Letter 3 Photography: September 2011

Not gonna lie. The 20-something version of me is having a blast as of late. In a week where I have already been fortunate enough to see and cover Pearl Jam, Weezer, Queens Of The Stone Age, and a few others I get an impromptu lunch performance by Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum. It's like I am back in college and I've just stocked the fridge with a 36-pack of Hamm's that I spent a grand total of $8.68 on.

Dave is Friday Night's headliner at Concrete & Grass. A 3-day music festival in St. Paul, MN. He was the guest speaker-slash-performer at an Artist & Industry class held at McNally Smith College of Music also located in St. Paul, MN. He talked about the life of a musician and the mind-set you have to have with the general theme of the afternoon being, "You aren't getting any younger!" In-between antictdotes and answering questions he picked up his acoustic and gave the student body Runaway Train, Black Gold, & Somebody To Shove. I have heard these songs a 1000 times but there is something about listening to a song so ingrained into you subconscious but hearing it completely stripped down especially with Pirner's raw vocals that can only be described as amazing. It's right up there with the lunch I had with Thurston Moore as the best meal I never ate.

Now I just need The Beastie Boys to come to town. I'm pulling for you MCA!

Historically Labor Day Weekend has signified the end of Summer. I tend to look at it more like the beginning of Fall. It's the half-glass sort of thing I suppose and in my world there are only 3 seasons. Hockey, baseball, and festival and it is the latter that just came to an end. With that I am afforded the opportunity to hatch plans for next year and find a way to Pitchfork, Lollapaloza, and Coachella. I can also cross things off my list of things to do like Soundset, Rock The Garden, and Warped Tour. This all came to head with a grand finally weekend that can best be categorized as one for the ages.

It all started at The Minnesota State Fair this past Saturday with The Butcher. His name is Ryan Wood and he is 17-years old. I remember when Ryan was a grom snaking the old guys at the bowl and now he is all grown up and ripping. This one was a lot of fun as I hadn't shot any skateboarding since we closed the skatepark like 2 years ago. I had to dust off the d70 for this one. Fast action and lots of sun meant I needed that 1/500 of a second sync speed. This was my favorite shot of the set...over-crook with extra steez.

I was at The Fair on assignment for City Pages to shoot the big Weezer/Motion City Soundtrack (MCS) show at The Grandstand. With MCS having two native sons and claiming Minneapolis as home I had this crazy idea to have them take in the fair as I documented it. Cheese curds, giant slide, shit-on-a-stick type stuff. After a few e-mails back and forth between their management and publicists they had agreed. I spent about an hour with them as the made their way through the crowd shaking hands and taking pictures with fans and of course there were cheese curds and giant slide. Things on a stick went vastly ignored although we were on a hunt for beer on a stick until we found out it was basically 3 small cups of beer on a wooden paddle. Here is my favorite from that set 4/5 of MCS.

Then it was over 96.3 NOW Stage to see my homeboy Grey Coyote perform. It was him, his guitar, his laptop, an old tape machine, and a couple of other goodies thrown in just for fun. The quintessential one-man band if you will. This was a ton of fun to watch and listen to as he made his way in and out of his sonic toy box.

Then it was time for the show. I was in college during the mid-90s and Weezer was in heavy rotation so I was pretty excited when this show was announced and jumped all over this one. Here are a couple of favs from their set.

Once I got home it was time to edit photos, recharge the batteries, and pack for Alpine Valley because The Wife and I were on our way to see Pearl Jam, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Strokes, Mudhoney, and a more at PJ20. Speaking as a child of the 90s Pearl Jam was pretty much a way of life and the heavy rotation Weezer was in failed in comparison to the influence Pearl Jam had on me. They are the reason I started playing music. They are the reason I wanted to shoot rock bands once I took up photography. I was at their 10 year anniversary show at the MGM Grand in Vegas back in 2001. Ten years later I would be covering their 20th birthday party on assignment for City Pages. The only thing that could have made this weekend any better would have been a baseball game but hey, I'm not complaining.

The minute we get into the venue Joseph Arthur took the stage and no sooner do I post up and pull out a camera does he decide to throw water on the crowd and a few other photographers. Uh ok? That d-bag maneuver is soon forgotten though as I look up and see Matt Cameron, Mike McCready, and Jeff Ament have joined him on stage. Well that didn't take long I thought to myself as I fired away.

As they were finishing up I made my way over to the other side stage as Liam Finn was getting ready for his set. I was the only photographer over there but that didn't last long. Liam was playing guitar, adjusting his effects pedals, and dialing in his loop station. Once he got it were he wanted he set the guitar that was now on loop back in it's stand and took the throne behind one of two drum sets that were on stage when what I can best categorize as a whirlwind flew across the stage and assumed control of the mic. That whirlwind was Eddie Vedder.

Glen Hansard was up next. Just one guy and an an acoustic guitar. Great command of the stage and bonus points for the accent. The call and response and the sing along stuff he did only added to his charm.

After his set we made our way to the media tent had a quick bite to eat. Anna (The Wife) went to our seats and I made my way to the front of the stage to shoot the customary first 3 songs from the pit. Mudhoney was up front and the pit was a complete cluster. Let's just say I wasn't the only photographer there. The crowd was pretty slim and I wasn't really digging my spot in the pit so I hopped out with the people and shot them from the 2nd row where I had plenty of room to move around and get the coverage I wanted.

Up next were Queens of The Stone Age and they absolutely murdered it. After I was done shooting I made my way back to our seats and Anna and I just looked at each other and basically asked one another why we don't listen to them more often. I don't think that will be an issue going forward.

The sun had set and Queens Of The Stone Age had left it all on the table. The crowd was abuzz as The Strokes took their turn at the helm. The didn't move around much which was nice because there was very little light on stage. Cranked up the ISO on these guys and battled with red and blue light but still managed a couple of usable shots.

The anticipation was mounting all day as it was time for Pearl Jam's set. That anticipation soon turned to frustration when I found out we would only get 2 songs to shoot Pearl Jam and that it would either be from from stage right or left. There would be no photogs center stage. That frustration didn't last long though. It was Pearl Jam and I was about to shoot my favorite band on their 20th anniversary.

Not a bad weekend.

Letter 3 Photography

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Last Week's Work

Friday, September 9, 2011

Frustrated Inc.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

One For The Ages