Girl Talk shows are always fun. I have seen him three times before he blew up and four or five times since then and they are always epic. I think the early shows after he got big were the best because they were just chaos. Now the Girl Talk team has it down to a science and it’s a little more controlled chaos. It’s still one hell of a party.

A number of the photographers at Voodoo had no idea what was going on when Girl Talk went on. I was sort of explaining to people that when you shoot Girl Talk you aren’t shooting Gregg Gillis behind the computers, you are shooting the whole scene, the crowd and the flying toilet paper. Gregg was wearing a Freddy Kruger mask when he came out and we never really saw him again. Honestly the photos I took of everything kinda sucked but I was having a fucking blast.

I was having so much fun that when I had to leave and get back to the Sailor Jerry Air Stream I decided I wanted to go out with a bang so I climbed up the security barricade and dove into the crowd. People had been crowd surfing but it was a quick up and down, but when they saw I was shooting photos while crowd surfing everyone got really excited and kept me up in the air. Not only was it the longest I have ever crowd surfed, but it was the longest I have ever seen ANYONE crowd surf. I was up in the air for 2 or 3 full minutes and I was more than 50 yards away from the stage when they finally put me down. The shots are pretty awful technically but they are really fun to look at to see the faces of the people in the crowd framed by my legs.

The other thing I should mention Re: Girl Talk is that later that night I hit up Girl Talk’s video art designer Andrew (Bad Brilliance) and I met him and the Girl Talk crew out at a hip hop club on Bourbon Street. After a while we ended up at a steampunk ball that Girl Talk’s booking agent Sam had to convince the manager of the House of Blues that it would be a good idea to let us all in. But we quickly got kicked out when Andrew got on stage and started dancing with steam punk go-go dancers who spanked him until security pulled him off. After that we ended up in the shadiest strip dive bar I have ever seen called Harem. There was a one drink minimum so Gregg bought everyone beers and when he gave them a credit card he had to fill out exhaustive credit card and leave a thumb print for identification. I am not even joking. The one stripper on stage had a dick but she did some amazing tricks for Andrew and Sam’s girlfriend. After her set Andrew got on stage and tried to do his own pole tricks. One of the strippers was yelling at him to get down from there but she was laughing so hard that it was hard to take  her seriously. We finally bounced before they kicked us out and Sam’s girlfriend bought us all hot dogs. The end.

Click here to see all the pictures from the actual Girl Talk set at the 2011 Voodoo Music Experience.  The pictures of Andrew dancing with steampunk go go dancers we will have to save for my Tumblr…

I have a shit load of band photos from Voodoo and I am probably going to put most of them up in one giant post but a few of the bands I shot a bunch of photos that weren’t just your average boring concert shots will get their own post.  The first one of these acts was Major Lazer.

I love shooting Major Lazer because Skerrit Bwoy, while insanely hard to spell, is an amazing entertainer. The dude might be the best hype man since Flavor Flav. He and his partner Piink get the kids going nuts while Diplo towers over them in his DJ booth. Skerrit Bwoy is king of the dagger, taking out girls in the crowd, but Piink is not to be fucked with, when she brought up a guy from the audience who wouldn’t dagger her she jumped on him traumatizing him for life.

The show was great and I got awesome pictures, but what was even better was that they had a bottle of Sailor Jerry on stage the whole time and Skerrit Bwoy fed it to the crowd making my client very very happy with these shots. Plus we got Diplo and Piink to get Sailor Jerry tattoos after the concert… So pay attention kids… this is how you do liquor branding right!

Click here to see all the shots of Major Lazer at the 2011 Voodoo Music Experience.

One of the cooler branding promotions that exists on Earth is Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum giving out free tattoos. Not little fake temporary tattoos with their logo on them, but actual real life tattoos given by a bearded man in a small air stream trailer. If you are not away Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins was a bad ass motherfucker who pretty much revolutionized tattooing. He was tattooing sailors in Hawaii for something like 40 years and designed thousands of flash tattoos that have been compiled into three tattoo flash books that pretty much every tattoo shop in the world owns.  Sailor Jerry died in 1973 but his legacy lives on and hundreds of people still get his work tattooed on them every week. At special music events around the country Sailor Jerry rum sets up a make shift tattoo shop in their air stream trailer and give out Sailor Jerry tattoos to any of the musicians who want one.

During Voodoo Music Experience New Orleans tattoo artist Terry Brown set up shop in the air stream for three days and did close to twenty tattoos on bands, crew members and me. He tattooed Diplo and Piink from Major Lazer, two of the members of Fishbone, Peelander Green, Jesse Hughes and Tuesday Cross from Boots Electric, my homies Star Eyes from Trouble & Bass and Roofeeo from TV on The Radio and a bunch of other people who I lost track of. Sorry.

