Kidnapped by a Rock Band 2.0 Mar 4, 04:11 AM
Whew! This is a long one, so prepare yourself. I was once again kidnapped by a rock band (aka Garage Voice) last month. They took me all around Washington – Tacoma, Burlington, Seattle, Olympia, Centralia, Vancouver, Portland (OR), Tri-Cities, Walla Walla, and Spokane. Below is a photographic journey of people we met, places we went, and roads we traveled. I really want to thank everyone who stays current with my blog.
Hub City, Tacoma WA. The place was freezing. The venue really refused to turn on their heat. This was a late show, but it was worth the turnout. First show of the tour.
North Cascade Christian School, Burlington. Featuring Nick Snell.
Cookie Run, 1 a.m.. Albertsons, Auburn. The sales clerk told me not to take pictures. We baked the cookies and watched The Game. Life on the road is rough.
Evergreen State College, Olympia. We met and stayed at the home of some wonderful people. They made us feel right at home – they cooked meals that were soo sooo goood! I tried a new shooting style. I usually shoot using available light, but being on the road, I’m always shooting the same subject. At this show, I went for a “paparazzi” look. I used my Speedlight 580 and played around with it’s zoom feature.
We stopped in Japan for a day. Just kidding. Downtown Olympia.
C&L Burgers, Centralia. Supposedly the best burger joint on the east west side of Washington. I think Miners (Yakima) takes the the east side. Notice Bruce and his malt vinegar. He’s addicted.
Music Millennium, Portland. This place was rad. Tons of vinyls and great employees. They gave all four of us some snazzy looking t-shirts. Definitely a fun place to play (and shoot) in Portland.
Portland Adventist Academy, Portland. The night before this show Bruce’s bass amp quit on him. We were really worried because we didn’t have time or money to repair his amp. It was a blessing that the guys at PAA were audio geniuses! They had his amp working in 15mins!
It was nice to see a lot of support from loyal friends who came to see this show! Some stayed for hours after the show to hang out. It was really good to see you guys (Brandon, Eric, Hollin, Jessica,..)
(my 10,000th photo with my 5D since June07)
Hard Back Café (Hastings), Tri-Cities. This day totally changed the rest of the tour. A few days earlier, Tommy started complaining that part of throat had been burning, and persisted to. After contacting Bruce’s sister who’s a vocal specialist, as a procaution, she advised that Tommy stopped all vocal activities to find out if he had any vocal cord damage. That meant no talking, whispering, or singing! The tour was only half over.
As we made the trek from Portland to Tri-Cities, Bruce and Tric practiced singing a few songs for the show that night. They also called their friends in other bands from around the areas of the rest of the tour. You will see guest vocalists in some photos below.
When Tommy made it to a doctor, we were relieved to find that he did NOT have vocal damage, but larengitous. Through this Tommy was able to learn patience, Bruce and Tric honed their vocal skills even more, and we learned to decipher Tommy’s notepad chicken-scratchings. :)
Passagiatta, Walla Walla. Many loyal friends came to support this show as well! Below is Dallas, my ex-housemate. I’m shooting his wedding in June! Nicholi from Pause for Effect sang in place of Tommy for a few songs.
New Community Church, Spokane. Nick Lambert from Seven Years Absence filled in for Tommy sore voice for a couple songs. Zac Fairbanks and the Booze Fighters followed Garage Voice.
We went to Karli Fairbanks’ show downtown Spokane. Woot!
If you’ve made it to the end, congratulations to you! I’m heading to bed. 3:17 a.m..
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15 Responses to "Kidnapped by a Rock Band 2.0"
First, this is a formidable photo accomplishment on your part, Ben. Very nice.
Here goes, straight from memory: In the first set sans heat, love the pic of Tric with the hoodie up. Understandable with the temp, and he looks like Eliot from E.T.
Way to go for: Taking pictures in supermarkets anyway; Catching Bruce in a very pensive moment during the fill-in for Tommy (he would kill me, but the shot was very John Lennon); Grabbing the “we keep Portland weird” with just Tric’s noggin (hahaha!); and taking that shot looking up toward Tommy with the string of lights- that’s fantastic.
Hahaha: For the integrity shots; “The great wave” exists stateside!
?: Does Bruce…did he get red highlights?
I hadn’t seen the boys rock the harmonica before.
And I think the last shot is my favorite. Way to be in the picture. :)
this is such a good story! i very much enjoy the additional pictures of places and things that are non concert related…very nice! and the new ones with the speedlight are turned out really nice..more gritty and dirty and concert feel i think, plus did you maybe add grain to those black and whites? i think that adds to that look as well. :) they look like something i would have shot…hehe
great job ben blood!
Again…you never cease to amaze me. Great work! :) Makes me smile.
Wow, you had a photo dump here! It’s good to see you made a couple of appearances yourself! :-)
I’m loving your staged portraits. You’re developing an interesting unique way of capturing each persons personality. The solid background keeps you focused, and somehow you get them to do something that is very indicative of themselves.
The last photo in the Portland set, is beautiful. The different colors and lack of detail in the car makes it so haunting.
I’m really loving the way you capture stage lighting.
Keep up the good work man!
I made it to the end. Booyah.
Hey, how did I creep in there…
Brilliant stuff, my friend. I can’t wait for you to be here shooting the photos of our matrimonious (just made that word up) event! I was just joking with Nicole this morning about how we should jet out of the ceremony, take our dear friends with us over to the Ice Berg, arrange free range of the place, and take classic 50’s style photos!
She didn’t like the idea.
peace
Made it! And like Dallas, I too am frikin excited for you to shoot my wedding!
Ben. You are admired… Amazing work. I am jealous. Great photos of great subjects!!
Ben, that was amazing. I learned so much. I love the colors. It was good to see you in some photos too. I’m very proud of you.
Ben!
Freakin awesome job. I love the colors and how you snuck into some of those pics :-)
Blessings yo!
Great photos! I especially like the one of you with Patrick’s head on your shoulder. Classic.
As always your work is amazing, you continue to grow as an artist with each shot. Love it! Keep up the great work!
first of all, i am honored to go by the same first name as you.
second, this is a beast blog entry.
third, a-mazing. only dopness as expected.
and last, congrats on the great opportunities with the seattle/tacoma area papers (tommy dropped it on me). i hope you can get some great stuff out of it and learn a lot. keep it up.
so good! i love the paparazzi ones…very cool. you are amazin.
I’ve checked this blog post out several times, and its just amazing. But, I always forget to comment!
Yes, that first show was so cold!! Just seeing those photos makes me cold again!! And then I get this visual image in my brain of everyone huddling around & sharing those pocketwarmers.
anyways, your photos of these guys are just… words do not describe how great they are. So vivid, colorful & clear.