Photos Archives

I caught Yo La Tengo at the 9:30 Club a week or so ago but never had a chance to upload my photos. I didn't stick around for the whole show but what I heard was much better than their set earlier this summer at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.

Quite a few people were a bit derisive about the line-up for the first ever North American version of the Virgin Festvail Saturday at the Pimlico Raceway outside of Baltimore, myself included. I'm glad I thought better of it and went anyways because it was one hell of a day. I was on assigment for AOL Music. The mission: get some kick ass photos for their new music blog, obvs. Go here to see all of my best stuff.

Thanks to some fantastic directions from the Virgin crew I arrived at Pimlico around 11:45. I quickly got my passes and tickets sorted and hurried up the main stage just in time for Kasabian. I was bit bummed not to be able to see them play a local club show but I think I enjoyed seeing them in a festival setting even more. They have a huge sound and, well, it sounds great on a huge sound system. They opened with "Reason Is Treason" and just tore into their set. I was down in the photo pit and we were allowed to shoot each band for the first two songs. I'm still a bit new at shooting festivals so I was taken aback at the height of the main stage. It must have been at least seven feet tall. At this point in the day it wasn't crowded at all so there was plenty of time to move around. That wouldn't last very long.

Kasabian was on at noon and The Mountain Goats were on at ten after, so rather than rushing down to the second stage I walked around a bit and made eventually my way over to the dance tent where RJD2 was spinning. I'm so glad I did, because he was flat out tearing shit up. I am totally jaded when it comes to the DJ scene but RJD2 made a believer out of me. He was straight killing it. There were about 120 people in the dance tent at the time and they got to hear one of the best sets of the day. As I made my way back to the main stage for the next act I made a mental note to seek out as much RJD2 as possible.

Wolfmother were next on the main stage and while their sound, a mix of The White Stripes and Black Sabbath, isn't exactly new, they were still alot of fun. Big afro guy is a good frontman and he had he is very good at delivering the rock, so hey, more power to him.

Next up on the second stage were The New Pornographers, the source of so much music blog bandwidth. I have yet to download their records from eMusic, so I wasn't that familiar with them. I found them decidedly OK, but nothing really jumped out at me.

After that I made my way back to the dance tent for 2MANYDJ's but they were running late (a rarity for the day) and after waiting around for 15 minutes I made my way back to the main stage for The Raconteurs. I have their CD and thought it was catchy but a bit unremarkable, but they really impressed me Saturday. They sound like CCR on amphetamines, perfect following Wolfmother's White Sabbath stylee retro-rock. I now have to take another listen to their CD.

After my quick dose of Brendan Benson I made my way back to the Second Stage for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I really, really hate this band but was perfectly willing to give them another chance, hoping they'd improved since last time I saw them in D.C. No such luck. They took the stage with pouty faces and acted like they didn't even want to be there. And everytime the lead singer opened his mouth to sing I wanted to stick sharp pencils as far down my ear canal as they would go. They are that bad. Truly a horrible band, they laid the first egg of the day. And to make matters even worse, four of their five members have a worse hairline than I do. The next time the blogosphere goes apeshit over them, I'm posting all of the unflattering photos of them I took during their set. You've been warned.

Hot shit hip-hop/soul outfit Gnarls Barkley and their kooky outfits were up next, and while they didn't blow me away, I have nothing bad to say about them. Sure, Dangermouse is a bit over-rated but Cee-Lo has been the best thing on the last few Outkast records and far be it from me to complain if the kids these days are listening to some Earth, Wind and Fire type shit. More please. I should note here I have no idea if The Raconteurs or anyone else on the bill covered "Crazy." Oh, Gnarls were dressed as Romans and Cee-Lo called the band "Chariots of Fire."

I'm starting to drag at this point but luckily The Brazlian Girls provided me with a quick energy boost. I was a bit freaked out by the lead singer's white face mask, but now I see why Coolfer has been telling me to drop whatever I'm doing and go see them. They are the complete opposite of Zero 7. They can pull off the trip-hoppy, world music vibe and not seem the least bit lame.

