Blundertown is company that books rad rock and roll shows in LA. They helped book two of the day parties (Friday and Saturday) at the Sailor Jerry takeover of Gypsy Lounge. On Friday they teamed up with the skate clothing company Altamont and thew a party with King Tuff and Hanni El Khatib headlining. There were a lot of great bands (check out their recap) but my personal favorites were White Lung and the bad ass band Hunters who I got to see at CMJ.

On Saturday Blundertown teamed up with LA Record for some punk rock awesomeness. They had NoBunny open the madness and The Spits close it out with a bunch of insane band in between. Cole from the Black Lips DJd and tons of rock and roll fun was had by everyone.

On Friday Keith Underwood tattooed anyone who was willing to throw a dart at a dartboard to pick their tattoo. It was all rad Sailor Jerry flash so you weren’t gonna be screwed but it’s still funny to see people getting a tattoo based on a dart throw. My man Terry Brown did the dart tattoos on Saturday and everybody’s favorite TV reality show host, Inkmaster’s Oliver Peck, tattooed bands and VIPs both days (like my home girl Alysha Nett). Oliver is fucking hilarious and not a bad tattoo artist, so it’s always fun to have him around. Terry tattooed a little bird on me when we were fucking around and I love doing events with him. Good times.

Anyway I have so much more SXSW stuff to get up so we are going to try to speed these right along. Check out the pictures from both parties and get ready for more “SXSJ” stuff tomorrow!

Click here to see all the pictures from the Blundertown/ Altamont party on Friday at Sailor Jerry x Gypsy Lounge!

Click here to see all the pictures from the Blundertown/ LA Record party on Saturday at Sailor Jerry x Gypsy Lounge!

I still have a ton more photos from the Sailor Jerry South By Southwest madness, but let’s take a break before we get back to it. On Thursday Check Yo Ponytail, Mad Decent and Fool’s Gold all threw a huge party at two venues in Austin. Part of the show was at Emo’s East and the rest was a parking lot away at Emo’s Annex. Tons of bands, tons of DJ’s and a ton of fun.

I got a quick break from the Sailor Jerry party so I ran over to the Super Party and in about two hours I got to shoot Trash Talk, Wavves, Brooke Candy and Andrew WK. I was psyched to shoot Trash Talk because last year my flash got broken during their very first song so I couldn’t take any pictures. I saw Wavves for the first time last year and they were awesome so it was good to see them again. I am kinda obsessed with photographing Brooke Candy and I hope I get to do it again soon. I have shot Andrew WK a number of times but he always makes for good pictures. On the way back to the SJ party I got stuck in traffic and abandoned my rental car up a hill in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic. Somehow the ticket was only $30. God I love Austin.

Later that night I was waiting on friends and I had some time to kill so I went back to the parties. I hit Flosstradamus, Pictureplane and then A-Trak right as my friends arrived. I only shot about 30 seconds of A-Trak but I have photographed him maybe 200 times so I think it’s okay. The whole party was a good time and I am glad I got to check out a little bit of it. I hope you guys the pictures.

Click here to check out all my photos from the Check Yo Ponytail, Mad Decent, Fool’s Gold SXSW Super Party!

Thank god South By Southwest is over! Not that it wasn’t amazing, it was, but I am exhausted. I think I broke my foot and I think I have slept a total of 7 hours in the last ten days. Good times! I am very ready to head back to NYC and sleep in a bed but my 10th SXSW was a fantastic time. The big finally for my SXSW trip was the Thrasher party, Midnight Massacre, at the Sailor Jerry Lounge. Hours of metal and cute skater girls and lots of rum. Oliver Peck tattooed some bands and there were a lot of people walking around with injuries and skateboards. Today Is The Day and Mondo Generator headlined. You can check out the rest of the line up here. I got a ton of shit to do today so I gotta make this short. Tons more SXSW photos to come when I get back to NYC, but until then enjoy these shots. See you guys soon. Skate or die or just look at  photos.

Click here to see all the pictures from the Midnight Massacre Thrasher Magazine party at the Sailor Jerry Lounge.

If you haven’t noticed I am in Austin for SXSW. My main gig down here is working for my favorite client Sailor Jerry. They are doing a TON of events down in Austin to promote their spiced rum and I am shooting all of them. I am working around the clock so I don’t have much time to work on the website but I wanted to get some pictures up from a pretty fun party that happened on Wednesday.

