If you have been a fan of Driven By Boredom for more than a couple of years you might notice that it’s not really a party photo blog anymore. I used to shoot parties almost every night and I had a blast doing it but things change. I got older and I priced myself out of doing it… I’m not gonna go shoot my buddies weekly party for $100. But one of the main reasons I stopped doing it is because there just aren’t a lot of places I want to go to anymore. I imagine that somewhere out there people are throwing amazing parties and doing crazy shit and I just don’t know about it, but if you walk around the Lower East Side it’s pretty clear that Downtown is dead.

Jerome’s was one of the last Manhattan bars where if I walked into it on a random night of the week I knew I would run into some people I knew. When I had friends in town I would have them meet me there if I couldn’t convince them to come into Brooklyn. My friends ran it, my friends DJd it and my friends drank there and while Jerome’s as it existed is a relatively new bar, the place has history.

I used to party at St. Jerome’s all the time. I met so many people there and did many shady things in those bathrooms. It was the kinda dirty rock and roll bar that existed all over the lower east side until a few years ago. When St. Jarome’s closed I was bummed but it was quickly re-opened under the new Jarome’s name and after a couple walls were knocked down the place was bigger and better even if it was (slightly) less shady.

But now two generations of Jarome’s are gone and last night they threw a hell of a party to mourn it’s demise. It was one of those occasions that brought everyone back out again. A big reunion where we all get together to talk about how we old we and how everything used to be. It’s a conversation that will be happening for the rest of time as more and more condos go up and banks replace bars and culture is pushed farther and farther out into the boroughs. Yeah we all got old, but it’s easy to look around and see that downtown Manhattan is no longer a place for art and music and creativity.

So last night was fun to reminisce and when it was last call there was a good 20 minutes of pure madness and New Yorkness, but then suddenly we all had to go and by 4:20am the party was over and another bar was gone to be replaced by some sort of cocktail lounge for finance bros who moved into one of the many giant buildings that have been built south of 14th street in the last 7 years.

So I shot proper party photos for the first time in months and it felt really good, but then I woke up this morning thinking about how I should probably just fucking move to LA like everyone else…

Rest in peace Jarome’s. It was nice to have you while we did.

Click here to see all the pictures from the last night at Jarome’s.

After writing 1200 words about fucking wrestling I think life calls for me to make this post a lot god damn shorter. This is everyone’s favorite post of the year for some reason and it’s my second to last Gathering of the Juggalos post. I am on a bus to DC where I am getting picked up tomorrow to go on a mini vacation so let’s just enjoy some weird juggalette nudes and let’s all move on with our lives okay?

So the last few years there’s been less nudity than normal at the Gathering. The Wolfpac girls seem to wear clothes now and even the Busey Beauties were fairly well dressed. Luckily juggalettes give no fucks about clothing or standards of beauty and there were plenty of horrifyingly wonderful boobs to go around.

I also should mention that while most of the Busey Beauties were quite clothed, Mike Busey brought out a woman aptly named Jenny Jizz who was just blowing dudes all weekend. At some point if you bought a Busey Beauties t-shirt you got a free blow job. Like, I am all for promiscuity but blowing 50 juggalos without using condoms seems dangerous for humanity. People keep asking me about those photos but I am not gonna post shit like that on my site… Fortunately for you scumbags I did post them on Girls of Driven By Boredom because I like money. So go fucking sign up now if you haven’t.

Okay, this post is way too long already. Let’s look at some photos. Btw, normally I photoshop the Insane Clown Posse’s faces over the images I post below but I found a few mildly safe for work images in the edit so I don’t have to deal with that shit on a bus.

And one more thing… If you want to see past naked juggalette posts just click here.

Now click here to see the newest gallery of naked juggalette photos from the 2016 Gathering of the Juggalos.

Last night the first of several BBQ Films screening of the original 1984 Ghostbusters went down in Williamsburg at Villain NYC. I have hyped BBQ events over and over and over again but I gotta do it again. They just keep killing it.

