I hadn’t planned on attending Wondercon. I wasn’t even entirely sure what it was. Then, a few weeks ago, I received a note from my friend Paul telling me he was coming to SF for said festival and had a free pass for me, if I wanted it.

Of course I want it. I’m not sure what I’m in for, but I’ll just go and find out.

It’s funny how I met Paul. Paul’s an artist. In fact, Paul was my favorite illustrator immediately upon discovering his work in 2006. I’d see his work up in galleries around Raleigh, and fantasize about the day I would have it hanging on my walls.

So one day in 2008, I was bartending at Sitti in downtown Raleigh, and a trio of folks come in. They’re my only customers, and one of them is quite talkative, so I engage them, as a bartender (or me, for that matter) does. They introduce themselves as Neil, ____ (who I never saw again and will henceforth refer to as Lou), and Paul.

Over the course of our conversation, I notice that
1) Lou mentions that Paul is an artist.
2) The owner of my restaurant (who is quite a man of status and owns most of Raleigh) approaches paul. Knows Paul. This means Paul may be important to this city or have special skills.

Then it hits me. I may be serving drinks to Paul Friedrich.

So I approach the trio. I ask – “Paul, what is your last name.”

“Friedrich.”

“Heh.”

I mention that I was recently looking at some of his prints to put up in my house. He tells me I can have prints for free (I still refuse to take him up on that offer). I sell them some more drinks. Neil leads most of the conversation for the rest of the night (which I now know is totally normal). Neil leaves me a 3 cent tip (he told me he was going to, I thought he was joking). We’ve all been friends ever since. Seriously.

Anyway, I arrived at Wondercon on the 2nd day. I wasn’t sure what to expect. This is what I found.

Thanks Paul. You rule.

So… I realized I forgot to post any photos from February. Oops.

Here are a few that are fun.

MOMA.

Jaguar Love.

Mark Growden.

Meghan & Shalaco.

Laura.

Ernie.

Valentine’s at Dolores Park.

Brandom & Lewis’ roof.

That’s all for now. Hooray for catching up!

Bowerbirds visit! Hooray!

Phil and Beth are homies from Raleigh, NC (the town from which I moved to come here). They were part of a wonderful friend group who made summer 2009 the best I’ve had yet. They play in a band called Bowerbirds, and they are good. Very, very good.

They were to play The Independent on Thursday, and I happen to live a couple of blocks from it. Perfect grounds for reunion sleepover time.

The show was lovely. Julie Doiran opened, and this photo does a good job of describing her. Her voice is absolutely beautiful and she is hilarious. She apparently got her boots from North Carolina. I am not one bit surprised.

The birds have a new addition – Dan “Yan” Westerlund. I had not met him before tonight, but I traveled around the country with his brother this summer, who is in Megafaun, who was touring with the Bowerbirds at the time. I have also stayed with his best friend in Tuscon, Arizona. Worlds colliding.

Will Hackney from Trekky Records also came along to tour manage and guest on mandolin and vocals. I had never met him before, but we both weren’t sure how this was possible, as we shared many many friends while I lived in NC.

We spent the rest of the night having a slumber party, drinking white russians and catching up on life. Come morning, we were up and ready for adventure.

All of us except Phil and Beth, that is. After a couple of hours of waiting for them to rise, we decided to greet them at the bedroom door with a morning song about breakfast. They finally got up.

We grabbed a tasty breakfast at Kate’s Kitchen, passing by Beth’s new favorite store – Silky Touch. Then we headed to Alamo Square, a block away from my house, to run around and reminisce about Full House.

We tumbled down the hill for a while.

As we all got back home, Beth and I went out into my jungle yard and I photographed her new dress and bonnet, compliments of artist Monica Canilao, while the boys packed.

With that, I reluctantly sent them off to continue their trek across the US. It was difficult not to jump in the van with them.

Seriously, go listen to them right now. bowerbirds.org. That is all.

END!

This has been the most interesting of weeks.

