request, and without batting an eye or missing a beat, the sea of bodies parted and obliged.  I felt a power that night that I will not soon forget.  Here are some fabulous pics: