the funcrunch files

It's been a pretty good week. After recovering from a weekend of shooting and processing photos while suffering from a cold, I went to bed early nearly every night, enjoying getting some much-needed rest for a change. Wednesday night I did stay up late though as I spent the evening with mike20, including a lovely hour or so sitting in Alamo Square Park in perfect weather while the sun set, decorating the sky with brilliant bands of blue, orange, and red, trees silhouetted blackly against the deep colors.

Thursday I managed to squeeze in at lunch: a classical concert - Beethoven's Appassionata piano sonata, performed by Fred Weldy; an LGBT meetup (next month might be karaoke! :-) ); and an Earth Fest environmental fair. I was also very happy to read the news of the California Supreme Court decision validating same-sex marriages, which was well-received at UCSF as well as by my numerous LJ, Twitter, and Facebook friends. After work I had dinner with my former boss Andy, who I hadn't seen in a good two years. Friday I went to a birthday lunch for two co-workers, and got to know some of my officemates a bit better.

Today I got a really good hairdo at Madusalon - sorry no pics yet. Ended up walking all the way there and back; the wind almost blew my curls out, but good exercise. Made a yummy peanut butter pasta dinner for boyziggy and myself. I'll probably go to bed early again tonight. Tomorrow evening I expect to have more good times, singing karaoke with friends at The Mint!

Here is a selection of photos I took at the Blue Bear Live III benefit concert. I spent a good chunk of the weekend processing these photos; I believe this set represents my best work to date. The photo below features blues musicians Tommy Castro and Elvin Bishop, both headline acts for the night. Please click through to see more.

Current Mood: sleepy

Friday I woke up still ill from a cold that I had started feeling the symptoms of Thursday afternoon. I called in sick to work and rested aggressively, hoping that I still might be able to make the Blue Bear Live benefit which I'd been looking forward to for months, especially since I volunteered to take photos (although they had already hired another photographer, I was welcome to contribute my talent as well). Come evening I still felt like crap, but I swallowed some DayQuil and hiked down to the Great American Music Hall with my camera gear.

What an amazing concert. So many diverse sets; the kids' bands which were varied in talent but some quite good or at least fun to watch, the headliner Elvin Bishop playing a mean blues guitar, Tommy Castro with great guitar and vocals as well, Vicki Randle from the Tonight Show singing beautifully with Blue Bear's own award-winning songwriter Bonnie Hayes, lots of other talented singers and instrumentalists, and to close the night a big jam with current and former Blue Bear faculty and staff including my teachers Steve Kirk, Jim Peterson, and Bill Spooner. I was there from 7:30 p.m. till 1 a.m. and was ready to fall over by the end, but was so glad I went.

I almost completely filled up both of my CF cards - over 720 photos in all. I had to actually force myself to slow down when I had fewer than 100 exposures left on my second card. I guess I'll have to upgrade to 16GB cards soon; I have an 8GB and a 4GB now. Fortunately I'd just installed another hard disk so I have the space to put the photos on my computer, though my backup disk is now full (1TB!) so that will need to be upgraded as well.

Anyway, I think I got some really great shots, in fact nearly 200 worth posting, which I hope to finish processing by the end of today. I ended up using my 17-55mm f/2.8 for most of the night as there was enough light and I couldn't get the compositions I wanted with the 50/1.4. I was watching another photographer, presumably the one who was hired; he had a Canon 5D and an external flash. I still hate using flash. I might get one eventually (the built-in flash on my 40D is not suitable), but for now I'm content to underexpose a stop and/or use slower shutter speeds and know I'll have to toss a lot of blurred shots.

Saturday I again rested as much as possible so I could go to another event I'd been looking forward to, a certain long-running pool party that many of my friends have attended over the years but I've never gone to myself. I invited mike20 along (boyziggy was working as usual). We had a very nice time. Lots of warm water, good conversation, and fun snuggly people. I definitely plan to attend again.