Sailor Jerry took over the Gypsy Lounge all week and throws two parties a day. The night party on Wednesday was thrown by SJ,  CMRTYZ Dolce Vita, and shoes who gave a way and insane 500 pairs of their shoes. The line was down the block for a free pair of shoes and a bunch of awesome bands played. The Coathangers are one of my favorite new bands and they totally killed it as always. I was pretty into Slutever’s Hole cover and we talked a bunch about the other Slutever and how they should t-shirts together and split the cost. They gave me a 7″ so I was psyched. The Jacuzzi Boys are playing a bunch this weekend and they fucked some shit up and Shannon and the Clams were so weird but yet so awesome. They are pretty much the soundtrack to a John Waters movie in every conceivable way. Summer Twins, Colleen Green, The Mallard and Audacity also played but I have to go take more photos now so let’s keep it moving!

Click here to see all the photos from the CMRTZ/DV8 OMG Free Shoes party at the Sailor Jerry at Gypsy Lounge!

Gotta make this quick as SXSW Music week is in full swing, but I wanted to try to get some more stuff up while I had a chance. I saw five films at SXSW and I shot the red carpet for each film. I have seen some really great stuff at SXSW and this year was no exception.

The opening film was the Incredible Burt Wonderstone with Steve Carell, Jim Carrey and Olivia Wilde. Steve Buscemi and Alan Arkin were in it too, but sadly they didn’t show up to the red carpet. Huge films that open at SXSW tend to be really, really funny and Burt Wonderstone was fucking hilarious. Go see it even though it’s about magicians.

The next film I saw was Prince Avalanche directed by David Gordon Green. It had Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch in it. It was a slightly confused movie, somewhere in between a comedy and a slow meditation on loneliness. I enjoyed it but I think Paul Rudd fans will find it pretty boring.

The highlight of the festival for me was Joe Swanberg’s film Drinking Buddies. I have known Joe for about 10 years and I have seen probably 5 of his films and enjoyed them all but Drinking Buddies blew me away. It was his first film with big name actors and that helped make the film more accessible and added a lot of emotion that you don’t get from Joe’s indie film friends. I remember thinking Hannah Takes The Stairs was the most real film I had ever seen, but this film had that same realness with a lot of talent and acting chops behind it thanks to Ron Livingston, Anna Kendrick, Oliva Wilde and Jake Johnson. Jake Johnson is really a fantastic actor and was in my favorite film of SXSW last year, Safety Not Guaranteed. At the press conference after the movie all the actors were so complimentary of Joe, I was so damn proud. I think this movie is going to do really well and make Joe a household name. Fuck mumblecore jokes.

Spring Breakers had the most hype at SXSW and it totally lived up to it. Harmony Korine is a fucking lunatic and makes the most insane films that exist. Spring Breakers is no exception. I don’t even know if I liked the film but I was really glad to see it. You need to see it. James Franco plays his weirdest character yet and a bunch of teen idles play over sexed criminals. Also, on the red carpet watching teen girls try to trample each other to get to Selena Gomez was pretty amazing too.

The last film I saw was Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s film Don Juan. He wrote and directed and starred in it. Tony Danza played his father and was really great in it. Tony Danza needs to be getting more work. Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the other hand can fuck himself because he made a film about how bad porn is. Fuck that shit, you puritanical motherfucker. Don’t go see Don Jon. Stay home and jerk off to porn instead.

Click here to see all the red carpet pictures from the 2013 South By Southwest Film Festival.

Every year I split my South By Southwest adventure into two parts. The second week, which starts today is music week and total hell. I work 20 hours a day, take thousands of photos and never sleep, but I tend to make more money than any other week of the year. But the first week is sort of a vacation. I work for the Village Voice, who let me do whatever I want, and I get to shoot movie stars, eat BBQ and watch a bunch of movies. After 10 years of this I have so many friends in Austin and the SXSW Film Fest is pretty much my favorite event of the year.

For my Voice gallery I set up a bunch of mini photo shoots with actors and directors and then I also shot a few red carpets. I will get the red carpets up this week if I have a minute to do so but I wanted to get these portraits up because I am really happy with them and I think you will dig them. My insanity starts tonight but I have a few hours before I have to start working.

The highlight of this gallery is actually for a SXSW Interactive but it features a bunch of movie/tv stars so I am keeping it in this gallery. It’s the cast of JASH the comedian run new YouTube channel from Tim & Eric, Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera and Reggie Watts. I am a fan of all of them so it was great to get a chance to shoot them. I knew Reggie back when I first moved to NYC. I didn’t know if he remembered me but when he realized I ran Driven By Boredom he started talking to me about the naked girls I shoot and told Tim & Eric they needed to see my site. It was a pretty good look and I have loved Reggie’s stuff for years so maybe he and I can do a real shoot because he is the most photogenic human alive.

