Trash Is Dead – 3.28.14

Last Friday night I went to Trash for the last time. Trash was one of the first parties in NYC I ever photographed. I remember lying to the door guy to get in cheap on New Years Eve in 2006-2007. I didn’t know anyone back then but I knew Trash was a fun party. I photographed Trash at Rififi, Home Sweet Home, 40C and finally the Studio at Webster Hall. Every party was different and in my opinion none of the locations were as fun as the original, but after 12 years of a party shit changes.

I threw probably five birthday parties at Trash and I even threw a party for the 10th anniversary of me losing my virginity! I met so many good friends, made out with so many cute girls and did an amazing amount of regrettable things at Trash. Man, I loved that party.

DJ Jess decided to call his party quits because he wanted to move on and travel and do things that he couldn’t do with a weekly party that he was responsible for. I completely understand and as sad as I am to see Trash go, it’s probably time. No party can last forever, even one as legendary as Trash.

Trash went out with a bang too. Jess brought back Alex Malfunction who had gone off to get married and have a family. Twig The Wonder Kid was there of course except he actually let me take his photo for once. The burlesque numbers from Albert Cadabra, Go Go Harder and Dangerrr Doll were extra NSFW with all three of them getting completely naked at some point. My old friend Apathy Angel was gogoing and tons of old friends came out to say good bye. It was lovely.

The party went way later than four am and probably would have gone on even longer with DJ Jess spinning encore after encore, but I decided to unplug everything during the fifth tribute to Trash. Like Terry Schiavo before it, Trash needed to be put to bed once and for all.

I ended up at a diner at 6am with everyone just like back in the day. It really was the perfect way to end Trash. I will miss it but from it’s ashes something else will rise. That’s just how NYC works.

Click here for the extremely wild photos from the last ever Trash at the Studio at Webster Hall.

Trash

Death To Trash

Death To Trash

Lady Valtronix

Anna Kickarse

Apathy Angel

Go Go Harder

This Is The End

Death To Trash

 

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Back To The Enchantment Under The Sea – 3.23.14

A few months ago I went to see a very interesting screening of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The screening took place inside the lair of the Foot Clan. There were breaks in the movie where actors dressed as TMNT characters came out and interacted with the audience. I thought it was amazing and I said so in my write up.

Shortly after Gabriel Rhodes, founder of BBQ Films who put on the screening, contacted me saying how much he loved my photos and the write up. I told him that I loved what BBQ Films was doing and that I would love to be involved in future events. We ended up getting coffee and I got invited to one of the first planning sessions for the next movie: Back To The Future.

On Saturday and Sunday night (I only attended the Sunday screening) BBQ Films brought a few hundred people Back to the Enchantment Under The Sea dance. This dance is where Marty McFly’s parents kiss for the first time so Marty needs to make sure this happens or he will have never been born!

BBQ Films turned St. Patrick’s Gymnasium in Nolita into The Hill Valley High Gym complete with not one but two DeLorians! They had the fantastic Postmodern Jukebox perform before the screening and of course they came back on during the epic moment where George and Lorraine McFly finally kiss. Marty McFly came out and played Johnny B. Goode and then they played the rest of the movie. Finally Doc Brown came out and started a dance party. It was all pretty perfect.

I only made one of the BBQ Films planning meetings because I was out of town for the rest but my one suggestion that made it to the final production was an important one. They ended up raising several thousand dollars for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for parkinson’s research. People were very willing to donate a little extra to help “save the clock tower” and hopefully make a little bit of difference in the world.

Anyway, the whole event was amazing and I hope I can be involved in future BBQ Films events. If nothing else I will keep photographing them! The photos are pretty awesome so click the link below!

Check out all the super fun photos from BBQ Films Back To The Enchantment Under The Sea movie screening and dance party!

Two Marty McFlys!

Postmodern Jukebox

Save The Clock Tower

Principal Skinner

George & Lorraine McFly Kiss!

