By God! You're right! I DO love steak!!

So... I've photographed these guys before and holy cow how they have changed! I was definitely not impressed with their live presence about two years ago, but this is a band that has grown into a sound that they clearly love to play. Their sound has moved away from the poppy stuff and more into the blues/rock genre (hip hip hooooray!). I think that's why I was so impressed, to be honest.

I will say though, that Tim's (above) vocals have always been something that I've been drawn to. He's got some pretty real lyrics runnin' through his brain, as well, which counts for major points in my book. If you can get through some of the pop melodies and listen to what he's saying, you know this kid might be one of the brightest crayons in the box.

Check them out, make your own decision and if they come through your town, get off the internet and go see a good live show:

The Alternate Routes

Also, if you ever find yourself in NYC and craving some good jams at stellar venues 1) ask me oorrr 2) just go to the Highline Ballroom's schedule and you probably won't be disappointed.

Ya know when you really dig a band, then you go see them oh, say five years later and they sound nothing like they used to?

If you don't know this feeling, I feel either very fortunate for you or very sad that you've perhaps never been in love with a band enough to experience said emotion. Granted, some bands never go south, so it's possible that you are in the very lucky minority.

In lieu of naming the band, I'm just going keep playing their old tracks over and over on my ipod. I know that doesn't help you with the story behind the photo, but it helps me.

NOTE: Not the same feeling as having a follow-up album suck - that's a whole other, less tragic, barrel of monkeys.

Although success is a relative term, there is something about this city that just makes you want to be every inch alive as the very essence of the domain in which you live. I can't say for sure what it is, but the wealth of opportunity here is nothing short of empowering. On every corner, you meet someone with some kind of a dream, some kind of will to make their lives extraordinary. It takes some skill and a whole lotta luck, but New York is every bit as conquerable as you had imagined. So what if there are millions of other people with your dream. To you, it doesn't matter... or rather, it shouldn't matter, because your art is your own, your path is your own and when the time comes, you will be dealt a winning hand. You are always in the game and folding really isn't an option.

Man is prone to acting out of self-interest, and this city is one that both understands and respects that notion. That's not to say that it's devoid of compassion, in fact, it's quite the opposite. When self-interest thrives, passion is unavoidable. The price you do pay, however, is that you must expect to survive on your own, with dependence on nothing but your own blind faith in what you need to do to reach difficult, but 100% achievable goals. You will be vastly underrated, and occasionally overestimated. There will be many people who help along the way and you will help others along the way too, but you are your own reliability.

But the key to all this?

Always, always, always keep that heart open when kicking butt. Sometimes proportionately, sometimes not so much.

Even if your hands are shaking, and your faith is broken,
Even as the eyes are closing, do it with a heart wide open...

always, always, always...

go after what you want.

Brendan James at the Canal Room last week. Words to come tomorrow. However, my roommate just made me laugh, so I'm going to post the quote:

"I'm so confused... like you... when you're ordering a sandwich!"

When it comes to immediate culinary choices, I am one of the most indecisive people on the planet.

New York City and it's wealth of opportunity is just lovely. I think that's actually all I'm going to say about this for now... well that and the photo above is of Jason Reeves, a fellow vagabond and new-found friend in the music world.

Although our weather wasn't ideal and it was decided that "yinzerworks" truly do kick some butt, celebrating the 4th of July in NYC was fabulous. Committing to waking early to snag a good spot to watch Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, three of us made the trek down to Coney Island to witness the annual New York spectacle.

As if watching people shovel an incomprehensible amount of hot dogs into their traps at ridiculous speeds wasn't enough, little did we know we were about to witness history. Tied at 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes, contestants Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi were forced into a 5-dog-speed-eating competition - oh yes, thats right... sudden death! And craziness!

In the end, Chestnut was declared the winner, Luke took better shots than me, all of us rode the famous Wonder Wheel and I received a warm invitation to the Coney Island Polar Bear Club USA, Inc.

All that followed by fireworks from the rooftop of our Brooklyn abode - pretty wonderful.

Oh and I neglected to mention above that I ate a hot dog. Figuring that my usual "um... ick" to the American standard 1. wasn't going to hold any water with that crowd and 2. made absolutely no sense being that I digested an innumerable amount of odd things in Asia, I snarfed that sucker in a pathetic 5 minutes and 18 seconds.