Brandon Flowers and The Killers were next on the Main Stage and even though I think they're incredibly lame, I hoped they would put on a performance that would clue me in to why they are even remotely popular. Again, no such luck. Flowers' Bono complex must have been visible from the farthest reaches of the infield because it was being thrown in my face down in the photo pit. I just can't take this band seriously. Their new album is shaping up to be a giant turd and I, for one, can't wait for them to come crashing back down to Earth. But then again, what do I know, I like The Bravery.

Despite the unsettling in my stomach from watching The Killers, I decided to skip Thievery Corporation in order to get some food, recharge my camera battery and rest my weary feet. Sure taking photos all day is alot of fun, but it's also hard work. By this point the photo pit was becoming increasingly more crowded and good spots in the pit were getting hard to come by. Moving around was really hard by the main stage because the bouncers kept insisting we crowd into the stage as far as possible so they could pull kids over the barricade.

I'm a bit ashamed to say that up until Saturday, I never really "got" The Who. Sure I liked them, but I failed to see why Eddie Vedder spontaneously blows a load whenever anyone so much as mentions their name. Well, after seeing them live, I get it. I was really nervous about taking photos of them and don't really remember much about the first song they played, but "The Seeker" was second in the set and it made me step back and just take it all in. I was about 4 feet away from Bee Thousand while he was windmilling around everywhere. Wow. I stayed around for the next four or five songs and discovered a newfound admiration for a band that everyone already loves.

I almost didn't want to walk all the way down to the other end of the infield to catch Scissor Sisters, but ultimately, I did, and by doing so I caught what might have been the best set of the day. Scissor Sisters had the advantage of being the first band on after dark and they really took advantage. They were incredible, infectious and flashy. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone better than Jake Shears and Ana Matronic to front this band. My jaw was on the ground the whole time. So much fun! And, as a bonus, they were the only band that let everyone shoot three songs instead of two. So I got a boatload of great pics from them. This one might be the single best photo I have ever taken. I walked away a new fan. Their new record comes out tomorrow.

I had half a mind not to fight the crowd in the photo pit and just skip the Red Hot Chili Peppers altogether. I last saw them on Lollapalooza in 1992 (was that really 14 years ago?) and feel like they've gone downhill ever since. In retrospect I should have because they went on 20 minutes late (the first band on the two main stages all day to do so) and then started with some wack instrumental "funk" jam before Anthony Keidis decided to grace us with his presence. I positioned myself on Flea's side of the stage, figuring he'd be a better subject to take pictures of than John Frusciante, who generally has his hair in his face like Cousin It. By then the pit was so crowded with photogs, other media types and random people trying to get shots on their camera phones that I got stuck right up on the front of the stage which made taking pictures almost impossible because the band was standing a bit back from the stage lip. The results were a bunch of head shots and me trying furiously to dodge Flea's sweat when he was twirling around.

And here's the kicker. Since the stupid Chili Peppers went on late, I missed the start of The Flaming Lips set. You know, the giant ball, all the balloons, etc. I fucking ran from one photo pit to the other but couldn't make it. I was seriously pissed by the time I got to the Second Stage and was even more so when they told us we wouldn't be getting an extra song to shoot even though the Chili Peppers went on late. So I snapped as many frames as I could for the last half of that song before the ushered us out. I did get one keeper though. All this unfortunately put a damper on my first ever Lips performance and I ended up leaving after watching the next few songs. I was dead tired and drunk teenagers kept coming up to me asking for cigarettes, so I decided to beat the traffic and head home.

All in all, a good day. I got to see some great sets and have another festival shoot under my belt. I met quite a few of my fellow photographers and got tips from alot of them. My new lens was up to the task and I took some of the best photos of my life. I was downright giddy going through them all yesterday. Good thing because it takes a very long time to edit down 1300 photos. Obviously a few are included here, and more are over at Flickr. As I said earlier, I was shooting on assignment for AOL Music, so check out their coverage for the best stuff.

