Here’s a portrait of Los Angeles band Mind Meld that I shot last month with a Nimslo 35mm film camera. You can catch them live at Echo Park Rising next month.
Category: music
Jeff Parker, John Herndon, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and Emmett Kelly
If you you’re in Los Angeles this weekend, you can catch these four exceedingly talented musicians performing live. Jeff Parker, John Herndon and Emmett Kelly are Angelenos who, like me, used to live in Chicago. I’ve shot Parker and Herndon with the band Tortoise (they’re both members), as well as solo and with other bands they’ve played with. Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Parker, and Herndon have all been involved in the improv music scene I’ve been documenting over the last few years. And I photographed Emmett Kelly for “The Corner Man” album cover, from his band The Cairo Gang (the far left photo is Kelly from “The Corner Man” photo session, then left to right, Parker, Flaten, and Herndon, for my improv portrait series).
Jeff Parker plays this Friday at the Blue Whale, Saturday at Human Resources (with Flaten), and Sunday at the Griffin, where if you’re lucky you can catch all four (Parker and Herndon will be playing, Kelly will be D.J’ing, and (according to Jeff) “maybe” Flaten.
Mucca Pazza at Mass Moca
This is the second Mucca Pazza video I’ve had the great pleasure of working on; I shot, directed, and edited this one a few years back: [br]
Jandek: This Saturday at The Echo in L.A.
The wonderfully enigmatic singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jandek will take the stage this Saturday (May 24th) at The Echo in Los Angeles. Tickets available here. I shot the picture above at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, in September of 2006.
Permanent Records & Record Store Day
In 2006 I photographed Liz Tooley and Lance Barresi, owners of what was then a new record store in Chicago, Permanent Records. Since then their business has thrived; the flagship store remains and they’ve branched out to Los Angeles, where they have a store on Highland Park’s York Avenue, a mile away from where I just moved. Tomorrow is Record Store Day, so why don’t you give them a visit? [br] [br]
Pussy Riot in Los Angeles!
Last night I was fortunate to watch (and photograph) a discussion with Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova and Maria (Masha) Alyokhina of Pussy Riot, on a panel with Wayne Kramer, Shepard Fairey, Anne Litt, Pyotr Verzilov, Hunter Heaney, and Chris Holmes.
It was sad and infuriating to hear Nadya and Masha detail how Vladimir Putin and others have tried to silence them in many ways, including prison terms and physical attacks; but also incredibly inspiring to see how they have persevered, courageously standing up—risking their lives in fact—to stand up for human rights (their own rights and the rights of others).
Wayne Kramer had sobering as well as hopeful things to say about incarcerated Americans; his organization Jail Guitar Doors is involved with education and rehabilitation, including providing musical instruments to inmates.
The event was organized by Hunter Heaney and Chris Holmes’ organization The Voice Project, which strives to effect social change through the power of music.
Frankie Knuckles, Rest In Peace
Brilliant Chicago house music trailblazer Frankie Knuckles died Monday, more details reported to be coming Tuesday. I was fortunate to to meet him at his home on my birthday in 2003, to photograph him for a Remix magazine cover.
Jon Langford video: Drone Operator
A video for Jon Langford & Skull Orchard’s powerful song Drone Operator was recently released, which I helped shoot (hint: I didn’t film the military/drone shots). Here’s a Langford interview from a couple days ago in Vice, where Jon talks about the song, the Mekons, aboriginal music, how he came to make an album against the death penalty, and more.
This is the second Langford music video I’ve been lucky to be involved in; I also shot this one.
My Sleepy Hummingbird
This is the musician known as My Sleepy Hummingbird, along with his unusual guitar, outside The Hotel Utah Saloon, in San Francisco, right after an outstanding open mic performance. Here’s one of his songs, from KC Turner Presents:
The Appleseed Cast at Fireside Bowl
I shot this picture of the Appleseed Cast at the Fireside Bowl (where they performed later that night) circa 2001. They’ll be back at the Logan Square bowling alley and music venue this Thursday and Friday, August 8th and 9th.