So I have done a terrible job of updating this while in Austin for SXSW. Don’t blame me. I have been busy making money so that I can pay my rent and continue photographing fun stuff that you want to look at. This is life.

So SXSW is over and I am headed home at 6am tomorrow. Since I last left you guys I shot two more days of FloodFest and I shot a little bit of the Levitation showcase at Hotel Vegas. I think. I also got a tattoo that says Chow Hound and hung out with some babes at Red Lobster and at a lake. It’s been a good trip I think.

Thanks a bunch to Sailor Jerry and Original Penguin for having me out and here’s a few photos from the last couple days before I get home and update this site properly.

So holy shit I haven’t had time to do anything so far. I can’t really explain it except to say I got old somehow. Normally at SXSW I sleep 4 hours and somehow just function perfectly fine but this year I am struggling. I started out on the wrong foot when I landed in Austin after sleeping a total of three hours over the last 72. That first night I crashed early because I had to hit FloodFest at 11am.

Here’s some highlights…

The Heavy. They were great.

Deap Valley. Rock and roll babes that I kinda want to describe as the White Stripes with more bluesy female vocals but that seems like kinda bullshit. Whatever the case they wore fringe and were hanging out with an actual human baby.

This guy who got a fucking SXSW 2016 tattoo on his knuckles. That shit is so wild. He was in a band called American Bombshell playing their first ever SXSW and he saw that Sailor Jerry was doing free tattoos. SXSW 16 is not actually a Sailor Jerry tattoo but it had to be done.

After FloodFest I randomly got hired to shoot a dinner for Atlanta hip-hop legends Organized Noize which was awesome. They have a documentary out in the film fest and were celebrating. So thanks to my buddy Chris for putting in the good word. It makes up for that time we split a hotel room at Art Basel and his sleep apnea machine lulled me to sleep to the sounds of Darth Vader snoring.

After the Organized Noize dinner I went back to edit photos and called it a night.

Day two started back at FloodFest. My friends Ho99o9 are destroying SXSW for the second year in a row and they came by to get some Sailor Jerry tattoos and then I took em over to Original Penguin for some button up shirts which is kinda a great look on some punk rock scumbags.

Band wise I really dug the September Girls. I hung out with them most of the day which was an ideal way to spend St. Patrick’s Day given they are all actually Irish. Rad babes with cute accents that make good music? Totally down to be their groupie if they need me.

My favorite band of SXSW so far is Sir The Baptist. They are a mix of gospel, hip hop and R&B and they put on a hell of a show. You should see them if you get a chance. This photo isn’t even of Sir.

After FloodFest I went over to Hotel Vegas to check out Thee Oh Sees at the Levitation showcase which makes the millionth time I have seen Thee Oh Sees in Austin. They are fucking great though so it’s a yearly SXSW requirement. Also there were a ton of cute babes at Hotel Vegas (including the September Girls!) which is the most important thing.

I left Hotel Vegas kinda early to edit photos and take a shower before going back out again but it’s now midnight and I am working on this post and haven’t even showered yet so I kinda have a feeling I am in for the night. Fuck it. We got a lot more SXSW to go!

SXSW is over! I survived! I took the last day pretty easy as it was raining in the early afternoon and I think everyone in Austin was taking it down a notch after an insane couple of weeks. Residuals, Cosmonauts and White Mystery played again and I ate a donut burger with bacon and eggs.

The big thing of the day was Oliver Peck tattooing 3/5ths of the Dum Dum Girls. Those kids are pretty rad and we took a bunch of fun photos. I shot them live too of course!

Another highlight was seeing Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys do Sonic Reducer live.

The night ended with some darker music with bands like Sisu (featuring some Dum Dums) Youth Code and King Dude. I also stopped by Hotel Vegas next door to see my girls in Habibi.

