Last night I went out to the Roseland Ballroom with almost no idea what I was going to see. I knew my friends from Trouble & Bass were DJing and I knew it was part of the massive month long Red Bull Music Academy. Other than that I didn’t know much, I really just wanted to get out of the house and shoot some photos. I’ve been so busy working on a bunch of random project that I haven’t had  much time to do any actual work.

So it turns out the event was “Culture Clash” a battle between four NYC DJ crews hosted by Miss Info. Trouble & Bass were squaring off against the reggae  crew Federation Sound, the “Global Bass” duo Que Bajo and hip hop producers/djs Just Blaze and Young Guru. I am not gonna lie, I was pretty psyched for Just Blaze and Young Guru even though I was rooting for my T&B fam.

The contest works like this: There are four rounds and the winning team gets a point for rounds two and three and two points for round four. The first round is just 15 min to do whatever you like to get the crowd hyped and no one wins. The second round is more of the same but it the crowd votes on it. In the third round each crew has to play another team’s type of music and the fourth round is all originals and live performances.

I am not gonna talk a ton about Federation Sound or Que Bajo too much because this post is going to be way too long as it is and they don’t really play music I am into. I am a massive Jimmy Cliff fan and I fuck with some other reggae stuff but dub reggae is just not my jam. Que Bajo plays some sort of mix of reggaeton, moombahton and other latin and island stuff that is pretty interesting but again, not really what I am feeling.  I will say that Federation Sound really brought it to the competition, handing out whistles and noisemakers, doing a ton of original stuff written just for the Culture Clash and as you can see in the photos basically went to war with the other groups. Que Bajo put on a fun show with dancers and MC’s and some funny disses but their photo pit was way too small so I didn’t focus on them as much as the other groups.

Just Blaze and Young Guru killed it all night. They have produced for everyone in hip hop and brought most of them on stage with them at some point in the night. They had guest appearances by Raekwon, 2 Chainz, Wale, Jadakiss, Memphis Bleek, Pharoahe Monch, Syles P and a ton of others. It was pretty wild. Just Blaze brought a t-shirt cannon and was giving away stuff all night. At one point he filled it with money and made it rain on the audience. Unfortunately I was on the other side of the room taking to a friend and I left the event just as broke as when I walked in. They killed it all night and I am a way bigger hip hop fan than I am any of the other genres so I was psyched for their sets.

But as awesome as Blaze and Guru were, Trouble & Bass brought it even harder. They were a late edition and had only a few days to get ready. Despite this they had really dumb/funny signs and Ninja Turtles prepared. They won every single round and walked off stage Culture Clash champs after calling their shot with fake NY Posts that declared them the winners after the third round. Speaking of the third round, they were the only ones who did a great job DJing another genre, but they had a ringer. They had to imitate Que Bajo, so they brought out Dave Nada who actually invented moombathon and he clearly killed it. They had some awesome special guests as well. Aside from their host all night Teli from Ninjasonik they also had Flatbush Zombies and Nina Sky perform. They brought out the big guns in the last round with an amazing performance by Robin S doing her early 90′s hit Show Me Love. Everyone lost their minds instantly. She killed it so hard. They ended their set with a great dis, bringing out Cam’Ron doing tracks that Just Blaze produced. It was amazing and they deserved the win. I jumped on stage and hung out with them while they DJ’d everyone out of Roseland. It was a special moment. So proud of those dudes.

I took SO many damn photos so if you want to get into it there are nearly 400 images in this gallery. It’s gonna be hard to pull my favorites below but I am gonna try my best.

Click here to see the HUGE gallery of pictures from the Red Bull Music Academy Culture Clash.

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)

My dude Hannibal Buress turned 30 years old yesterday and decided to throw a party at the Knitting Factory. Last time I was there was for the premiere of Hannibal’s Comedy Central  special Animal Furnace. This time there was less comedy and much more hip hop. The night started out with hip hop legend Prince Paul DJing. After that things got real weird with Hip Hop Karaoke NYC taking over. I am not a big karaoke fan but when I do it I am always tempted to do some old school hip hop classic but I have seen people fail miserably when trying to do songs they think they know every word of. Now try that while holding the lyrics in your hand instead of timed out on a screen and you are in for a disaster. It was a pretty amazing train wreck although some people certainly stood out.

Halfway through the hilarious hip hop karaoke Hot 97′s Cipha Sounds showed up. He was DJing after the karaoke but he rolled in with Action Bronson and Questlove. Quest very begrudgingly did a song at Hannibal’s insistance and he kept slowing down the track. “This is why I am a drummer. I stopped trying to rap 20 years ago.” It was pretty epic. Action Bronson enjoyed himself a bit more and did two songs including A Tribe Called Quest’s Scenario with Cipha, Hannibal and Hannibal’s insane cousin Percy. As you can see if you click that link it was epic.

After that Cipha Sounds DJ’d and although he properly killed it the crowd began to thin out as you might expect at 1am on a Monday night but the jobless people who stuck it out were in for a rare treat. Hannibal really upped the weirdness game of his 30th birthday and did a 15 minute version of his 70 second “Gibberish Rap” and invited Mario, Alvin of the Chipmonks fame and Spongebob Squarepants to join him. It was in the top 10 most surreal moments of my life. Oh, did I mention the ballet dancers? Yeah, that too. It was a supremely weird and awesome way to end the night.

Click here to see the bizarre photos from comedian and gibberish rapper Hannibal Buress’ 30th birthday party at the Knitting Factory.