As we were driving back Mike mentioned a robot party that was going on for another hour south of Market. I was feeling tired and congested but his description sounded intriguing enough that I agreed to go. It was pretty fun. Drink-serving robots, oh my. Mike certainly has interesting friends.

Today I'm going to rest, finish up those photos, and, if I have the energy, finish the Funcrunch-the-band DVD as well. Ziggy had wanted me to go see the closing of the The Little Prince opera that he's running sound for in Berkeley, but three days out in a row for several hours with my cold still not gone would just be too much I'm afraid.

On Wednesday Mike F invited me to attend a concert at the Hemlock Tavern with him to cover for West Coast Performer. We previously covered part of the Noisepop Festival for that magazine, though my photos from those concerts didn't end up getting used. Hopefully I'll get one in this time. Here's a preview (click the photo for more):



boyziggy also came for part of the time, as did mike20 who was a very fun companion as always. Casey Neill was my favorite act of the three, but I got more good photos of the last band, October Allied, because there were fewer people by that time of the night and I had more room to maneuver. (Also, I was fascinated by the lead singer's heavily tattoed, muscular arms.) Typical dark club, so ISO 1600 and my 50mm f/1.4. Couldn't get to the sides of the stage at all, but managed a few full-stage shots by sitting on a ledge in the very back of the room.

Now I'm off to shoot the Blue Bear Live benefit at the Great American Music Hall, assuming I can medicate myself sufficiently to alleviate the symptoms of this damn cold...

Current Mood: sick

This was the first time in I don't know how long that I went to The Mint without Mike F, who was out of town. But elgecko said that he and juverna wanted to go, so I did show up, along with mike20. We had a blast. More about socializing than singing for me, as I only did two songs and very familiar, relatively easy ones at that: Steely Dan's "Do it Again" and Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World". I'd heard mike20 sing before of course but not at karaoke; he did a fine job, particularly on Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", which always makes me swoon. juverna delighted us with her beautiful voice and impressive range on Billy Joel's "She's Got a Way", and elgecko did a great version of Prince's "Kiss".

Amazingly I was there for a good six hours, and would have stayed longer had I not had to work today. The excellent company was well worth the sleep deprivation. :-)

While I've been slacking on making music on my own lately, I've been listening to more live and recorded music lately, which is something at least.

On Thursday I saw the Cypress String Quartet as part of the free Chancellor's Concert Series at UCSF. Wow, were they good. They performed a couple of pieces by a composer I'd never heard of before but very much liked, Erwin Schulhoff, and also a quartet by Mendelssohn, who shares my birthday. :-) I was so impressed I bought a CD they were selling right after, but it didn't include either of those works, so after listening to it that night I bought another CD of theirs from iTunes that did have Schulhoff. While I'm not normally that into string quartets - my parents were in one when I was young, and I didn't appreciate that music enough at the time - I found myself really enjoying listening to the differences between the sounds of instruments and the movement of melodies from one to another.

Friday night I went to the Red Devil Lounge to see a couple of bands featuring Blue Bear staff: The New Up and Crowsong. I'd seen both before at the Café du Nord showcase last month, but this time I wasn't taking pictures, so I could enjoy the music more fully. The opening band, Repeater, was pretty good although they did a rather short set. Crowsong was next and made an amazing amount of sound for only three instruments (guitar/bass/drums, though joined on one song by another guitarist). The New Up was energetic and fun to watch, though the strobe lights and fog machine were a bit too much for me and I eventually moved back from my spot right at the edge of the stage. I didn't stay for the last band, five a.m., as it was midnight and I had to get up early the next morning for the Paramount Theatre tour.

