Jean Quan - Oakland's Grassroots New Mayor

East Bay Express (a weekly newspaper out of Oakland) sent me to a small restaurant to cover the victory party of mayor-elect Jean Quan.

In case you hadn't heard, Quan was the underdog, but had overwhelming volunteer support and beat out former California state senate powerhouse Don Perata by 2%. This makes Quan Oakland's first female mayor, and the first Asian-American female mayor for a major U.S. city.

Below is a shot of her and her husband addressing the audience.

Stars (with Geographer) - The Fillmore (11/10/2010)

Last night I met up with JC of theFIVE10 Radio at the Fillmore in San Francisco, to interview drummer Patrick McGee of the Canadian band Stars, and shoot their set afterwords. I was really impressed (well, I suppose I should be, considering they opened for Coldplay on the Viva la Vida tour). It was also my first time shooting with my pal Jen of Calibree Photography, which made it even cooler. The only downside? No pit! We had to fight and squeeze our way up front.

JC interviewing Patrick of Stars

Amy Millan of Stars

Torquil Campbell of Stars

Thomas Pridgen - Beyond Mars Volta

Big day for music and photos yesterday.

I managed to hang out with members of New Montgomery, Tracing Figures, Pine & Battery, Jealousy Curve, The Memorials, and Mars Volta all in one day. My friend and former drummer had his CD release show with Tracing Figures last night in San Francisco (photos to come), but I gotta say the biggest opportunity was taking a quick trip to an Oakland studio to do some promo work for ex-Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen and his current band, The Memorials.

Their upcoming record is a mix of hard rock with grungy riffs and female soul-style vocals, and is being independently produced with distribution from Universal Records.

The Memorials

The Memorials music can be found here, and the other bands I've mentioned can be heard at the links below.

Jealousy Curve

Pine & Battery

Tracing Figures

New Montgomery

Mars Volta

Snuggies.

Today I headed into Oakland to shoot a profile on Jesse Meeker and Eliot Curtis of Rec Center Studios for the East Bay Express newspaper. The production duo won the paper's Snuggie Music Video Contest, and were being interviewed for an article.

Happy Body Slow Brain - San Francisco (10-24-2010)

After a month or so stint on the east coast supporting Gavin Castleton, former Taking Back Sunday members Matt Fazzi and Isaac Bolivar brought their new project, Happy Body Slow Brain, home to the San Francisco Bay Area to play their CD Release show at The Rickshaw Stop.

Supported by Bird By Bird (fronted by John Devoto of The Matches), as well as Please Do Not Fight and The Girlfriend Season, HBSB pumped out a monstrous set from their debut record "Dreams of Water".

Of course, I was in attendance, and shot a few photos:

Interpol - Oakland, CA (10/18/2010)

I journeyed into Oakland to the Fox Theater last night to meet my buddy JC from TheFIVE10 Radio. He was to interview the Brooklyn band, White Rabbits, for his show. My job was to shoot for them, as well as their headliners, NYC-based Interpol. 


White Rabbits had a solid, catchy set. I felt they could have used more variety, however. But seeing that they've only released one record, that may be asking a bit much.

Interpol was astounding. A big wall of sound and lights that had you staring at the stage, fully immersed.

The Forest Through the Trees

The other day I took another trip (yet again) through the tunnel to shoot a short, but beautiful, wedding ceremony in the forests of the University of California - Berkeley. The setting was a small wooden theater among the redwoods... something that you might have seen in Return of the Jedi. It was a quaint gathering, and a lot of fun.