Ps. I gave Hannibal a $5 Arch Card for his birthday. Never say I am not a good friend.

Ever year the Adult Entertainment Expo is held in Vegas leading up to the AVN Awards. This year I was working on a behind the scenes photo documentary for the very important photography journal Hustler Magazine. As such I didn’t have a TON of time to hit the AEE but I did spend some time there because I had to capture some of the madness. (Plus I owed the Village Voice, LA Weekly and 9 other sites a photo gallery from it.) Anyway, the convention is always a weird clusterfuck of fans and industry people trying to get autographs, get work done, sell stuff and get laid. I use it as an opportunity to find new models, talk to friends I only see a few times a year and get weird photos of weirder fans interacting with half naked girls. Honestly the highlight for me was that I made it the entire weekend without having to photograph Ron Jeremy.

I am headed back to NYC today so I am gonna make this quick, but I think you guys will enjoy the photos even if you don’t care so much about porn stars. Discounting the nudity there is lot’s of weird stuff here. Enjoy!

Click here for the NSFW photos of the 2013 Adult Entertainment Expo at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.

The 30th annual Adult Video News Awards were held Saturday night at the Joint in the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, NV. I have been covering the event for several years and I think this year was the smoothest and well done of the ones I have attended. The awards in the past have been a little tedious but I had a great time at this one. My ex-girlfriend and still good friend Kimberly Kane presented all three performer of the year awards and she killed it. The homie James Deen won performer of the year again and a bunch other people I know and don’t hate won some things. Burning Angel won some shit too. Driven By Boredom was nominated for best photography website but we sadly didn’t win, which probably makes sense because the site isn’t really a porn site despite what my parents think.

Tyga played Rack City and a bunch of other songs and the winner of the transexual performer of the year tried to blow him on stage and their was some nudity and weirdness and good times. I took a ton of photos and you should look at them. I would probably talk more about the awards but Vegas was fucking insane and exhausting and I have to drive back to LA now even though I have no idea where I am going to stay. Huzzah. Congrats to everyone who won! Pics from the Adult Entertainment Expo coming soon!

Click here to see all my NSFW pictures from the 2013 AVN Awards at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.

Every year I get invited to the Miami Dolphins Web Weekend. It’s a gathering of people who run Miami Dolphins fan sites. I know that sounds insanely nerdy but it’s pretty much the highlight of my year. You can probably stop reading now. But seriously, it was awesome. The first night we had a dinner at the team training facility where Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin and Phins great Sam Madison came and talked to us. The next day we packed care packages for the troops as part of some veterans day community service. After that we went back to the training facility for a tour and guest speakers. We got to talk to Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland and CEO Mike Dee and we watched a documentary on the undefeated 1972 Dolphins with the legendary running back Jim Kiick.

After that were the “Webby Awards” which are awards given to the best Dolphins websites. The Dolphins added a new category to the Webbys for the best community related site after former Dolphins president Eddie Jones who passed away recently. I thought my site Dolfans NYC had a chance because we have raised a ton of money for charity and have had a lot of press lately. We ended up winning not only the Eddie Jones award but also an award for best features and content. It was actually an incredibly proud moment for me and my partner Michelle.

The next day we woke up and headed out early to tailgate at Sun Life Stadium. We eventually headed inside the stadium where we watched warm ups from the sideline and then took our seats in the “Locker Room Club” which are amazing seats that are on the field right behind the endzone and then you can walk back into the stadium and watch the players come in and out of the locker room. Before the game the owner of the team was brought over to us so he could tell us how much he enjoyed our tailgate party in NYC a few weeks ago. I ended up on the Miami Dolphins Instagram account shaking his hand. It was pretty cool.

After that a game was played and we don’t need to talk about that. Let’s just say it was not the highlight of the trip. Anyway, I posted a bunch of photos from the weekend and you should look at them.

Click here to see all my shots from the 9th annual Miami Dolphins Web Weekend!

Once again I come to a blog full of nightlife party pictures and naked girls to talk to you about the Miami Dolphins. I know it doesn’t make any sense but aside from being a photographer I happen to run the largest Miami Dolphins fan group in the world. No big deal. My friend Michelle and I founded Dolfans NYC, the New York City Miami Dolphins fan club. So yesterday when the Dolphins came up to New Jersey to play the New York Jets we brought out the welcome wagon. We bought 200 tickets, loaded up two charter busses and threw one hell of a tailgate. It was amazing. We filled two sections of MetLife stadium and were so loud you could hear us on TV. The Dolphins organization even paid us a visit with owner Stephen Ross and minority owner Fergie (yes, that Fergie) came out to the tailgate. Dolphins CEO Mike Dee, Dolphin legend Nat Moore and a bunch of cheerleaders joined them. Dolfans NYC is probably the most successful thing I have ever been apart of and this was by far our best event.

Our fans were nice and buzzed on the 12 bottles of rum Sailor Jerry provided for our tailgate and we were talking smack to Jets fans all game. The Dolphins kicked the shit out of the Jets and we were pretty much the only fans left at the end. Let’s Go Dolphins was the only thing you could hear in the stadium.  It was better than Christmas. We got out of there and were back to our bar, Third & Long, by 5:30pm in time to have a victory drink and get back home before the Subway closed for hurricane Sandy.

Speaking of, not sure what is going to happen when this storm hits so I might be without power or internet for a while. So if this is my last update for a few days I hope everyone out there is safe and has a mostly enjoyable break from real life if you are stuck inside for a while.

Click here to see all of my pictures from the Dolfans NYC tailgate and take over of MetLife Stadium!