Saturday night I stayed home, processed photos, and listened to more music. While it might seem natural that I'd have music playing all the time when I'm at my desk, I cherish silence and often am content to hear nothing but the street noise outside my window for hours. I was in the mood for something else this night though, so I cranked up Classic Yes. Wow, I hadn't listened to that full album in a long time, and was amazed how much I liked it. Tremendous musicianship, and very similar to the kind of long song forms I fell in love with while listening to Genesis. And I am totally in awe of Chris Squire's bass-playing genius. When the album was over I immediately went to Last.FM and played nearly every full track they had available by that band. I can see that I will have to expand my progressive rock collection...

Photo link for the impatient

zahraa said she'd always wanted to go on a tour of the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. She, zyxwvut and I went yesterday morning. Though I'd been before for movie classics (which are great fun and I hope are revived soon), the tour gave me an appreciation of how beautiful the historic theater really is. I highly recommend the experience, especially for photo buffs as cameras are allowed.

I didn't feel like switching lenses and needed a wide angle for many shots, so stuck to my 17-55. At first I used aperture priority but soon switched to manual, at ISO 800. I decided since my subjects weren't moving (except for the few shots that included the tour group) I could try using slower shutter speeds that would allow greater depth of field. I didn't bring a tripod, but through a combination of holding my breath, bracing myself against things, and lying on the floor in a few cases I managed to get some decent shots, even at f/8. The image stabilization on my lens really helped.

We had lunch at New World Vegetarian. I love a place where I can get a Vietnamese appetizer, Chinese beverage, and Mexican main dish and dessert, all vegan. I'm trying to cut back on animal products again as I've been eating way too much chocolate and cheese at work. It helps that our Drupal consultant is vegan, so I feel like I want to be dairy-free in solidarity when he's in the office.

Then I walked over to Lake Merritt to take some more photos, this time with my 50-150. I was tired and didn't get many good shots, but you can see some birds here.

On Friday my department had an all-day team-building activity at the community center on the Mission Bay campus. Normally I dread this kind of thing, but it was actually kind of fun, and helped me get to know my new co-workers better. We were on the roof of the building with sweeping views of the city, on a very sunny day. In the morning we did a lot of different activities emphasizing teamwork. One of the weirdest was pairing up to navigate blindfolded through an imaginary swamp filled with plastic lizards. The afternoon was devoted to rock-climbing. As this activity was optional (actually they all were, technically) I chose not to climb, though I did help belay.

Our director asked me to bring my camera so of course I took some photos. I shot in manual but left the camera in auto ISO, which was a mistake as it ended up choosing ISO 400 for everything; 100 would have probably been more appropriate for the outdoor shots. There's another good photographer in the office, so I look forward to seeing his photos as well. Afterward I hung out for a bit with a co-worker as we were both riding the T line back downtown together. It's good that I'm starting to make new friends here.

Friday night I met up with mike20 and his friend Brian to see a very silly but funny movie at the Metreon. We hung out afterward, enjoying some drinks and live music at the Gold Dust Lounge, then chatting on a bench in Union Square until a cop came by and told us the square was closed from midnight to 6 a.m. I walked home up Powell Street around 1:30 a.m., feeling happy and lucky to live in San Francisco.

Saturday I met up with Steve at Fort Mason and he took me to Gary Brawer's to drop off my bass for repair. They said the fret job will cost $400 ($475 if they end up needing to replace the nut too) and take 3-4 weeks. We then navigated through terrible traffic to one of my favorite restaurants, Chai-Yo, for some good Thai food and conversation.

Later in the afternoon I had a long talk with a friend about some things that have been bothering me. Even though the specific issues weren't fully resolved, it was good to get them out on the table. I've been down for a few days but am trying to address the problems at the source rather than just feeling sorry for myself.

In case you missed the show or want to relive the experience:



If you don't like this embedded thingie you can visit my main YouTube page and check out the "Funcrunch the Band" playlist. I'm singing lead or backup on all but three songs (#3, 7, and 8), but you should watch those anyway because Mike is really good. :-)

Just the thing to help lift my dour mood of the last few days. Thanks to thatwesguy for the link. (See also: leavemealonebox.com)

Short version, because it's past my bedtime.