I got to shoot the stars and director of Milo a film about a monster that lives in Ken Marino’s ass. It sounds completely terrible but I have heard nothing but amazing things about it and I cannot wait to see it. Evidently it is absolutely hilarious. My friend Joe Swanberg (who’s film Drinking Buddies seems to be the talk of the festival) told me that the director Jacob Vaughn was really good and it stars hilarious people in Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Steven Root and another comedian I know and love Kumail Nanjiani. Ken Marino was of course on The State, the last great sketch comedy show and directs pretty much the greatest thing on the internet, Burning Love. Gillian Jacobs is on Community which is one of the weirdest and best shows on TV. She aslo happens to be totally not ugly and was the nicest person I met all week.

My favorite photos I took were for the film Short Term 12, another movie I hear great things about. I got to shoot Brie Larson, who is in pretty much every film at SXSW, and John Gallagher Jr. John is one of the stars of The Newsroom which is the best new show on TV. If you haven’t seen it stop fucking up and steal someone’s HBO Go password immediately. I got to shoot them by the river and it made for some lovely photos.

I got to shoot M. Blash and Chloë Sevigny for their film The Wait. I have had a crush on Ms. Sevigny since I was 15 and I actually was kinda star struck around her which hasn’t happend to me in a long time. I shot her in a plant. It was really important. The first photo I took all week was of Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere. There is a documentary about him called “We Cause Scenes”. I have been an Improv Everywhere fan for a long time and I noticed him at the convention center right after I picked up my badge. I also got to shoot Paul Walker and the director of Hours. Paul was really excited and knew all about my 35mm camera which I was not expecting. You don’t expect the star of Fast and The Furious 6 to be a camera nerd. I shot my friend Davy Rothbart who runs Found Magazine with two of his Medora documentary stars. He spent a season with a high school basketball team in a dying town in Indiana. The film looks really phenomenal as well. I also shot Josh Duhamel, the star of the film Scenic Route. He seemed like a really good dude unlike Adam Brody from Some Girl(s) who pretty much acted like I didn’t exist. His co-star Mía Maestro was lovely though and I very much want to see the Neil LaBute film.

So yeah, that’s a huge write up, but I really like these photos so you should look at them.

Click here to see all my South By Southwest Film Festival portraits!

As we speak (or as I type) I am on an airplane headed to Austin, Texas on my way to South By Southwest. This is not just any SXSW for me; it is my 10th straight SXSW. I started out traveling to Austin when I managed a dance pop band called The Gaskets. After the Gaskets broke up I started going as a member of the media, covering it for the last six years with a camera in hand. This year I am going to be EXTREMELY busy and I will be on the road for at least two weeks. I have a feeling that I won’t be able to update this site as much as I would like to so I wanted to put this post up. I WILL be updating my Twitter, Instagram and most importantly my Tumblr. I will be posting highlights from every day on Tumblr so check over there if I am slow to update this site.

Anyway, in honor of my 10th at SXSW I wanted to give you a little break down of some of the highlights of the last 10 years. Austin is crawling with musicians and celebrities so this list is going to sound a little (okay, a lot) name droppy, so I apologize for that in advance. Just don’t read it if that sort of thing is as grating to you as it is to most people. I am going to include some links and photos to keep you guys entertained while I am busy taking photos 14 hours a day. And if you are going to be in Texas over the next two weeks hit me up! See you guys in a food truck line! (Read the article)

I am busy as hell today and tomorrow getting ready to go to Austin for two weeks for SXSW. It should be a hell of a trip but I have way too much to do before I leave. Luckily I found some naked pictures to keep you entertained in the mean time but we gotta make this quick.

Kimora Klein is a porn star from Miami famous for her butt, her deep throat abilities and her being in an almost near fatal car accident a few years ago. The adult industry came together and ended up raising a lot of money to help her pay for her bills. These days she is fully recovered and working a day job but she still does some adult work too. Her day job just happened to be right near my hotel last time I was in South Florida and while I was waiting for my friends to get into town we did a quick shoot in my empty hotel suite. We also tried to feed some ducks chewing gum but that’s irrelevant.

So yeah, click here to look at these naked photos of Kimora Klein and her awesome butt and I am gonna finish doing my taxes before I leave town.

