The Young Dubliners | House of Blues, LA | Music Photography

I was ridiculously excited as I headed to The House of Blues, Sunset Strip the other week. It was going to be my first time making images at the legendary HOB (as well as being one of the last times as their doors are closing.) That thrill was small compared to the joy I felt getting to watch the boys of The Young Dubliners rock in front of my lens again. The last time our paths crossed was back in 2011 at a bar called Mexicali’s in NJ.  It had been ages and I couldn’t wait to hug everyone again.
My excitement was already at the max when I found out Eric Rigler would also be joining them.  Eric Fucking Rigler.  He is the badass of all badass pipers. You know who he is, well, you know his Uilleann pipes anyways. Titanic, Braveheart, etc etc..if there are Uileann pipes being played, it is probably him. I cannot even remember the last time I got to see his magic.
The show was fucking awesome. The guys rocked like they always do and the crowd ate up every moment. I LOVED the venue and I hate money since that is the reason they are closing the amazing space, seriously?!?! why would anyone want to live in condo’s on what used to be the HOB’s??  Isn’t Sunset Strip cool >because< of the landmark spots?  Why people gotta destroy awesome??  but i digress, this night was awesome.  Great music, great crowd, great reunions *Erica n Gretchen*, great space, great guys.
Fantastic night!!!!

Wild the Coyote | The Viper Room, LA | Music Photography

When I edit images from a show, I like to have the band’s music playing, especially if it is a new to me band!  It is interesting to hear the studio sound right after seeing them live.

The other night I got to catch the last few songs of Wild the Coyote before The Gabrielz took the stage at The Viper Room. I enjoyed their set. It was loud, it was rocking. Energetic drummers are my absolute favorite to create images of and Wild the Coyote’s drummer ecstatically and ferociously pounded away on his drums. The guys delivered a solid set of alternative rock sliding towards the rock side on that seesaw in the live show.

Their studio recordings seesawed in the other direction, heavier on the alternative side. The songs sound like that song, you know the one, the song you find yourself singing along to while listening to the radio on an afternoon drive without knowing how you know the lyrics.  Several, I thought I knew already, maybe I caught that song at the show?  No, but seriously, I feel like I know the song that just started playing in this moment that I am typing…. “Everybody Knows.” (and no it is not a cover of Leonard Cohen; but I must go listen to that song right now).  Wild the Coyote’s studio work has an air of familiarity about it though I prefer the harder sound of their live show.

(what can i say? the dirtier the guitar, the rougher the bass, the harder the drums, the more i like… any wonder that People’s Blues of Richmond is tops for me – their cd has been on permanent repeat in my car for months)

Thanks for the night of music, Wild the Coyote, I’m happy that I was able to catch a bit of your set. Y’all got the energy pumping at The Viper Room and you have made me miss my chain wallet  😛

ThatWasThen and The New Peter Gabrielz | The Viper Room, LA | Music Photography

ThatWasThen was furiously rocking as I walked up the stairs at The Viper Room and I was stoked to hear loud genuine rock fill the room. ThatWasThen’s dirty guitars and soulful harmony provide an earnest fusion of modern and vintage rock in an electric live show. …

Brain Wash Me Video Shoot | PlayLA | Unit Stills

3/21/15

Director, Brandon Nicholas turned Play LA into a visual playground of awesome to create a video for The Conduit’s new song “Brain Wash Me.”  The day was an adventure in reflective insulation blankets, body paint and awesome.  After hearing “Brain Wash Me” over and over and over, I was still into hearing it another time!  The song is catchy and cool.  I cannot wait to see the video once it is finished.  It was a joy to be the still photographer for this talented team.

Anna Copa Cabanna Video Shoot | Big Sky Works, NYC | Unit Stills

3/15/15

Unexpected awesome in NYC helping BA Miale and Anna Copa Cabanna make video magic for Turn to Crime’s video for “Light.”  Anything BA does has magic to it, her projections and creations are beautiful, cool and mesmerizing and this night I found out the same applies to Anna Copa Cabanna.  She is beautiful, cool and mesmerizing and watching her dance in front of BA’s beautiful, cool and mesmerizing projects was almost too much awesome to handle.  BA makes badass music videos and I was tickled pink that she asked me to come lend her a hand at the shoot at Big Sky Works (one of my fave Brooklyn venues.)

