Putting the XXX in Xmas
A Cruddy XXXMas at the Ritz, Detroit, Dec. 23. My dreams about Santa will never be the same again…
Crud
Dirty Danielle grabs a pre Xmas package from Vin E. Those Crud kids are so naughty.
Combichrist at Majestic Theater, Detroit
There are three things that give music photographers nightmares: heavy backlighting, heavy red lighting, and fog. Combichrist liberally applies all three.
I'm not quite sure how I pulled these out of my ass.
Shiny Toy Guns at Meadowbrook Music Festival
I was having a lot of technical difficulties with this set — getting my exposures right and my shutter fast enough. Not to mention a very high stage and big amps in the front of it, plus little room to move around security in the pit. The adjustment from dive bar to arena can be a bit rougher than I anticipated. I was also struggling to get the feel of my new 70-200 lens and learning to juggle shooting with two cameras.
Dope at Emerald Theater, Detroit
Dope
opening for Black Label Society.
Ace Enders at Meadowbrook Music Festival
Opening for All American Rejects.
Running with Panthers at Small’s Bar – Hamtramck Blowout
I'm going to guess that many who may stumble on this blog will have no idea what Hamtramck Blowout is. In fact, you probably have never heard of Hamtramck.
What rock have y'all been living under? I recently saw a list on AOL along the lines of "Fastest Dying Cities in America"
and guess who made the top 10? That's right, Hamtramck is number 7
according to Forbes. Or, "Hammy," once you get to be on a first name
basis with her and all.
So anyway, this city on the edge of Detroit is a Polish neighborhood of
bakeries and discount shopping by day, and the stomping grounds of
Detroit musical bohemians by night. So what better place to have the
largest music festival in the country, with 275 bands playing in four
days?
Wait…make that four nights. Just under 300 bands playing
between the hours of 9pm-1am on those four nights. Pretty impressive,
eh? Does that sound like a dying city to you?
As you can imagine, this took place over many venues, but most
within close enough proximity for walking. Doing my first Hammy Blowout
was like a Detroit music sampler platter, and I would shoot 10-15
minutes of a band's set, then move to another venue. With a few
exceptions, where I lingered a bit longer.
Running with Panthers (at Small's Bar) was one of those exceptions.
Running with Panthers is not breaking new musical ground. They are not challenging the accepted conventions of rock music. They're simply a bar band who rocks out on stage and puts on a good show. They are obviously having fun, and that's contagious.
And that's kind of the point. Not taking yourself so damn seriously — it's rock and roll for chrissakes.
Which brings me to why I chose to start blogging Hamtramck Blowout with this particular band. Below I've reposted a video from their site…MTV Cribs, "Running with Panthers" style.
Humor is a good thing, even in rock and roll. Especially in rock and roll.
Running with Panthers CRIBS ONLINE
PS. FUCK YOU Forbes magazine, with your "dying cities" bullshit.