Concerts with the x100t: King Diamond, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar

King Diamond @ Housecore 2015

King Diamond @ Housecore 2015

KING DIAMOND
Corrosion of Conformity (w/ Pepper Keenan) @ Housecore 2015
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY (with Pepper Keenan)
Crowbar @ Housecore 2015
Crowbar @ Housecore 2015
CROWBAR

As I noted here, I’ve been shooting a LOT with my Fuji x100t lately, and have even started shooting shows with it. It’s a surprisingly robust camera, I’m liking the results. Here are some images from Housecore Horror Fest 2015 I pulled off of one my cards…

Kate Tempest @ U Hall.

Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall
Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall
Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall
Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall
Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall
Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr .com/1/523/18996774666_2f63f1d4a0_c.jpg” width=”800″ height=”586″ alt=”Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall”/>
Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall

Shot UK rapper/wordsmith Kate Tempest for the Washington Post. Good show, was expected to not be too interested in her music but was pleasantly surprised by this one. Those are the best assignments- when you go in blind and find something cool that you didn’t expect.

SEE ALL THE KATE TEMPEST AT U HALL PHOTOS HERE | READ THE WASHINGTON POST REVIEW

Maryland Film Fest 2012 – my picks.

May is one of the most CULTURAL months of the year in Baltimore, with both Maryland Death Fest AND Maryland Film Fest… this year I will be attending both. I always end up missing alot, so this year I decided to make a little cheat sheet for myself with the films and events I wanna attend at the Film Fest. I figured I’d share it with the Internet, why not. Post a comment if you think I missed something!

ALSO: Once the Film Fest starts, check out my Liveblog & my Twitter. I’ll be posting pictures & commentary from the fest!

Here goes: Continue reading

Double Dagger’s Last Show.

Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.
Double Dagger's last show.

Great show, best night. I stage dove, in fact all the photographers stage dove… wait, EVERYONE stage dove. Denny’s dad held it down at the front for the whole show! So much fun, what a good send off for one of the best bands the city has ever seen. Thanks for the memories, guys.

If you are interested, you can also:

Double Dagger’s last DC show @ the Black Cat

Double Dagger @ Black Cat

Double Dagger @ Black Cat   Double Dagger @ Black Cat

Double Dagger @ Black Cat  Double Dagger @ Black Cat

This was a fun show, and pretty packed, in the Backstage of the Black Cat. The popular belief is that DC kids do not dance at shows, but that was proven untrue here… while it was not as wild as Baltimore or NYC, Double Dagger fans got moving and the band worked up a sweat. It was a great time, and a great start to 3 days in a row of me seeing this band.

Celebration Weekend Tour with TVOTR.

celebration @ rams head
celebration @ rams head.
celebration @ rams head   celebration @ electric factory.

Celebration went on tour with TV On The Radio, I shot them in both Philly and Baltimore. (Read the SPIN review of the TVOTR Philly show here). The Philly show at Electric Factory was cut a little short, or seemed to be, but the Baltimore show at Rams Head was absolutely great. Packed house, sold out, great sound for Celebration’s set, friendly audience… a great show. Both shows showcased how together they are as a band and how the new “Digital Tarot” material they have been releasing online (and their new record) is really starting to shine live. Go see them!

Also : come to my Photo Show friday 4/15 at the Windup Space in Baltimore. Photos of Celebration and many other artists will be on display.

Integrity + Haymaker @ Sonar (+ Pizza crowdsurfing)

Integrity - pizza crowdsurfing!
Haymaker.   Haymaker.

The other day I was able to see Integrity, a band I have loved for years, play at Sonar with Haymaker, a Canadian band I’ve liked for years, and who apparently have never before played in the States, which seems crazy to me! I also caught the above photo of a gentleman crowdsurfing WHILE eating pizza. Amazing.

Dave Nada’s Moombahton Massive @ U Hall

Dave Nada's Moombahton Massive.
Dave Nada

Last week I had the good pleasure of catching the assignment to shoot Dave Nada and his second Moombahton Massive party at U St Music Hall. It’s not often you get to go hang out with an old friend for work, so I relished the opportunity. I have know Dave since he was a member of Medic, a thrash/metal/hardcore band whose record I put out more years ago than I want to admit. Since those days he has been on a steady rise as an internationally-known DJ and producer, a career arc which this year hit a new high with his creation/discovery of Moombahton, a new genre of dance music that fuses elements of Dutch House and latino culture. It took the dance music world by storm and it’s momentum is still building…

Read the Washington Post Review | See the Moombahton Massive photo set

Mz Streamz video shoot.

mz streamz video shoot.    mz streamz video shoot.
mz streamz video shoot.    mz streamz video shoot.

I did still photography for the first Mz Streamz video ("Tear It Up"). They shot this the summer of 2008 and I wasn’t supposed to post these until after the video debuted, but I forgot to go back and post them after the video debuted! So here they are…

Click here to check out the whole Mz Streamz video shoot set. And here is the video:

Big Ears Experimental Music Festival 2009, Knoxville.

michael gira @ big ears.   fennesz (with sparklehorse) @ big ears.
big ears.   matmos @ big ears.
matmos @ big ears.   DJ Dog Dick / Baltimore Round Robin @ big ears.

This weekend I went to the big ears music fest in knoxville. I saw so many artists, but the highlights were: philip glass, michael gira (swans, angels of light), christian fennesz (performing with a variety of collaborators), negativland (performing It’s All In Your Head FM), dan deacon and the baltimore round robin (ed schrader, cex, smart growth, adventure, dj dog dick, height)… It was a really great festival, small, low key, with the emphasis on the music and the artists and not a million sponsorships. Seriously, it was a great event and I really hope the organizers can keep it up with this level of quality in the future! Don’t miss out next year!

Oh yeah, and here is the full Big Ears set!

The Chase reunion show @ the Corpse Fortress.

the Chase.    the Chase.
the Chase.    Wall of Death imminent.

Saturday night I trucked down to Silver Spring to venerable punk house/venue the Corpse Fortress to catch the reunion show(s) of The Chase, Breathe In Breath Out, At Best & Timber. It was awesome, I hadn’t been to a punk basement show in so long. I got moshed a bit, and was slightly nervous about having my gear in the “pit”, but it went well and was a lot of fun.

Highlights included the girl who lived there loudly hinting that everyone should get the fuck out of her house and no one listening, all the sing-a-longs, AFP from the Chase demanding that the Chase replay parts of songs over and over, the wall of death, and me convincing Ari Goldman that the box of free records was actually a donation box, then realizing I just conned Ari!

Click here to view the whole the Chase reunion show set!

no country for old men…

is a return to form for the Coens, which is to say it’s an excellent movie, but is at the same time completely different in tone than almost any other movie they have made. This movie affected me, and I really recommend it. Unique, suprising, original, yet using standard genre conventions so it feels familiar in many ways. The greatest accomplishments of the film are the character of Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem), the breathtaking cinematography by the incomparable Roger Deakins, and the momentum and efficiency of the script.

This movie is unsettling and deliberate… and for most viewers, I would imagine, unsatisfying. But I can’t think of a movie that I’ve seen in the last year that I would recommend more. Go see this movie.