Holy shit, last night was awesome. We had two great, up and coming bands play killer sets to a rabid crowd. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. The Vita Ruins played a gloriously messy, riff heavy, feedback filled show that had everyone paying attention. And then Middle Distance Runner tore the house down with their set. These guys have a ton of potential, it's easy to see why they're getting so much mainstream press. They've got tunes and charisma for days. Take a listen:

www.myspace.com/thevitaruins

www.myspace.com/middledistancerunner (Check out "That's A Lie", it's my fave)

I'm off to DJ a friends wedding. Have a great weekend.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure, yet again, to take in a DC United match. The result, a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake, was disappointing (for me at least, most everyone else seemed pleased with the result) but it's hard for me to complain about much when I have the best seat in the house. This was the first of the five games I've seen in person this season where I got an extended look at Freddy Adu and he impressed. Although he got called off-sides a few times, he played a great game. He moves at a different speed than everyone else on the field. He's three or four moves ahead of everyone else when he gets the ball. But Freddy's not my favoriter player on United. That would be scrappy Argentine fullback Facundo Erpen. He's one tough MF'er and although he anchors the United back line, he's very adept at attacking. He had one shot in the second half that hit the post that might have won the game for United had it been an inch or so farther to the left. Oh well, maybe next time. United is away for their next few games so you'll be spared from more soocer photos for the time being.

Thanks for all the emails and whatnot yesterday. I was a bit down in the dumps yesterday but I felt better once I got home, watched some football and had a beer or two. I'm DJing a wedding on Friday so I went through my iTunes and picked out most of the stuff I'm going to play, which put me in a much better mood. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing (this is only the second wedding I've ever played) but after going through my iTunes library and picking out some stuff by Massive Attack, Paul Weller, Feist, The Super Furries, The Pixies, Spoon, Mylo, and Oasis (obvs.) I am really excited about the whole thing. Keep in mind all that stuff is in addition to the usual wedding music fare, although, as a whole, my plalist leans a tad indie (New Order, Phoenix, The Cure, Postal Service, Kylie...) and lots of Motown. Everyone likes Motown! Of course, it always helps when the bride and groom INSIST on me bringing and playing vinyl and have a bigger record collection than me that I get to pick from. Should be fun.

Banksy strikes again! [via Sneakmove]

Apple TV! Also, new iPods. Oh, and the iPhone is happening. Soon.

Rejoice! Screamin' A. Smith and Boo-Yah Scott are no more for ESPN's basketball coverage. They will be replaced by the inifinitely more watchable Mike Wilbon and Mark Jackson. All hail new programming guru John Skipper! Now if he can just dom something about Chris Berman... [via Truehoop]

Captain Rock might be a big dud right now, but at least the music world still has Jarvis Cocker.

Close, but no cigar. Why does Noel and the band insist on acting like Be Here Now never happened? "D'You Know What I Mean" deserved to be on this CD. Much more so than "Go Let It Out," that song is the worst Beta Band rip-off I've ever heard. And there were alot of them. But props for "Songbird."

Morrissey speaks!

Obvs.

9/11, birth of the blog.

Let's start celebrating Sept. 12th. I'm all for that.

*sigh* Back at work after my all the short time in Southern California. I wrote a big wrap up post about the trip during my flight back yesterday but I forgot to load it into MT last night. D'oh. So you'll have to make do with a short recap.

While I'm not sure I would want to live there, Southern Cali is a great place to visit. I couldn't believe how bright it was when we touched down. The weather, by the beach anyway, was really incredible, even to someone like me that doesn't really enjoy the sun that much.

I got to do all the touristy stuff I wanted to do. I saw Bukowski's grave, took in a Dodgers game, had an In-n-Out burger and saw the Capitol Records building.

Buk's grave was thankfully pretty easy to find. He is on a hill, situated kind of by himself, with a tree nearby and a nice view. Visiting cemeteries isn't something I do regularly, but I always told myself I would do this if I had the chance and I'm glad I did. I didn't do anything like bring Hank a beer or prepare some big speech or anything, just took a few photos, soaked in the scene and left.

The Dodger game was really cool even though stupid Grady Little sat both Nomar and Jeff Kent. They lost big, but I had a few Dodger Dogs, a relative bargain at $4.50, and even more $8 Budweiser's. The stadium itself was a treat. It has this 1960's drive-in burger joint vibe, they play Jane's Addiction whenever a runner has "Been Caught Stealing," and pipe in the Vin Scully feed over loud speakers in the stands. Best!