Johnny B. Goode

Doc Brown!

Dance Party USA

Biff Tannen

 

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Road Strip With Sidney Scarlet

A new episode of my web series Road Strip is out! It’s my favorite one so far and it really gets into the heart of the Route 66 trip I did last summer. The first episode took place in Detroit with Dixie Comet which wasn’t even part of the Route 66 trip. The second episode took place in Chicago with Caprice Capone. Most of the episode takes place at Navy Pier in Chicago which is unofficially the start of Route 66, but it wasn’t until this most recent issue that we get on the road!

I drove Sidney Scarlet from Chicago to St. Louis. It took three days even though it’s only a four hour drive. On the first day we spent a lot of time dealing with her broken phone and a terrible rain storm but the episode is still full of really fun stuff like a giant chicken, the Gemini Giant and a ton of nudity! The episode ends with a quick photo shoot we did in our hotel room and guess what? You get to see those photos today! (There are even more shots of Sidney of the Girls of DBB app!)

So click here to watch the new episode of Wood Strip with Sidney Scarlet!

And click here to see the mini photo shoot I did with Sidney Scarlet on the first full day of my Route 66 adventure!

Road Strip Episode 3!

Sidney Scarlet

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Sailor Jerry House Concludes – 3.15.14

The last day of the Sailor Jerry House SXSW takeover of Gypsy Lounge was about two things for me. 1) Trying to make it through the day without dying and 2) Getting good shots of the Dum Dum Girls getting tattooed. I had been a few hours of sleep for 10 days at this point and was losing my mind. I didn’t know how I could look at another band much less photograph them. The next day I ended up getting really sick and taking a nap that ended up lasting 13 hours. I was done.

BUT the Dum Dum Girls were headlining the day party and getting tattooed after and I knew that was my money shot. My friend and Spin told me they wanted shots of them getting tattooed and I thought Noisey was going to come by. They didn’t but still wanted photos. I ended up getting shots of them on Spin, Noisey, Rolling Stone and Examiner.com. So It was in fact my money shot. Personally my favorite Dum Dum Girls shot was of Dee Dee taking a selfie even before I knew she was in the Dum Dum Girls (even though I have met her and photographed them twice – I just have a horrible memory). But yeah, cool girls, fun show and their photos made Sailor Jerry super happy with me and that’s the whole point of all of this right?

The highlights of the rest of the day involved finally seeing my pals White Mystery, getting to see Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys play Sonic Reducer, plus performances by Youth Code, Cosmonauts and the Residuals who I hung out with all week long. King Dude headlined but after I took like five photos of them I got the fuck out of there, edited photos and was about to go to sleep when everyone from Sailor Jerry came home and I ended up staying up all night anyway. Oh well, eventually I slept and the whole week was a blast! Can’t wait to do it again next year!

And that’s it! All of my 2014 South By Southwest coverage is done! I did shoot a bunch of 35mm stuff which will be making appearances on my Tumblr starting as soon as I pick up the 10 rolls of film that are currently being developed.

But until then click here to see all the photos from the final day of the Sailor Jerry House SXSW takeover of Gypsy Lounge! 

Ps. RIP Dave Brockie. You will be missed Oderus!

Dum Dum Girls Get Tattooed

White Mystery

Dum Dum Girls

Phil LaRocca Tattoos Babes

Dee Dee Dum Dum Selfie

Justin From The Residuals & Cheetah Chrome

Keep Austin Wizerd

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Sailor Jerry House – 3.14.14

Sailor Jerry House day four! I wanna get through the rest of this SXSW stuff quick so that I can move on to some new stuff I have ready to go up! Gonna try to get day five up later today so be on the look out this evening!

Okay so yeah, another long crazy day! The fantastic Alysha Nett and her crew came by early to get tattoos. She got a pin up dagger thing on her shin by Oliver Peck and her boyfriend Mike Fuentes of Pierce The Veil got a spin the wheel Sailor Jerry tattoo by Phil Larocca. Big Freedia came by after that and got swallows tattooed to her shoulders. They looked pretty bad ass. Musically the day highlight was Fat White Family who put on an insane show as you can see below.