Saturday: Played Nethack. Got the edited audio for Funcrunch-the-band concert, and started lining it up with the video. Went to an awesome Moroccan restaurant with boyziggy, his brother Bill, and Bill's girlfriend. Delicious courses, belly dancing, the works. Drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and down Lombard Street after to give her a bit of a city tour.

Sunday: Finished Nethack game, my first "wishless" ascension. Spent a lot of time on the phone, including another one of those awkward but necessary conversations which I shan't say more about right now. Continued working on Funcrunch video. Met up with mike20 and Mike F. for yummy Thai dinner and then concert at Café du Nord: Mike F's friend Chris Robley playing with Norfolk and Western. Good show; also enjoyed the first band, Weinland. I opted not to bring my camera; another photographer was there being mildly obnoxious with his extra-bright external flash, so just as well.

Friday night: Went with boyziggy to see Vicki Burns perform at the premiere of Fresh Cuts Cabaret at Thick House. Vicki and the other four singers performed original music, accompanied by piano, bass (mostly upright, though electric on one tune), and drums. There was a great variety of song and singing styles. Two of Vicki's songs were penned by Ken Muir, an outstanding pianist who accompanied me at my Octavia Lounge recital. All performed well, looked great, and made the evening enjoyable. I had hoped to take photos, but Vicki didn't get clearance from the band, so I left the camera in its bag (other than for this photo of Ziggy in the lobby).

Saturday day: Ziggy and I went to the Castro Theatre to see Steve Kirk perform with the Club Foot Orchestra. The ensemble wrote accompaniments to silent films, three of which were performed that day; we saw the matinee, the absolutely hilarious Buster Keaton film Sherlock Jr. I loved this film so much, I'm thinking about checking out more movies from that era, which I've generally avoided. Of course the live music was a big factor in my enjoyment. Steve wrote parts of the score and had some lovely guitar solos. Before the main feature, the orchestra also accompanied a Felix the Cat cartoon short, which was a lot of fun.

Saturday night: Ziggy and I went to Berkeley for two birthday parties, Danielle's and zyxwvut's. Danielle had a joint party with a friend at his house, and we met some cool people there. Her friends are always very friendly and warm. Then we went to the Zuckershack and had a great time as usual. I skipped the hot tub as I was feeling pretty warm already, but had many lovely snuggles.

Sunday: Karaoke with Mike, Robin, and Rex at the Mint. I got there pretty early and only one other person was there besides the bartender: Vince, a regular. He was singing "Stairway to Heaven" which I thought was an amusing opener. Mike arrived soon after and the three of us got to sing pretty much all we wanted until more people trickled in. I warmed up with "Abacab", then was going to do "The Logical Song" but Mike suggested we do "Goodbye Stranger" as a duet. Just before the high part in the chorus, I said "You know, I bet this part is already pre-recorded", and sure enough it was... with no lyrics on screen. Ouch. By the third time through that bit I had them pretty much memorized though. Later I tried "One on One" which I've played a lot on piano, and then did "Logical Song" after all, but had trouble hitting the high notes at the end. All in all not in good voice, but I could partly blame the heat I guess.

This morning I arrived at the Powell St. station around 8:15 or so. I began to hear barely audible announcements about a system delay. Eventually the announcements became louder and I heard that all trains in both directions were running slowly due to some switching problem at Embarcadero. I sighed, figuring I'd better get used to these delays, and used the waiting time to bookmark various NextMUNI routes in my Treo.

This afternoon around 5:30 I checked the NextMUNI site from my desk. Two N-Judah trains were scheduled to arrive in 6 and 7 minutes respectively, and the next not for another 40. If I left immediately I might have just enough time. I raced out of the World's Slowest Elevator just in time to see the first train departing. No worries, there was another only a couple of blocks behind, just as the site had promised. However, as it approached I saw the sign: "Sorry, No Passengers."