Some of you may know that one of my (many) life dreams is to tour the country teaching workshops about the new music industry and building your web presence to take best advantage of evolving technologies.

Some of you may also know that I’m a pretty hardcore believer of building preferences through experience, then focusing on what you want and things inevitably manifest themselves in some form or fashion to be exactly that.

Anyway, such thought processes worked again. I found myself teaching at the SF Musician & Promoter Workshop on Monday night.

Never did I expect that to happen so quickly… not because I don’t know my shit, but rather because I just moved here six months ago and didn’t expect to meet people with similar mindsets and creative intentions in such a quick time frame. That said, I also didn’t know I’d be working at a record label and flying around attending conferences + festivals and working with artists and creatives for a living so quickly either.

The workshop was led by industry expert Corey Denis, and taught by Corey, Dustin Mitchell, Ali Watkins, Jessica Zollman and myself. The turnout was great, and it was nice to see some faces in the SF music and tech industries, both new and familiar. I’m stoked to begin working on the next round of workshops and seeing how this develops.

The rest of the week’s excursions consisted mostly of shows. It was SO NICE to get out and actually see live music for a change! Sometimes I get so busy working on the business side that I forget to relax and go actually enjoy music. It’s nice to sit back and listen again.

It all started with a wonderful little solo act accompanying my dinner at Gracias Madre in the Mission.

Then progressed to Hemlock Tavern a few days later…

Silian Rail

Boomsnake (I love everything about what this band is doing – go to their website. Now.)

Worker Bee

I just noticed that every single subject that night was wearing red. I knew something seemed more repetitive than normal…

Next – Family Folk Opry w/ Kyle Field (Little Wings), Matt Adams (The Blank Tapes), Kacey Johansing, Moomaw, and Mark Matos (Mark Matos & Os Beaches).

There are plenty of photos from Thursday’s Bowerbirds show as well, but that’ll wait until the next post. To tide you over, here are some typical orphan photos from the week:

That’s enough photos for one post. END!

I have spent the last two weekends tagging along with some ridiculously cute and happy couples… makes me want to barf sunshine just thinking about it.

I really couldn’t ask for better people to be honorary third wheel with. First round was with Kelly and Jim. I spent last Sunday with them shooting some engagement photos. I still feel like a total novice when it comes to shooting people… with a purpose or objective… the pressure is intimidating. But they were fun and cooperative and took lots of breaks to eat diner food and dumplings (in two separate meals). My kind of folks.

This weekend I found myself with my mother and her boyfriend, Barry Barrington (who I will always refer to by his full name because it is incredible), visiting from NC. It’s much easier photographing cute couples outside of any assignment whatsoever, as it was free and pretty much comes with the territory of hanging out with me and my camera, and they can’t get mad at me if they suck.

We adventured through the city on Saturday, then rented a car and ventured northward on Sunday. Lots of good food and good views. I was pleased.

Day1:

Somewhat relevant story (that I still need to tell Andrew):

After hanging out on the top of that epic hill above, we all walked down the path that takes us back down and around the other side, towards the Castro. I suddenly found myself quite overwhelmed with deja vu. I then realized I was in fact on a museum property that I had trespassed on just a year previous while vacationing in SF (having no idea I’d be living here a year later). It was the site of one of the photos I used for my grad school portfolio (that contains the Andrew of note). I actually wrote about this experience in my old mass-travel-email-list that I used to maintain before I started this whole blog thing in May.

An excerpt from July 2008:

Once home, I got a message from Dakota to meet her in the Mission.  We had a date.  Our friend Zack, who we met at the cookout my first weekend in town, had offered to take us out to dinner at an eclectic little spot called Delfina, on 18th and Guerrero.  Italian/American/French-inspired cuisine, big emphasis on fresh ingredients and innovative food combinations.  Sounds like my cup of tea. 
 
On the way to dinner, I pass Delores Park, and see a phenomenon I could have never fathomed – bike polo.  Really.  Like… polo.  On bicycles.  How awkward and amazing!
 
