Back in Business...

Hey friends, It has been some time since we've talked eh? Feel like I've been shooting and writing for so many other outlets, like here, here, and here, I haven't had the time to do much on my own. But I feel like the time has come as I've been shooting some amazing things as of late like...

Camp Freddy at the 9:30 Club  

Published article here, more photos here  


Nine Inch Nails at the Verizon Center
   
Published article here, more photos here


Paul McCartney at the Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium  
Published article here, more photos here


 I also got to shoot the The Replacements reunion at the Chicago Riot Fest. But that's a whole post in itself.

 Happy to be back in action. You're looking sexy as hell. Let's hang out!

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Portlandia Tour @ 930 Club (2-22-2012)

I covered the Portlandia Tour stop here at the 930 Club last night for the 930 Club and the Washington City Paper. (WCP piece going up here later today.) Full of kooky humor, music, and special guests, like DC's own Ian Svenonius and Mary Timony, among others, it was just as entertaining live as it is on the show. Now if they'd only make the bit on the DC music scene an accessible video!

Additional photos from the show can be seen here.

Portlandia: Shooting Star Preschool
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: George Clinton & Parliment Funkadelic @ 930 Club

Glory be, the funk was on me. My piece on George Clinton and Parliment Funkadelic goes live tomorrow over at the WC Paper that is.... Update: Read all about it here.

Lights That Shine in the Evening: John Davis of Title Tracks @ Smithsonian's "Luce Unplugged" Series

I shot the Luce Unplugged December performance yesterday at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. "Luce Unplugged" is a monthly series that has a local musician come play for an hour after chatting about one of the paintings in the area of his/her choice. It's a great idea, one that showcases the two things DC has a lot of: local musicians and free Smithsonian events.

The performer for December was Title Tracks frontman John Davis, who performed some great covers, as well as tracks of his own. My piece for the Washington City Paper is live here, and you can see additional photos from the performance here.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Jens Lekman @ Sixth & I Synagogue, Washington, DC (10-5-2011)

Singer/songwriter Jens Lekman may, at first listen, seem like a strange Swede. His songs, like "I Broke Up a Fight" and "Waiting for Kirsten," a song about waiting to see Kirsten Dunst at her hotel in his hometown, seem, well, odd. Lekman's songs initially appear as silly musical stories about nothing. But then he brings out a line that just nails how it feels when go through one of the deep situations we all endure at some point while on this mortal coil, and your perception is immediately changed. Lekman covers them all, heartache/hope/love/longing, and in the end, be it from his silly stories or his perfectly capturing the human emotion in verse, you don't feel serious or melancholy, you feel uplifted .

My Washington City Paper piece will be up here later today. See more photos from the set here.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Bryan Ferry @ Strathmore, Bethesda, MD (10-3-2011)

Shooting for the WCP has me hopping lately so I've been remiss in doing the double post over to here as well. But I had the great pleasure last night of shooting the swelligant vision that is Bryan Ferry. Admittedly, I was rather nervous-when shooting an icon, you don't want to mess it up and you want the shots to be beautiful. The trouble with Ferry's set last night is that he seemed to dislike being in a spotlight. Every other band member-guitar player, go-go girls (of course he had go-go girls, he's Bryan Ferry), saxophonist, backup singers-they all had spotlights. But not Ferry. According to a member of his crew, that was Ferry's decision, something they had been trying to get him away from for years now.

A true shame because Bryan Ferry has forever been a crooner of cool and sultan of style. At 66, the man is still in great shape physically and vocally. His cover of Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" will stop you in your tracks.

See the WCP piece here and the rest of the photos from the set here.

Lights That Flash in the Evening (Err...Day): Nicole Atkins In-Store @ Som Records, Washington, DC (8-7-2011)

Nicole Atkins was in DC over the weekend to play The Birchmere but she came by Som Records for an in-store (or on-sidewalk as it was). Atkins was supposed to be plugged in, but no proper cable could be found, so what we got instead was her lovely voice and an acoustic guitar-I think we made out better in the end. If you don't know her, she's well worth investigating: her songs are observant and witty, with a voice like the blues covered in honey.

I shot Atkins' set for The Vinyl District-DC, which you can check out over here.

Surfer Blood to Release New EP, Opening for Pixies This Fall

The big rock sound of Surfer Blood is returning in October (25th to be exact) in the form of a four-track EP titled The Tarot Classics. The record is being released on vinyl, digital, and CD, and each format will include bonus remixes by Totally Sincere (Connor Hanwick of The Drums and Peggy Wang of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), San Francisco-based Speculator, School of Seven Bells and Allen Blickle. Tarot is the follow up to 2010's Astro Coast.



Tracklist
1. I’m Not Ready
2. Miranda
3. Voyager Reprise
4. Drinking Problem

Surfer Blood will be opening for The Pixies on dates this fall. Check out the coverage we did of their DC show earlier this year for WCP over here .