Sighing again, I pulled up NextMUNI on my Treo. Next train: 39 minutes. That can't be right. I refreshed a couple of times. Next train: 17 minutes. I peered into the distance, looked at the time - 5:39 - thought "fuck it" and began walking home. Just to see how long it would take. And to work off some of the cheese, guacamole, and chocolate I'd indulged in earlier.

I started following the N-Judah route, walking along Carl St. in case the train did come earlier and catch up to me. Phoned a friend who lived in the neighborhood as I realized he probably hadn't heard about my job switch yet. He wasn't home, but gave the good advice to walk down to Haight St. when I suddenly realized that I couldn't follow the MUNI route anymore once it went underground. Enjoyed walking through Haight-Ashbury, though slowed by numerous hippies/smokers/panhandlers, avoided all food and shopping temptations. Walked past some lovely colorful houses I'd previously photographed, and Buena Vista Park. Eventually hit Divisadero, familiar territory as my hair salon and favorite restaurant are there. Also a couple of friends live in the area, one of whom I phoned but he didn't answer so I kept going.

Hit California St., turned again. Now I was on the route I walked along with Mike nearly every day after work for the last few months. Crossed the street but couldn't stop looking back and thinking about that. Have to focus on the positive.

Arrived home, one hour and thirty-four minutes after I left Irving St. and Arguello Blvd. According to Gmaps Pedometer, 4.4 miles (and 490 calories burned :-P ). Could have shaved off some time by going a more efficient route and walking faster. Regardless, not a workable alternative for daily commute, even in good weather. Ah well.

(Flickr link for the impatient)

On Saturday I went to the Oakland Zoo on a photo shoot I helped organize with a group of friends, many of whom were in the joedecker-led class I helped organize last November: lrc, the_ogre, gerardp, and zahraa. Also joining us for this outing were boyziggy, zyxwvut, and cat_herder, the last of whom was our wonderful tour guide owing to her being a docent at the Zoo. I was happy we could coordinate a date that fit all of our schedules.

I felt ill the morning of the shoot as I'd partied a bit the night before, it being the last day of my old job, but didn't think of bowing out for a moment. I was looking forward to finally using the Sigma 50-150mm F/2.8 lens my mother had bought me for an early birthday present back in January. I screwed on the Hoya circular polarizer I'd ordered with it, then quickly realized I wouldn't be able to adjust that filter while the lens hood was on. I could take off the lens hood to attach it backwards while not in use, but then I couldn't access the manual focus. Grumble.

As I wasn't feeling well I stayed in program mode for the beginning of the day anyway, but gradually moved into shooting full manual as I got more energy and more comfortable. I stayed in auto ISO the whole day though, which may not have been a good idea. It was very strange shooting in full daylight after four nights of shooting concerts in a dark bar. I did pay much more attention to the light meter.



I wasn't thrilled with how most of my photos came out and didn't have the mental or physical energy to devote as much time to post-processing as I would normally, but I did pick about 90 out of the over 600 shots to post to Flickr. My friends have blogged some shots too, so check them out.

The good:

- Everyone is friendly and helpful.

- I have the structure I've been seeking: Both technical and project managers, and a structured way of dealing with code and site planning.

- The office has many gourmet tea drinkers. We have an electric water kettle, and I can bring my teamaker in too if I want.

- (Good but dangerous) Little baskets of Ghiradelli chocolate squares throughout the office :-)

The bad:

- Windoze desktop, though it's not nearly as awful as I expected. It's fast and my boss even gave me a second monitor which I didn't ask for. (I did ask for a trackball, which is being ordered.)

- The commute, which is about as bad as I expected in the afternoon, though has been pretty smooth in the mornings thus far. Really don't like relying on the N Judah but there's no other logical way to get there.

- We don't have a water cooler?!?