We all meet up at Delfina at 9:30.  We split a bottle of sauvignon, a sheep ricotta w/ zucchini, bitter greens with pancetta and walnuts, strawberry farm short ribs with gouda polenta, rabbit something or another, salmon something or another, and some sort of puff pastries filled with espresso gelato.  Jesus Christ it was awesome.
 
As we were finishing up, we were discussing things I must do before I leave, and Zack brought up the fact that Twin Peaks is one of, if not the, best view of the city.  So I say, “well, we should go.”  Zack says, “right now?”  I say, “Why not?” 
 
So Zack bikes home to grab his car, while me and Dakota head to Amnesia to grab a drink and wait.  Oh how I love this bar.  Yet again playing eastern-european-inspired-americana-bluegrass as I walk in the door.  We order a couple of their cocktails, all made with koju, a Korean vodka that seems pretty popular in the city.  Before we know it, Zack has arrived with his chariot.  We head out, but have one extra stop before we head to Twin Peaks – we have to go pick up his friend Andrew, who is visiting from Santa Cruz, and who has apparently been drinking alone at Zeitgeist for four hours after his friends left town.  Andrew is tall (6′8″ to be exact), drunk, and hilarious.  Oh my god.  He is one of the funniest people I have met in a long time.  And I don’t think it was because he was drunk.  He made it to my favorites list quickly. 
 
So we are driving straight up windy roads that should eventually lead us to Twin Peaks.  We quickly become enshrouded in fog.  We get to the top.  We can’t see five feet in front of us.  So… you can imagine the view.  Just fog.  We could vaguely see the few lone cars in the parking lot with couples in the backseats.  Not much later, a police car came by with a spotlight and said cars were eliminated pretty quickly.  So we hung out on the edge of the highest point in the city, but saw nothing.  We decided to drive somewhere of a slightly lower altitude and maybe catch a view underneath the fog. 
 
We arrive at some museum, whose name will remain unsaid (simply because I don’t recall what it was).  The property was sitting on the edge of a cliff and seemed to have a pretty good view.  Unfortunately, the gate to the property was locked.  Good for us, we are traveling with primate-like men who can scale fences and unlock doors from the inside.  So began our scenic trespassing tour.
 
I wish I had some sort of scandalous story for you, but no cops came, the dogs were not sent for us.  We just wandered around forbidden museum property and enjoyed a fairly good view.  We eventually tired of being bad asses and headed back on our way. 

Day2:










(PC: Barry Barrington)

In other news: I leave for tour today. BTW… I’m going on tour? I’m pumped. I’ve been having tour withdrawals for a couple of months now. I’m supporting Mark Growden w/ Alex Kelly, and representing Porto Franco Records. Best job ever? It might be. If you live in CA, OR, or WA, you should come see us. It would be neat. Just sayin’.

More on that as we hit the road. Until then…. END!

It finally happened.

The event I’ve been working my tail off for, along with producer Will Chase, Porto Franco Records, among others.

Mark Growden’s CD Release was Friday. The sponsorships were secured, the programs were designed & printed, the last promotional waves were complete. I could relax… sort of.

Relax enough to go receive my mother and her boyfriend, Barry Barrington (yes that is really his name) into town, as they were flying in from NC to visit for the weekend. I figured I could grab a quick fabulous German dinner with them at Suppenkuche, then head to the venue with time to spare before showtime.

(PC: Barry Barrington. Yes, I am aware that she looks like she should be my sister, not my mother. Let’s hope those genes translate.)

Well, I knew something ironic was bound to happen before the night was over. It just came sooner than I expected.

Long story short:
Head toward bus stop
Receive text message requesting that I find metallic sharpie pens for show
Ponder where the hell to find metallic sharpie pens
Run to Walgreens, find metallic sharpie pens
Return to house with pens to meet mother and Barry Barrington
Head to bus stop
Wait for 15 minutes at the wrong bus stop
Wait 15 minutes at the correct bus stop
Decide to call a cab, walk away from bus stop
Watch correct bus pass us as we walk away
Wait for cab in front of house for 20 minutes
Call to check in, as said cab is nowhere to be found
Receive information that cab has forgotten about us
Finally get cab 15 minutes later.

