One of the things I spent extra time on at this year’s Gathering of the Juggalos was the wrestling element. I have covered it in the past (I really enjoyed doing behind the scenes at Bloodymania 6) but it’s never been a main focus of my coverage. This year was a bit different because one of the guys covering the Gathering for the LA Weekly (Art Tavana) is a huge wrestling fan and that seemed like a good angle for me because mainstream press hasn’t really covered it and there are infinite wrestling fans out there.

One night we headed down to “Strangle Mania” which was the all hardcore Juggalo Championship Wrestling event. That means lots of barbed wire, thumbtacks and a lot of real blood. I didn’t stay all night and I didn’t really have an appropriate lens to cover wrestling but I got a few decent shots both back stage and in the ring.

The second night was our main focus. Former WWE legend Jeff Hardy was going to be part of the main event at “Bloodymainia” Which is like the Wrestlemania of the JCW. This is the big event of the year. Jeff is not only a pretty big star in wrestling but also happens to be kinda an eccentric guy who wears make up while he wrestles and also just happened to have made this amazing viral video called Final Deletion that was the talk of the wrestling world. He seemed like the perfect person to profile for this juggalo wrestling story.

Jeff is apparently a bit reclusive and doesn’t do a ton of interviews but fortunately for us I met Jeff’s sister in law Reby Hardy at the Gathering of the Juggalos a few years ago. The Gathering is a seriously bonding event and Reby and I have become pretty good Twitter friends. Her husband Matt Hardy is one half of the Hardy Boyz with Jeff and all three of them made Final Deletion. For those of you who care about wrestling all of this is probably super obvious but for everyone else it’s probably mildly confusing. Long story short, Reby hooked us up with Jeff and we got the interview.

Art and I drove out to the Columbus airport to interview Jeff (and his wife Beth) in their hotel room. They were super nice and it was actually a really fun interview. Listening to Jeff talk about wrestling made me kinda miss watching it. I was a pretty big fan in high school right around the time Jeff was huge and the Hardy Boyz were involved in one of my favorite matches of all time. It was great to talk about all that stuff and to find out that Jeff was only a couple years older than me when he was doing it.

Anyway, from there we all drove down to the Gathering. I took my rental car and they all drove in the car that JCW provided. We got there at pretty much the same time and Kevin Gill who runs the wrestling picked us up in a golf cart on the way in. Juggalos were freaking out about Jeff and he posed for picture after picture and signed autographs. I got to take photos of him trying out the ropes and working things out with a wrestler named Hero who was a huge fan of Jeff growing up. He told us later went back stage and cried he was so overwhelmed.

I got to shoot back stage at Bloodymania and of course I shot some of the matches. The event actually had some pretty amazing moments. My long time Gathering buddy Colt Cabana played his cop heel character and started yelling about Blue Lives Matter until a midget (he wanted to be called midget) named Swoggle who we had met earlier kicked the shit out of him which was great. There was also a pretty bloody hardcore match that ended with kinda an emotional passing the torch moment where JCW legend Pondo made everyone in the crowd chant for the other two wrestlers involved in the match.

But the real highlight of Bloodmania was actually a low light. Violent J’s best friend The Rude Boy is a JCW legend himself and was apparently diagnosed with dementia. He was inducted into the JCW Hall Of Fame and both he and Violent J gave speeches that had the entire crowd crying including myself. It was such a weird thing to be crying at a juggalo wrestling match. I was not expecting that. Rudy announced his retirement and the crowd went crazy for him and he finally made it back stage after several walks around the ring thanking fans.

Right before the final match Violent J came back out an announced that he was going to be wrestling for the first time in 8 years. He had been in WWE back in the day and was a wrestler in JCW before he gained a ton of weight and quit. He ended up losing something like 200 lbs in the last year and somehow not only wrestled, but wrestled well. It was impressive. But not only did he wrestle but he brought out 2 Tuff Tony and the Rude Boy for Rudy’s final match before retiring. The crowd went crazy again. The match ended with Rudy winning it but after it was all over Violent J did a moonsault which is essentially a black flip off the top rope. It was pretty fucking insane and I missed the shot because I thought the match was over.

The whole thing ended with the big three way JCW Championship match between Jeff Hardy, Kongo Kong and Willie Mack. The match was a bit of a mess because so many juggalos had thrown beers and Faygo at the ring and the ropes were wet. Jeff slipped on them and then moments later took a serious hit to the head from Willie Mack’s ass. Seriously. Apparently Jeff really hurt his neck in the process and I am fairly certain he was concussed as well because after the match was over he stayed after and just started breaking shit. I think he wanted to give the juggalos a show since he didn’t perform to his standards but it was a little weird and juggalos were reporting he was on drugs or something . Honestly he seemed fine after the match was over but I am sure he was really dazed after that hit. He told us his neck was killing him but otherwise he was good.

