Wale x Houston x House Of Blues

Last Thursday, I ran into an old DC friend of mine who goes by the name of Wale Folarin at the House of Blues in Houston. By friend of mine, I mean we simultaneously lived in the same tri-state area at one time in our lives. And by ran into, I mean I took pictures of him while he performed for several hundred other people in attendance.

I've been periodically shooting portraits and documentary stuff of the homey and Houston rapper Roosh Williams for a story/spotlight that might not ever see the light of day. Roosh was one of the openers for Wale and a got a text from him a few hours before the show asking me if I wanted to shoot it. Well, why the hell not? Got to the venue, shot Roosh (killed it, so did he), and waited a couple hours while a bunch of other cats I've never heard of performed. To his credit, Folarin came out before 10pm, rocking the Fragment Jordan 1 and then the crowd. I only stayed for the 3 songs I could shoot then drove my old ass home.

Shout out to Audio Push, those two dudes are ENERGETIC!

Hip Hop Live

I shot the Hip Hop Live Tour stop here in Washington DC at 9:30 Club as you might know from the previous post. The lineup of the show was...Rhythm Root All-Stars (a ten piece band from California), B.O.B. (young rapper/singer/guitar player from ATL), David Banner and Talib Kweli.

Usually I'm not a huge fan of live hip hop shows. To impress me, you've gotta give me a SHOW! And David Banner did just that. His wild man antics on and mostly off stage were something I'd never seen before. From climbing up to the second level of the 9:30 Club, to jumping down from the second level, to standing on the bar, to spraying the crowd with a shaken up Heineken. He was all over the place and showed just how much he loves his fans. In my younger days, I wrote a review about one of his albums. It seems I wasn't a fan then, but I am now.

B.O.B. sounds like a young Andre 3000...and he plays the guitar. Talib Kweli, while boasting impressive lyrics, put on a so-so performance in my very humble opinion. Shout out to BrightestYoungThings.com.

Rhythm Root All-Stars guitarist


B.O.B.
David Banner

Talib Kweli

David Banner - Rapper/Photographer

I shot a show at the 9:30 Club here in Washington DC. During said show, one David Banner reaches for my camera. He grabs it, I let go (In hindsight, it could have been a terrible move for my camera they way he was jumping around on stage and what not). He shoots some frames of himself, I shoot him shooting frames of himself. Here is the result.


He should definitely stick to rapping.

The Adventures of Good Hood

I've featured Deuce, Sabrey or both on Untitled in the past. And if you're one of six of my faithful readers, you would know that when their powers combine, they make up Good Hood (the soon to be famous hip-hop music duo). Last week I was privileged to join the two, along with Queen and Jordan for a performance during the Baltimore Music Conference at The Black Hole.

First of all, Deuce tells me that the performance is in Baltimore. Cool, no problem, I've been to Baltimore before...multiple times. But the show is actually in Dundalk, which is a little further east of Baltimore. I've never been to Dundalk; therefore, I have no problem with Dundalk. But here go Deuce and Sabrey with the stories of performing in small towns that begin with, "Remember that time...". The Black Hole, known for its rock and roll, was a solid venue. There was an actual stage equipped with lights and sound people (to be PC) and the french fries were pretty good. The only thing that worried me were the biker dudes with grey-ing pony tails sitting at the video poker machines. I don't know if anyone told them it was hip hop night.


Jordy and Sabrey trying to correct the wackness playing on the jukebox.

Another Concert

Shot a two more bands at a venue called Black Cat last Friday. It's a pretty small place and you can get right up next to the stage if you want. The last time I did that, I couldn't hear for about a week. But I learned that different genres have different noise levels i.e. metal = ear bleeding loud and indie folk = not so much. Bowerbirds, a group out of North Carolina (shout out to Broadway), had to pretty much perform amongst a constant chatter. Obviously everyone was there to see Bon Iver, an act from Wisconsin (shout out to Brett Favre) led by a bearded, falsetto wonder named Justin Vernon. Great show in my opinion...I enjoy shooting acts I've never heard of. It makes me a bit more worldly...right?

Bowerbirds



Bon Iver

Metal

I decided I wanted to add concert photography to my arsenal of expertise, but I had no photographs of concerts to show for it. I found my way into Black Cat in Washington DC to photograph Clouds, Torche and Boris (three different acts). I knew that it was rock/heavy metal/something that I wasn't really into. But I decided to give it a shot anyway. Besides...its all about the pictures.

So I took my place just a little to the left of center stage and waited for the show to start. Clouds, the first act, played for about 30 minutes. They were pretty mellow...in comparison. There was some headbanging, some shouting into microphones and of course some loud music but nothing I couldn't handle. I was having a good time.



Next up was Torche. Torche was loud as hell. Torche, with all their yelling, jumping around and banging of the drums and what not, lured the crowd into a small moshpit. Torche didn't seem to care that I wanted no part of that moshpit.



The final act and headliner was Boris, a "drone metal" act from Tokyo who seemed to have somewhat of a following here in Washington DC. By this time, my ears were shot, the ringing was in full blast and I was pissed at everyone around me for 1) bouncing me around the moshpit while I was trying to take pictures and 2) not telling me that it would be a good idea to wear earplugs while so close to the stage.

I'd say that my first rock concert was a success...despite two straight days of hearing like I was underwater and nearly a week of that annoying ringing sound. All said and done, it was fun but I would never ever do it again...without earplugs.

Wata: Cool as a fan.