The night time party was the Cultist Zine/ Blundertown showcase which featured another set by the lovely ladies the Coathangers and one of the most fun sets ever by the Coachwhips. The first time I saw Coachwhips frontman John Dyer’s other band Thee Oh Sees they were playing on a bridge in Austin at SXSW years ago. It was such an amazing show but I think this Coachwhips set might have that one beat. They played in the crowd so I got to shoot from behind them on stage, often helping make sure that speakers didn’t fall on top of them. It was a blast and afterwards they went and played on the same bridge. I was home editing their photos but I am sure it was epic.

So that’s it for now but look for another update tonight and some fun, non SXSW, tomorrow. In the mean time…

Click here to see all the photos from Day 4 of the Sailor Jerry House SXSW take over of the Gypsy Lounge!

Oliver Peck & Big Freedia

Alysha Nett & Crew

Fat White Family

Cerebral Ballzy

Coachwhips

Coachwhips

The Coathangers Get Tattooed

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Black Bell Records Party – 3.13.14

On day three Sailor Jerry House was taken over completely by Black Bell Records. Pretty sure 150 bands played in 14 hours but I could be off slightly with that number. Black Bell is Ayad from Passion Pit’s passion project and I have been to a few of his SXSW parties and they are always a good time. This year was no exception.

Before I get into any music I should mention that the day started with me getting a big Oliver Peck tattoo, TJ Miller showed up and we also tattooed these rad fashion blogger babes Christina Caradona and Bonnie Barton. Oliver and I played a trick on Bonnie where I drew her tattoo and Oliver put my stencil on her and she kinda freaked out about it but she was super polite. I kinda think that she would have gone ahead and got this crooked ass tattoo because she didn’t want to be rude to Oliver. Fortunately he put the real stencil on her and she got a (straight) arrow on her bicep.

The day time highlight was Ayad’s own band Team Spirit. Those kids killed it and set the tone for the wild night a head. The night party really went crazy about the time the The Lovely Bad Things went on. Their “frontman” was sort of their bassist who didn’t sing but played in between the two singers and played like a maniac getting the crowd involved. By the end of the set the rest of the band was going crazy too and as you will see below I got some rad shots of guitar playing, beer drinking stage dives.

The next band to really impress me was The Garden. They are a two man band made up of weirdly dressed male models who played loud aggressive rock and roll before launching into a weird rap break before returning to the rock shit. They were so weird, put on a great show and filled the crowd with tons of hot babes. Loved that shit. One of the two headliners was Brooklyn’s own So So Glos. They played manageably poppy punk rock  and the crowd fucked shit up along side them.  I wasn’t expecting to like them nearly as much as I did. They are playing Mishka’s 350 Broadway 5 year anniversary on Thursday and I am excited to see em again.

The night ended in totally insane fashion with a incredible performance by Diarrhea Planet. As much as I hate their name I love their live show. They have four guitar players which would seem really pretentious and awful if they weren’t all dedicated to rocking the fuck out. There was nothing pretty or masturbatory about their sound and they just put on a fucking amazing show. They started out by bringing the Lovely Bad Things out with them and throwing a shit ton of ball pit balls into the crowd and ended by bringing up the So So Glos for a cover of Fight For Your Right To Party. In between it was constant stage diving and crowd surfing and amazingness. They couldn’t hear themselves play because all their monitors got unplugged during the show but it didn’t really matter because everyone had an amazing time and I got so many good pictures…

So click here to look at all of the rad pictures from the Black Bell Records party at the SXSW Sailor Jerry House takeover of the Gypsy Lounge in Austin!