Surfer Blood Fall 2010 Tour Dates
(Headlining)
8/27: LOUfest Music Festival, St Louis, MO
8/31: Neumo’s, Seattle, WA
9/3: Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
9/10: Firestone Fest, Orlando, FL

9/16: Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA
9/21: Crowbar, Tampa, FL

9/22: Double Down Live, Gainesville, FL


Opening for The Pixies
10/27: The Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ * 

10/28: Asbury Park Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ *
10/29: Palace Theatre, Waterbury, CT * 

10/30: Hampton Beach Ballroom, Hampton Beach, NH * 

11/1: State Theatre, Portland, ME * 

11/2: The Armory, Rochester, NY * 

11/3: State Theatre Center for the Arts, Easton, PA * 

11/5: Paramount Theatre, Huntington, NY *

11/6: Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE*
11/8: War Memorial Auditorium, Greensboro, NC*
11/9: Louisville Palace Theatre, Louisville, KY * 

11/10: Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, TN * 

11/11: North Charleston Performing Arts Center, North Charleston,SC*

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Archers of Loaf @ Black Cat, Washington, DC (8-5-2011)

The late 90s were quite a time to be in the North Carolina Triangle if you were a music nerd. One of the Triangle's bigger-name bands, Archers of Loaf,went on its hiatus around the time of my arrival for graduate school in '98, so they were one I never got to see live. Which I think is why I wasn't so much into them then. On record, I didn't catch the melody and the hooks enough to dig further than Icky Mettle, and on that, I definitely preferred the more accessible tracks like "Web in Front" and "Plumbline.

Friday night at the Black Cat changed my mind on that. Oh, what a dumb little girl I have been.

Archers live is full of powerful bravado and a drum-and-bass combo that is a visceral call to arms. After they started, bass player Matt Gentling asked us in the first row, "Hey, if you see my amps start to topple over, can you let me know?" Amps tend to do that when you have someone pogoing in front of them for 90 straight minutes (thankfully, they stayed in place). The melodies and hooks that alluded me on record jackhammered my eardrums over the set's 21 songs and it was glorious. Archers of Loaf on record is one thing, but Archers of Loaf live was how rock music should be played.







Other photos from the set can be seen here.

Check out my piece in the Washington City Paper about the show here.

Two Phrases I Never Thought I'd Put Together: "My Photo" and "New York Magazine"

I photographed the Jonathan Richman show on Saturday at the 930 Club (read all about it here) for the paper. Shortly after their uploading, I got an email from New York Magazine asking about their using one of the photos for their concert roundup segment on their Vulture section.

A girl can't say no to that...So we didn't. Check out the photo they used here.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Tommy Stinson @ Iota, Arlington, VA (2-17-2011)

My piece on Tommy Stinson's Iota show last week went live today over at the WCP. I like the coziness of Iota but the lighting there is like shooting in a cave sometimes. Rather, a cave decorated for Christmas. I worked on them in post, but they're still too dark for my liking. You can see the full set of shots here.

One thing I couldn't put in the WCP piece was a set list from the show, so without further ado...

Match
Moment Too Soon
Hey You
Turn It Up
Making of an Asshole
One Man Mutiny (new song I believe)
Without a View
Zero to Stupid
Stupid Us
It's a Drag
Makes Me Happy
Hateful
Now We Come to Hide
Friday Night Is Killing Me
Cmon Get Happy (Partridge Family cover sung, no lie, standing on the Iota bar)

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Rogers Waters Plays The Wall @ Verizon Center, Washington, DC (10-10-2010)

My review of Roger Waters performing The Wall live is up over at The City Paper today. Photogs were allowed to shoot up to "Another Brick in the Wall" so I did manage to get the plane and the scary teacher props. Waters also brought on a bunch of kids (a local children's choir?) to sing the aforementioned. The photo pit was right in front of the stage so it was tough to get more of the full-stage shots like I wanted, but I did manage a few.

Additional photos can be seen here.

The video below is of the opening song, "In the Flesh," from Madison Square Garden a few days back.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: The Hold Steady @ 930 Club, Washington, DC (10-4-2010)

My lastest Washington City Paper review went live this morning, this time of Monday's Hold Steady show at the 930 Club. Read all about it here, and see additional photos here.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Superchunk/Tommy Keene/Let's Wrestle @ 930 Club, Washington, DC (9-17-2010)

Superchunk came to town on Friday with the great Tommy Keene and Let's Wrestle, an English band on the Merge label. My Washington City Paper review is live (rest of the photos are here) but a few things I didn't mention in my City Paper review are...

-I have not been able to stop listening to "Brand New Love," a Sebadoh song which Superchunk covered Friday night and recorded on the Tossing Seeds: Singles 89-91 record. I then sought out the Sebadoh version and HOW. ON. EARTH. have I lived this long and not known the beauty of Lou Barlow's writing? His voice delicately plays these gorgeous words and then you're hit with the massive wall of feedback, which gets louder on the last go-round of the chorus. It's such an incredibly stunning dichotomy that I'm now on a mission to educate myself in all things Sebadoh.