Other than that we spent the weekend tooling around Newport Harbor, checking out Laguna and Huntington Beaches, eating alot and drinking even more. I can't wait to go back. California, where the weather is always bright and sunny, people park expensive cars right on the street, the cars have unironic personalized plates, the girls are all blonde and (totally, extremely) hott and all your yardwork is done by cheap immigrant labor.

More than one friend has accused me of turning into a D.C. United groupie. Yeah, and what of it? I took in Saturday night's game since I wanted to see Landon Donovan up close.

As you can see, I got much better photos this time around even though I'm an idiot and had my camera on the wrong ISO setting the entire time. Still, I was much happier with the results. This lens is worth every penny, which means I won't be able to afford one for quite a while.

Even though the score wasn't close, it was an exciting game. Donovan was taking an insane amount of abuse from thefans. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He deserves credit though, he played very well, scoring twice and having a hand in the other three goals. But it makes me wonder, where exactly was that type of play in Germany?

The game got really chippy in the second half, as you can see from the pictures here. One of Galaxy's defenders broke Dominic Mediate's leg on a tackle and NO CALL WAS MADE. Good lord. There was lots of pushing and shoving and 6 yellow cards issued in all. Good times!

Head over to Flickr for my photoset from the game. The DCenters have the complete match round up.

Last night I had my second opportunity to attend and photograph a DC United match, this time being the US Open quarterfinal match v. Red Bull New York. I was really excited about the match because 1) how can you not be excited about shooting professional sports from the sidelines/endlines, 2) Bruce Arena's return to RFK, and 3) these teams really don't like each other.

It was an entertaining match and DC ended up winning 3-1 behind Jamil Walker. I felt more comfortable in the photo area, mostly because the Scottish Photo Mafia weren't in attendance and I rented one of these (extremely heavy) bad boys. I also figured out where they keep the padded seats so I didn't have to stand the entire match. Bonus! My photos turned out pretty well, although not as well as I had hoped, give that I was shooting with a $1400 lens. Maybe my expectations were a bit high, after all it was the first time I'd ever used a lens that had a reach longer than 75mm, but I definitely need more practice. I'm going to try and shoot as many DCU games as I can for the rest of the season.

Shooting sports is so much different than shooting concerts. The action moves much faster, it's not necessarilly happening in one place and you have to be able to change focal lengths on the fly. It's very challenging, but at the same time it's alot of fun. I have a long way to go (and alot of expensive equipment to get my hands on) but I feel like I'm learning as I go, which is all I can ask for at this point. Plus, I get to see some great soccer. DCU is on pace for the second best season in MLS history! Their squad is loaded.

Alecko Eskandarian almost ran me over last night. He was chasing down a long ball right in front of me and just did put on the brakes before taking out the endline barrier that I was positioned behind. Good times!

More photos over on DCist and of course, in my Flickr photo set from last night. A few more are after the jump as well.

Speaking of photos, what's up with the new Rebel XTi? Very interesting.

Don't forget, bluestate tonight!

Ah Monday. I did nothing over the weekend. Absolutely nothing. And it was good. I spent a majority of Saturday and Sunday lounging by the pool, reading my new copies of Q and MOJO and trying not to get too sunburned. So much awesome, especially after the hectic July I had.

I did, however, get my shit together long enough to go see the Silversun Pickups last night and I am glad I did. They were pretty amazing, especially given the venue. The Black Cat's backstage really isn't designed or configured to deal with a band like that. And that's not neccesarily a knock on the room as much as an observation wondering what a band as accomplished as this was doing in such a small room with its junior PA system. I knew we were in for a good show when the SSPU's wheeled their amps onstage. They were as big as the stage was.

Let me go on record now saying this band is going to be huge huge huge in a very short amount of time. They have a big sound made for large venues. They'll be blowing away the bands they're opening for soon enough. The set they played last nigth could have easily gone over like gangbusters at the 9:30 Club. The songs are fast, LOUD and tight, propelled by their drummer, a dead ringer stylistically for Dave Grohl. He was just punishing his snare drums. The band has tons of hits; "Kissing Families," "Lazy Eye," "Dream At Tempo 119," "Well Thought Out Twinkles," etc. I was most impressed with the lead singer's voice. On record it sounds uber-processed, but he has the live pipes to back it up. Bottom line: go see this band when they come through your town. And get ready for a big rock show, even if it's on a small scale. I still stand by my Smashing Pumpkins comparison, but I mean it in a good way. Gish-era Pumpkins, before Billy disappeared up his own ass. Sorry for the craptastic pictures, the light in that room is pretty much nonexistant.

