PurpleStride Walk for Pancreatic Cancer: May 14, 2011

My friends started to volunteer for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network when they lost their mother to the disease last year. I had a wonderful opportunity to be one of the photographers for this year's PurpleStride Cancer Walk, which is put together by the organization. The energy and passion from all in attendance was quite overwhelming. So much so, I even started to tear up at certain points. I feel very honored to be asked to help out, and little did I know, I would end up also doing the walk!

Here are a few pictures from that great morning:

JEFF the Brotherhood at the Echo: May 11, 2011

I was told I didn't have to stay for the evening's headliners, The Greenhornes. If I had had more energy (or just lived closer), I would have stayed to check it out, and I was still debating on it, too.

When the first of *FOUR* bands for the evening took the stage, I slowly realized in my head I was getting a little too old for this. A bunch of kids quickly took to pushing and dancing, prompting another photographer to actually call security to get them thrown out.

I hadn't heard JEFF the Brotherhood before, but I was able to see photos, and I knew that it would be a pretty wild evening. There was still dancing and some pushing, which meant I lost my spot right smack in the middle and ended up off to the side. The band even asked for the house lights to go up briefly because the crowd was getting "a little aggro."

Not surprisingly, I was stepped on and shoved, and little did I know, I would later have a small chunk of my hair ripped out. Seriously. Not strands, but a small *CHUNK*.

Some photos from the evening:

Chris Robinson Brotherhood at Echoplex: May 9, 2011

Wow, four posts in less than 3 weeks?!? I'm trying!

Rollo and Grady is keeping me busy this month, and off again I went on assignment for them at the Echoplex to catch the Chris Robinson Brotherhood.

I only know a handful of Black Crowes tunes, and I definitely felt out of my element. In fact, a bespectacled boy in a blazer asked me if I knew any of the songs being played during the first half of the set, as he was apparently a Crowes fan, but had not heard the other material. It was embarrassing to admit I didn't know them, either. :P

Despite me not having the proper knowledge, Mr. Robinson and company were still engaging to me. And they kept rocking it. And then some. They probably played over two and a half hours, not counting the intermission between sets. It was a long evening, that's for sure. Not sure if I have the stamina to last through a show that doesn't get done until almost 1am!

Here are a few of my favorite shots of the evening. And if anyone knows the whereabouts of that blazer boy, please send him my way, as I'm a little bit above the "Missed Connections" section of Craigslist. ;)

Bat's Day at Disneyland: May 8, 2011

I'm a nerd living in Orange County, which makes sense that I have an annual pass to the Disneyland Resort. And with me completing all my Mother's Day duties on Saturday, I had free time on Sunday. Which I wisely used to check out Bat's Day going down at the park.

As it also turned out to be Mother's Day, it became a double whammy of visitors to the resort. I've never seen the wait to just get into the parking lot take so long!

Since it was pretty much impossible to navigate through the crowds, we stuck around to watch those dressed to the 13s congregate in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle for a picture. After they dispersed, so did we.

You can catch more shots on Flickr, but here are a few from today:

Charles Bradley and The Menahan Street Band at the Echo: May 4, 2011

When asked by music blog Rollo and Grady to shoot Charles Bradley at the Echo this past Wednesday night, I had no idea who he was. This is often the case these days when I'm sent out on a music shoot. Frankly, the name sounded like it could belong to a basketball player. I did find out later through some research that there was a former Boston Celtics player of the same name, so I wasn't too far off. But upon finding out Charles Bradley's record label was a subset of Daptone Records, it was all I needed to know I would be in for a treat.

Living a lot farther from Los Angeles than I used to be, plus just being plain older, makes one less apt and able to grab the camera equipment for a late evening of music. With no true opener except for a DJ, I arrived plenty early to secure a spot up front for the show.

Finally taking the stage 30 minutes after he was scheduled to, the band put on a fierce, sweaty, show for the young crowd. Charles Bradley seemed genuinely moved and touched by everyone in the venue, and expressed his love several times throughout the evening.

Reminding me of James Brown, Bradley shook all that he had and then some, so much so that his knee started to bleed through his white pants!

It was completely captivating. How can you not smile when you see a man in his 60s decides to stage dive into the crowd for his finale??

Some shots from the evening:

Website Finally Up!

OK, I've sadly abandoned this blog due to laziness. I'll see if this can't be rectified for 2011! Well, for the *rest* of 2011!

I have finally put up my own website. Progress! Nothing too fancy, but at least it'll be less cumbersome than trying to share my Flickr address!

Enjoy!