Dirty Laundry

peace and love!

Play from your heart!!

Comedian, philosopher, and shaman Bill Hicks is one of my heros. A self described "Chomsky with dick jokes," nothing was taboo for Bill. Politics, religion, porn, drugs - he spoke of the things that dwell in everyone's mind but thanks to social conventions most of us are to afraid to discuss or even acknowledge.

I was looking at the photo below, reflecting on the experience and one Hick's quote kept on replaying in my head...

"When did mediocrity and banality become a good image for your children? I want my children to listen to people who fucking rocked. I don't care if they died in puddles of their own vomit. I want someone who plays from his fucking heart.

"Mommy, mommy, the man that Bill told me to listen to has a blood bubble on his nose!" Shut up and listen to him play!

Fuck that! I want my rock stars dead! I want them to fucking play with one hand and put a gun in their other fucking hand and go "I hope you enjoy the show!" ( BAMMM! gun-fire noise) Yes! Yes! Play from your fucking heart!"


For more on on the late, great Bill Hicks, go here...
peace and much love!

Ride hard!

As you may know I am a full time cycle commuter, which definitely has it's plusses and minus. Plus - not paying for gas and insurance. Minus - having a photoshoot on the other side of town and lugging 30+ pounds of gear on your back on a fixie.

Here are a few great cycling quotes I picked up from the BikeSnobNYC blog, a very entertaining must read even for the most casual cyclist.

"The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets." --Christopher Morley

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." --H.G. Wells

"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle." --Ernest Hemingway


peace!

Intro to HDR

Although I have been aware of HDR (High Dynamic Range) Imaging for a while, it was not until last night that I first attempted it for myself. True HDR images combine two or more identitcally composed images, each exposed for a different area - for instance one exposed for the sunset and one for the darker foreground. Once these images are combined and tone-mapped, the new image can be stunning, with rich details in the shadows and highlights of a normally high contrast scene.

I created these HDR images using only one RAW image, but I duplicated the image and exposed each instance for a specific area. Although this works well, it is best to use two or more images (shot using a tripod) and combine them. The original image is on the left, as exposed with no correction. The HDR version of the same image is below. Even though I only used one RAW file, you can see there was a lot of information that was stored in the file not being used to it's full potential.


Original.

HDR version.

peace and much love!

Portraiture

For a limited time I am going to be doing gratis portraiture in the metro Austin area. I need to bolster my protfolio a bit and exercise some of the wild ideas running around in my head.

If you are an artist, individual or band who is interested please contact me, ryan.chahanovich@gmail.com.

Here is a shot of the lovely Magera Moon...

peace and love!

best of SXSW

well, i survived sxsw and now i shall tell the tale. i saw 50+ official showcases, countless street bands, attended several day parties and so much more. here is my rundown of the best of the best!

Best Japanese Act
Avengers in Sci Fi from Tokyo.

Best Surprise
This one is a toss up between street band 1 and street band 2.


Best Former RATM Member Solo Performance
Tom Morello!

Best Brit Band With a Wicked Long Name
Joe Lean and the Jing Jang jong

Sexiest Bassist That is Not Kim Gordon
Kamara from Earl Greyhound, and I love her.

Best Local Band That is Not White Denim
Grady

Only Band(s) Worth the Effort to See Twice
Another tie, this time between White Denim and Black Mountain.


Best In Show
Hands down, Thurston Moore and band. One encore just wasn't enough, the second time around Thurston had some help from the audience during his guitar solo which made me pee a little.


much love and appreciation to all those who made sxsw so wonderful

lush life austin/jules
meow poww media
the lovely magera moon
marc urselli
diego (and driego)
old friends
new friends

peace and love

was it a dream?

is it really over? i need sleep in order to process what the hell happened over the last few days, full report coming tomorrow.

with that, here is a shot of the bass player from nada surf.



peace and love!

SXSW madness

day 3 is about to begin - neeeeeeeed sleeeeeeep......
ben harper
random hero
graveyard (sweden)
peace and love!

facelift

just in time for SXSW i have given my website a facelift.

check it out at ryanchahanovich.com!


peace!

my sxsw schedule

you can view my sxsw schedule here, http://sched.org/sxsw2008/ryan_chahanovich

this is only my band list and does not include the must attend parties (spin, iheartcomix, fader fort, vice saves texas...)


also, you have to check out the meow poww/skope magazine showcase on friday!!



peace!

sxsw recs

be sure to check out the best sxsw scheduler around at http://sched.org/

here are my must sees:
earl greyhound
black mountain
lightspeed champion
har mar superstar
maps and atlases
colour of revolution
sleepercar
the spinto band
white denim
saul williams
vampire weekend

peace!

missing in action

what a busy week it has been! i have been running around all over town shooting venues and resteraunts for lush life, working my day job (eSession.com), launching a podcast, and preparing myself mentally and physically for the madness that is SXSW.

speaking of the podcast, make sure to go to freeradioaustin.com, we just posted our special edition mess with texas fest edition podcast in conjunction with transmission entertainment. make sure to check out the mess with texas fest during SXSW - featuring NOFX, the breeders, islands, and about 20 other bands. aside from music, the fest will feature comedy by janine garofalo, human giant and so much more.

so kiddos, here is some home work for you:
Mess With Texas Fest!
Free Radio Austin!
Lush Life Myspace!

here are a few shots from the last few days.

enoteca vespaio.
south congress cafe.
peace!

48 hours in the life

what?!?! the weekend is over, when did that happen?

bands, bikes, designers, artists, cocktails, people, video shoots, flying kites, sleeping in and a pair of brunches. all of this and still not enough time in the day.

zilker kite festival

hot pink pistol, hope perkins
scorpion child
household names
special thanks to lush life, check out the ll myspace page and be on the lookout for the upcoming launch of the site.

peace!