When people came into Villain they had to walk past actual Ecto – 1 from the new Ghostbusters film and then up to a receptionist who was the spitting image of the original Ghostbuster’s receptionist. She gave you all the information you needed to hunt ghosts and start training to become a Ghostbuster.

Throughout the massive warehouse there was one thing after another for a wanna be Ghostbuster to do. Characters from the film walked around the space harassing guests and posing for photos. There was a Ghostbusters Hall of Fame and and a photo booth where you could relive the scene where Dana is attacked by her own couch. Even Lord Vigo was there and he wasn’t even in the first film!

BBQ set up a series of spooky lectures from an actual nuclear physicist and a interactive slime station. Upstairs there was a training center where you could throw a ghost trap, try on a proton pack and play every Ghostbusters video game including the brand new one that debuted at the event last night. There was even an ESP testing center where you actually got shocked if you guessed wrong.

I realize this write up is totally disjointed and rambling but there was seriously so much going on and that was just for the pre-party. Before the movie was even shown they also had a Q&A with the creators of a documentary about Ghostbusters fans called Ghost Heads that featured pro-wrestler Zack Ryder who is apparently an insane Ghostbusters nerd. The Q&A is going to be different at every screening I believe so you never know who is going to show up if you go to any of the others.

Oh, there was also Ecto Cooler and Ecto Cooler booze which is really important.

Okay, I am sure I am missing a ton of stuff but it was a great time. Also, they showed the actual movie which almost seemed anti-climatic after all the other interactive madness. There was an interactive element to the movie as well but I will let that be a surprise for anyone going to the other screenings this weekend.

Now click here to see all the pictures from my trip to Ghostbusters HQ!

I spent my birthday at Pier 84 photographing the Sailor Jerry Fleet Week party. It was the culmination of a week of Sailor Jerry Fleet Week events honoring sailors (Navy, Marines & Coast Guard). They gave out free drinks, hair cuts and tattoos and then threw this huge free party with a live performance from Cage the Elephant.

I didn’t make the other events but I saw Cage The Elephant at Lollapalooza in 2011 and they blew me away so I figured this would be a pretty good way to get paid to have fun on my birthday. I have shot thousands of bands over the last 20 years and Cage The Elephant are one of those bands that really sticks out. I went out and bought one of their albums after seeing their live show

Aside from the Cage show there was a lot going on. For some reason there were a couple Playboy Playmates hanging out and arm wrestling sailors. No one seemed to mind them cheating for some reason.

Ink Master judge Oliver Peck was giving sailors free Sailor Jerry tattoos all day. I have photographed a lot of Sailor Jerry tattoo events and it was awesome seeing the right people getting the classic tattoos for their original meanings. Last time I saw Oliver he was tattooing my knee so it was nice to see him without wanting to pass out.

They were giving out on site silk screened shirts and my friend Myles was sewing Sailor Jerry patches on the shirts or whatever you wanted. And did I mention the free drinks? There were a lot of free drinks.

Shortly before Cage went on, the Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus drove a custom Sailor Jerry Harley Davidson on stage and gave a toast to the troops and the proceeded to take hundreds of selfies with sailors and other fans. It was pretty impressive to see him spend over an hour taking photos with people and signing autographs.

Finally Cage went on and after shooting their first few songs I decided I had taken enough photos to just enjoy the rest of the set. I had a couple of drinks and they got right on top of me because I hadn’t eaten or slept because I am terrible at life. So I ended up staying late talking to US Navy guys about the nature of war and service. Pretty intense way to start Memorial Day.

I finally left and met up with some friends for dinner and ended up sobering up a lot as soon as I got food in me and then started to get drunk again and ended up at some punk show and on a roof in the rain and talking hockey with some fucking Penguins fan at a metal bar and then went home and ordered $40 of delivery food before passing out while watching Game of Thrones. Did anything important happen?