I arrive at the venue at 7:56. The show starts at 8. I still need to find my sponsors and give provide them with their well-deserved treats. This should be interesting.

Fortunately, I managed to find my sponsors prior to the set starting, and I settled down in time to catch the whole show.

The set was beautiful. The 350-person crowd knew every word. John Law (oh, you know, just the founder of Burning Man & renowned pioneer the SF arts scene as we know it) hopped on stage and gave a kind speech about Mark’s talent and quality as a musician and human being. It was definitely a notable night in the San Francisco arts community.

I happened to snap some photos from my seat.

Oh, and as for the sort-of-major career updates – I have been offered a position by Porto Franco Records. For those of you who already thought I was working for them, I wasn’t. I happened to be working on the same team as them for this event, which was a contracted freelance gig that I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on. But Porto Franco seemed to dig the work I did, and want me to join their production team.

I don’t think I can begin to explain to you how perfect this job is for me. I will still be doing freelance stuff here and there, but this is a project I know I’ll be putting 200% into, because I absolutely love what they’re doing. My brain is on fire. I can’t wait to get this rolling.

So yeah, things are good. Really freaking good.

I’ll have more photos from this weekend coming up later.

For now… END!

This is the last night I stay up til 4am working! The project I have been working on non-stop for weeks now, Mark Growden’s CD Release, is tonight. The theatre is almost sold out already, the CDs are packaged, the programs are designed and printed… everything is falling into place. It’s a great feeling. Everyone has worked so hard. I’m proud of our team.

Here are some photos from the week… the first few being from Kelly & Jim’s engagement shoot (more of those to come when I find the time to finish editing), the latter being from me frantically running around my neighborhood doing a color assignment for homework that I put off until the morning it was due (being busy has its downfalls).

I have some great news and updates coming for you, but I’ll wait until next week to announce them. Things are good in mi life though, as crazy and hectic as it is at the moment.

Also – My mum flies into town today! I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am. So begins a weekend of adventuring with my soul-twin who happened to birth me.

END!

I really can’t believe it’s November.

I feel like it was just summertime. Perhaps because it was 80 degrees yesterday.

I haven’t been running around quite as much in the last few days, so I don’t have a plethora of photos from different events and locations in San Francisco. This is probably good for me. I need to chill out.

However, I have been stumbling upon some pretty neat stuff lately while nerding out online.

For one – Mammoth Men.

I stumbled upon this website a couple of days ago and almost had a seizure. Seriously, how on earth have I not found this sooner. This is EXACTLY what I want to do with my life. Well. Maybe with a few tweaks. Bro-ing down with 12 guys in a tour bus for the rest of my life may be a little overwhelming. But it’s whatever. I’ve handled traveling around the country with bros. I can handle being homeless. I can handle the 12-hour drives and lack of showers. I’d redevelop my taste for terrible fast food combos and cheap beer. I’d deal.

Photo by Jeff Newsom | Mammoth Men

Anyway, more about Mammoth Men. These guys are photographers, and they tour the country. Not with bands, not with clients, not with any specific presentation or showcase… they just sniff out adventure, they pursue it, they document it, and they share it with the world via their well-crafted web presence and social media campaign. Fuck. If you know me personally, you know that THIS is what I want to do. This is it.

I did it to a degree this summer with Well Done Tour, my six-week national phototour with bands Bowerbirds & Megafaun, and photographer Tim Lytvinenko. But six weeks is not enough. I want to work constantly from the road, take photos, and be a liaison between relevant brands and my overwhelmingly large and devoted (this is also in the works) online public through sponsorships and targeted advertising and promotion. Sweet baby jesus. I get excited just thinking about it.

This will all take shape eventually. For now, I will continue living vicariously through them via their social media platforms and website. You should do the same.