"Look Ma! I'm on camera!"

Sorry Dude, but contrary to popular belief, a dancing hot dog is only funny for exactly 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

More notably though, I gave Luke 5 years to make enough connections to land the coveted "Doofus" (pictured right) job. We'll see if he's up to the challenge.

More on Nathan's

Although Brooklyn offers an ecclectic array of photo opportunities, I've decided to take this first week to strictly observe, which means Baby has remained in the bag since I arrived.

In addendum to this camera T-O, I decided to dig up a photo from an Attack Theatre shoot I did last summer. The purpose behind the session was to come up with a promotional concept for their show Someplace, Not Here (pretty poignant title if you ask me) without really knowing much about the production.

So I had to come up with a photograph, purely by observation of their movements, that would embody that deceivingly simple phrase.

The treasure in this image is the idea of condensed cinema - one, or perhaps many stories in a single image.

All of my images have stories, but most of them are recorded truths, things that have actually occurred. It's not often that a project requires me to create a story, but I think it's incredibly cool to outline characters and then have the viewer color them in. There are no words, there is no diegetic or non-diegetic sound, just one frame and an infinite number of possibilities and perspectives.

I don't know the exact story behind these people, same as you. I don't know where they came from and I don't know where they are going. The truth of the matter is that the art in this photo is not that one storyline exists, but that many are possible. And as all great literature and cinema, the subjects are not as fictional as the word "character" may suggest.

Although I posted about "Give and Take" awhile back, I thought it was necessary to properly introduce you guys to Shea Mullen, multi-tasker extraordinaire, as last week was the last shoot in this series.

Not only does Shea work with multiple charities and design uber-comfy T-shirts, but she owns a cupcakery in Pittsburgh, well Shadyside really, called Coco's Cupcake Cafe. I don't even really like cupcakes, but there are soo many choices at Coco's it's hard to find one that doesn't suit your fancy - my favorite thus far being the biscotti, or no wait, the vegan red velvet, no no umm the chocolate chocolate with the Italian meringue buttercream? Eh well, I've never been known for my Blitzkrieg-like decisions.

I don't mean to talk about Coco's so much, but I'm hungry - or no, what I meant to say is that Shea is a living example of how the one-trick pony road to success is wrong in some cases and actually, is less secure than the multi-tasking-"crazy"-person model. And by the way, how are all of the multi-tasking crazies different than (y)our grandfathers who worked 3 jobs? Success is relative, my friends, whether it's found in supporting your family or in creating tons of different things.

The ironic part, at least in my case, is that I can't short-term multi-task. Have you ever seen me walking down the street, drinking a bottle of water and talking on the phone at the same time? If you think you have, that definitely wasn't me because you would have then proceeded to see me fall on my face. Yeah, yeah, gymnast, cheerleader, balance beam, schmalence beam. It all adds up to nothing.

Maybe this is the catch though. Maybe those who multi-task in the short-term can focus in the long-term and those who multi-task in the long-term can focus in the short-term. That's probably not true, but it would be funny if it was.

Ok, well, food for thought I guess and speaking of, NYC brunch is calling my name. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all month and you know what that means? You're right! Nine more brunches!!

Heaven.

I don't know whose manager let elitism and extreme celebrity thrive, but if you ask me, it's among the worst things in music and actually, entertainment as a whole. Sure, idolization of an image is generally helpful in marketing, but it's the moment when the person behind the image embraces celebrity. That's where I get really, really lost. Musicians who have been fortunate enough to reach the peak of multimedia Everest owe that ascent, almost entirely, to the people who were and are willing to devote their lives to a sound, an image and a belief - be it manager, crew member, promoter, or fan.

And no one I've met in this elevated category (yet) understands this more than Mr. Kenny Chesney, the anti-celebrity. His status is impressive, which makes his humility not only astounding, but as it should be.

As I work for more and more of these tours, the selection of crew members and how said star treats the crew is quite indicative of the vibe and purpose of that artist's music. My hypothesis is still being tested, but something tells me it's fairly accurate as stands.

However, let's not forget that he still is an entertainer with a stage image and to some degree, must play it up. I mean, if you scroll down, you might mistake Petty for Jesus dressed in a purple velvet blazer with an electric guitar, but I assure you, it actually is Tom Petty and probably only stage Tom Petty.