Oh right, photos, sorry… let’s do this.

Click here to see all the photos from the Sailor Jerry Fleet Week party at Pier 84.

Last night the Insane Clown Posse played New York. Given that my favorite people to photograph are juggalos I of course had to go. This is maybe the third time ICP has played NYC in the last decade and I think I have been to all the shows, but this time they played Webster Hall where I have spent countless hours of my life.

They played the middle floor of Webster aka the Marlin Room which is kinda a weird space for a band that spends most of their set throwing two liters of soda at the crowd. The ceilings are low and the room is wider than it is long so unless you were right by the side bars you couldn’t really avoid getting hit with a bottle. I took one to the head and I actually have a cut from the lip of the bottle.

One of my best friends was in town because we were ICP fans in the mid 90’s before juggalos were a thing. That’s how I got into shooting juggalos in the first place. I had a pretty good background in ICP before I started documenting this wonderful madness. He hasn’t listened to ICP in the last 15 years but thought it would be fun to come up from DC for the show.

So I shot photos before the show and after the show but during their set we just ran around getting covered in soda and moshing with juggalos and whatever one does at a concert when they aren’t shooting photos. I don’t even remember how that works. It was actually a lot of fun.

I should also note that there were a ton of under cover hipsters in juggalo costumes there which I guess is probably Camille Dodero and my fault for breaking the internet with our original Village Voice cover story that lead to the massive amount of media at the Gathering of the Juggalos every year. See if you can spot the juggalo tourists!

Now click here to see my photos from the Insane Clown Posse show at Webster Hall!

Last night I went down to the Lower East Side’s Castor Gallery to check out Jeanette Hayes‘ show ‘Paradise??’. She combines classical painting with “futuristic” holograms (that were popular 20 years ago) to create a feeling that you might get if you were to walk into The Met 200 years in the future when .gifs and bedazzled MySpace pages stand next to Greek statues and Renaissance paintings.

In Nothing But Flowers the Talking Heads once sang “If this is paradise, I’m gonna need a lawn mower.” Well if this is Paradise, I’m gonna need a new Tumblr.

Aside from the wild art it was an awesome chance to see a lot of people I used to hang out with in night clubs when I first moved to NYC. Turns out all those people are still here, they just happen to be in their 30s and going to art shows instead of dance parties. Oh, and there were a lot of puppies for some reason. Puppies are very important in the New York art world.

The show is going to be up all month so make sure you get a chance to check it out. And go down stairs where there is a video installation and drawings (Plus National Geographic holograms!). And thanks a bunch to Jeanette and Castor for having me out last night. I had a blast.

Click here to see photos from the opening of Jeanette Hayes’ ‘Paradise’ at Castor Gallery.

And that was easy. All my SXSW posts are done in one day. Aside from FloodFest I only shot two other events and one of them was a private dinner so we only need two updates. Magical.

After hitting the Levitation party last year I figured I would stop by Hotel Vegas again for the 2016 edition. I was only there for an hour or two but I got to see a bunch of bands since they had four stages. I got there just in time for Thee Oh Sees which is part of my SXSW ritual (I have probably seen them 20 times in 13 SXSWs) and I got to see Saint Pé which was cool and I shot this fun band Creepoid who got Sailor Jerry tattoos the very next day.

I also ran into the radical September Girls and ended up running into my friend Tess and my friend Erica and my friend Ronen. All of these people are great so the party was extra fun. But the best part of the party might have been that it was on St. Patrick’s Day and almost no one was dressed in green. Oh, did I mention that there were infinite cute babes at the party?

I have kinda a terrible back so I decided I should go drop off my camera gear and go back out to have some SXSW fun but instead I didn’t get off my sick air mattress until I needed to go eat pancakes in the middle of the night. Party forever.

And with that all my SXSW updates are over. Go look at this quick gallery and I am gonna go unpack.

