Hurray! Today is the one year anniversary of the worst day of my life so I feel like we should write about it as some sort of therapeutic exercise and then maybe I can move or something like that. Maybe I should just write this and delete it but I won’t because I have dedicated the last 15 years of my life to oversharing… why stop now?

One year ago today was the memorial service for my good friend DJ Jess. He was one of the first people to hire me as a photographer in New York and had such a huge impact on my life that I could never fully express it. You can read this thing I wrote about him last year if you want to see me try.

I wanted everyone to know about his memorial service so I posted on Twitter that it was going to be at Webster Hall and that I would be there. This might have been a mistake because as I was walking into the club a woman tapped me on the shoulder. She said “Are you Nate Igor Smith?” I told her I was and she said “I am a huge fan of your website.  I have something for you…. You’ve been served.” She handed me a stack of papers and then ran full speed away from me.

Before I even could comprehend what happened a sheriff  tapped me on the other shoulder and told me I had to sign something saying I received the notice that I had been sued. The whole thing was like a scene in a move. I asked the sheriff “Who the fuck serves someone at a funeral?” and he was actually weirdly apologetic.

So I go inside Webster and I start reading this lawsuit. I am not really going to talk about the details of it but basically I was being sued by a former client and another person for something that I had almost nothing to do with. I spent the entire memorial service going back and forth between trying to mourn my lost friend and thinking about how fucked up this law suit was. I don’t think I ever really had the opportunity to mourn Jess but it was one of the most painful hours of my life.

From Webster a bunch of us went over to Beauty Bar for a drink and then eventually we ended up at another bar. When I decided I had to go home I mentioned that I had to go to my girlfriend’s apartment and move my car over to my place. My friend told me to be careful because he thought I was drinking. I explained that I was totally sober and my girlfriend lived walking distance from my place I just mostly needed to move the car across the street so it wouldn’t get towed.

(Quick sidebar about the car… I didn’t actually own a car. It was my parents car that I borrowed because they were moving and I had to get a ton of stuff out of their basement. The car was still half filled with boxes of stuff from my childhood.)

As I was parking the car a man who had stolen a SUV was being chased by the cops. He tried to make it around me but he hit an idling car bounced off it and crashed into the driver side rear of my car. It turned the wheel 90 degrees and snapped the axel in two. He then proceeded to hit several more cars before being caught by the cops a few blocks a way.

The side air bag was the worst part. It felt like I had been punched in the head. I couldn’t hear out of my right ear and I don’t think I noticed how bad the whiplash was. I wouldn’t notice that until three days later when I couldn’t get out of bed. After the ambulance came and the police came I had to get the boxes out of the car before it could be towed. Right as I started getting the boxes out it started pouring rain. I actually started laughing which confused the hell out of the cops.

Two days later I was feeling pretty shitty but I had playoff hockey tickets and a bunch of friends and I went out to Long Island to see our Washington Capitals take on the Islanders. We lost the game in overtime which was pretty awful but we had an even worse experience. I wrote about our shitty treatment at the game and sent it to a few friends and within 45 minutes it had gone viral. ESPN, Sports Illustrated and every local outlet picked up the story. I was getting, no joke, over 100 Tweets a minute at some point that very night. I got death threats and people talking shit to me non stop for a week.

The next morning I woke up and my back had completely locked up. I couldn’t really move. I was supposed to work that night but I had to cancel. I just stayed in bed. Luckily my hockey team was winning so I had a reason to suck up the pain and go watch with my friends.

Less than two weeks later my girlfriend broke up with me via text.

A few days later the Capitals lost in overtime of game 7 against the other local team the New York Rangers.

I am a pretty passionate sports fan, but with everything in my life going so horribly wrong the hockey playoffs were the only thing I had that was positive in my life. When they lost it hit me like no other sports moment ever had. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I no longer had a reason to get out of bed.

I spent the next six weeks or so barely leaving the house. Between my back and my depression and the looming lawsuit I sunk into the worst depression of my adult life. Coincidentally that time period was also really slow for work and I wasn’t exactly making an effort to find any new jobs. I gained probably 15lbs and I never really dealt with any of the shit I was going through. I didn’t really have anyone to talk to. I am still not sure I ever got over my ex. We are friendly but to this day we have never really had a real life conversation about the break up.