Black Bell Group Photo

Diarrhea Planet

TJ Miller

The Lovely Bad Things

The Garden

Christina Caradona & Bonnie Barton

So So Glos

 

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Grandstand/ She Shreds SXSW Parties – 3.12.14

The second day of the Sailor Jerry House SXSW event featured two different parties. The day party was hosted by the management company Grandstand Media and the night party was hosted by She Shreds Magazine.

The Grandstand party featured a headlining set by the loves of my life the Coathangers and a particularly great performance by a band called the Soft White Sixties. They also brought out the Third Man Records rolling record store which led to absurd rumors that Jack White was going to play. That was kinda great. The whole party was a really good time but I can’t really trust anyone who alphabetizes their music clients and lists all the “The” bands under T.

The night time event was hosted by She Shreds Records and my girl Alex White from White Mystery. Lot of ladies playing rock and roll which I am always 100% about and I was totally psyched about the whole night. I actually missed White Mystery and took off a little early so I could get some work done but I have photographed them like 100 times and got to shoot them two days later. I did get a chance to check out the super weird band Yamantaka // Sonic Titan which is a great/terrible band name and they discribe themselves  as “Asian Diasporic psychedelic noh-wave opera”. Perfect.

Oh, and as always there was free tattooing! Keith Underwood and Phil Larocca kept doing the free spin the wheel tattoos and Oliver Peck was tattooing VIPs! He tattooed my artist pal Buff Monster, gave the Coathangers matching “Wild At Heart” tattoos and tattooed several other people as well. Good times.

Now click here to see all the photos from the Grandstand/She Shreds parties at the SXSW Sailor Jerry House at Gypsy Lounge in Austin, TX!

Sailor Jerry House

Boy Toy

Oliver Peck Tattoos The Coathangers

Soft White Sixties

Sailor Jerry House

Sailor Jerry House

Sailor Jerry House

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

Sailor Jerry House

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Sailor Jerry House Opening Party – 3.11.14

Once again Sailor Jerry Rum took over the Gypsy Lounge in Austin for five days of madness during South By Southwest. Cheap rum, free tattoos and a LOT of rock and roll. Shit kicked off Tuesday night for a SXSW Music kick off party.

The Residuals, Cosmonauts, Destruction Unit and a bunch of other bands played plus Kurt Vile as a secret guest and set the tone for a really fun week. Keith Underwood and Philip Larocca from Austin Tattoo Company gave out free Sailor Jerry flash tattoos all night. You had to spin a wheel and get whatever tattoo that came up. It’s amazing that the line was out the door to get tattooed.

I had a ton of fun and got a couple of girls numbers and it really set shit off for the following four days… Check out the photos and then get ready for four more updates from the SJ House!

Click here to see all the photos from the Sailor Jerry House at Gypsy Lounge in Austin, TX!

SXSW Sailor Jerry House

Kurt Vile

SXSW Sailor Jerry House

SXSW Sailor Jerry House

SXSW Sailor Jerry House

SXSW Sailor Jerry House

SXSW Sailor Jerry House

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2014 SXSW Film Portaits

Every year I shoot a gallery of film portraits for the Village Voice, LA Weekly and their 9 other sister papers. Every year it’s some of my favorite work. I love cinema and the SXSW Film Fest is always really well curated. I have seen so many good movies there. So photographing the festival is always a great time.

I don’t normally enjoy shooting celebrity stuff, but I do enjoy the challenge of having to get a good portrait in the sometimes seconds I have to shoot them. I also occasionally get to meet people I really admire and I sometimes get to meet just some really good people. This year I really busted my ass and photographed the cast and/or crew of a TON of films. Let’s see if I can quickly break this down!

First of all I shot the cast and director of Two Step. Two Step is a Texas thriller that I wanted to photograph because my brother edited it. My brother has a pretty serious IMDB but Two Step was the first feature he edited by himself. Turns out it is WAY better than I thought it would be. It was probably the best film I saw at the theater and if you get a chance to see it you NEED to, especially if you enjoy really fucked up violent films. And violent in a realistic way, not a cheesy ultra gory way. The star of the film James Landry Hebert is going to get a lot of work after this and he couldn’t deserve it more. Fantastic actor and really good dude. Oh, and they got a great Variety review that mentioned my brother by name!