Terry Brown is a great tattoo artist who specializes in this traditional tattoo style pioneered by Sailor Jerry. If you are in New Orleans you can set up an appointment with him at his shop Uptown. But if you happen to be a musician at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin this weekend he will be doing them there for free. I’ll be there so get at me and I can make sure you get hooked up.

Now check out all the shots of musicians getting Sailor Jerry tattoos at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans.

There is a lot of buzz on the internet right now about how Left Brain from Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All attacked a female photographer during their show at Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans on Sunday.  I was there in the photo pit and I happened to be standing right next to the woman who supposedly got slapped in the face. Her story is bullshit.

Odd Future has a reputation for fucking up photographers. At SXSW they ran across the photo pit stepping on the heads and cameras of many a photo blogger. I have never seen them but I was well aware of their reputation. When I got to the photo pit at Voodoo I was pretty excited about the madness that would be happening. After Tyler the Creator told all the photographers that he fucking hated them for taking up space that should belong to fans I got excited. I was ready to see what kinda violence Odd Future was willing to dish out. I wanted to know if their shows were as wild as I had heard.

Two minutes later Hodgy Beats took a bottle of water and swung it at me covering my camera and I with water. Photographers on either side of me got a litte bit wet and a lot of people backed the fuck up. Personally I just wiped the water of my camera and face and started shooting again. When I wasn’t taking a shot I was just smiling like a crazy person at them ready for whatever the fuck was next.

What happened next was what made news. Left Brain came out to the front of the stage and swatted at the cameras below him. He slapped the guy to the left of me. It was pretty hard and kinda fucked up but I didn’t expect anything less. Rock and roll should be dangerous and Odd Future is doing that right. Moments later Left Brain slapped another camera, this time it was a camera belonging to a woman. She almost dropped it but caught the strap and was perfectly fine  just clearly shaken by the experience. He then came towards me but I think he probably saw that I was looking at him like a crazy person and decided to kick over the video tripod that Voodoo had set up. There was not a camera on it.

The the reason Left Brain targeted the photographers he did was because they were in slapping distance and nothing else. This woman is claiming that he slapped her across the face and targeted her because she is a woman. That is complete bullshit. She got targeted because she decided to shoot a crazy fucking band and was not ready to deal with that. Any serious pro photographer has all their gear insured and while getting your shit broken is not ideal, when you are shooting dangerous subjects it is a risk you have to take.

Personally I live to get the shot that no one else has. I am the guy who takes his camera in the mosh pit to get the shot.  At a festival like Voodoo every photographer takes the same fucking photos because we are all in the same pit for the same three songs with the same lighting. It’s so fucking pointless. At Lollapalooza I was the only photographer that had up close shots of Crystal Castles because I shoved my way to the front of the mosh pit and got the shot. Having a band like Odd Future trying to fuck up photographers will scare people off and only the photographers who take the risk will get the shot and I love that.

After the photographers got kicked out of the pit I got in the crowd and made my way to the front. I knew Odd Future was going to get in the audience and some point and I wanted that shot because no one would have it. I also wanted to make it clear to the band that I would not be scared away. Not that they give a shit but it’s a personal thing.  I got to the front of the barrier and Tyler the Creator jumped into the crowd. I got some fun shots of him and I got a text from my client saying they needed something so I needed to get out of the crowd.  The night before I had crowd surfed out of the Girl Talk show so I figured maybe I could get someone to lift me up and push me over the barricade where I could cut though the VIP area back to my client. But as soon as I got picked up by the crowd they started moving me away from the stage because they saw I was taking pictures while crowd surfing. Everyone started flicking me off because I was the photographer so I started flicking them off. Eventually I got turned around towards the stage so I gave Odd Future the middle finger all while shooting photos.  Left Brain saw me from stage and pointed me out to everyone. I think he said something like “Look at that photographer in the mosh pit!” All I know is that when I finally got down people were high-fiving me and flicking me off at the same time. It was a lot of fun.

After the show I walked through the artist area to piss and on the way back from the bathroom I saw Left Brain and he started pointing at me from about 20 feet away. I wasn’t sure if when I got to him he was going to try to fight me or what but when I got over to him he said something like “You are that crowd surfing photographer! I was just talking about you.” We shook hands and I told him how much I loved the punk rockness of their set.