Now it’s a year later and my life is finally back on track. It took over 100 hours of billable legal hours but I got out of a lawsuit that the judge agreed I had at worst “minimal liability”. 2015 was the worst year of my life financially but 2016 has been a lot better. I just this week paid off my credit card debt that had climbed close to $10,000. I am still in a wild amount of debt from my lawsuit but that is manageable. My hockey team is in the playoffs again and while it will be disappointing if they don’t win all the games, I think I will be able to function as a human if they don’t. I lost most of that weight, I joined a new band, my last zine did really well and I am pretty sure Donald Trump isn’t actually going to be our next president.

So yeah, happy anniversary worst day of my life. Here’s hoping today is a good one.

No, this post has nothing to do with sexy cats. It has to do with the super babely and possibly poorly named model Kitty Erotica. Kitty is a stripper, traveler, hustler and one of the most attractive humans that exist and whenever I put photos of her on my Instagram people lose their shit. We determined it’s because her irises are too big and it makes her look like an adorable anime character with a really rad butt.

Anyway, Kitty came to NYC recently and we hung out on my birthday and a few more times after that. She came to the Beauty Bar 20th anniversary party with me and we ate a bunch of food and stuff but we never got around to actually taking photos. But her trip reminded me that the first time we met we took a TON of photos and they were really awesome and I never fucking posted them.

Well NSFW week seemed like the perfect fucking time. I got a babe a day all week long and Kitty is right in the middle of them. I shot her at her friends place in Bushwick and then after that we went up to their roof to take even more photos. The problem was that she smoked so much weed while we were shooting that her eyes were closed in half the roof photos and in the other half her hair was being blown around in the wind like a hair being blown around in the wind.

Long story short is that we got one really good set out of it and then a handful of decent rooftop shots. That gave me the idea of making the roof top shots exclusive to Girls of Driven By Boredom which is really the main point of this NSFW Week. I need to sell you guys on my super fun pay site/ app thing because it pays my rent which means I can take photos of boobs instead of having to get real work. I assure you it’s a win win.

So if you sign up for Girls of DBB you will not only get a bonus set of Kitty, but you will get a few bonus too explicit to post shots of her amazing butt. And all the photos are high resolution AND you can see all the photos I am posting tomorrow before anyone else even know what they are going to be. I mean jesus fucking christ the thing costs less than feeding an orphan in Africa and you can feel even better about it because I spent over $3,000 on delivery food last year and that is way more expensive than anything an orphan in Africa is eating. So who need it more right?

Oh did I mention the 20% off? Cause it’s 20% off right now using the code “nsfwweek”. And now for the free photos…

Click here to see all the photos of the retardedly attractive Kitty Erotica.

On Friday night I got to see the newest film from Troma the oldest independent film studio on the planet! I have been a huge fan of Troma and it’s founder Lloyd Kaufman since I was about 14 years old. Kaufman is the creator of the Toxic Avenger and director of such classic films as Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, Tromeo & Juliet and the Class Of Nuke Em High. When he was profiled for the Village Voice I was lucky enough to be able to photograph him for the cover and take a tour of Troma Studios. While I was there they were casting not just one but TWO brand new Nuke Em High Films: Return To Nuke ‘Em High Part 1 & 2 and finally on Friday I got to see the first part

Return To Nuke ‘Em High actually had a special NYC premiere at the MOMA on Thursday but I had a meeting and couldn’t make it. Fortunately the film opened at Cinema Village East the next night and Lloyd and the crew were going to be there. Before the screening the film was introduced by Evan Michelson and Mike Zohn owners of Obscura Antiques and stars of the creepy reality show Oddities. They had a cameo in the film and are old school Troma fans.

Return was the first time I have seen a Troma film in a proper theater (I did see a press screening of their last film Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead) and it looked fantastic. Had everything you would expect from a Troma film: sex, violence, questionable political satire, gross practical effects, fart jokes, penis monsters and the Tromatic mix of horror and violence pioneered by Kafuman 30 years ago. Asta Paredes and Catherine Corcoran were great as the lesbian couple leads (Asta has pretty much the greatest boobs I have ever seen which is saying something considering how many boobs I see) and four cast members from the film were in a big budget corporate advertisement I just did. Normal people will not like this movie, but if you are a fan of Troma or b-horror/comedies you are going to love Return to Nuke Em High. Might be Kaufman’s best film since Terror Firmer. The movie does just stop suddenly without any real wrap up but it just makes you look forward to part two which if I know anything about Troma will be out several years from now.

