A couple of months ago, I attended a rare joint performance of Merzbow and Richard Pinhas at the French Embassy in DC. I posted a few pictures from this show, along with my coverage of Sonic Circuits Fest, but I just found out there is going to be a CD released by Cuneiform of the performance, and some of my photos may be included, so I decided to post some more.
Here is the whole Merzbos & Richard Pinhas @ the French Embassy set. Enjoy! (And look forward to the release of the performance.)
I shot a few catalog/promo shots for my friend Joey B’s clothing line, Crazy Monkey Clothing Company. We did these real quick in my studio, he just needed basic shots to throw up on his web store, but I think they came out okay. I’ll link the web store here once they launch it.
Peter Hook recently toured the US playing Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” with his new band, The Light. Reyan Ali and I were there for SPIN. Check out the SPIN review by Reyan here (with photos by me). Here is the whole photo set.
Spending Christmas in snowy North Dakota. Last night it was -5 before wind chill, which is actually not bad at all. Last time I came, it was -24 the first night. More pictures to come, but for now check out the first batch here.
Last month I took some photos for the Washington DC band The Gift. They are a great band, and comprised of three old friends. Henry was in Exosus, who I put out a record for in some mist-shrouded past, Beck was in Turboslut, and Mikey was in one of my favorite hardcore/punk bands from Maryland, Tradition Dies Here (among many other pursuits they’ve all been a part of). It was fun doing these shoots, even though making a “band photo” can sometimes be really ridiculous.
Speaking of which, we shot the group photos in the Black Cat before they opened, and while there, the most amazing thing happened. Apparently, Henry had told Mikey previously that “nothing he did could shock him”… so Mikey thought about it, came up with something, and revealed it to Henry during the shoot. And that is how I came to be present when Mikey showed Henry that he had gotten a HUGE photo realistic tattoo of Henry’s face on his upper thigh. Wow.
PS – Their debut record “Mostly In Sickness” comes out in January.
Sunday I shot the Wu-Tang Clan show at Sonar… awesome time. I wrote a little mini-post for BYT, I’ll update this when that is posted (today, hopefully!) Til then…
Check out the whole Wu-Tang Clan at Sonar photo set
UPDATE: here’s the BYT story
Two shows I shot on assignment. My first time at the Kennedy Center after almost ten years in the DC area… I felt under-dressed. The Kennedy Center show was my first time using my new 70-200 lens. Not the best shooting situation, I could have really used a 300mm… maybe next Christmas.
Read the Wash Post N’Dambi review here
Read the Wash Post Jazz Christmas review here
See more photos from these shows in my December 2010 Shows set
Maff Moffat, co-owner of DC record store SMASH organized a benefit show for Stereofaith, a DC scene stalwart (former hardcore band member, longtime DJ and promoter, all-around cool dude) who had to have some pretty serious surgery. Seminal DC band Government Issue played a reunion show, along with the classic DC-suburbs punk band The Goons. It was a really fun show, sold out but not too crazy, probably because most of the people in attendance were a little older, so it was still fun to be in that room. The Goons set was rowdy, with some circle pitting and stagediving, but things kicked up alot when Government Issue took the stage. John Stabb is a crazy guy, I’d seen YouTubes but it was awesome to see him still getting wild, 30 years later. J Robbins, Tom Lyle, and Pete Moffett got pretty wild themselves… I saw Robbins and Moffett grinning and goofing with Stabb many times, Lyle seemed to remain more serious but was definitely playing hard. All in all, a good show…
View the whole set here | Read the BrightestYoungThings story
This was awhile ago, but just now getting to it… my good friend Dave Nada just moved to LA to further his production career, and he threw a big Moombahton dance party at U Street Music Hall in DC to celebrate. They have a no-photo policy there, but I had like 10 minutes between the two sets I was shooting that night to run over and get a few quick snaps of the artists who were performing, including Matt Nordstrom, DJ Ayres, Jesse Tittsworth, Dave Nada himself and more… We literally snapped these on the street in front of U Hall, with people weaving through us on their way to go out to dinner or the clubs, then after 10 minutes I hauled ass back to 930 to shoot Die Antwoord! Fun stuff.
Good luck in LA Dave, though I know you don’t need it!
View all the photos from the set here | View all my photos of Dave Nada from over the years here
Saturday night there was a great show at the Windup Space in Baltimore… Parting Gifts & Hollywood. Parting Gifts is the new band of Greg Cartwright aka Greg Oblivian (of the Oblivians, the Reigning Sound, etc) and they were great! The place was packed and the crowd seemed really appreciative, people kept yelling thanks for them playing in Baltimore. All in all, a good show… brought to you by the talented Unregistered Nurse productions company.
Click here to view the whole set, including photos of Hollywood!
I’ve seen Joanna Newsom a few times now… wouldn’t say I’m a fan, but her music is certainly unique and different. It’s also crazy how INTENSE her fans are about her. I got a chance to shoot her the other day at Rams Head in Baltimore.
