The Whip!

Tonight I had the opportunity to have dinner with and shoot a really fun band at Arturo's on Houston. Go and listen to The Whip immediately. These guys were so much fun and such great sports. "What can we do next?" was all I heard from them. "Get in that bathtub!" "OK." Thanks Danny, Nathan, Fee and Bruce!

No Bull

It's been said on many many occasions that I am a big nerd. I am. And never was I more nerdily excited than when I got to shoot the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Invitational at Madison Square Garden last Friday. Seriously. I'm a recovering cowgirl, I used to ride horses when I was little, in fact I used to ride Quarter Horses and barrel race when I was really little, I was in a saddle before I knew how to walk, and all I ever wanted when I was about 9 was the perfect pair of cowboy boots. So Friday was the chance for my big city self to meet my cowgirl self inside one of the world's most famous arenas. I was so very close to squealing out loud many many times. What's cooler than getting to take pictures shoulder to shoulder with the world's best professional bull riders, right by the chutes? (Click on any of the photos to visit the whole gallery of photos.)

The Deitch Holiday Party

Just before Halloween I met an exuberant bunch of young artists who were re-enacting the parade scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" at the Village Halloween Parade. They were so much fun to photograph. They asked me to shoot their next crazy performance art project for them, a crazy, free for all, join in if you like, free dance to "Freebird" at the Deitch Holiday Party at Santos. So much color, so much fun. Who doesn't love a costume party?





Or a puppet show?


Or Amanda Lepore?

Bumping into Justice... or Quick Justice

In December I stopped by the Wired Pop Up store on 18th St and 5th to check out Mapei, a newly signed artist to Downtown Records. I was shooting for Prefix. Walking in I saw two guys who looked like they were trying to look like the guys from Justice, and then I realized, "No, those actually ARE the guys from Justice." I asked Gaspard and Xavier to pose for a quick photo, and this is what I got.


And here's the woman of the hour, Mapei.

5 nights in a row, 5 shows

Last week was one of my busiest weeks ever. It always seems to happen that the shows I want to check out are bunched together, and then there'll be nothing for a month.

Tuesday - Bird and the Bee at Spiegeltent (for Brooklyn Vegan)



Wednesday - Echo and the Bunnymen at Radio City (for Prefix)



Thursday - The Parenthetical Girls, the Evangelicals and Muggabear at Cake Shop (for Prefix)





Friday - Hot Chip at Terminal 5 (for Brooklyn Vegan)



Saturday - Glasvegas at Mercury Lounge (for Prefix)

kaiju big battel

If someone said to you, "Do you want to see a bunch of grown ups in furry mutant costumes wrestle in a cage at some place down by the Gowanus Canal? I hear they have tacos too." And your answer was, "Umm, no." Then I don't think we can be friends.

My eyes nearly exploded right out of my head.

Scenes from the Kaiju Big Battel at the Yard in Brooklyn

200 disappointed guitarists

I was so looking forward to Rhys Chatham's US premiere of the Crimson Grail for 200 electric guitars at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. But unfortunately rain and electricity don't make a great combo, and after tornado warnings and a torrential downpour (that had better "pressure" than the shower in my apartment) the show was canceled. Oddly enough, once I found a place to huddle out of the rain after a soaking, and once I got over my disappointment that the story I came to tell wasn't going to happen, I settled in and found that the group melancholy was an equally interesting story unfolding.