In the music world, artists like Kenny sometimes get snubbed for cliche chords and generic lyrics, and ok, no, this music isn't critically revolutionary, but is creating universally identifiable music something to be frowned upon? Ok, don't answer that, but if that's what you think, I suggest you go to the nearest Kinko's and for $24.95 "buy happiness" in a ridiculous book titled: Happy for No Reason. Quite a bargain if you ask me. Oh, and don't be ashamed, I buy my happiness in various wheels of cheese.

My actual point being is that I would bet my entire album collection that Kenny is more level-headed than most "stars" out there. I know I always talk about the fans, but Kenny's fans truly love Kenny and Kenny truly loves his fans.

Once again, this is where I get confused about the elitists. Why don't they understand that the connection to the fans, in the end, IS the only thing that truly matters? Yeah, everyone backing these artists is important too, but are they the ones buying tickets, merch and the experience? No, they are the ones creating it... for the fans... for these artists to be able to continue.

How do you think the Dixie Chicks, after their highly publicized, derogatory comment about President Bush, after being banned from country airwaves, took their newest album, "Taking the Long Way," to the top of the charts without the assistance of radio? And look at the demographic they play to!

I don't give a crap what any of you think you know about music or what you think about country, but if you don't respect that kind of artist/fan relationship, you might as well never listen to another record ever again... because you are part of that relationship.

Kenny Chesney is not Radiohead. Kenny Chesney is not the Rolling Stones. Kenny Chesney is not the Dixie Chicks. Kenny Chesney is Kenny Chesney and what he's doing is brilliant on many different levels. If I were to delve into the other business aspects of this dude, we'd be here all day and night for the next week, but right now I'm just talking about his notion that he is no better a person than anyone in his audience or anyone on his crew. I would have to totally disagree with him, but that's only because it takes a hell of a lot of guts and dedication to make it as far as he has and I just don't believe that most people have that in them. But I guess that's just my own quirky idolization of Kenny Chesney.

Despite that though, and almost to my surprise, Kenny and I get along wonderfully.

(Photo: back of KC crew shirt... which I tried to make look like a waving pirate flag... with um, very little success.)

Finally seeing Entrain live on 6/11 (wow, I'm late in posting... sorry guys) was quite the pleasure for this little music nerd. I started listening to these guys a lonnng time ago and for some reason, probably my remitting ADD, they unfortunately fell off of my audio radar for the past few years.

This should have never happened.

When one band can gather a group of hooligans from all walks of life and make them all dance by the end of the show, I must tip my hat and kick myself down the street for laying their records aside.

What I'm trying to say is: have a listen.

Oh hi!

This is probably way immature of me, but is the lead singer of Entrain giving me the bird??

Haha, jussst kidding Jeff.

There is absolutely no denying the fact that Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers are indeed rock stars. I've photographed many bands in my time, but these guys are part of the aging group of people who defined rock, which made shooting these guys last Tuesday particularly great. Does Petty walk around like a rock star? Um yes, but quite frankly, he deserves it. Not only has his music managed to keep fans from 30 years ago, but it's managed to reach an exceeding amount of younger generations. And all of these people, I'm telling you, every last one, would like to be nowhere else in the world. The incredible happiness, the crazy dancing and the bright eyes apparent throughout the crowd just makes you wish you could make people that happy on a consistent basis. Maybe it's the drugs, maybe it's the music, maybe it's the combination of the two, but whatever it is, it reminds you of what live music really is and always was. That this show, that live music in general, is a connective, sensory experience and not just 60 bucks down the drain when you could have been at home watching whatever it is that you watch in HD.

With all of the other ridiculous media outlets in society, at 57, Petty still sells out pretty much every amphitheater he plays. Whether it's a testament to his legend or the fact that his shows rock, I'm also not sure, but it doesn't really matter. I'm a pretty tough critic and I was thoroughly impressed, so if you get a chance and you can worm your way into a ticket when he comes to your town, head to the show and see what I mean.

"I AM A GOLDEN GOD!" -Almost Famous

a.k.a A visual representation of the sanctimony of rock stars.

"She said, I dig you baby, but I got to keep movin' ... on, keep movin' on"

Thanks lighting dudes!