Anyway the day was a pretty cool experience for me because even though I don’t watch wrestling now I was really into it as a kid. I loved WWF Superstars when I was little and then again I got into it in the late 90s when the WCW/NWO storyline was warring with the Rock and Stone Cold and Degeneration X. It was a pretty awesome time for wrestling and the Hardy Boyz were the best tag team in the sport.

Now, if you made it this far it’s time to look at stuff.

Go read Art Tavana’s profile of Jeff Hard in the LA Weekly.

And then check out my photos from Juggalo Championship Wrestling at the Gathering of the Juggalos.

And finally click here to check out my photos of Jeff Hardy.

Every year there’s a couple artists that play the Gathering of the Juggalos that you just can’t believe are playing. I have seen everyone from George Clinton to Bobby Brown to three different members of WuTang. This year I was pretty excited to see Bone Thugs N Harmony, Slick Rick and Gwar.

Bone Thugs aren’t really one of my favorite groups or anything but I thought it would be cool to see and it was. Photographically it was pretty impossible to get a decent group shot but not mad I got to see them. Gwar was also really hard to shoot but for a completely different reason. The inside of my hat is still pink from the blood of a decapitated puppet of Barack Obama. Slick Rick was just kinda boring to photograph because he mostly just stands there with mic in his face but honestly it was still fucking amazing. I am a pretty serious Slick Rick fan. Like I get pretty deep with him unfortunately I only got to see about four songs because of other work, but it was still next level for me.

Also great was Tech N9ne who plays every year and this year his some time collaborator Hopsin played too. I really dig both of them so that was fun. They are both really easy to photograph too because they put on a hell of a show and don’t spray any camera destroy substances at the crowd (weird, right?)

Aside from that there wasn’t much I wasnted to shoot. I the performance of Violent J’s Wizard of Oz themed musical “Wizard of the Hood” and that was super weird. I probably should have watched the whole thing but they only let me shoot two songs and I sort of bounced after that. I of course shot ICP but I had a really early fight to catch and I have seen them a bunch of times so I left after I got a few shots. I also shot Psychopathic Records artist Anybody Killa and “West Coast juggalos” Kottonmouth Kings. Oh and this rapper Rittz who I have seen before at the Gathering and is on Tech N9ne’s label.

Aside from that I didn’t really see any other music. None of my clients really wanted any band photos even though I was shooting for both Noisey and Rolling Stone. That being said after I shot Gwar I pitched Noisey on it and they actually published my show review. It’s always weird when people let me write shit, but I appreciate it.

Read my Gwar show review in Noisey here.

So yeah, um, go look at band photos if you want. The Gwar ones are at least somewhat interesting and maybe you will care about them. Honestly if it were up to me I would never have to take or look at a photo of a band ever again, but that’s just me.

Click here to see all my live music photos from the 2016 Gathering Of The Juggalos.

I have returned from the Gathering of the Juggalos and although I slept for an unreasonable amount of time I still feel physically destroyed after not sleeping or eating real food for four straight days. If you don’t know by now the Gathering is the weirdest music festival on the planet thrown each year by the Insane Clown Posse. This year, and the last two years it has been in a town called Thornville, Ohio just outside of Columbus. Like most festivals the Gathering features a lot of sex, drugs and music, but the Gathering is unique in that it also includes wrestling and bareknuckle boxing and strippers and no real security or pretension of safety. Oh, did I mention everyone is dressed like clowns?

This is my 7th straight Gathering of the Juggalos and I will probably keep going back because it’s impossible to take a bad photo there (although I try my best) and people keep paying me. I have covered the Gathering for probably two dozen media outlets and it seems like someone always wants me to shoot something or write something and I’m not mad about it even if my brand has become juggalo adjacent.

I am (thankfully) going on a mini vacation tomorrow so I have broken the hundreds of images I have for you guys down into 5 total posts with six total galleries. The plan is to get two up today, two up tomorrow and then one final massive update on Thursday featuring over 400 images in one post. I gotta get these up quick so we can all move on with our lives and I can enjoy a few days of my vacation.

This gallery serves as an intro to the festival coverage as well as a place to put all my best images so if I need to come back later to find a photo it will probably be in this gallery. That makes sense right? Didn’t want to shoot my metaphoric load right away, but it’s too late and it’s happening…

These are my favorite images from the 2016 Gathering of the Juggalos and you should click here to look at them.

