Barrence Whitfield and The Savages at The Bell House

Barrence Whitfield is one agile fellow considering that (how do I put this delicately?) he's been doing this for a while. Hell, I thought Ken Boothe was surprisingly agile, jumping around as he did. Barrence Whitfield was doing somersaults off the monitors. Dang.

Posted: 9/15/2013 at 12:34am     Tags: Barrence Whitfield and The Savages  The Bell House 

Har Mar Superstar at Brooklyn Bowl

For such a big venue this felt like an awfully small show.

Early in his career Har Mar Superstar performed solo, singing over a backing track provided by a minidisc player. Although the player is still there, nowadays he usually performs with a band and/or dancers. For example at this show he had a guitarist and drummer.

The thing is, Har Mar is not just the center of attention but pretty much the entire spectacle. His dancing and singing are what it is all about. So while the band provided a little something, the performance was really all about this one guy on a huge stage. It didn't feel right. Too cavernous. I picture Har Mar Superstar performing on a small stage at a place with lower ceilings. Somewhere more intimate even if the dance floor is still spacious. But hell he's been doing it for ten years so what do I know?

Posted: 9/10/2013 at 8:58pm     Tags: Brooklyn Bowl  Har Mar Superstar 

Delicate Steve at Glasslands Gallery

Delicate Steve. That is not the world's best nickname. Fortunately I'm pretty sure it's the name of the band, not lead singer/guitarist Steve Marion. Unfortunately he's going to get stuck with it anyway. We all know very well it's going to happen.

They are best known as the band behind the world's most bullshit press release. The press release was such impressive bullshit that it was reported on by NPR. Yes really.

Posted: 9/7/2013 at 4:22pm     Tags: Delicate Steve  Glasslands Gallery 

Beach Fossils at The Well

It's about time I photographed Tom Gardner's band Beach Fossils. Of course lead singer Dustin Payseur gets most of the attention for some reason. Repeatedly stage diving might have something to do with that.

Posted: 9/2/2013 at 9:53pm     Tags: Beach Fossils  The Well 

The Dwarves at le Poisson Rouge

So here is the story of how Blag Dahlia ended up sitting on my face. Actually, your imagination is probably more interesting than the real story so feel free to stop reading.

The real story is just this. He was crowdsurfing as lead singers are wont to do (especially when they have wireless mics) and was moving or being moved back towards the stage. I was standing right near the stage, no surprise there, I'm a photographer. He came towards the stage with his legs apart and I kind of reacted too slowly. I got trapped, tried to move away but the stage was right there, and ended up bent backwards over a monitor on the stage with this guy half-standing over me. He skeedaddled real quickly.

Thank goodness I didn't get sat on by He Who Can Not Be Named.

Now, I hadn't stretched before the show. Honestly I'm not sure that I have ever stretched before a show. Bending that far backwards wasn't too comfortable but I suvived. For that matter I kept shooting. It was no big deal. However I was sore enough after the show (for various reasons, almost as many as there were audience members) that I skipped their "secret" show at The Grand Victory later that night. That'll, uh, show them?

Posted: 9/2/2013 at 12:03am     Tags: le Poisson Rouge  Scenic Presents  The Dwarves