After the film there was a Q&A with Lloyd, Asta Paredes and Catherine Corcoran and then we all headed over to Beauty Bar for an after party. It was great to hang out with Lloyd and his amazing wife Patty. Lloyd was a few drinks in and kissed me on the cheek and told me he would get my face tattooed on him if I got him tattooed on me. Clearly I am going to have to hold him to that.

Over all it was a great night and if you are a fan of any of this stuff you should check out the pictures. I know posting them Sunday night during an NFL playoff game and the Golden Globes isn’t exactly a good recipe for getting traffic but I am leaving town tomorrow for 10 days so it’s better to get them up now. I am headed to Vegas for the AVN Awards and to LA to shoot some babes and hang out with these guys so hopefully I will have a ton of cool photos for you while I am gone. But yeah, go look at these Tromatic photos already!

Click here to see  all the pictures from this screening of Return To Nuke Em High at Cinema Village East and the after party at Beauty Bar!

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)

When I was in Chicago this summer I met this awesome band called The Coathangers. They are a really good band made up entirely of hot girls who also happen to be really good. I almost never buy music anymore and a couple days after I met them I went out and ordred two of their records. When I saw they were on tour I wrote down November 16th on my calendar. Yesterday was the 16th and I googled where they were playing and I saw that they were at Irving Plaza and they happened to be playing with both …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and my good friends Hussle Club. I was psyched. I hit up the Village Voice and they got me a photo pass and it was on.

Hussle Club opened and they were rad as always. Seeing them in a place like Irving Plaza with great sound was awesome. They have a new 7″ single out and they gave me a new shirt. Score. Next up was the Coathangers. I was psyched to see them and they all remembered me and let me lurk about in their dressing room taking photos which was cool. They were awesome live even though for whatever reason they played in almost total darkness. I know Hussle Club asked Irving Plaza to keep the lights low for them but it didn’t make much senese for an up tempo rock band full of hot ladies. I got some okay shots anyway.

Finally …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead headlined and the packed crowd was psyched. I know one of the guys, Jason Reece, because he is an owner of Beauty Bar Austin when he is not being a rock star. He is a great dude and always went out of his way to make sure I had a good time in Austin so I was really excited to check out their band. I knew people loved them but I didn’t actually know what they sounded like until last night. They were great and I was glad I finally got to see them.

The whole show was a great time and all of the bands killed it so you can’t ask for much more. Unfortunately I had to deal with something so I had to leave about 30 minutes into Trail of Dead’s set. Still it was well worth the trip into the city and the Village Voice is playing me for it so everything came up Igor. Good times.

Click here to see all the photos from …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Coathangers and Hussle Club at Irving Plaza.

The NYC Zombie Crawl is back! This year they started out at Webster Hall before heading up to Union Square, over to Beauty Bar, down to the Continental before heading back to Webster for a fucking insane after party. I took close to 150 photos of the crawl and I am going to break it up into two updates. Today you are getting just the crawl and then I will be back tomorrow with the after party. The crawl pictures are insane because zombie leader Doug Sakman is a lunatic, many laws were broken and there is some NSFW stuff from both Goddess Shea and Troma’s Zac Amico, but the after party pics are full of nudity and heavy metal. Old school DBB naked in bathrooms type stuff. So come back tomorrow. But first check out these pics, and you have been warned. Once you see Zac naked you may never be the same again.

Click here to see all the photos from the 2012 New York City Zombie Crawl!

I feel like I have shot 100 New York City zombie crawls.  Just do a search, it’s amazing how much zombie stuff I have shot for my friend Doug Sakmann who runs these crazy things.  I always end up with great photos and meet crazy girls with questionable morals so it seems to work out. This year was no different.

This year the crawl started out at Beauty Bar, made it’s way south through the Halloween Adventure costume shop and then over to The Continental for cheap shots. After that the craw continued south to the after party at Arlene’s Grocery where Angelo Moore AKA Dr. Madd Vibe from Fishbone performed his solo set for the first time. He also joined the crawl shooting a music video along the way. Also performing was Nassau Chainsaw who always put on an insane and very dangerous show. After that there was a performance by God’s Green Earth but I had been awake for way too long at that point and I left with two zombie babes to go eat some human food for the first time all day. Brains are just not that filling.

