Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant Art Show – 6.3.10

I am on a plane on the way back from LA and I was going through the stuff that I was supposed to do while I was on the left coast, when I realized I never put up the pictures from Ninjasonik’s art show.  I have no idea why.  I delayed them a bit because I pitched them to Complex mag but they ran the pictures from Ellen Stagg’s art show instead.  I waited about a week and then I planned to put them up but clearly I just completely flaked on it.  So here are some photos from nearly a month ago.

Ninjasonik sent out a ton of copies of their “Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant” single to a ton of their artist friends and asked them to each design a cover and then they held a big art show at the Front Street Galleries in Dumbo.  Tons of people came out, artwork was sold and Todd Seelie had a birthday party.  Todd is one of a few nightlife photographers I really think is a lot better than me.  He also got me my first job at the Village Voice so I pretty much owe being a full time professional photographer to him. So I was glad I could be there for his birthday. And check out his site already…

Anyway, the art show was really rad and you should just click this link right here to see all the pictures from it. That would be the reasonable thing to do.

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EDC Part 1: Fucking Backpacks, How Do They Work?

Over the weekend there was this insane rave in LA called Electronic Dance Carnival. I just happened to be in town during it and I had a few friends DJing, so I figured I would request a press pass.  I shot over 2800 photos over two days.  Over 100,000 people showed up on Saturday for one of the most mind-blowing event I have ever been too. After I ran out of cards on the first day I went to Kinko’s with a hand written piece of paper and came out with 1000 of the most ghetto business cards the world has ever seen and handed most of them out.  Then I lost my phone and had my flash battery die on me at the same time and I flipped out and went home before I even got to see MSTRKRFT play.

Now, because I shot so many photos I am going to wait until I get back to NYC to get them up. Its just too much of a pain in the ass to deal with on my last two days in LA.  I get back Wednesday and day one should be up that night or early Thursday. This means that if I gave you a business card on Saturday your pictures should be up on Thursday or Friday at the latest.

On day one of EDC I told everyone I was working for the LA Weekly because they only had a photographer there on Saturday, but the Weekly just put up the other photogs pics and it looks like they only ran images from Friday. So I don’t know if the LA Weekly is even going to run any of these images, but if they do hopefully they told people that the outtakes would be posted here… and they will be.

Basically this whole post is to tell my fans to get ready for some total weirdness from EDC and to tell people looking for pictures that they will be up soon. Why don’t you take a look around the site while you wait?

But what I am posting today is still pretty hilarious even if it is only a teaser to how ridiculous this event was.  After I was done shooting the first night I realized that I had photographed over 50 pictures of adults wearing backpacks made for children.  Of all the silly stuff about rave culture the back packs to me are the funniest.  It seems that Hello Kitty is by far the most popular back pack, but Muppet, specifically Elmo, are a close second.  I guess the kids who were making their parents kill themselves to buy Tickle-Me-Elmo for Christmas have finally grown up and are eating unreasonable amounts of ecstasy and dressing like toddlers. After I realized I had shot so many backpacks on day one, I really went after it on day two and assembled a lifetimes worth of hilarious photos.

Peace, Love and Unity you got… but if you dress like a 7 year old you aren’t getting Respect.

Check out the first batch of cringe worthy photos from the Electronic Daisy Carnival by clicking here and then come back later in the week to see the real pictures.  They are pretty fucking amazing. PLUR.

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Cerebral Ballzy – 6.24.10

The other night I went on a mini date with this girl at a burger place for milkshakes. She had to meet up with some friends and I was gonna meet some people at a pool party but we had a little to kill so we met up.  Let’s just say it did not go super well… So 20 minutes later I realized that my boys Cerebral Ballzy were playing about five blocks away.  I texted them and they were just setting up.  I booked out of the milkshakery and headed over to an all ages club called “The Smell” that lived up to its name. The club was filled with tons of 15 year old kids, Ballzy, Roofeo from The Death Set and Juiceboxxx who had just finished his set.  It was a pretty weird scene.  The kids moshed and tore shit up while Ballzy crushed them while taking breaks between songs for Honor to try to wake himself up and encourage the teens to commit crimes and get fucked up.  Good times were had. Makes me wish I was fifteen again going to punk shows in church basements in DC.