It has been an exhausting and fun week. I am glad it’s over but I can’t wait to do it all over again next year!  Now it’s time to take a few days to enjoy Austin without the SXSW madness. Should be fun…

Today is the last day of SXSW. Nine days that I was pretty sure were going to destroy my life. I am still alive but I still have one more 14 hour day at the Sailor Jerry House before it’s all over. I also don’t get back to NYC until Tuesday and I am not exactly sure where I am staying or what I am doing until then. Should be interesting.

Anyway, yesterday was another fun day at Gypsy Lounge. Lot’s more free tattoos with Keith Underwood and Philip LaRocca doing dozens and dozens of small Sailor Jerry tattoos. Oliver Peck tattooed a ton of people as well including Big Freedia and my girl Alysha Nett.

On the music side there was good stuff all day including the night time Cultist/Blundertown party that was pretty punk rock all night long. The day party highlight was Fat White Family that featured a dude getting pretty much naked and rolling around in the dirt. My kinda jam. At night I got to see my girls the Coathangers again and it was headlined by a Coach Whips reunion. Coach Whips (fronted by Thee Oh See’s John Dwyer) haven’t played in nearly 10 years and they fucked shit up so hard. It was amazing and I got to shoot the whole show from on stage right behind them as they played in the crowd.

Here are a few photo highlights. One more of these wrap ups tomorrow and then I will start getting this stuff organized so that when I get back to NYC I will be able to start getting the thousands of SXSW photos I have taken over the last 10 days or so…

I have no time at all today to write about yesterday but the Black Bell records party happened at the Sailor Jerry House so let’s see how few words I can explain yesterday in. Don’t worry, there will be more on this once I get back to NYC.

I started the day by getting a big tattoo from Oliver Peck. After that took the afternoon a bit slow but things insane by the end of the night. The day time highlight was Team Spirit but the madness really started in the evening with The Lovely Bad Things. They were fantastic. This super weird two man male model band The Garden played shortly after them and kinda blew my mind. See them if you get a chance. There was some punk rock awesomeness with the So So Glows after that and then in perfect closing fashion Diarrhea Planet destroyed everything.

Diarrhea Planet is a pretty horrible name (who am I to judge, my band is called Fucking Bullshit) but they were fucking amazing. They have four guitar players and to open the set they brought The Lovely Bad Things on stage and to close it they had the So So Glows join them for Fight For Your Right To Party. They also had a stage diving contest in the middle of their set. As per usual I crowd surfed with my camera because I am an asshole. Whatever the case it was amazing.

Also we tattooed some cute girls who are famous on the internet and comedian TJ Miller came by and was hanging out. All in all a good time. Today should be fun too… hope to see some of you there!

Sailor Jerry House in Austin kicked off in ernest with it’s first full day event. The Grandstand day party featured a headlining set by my pals the Coathangers and a bunch of rad rock and roll bands. I really dug the band Soft White Sixtes particularly.

The Third Man Rolling Record store was parked at our Gypsy Lounge location and it fueled speculation that Jack White was going to show up. He clearly did not, but it was a fun rumor. Keith Underwood and Philip Larocca did free tattoos all day inside the bar and Oliver Peck tattooed bands in the airstream trailer out back.

The night party was the She Shreads magazine party and it was nothing but awesome bands with rock and roll ladies killing it. My buddies Alex and Francis from White Mystery played late but I had to take off early because I slept less than three hours last night and needed to get to bed. They are playing again at the Sailor Jerry House on Saturday so I will get to see them soon.

I was exhausted all fucking day but I had a good time anyway. I finally got some sleep last night so today should be even better. Hope to see some more friends and I hope everyone is okay after the insane car accident in Austin last night.

Day five consisted of a few SXSW Film gigs and then moving over to the Sailor Jerry house stuff I am shooting. I am so damn tired I don’t even know how I am going to finish this post.

I started out shooting Michael Peña, Rosario Dawson and Gabriel Mann for their movie Cesar Chavez. I had less than a minute to shoot them which was sort of absurd. Peña talked to me about my tattoos for longer than I was able to take their photos.