Crackers United has better pictures and a smiliar review from their recent NYC show. Check Myspace for some SSPU sounds.

"I'd rather poo in my mum's Sunday roast than have Danger Mouse produce a Portishead record." I second that emotion.

Ah Monday. I did nothing over the weekend. Absolutely nothing. And it was good. I spent a majority of Saturday and Sunday lounging by the pool, reading my new copies of Q and MOJO and trying not to get too sunburned. So much awesome, especially after the hectic July I had.

I did, however, get my shit together long enough to go see the Silversun Pickups last night and I am glad I did. They were pretty amazing, especially given the venue. The Black Cat's backstage really isn't designed or configured to deal with a band like that. And that's not neccesarily a knock on the room as much as an observation wondering what a band as accomplished as this was doing in such a small room with its junior PA system. I knew we were in for a good show when the SSPU's wheeled their amps onstage. They were as big as the stage was.

Let me go on record now saying this band is going to be huge huge huge in a very short amount of time. They have a big sound made for large venues. They'll be blowing away the bands they're opening for soon enough. The set they played last nigth could have easily gone over like gangbusters at the 9:30 Club. The songs are fast, LOUD and tight, propelled by their drummer, a dead ringer stylistically for Dave Grohl. He was just punishing his snare drums. The band has tons of hits; "Kissing Families," "Lazy Eye," "Dream At Tempo 119," "Well Thought Out Twinkles," etc. I was most impressed with the lead singer's voice. On record it sounds uber-processed, but he has the live pipes to back it up. Bottom line: go see this band when they come through your town. And get ready for a big rock show, even if it's on a small scale. I still stand by my Smashing Pumpkins comparison, but I mean it in a good way. Gish-era Pumpkins, before Billy disappeared up his own ass. Sorry for the craptastic pictures, the light in that room is pretty much nonexistant.

Crackers United has better pictures and a smiliar review from their recent NYC show. Check Myspace for some SSPU sounds.

"I'd rather poo in my mum's Sunday roast than have Danger Mouse produce a Portishead record." I second that emotion.

We sucked it up and went out there early on Day Two. A storm front had moved in North of the city and it was surprisingly cool out when we left for lunch. So I made the executive decision to get out to the park in time to see The National. I felt like since I was the guy that started the “The National Hate Washington D.C.” rumor, I owed it to them to go see them. But only because the weather was cooperating.

We grabbed a taxi at 10 after two and made it out there in time to hear Jens Lekman’s last song(verdict: pretty damn good). I hustled up to the photo pit on the opposite stage and grabbed a prime spot before The National went on. Being from Ohio, the crowd was very vocal and restless while waiting for their (sort of) hometown heroes. The band soon took the stage and started “Secret Meeting,” and guess what? They were amazing. Just brilliant. I was shocked. Not that I expected them to suck but I wasn’t prepared for them to be so good. Perhaps Alligator doesn’t do a great job of getting all the little flourishes across that make their live show so compelling, but they sounded like a different band on stage. As a whole, their set was more upbeat than the record, which made a big difference. They were so good I almost got to the point where I would issue a formal apology for starting those nasty rumors, but fuck that, I’m even more pissed now. I want to see them again as soon as possible. Still, The National were my favorite band of the weekend.

Liars were up next and by the time they took the stage, the sun was out in full force, so it was appropriate that their first song had a chorus of "The weather is fierce." It was so hot in the photo pit that I only lasted up there about a song and a half. I don’t know how those kids that stayed up front all day made it. It had to be over 115 degrees up there with no shade whatsoever. Liars were surprisingly good, although they got a bit grating at times. Their industrial, tribal drum circle songs were great but their shouty, anarchistic screechy metal tunes left a lot to be desired.

