Another view

Had some fun working on some low-key self portraits last night. There is a lot more detail to these, but uploading them to the web they get compressed and lose a lot of the shadow detail. Anyways, as always no photoshop on these, other than pasting the two images next to each other a new canvas.
Side Note: Regarding the post below, it looks like that guy is real and that crazy string of consonants is his actual name. A google search yielded a few court cases between him and the city and county of Honolulu. Weird, I know.
PEACE to you all!

What????

Snapped this one using my phone over by Ala Moana. Whoever this character is, he is standing in front of a wall of disposable film. Strange...
PEACE to you all!

Tis the season

...for the best of the year lists, blah blah. Instead of compiling a list myself, here are my top 35 iTunes plays.

PEACE to you all!

Eddie Would Go

I have been wicked busy soaking up the sun here in Hawaii for the holidays. I will begin posting more soon. Happy holidays all!

PEACE to you all!

"This is a goodbye kiss, you dog!"

PEACE to you all!

Serve

California's rolling hills, as seen from Amma's ashram in San Ramon. Again, working with film that had been expired for over ten years. Notice how the light actually goes off the side of the frame and onto the register. Try that with digital, HA!
PEACE to you all!

Self portrait, San Ramon California. Turned out ok, considering the film had been expired for over ten years!! :)
PEACE to you all!

In flight

La Jolla, Thanksgiving.
PEACE to you all!

Congratulations!

PEACE to you all!

Brilliant

OK, Greg Saunier of Deerhoof is totally from another planet. So good.

Deerhoof Live Show and Q&A, July 27, 2008 from Anthem Magazine on Vimeo.PEACE to you all!

Floater

PEACE to you all!

Ramblin man

Spent some time flipping through my notebooks, and reflecting on some of the places I have been this year. While flipping through the notebook, I updated my geotracker and was able to see that I have been on the road quite a bit this year. Below is a small screenshot, you can see the full page here.
PEACE to you all!

Trips

Sarkis, gnarled, in triplicate...

PEACE to you all!

4/1

Spotted this one while Magera and I were in the Mission, whoever this Ramon guy is, he sure is cheap...

Hope everyone had a great holiday!
PEACE to you all!

Blue Gold

PEACE to you all!

F F F Film

This is what happens when you develop an expired roll of film in bad chemistry...
The National.



PEACE to you all!

Top tier

Seems a little early for an album of the year list I know, but the elite Rough Trade records must be looking to scoop everyone else by releaseing their top 50 list first. Two Austin bands made the top 15 - guess who?

Surprise, surprise - White Denim and the Black Angels! White Denim came in at number 4 (!) and the Angels placed at number 12. Scope the whole list here.

A shot of Christian Bland of the Black Angels during F(x3).
PEACE to you all!

Take Action!

If these images don't move you, well then...


XDR-TB | Spread the Story. Stop the Disease. from Samson Yee on Vimeo.PEACE to you all!

Streetfight

Berkeley is Ghetto.

PEACE to you all!

FFF in a nutshell

OK - here is a rundown of my Fun Fun Fun favorites.

Experimental Dental School, a rockin duo and an unexpected surprise. They just finished touring with Deerhunter if that is any indicator as to their coolness.
Dengue Fever, indie cambodian pop and nothing but goodness. I have been a fan of these guys for a long time and it was awesome to finally see them live.
Terp 2 It, yet another unexpected surprise. I don't even know what the hell was going on, but this guy had a whole crew of evangelists running through the crowd touting the word and praising the name of Terp 2 It.
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead. Being a former Austinite, I can't believe I never saw these guys live. Aside from having the least photogenic frontman on the planet, it was a great set.
Doctor Octagon/Kool Kieth. I really don't dig the Kool kieth stuff, which comprised the first half of the set, but I (and the whole crowd) went nuts when he busted out with the Doc Oc material.
Minus the Bear, my runner up for best in show, what a killer set!
Deerhoof, HANDS DOWN best of the whole fest. Great mix of tunes with lots of stuff from my favorite record Runners Four. Totally blew my mind, also cool because Tim and Eric where standing next to me in the photographers pit.

Stuck

A self portrait.


PEACE to you all!

Dust Bowl

A few snaps from backstage during the Black Angels set, still have lots of photos to go through and edit...



PEACE to you all!

F F F Fried....

Just got back late last night from Austin, where I was shooting the Fun Fun Fun fest, so good!

Anyways, lots of images to edit and deliver, for now here is a shot from onstage at Dr Octagon. Stay tuned for more FFF goodness.


PEACE to you all!

The future is unwritten

Ocean Beach, Petri Color35, C41 developed in BW chemistry.
PEACE to you all!

Trifecta

Last night Austin came to SF in the form of Roky Erickson and the Black Angels, playing two nights at the Great American. The Angels played a set on their own, then came back out to back Roky.

Just watching Roky's mannerisms you can tell he is from another planet. This from his Wiki page, "In an unmedicated state, Erickson began a years-long obsession with the mail, often spending hours poring over random junk mail, writing to solicitors and celebrities (dead or living). He was arrested in 1989 on charges of mail theft. Erickson picked up mail from neighbors who had moved and taped it to the walls of his room." Roky has been to the edge, and he never came back. However, it is quite miraculous that he can get in front of a crowd and play music.