The ugly:

- We can't get personal deliveries shipped to the office. Considering how much I've been relying on mail order for the past umpteen years - not only for better prices, but to get things that simply don't exist locally, like my favorite tea blend - this is Very Bad. boyziggy goes back to work full-time soon, and the Opera doesn't want people getting personal deliveries either. We have neither a porch nor a doorman. I'm really not sure what to do about this.

More observations to come...

boyziggy and I had a truly fabulous time performing at Café du Nord last night in our Blue Bear band, Funcrunch. I can truly say this was the most fun, stress-free show I've had in four years and nine performances of being a Blue Bear student. Having Ziggy, Mike, and Steve all in the band sharing the experience with me made a world of difference.

Thanks to the dozen or so friends who attended, and special thanks to zyxwvut and mike20 for taking photos. I've uploaded lots of pix to SmugMug and a few to Flickr. Video coming eventually!

I'm in the midst of a nice five-day weekend. Friday was a UCSF holiday, and I went to see the House Jacks as I previously blogged. Saturday was our last Funcrunch-the-band rehearsal. No problems worth mentioning; I think the show tonight will be great. After, I had a bass lesson with Steve which mostly consisted of Steve putting new strings on, which had been kindly procured by Mike when he went to Haight-Ashbury to get his own bass repaired last week. Unfortunately once Steve got the old strings off and saw how pitted the frets were, he recommended that I get a fret job to have them replaced entirely. This operation could cost several hundred dollars and take weeks, but it's a quality instrument that's worth a fair amount, so I probably will have the work done before I resume lessons.

Sunday I wavered between going to see the Shim Sham Rebellion in North Beach or going to karaoke with Mike before heading to Café du Nord to shoot the first night of Blue Bear bands. I opted for the latter since it was on the way to the venue. It turned out the Mint was hosting a "Castro Idol" contest, hosted by a drag queen known as Winnie Bago, to benefit a local AIDS organization. Mike, Rex and I all entered, but I didn't stick around long enough to see if any of us got to the finals. Given that finalists were determined by how much money was contributed while they were singing, it wasn't exactly a talent show anyway. I sang "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder, which is probably my best song, and Mike did a lovely rendition of Luther Vandross's version of "Superstar". Rex sang "Money for Nothing" which we'll perform at the show tonight. Before the contest, Mike and I also sang "Saturday in the Park" as a duet; I screwed up the harmony rather badly, but no one else seemed to notice. At least we weren't as bad as the group of five women who did a truly ear-splittingly awful performance of "Tiny Dancer". Mike and I had to sing the correct melody loudly at the bar to cover up the horribleness.

boyziggy came to meet me at the Mint after chatting with the sound guy at Café du Nord about recording needs for the show, then we had burritos at Azteca, and I went on to the showcase. The first set was the after school rock band, a quite cute and talented group of kids led by Steve. They even had T-shirts with the band's name on them. Of course the proud parents mobbed the stage, and I could barely wedge my camera in to get any shots. I was trying to use the 50/1.4 but couldn't get a good vantage point for the 80mm equivalent distance. I eventually switched to the 17-55/2.8 before the second set, but should have left the 50mm on longer as the lighting on the lounge stage was much, much darker than on the main stage. I did manage with various combinations of settings to produce about 80 usable shots (out of over 400), which I uploaded to a SmugMug gallery with much effort this morning (some network problem made the site unavailable for awhile).

Looking at the photos on my laptop, they look much lighter than on my recently-calibrated Mac Pro. I'd like feedback from Windows and other users on what you're seeing, if you get the chance.



Highlight of the evening for me: Super Adventure Club on the lounge stage. Trippy and fun. One of them teaches at Blue Bear, as do most of the second stage acts for this showcase week. It's great that they've managed to organize having music pretty much continuously during the set changes.

