Category Archives: photography

New Orleans in the Mid-Atlantic : EYEHATEGOD, Big Freedia, Quintron

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EYEHATEGOD @ MDF2010
Big Freedia.
quintron @ golden west

In the last couple of weeks I have seen a LOT of New Orleans bands/artists for some reason… it’s been pretty cool. First I saw the always amazing EYEHATEGOD at Maryland Death Fest, and even though I have seen them before, it is always a treat. (Possibly amusing aside – when I moved to New York City for college, I ran into a dude who, when I said I was from Louisiana asked me if I liked EYEHATEGOD and Acid Bath and it blew my MIND because this was before the internet was a big deal and I just assumed no one knew who those bands were outside of Louisiana)…. click here to see more EYEHATEGOD photos from MDF2010

I also managed to catch “Queen of Sissy Bounce” Big Freedia. In case you don’t know what bounce music is, it’s the regional dance music of New Orleans (like Baltimore Club is for Bmore and Gogo is for DC), and is heavily call-and-response oriented. Sissy Bounce, which I think was originated by Katey Red, is gay/trans-themed Bounce music, and is getting alot of attention right now. Bounce is also pretty awesome, and used to be a bit controversial. Back in the day people like Mystikal would record songs with lines like “never gonna bounce!”. Not sure if it’s still like that. Anyway, the show was awesome, Big Freedia had a bunch of dancers with her and there was tons of call-and-response, ass shaking and everything you’d expect… click here for Big Freedia photos.

Finally I saw the Amazing Mister Quintron and Miss Pussycat the other night, at the Golden West. I have been a fan of theirs for yearssss and they are good friends with people I know from New Orleans. Their music/art is crazy and fun, and you probably have heard of them if you are reading this, but if not, check them out. They do things like host puppetshows before every show and build their own musical instruments. They also used to have a underground club in New Orleans, the Spellcaster Lodge… I don’t know if it has re-opened or not. Anyway, the show was excellent. Click here for Quintron and Miss Pussycat photos.

Maryland Death Fest 2010

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Pentagram @ MDF2010
EYEHATEGOD @ MDF2010    EYEHATEGOD crowd @ MDF2010
Pentagram crowd @ MDF2010    Dan Lilker / Autopsy @ MDF2010

This year was the eight Maryland Death Fest, a annual music festival at Sonar in Baltimore that is, without a doubt, the best metal/extreme music festival in the US/North America. It is always a great time and has been getting bigger and more well-organized with each successive year. This time around there were TWO outdoor stages, an indoor stage, a merch room, and dozens of vendors… not to mention thousands of devoted metalheads deposited right into downtown baltimore.

It’s hard for me to go to the WHOLE thing, it’s just overwhelming, but luckily it’s located centrally and close to my house so I usually just dip in to check out the bands I want to see. This year that included EYEHATEGOD, Autopsy, Obituary, Entombed, Pentagram, Deceased, and Converge. I also checked out a few new (to me) bands, my favorite being Captain Cleanoff from Australia. For me, the standout shows of the weekend (besides Captain Cleanoff) were Autopsy and Pentagram…

If you like metal, try to make it to this fest next year!!!

Click here to see more Maryland Death Fest pictures!

See also: My post about Maryland Death Fest 2009

public image limited.

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public image limited / john lydon
public image limited / john lydon

two nights ago i saw PiL in baltimore, it was a pretty fun show. i was really hesitant to go because i sort of assumed it would be terrible… but they were good! really it was many John Lydon’s show, but the sound was great and the band was tight and they played a lot of classics. Check out all my shots from Public Image Limited.

Continuing the 70s post/punk train, last night i saw the Buzzcocks at the Ottobar in baltimore. I was more confident going into this one, I’ve seen them recently-ish and they were good, and they did not disappoint. Great show and it was all old material, go see them if they come to your town! (I didn’t shoot at this, just watched and saw lots of old friends).

Knoxville’s Big Ears Music Festival.

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Andrew WK @ big ears

Vampire Weekend @ big ears

DJ/Rupture @ big ears

St Vincent @ big ears

Last month Michael Byrne and myself covered this festival for SPIN. You can see the coverage here. We saw, among other things: Andrew WK performing classical music with Calder Quartet, the Ex, Terry Riley and Bang the Can performing In C, Saint Vincent, Vampire Weekend, Ben Frost, DJ/Rupture (several times), the xx, Joanna Newsom, Adrian Belew… and many more.

Knoxville is also a great town! So many great and beautiful music venues and every seems to be really nice. One thing that I thought was really great is all the people working at the various venues that were hosting the festival seemed VERY knowledgable about both the history of their venue and music in general. And they were super polite and friendly. Also don’t miss King Tut’s Egyptian Diner if you ever are in Knoxville… its a treat!

See all my photos from Big Ears here.

UNDER THE STROBE LIGHT : Club Photos 2005-2010 book preview party

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This saturday in Baltimore we are having a little book preview party to show off the preview version of one of the books I am working on: UNDER THE STROBE LIGHT: Club Photos 2005-2010. It’s a selection of photos I have taken over the last 5 years in clubs and at parties. The emphasis is on dancing, clubgoers, DJs and it’s mostly Baltimore oriented, with a decent amount of Philly and other stuff sneaking in.

The emphasis of the collection isn’t on artists, it’s more about clubgoers… but artists featured in the include Baltimore natives Scottie B, Rye Rye, Blaqstarr, and Rod Lee (among others) to other east coasters like Diplo and DJ Sega.

The shots in the book were taken at Baltimore clubs like Paradox and Sonar, and underground venues like the Hexagon or the Mausoleum in Philly.

The party is this saturday 4/24 at Bijon (226 W Monument St), at the corner of Monument & Howard Streets in Baltimore. 8:30-11:30pm with free champagne, music by Jay Rags, and photos and copies of the limited preview version of the book on display (and for sale). Stop by if you can!

Here are a few pages from the book (and the cover) to give you a taste:





I’ll have more details about the book on here after the show. Thanks!

Of Montreal.

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of montreal.
of montreal.
of montreal.   of montreal.   of montreal.

Last week, I shot Of Montreal and James Husband’s tour kick off in Baltimore. It was a fun show, though I was SO SICK. I apologize to anyone I spoke to at that show, I was totally delirious with fever and probably made no sense. This was one of the most grueling photo editing sessions ever, since I had to file the photos by 9am. Somehow I managed it between fever dreams and dry heaves.

Check out the full Of Montreal photo set here.

Read the review and see the photos on Spin.com.

Aural States / Blogtimore Fests.

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sick weapons.
sick weapons.   sick weapons.

vincent black shadow.
vincent black shadow.   vincent black shadow.

wye oak.

This weekend I caught the Blogtimore Fest at the G-Spot (which is apparently closing after 10 years!) and the Aural States Fest at Sonar. To me, the highlights were Sick Weapons, Vincent Black Shadow, and Wye Oak. J Robbins’ new band the Office of Future Plans was also a pleasant discovery… I hadn’t heard of them before but they were good. Sadly the freak snowstorm hurt attendance, but both nights were a great time.

Check out more Aural States/Blogtimore Fests photos here.