I am actually getting a small dose of road back in my life in a few weeks – I’ll be joining Mark Growden and Alex Kelly on a short northwest mini-tour for the week before Thanksgiving. I am having serious tour withdrawals, so this will be good for me. The full schedule is on my Posterous blog.

Listen to Mark here.
Check out Mark’s CD Release concert on November 13th here.

Anyway. Here are some photos from a midterm assignment I procrastinated on and mostly finished last night. I wanted to shoot some night photos using existing lighting in San Francisco architecture. I rarely shoot portraiture in low lighting, so I figured this would be a good challenge for me.

So I kidnapped my roommates Cyndie & Hoa and we began our walk around the block.

Look how much they are enjoying themselves! Hooray for good sports.

That’s all for now. END!

So if you’re wondering what’s keeping me so busy these days…

My most important project as of late is working as a project manager for Mark Growden’s upcoming CD release show at the Cowell Theatre. I’ve put together a program that finds event contributors, then connects them to the SF arts community, using Mark’s show as a platform. It’s pretty neat. I’ve been working with one of the most noted producers in the Bay Area, Will Chase (of Burning Man fame, as well as countless additional huge SF events), as well as Porto Franco Records (Mark’s records label), for this event. Pretty incredible opportunity for my first contracted job since moving to SF.

Mark got home from his tour of the western half of the US on Saturday, and we’ve basically been working non-stop ever since, preparing, planning, researching, promoting, networking…

We can do this at parties too, of course.

Wednesday we headed over to the Tom Kennedy Art Auction. A bit more about the event:

Tom Kennedy passed away April 12, 2009 while body-surfing off Ocean Beach in San Francisco. He left behind a legacy as a pioneering sculptural artist, social agitator and builder of more than 20 art cars. As a founding member of the art car movement, his works of art work evolved into symbols of political protest and peace keeping. Tom envisioned his beloved and most recognized art car, Ripper the Friendly Shark, traveling around the world with a crew called the Friend Patrol. Together they would inspire and support friendship and peace in conflict zones where people perceived as enemies live and work together. The art auction will raise money to send Ripper the Friendly Shark on this mission at least once a year.

Mark was a guest performer for the event. View a video of his performance here.

Here are some of Scott Beale from Laughing Squid’s photos from the night: http://laughingsquid.com/photos-tom-kennedy-art-auction/

Thursday was research night. We headed to Mezzanine for the CD release show of Rupa & The April Fishes. It was a fun time, and the bands were great.

I was particularly captivated by the opening band, the California Honeydrops. I found a song from Thursday night on youtube:

Thursday night research conclusion: We have two weeks to find a mime on stilts for the CD release.

Friday was blogger party night. We headed to Violet Blue + Ben’s for a pre-Halloween shindig. I didn’t take any photos (the only ones were from Scott playing around with my camera), but Scott took plenty to make up for it. View them here.

Saturday was Halloween. I was the Spirit of the South. Gotta represent my homeland and all its beautiful people, y’all.

I spent the evening at Cellspace for the Ace Auto Junkyard Benefit. Ace Auto is a junkyard. It was the fostering grounds for the San Francisco arts scene. I don’t think I’ll ever quite be able to comprehend the level of influence the property has had on SF. Unfortunately, it is being forced to close down and move out after nearly 30 years. So a fundraiser involving ridiculous art and costume and debauchery is only appropriate.

Mark was a guest performer once again. I helped operate some gigantic robots in battle. That was fun. Scott, who was once again also in attendance, posted some additional photos on his blog. You can view them here.

And now it’s time to relax. And by relax I mean blog and plan for another week full of preparing for Mark’s CD Release. If you’re in San Fran, you should go. It’s November 13th at the Cowell Theatre in San Francisco. All of the producers are quite certain it will sell out soon (all 439 seats!), so I’d recommend snatching up some tickets while you can.

If you happen to live elsewhere, I suppose you can listen to him instead. He’ll come to your town eventually. Listen to a track from his newest album here.

That’s all for now. END!