So tonight's my big show - I've taken vacation days today and tomorrow for the occasion. Right now I'm doing laundry, then I'm going to take a nap, then probably run through the set with Ziggy (I can hear him banging away on the keyboard in the living room right now, even though he has headphones on). Wish me luck!

This article may either impress or depress my many sysadmin friends...

Last night boyziggy and I went to Freight & Salvage in Berkeley to see The House Jacks. I had first seen that band in November, at the same venue, when tenacious_snail invited a bunch of us there for her birthday celebration. I fell in love with their a capella harmonies immediately, and was especially blown away by the amazing mouth-drumming talents of Wes Carroll. So when I got a note from the band's Facebook group earlier this week that they would be at the Freight again this Friday and that it would be Wes's last show with the group, I knew I had to go.

I had the day off work (Cesar Chavez day, our one-day staff "spring break"), so we got to Berkeley in plenty of time for a leisurely dinner and stroll down Addison Street, stopping in the little arts district to view the future new home of the Freight, which breaks ground April 1, and walking past the first apartment we lived in together. We arrived about half an hour early, which was a good thing as there was already quite a long line; the show was sold out. The super-nice staff actually came into the line to check off and give tickets to will-call waitees like myself. And shortly after we arrived, dr_memory showed up, followed soon by missionista, so we had a nice chat. (We were all figuring we'd run into at least someone we knew at this occasion. I'd invited a couple of people, who couldn't/didn't make it, but I didn't want to deal with organizing a large group.)

We found seats separately about halfway back. I secured an aisle seat so that I could take photos without being too disruptive. I'd contacted the bass of the group, Antonio, on Facebook earlier to make sure photography was OK. I had recently finished reading the book Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson, which lrc gave me for my birthday. I thus stayed in manual and tried at first to pay more attention to the light meter, but Peterson's advice was really not very useful in a low-light indoor situation with a lot of subject movement. With a sigh I went back to mostly ignoring the meter, choosing large apertures, and selecting shutter speeds that minimized blur, realizing that most shots would be underexposed and fixed later in post. I did try using ISO 800 with my 85/1.8 and 50/1.4 lenses, but reverted to my usual ISO 1600 when using my 17-55/2.8. The 85mm (136mm with crop factor) ended up being the most useful of the three from my position in the audience (I didn't want to stand up and move closer to the stage for this particular show, since it wasn't an official shoot and no one else was doing it). I took nearly 350 shots, and ended up posting 40 to an album on SmugMug. I also posted a few photos of Ziggy, Nathan, Miranda, and myself to Flickr. Here's my favorite of Wes:



I'm happy to say that for once I didn't let the photography get in the way of my enjoyment of the show itself, which was awesome. Their voices blended perfectly, and Wes sounded just like a real drumset, as before. The band members joked a lot and invited audience participation, in the second set having people call out songs that they had never actually rehearsed, and then attempting some semblance of the requests on stage. I was amused that two of the choices were songs I'd performed at Blue Bear, "Synchronicity II" and "Lady Marmalade", and another was a rejected (by me) suggestion for one of my workshops, "Self Esteem". The band also led a nice singalong of "Daydream Believer" in memory of the recently departed John Stewart from the Kingston Trio, who composed that song and was originally scheduled to perform at the Freight that night.

I chatted with Antonio briefly at intermission to introduce myself as the person who'd e-mailed him on Facebook (he did recognize me, which was nice), but didn't get a chance to talk to the other band members (though I probably could have if I'd hung around longer afterward). Wes got a long standing ovation in the second set, even before his solo drum piece, and thoroughly deserved it. They were all great.

I was up past 3 a.m. processing photos. Please let me know what you think if you have a chance to check them out; I just calibrated my monitor for the first time yesterday (with SpyderVision 2 Expess), and blacks seem to be a lot darker now, perhaps too much. I've calibrated three times already as the instructions on how much light should be falling on the monitor during the process were confusingly contradictory...

Current Mood: sleepy