Pants Party

Les Savy Fav ROCKS my world.
Ilford Delta Pro 3200 film, developed by hand. Shot at FFF in Austin...



PEACE to you all!

FFF Film 09 1

Fun Fun Fun, quite possibly my favorite music event of the year went down last weekend. This is the third year I have shot FFF for Skope Mag and Meow Poww Media, and every year it gets better. Growing so weary of digital, I shot mostly film this year - lots of black and white which I have yet to process and a few rolls of C41 and E6. The C41 I sent to the lab and unfortunately the entire roll is underexposed - my fault, changed film too fast and had the ISO set in manual at a stop under the rating of the film. However, just got the E6 roll back from the lab and I am pretty excited. Next week I will do a full FFF recap and write up, but for now here are my favorite shots - 7 shots out of a 36 exposure roll, not a bad hit rate. Many more photos - film and (bleh) digital.

A wide view of the Metal stage, which every year is the only stage without a photopit, so to get shots for this stage I have to stand in the crowd with a telephoto.


Random hero tuning up before going on stage. With festivals like this, there are so many artists around there is no way you can know who everybody is.

Random backstage action.

Living the High Life.

Russian Circles KILLING it.

So far, this is my favorite shot from the festival. One of the dude's from Sugar and Gold.

Focus was a bit soft here, was literally running to another stage when I noticed this blind cat who was JAMMING on the side of the stage. Snapped a shot of him, then came back to the stage later to find he was the keyboardist and singer of the band Foot Patrol - who VM Black describes as "Austin’s favorite foot fetish funk group." Can hardly explain how amazing they were, will type more on them later.
PEACE to you all!

M O S

Mates of State
Chromogenic Print
1/3, Artist Test Print
Registration is misaligned, but can be cut down.
$100 UPDATE: This print has been sold and is no longer available.
ryan.chahanovich@gmail.com
PEACE to you all!

This Friday

PEACE to you all!

Thank you.

PEACE to you all!

Getting Back to Work

So, I have been focusing all my energy the last few weeks on my photo exhibition - printing, editing, mounting, promoting and the like. But now it is time to get back to what really matters, creating images!

I am starting to schedule more shoots for the "Living Canvas" series, which features the floating tattooed limbs. The other night though, just as I was somewhere in between waking life and sleep I was hit with a vision. I had to get up immediately and jot down what I saw, and all I can say about it now is "Adam and Eve." Not sure how it will be pulled off, but I am going to continue visualizing the image(s) and working on possible ways to make it a reality. The shot below is from a rough mockup I made yesterday for a necklace style piece that I saw in the vision.

PEACE to you all!

Upper Haight Monthly Salon

So, this month is going to be the first Upper Haight Monthly Salon - which is a neighborhood artwalk with over 20 shops participating on Haight from Central to Stanyan. My work will be at C to the P and is featured on the artwalk. Flyers below...

PEACE to you all!

Bloody

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Controllerism by Moldover

So, last night I dusted the cobwebs of my digital camera (that can almost be taken literally) and went down to the DNA Lounge for the bi-monthly BOOTIE SF mashup party. Not normally my bag I know, but I was shooting a very interesting DJ. You have heard of turntablism? Well, Moldover is all about Controllerism. He uses hacked controllers to digitally mash up and mix tracks live and on the fly. Really cool shit I must say, and he was awesome - lightning fast hands.

Here is a rad little clip MTV produced for Moldover called the How To Show on how to build your own hacked controller, followed by a few shots from last nights gig at BOOTIE.







PEACE to you all!

Nels Cline at Stubbs

If you are in Austin tomorrow night - then you have a rare opportunity to witness a true guitar legend of our time WAIL up close and personal at Stubbs inside!

Shame on you if you don't go - especially when the cover is only $13. In case you haven't heard, aside from myriad other amazing projects - Nels is currently the guitarist in a little band called Wilco.

Sunday 7/13, Stubbs Inside, 8:00PM, $13

Image by Charles Harris

PEACE to you all!

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!

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!