After fleeing the photo pit, I grabbed a beer and headed back to our base camp in the shade by the main entrance. Ms. Smith and I learned a lot from Day One and spent most of Day Two lounging in the shade, people watching and just chilling while listening to the music from afar. The sound at the festival was brilliant, so you could clearly hear either main stage from pretty much anywhere on the site. So we saw no reason to move out into the sun. And we didn’t.

Mr. Lif and Aesop Rock were next and although the crowd was really into their set, I wasn’t. I found them too wordy and lacking the fat beats needed to keep my interest. I’m not really into indie hip-hop, so it wasn’t really my thing. But I got some good pictures. They were the most photgenic artist of the weekend.

I’m not all that familiar with punk veterans Mission of Burma outside of “Academy Fight Song” and “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver,” but I enjoyed their set. They seemed like they were a big hit, which is more than I can say for Devendra Barnhart. He was a total snoozefest. I don’t think his laid-back hippie vibe was a good fit after Mission of Burma tore it up. He almost put me to sleep. Ms. Smith was similarly unenthused so we used his set to wander around, grab some food and more beer.

Yo La Tengo was up next and I finally came to grips with the fact that I don’t really care for them. But I give them props for their first three songs. They were really long so I got to take a boatload of shots, mostly of Ira seemingly in pain. It was fun to watch the performers and see how long it took them to go from dry to completely drenched in sweat. In Ira’s case, approximately two minutes. Even less for the big guy.

It was around this time we tried to catch our first act of the weekend on the second stage but they were in the middle of a set change when we went over there. It turns out I didn’t see a single act over there. I was thinking it would be insanely hot in the tent, so that kept me away but the scheduling wasn’t exactly ideal. Spank Rock, Matthew Dear and Diplo all played at the same time as bands I wanted to (or thought I wanted to) see on the main stage, so picture taking took priority.

Spoon was next on the Connector stage, so Ms. Smith and I crossed the park on more time to go stake out our spot. Once we were settled, I went up front to grab a prime spot for photos. When I got up there, Britt was hanging out in the photo pit signing autographs and talking with the kids up front. He was really cool, signing everything that people shoved in his face, smiling and chatting the whole time. Right before he left one girl grabbed him with one arm, shoved her camera in my face with the other and commanded, “Take our picture!” So I complied. Britt walked over to me and said “Alright buddy,” slapped me on the back and headed back stage. What was my witty response to one of my favorite artists on the planet? “30 Gallon Tank,” I said, but it was not to be. Spoon’s set consisted almost exclusively of new songs and a mix of material from their last two albums. I was sad not to hear any Girls Can Tell material (especially "Chicago At Night"...hello!), but their insanely tight, catchy version of “Stay Don’t Go” (by no means my favorite Spoon song) almost made up for it. Being right in front during “The Two Sides Of Monsignor Valentine” was a big thrill.

After our allotted three songs in the photo pit, I headed back into the crowd to watch the rest of the set with Ms. Smith. During Spoon’s last song, I made my way over to the other stage one final time to get ready for Os Mutantes. They weren’t really my thing, too "Uncle John's Band" for me, so after a few songs, we made our way out the back exit and quickly hailed a cab back to the hotel, where air conditioning and cold showers awaited.

Overall I really enjoyed my experience at the Pitchfork Fest. Yes the writers on the site can be pretentious wankers at times (unlike the writer of this site), but they did a great job with this event. Everything there was super cheap, from the tickets ($30 for two days), food (most dishes under $5), beer ($4 for 12 oz.), and water ($1 for 20 oz.) The lines got a bit out of control at times, but most of them moved fast and everyone inside the gates was super friendly. I felt like I got a lot for my money.

I can’t say enough about the sound. There were some hiccups during Day Two (Most notably during Spoon and Os Mutantes) but overall it was crystal clear and loud as fuck. The heat was oppressive (and that’s understating it a bit) but we did better on Day Two by just hanging in the shade and not trying to over-extend ourselves by standing in the sun. That strategy worked wonders and we were able to enjoy everything to the fullest on Day Two. Chicago itself was great. I’ve been there twice and it already seems very familiar to me.

For the Day Two photoset on Flickr, click here.
Click here to see all my photos from the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival.