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…
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
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
Joey & Rory @ the Carlysle Club : Read the Washington Post review.
Joshua Redman at Blues Alley. Read the Washington Post review.
Raul Malo & Shannon Whitworth at the Birchmere. Read the Washington Post review.
La Excelensia at Artisphere. Read the Washington Post review here.
You can see more photos from these shows (and many more) here.
Mid October was pretty good for shows… starting out with the super rare performance by former Clockcleaner leader Sharkey’s new solo vehicle Puerto Rico Flowers. How rare? This was apparently their first, last, and only live show. Backed by a temporary group of friends, he played with Screen Vinyl Image and the Pfisters at the Talking Head Club in Baltimore, with the help of Fan Death Records and Unregistered Nurse.
View the whole Puerto Rico Flowers/Pfisters/Screen Vinyl Image set here
Then there was the last Lower Dens show of the year… Lower Dens is a Baltimore band, fronted by former solo artist Jana Hunter, they are pretty new and getting a lot of buzz… they just put out a debut record on Devendra Banhart’s record label and are just about to go out on what sounds like a GRUELING tour, starting with 11 shows at CMJ this past weekend. They are great; check them out.
View the whole Lower Dens set here
Then I snuck out to Arlington, VA to see Japanther and the Death Set play at the new Artisphere space. The staff, and the space, were awesome but somehow virtually no one showed up! Those of us who were there were treated to what amount to a private performance… really odd but a lot of fun! Both bands played new material, much of it related to the passing of Death Set member Beau Velasco, who died sadly last year. Really great performances from both bands. The Death Set has a new mixtape out next month, then a new full length in January and the songs they played off of that sounded good so pick it up when its out!
View the whole Japanther/the Death Set set here
This post also appeared in a different form on BYT.
I was lucky enough to cover Christian Fennesz’ performance at the Sonic Circuits festival… it was at the Strathmore Mansion, a very intimate (and classy!) location for a concert. Fennesz has only rarely played in the US and the small room was packed with very lucky people… I’m sure there must be footage of this somewhere on youtube, but it’s not a replacement for being in that room and hearing Fennesz perform. A great night.
Read the Washington Post review | See the rest of the Fennesz photos.
I was also able, thanks to the awesome people at Wayside Music (waysidemusic.com) and Cuneiform Records (cuneiformrecords.com), attend a EXTREMELY rare collaborative performance of Merzbow and Richard Pinhas at the French Embassy in DC. This was by far the most SECURE show I’ve ever been too, and in fact when I tried to leave the show, was locked in the super luxurious grounds until an unseen person remotely opened the steel gate. So surreal. We also got to pal around with Richard and his son and discuss America, France, and all sorts of topics. Richard was really funny in person and his son was a trip!
The show itself was pretty great – Merzbow creating sonic textures on his laptop/electronic gear while Richard Pinhas played analog soundscapes with his guitar rig. Great stuff, and again, a packed theater. I’m not sure if this is the first Sonic Circuits festival, but this year was quite an accomplishment and I am already looking forward to 2011’s!
A couple of weeks ago, I shot Paramore & Tegan and Sara for the Baltimore Sun. You can see the gallery here on the Sun site.
I am not a huge Paramore fan, but man… they were totally in control of their crowd. Especially Hayley Williams, the lead singer – she had the whole arena in the palm of her hand. As big as Paramore are now, I would be really suprised if she/they wasn’t a much bigger star in a few years…
Tegan and Sara are a band I used to like a bit, but hadn’t listen to them in a few years… they had a much calmer, but also more friendly and affable relationship with the crowd, and their set was way more pro/rock and less indie/intimate than I would have expected. Good set though.
Check out all my Paramore & Tegan and Sara photos on flickr here.
A few weeks ago, I covered Smashing Pumpkins for the Baltimore Sun. You can read the review here and also view all the photos here.
The photos of the Pumpkins aren’t that great because the band wanted everyone to shoot from VERY far back (which is not normal), so I had to do the best I could. Ah well. It was a weird show, basically half diehard Smashing Pumpkins fans who love even their recent material, and half people there for a nostalgia fix. The two sides didn’t mesh well and Corgan seemed annoyed by requests to play hits that were 17 years old. Ah well. The new stuff, for the record, still sounds pretty good even though I don’t know the songs.
Kill Hannah and Bad City opened:
Last week I saw NOBUNNY at the Talking Head, it was a lot of fun. In case you don’t know them, they are a rock/punk band that sounds sorta “retro”, with catchy songs and really shoutable choruses…. and a singer who wears a rabbit mask, S&M/fetish gear and tightie-whities. It was packed, people were crowdsurfing, throwing beers/waters, generally going nuts. Some crowdsurfer landed on my head. Afterwards I helped a half dozen people look for their phones/wallets/sadly smashed glasses. Good show. click here for more NOBUNNY photos
I also recently shot Passion Pit and Tokyo Police Club at Rams Head for the Baltimore Sun. Click here to see the review, and here to see the gallery of my shots. You can also click here to see all of my Passion Pit and Tokyo Police Club shots on my Flickr.
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.
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).
Last month, Taxlo celebrated Cullen Stalin’s birthday at Sonar with a blow out party…. click here for the photos.