After that I went and shot Tobe Hooper who directed Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There is a new restored print of it for the 40th anniversary and I can’t wait til it is shown in NYC. It’s in my top five horror films of all time and the sequel is up there too. He was running late but I got to talk to him for a few minutes about the print and TCM 2.

Then I got a chance to watch the Take Me To The River press conference. The movie is a documentary about the music scene in Memphis and features Snoop Dogg himself. I got to take a couple photos of him after the press conference and R&B legend William Bell ask me to text him the Instagram I shot of him and Snoop.

For my last SXSW Film gig of the year I shot Peter Vack and Natalia Dyer from the movie I Believe In Unicorns. Natalia got stuck in traffic so I talked to Peter a lot and turns out he lives pretty close to me. Good dude. Natalia is adorable and they look very cool together. Now I just need to see the movie…

So now my life takes a turn and I move to SXSW Music stuff. I am shooting all day every day at the Gypsy Lounge which is the Sailor Jerry House for the next few days. The kick off party was a total blast with a line down the block. Free tattoos, cheap rum and a secret Kurt Vile show brought in a ton of people including a bunch of cute girls. I had a blast and took photos and flirted with babes to a sound track of lo fi rock and roll from bands like Destruction Unit, Cosmonauts and the Residuals.

Come by today for a day party featuring my favorite rock & roll babes the Coathangers and the Third Man Records rolling record store! I actually have no idea who is playing the night party but I am sure it will be awesome. Now look at some damn photos from Day five of SXSW 2014!

Today has been insane. I was in completely stopped traffic for well over two hours on the way from Chicago to Detroit where I am now. I found out that I had to get my rental car returned by midnight or my insurance wouldn’t cover the little ding I put in the fender because they only protect car rentals of 30 days or less for some reason. I made it to Hertz by 11:45pm and then had to take a rental car shuttle to the airport and then a hotel shuttle from there to my hotel. This insane trip is all over tomorrow when I fly back to NYC. I cannot fucking wait to get home.

Now, in other news, Sailor Jerry Cobrafest day three was awesome because there was a Yacht Rock party with a water slide in the back. Bands still played (Nones, Rainbow Gun Show, King Dude and my friends White Mystery) and Keith Underwood and Jason Hoodrich from Taylor St Tattoos did free Sailor Jerry tattoos and all that was clearly awesome, BUT the most awesome was a water slide and a LOT of Hall and Oates being played.

If you aren’t in the know, Yacht Rock is my favorite thing on the Internet, it is also a genre of smooth sailing music from the likes of Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, The Doobie Brothers, Christopher Cross, Toto, etc. The Yacht Rock video series unearths the strange tails of very smooth hit songs of the 70s and 80s. The homie Hollywood Holt was DJing and he killed it. He and Francis from White Mystery got tattooed along with some hot babes I made friends with. It was all a really fun time.

I will get a TON of really fun water slide shots up with all the other Cobrafest at Cobra Lounge Pitchfork after party photos up in a couple of days. I just need a day or two to chill out after 31 days on the row. See you soon NYC!

Update: Click here for day 3 photos!

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Day two of Sailor Jerry’s Pitchfork after parties continued at Cobra Lounge last night. The Growlers headlined and got a bunch of tattoos by Keith Underwood. They have done several Sailor Jerry events and keep getting more tattoos. Always a good time with those dudes. Also performing were Toxie, Heavy Times and Denney & The Jets. Denney got a tattoo of his girlfriend topless with a rebel flag behind it. Well, it had her name in it at least. Heavy Times are a Chicago band and they brought out a good local crowd and Toxie was probably my favorite band of the night.

It was a good party and was still going when I left around 2:30am. There was a sweet dance party and Jason Hoodrich was still tattooing anyone who wanted to sign up for Sailor Jerry flash tattoos. It was a wild time and it all starts again tonight! One more day of Cobra Fest with King Dude headlining and my pals White Mystery rocking the fuck out as per always. If you are in Chicago come out!

Anyway, the full gallery will be posted next week when I get back, but until then here are a few shots for you to check out!

Update: Click for Cobrafest day two photos!

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