So yeah it’s fucking Billy Bragg. Awesome. The guy is a legend. His set was solid, he bitched about the US government and health care and it was all pretty great.  Unfortunately he just mostly stands there so it doesn’t make for the most compelling photographs, especially in the middle of the day when I can’t even make it look interesting by dragging my shutter or something.  So instead, let me tell you a story.

Later that night after I had seen Billy Bragg I got a text from a friend asking me to meet her at some bar way the fuck across Austin.  The girl was a total babe and the Fools Gold party was pretty close so I decided to make my way over. It was called Ghost Room and when I arrived there was a line of about 10 people in front of me waiting to get in. I waited for a few minutes but they were only letting people in when people came out, and no one was coming out. I texted the girl and I didn’t hear back after a few minutes so I walked over to the Fools Gold party. I shot Vega, as I mentioned yesterday, and then I walked back over to Ghost Room. There was no line this time and I walked right in.  I looked for my friend but the place was completely packed so I took a seat by the door and relaxed for a little bit. I texted her and figured I would just wait until whatever band was playing was over.

After I had been sitting for about 10 seconds I realized that Billy Bragg was somehow now on stage. I got up and looked across the room and there he was. And um, there was Wayne Kramer from the MC5.  And then they brought up Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine, and then someone from REM and someone from this band and that band and I suddenly realized I had walked into something amazing. As I was watching from the back of the room I got a text from my friend.  She had left about an hour earlier and her phone had died.  She just got home.  I was so exhausted at this point and I was too far away to take any good photos so I just sat back down and listened. I didn’t stay too much longer, but before I left, and I swear to God I am not making this up, they did a cover of Momma Said Knock You out by LL Cool J.  Seriously. I Tweeted about it and everyone thought I was full of shit. What a crazy thing to walk into. Stuff like that only happens at SXSW.

Anyway, you can read about what I walked in on at Austin 360 if you click here, and then of course you should click over here to check out the photos of Billy Bragg I shot earlier in the day at Mess With Texas.  See you guys tomorrow.

So today and tomorrow I am going to be updating you with pictures from the Mess With Texas party at SXSW.  I have been going to SXSW for 7 years now, and I have watched Mess With Texas go from being a small affair at Emo’s full of cool bands and comedians, to being a HUGE festival that would be a major event in Austin even if SXSW wasn’t there. It’s pretty impressive. Probably the best part is is that now you only have to wait in a 30 minute line instead of a 2 hour line to get in.  Although it’s pretty sad that they don’t have comedians doing it anymore.  David Cross where are you?

One of the many headlining bands of MWTX was Man Man.  Now, I had no idea who they were but evidently everyone else did.  I met my friends over there basically because I could go in through the press gate and not have to wait in line, but my friends were there to see Man Man.  I was really glad I got to see them though. They were fucking so weird and so awesome. I don’t even know how to explain it, so I guess you should just probably look at the pictures of them here.

Last week Inked hired me to shoot a party they were throwing at a Soho spot called Sweet and Vicious.  They were serving free Jager and root beer which seems totally insane to me.  I am a pretty big root beer fan, so I hope the drink catches on so that I can drink root beer in the clubs.  My friend Brooklynn was there with some hot friends and I took some hot pics of them in a bathroom, but her friend asked me not to post the fun ones.  Their other friend pretty much hated me for some reason, so yeah, it was a weird night. Some of the photos I took will be in an upcoming issue of Inked Magazine, but until then you can check out all the tattoo filled NSFW outtakes by clicking here.

Meet Emmy Elliot.  She is Kylee Kross’ roommate. She wants to be a porn star, but so far I am only the person to have shot her. She hopes to be a Burning Angel very soon, and I aprove of that. I’m sure you do too. I went to Philly for a night to shoot Kylee and I ended up shooting Emmy and their other roommate Kate (who I have shot several times). We were going to shoot in their kitchen but Kylee’s brother and his friends were in the living room and she looked nervous so I pulled her in to their laundry room which was out of view from the rest of the house.  I pulled the tiles out of the celling so that I could get more light and we shot with just the one fluorescent light in there. The light in there wasn’t idea clearly, so I touched these up in Photoshop a bit more than usual. I’m sorry, I suck at Photoshop. Don’t judge me.

Emmy is still a babe though, so click here to see her naked sitting on her washing machine.  NSFW.

The night that I shot Vega was sort of a crazy one.  I ended up walking all over Austin and watched a bunch of famous rock musicians cover L.L. Cool J. but more on that later…

I ended up getting to the Fools Gold SXSW showcase later than I wanted to and when I got to Malverde I couldn’t get anywhere near the stage because it was completely packed.  I was actually going to leave but I decided to at least try to get a few shots of Vega playing.  I sort of got near enough to get off a few shots at an odd angle while being shoved from behind and shooting above another photographer.  I was too tired after days of not sleeping on couches to deal with it so I soon left.  I got a few okay shots and a few bad ones, but I figured I should put them up since we love the Fool’s Gold family, I just met the Vega guys at the IFC Food Party/ Dinner With The Band Party and they seem like good guys, plus they are also somehow Neon Indian  or something and people seem to care about that. I don’t know how all that works but I did google it and I found this Flavorwire explaining the whole thing so read that…

…and then click here to see the Vega photos at the Fools Gold SXSW Showcase at Malverde.

Also, good look with the Mishka sweater.

Sorry about the few days without updates. Not only was I out of town, but I was having problems with my photo galleries for the millionth time. I think in the next few weeks/months I am going to have to come up with a solution for that.

Anyway, back to SXSW pictures.  I should be done with these this week.

This is Midnight Masses. I saw them play at the Fader Fort.  I had to check them out because I see the lead singer from this band all the time in NYC but I had no idea he had a bad or anything. Once I was at Savalas and I told him how much I liked him in the Commodores because he looks a lot like Lionel Richie. On top of him looking like a music icon he is one hell of a front man and you have to appreciate that. Check them out and then click here to see the photos I took of them at the Fader Fort.