It seems like just last week I turned this over to the DBB Road Trip Blog and it certainly does not seem like it’s been a year since the Gathering of the Juggalos. But it is that time again! Time for weird terrifying clown photos and fun time madness. Nudity and violence and music and all the insanity you expect from my annual Gathering of the Juggalos coverage.

This year I am covering the Gathering for the LA Weekly and associated papers as well as Noisey and Chicagoist. I have a feeling I will pick up a few other clients along the way (because I always do) and I am sure my juggalo photos will be all over the internets as per usual.

If you don’t know what the Gathering is, here is a link to 6 years of GOTJ coverage. Good luck.

For the rest of you it might be time to temporarily block me on all social networks because you are in for a week of juggalo overkill. I will try to break it up a bit, but no promises…

So head on over to my road trip blog. Hopefully I will be throwing stuff up there daily but at the very least I got a little surprise in store for you for the first update.

Click here to head over to the DBB Road Trip Blog.

Gathering Of The Juggalos

When Veruca James introduced me to Riley Reid years ago the first thing Riley did was grab my junk through my jeans like she was shaking my hand. That’s when I knew Riley would be a star. Last January she won the AVN Award for Female Performer Of The Year so clearly I was right. I have been trying to take photos of Riley since that moment I met her and finally it happened last time I was in LA and boy am I glad it did.

Given my average photo shoot time of about 20 minutes it was pretty amazing to get to shoot Riley all afternoon. I went over to her place and she wasn’t ready so I got to take photos of her getting ready. I kinda love that “real life” stuff. Once she had her shit together the real photo shoot started. We drove around her neighborhood until we found this really creepy underground walkway to shoot in. I walked in there with just my point and shoot 35mm camera because I figured I would need a flash, but once I took a couple shots with my iPhone I realized the light was actually pretty awesome. I ran back to my car to get my camera and we did a whole shoot in there and gave the homeless dudes on the block a pretty good show.

From there Riley took me to this bridge that stretched across the highway. We started shooting on the bridge but before she even got naked people started honking and slowing down. It was insane how much traffic we caused, but fortunately no accidents. We kept having to leave the bridge so traffic could get back to normal and then we would go back and a traffic jam would start up again. (Side note, how many different tenses have I used in this paragraph alone? Holy shit, I need an editor.) After that we went back to Riley’s place and I shot her in the huge trunk of my rental car where I shot one of my all time favorite Instagram photos (and thanks to Riley, one of my most popular). Even my mom liked it.

The whole shoot was a ton of fun and I took a million photos. Riley’s boyfriend even gave me a really good dinner recommendation so yeah awesome day. Riley is now one of my favorite people to photograph and I hope I get to do it again sooner or later.

Since I took so many photos I decided to split them up in to two posts. This first one features all the public nudity stuff and then next gallery will feature the stuff shot at her place and the shots in my trunk. I also shot a ton of 35mm photos which will show up from time to time on my Tumblr. Riley also posted some of the 35mm stuff on her blog so check that out. And I should mention that while there’s only one bonus photo from this shoot on Girls of Driven By Boredom, this set has already been up on there for almost a week in high resolution and there’s a bunch of bonus shots in the next set. So maybe sign up? Just saying.

Now click here to see all the NSFW photos of Riley Reid naked in public!

The day before the Exxxotica Chicago adult convention I had no plans on going. I had just returned from my road trip and was just starting to get my life back together (I still haven’t done my taxes) when suddenly I had a trip planned. I was supposed to shoot Charlotte Sartre on my west coast road trip but it didn’t happen so we were making plans for when she came to NYC next. A few minutes later we were talking about Chicago and her extra hotel bed and I realized I could get a super cheap miles ticket and after a quick email to Exxxotica’s press people I was on my way to Chicago.

The weekend was kinda insane and I maybe lost my mind a little bit after not sleeping at all for no reason (pretty sure you guys are familiar with my complete inability to sleep). I spent the better part of Monday sleeping and then slept 12 hours on Tuesday and suddenly I am functional again and realized the trip was a lot of fun if not exactly productive.

I did some pretty nice hotel room shoots with Charlotte and a babe I met on the last day named Jezabel Visser. Basically those shoots were the very first and very last thing I did in Chicago with a little bit of actual Exxxotica coverage in between. The rest of the time was spent moving from hotel room to hotel room in search of the next adventure. I shot three or four rolls of film and filmed a bunch of Snapchats (add me bro!) but my digital camera stayed in my bag most of the time. Should be some weird stuff of Stoya and Sydney Leathers and a few other people when I get my film developed though…

Anyway, the Exxxotica convention itself was pretty chill. I mostly was shooting on Friday night because I knew that would be the least crowded day. I got to shoot a bunch of girls at their booths and then I shoot some of the Chicago Anime Expo crossover (that would have been fun to have shot had I known before hand) and then I called it a day. So the gallery is pretty small but I feel like there is some okay stuff is in here anyway.

