Click the photo above for more photos from that session.
Also be sure to check out the official Jessica Vilanova site: JessicaVilanova.com and find out when La Petite Mort Burlesque will be performing next at the La Petite Mort Burlesque MySpace page or the La Petite Mort Burlesque Facebook Page.
2 legends that shaped popular culture from my childhood until today… Farrah’s death was expected due to her known cancer but Michael, the only man who should ever be called The King of Pop, died with no warning.
Respect.
Click for more pics. Possibly the best Iron Cordoba show yet!
Jane’s Addiction was my favorite rock band from the first time I heard them in 1988. They played Charlotte that year but I was 15 and thought that fake IDs were something that only happened in the movies or I would have would have gone to see them. I was pissed that I missed them but my new red dreadlocks made me feel a little better about it, partially because one of the guys putting them in had seen the show and told me about it as they worked. The Butthole Surfers were my favorite band at the time and I missed them not once but twice before I turned 18. Then, in 1991, Lollapalooza happened and I managed to see both of them (which was my only real goal for my 18th year) on the same day and stage. The Butthole Surfers were good but went on too early. It would be 10 years before I would finally see the Butthole Surfers show I really wanted to see. Jane’s Addiction put on the best show I had ever seen, a crown they would wear for many years.
I saw Porno For Pyros a few years later and then saw Jane’s Addiction again in 2001. I hesitate to call them Jane’s Addiction, though, because Eric Avery was not part of the band but the bass player for Porno For Pyros was filling in that spot. Yes, they played Jane’s Addiction songs, but there were as many members of Porno For Pyros (3) on stage as there were members of Jane’s Addiction (3). This year, probably almost totally due to Trent Reznor, Jane’s Addiction toured again. The REAL Jane’s Addiction. Nine Inch Nails opened for them and I wasn’t sure Jane’s Addiction would be able to put on a show that would outshine NIN’s performance. They did. It was such a great show that it made my memory of the NIN act pale in comparison.
I had great “seats” in the “pit” up front. Not the photographers’ pit but the area in front of the stage where Verizon Wireless Amphitheater removes the first 5 rows of seats and have a general admission standing area. They really are the best seats in the house, you can get as close or as comfortable as you want (as long as you want to stand and you should want to stand, it is a fucking rock show, if you don’t want to stand, you’re doing it wrong).
The NIN|JA tour had an open camera policy so I took mine. I was debating it right up until the morning of the show, when I decided that I would rather have a broken camera than have to walk around for the rest of my life saying my one of my least favorite phrases in the world: “I wish I had taken my camera”. Looking at my photos of Jane’s Addiction, I’m glad I did. They’re not all perfect, I left some “snapshot” quality pics in the mix because these are as much a documentation effort as anything else. “Pics or it didn’t happen,” I always say. Well, it happened. I was there. I have proof.
and, if you missed them,
ExtraMediumLarge Gallery: NIN|JA 2009: Nine Inch Nails at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte, NC 2009-06-12
I had “pit” tickets again (like the last time NIN played Charlotte but a real camera this time. Click the link above to see the rest of the photos. Jane’s Addiction photos coming soon.
Doral Apartments needs a new slogan. “Your Journey Ends Here…” isn’t exactly something will make you want to move to an apartment complex best known for the fact that it floods every time a good Summer storm rolls through. Maybe “Where dreams go to die” would have gotten them sued by the Hollywood, CA Chamber of Commerce but they could have gone with “A new high-water mark”. Or they could have come up with a nice promotion or something, like including free swimming lessons with your lease.
I saw the first Snowfight show a couple months ago at Amos’ Southend and then saw them again last Friday. I’m not sure if they had new songs for this show or if they werer just better after a couple more months of practice, but they definitely sounded better and more cohesive to me this time.
I had a new lens to test and tried a few new things as I continued to stick to my “no flash at concerts” rule. Unfortunately, most of my experiments failed but I did manage a few photos worth keeping. You can see them by clicking the photo above or this link: Snowfight at Amos’ Southend - 2009-05-29
As always, you can use the left/right arrow keys to move to the previous/next photo in the gallery.
I just installed Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 on an HP Mini 1000 running Windows 7 RC (installed via “run as administrator”) and it appeared to install but did not recognize my Nikon D200 when I plugged it in.
So I downloaded and installed Camera Control version 2.5 (again via “run as administrator”) and it works just fine. Not sure if it works enough to be worth the price but I have a month to see if it is actually usable and worth buying. If I had a real computer with dual monitors in a room where I could set up and take photos, I would definitely use it but I’m not so sure about the benefits vs pita ratio when using this software and a laptop.
I finally went to the new Trader Joe’s on my way home yesterday but after driving around the parking lot 1.5 times, I decided that driving up to the 2nd level of the parking deck was just silly so I continued on my way home instead.
When I signed up for cable in my current home, I ordered an HD tier (not sure which one) by requesting “the one that includes HDNet”. I just received a letter from Time Warner yesterday stating that, as of tomorrow, I will no longer have HDNet because they will no longer offer it. I’m a big Mark Cuban fan and a huge MMA fan so HDNet was probably my favorite HD Channel Time Warner offered (other than Showtime). I mean, as much as I need to see American Chopper or that damn car auction show every time I turn on my TV, I can probably live with watching both of those shows in SD. HDNet and HDNet Movies both had great HD content that made the HD tier worth having. Discovery HD used to, but then it became HDTheater and might as well be called “HD American Chopper and Friends”.
>Here is a link to more info about Time Warner Cable dropping HDNet