The picture below was taking by Stephanie Chernikowski, rock and roll photographer extrodenaire and sister of my favorite person, Sandy Chernikowski.



PEACE to you all!

Stunna Shades

OK, so last night just may have been the best Halloween ever. People were flipping out over the Stunna Shades, I lost count how many people we took pictures with. Cars were honking and yelling, one car stopped in the road and the lady ran across the street to take our picture. Pretty much every party we went to gave us the unofficial best costume award. We did go to one party that was incredible, certainly one of the coolest spaces I have ever been to. It was in a huge warehouse down in the Embarcadero, the place was like a dreamland and had the feel of a large artist's collective although just three people lived there. I wish we had more pictures of our own, only this one for now. I am sure pictures of us will be showing up on flickr soon and I will post them when found.

I hope you all had a great Halloween!



PEACE to you all!

Straight out of Iran

The band Hypernova, now based out of NYC actually hails from Iran. Here is a great quote from a recent Wired interview:

"We came to the U.S. to show the world know that rock 'n' roll has no boundaries. The kids back home in Iran enjoy the same things that American kids enjoy. We are all one and in this cosmic mess together. We hope that our music can help bridge the cultural divide that exists between our respective nations. Music really does transcend all barriers." Well said.

Wired Story.
Hypernova Myspace.

PEACE to you all!

Behind the back

Fun Fun Fun next week, I can't wait. Here are a few snaps from last year, bands pictured: Ted Leo and the Pharmicists, Riverboat Gamblers, Explosions in the Sky.



PEACE to you all!

Destructive.

I have only been away from Austin a few months, but day by day the town I had come to love so much is being torn down and built anew. It is what it is I guess.

Stuffed otter on a stick.

What a weekend! A dear friend of ours, Marc was in town from New York. He was on tour with the prolific Laurie Anderson, in between soundchecks and shows we bummed around town and had a lot of fun. So much else happened, here is a list of some of the crazy coolness:

- Witnessed a straight up GHETTO street fight outside the BART station in downtown Berkeley, total craziness.
- Got a private tour of the Contemporary Jewish Museum by the museum's director, rock star style.
- Primo seats thanks to Marc at Laurie's show, then backstage action.
- Met Wavy Gravy and his stuffed animal friend backstage (hence the title).
- Met and talked a while with one of my HERO's Kevin Kelly, who was a founder of Wired Magazine. I got a little giddy, I must admit.
- I got my ass kicked by some Bosnian's in basketball down in the panhandle, also got my front teeth bashed in by a shoulder. OUCH!

With all that craziness, here is a shot I took this weekend in Berkeley and developed at home.



PEACE to you all!

Waimea

Developed these at home last night and just scanned them, enjoy!




PEACE to you all!

Team Adventure

These flickers of light were imprinted on pieces of film back in June, while Magera and I were spending the month in Hawaii (yes I have been in Hawaii a LOT lately). Anyways, these are from one of our scuba adventures off the Waianae coast.

Look closely at the image of the dolphin, you will notice a plastic bag on it's dorsel fin. As the pod of dolphins "surfed" underneath our charter boat, they would pass this plastic bag from dolphin to dolphin, fin to fin. It was quite amazing.




PEACE to you all!

Sandy C

Here is a portrait of one of my favorite people on this entire planet, Sandy Chernikowski.



PEACE to you all!

MF'in White Denim!

There are so few bands that give me goosebumps anymore, White Denim are one of those bands. They have finally released their first full length, Exposion, which you can buy DIRECTLY from the band at whitedenimmusic.com. This just may be my album of the year.

Here is the video for the tune Shake, Shake, Shake along with a few image comps of the band, shot at SXSW and Fun Fun Fun.


WHITE DENIM - Shake Shake Shake from ACIDBIRD on Vimeo.



PEACE to you all!

Duets.

New scanner - no time to type about how amazing the last few weeks have been, so for now enjoy a few test scans.

New Mexico.
Hawaii.


PEACE to you all!

Travel gear.

I am packing up the last of my things before heading to the airport and took a snap of my photo gear (TOTALLY nerdy, I know). Surprisingly, all of it fits nicely into a small bag.



Cameras: Mamiya 645E, Petri Color 35E
Films: Various 120 and 35, BW, Velvia E6, Portra NC, Superia
Goodies: Flash gun, 220 Cartridge, Silver/Gold Reflector, Various filters

PEACE to you all!

Bad mamajama.

I haven't owned a car in about two years, and honestly I have yet to miss having one. My family here in Hawaii however are the exact opposite (5 cars for two people!). Below are a few snapshots of their newest whip, a 2009 Challenger SRT, which they only made 6,000 of!




PEACE to you all!

Warzone

PEACE to you all!

Aloha Au Ia`oe

I am here in Hawaii for a couple weeks, I developed and scanned a few black and white images I took yesterday for your viewing pleasure. Mahalo Nui'Loa.

Harley and Tana.
Beach Cruiser.
Front yard.

PEACE to you all!