I went into this show knowing literally NOTHING about Aloe Blacc. I left a fan… really good performer, really catchy fun songs done in a motown style. I normally am not a big fan of ‘retro’ musical styles, but there was something about this show that just worked for me. A really good time.
Read the Washington Post Review here | See more photos of Aloe Blacc in my November Shows set
Wadada Leo Smith recently did a performance with his Golden Quartet, along with a Q&A, and I was there to cover it for the Post. He gave a really interesting talk about improvisational thinking, then performed several pieces. It was a really great night of music and discussion. It’d be interesting if more musicians coupled Q&A session – actual thoughtful ones, not standard PR style ones – with their concerts. You can find out more about Wadada from his label, Cuneiform Records.
Read the Washington Post review | View more photos of Wadada Leo Smith inside my November shows set
This was a lot of fun. Wale, Doug E Fresh, Trina, Choppa, Mr Vegas, the beautiful Lola Monroe, Black Cobain, and about a million more artists performed. I had to file twice from the event, which was a wild experience fraught with bad wifi connections and dying laptop batteries, but I did it. At one point a mini stampede of people literally jumped over me, on girl kicking my laptop (where I was filing photos), but I made it through and on deadline! I won’t be able to review the show better than Chris Richards, so check out the two stories from the Washington Post:
Read the Washington Post Review | Read another Washington Post blog post
Last friday, I caught the pop-punk band Younger Years at the Sidebar. I hear Jesse Morgan might be putting out a record for them…
Me and Michael Byrne went to the opening night of the Wham City Comedy Tour, a DIY night of comedy, skits, music, video and performance art by the Wham City Collective (and friends). Wham City is a (mostly) Baltimore-based group of artists in all media, including Dan Deacon, Ed Schrader, Dina Kelberman, Connor Kizer, Adam Endres, and many more.
Since it was the first night (and, as I found out later, the first time the whole program was performed in it’s entirety), there were a few timing issues and a few off beats, but all in all it was really entertaining… the various pieces that were performed managed to change moods, from absurd slapstick, to bleak dark comedy, to wry intellectual wit. For every gag that fell flat, there were several that hit hard and I don’t think anyone there could say they didn’t laugh out loud many times. The first leg of the tour is done, but they are going out on another soon! Check them out!
Read the SPIN review here | See the full photo set here, with NEW stuff I just uploaded!
Kris Kristofferson at the Music Center at Strathmore. This was a fun little show, also one of the rare ones where I was probably the youngest person there… the room at Strathmore has great acoustics and it was really cool to see Kristofferson live. He is pretty damn old but was still a strong performer and had plenty of anecdotes about all the songs. It was also cool to see him perform stripped down, just him, no backing band.
See more photos in my Nov. Shows set | Read the Washington Post review
I had honestly never even heard of Shinedown before I shot their show at Warner Theater in DC, they are apparently sort of a arena-style rock band. This was an “acoustic” performance of their material, which apparently is alot heavier normally than this was. They told earnest stories about the writing of each song, and the crowd seemed to love it.
See more photos in my Nov. Shows set | Read the Washington Post review
Luisa Maita at the Bohemian Caverns. I love the Bohemian Caverns and am glad I finally got a chance to shoot there! If you’ve never been and you live in DC, find the time to go. Great, intimate venue, and a historical landmark to boot. Luisa Maita’s music isn’t what I’d normally listen too but it was a good performance, she has a great voice and a really good way with the crowd, especially at an intimate venue like this.
View the whole Luisa Maita photo set | Read the Washington Post review
I dunno why I didn’t post this before! Last month was a great reunion/last show at CCAS – the Spark and Never Enough, two early-2000s hardcore bands from Baltimore played a reunion show with Ruiner, who is breaking up. Double Dagger played too. It was great, though I got moshed HARD and hurt my neck. I’m better now. Jesse Morgan got stitches too!
I also took official “last band pic” shots of The Spark and Never Enough:
This show was fun. Die Antwoord, at the very least, can actually rap and perform live – something I wasn’t convinced of going in. Unfortunately, none of their other material is as fresh or good as their two singles… but that can be said for a lot of groups. They had a lot of energy, were stage-diving, spitting water on people, generally jumping around like crazy… it will be interesting to see if they can keep the momentum going or if this is it. Rye Rye opened, and did great – though the stage was crazy dark for her set! I was suprised but I guess they decided to keep it low-key. It’s great to see the arc of her career, she is still going strong and I imagine this time next year will be even bigger.
View the whole Die Antwoord/Rye Rye photo set | Read the BYT review
Last month, I got a chance to shoot Roger Water’ the Wall tour for the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun. It was quite a spectacle… probably the most complex stage show I’ve ever shot. It was really challenging, with drastic changes in lighting, pyrotechnics, props, animatronics… pretty wild show.
Read the Washington Post review here | Read the Baltimore Sun review here | See the whole photo set here