-Whomever it is that is doing the lighting at the 930 Club as of late, I BEG you, enough with the red/yellow lighting already. You usually do such a great job and I never have an issue but the last two weeks, you're just killing me man. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

-Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster does a riotously funny tour blog (here). Apparently, if Superchunk vs. Bob Mould were head-to-head in a loudness battle, Superchunk would win. I knew it would be close but wowza (and Wurster should know being the guy who's making a fair share of said noise). Says he:

I’d forgotten this feeling. I’m lying in bed in my friend Phil’s apartment the morning after a New York City Superchunk show– a scene that’s taken place a hundred times since I joined the band in October of 1991. And true to form, I’m in pain.

My ears are howling from last night’s sonic assault. And I’m not talking about the dressing down I received from that cop before the show (when did this “no throwing garbage cans through store windows” law go into effect?). Though I’ve spent our nine years off the road touring with other musicians (The Mountain Goats/Robert Pollard/Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar, etc) the Superchunk wall of sound is like none other. I’ve had the great pleasure of drumming with Bob Mould since ’08 and while those shows are LOUD I don’t recall waking up later with the sound of the world’s largest ocean (the Sea of Crete, if I’m not mistaken –someone please Wiki this) between my ears.(Source)

-I've always had a thing for drummers but awesome drummer + funny + cute as a button=I think I'm in love with Jon Wurster.

-Mac McCaughan, I just want to say that god bless you for showing that we older folks can still do a mean pogo. The man did not stay still the entire 90 minutes it was a great thing to watch. Oh, and Mac, "Learned to Surf" is probably one of the greatest power punk pop songs of all time.

-Tommy Keene's young nephew sat behind the drum kit for one song during Keene's set (as did Wurster). The best part? His nephew was sporting a Replacements t shirt from the cover of Let It Be. (If you don't know, Keene played guitar on one of Paul Westerberg's tours.I wish I had an uncle like Tommy Keene for reals...

-Let's Wrestle are super nice guys. I didn't get to see them at SXSW like I wanted, so it was great to see them here. And their stuff is on par with the catchy-as-hell "We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon."

Give a Listen:
-Brand New Love-Sebadoh/Buy Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock

-Brand New Love-Superchunk/Buy Tossing Seeds (Singles 89-91)

-Save This Harmony-Tommy Keene/Buy You Hear Me: A Retrospective

-We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon-Let's Wrestle/Buy In The Court of the Wrestling Let's

Lights That Flash in the Evening: The Wrens @ Black Cat (11-20-09)

The Wrens came to the Black Cat last Friday as a little outing prior to their three big shows coming up the first weekend in December at Maxwells in Hoboken, NJ. Ever since discovering them at SXSW last year where I was knocked plumb off my feet from their incredible passion and power, I've made it a point to see them wherever I could. So them playing where I don't have to travel for it? Bonus!

As those Maxwells shows include a set of fan requests, a set of their entire amazing opus, The Meadowlands, and a set of new compositions, the DC show's set list was a little insight into what's to come, all tucked into their typical energetic and vigorous playing. I'm truly hoping "Leaves Ground" finds its way into the "new compositions" set at Maxwells; full of Whelan's piano, his brother's keening guitar and Bissell's loops, it's one I found on par with "13 Grand" from The Meadowlands " or "Safe and Comfortable" from Secaucus, utterly gorgeous.









While the show was great, there were a few mishaps. The sound was....well, I'll put it this way: I saw the Ramones in 1991 and the only way I could tell the difference between one song and the next was by the "1, 2, 3" that was yelled out. This show seemed a lot like that. The Wrens are a loud band, granted, and while not loud enough so that I didn't know what song was playing, their sound this night was somehow garbled enough that I couldn't tell you words at times (and I even inquired to people who were standing in front of the sound guy who said the same thing). "North to Nothing" is a favorite so I "knew" it, but at the Cat, it sounded like "khiuhiyhhihihaaaaa," I'm sad to say.

Lead guitarist Greg Whelan also had equipment issues onstage. Whelan's stage presence is the complete opposite to the human pogo stick that is his brother, singer/bassist Kevin Whelan, but when the jack on his baritone guitar cut out after the first chorus of "This Boy is Exhausted," the audience watched as the guitar went sailing to the back of the stage. (Happily, it survived to play another day.)

(The guitar just before it went airborne ...)

Probably the sweetest moment of the night was when lead singer/bassist Whelan pulled a young boy of about 10 from the audience to hit the keys during "This Is Not What You Had Planned," the last song on The Meadowlands.



At one point, Whelan asked the kid his name ("Theron") and asked the crowd to give him props. How cool must have this 10 year old kid felt hearing an entire club chanting his name? (I found out later though that his actual name was "Darren," and Whelan had obviously misheard him above the din.) Didn't matter though, the kid was beaming. $10 says you see this kid onstage somewhere in a few years.

(During "Exhausted" I think, I kept noticing singer/guitarist Charles Bissell standing up on his toes like this repeatedly as he sang. Maybe that's a new singing technique for extra power or...something?)






(See the rest of the photos from the show here)

The Wrens have been around for 20 years now and they exert more energy in three songs than many bands half that age exert in three shows. It makes you wonder how many cases of Red Bull their rider includes. Whatever it is, it's fantastic, and consistently makes for an incredible and explosive show.