A highlight for me was meeting Tobe Hooper director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We had a pretty awesome conversation about the underrated sequel. Really brilliant dude. I also got to meet Tom Savini, the make up artist who is pretty much responsible for the look of zombies today. His film Doc Of The Dead looks amazing even though I didn’t get to see it.

I got to shoot Juliette Lewis for the third time. I have had a crush on her my entire life and every time I meet her I get slightly more smitten. She retweeted one of my photos saying how nice it was to be photographed by me so you guys need to see her film Kelly & Cal right away. Don’t be fools!

Speaking of smitten, Emmy Rossum is the most attractive human I have ever seen in real life. She is in a movie called Before I Disappear with Ron Perlman of Sons of Anarchy fame and Paul Wesley who is a very pretty famous vampire or so I have been told. I heard great things about their movie so I am gonna see that one for sure.

Alia Shawkat is the most photogenic person I have ever seen. She is in a movie called Wild Canaries that features my friend Teddy Blanks title sequence. Teddy did four title sequences in the festival including Ping Pong Summer which he was nominated for an award for. I went with him to the Wild Canaries after party and ended up dancing with most of the cast until they kicked us out. The next morning I photographed them all. Only slightly awkward.

I shot the Heart Machine which features John Gallagher Jr and Kate Lyn Sheil two people that I have taken fantastic photos of in the past. John Gallagher is probably my favorite person I have met doing these things and I hope the Heart Machine does as well as his last film Short Term 12.

Did I mention I got to shoot Robert Duvall for his film A Night In Old Mexico? I got to shoot him once before and he and Bill Murray gave me Hell for being late. It was an honor to be mocked by them. This year I got him one on one and he was great. Really amazing experience. Another hero I got to photograph was Snoop. He was in a documentary called Take Me To The River about music in Mississippi. I shot him with R&B legend William Bell and other musicians. Pretty cool.

Shooting comedy stuff is always the best cause the photo shoots are fun and the people will do entertaining things. Jemaine Clement has a new film called What We Do In Shadows  and I got to photograph him eating a sandwich. When I shot the cast of Mike Judge’s new HBO show Silicon Valley it was 10am and was probably the only good time I have ever had before noon. Those guys are so funny I know this show is going to be amazing. I have known Kumail Nanjiani for years and it’s awesome to see him be as successful as he is now. Also, apologies again to Amanda Crew for giving her shit about her camera lens, she is a way better photographer than I am.

This is getting way too long, let’s stop name dropping and wrap it up. Other films in the gallery include my friend AJ’s film Take Care, tennis comedy Break Point, Late Phases, Starry Eyes, I Believe In Unicorns and the cast of the new Dusk Til Dawn TV show including Danny Trejo and Robert Patrick!

I also shot red carpet stuff for Chef (which I loved), Supermench (I got to photography Mike Myers aka Wayne Campbell!), Neighbors (Zac Efron selfie), A Night In Old Mexico and Cesar Chavez. I also got to shoot Cesar Chavez portraits but they gave me less than 30 seconds and were missing a cast member and Diego Luna and they were kinda rude about it (the publicists not the actors0. Rosario Dawson is also insanely attractive in real life. I have had a crush on her since the mid 90’s.

Okay, I am done! Click here to see the giant gallery of 2014 SXSW Film portraits!

Robert Duvall - A Night In Old Mexico 1

Emmy Rossum - Before I Disappear

From Dusk Til Dawn

Alia Shawkat - Wild Canaries

Jason Douglas, Ashley Spillers & James Landry Hébert - Two Step

Jeremy Sisto - Break Point

Jemaine Clement - What We Do In The Shadows 1

Silicon Valley

Snoop - Take Me To The River

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