It’s been about 2 or 3 years now since the last time I saw the mighty Gwar. This was my third Gwar show and each time, it’s been such an entertaining night! Gwar put on one of the best live shows out there, and most creative might I add. The band always seem to stop by at the Chance on their tours, and the staff always seem to love the band. The bouncers were all prepared with garbage bags wrapped around their heads & bodies, and the fans were prepared as well. About 50 percent of the crowd had white shirts, ready to get bloody and get peed on. The other half either didn’t care what shirt they wore or didn’t know what was gonna happen. I certainly wasn’t going to get anywhere near the stage.
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Mensrea features members of Gwar, and that’s who they opened up for at the Chance last night. I never heard of them but they hail from Richmond area, just like Gwar (even though they claim they are from Antarctica). The band plays metal/hardcore and I really liked these guys. It’s been ages since I’ve been to a metal or hardcore show so it was nice change-up to hear these guys at the Chance.
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The Vans Warped Tour is coming up this summer and more & more photographers are getting access to shoot the tour. I have been covering the Warped Tour on and off for 10 years now and tend to get my best shots at this tour. This article is for the newbie photographer that’s just starting out and needs some type of advice on what to do on the concert. I have been asked from time to time on how to get a pass, advice, etc. So here’s a list of things you need to know before shooting the Warped Tour:

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Film composer John Williams was performing at Boston Symphony Hall again and I wanted to go see him again. He was set to play music from Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and other scores he composed. Kristen and I went over to her CT apartment Friday night, and left for Boston Saturday morning. First thing in the morning, I had to deal with my car getting run into at the Hamden Starbucks in the parking lot (another story for another time), and then it was off to Boston, Ma. What a wonderful way to start off a mini-vacation! NOT!

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I’ve been a fan of DeVotchKa for over 2 years now. Right before Little Miss Sunshine came out, I found their music on MySpace and thought they were unique and had a cool sound. Then Little Miss Sunshine came out, and I became a huge fan. Last time (also first time) I saw the band, they performed at Spiegeltent at South Street Seaport. I loved their set, even though the show was extremely late in the night. They had Nick’s girlfriend doing the aerial acrobatics and I was really looking forward to seeing that again. A year later, the band played Terminal 5 in the meat packing district. Thankfully the show got over at 11pm!

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Basia Bulat is a Canadian pop singer/musician who has been supporting DeVotchKa on the “Mad and Faithful Telling” tour. Her music was interesting, I thought it sounded great live. I’m curious to hear how her albums are though. Her style is a mixture of pop, folk and indie rock and the crowd really liked her set. I’m not sure what songs she played but I prefer the more upbeat ones. The slow tracks were okay too but I’d rather hear faster songs.

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Fancy Trash hail from Massachusetts and were the opening band for DeVotchKa at Terminal 5 in New York City. I never heard of the band before but they played an Americana acoustic folk rock; think Neil Young meets Loudon Wainwright III. The music wasn’t bad but not sure it’s something I’d listen to a lot. I didn’t really care for the singer’s vocals at times. I did like a few songs though. There were only 2 people in the band so there was only so many photos you could have taken of the group.

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I only saw Mike Ness once, and that’s when Social Distortion played the Warped Tour back in 1997. I had the choice between seeing The Descendents or Social D but I couldn’t get over to other stage in time so I had to stick around for Social Distortion. I wasn’t really a fan at the time but now I am. I just didn’t listen to Mike Ness and Social Distortion back then but glad I finally listened to his albums. This time around, he was back to play songs from his solo albums and he did a few honky tonk versions of Social D songs like “Story of my Life.” That was just one of the many highlights of the evening, and I loved when he played “Don’t Think Twice,” “Ballad of the Lonely Man,” “Rest of Our Lives,” “Charmed Life,” and “Ring of Fire.”

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Jesse Dayton opened up for Mike Ness Thursday night at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City. When the band went on, the crowd was still strolling in. By the end of the set, most of the crowd was there and appreciated Jesse Dayton’s rockabilly country music. Jesse hails from Austin Texas and had a lot of funny banter in between the songs. I like rockabilly and can tolerate country rock sometimes, but only honky tonk stuff like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. Jesse Dayton fits into that realm as well and like how he played on an edge. He was poking fun at line-dancing and saying he had people that were going to pick them off with a sniper rifles. I liked his music though, I might have to check out his albums.

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Well, I finally did it! I got the Nikon D300 from B&H Photo!! Since it was announced back in the fall, I knew this was going to be the next camera I would own. Of course I would love to own the Nikon D3, but I can’t see myself paying that much for a camera…Unless it was my main profession. I started to begin saving money for the D300 this spring and sold a lot of stuff on ebay. Then I got the Tax rebate which went towards the camera, ya know, priorties. I’ve been trying to find side work for web design & photography but have been coming up short so far. Then the company I work for decided to reward me with $250 gift card to B&H for my 4 year anniversary. I was shocked and really happy, it was SUPER NICE of them to do that for me. I decided what the hell, and buy the camera now. I’m still going to pursue side work to help pay for the rest of the camera, and hopefully this will be paid off soon.

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