The Chapel’s door opened at 7pm sharp.

Located on 777 Valencia Street, what used to be a place for worship is now a petit gastropub and concert venue for night of music entertainment. The district which once was considered “rough neighborhood” is now filled with fashionable arcades of shops and art galleries and home for tech intellectual and progressive minded entrepreneurs. The Chapel, with its high triangular ceiling and holy ambiance radiates in the heart of Mission District.

We entered the venue shortly after the bouncer appeared outside the door to put stamp on our wrists. Venue was still empty except for stage occupied with amplifiers and two set of electric guitars (I wish I was expert on guitars to give you more detail than that) wooden folding chairs are aligned forming rows of intimate viewing space. We took seats right in front of stage and I went to order some food. Yes, as sacrilegious as it may sound food was amazing at The Chapel. A rich and juicy Chapel Burger garnished with seasoned fries served as marvelous appetizer for music main dish.

The Chapel’s relaxed atmosphere contributed on showcasing Ben Watt’s mellow and often introspective poetry. Long since local FM radio station lost incoming frequency from Everything But The Girl (Neo-acoustic/Europop project of Ben Watt and his wife Tracy Thorn) avid fans of his music were anticipating for splash of melodies to quench their thirst. Fortunate for such music lovers including myself, Ben Watt truly offered us all and more at the concert. The musical spell.

Here’s “North Marine Drive” – Ben Watt’s ’83 stone cold classic from Cherry Red Records:

During the set, Watt mentioned pieces of his personal stories and life events that influenced him on recording the new album “Hendra,” “My sister died of lung cancer in 2012…I wrote this song for her husband Ed.” Watt voiced his honest stories recollected from his mind as he started to play The Levels off the new album.
“In a way my old materials (from “North Marine Drive”) bring me back to naive sensation of me recording these songs as 19 year old then, and it is very something special to me when I play these old songs along with my new songs… really put me in this strange mood.”

Time is interesting animal. I have barely spent enough time on this planet to understand its full concept. Hell, “North Marine Drive” is older than me. I can however see where Watt’s words are coming from. Soft, often darkly and elegant repertoire of pop tunes carried along with support of masterful guitar work by yet another genius Bernard Butler – a former lead guitarist of legendary Suede – and occasional solo on electrone shared many dreamy tales of artist’s journey through life. Attendance to Ben Watt’s concert was certainly an experience. It was not only musically moving experience, but it also demonstrated how simple piece of music can freeze the moments of life so beautifully and eternally.

At this point, you are probably wondering why you are seeing these rather irrelevant pictures of ocean instead of Ben Watt himself – that’s the whole point. Last night’s encounter with Ben Watt’s music and his spoken words at The Chapel was real yet ephemeral experience that soon drifted away like waves in the ocean. I must write to catch up with waves that quickly wash away the footprints on the sand.

When I decided to write, I couldn’t think of any better ways than to compose a draft with juxtaposition of my personal photo collection to preserve the fleeting moment. In a way, it is like a method to keep the fireflies in a bottle.

These film photos are shot on Huntington Beach, CA in 2012.

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Summer of 2012 was quite busy time for me – I was working on short film project called “The Listener” with my screenwriter friend and cinematographer friend while working fulltime at Sony; and my official move to London was pending at the beginning of 2013. These photos were taken right before my transition from one point to the next, therefore they embody certain sense of falter and aspiration that was holding so much weight at that time. Kind of similar to how Ben Watt described about his first solo album in contrast to the new album. These images of ocean and beach culture in Southern California are the most vivid and pure reflection of my brighter time in LA that always shine on my photo album.

These photos are shot on Ilford 400 B&W stocks and heartfully processed by lovely people at Boulevard Photo in Santa Monica.

You know the artist is exceptionally talented when he or she can occupy your heart into their world for uninterrupted period of time, say one full length of song. This is exactly how Ben Watt/Bernard Butler duo captivated my heart at The Chapel last night. Only except these two masters managed to enthrall the entire audience in their magic spells for rich 2 hours long set.

The greatest of all, is their influential power which led me to write this prose. It is the truth that one gigantic force of creative energy can influence the other.

Waves will wash away the past. Leaving the blank smooth surface of shoreline for us to walk on. What keeps life moving forward is the act of walk and weight of our footsteps that creates the footprints. We are given chances to create something beautiful and meaningful in our each new footstep.

You must have faith in your action and learn not to wait for reaction to settle in.

“I write these songs to get through these things,” said Ben Watt about his darker side of music writing. He also added with smile, “This is why I wrote this uplifting song…it’s about Spring.”

Here I present to you the song Spring by Ben Watt to close this post.

Good night.