Warped Morning Extravaganza

Paramore
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

At least that's what I'm calling it. Thursday was a level of insane schedule wise for me.

It started with 4 of the Warped tour artist/bands coming in to the studio. Plus Freddy who if you dont know who he is I'm sure I've mentioned him in a previous blog or you can go to Kiddlive.com to find out.

So first in studio after Freddy was Gym Class and I felt kinda bad that Travis was having to walk with a Cane. He blew out his knee apparently for like the 6th time or something. They chatted for a bit and did one of the new songs off their upcoming album called "The Quilt"

Next up was Paramore. I was incredibly excited about that. Haley's aunt was there and rocking her Paramore shirt. Apparently she's a frequent listener of the show so that's cool. But they sound checked and while they were doing that I went into the studio and first thing Haley did was smile and wave which was cool that she was all friendly like that. Then they interviewed and then Haley warmed up during the break. She was jumping around in the hall and stuff which sounds silly but it isn't. It gets the blood pumping and she's the jump around rock out type so it makes sense to loosen up like that. They did two songs which were both awesome. It was neat getting to hear the acoustic versions of the songs.

After Paramore was Katy Perry. I saw Haley give her a hug on her way out of the studio. Katy was pretty funny, there were a few awkward moments thanks to Al, but that's Al for ya. Katy played it up for the camera a little which is always cool. And does anyone else think she looks like Zooey Deschanel?

Last up was Forever The Sickest Kids. They had just been in studio not that long ago. And they played Hey Brittany again. So it wasn't anything completely new. But they are always good to shoot. One of the guys really hams it up and is all about making silly faces. Anyway here are some of the shots from the studio.


Gym Class Heroes


Paramore



Katy Perry


Forever the Sickest Kids


Okay so that's that portion of the day. I actually shot warped tour after that, and then to cap the day off took my dog to the vet because he wasn't feeling well and was being way lethargic which isn't normal for him. And that was an adventure in itself. So by the time I got home and went to sleep I had been up for 22 hours and slept for 2 1/2 the night before. I was tired needless to say.

More to come.

The Toadies

The Toadies
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

The Toadies were at the Ridglea last weekend and I got to shoot that. I wanted to shoot Rascal Flatts, but we didn't cover it, and I like the Toadies too so I wasn't torn up over it or anything.

So the Toadies are back together and have several shows around the US coming up and they just booked another DFW show in August I think. All of it is to promote their upcoming album. It's good to see the Toadies back and touring, doing more than just local radio shows and the St Patricks day gig.

So the Ridglea show sold out in 45 minutes and frankly I've never seen the Ridglea packed that tight. I had a hard time getting to the photo pit, thank god there was a photo pit, that show would have been nuts without one due to crowd surfers and what not. Plus it just makes my life easier when there is one.

So when I got there I found out they weren't going on till 10:30.. naturally when my deadline was and when I was supposed to be shooting another assignment. Long story short I stayed at the Toadies shot my 3 songs and hauled butt over to the offices to edit and transfer and they sent a staffer over to the other assignment.

Right before the Toadies came out the crowd started chanting and cheers erupted when they stepped on stage. I honestly do not remember what the first two songs were because that was a bit of a blur of me trying to figure out the lighting because it's not the worst at the Ridglea but it isn't the best either. So finding the balance is tricky. I do know the third song was "I Come From the Water" and I sang along as I shot. Then after that hauled it out of there as quick as possible cutting out the back door.

Anyway here are some of the shots!





Ok I have Colby O'Donis at Kidd Kraddick and then Hootie and the Blowfish. And Thursday I will be shooting Warped Tour. So I'll do my best to try and keep up but I make no promises.

Rachel

Dave Barnes

Dave Barnes
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

Well Friday evening Dave Barnes rolled through town again. This time as the opener for Johnny Lang. He's actually picked up quite a few opening slots with some heavy hitters like Johnny Lang, One Republic, I think is opening for Bonnie Raitt a couple times.