Click here to see my (mildly NSFW) photos from 2016 Exxxotica Chicago at the Donald E. Stephens convention center.

After two weeks a way and a few days of recovery I am fully back in action and I bring you Samantha Rone. She is adorable and you like photos of babes. So this is important for everyone.

Samantha was the first person I shot on my road trip. I actually went straight to her place from the airport. I was on no sleep and barely functional but I think we took a couple of okay photos anyway. I figured I would get something up right away because a lot of the stuff that I shot on this trip was for my friends over at Wood Rocket and it might be awhile before I can post them on this site.

I don’t really have much else to say because I am only on my second cup of coffee and I have to go pick up the 25+ rolls of film I shot from this trip. Honestly I am pretty psyched about that.

Oh, and there are some extra shots of Samantha on Girls of Driven By Boredom because of course there are.

Now click here to see a bunch of NSFW photos of Samantha Rone.

Leaving town tomorrow morning for the rest of the month and I am breaking open the Road Trip Blog again. Over there I post daily updates from my travels as it’s a lot easier doing that than clogging up the main page.

I am headed to LA for five days to see my family, friends and of course take photos of some babes. My parents are out there visiting my brother and they offered a free plane ticket if I came with them. I doubled down on the free plane ticket and picked up some work and turning my parents weekend trip into a two week road trip.

I will be Instagraming, Tweeting and Snapchating a lot. I have no idea how to link my Snapchat because I barely understand how it works but my name is drivenbyboredom on there like on every fucking thing.

Now to find out more about the trip and check out my daily updates…

Head on over to the DBB Road Trip Blog!

When a bi-polar Islamic radical kills 50 people at a gay night club people frame the tragedy the way they want. Is it about terrorism or gun laws or do we need to have a conversation about mental health? It’s easy to forget that this was fundamentally a hate crime and over 100 people were hurt or killed in one of the few places they feel safe.

Living in New York City it’s easy to pretend that homophobia is a thing of the past. I spend most of my life surrounded by people who think like I do who don’t think twice when discovering someone’s sexual identity. But last night as I stood 100 yards from the Stonewall Inn I watched a queer latino man crying and screaming to his friend about being kicked out of his home by his parents. He came to the New York City as a homeless teenager and this was his place. This was where 20 years before he was born gay men fought back and started a civil rights movement that is still being fought and the Pulse nightclub attack is another reminder that we have a long way to go.

Last night there was a rally at the Stonewall Inn to mourn the victims of the Pulse nightclub attack. I heard about it a little too late and I got there about twenty minutes before it ended. People were giving speeches but I couldn’t really hear what they were saying as I moved closer to the stage. The crowd chanted over the amplified voices “Read their names! Read their names!” Finally someone came up and began reading the names and ages. The crowd was silent except for the word “Presente” after every name was read. People held up candles and lights on their phones and people started to cry. I put down my camera and just tried to hold it together. It was one of the most emotional things I have ever been a part of.

As the crowd began to disperse I walked around talking to people and taking photos. I made my way to the memorial in front of the Stonewall Inn to take photos but also to pay my respects. I hugged a lot of strangers and was getting ready to make my way home when I ran into a group of Black Lives Matter protesters who were showing solidarity with the LGBTQ community. They were loudly chanting and being followed by a few dozen NYPD members so I followed them.

As they marched a trans woman named Mariah Lopez from the Strategic Trans Alliance for Radical Reform would speak about landmarks in the LGBTQ struggle. Someone referred to her as a revolutionary tour guide. When we got to the West Village Pier she spoke of Marsha P. Johnson a trans woman who’s body was pulled out of the Hudson after Pride Week in 1992. It was an incredibly emotional moment. There were some more words said by other activists and the names of the victims were read again and then everyone held hands and chanted. I put down my camera and held Mariah’s hand and just took part in the moment.

When I finally made my way back home I felt this crazy feeling of sadness and togetherness that I haven’t felt since probably September 12th, 2001 when I went to a vigil in DC after a plane crashed into the Pentagon a mile from my home at the time.

It’s unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to bring strangers together like what I took part in last night. And with the Pulse nightclub attacks it’s even harder to feel that closeness with your fellow man. With so many different agendas it’s hard to see that almost everyone wants this shit to stop. We just disagree on how to make that happen.

So take a look at my photos and get off Twitter and Facebook for a second and go hug a stranger.

Click here to see my pictures from the Pulse nightclub rally at the Stonewall Inn.