Purple Rain...

Here's another one of those long-lost random pictures I've stumbled across. I took it somewhere around the year 2000 outside an art show at "The Creamery" in Oakland, CA.

Looks more like a parking lot scene from a Prince concert...

Bumpy start to a new season...

Spent my first two shows of the SB Bowl 2009 concert season shooting from the soundboard. Then the recent fire here in SB postponed the third show, Katy Perry.

And now... The Kings of Leon, headliner for the KJEE Summer Round-up next weekend, have decided to decline a photo pass for the house photographer, me. Are they another band that has grown too big for it's britches?

I don't understand? I counted around 30 point-n-shoot cameras in the first two rows of a picture I took from the soundboard at the New Kids on the Block concert. This is going on at every show these days and point-n-shoot cameras have all the bells, whistles and mega-pixels of high end SLR cameras.

With more and more people posting to flickr, blogs and websites as well... you'd think they would want someone with more experience than the average concert-goer providing the images for the world to see?

Happy to have a home...

Santa Barbara, land of wildfires! For the second time since November, my wife and I were evacuated from our home. And, once again, we were part of the lucky bunch that had a home to come back to. After 4 days and 3 nights of hiding out with friends in Goleta, CA, we came back this evening. The crazy thing is... the fire burned all the way to Goleta, 12 miles, as well and we spent half of our evacuation time in a "warning" zone (meaning be ready to roll at a moments notice).

Things have simmered down now but the Katy Perry show scheduled for tonight at the SB Bowl was re-scheduled for August 30th. I had also planned to pull a double header and boogie to SOhO after her show and catch The Devil Makes Three. But... since we are actually still in a "warning" zone here at home and... I just moved my computer gear back into the house and... all of the film I've shot over the past dozen years still sits in the back of my truck, I'm gonna sit tonight out all together.

Since I'm feeling lucky to have a roof over my head I'm gonna relax and enjoy it.

Where have I been?...

I met Dave Gonzales (The Paladins/Hacienda Brothers) briefly back in 2007 at the Paso car show. I was hanging out with some of the guys from Blazing Haley when Dave stopped by to say hi, he seemed like such a cool guy. I learned then that he was playing in the Hacienda Brothers band and took it upon myself to catch them live then next chance I had.

That chance came a few month later at the Primer Nationals car show in Ventura, CA. Being from a small town and part hick, I enjoyed their performance a lot. I also took the time to snap a few pics while I was at it.

This was also the first time I saw front man, Chris Gaffney perform and unfortunately, as I learned today... a year and some odd days late, it will be the last. Outta the blue, I decided to check out the bands website and see what their touring schedule looked like and learned he had succumbed to liver cancer.

Thought I'd share this image I made of Chris that day. I'm a little late... but, RIP Chris Gaffney...

0 for 2...

Tonight was the second show of the 2009 concert season at the Santa Barbara Bowl and for a second time, I was stuck at the soundboard. (a.k.a. real far from the stage) To add "insult to injury," I was only allowed to shoot for the first 3 minutes of the show. I am hoping to someday understand why this is happening in the industry? Somebody please explain it to me!

Below is a view of the stage from the soundboard as it might look if you were standing there. Look real close, you can see the lone performer standing near the middle...

Click images for larger view

The next shot is one of only a few I could get in the short amount of time I was allowed, and only after mounting my camera with a 300mm lens and cropping a bit in post production...