 

Had a blast making some stills and shooting some video for BA. She makes everything look so cool.

Skin Deep at the Sagebrush Cantina | Calabasas, CA | Music Photography

2/15/15
It was a beautiful thing to be outside enjoying the sunshine in February.  These west coasters have figured that whole winter thing out!  My west coast fam took me on an adventure to Sagebrush Cantina to watch Skin Deep get the afternoon crowd up and rocking to their mix of just about everything.  They are a cover band that pretty much spans all the decades in their musical library.

Blackwater Jukebox | The Spare Room, LA| Music Photography

2/6/15

Seeing a new band makes me giddy. I love not knowing what I am about to experience. I feel the same way about new venues and this was going to be both of those joys. The Spare Room is located inside The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which was the site of the very first Academy Awards back in 1929 and apparently Marilyn Monroe and Errol Flynn still hang out and do a little haunting on occasion. I didn’t see any ghosts but I sure did hear some great music in an awesome space. The Spare Room is a splendid cocktail lounge with two lanes for bowling and full of welcoming couches and chairs. I was digging on the ambience of the wooden paneling and the beautiful lighting when Blackwater Jukebox started rocking out and then I was instantly pulled into their revelry. I was instantly taken back to when I stumbled into Mehanata on Ludlow Street in NYC sometime in 2000 &?one late, late night or early, early morn, depending on how you want to look at it and discovered the incredible sound of Gogol Bordello.

Blackwater Jukebox has that energy and that thrill, the only thing lacking was the crowd from Mehanata. The crowd at The Spare Room was lame and somehow missing what was going on right in front of them. How could they not see this music mischief happening? How could they not hear the magic of this voodoo circus??? Those people who refuse to hear and see awesome are the reason we cannot have nice things and The Spare Room cut the set short due to the lame people who wanted to sip cocktails in silence. I just don’t get it. Blackwater Jukebox rocks and I want to see them again. Soon. I need a full set of their sounds to be bouncing around in my head. They are fucking awesome.

The Whigs | The Broadberry, RVA| Music Photography

 

1/17/15

The Whigs were the first show on The Rock and Roll Highway adventure that I found myself having last summer. They were also one of my top 5 favorites of the 26 bands that I created images of in 16 different cities. I was very excited when I found out that they would be performing at The Broadberry, one of the best venues in Richmond, VA. They are awesome. They are exciting. They are rock. Their show was just as raucous and groovy as I remembered. The Whigs somehow have managed to blend a perfect mix between tight hooks and raw energy & I am a huge fan.  They also wrote one of my favorite lines
“there’s too many towns that I never have met and there’s too many people to find”
I’m glad I found The Whigs.

Rock and Roll International Exhibition at MPLS Photo Center

Thanks so much to Kim of Kim Turner Photography  for sending me a message back in November letting me know about an exhibition for Rock & Roll photography happening at MPLS Photo Center .  The deadline for submission was THAT NIGHT!  But I figured why not, and pulled out a few images to send in for consideration!  A few months went by and then I got the email letting me know that TWO of my images had been selected to hang in the show.  Very excited to announce the opening of the exhibition in Minneapolis.  If you find yourself there between now and March 1st, stop by and check out all the rocking images.  Keep an eye out for my images of Bob Miller of Fear of Music and Moby outside his NYC apt!

 

 

 

 

The Southern Belles at Rapture | Charlottesville, VA| Music Photography

The Southern Belles make me want to learn to hula hoop, they make me want to roll around in the grass and put flowers in my hair.  They are exactly what I want on a summer day, or on a really freakin’ cold winter’s day in Charlottesville.  It was a happy day to realize that I could join them at their monthly gig at Rapture in Charlottesville, VA.  The Southern Belles vigorously crank out a combination of psychedelic funky rock with a firm foundation in country.  The night at Rapture would be even fuller with the addition of the musical genius that is Stephen Kuester on his lap steel.  I love the twang and how rich the sound can be with a lap steel (and a master playing it.)  The boys are all chock full of talent, each one of them sings and I’m always blown away when Tommy belts out Floyd while his fingers nimbly run up and down his keyboard.  Damn, Tommy!  Do IT!

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