Fool’s Gold 15th Anniversary – 6.16.23
Back in 2008 I photographed Fool’s Gold Records 1st anniversary party at Webster Hall, 15 years later they asked me to come back to Webster for their 15th anniversary (no the math doesn’t add up, but don’t worry about it). As you probably notice, I don’t really shoot party photos anymore, and I haven’t been to Webster since it was sold but I couldn’t say no to this one. Ever since I started my throwback party photo Instagram account I’ve really wanted to get back to doing nightlife stuff again and this was the perfect chance.
Being at Webster again felt like a dream. I hadn’t been there since 2017 when I shot the “last” party there for Rolling Stone before it was sold. The building felt so familiar but different and that cognitive dissidence made it feel like I was tripping. The mix of seeing a ton of old friends while also partying with a bunch of kids who are wearing some of the same shit we wore back in the day really added to the head trip. I was also shooting with my old camera but with a slightly different set up and it took me a while to get into a groove but I think I got some decent shots in the end. I absolutely want to do it again.
The party was on two floors, the top floor and then downstairs in what was previously The Studio, now a neon art installation from FAILE called Deluxx Fluxx which is an offshoot of a club in Detroit. Dwells was playing ending his set when I got there, followed by Treasure Fingers who I last saw at Webster back in 2009. Around midnight they opened the top floor and I went up to see Frost Children perform which was very fun. I saw Club Eat do their thing down in the basement before heading back upstairs to see Uffie which was awesome. She was such a big part of the culture back in the day and I never actually saw her perform, but I did actually meet her, once again at Webster Hall, back in early 2010 for an Ed Banger anniversary party. She came out with Doss and then brought on a drummer who was actually her lawyer and then Blu DeTiger came out and played bass for her. It was really fun.
Because of the Uffie show I think I missed the Hellp’s DJ set downstairs, but I did get down there for Naeem who is another person I have known for 15 years back when he was Spankrock. It was great to see him. After that I ran back upstairs to catch A-Trak headline. He’s the person who hired me for this and it’s so cool to see him and Fool’s Gold do their thing for all these years. He played a bunch of old indie sleaze stuff and I found myself dancing on stage to Justice while taking photos. Speaking of indie sleaze, a highlight of the night was meeting the mysterious person who runs the @indiesleaze Instagram account. She’s been so helpful with my @vintagedbb account and it was awesome to meet her in IRL and get to hang out with her a bit. I also got to hang with Uffie and a bit which was a good time. We even re-shot the photo I took of her ana a friend back in 2010 with her and another friend. Same Webster green room, 13 years apart. While I was doing that I managed to miss surprise DJ Laidback Luke, but fortunately I got shots of him with A-Trak and Uffie and then got a few shots of Bag Raiders before finally escaping around 4am.
Sorry it took me a couple days to get this stuff up but these are the first party photos I have shot in ages and I didn’t want to dump them on Father’s Day where no one would see em. Huge thanks to A-Trak and Fool’s Gold for having me out. It’s so amazing what you and Nick have done over the last 16 15 years. And of course I gotta say something about one of the original FG founders, Dust LaRock. He was an absolutely brilliant artist, a great dude and it sucks so much that he couldn’t be there last night. We miss you Dust.
Click here to see all the photos from the 15th anniversary of Fool’s Gold Records at Webster Hall.
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