12 years ago today I launched Driven By Boredom into the world wide internets. I was in my second and last year at the Penn State University. I hated it. I had a girlfriend who lived 6 hours away, I was a punk rock kid in a town with no punk scene and I was a straight edge kid at a frat filled party school. The year before I had started a party photo website that ended up being so successful that I had become a minor celebrity on campus which I hated. Being stopped by frat dudes at 8am on the way to class was a nightmare. I quit the blog and spent most of my time in my dorm room playing on the internet.

I was so bored at school. I barely did any school work and as I mentioned I didn’t have much of a social life. In high school I ran a record label, a magazine, played sports and got in trouble with my insane friends. I was constantly busy so being bored was something I wasn’t that used to. I hated it so I started coming up with projects to kill time. I was making stupid videos and I was selling weird fake shit on eBay and I was making horrible music on my computer.  I was always taking photos but emailing them to my friends was getting to be a pain. I needed a place for all these projects and a site to host my photography. My brother had a website and he had found a little community of webmasters who ran what they called “E/N” sites. E/N stood for Everything/Nothing. They were the first blog sites and I decided to create my own.

I decided on Driven By Boredom because it was quickly becoming my motto. I always needed something to fill my free time so I wouldn’t be bored. Everything from starting a record label to selling trash on eBay was all driven by a fear of being bored. For a while I had an idea of getting a tattoo that read Driven By Boredom and it eventually became not only a tattoo but an early logo for my website.

The site got very popular very quickly. It was a mix of a few projects that went viral and convincing fans of my site to send me photos of their boobs with BORED written on them. Tits = hits was an early motto of the internet and even back then my site was known for the nudity, even if I wasn’t even taking the photos. By 2002 I was getting thousands of visitors a day which in those days would have been like hundreds of thousands. The site now gets more that twice the traffic that the old site ever got, but I don’t get a 10th of the fan/hate mail that I did back then. It was a really amazing experience.

Unfortunately I made a huge mistake of letting a friend of a friend host my website. He disappeared from the internet one day and my site was down for almost two months while I had to rebuild the site almost from scratch. I had to get a new design and although I managed to recover most of my content that was backed up on my hard drive I lost a lot of stuff and a LOT of traffic. My site never really recovered. I kept blogging but it wasn’t as much fun and I was just constantly angry about it. I started blogging less and less and in 2004 I started managing a band called The Gaskets. I put so much effort into the Gaskets that by 2005 the site was pretty much just an advertisement for them and I only updated like once every three months.

I tried to revive Driven By Boredom once using Blogspot, but I gave up on that quickly. In September of 2006 I moved to New York and started going to a lot of dance parties. I bring a camera with me everywhere I go and so I started taking photos at these parties. Last Nights Party and the Cobrasnake had just blown up and everyone was asking me what website I posted my party photos on. I had met Cobrasnake years earlier back when he was doing Polaroid Scene and I didn’t really get it, despite running a successful party photo site in 2000, but by the time I moved to NYC it was pretty oblivious how popular party photography was.

I decided to bring Driven By Boredom back from the dead and started posting terrible photos on it because I was just fucking around. I think that was probably a mistake because by the time I started making a little bit of money and taking party photography seriously I think I had a reputation as a shitty photographer. I remember people being shocked when they would see my (good) photos after not seing my site for a while. I was a pretty good photographer back in 2006/07 but I just didn’t care about party photos.  Even though I take it seriously now, as it pays my rent, I still think party photos are bullshit and it slowly eats at me, but that’s a story for another time.

So yeah, I started bringing my real camera into clubs and then I started bringing my flash into clubs and I started hustling. My internet skills plus my old fan base plus naked girls plus me covering all of NYC south of 14th St with stickers added up to Driven By Boredom getting very well known, very quickly. A year after I moved to NYC I quit my job and started running the site full time. After 8 months I ran out of money and had to get a job again, but in December of 2008 I was laid off from that job after the economy tanked. I happened to book two big gigs in January of 2009 and I never looked back. It’s been more than 4 years of doing this site for a living and DBB has come a long way since 2001.

DBB 4.0 is on it’s way and when the new site drops there are going to be a lot of changes. Personally I can’t wait but I don’t have much of a choice since the two people building my site have full time jobs and I am paying them about a 1/100th of their normal rate. But by the DBB 13th anniversary things should be a lot different around here. I just hope the next 12 years are as fun as the last 12 years. See you guys in 2025.