This makes the second time I have seen the Brooklyn based Ballzy but despite their geographical conviencence I have never seen them in NYC.  I saw them at Skull By Skull Now in Austin last March and now in Downtown LA of all places. Both times I took pretty shitty photos of them. I wonder what that’s all about? Maybe I will have to wait until I get to see them in the 718 to get some good shots of the boys.

In the mean time, click here to see the photos Cerebral Ballzy rock the fuck out of The Smell in LA.

PS. For extra credit, can you find my logo in their video? It shows up twice in the first 6 seconds…

PPS. Yes, you can use the word Milkshakery. It is my gift to you, my fans. Just make sure you credit me.

Cerebral Ballzy

Cerebral Ballzy At The Smell

Kids Moshing To Cerebral Ballzy

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Morrissey/ Smiths Convention – 6.20.10

I shot the Morrissey/ Smiths Fest at the Music Box in Hollywood for the LA Weekly. You can see that gallery here.  Or you can keep reading to see the rest of the pictures on my site.

I am not at all a Smiths fan but I love photographing conventions and things and meeting people who are just completely in love with something I don’t really know anything about.  Listening to people talk to eachother in some sort of code language that only the truely obsessed can understand is great. Most of these people probably rarely get the chance to talk about whatever it is they love in their every day lives, so they can come together at conventions to geek out together.  I feel the same way about football.  I have very few friends who give a shit about sports, much less football, much less the Miami Dolphins.  I had to start my own Dolphins club in NYC so I could just have a place to talk football a few times a year.

As part of doing the Moz Con, I had to help interview people for the LA Weekly article and I learned a few things about LA Morrissey fans.  The first thing is nearly 90% of the people we met were latino.  I actually suggested we intentionally try to talk to some white kids to diversify our questioning sample and the first white dude we asked’s last name was Sanchez or something.  The other thing I learned is that there are a lot of really big rockabilly chicks who are into the Smiths.  Like dozens of huge girls with rock and roll looks and bad Moz tattoos.  They were all super cute and super nice though, so I’m not trying to talk shit.  I learned that Moz Con is super family friendly and lots of people brought their really fucking adorable kids out. And lastly I learned that Morrissey fans are really awkward dancers.

The convention was actually a lot of fun even though I don’t care for the music.  There was a trivia contest and an Irish Smith’s cover band called These Charming Men.  There was a Moz impersonator and a lot of people selling Smith’s merch and bootleg records.  I bought Nirvana and Black Flag bootlegs so I would have CD’s to listen to in my rental car.

Also I should mention that Richard Blade who was a radio DJ who helped introduce The Smiths to the US was the host of the thing, and Michael Rosenbaum who played Lex Luthor on Smallville was there to watch it all go down.

Lastly, what is your favorite Smiths/ Morrisey album? And who do you prefer: The Smiths or Morrissey?

Click here to see all the Smiths/ Morrissey Convention photos at the Music Box in Hollywood.

These Charming Men

Richard Blade

Michael Rosenbaum

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Phoenix Askani

I shot Burning Angel Phoenix Askani in my friend Jason’s huge suite at the Roosevelt Hotel in LA. We were up there watching game 7 of the Lakers/ Celtics game with a bunch of people. After the game we ordered an insane amount of room service and got fat while people rioted in the streets.  Then everyone went to hang out at the pool party down stairs while Phoenix and I did a quick shoot in the room.

Phoenix is s0 super cute and I have been wanting to shoot her forever.  I can’t wait to shoot her again when we have a little more time and neither of us are falling asleep and there is not a riot going on outside. Still, I think we got some pretty nice shots anyway.  I mean like I said, she is a total fucking babe.

Um, yeah, by the way, these photos are clearly NSFW. They are also kinda dark which I would spend time fixing if I wasn’t on fucking vacation. Don’t judge me.

Click here to see all the super babelicious photos of the radical Phoenix Askani!