Apparently it was Dave's birthday, and I had no clue, and while the crowd was mostly there for Johnny some of the Dave fans in attendance yelled out Happy Birthday Dave between songs. I've liked Dave for several years now so I feel like a bad fan for not knowing that.

I think his set was only about 30 minutes but there were alot of people packed in there when he was on. After his set some folks asked me what his name was, I told them they should definitely check him out some more and get his cd. So I feel as if I did my part in spreading the gospel of Dave Barnes.

I seemed as though the crowd received him well and was pretty amused when he made a joke about showing Johnny some stuff on guitar. "Yeah I taught him some licks earlier.. I think he's picking it up." Gotta love the sense of humor, random funny stories, and back and forth audience banter that makes a Dave Barnes show what it is. To me that's the icing on the cake.. the cake being the great music. Mmm cake.

Ok seeing as how I didnt snatch a set list I'm going to try my best to remember the songs off the top of my head. They aren't in order I dont think, but they're darn close!

Everybody But You
Butterflies
Good World Gone Bad
Someday Sarah
Since You Said I Do
Greyhound
On A Night Like This
Until You
Graces Amazing Hands

I think that's right. I'm not 100 percent sure though.

So after Dave there was a bit of a line to meet him so I went in and shot the first three of Johnny's set because when in Rome take photos of everything? Johnny had a spotlight so I was kinda like wow that would have been nice for them to have used during Dave's set. So in the photo's the light is obviously a tad bit better. The first two songs for Dave was like shooting in a cave because once again, like I said in the entry before this one for Natasha. The lighting guy needs to turn up the fronts and not blow out the back lights. And he knows how to do it because he did on the 3rd song of Dave's set!

Here are some of the shots! There's more about the show after!

Dave Barnes




Johnny Lang




But ok so after I shot Johnny I wandered back out into the merch area where Raymond was talking to Dave and so I waited behind him and Dave looked over Ray's shoulder and got this HEY! excited look on his face. So after Ray was done, Dave was like "Wow it's been a while!" and then I told him I had been at the recent shows but just been lame and hadn't been hanging out after. I used the lame excuse of getting old. To which his response was "Tell me about it, today I'm officially old." And I asked how old was that? And he said "30 today." To which my response was "That's not bad.. and Well 50 is the new 30 so I think you're alright" to which he pointed out that in the future we were all going to be frozen anyway.

So after saying hi to Dave I actually headed out. I had seen Johnny before and he's amazing live, I do suggest going to see him and his mad guitar skills. But I had all my gear with me on my back and was hungry and had a dog at home that was hungry too. I always feel bad leaving him home alone for too long. He's kind of like a child. If someone else had been home with him I may have stayed for a little while longer. But it was sold out and packed.

Now I think I've touched on this before, but at a place like The House of Blues or heck more venues than that, but this one in particular if you're near the back people seem to prefer to talk to each other which is more like yell at each other. Opposed to respect and watch the musician on stage. I completely get commenting here and there on the song or something that just happened, and I don't exactly expect everyone to give their complete attention to the opening acts necessarily. But you're there to see the headliner. If you want to talk, it would be way less straining to go outside and talk, or heck dont even waste your money on the ticket, just stay home and put in the cd and talk there. Patrons aren't there to listen to you talk. It's just disrespectful to the artist and its disrespectful to the people actually there to see the artist and HEAR the music.

I will say very cool moment though. Hotel Cafe Tour 2006 at Gypsy Tea Room. One act had already played a few songs and there was this constant chatter going on. Sara Bareilles gets up onstage and by the second verse of her song silence had filled the venue. She had everyone in that rooms complete attention. Which was amazing. The only other time I think I've heard a room silent is when Gavin Degraw was commanding it and hushing the crowd and showing off by singing without a microphone on "Let's Get It On."

So I guess readers digest of this entry is:
Dave Barnes was Awesome! and Respect musicians and their fans by shutting up at their shows!

And once again a major thank you to Dave's label for being so great about setting up the Photo Pass. It's always refreshing to deal with nice folks.

I should have Toadies shots soon!
Rachel