scott stapp is illuminated...

got solicited to take pictures at a show at mercury lounge a few thursdays ago, so i bundled up my lil camera, my thirst for adventure, and a pair of awesome ladies and headed out for some rock.

first stop - met up with leslie, my uva/fashion design club pal from academic years past, for dinner at a lovely low-key bar down the way, Room 18. i had the sandwich of my dreams... marinated flank steak with provolone and a side of fried plantains. it's basically a glorified cheesesteak, but oh god does it rock my world. she had the duck wrap. i think the steak is better.

after having our delicious dinner, we headed over to mercury lounge to meet up with tiya. they got a drink while i headed back to the stage to get some practice in on the first band. 'twas my first time using my digirebel for band photography and i definitely only had an inkling of an idea of how to use it! pushed lots of buttons and messed with settings until i had a better understanding of how to work with the stage lighting because i find flash photography (especially at a show) imposing.

first band was jared scharff and the royals. tiya was into them. i giggled at their final guitar solos and half expected them to welcome us to the jungle. after the show, when we were on our way back to our respective homes, a be-hatted fellow approached and inquired as to who i was taking pictures for. he also asked how the sound was - i asked if he was a sound guy to which he replied, "no, i was in the first band". we all giggled, applauded leslie for her hot dance moves/ass and i struck up a conversation with the guitarist's tall angular friend of ambiguous ethnicity (he may or may not have mentioned something about being a jewish native american).

second band was the upwelling; their keyboardist is the chap who asked me to take the pictures. we gave him a nickname. they opened with the one song that i'd heard before and actually really like, despite being moderately embarrassed by their dramatic opening light scheme. took tons o' piccies, successfully steering clear of too many obviously posed shots, because that's just not my style. definitely felt like the singer was playing to the camera, which is fine... makes my job pretty easy. but over the past few years that i've occassionally taken band pictures, i've determined that i take the best pictures when the subject doesn't realize he/she's being photographed... thus my love affair with non-flash photography.

after those boys played, i was all set to leave as i'd had a long day lugging my camera around and my super hot boots were beginning to totally fucking hurt, but then... out of the corner of my eye... i spotted a very skinnie boy in white jeans that were so tight they may as well have been leggings. a red satin cowboy shirt with fringe. snakeskin boots. old timey saloon-style vests. a bowler hat. there was no way i could leave when the next band had style such as this. they're called the films and they're from south carolina and they looked more new york hipster than anyone else there. i love taking pictures of hip kids, so i continued to stake out my 3 square feet of space at the front of the room, just to the left of the singer's mic. there was an older, cbgb-style rocker man and his youngish, leather mini-skirted female companion off to my right. he may or may not have been tommy hilfiger's brother and one of my friends may or may not have made out with him. the films put on an excellent show and gave great face for my piccies.

i got my act together and totally saw them again...