Phoenix Askani

Phoenix Askani

Phoenix Askani

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A Secret Party – 6.18.10

I didn’t realize how bad these photos were until just now…

I have had a great time in LA on vacation and perhaps I am not working super hard when I do shoot and I probably wouldn’t have shot at all except that Franki and Trevor from IHeartComix let me set up my own list at this secret party at “Thesex”. I felt like I should get them some pictures.

Franki Chan gave me a flyer for this show the night before and told me Spank Rock and Amanda Blank would be there.  Franki and New Yorkers Star Eyes and Nick Hook were on the bill but no one else. It turned out Atrak and Switch DJ’d too.  The whole thing was crazy and hot and full of cute kids.  I met a few girls and hung out with my best friend who lives in LA. It was all awesome. I met some really rad girl who I was sure was named after a camera lens but she never hit me up.  I also took some pictures of other stuff.

I just realized this isn’t making a lot of sense. I am sort of half awake.  All I know is that Spank Rock killed it and I fall in love with Amanda Blank more and more every time I see her.  Also I wanted to shout out to all the NYers at the party like Jessie and Isabella and of course Nick and Starreyes. And one more NY shout out.  My old friend from NY Johnny Makeup from VIP was there and performed with Spank Rock. Awesome.

Anyway, I need to either go out or lay down, I can’t figure out which.

Just look at all the sub par photos from Thesex before the cops came and shut the whole thing down an hour after bars closed everywhere else in LA.

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Night Swim – 6.17.10

Thursday night was sort of madness. I went down to the Roosevelt pool at about 5pm and I didn’t get home until around 9am. I am just glad I brought my camera with me.  I hung out by the pool with some hot babes and my friend Jason who used to be the editor for Inked but now works for Playboy.  Playboy sent him to LA for E3 but he had some meetings cancled so I hung out with him for two days in his gigantic suite. I guess he hasn’t quite made the switch to Playboy from Inked yet because all the girls we were hanging with were Burning Angels instead of Playmates. I’m not complaining. After the pool we went back to his suite to watch the Lakers game.  When the Lakers won there were riots all over the place, but in Hollywood it was mostly just kids screaming outside.  I kinda wanted to photograph the riots but instead I took a ton of naked photos of Pheonix from Burning Angel who is pretty much just retardedly hot.  I think that was the better move. Those photos should be up pretty soon…

After the shoot we went back down to the pool where there was a huge party going on.  I had no idea Night Swim was a thing but it was pretty much amazingly fun.  The first two people I saw where Franki Chan and Spank Rock so it was great to see people I knew right away. I walked about 10 feet and Todd from Inked had a bottle and was surrounded by a half dozen Inked models.  I walked around the pool and I saw my friend Tyler sitting with Bam Margera (who was maybe as drunk as I have seen anyone ever) and Johnny from Kill Hanna and Ashes Divide.  Later I ran into an ex and the first girl ever to get the Driven By Boredom tattoo.  Right then I ran into my friend Nikki who I built a website for. I turned around and my friend Presely who was one of the first Suicide Girls was tapping me on the shoulder. Later I ran into one of the hottest girls ever who just happens to be my LA crush’s sister who introduced me to this guy Aaron Paul who I realized I had met and sort of hung out with at Sundance two years ago.  He is on the show Breaking Bad which I have yet to see but everyone keeps telling me is amazing.  I also ran into my aforementioned LA crush and met a bunch of fun people and cute girls and even a few fun cute girls.  The whole thing was great.

After they kicked us out of the pool I invited about 20 random people up to Jason’s suite for a party that lasted about 10 minutes until the security guards kicked us out.  There were three guards led by one of the bigest humans I have ever seen in my life, so that party ended pretty quickly.  When everyone left we were down to Jason and I, the Burning Angels Jessie Lee and Phoenix and Jorma from The Bronx with his girlfriend and friend. Everytime I hang out with Jorma in LA shit gets crazy but he and his girlfriend needed to go to bed so their visit was cut short.  The rest of us just spent the next two hours laughing crazily about shit for no reason.  I honestly don’t remember much of it, but at one point we were throwing forks at eachother and through out the two nights they drank every thing in the mini bar and orderded about $500 in room service. It was total madness.