Click here to see some photos from the 2016 Levitation SXSW Showcase at Hotel Vegas in Austin.

After a few days to recover getting up this year’s South By Southwest posts is going to be really easy. I didn’t shoot the film fest and unlike in past years I pretty much just suck to one event during music week. I got hired by two different clients to cover Flood Magazine’s FloodFest day parties at Cedar Street Courtyard. I was there starting at 11am so I had to be up every day by 8:30 or so. Normally I would just get no sleep all week but it was my 13th SXSW and for once I decided I would take it easy. I did shoot two other parties but one of em was a private thing so I only have one update after this one. Praise rock music Jebus.

So yeah, FloodFest day parties! 30 bands over four days! I could list them all or you could just look at this list over here. I was there for Sailor Jerry again who had Keith Underwood and Phillip LaRocca doing tattoos all week and Original Penguin the classic men’s wear line that was gifting bands and had one of those evil photo booth things set up that cost me jobs (just kidding).

Let’s just bang out some highlights.

Best band: I really loved Sir The Baptist. Gospel, hip hop and r&b mixed with a hell of a live show. Real worth checking out.

Most fun band to hang out with after: September Girls were these rad Irish babes who played on St. Patrick’s Day because of course. I ended up running into em later in the day too and they all got Sailor Jerry tattoos.

Worst/ Best tattoo: The winner of the best and the worst tattoo goes to the front man from the band American Bombshell who got SXSW 16 tattooed to his knuckles. Holy shit.

Best babes in Austin: I had Ela Darling and Carter Cruise come visit me. Always good to see my worlds smash into each other. Ela was in town for the Interactive part of SXSW and was giving talks on VR in the Adult industry. Carter was in town DJing and ended up getting a pretty sick SJ tattoo.

Other friends getting tattooed: The homies Ho99o9 came to get tattooed and get some free Penguin gear. It was awesome to see this savage punk band in button up shirts. Hollywood Holt also came by to get his hand tattooed. My friends Keaton and Tess came by and got little jammers too and while not that interesting as far as the write up goes it was nice to hang out with them.

Other bands I dug: The Heavy, Deap Vally, So Pitted, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down and although they were a little to chill for me Polica was a huge crowd favorite. Over all most of the bands were pretty good although there were a few exceptions that made me want to murder all of music but I will probably just go ahead and not mention their names.

Anyway, go look some photos and thanks to Sailor Jerry and Original Penguin and Flood Magazine for having me out. Also thanks to Phil for the absurd SJ tattoo! Now go look at way too many pictures!

Click here to see a TON of photos from the 2016 SXSW FloodFest at Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin.

Last night my new zine Public came out and we had a party at Leftfield. It was real wild as expected for a party in a basement thrown by myself and Boobs of Bushwick. I hate throwing parties cause I always get annoyed at the people that don’t show up but apparently the people who did show up had a blast cause I keep getting texts and Tweets about it so I guess we did something right.

I think we did make one mistake is that we threw a party in the Lower East Side which is accessible to North Brooklyn by a train that stops running at 11:45 because fuck the MTA. So at 11:30 the party was fucking insane and by midnight it was just pretty chill. As someone who hates putting pants on before midnight it was kinda disappointing but we had several solid hours of total madness so I can’t complain too much.

Huge thanks to Prince Terrence for DJing all night, PopPorn for sponsoring Public and sending us a bunch of weird porn to give away, Kate for selling my zine topless all night, Leftfield and their cute bartenders (you too Brick) and all my friends & supporters who showed up last night. Also thanks to Hannibal Buress who decided he hadn’t partied hard enough at Mardi Gras and came by the party pretty much right after his plane landed. Go watch his new Netflix special already.

I think that’s it. Obviously you should order your copy of Public. I will be here packing them all up tonight and watching hockey. If you pre-ordered one don’t worry they will be shipping tomorrow.

Now click here to see the crazy NSFW photos from the Public zine release party at Leftfield.