At nearly every NYC zombie crawl the Disgraceland Hook Squad performs. They are a suspension group and they hang themselves by hooks which I always love photographing. They always perform with Nassau Chainsaw and this year was no exception. One of the first people I met at one of these zombie crawls was a Disgraceland member named Spliff. He was a great guy and I was really upset when I heard he was in a horrible car crash that paralyzed him last year. Sadly Spliff died on Sunday and everyone found out during the zombie crawl.  So many people there knew him and it really changed the mood of the whole thing. Everyone still had a lot of fun but everyone who knew had their minds on Spliff. I know I did. This post is dedicated to him and I am asking you guys to donate a little something to help his family bury him. He will be missed.

Now to lighten the mood a bit before we get to the pictures I should probably mention that there are a bunch of giant zombie boobs in this gallery and on top of the blood and gore normally associated with zombies and flesh pulls this gallery is very NSFW.

So assuming you are not offended by fake blood, real hooks and zombie boobs please click here to see the HUGE gallery of photos from the 2011 NYC Zombie Crawl.

Ps. If anyone knows Jennifer Davis… I found her ID.

Twenty four hours ago I was at the Vice.com Launch Party at One Hanson Place in Brooklyn. Currently I am in South Florida and I have not slept since the party. I got on a plane just a few hours after Rick Ross headlined the Vice shindig and he was actually on my flight. I gave him a card. So if you are reading this Mr. Ross…. hello sir, your show was great.

Since I haven’t slept in days I am just going to leave you with photos  but quickly a few highlights. The party was totally wild the guest list was insane and shit was just off the hook all night. There was a basement party in a bank vault and upstairs people were dancing and moshing so hard that the barriers were getting pushed back and the bouncers were having a hell of a time holding the crowd at bay. Death From Above 1979 played before Rick Ross and killed it even harder than they did when I saw them at Lollapalooza but probably not as hard as when I saw them start a riot at SXSW.

So yeah in conclusion, wild party, amazing times, Rick Ross ruled, DFA fucked shit up and all is well in the world of Vice.com.

Click here to see all the pictures from the Vice.com Launch Party at One Hanson Place.

As much as I hate Friday and Saturday nights in Manthattan this recent Friday night there was a lot of stuff I wanted to check out.  Usually when there is too much to do in one night I just do none of it, text a girl or two and then end up watching Netflix till 8am. But this Friday night I decided to put on some pants and head into the city and try to do it all…

Step one: I headed to Fontana’s for The Dish & The Spoon after party. The Dish and the Spoon is a movie that I wanted to see at SXSW but ended up missing.  Since then, the star of the movie Greta Gerwig, started dating one of my best friends and has become a friend so I wanted to see the film even more when it had a Rooftop Films screening on Friday. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite make it in time so I just hit the after party.  Everyone was leaving by the time I got there but I got pictures of Greta and director Alison Bagnall and a bunch of other people who no doubt loved the movie so much they had to party about it.

After that I met up with my friend Keith and the two of us headed over to Beauty Bar which is usually fucking horrible on the weekends but tonight former Smith’s bassist Andy Rourke was DJing and I love that dude so I had to stop by.  Beauty Bar clearly realizes they have a ton of douche bags in there on the weekend and now has a weekend dress code which would be great except it meant I couldn’t wear my hat inside which annoyed the shit out of me so after I said hello to Andy and his hetro lifemate Ole and took a few pictures, Keith and I made a break for Webster Hall.

DJ Jess got on my case on Thursday night about how I needed to check out Peaches’ back up dancers who were going to be performing at Trash downstairs in the Studio.  They did not dissapoint. All sorts of madness was going on down in the Studio when I got there and I took the best photos of the night.  Keith on the other hand was sort of just looking at me like “what the fuck?” so we went upstairs to check out the Girls & Boys party.

Modeselektor was DJing and people seemed to be really fucking excited about this.  The kids in the crowd were going nuts. All dance music sounds the same to me so I will just assume they were playing “Techno” and leave it at that.  I just mostly hung out on stage and talked to Nicky Digital while Keith was getting drunk and then we decided to make our last stop of the night over in Alphabet City.

We walked over to White Noise on Ave B for the Wild Ones party. Usually that place is packed for Michael T and Sam Valentine but it was a little dead tonight. I will just assume that a Motley Crue cover band was playing somewhere and that’s where everyone was.  Keith bounced early and I had a super awkward run in with a former friend and ended my night listening to a conversation about Harry Potter tattoos. I decided I had had enough and ran full speed to a cab and went the fuck home.

All in all it was actually a pretty fun night despite my complaints.  Maybe we can do it again next week… or maybe I’ll just stay home and rewatch the Godfather Trilogy.  Whatever works…

Click here to see all the pictures from my bar crawl of sorts last Friday night.