Right before we were about to head out we got a phone call from Jorma. Evidently his girlfriend had left her phone in the room. It was on vibrate and the room was a mess of botttles and cans and trash and Playboy magazines so it took us a while to look for it, but after a good search we realized it couldn’t be anywhere. When we told Jorma that he asked us if we had looked in her purse which he said would be right next to her shoes.  What?  Clearly there was no purse or shoes here, we had searched the whole place.  When we left the apartment Jorma and his girlfriend were standing in the hall way and she had no shoes on.  They were so drunk they told us they had just been in the elevator for the last three hours.  We told them we couldn’t find the phone.  Jorma’s girlfriend was worried because there were “dirty” pictures on the phone.  Jorma was like “Who care’s if someone sees your boobs?” and she was like “But baby, they are of you!”  At that point Jessie Lee just lost it and was pretty much crying with laughter.  When we left them they were standing in the elevator even though they didn’t have a key to make it move.  It was sort of a legendary evening. I beleive they amazing eventually found their stuff somewhere on the 5th floor of the hotel.

I then drove Phoenix to Joanna Angel’s house in the Valley and then took Jessie Lee to her friends house in Silver Lake and finally made it home around nine in the morning.  It was noon in NYC and all my friends were just waking up. Good times.

Click here to see all the pictures from Night Swim at the Roosevelt Hotel pool. The rest of the evening went pretty much undocumented… Which is probably for the best.

Night Swim @ The Roosevelt

Aaron Paul & Jack Novak

La Lakers - NBA Champs

Bam Margera & His Girlfriend

Night Swim @ The Roosevelt

Jonathan Radtke

Jamie Hilfiger

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Justin Tranter’s Birthday – 6.16.10

Hey. Did I mention that I am in LA?  Cause I am. I am going to try to update daily but I am pretty much on vacation so be patient with me…

So on what was essentially my first night in LA (I slept though my first night after being awake for nearly 40 hours…) I found out that my friend Justin Tranter from the NYC based band Semi Precious Weapons was having a birthday party.  It was at the side bar down stairs at the Viper Room and you needed a secret password to get in. Since everything closes so fucking early in LA I was only there for about an hour but it was great to see a bunch of New Yorkers in LA as I am getting warmed up for this adventure. You will recognize Jocelyn and Alex Magentic from my galleries if you are a DBB regular and Lady Starlight was in town as well as some of the other Precious Empire regulars. It was a good time, but somehow I didn’t see Justin’s whale shaped ice cream cake which I might have just made up right now.

After Justin’s party I snuck into the Rainbow Room for last call and then ended up in the Roosevelt Hotel until 7AM in a room paid for by Playboy hanging out with porn stars and magazine editors. Good times. I did the same thing last night and it got super weird which I will tell you guys all about tomorrow in what I hope to be a pretty epic update.

Until then, click here to see the pictures from Semi Precious Weapons’ Justin Trainter’s birthday party at the Viper Room.

Justin Tranter

Stevy Pyne Of Semi Precious Weapons

Justin Tranter & Lady Starlight

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The Hipster Grifter Naked!

One of the most trafficked blogs I have ever posted was a few nude pictures a friend sent me of the now infamous Hipster Grifter.  For some reason I was the only person who had them, and when her fameball burned brightest I was getting tens of thousand hits a day.  Well Kari Ferrell is out of jail now and trying to make her way back into the spotlight.  I posted pictures of her at the Webutante Ball and pictures of her at Sway without her shirt on.  She is back in Utah now but she is making the move to NYC soon and is working on a reality show, still writing for Animal and in general doing weird shit all the time.  She is actually rad as fuck but I keep an eye on my wallet at all times.

The other night I got her naked while we were waiting for the J train.  I think you should click here to see all the pictures of Kari Ferrell AKA the Hipster Grifter naked. Obviously NSFW.

The Hipster Grifter

The Hipster Grifter Naked

Kari Ferrell Naked

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