I need to wrap this up as this post is getting really long but I want to make it very clear that the woman who claims she was slapped in the face was not slapped in the face. I also think that if you are worried about getting hurt or breaking your equipment you should go shoot safe sedate bands that stand around playing their guitars making it real easy for you and 200 other photographers to get the same damn shot of them. And if the photographers who are up in arms about this want to get pissed off at an artist get pissed off at performers that make you shoot from the sound board or artists like Britney Spears and the Foo Fighters who try to and force photographers to sign contracts saying they own the photographers images. Those are the bands really fucking up photographers… not a group like Odd Future.

Now that my rant is over, click here to see all my shots of Odd Future from Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans, LA, including the shots of me crowd surfing and taking photos at the same time.

UPDATE: In the 30 minutes this post has been up two people have commented on the bland of these photos after I “bragged” about getting shots no one else gets. They have a point. These photos are pretty mediocre and other than the shots of Tyler in the crowd pretty much the same as any other photographer who covered this event has. I know I am going to make a lot of photographer enemies if this post gets out there so I just wanted to point out that I don’t think these photos are anything special. I also want to point out that you are a bitch. Thanks.

Guess what’s back muthafackos? Insane Clown Posse in NYC, juggalos return to Driven By Boredom and everything is right with the world.  ICP brought their American Psycho tour to Hammerstein Ballroom. They didn’t sell it out like they did the much smaller Gramercy Theater last time they were in town but it was still packed with juggalos, juggalettes and a few hipster kids there to gawk at actual real life ‘los and ‘letts.

My juggalette life partner Village Voice staff reporter Camille Dodero and I showed up too late to catch the Wolfpac who put on an insane show that was a five AM highlight of the Gathering of the Juggalos. This guy Big Hutch played next and juggalos did not give a shit about them. They did some sort of half N.W.A. cover so I support that. Psychopathic artist Blaze Ya Dead Homie was up next and juggalos do give a shit about Blaze. He was recently arrested with the next act Twiztid for felony weed possession a few tour stops back so that’s a thing. Twiztid I listened to back in 1998 and every time I wear my Twiztid t-shirt to one of these juggalo events someone tries to buy it off me. I also got to hang out with them for a while during this interview and they actually seem like really good dudes so I am officially pro Twiztid.

The Insane Clown Posse of course headlined and I am pretty sure they played the same show at the Gathering of the Juggalos but it was a pretty different thing indoors and without 20,000 juggalos hanging out in a field surrounded by carnival games. It was still pretty wild and most of the hipster kids who looked pretty bored most of the night started to get pretty into it. I ran into my old friend Charlotte there and she and her friends seemed to be having a lot of fun. Two of her super cute friends were really into it so I taught them juggalo gang signs and they ended up covered in Faygo. I don’t think the dudes they were with were trying to get their snap backs wet but I am sure they had more fun than they thought.

The thing about ICP is that even if you go there to make fun of people it is kinda impossible not to have fun when ICP starts throwing Faygo and it sort of seems like the world might end. Plus juggalos are fucking nice as hell. Nik from Monkeys on Crack drove me home and bought me food on the way. I also recognized by a bunch of juggalos and they all seemed like big Driven By Boredom fans. So fuck it, I got Family love, whoop whoop, etc. See you all at the next Gathering.

Click here to see all the fucking insane (and slightly NSFW) photos from the Insane Clown Posse from the American Psycho Tour at Hammerstein Ballroom.

PS. I have some exclusive pics of ICP and Twiztid from the Gathering of the Juggalos that I never posted that I am gonna get up tomorrow of Saturday so if you are a juggalo or a fan of my juggalo photography come back soon!

During CMJ I shot two after parties for music documentary screenings at Mondrian SoHo’s club Mr. H. On Wednesday I shot the a after party for “Fix: The Ministry Movie” and on Thursday I did the afters for “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest”.  I was a huge fan of Ministry when I was like 12 and a big Tribe fan for a long damn time. I am pretty sure I own like 7 of their albums.

On Wednesday Paul Barker from Ministry was going to DJ but he was missing some gear or something so that didn’t happen. He still hung out and I got to say what’s up and take some pictures.  On Thursday Questlove DJ’d and Beats, Rhymes & Life director Michael Rapaport showed up. Pharrell Williams who was interviewed in the documentary was also hanging out. I think I have now run into Pharrell three times in the last 10 months and this is the first time he let me take his picture. I am a pretty big fan of both Pharrell and Michael Rapaport. Pharrell’s from my home state of VA and Rapaport has a fucking Bad Brains tattoo which I tried to get a picture of but he had it covered with makeup for work.

Both parties were fun and everyone washed down the good hangs with free Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum and everything was right with the world. Keep up the PMA y’all.

Click here to see pictures from the “Fix: The Ministry Movie” CMJ after party at Mr. H.

Click here to see pictures from the “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest” CMJ after party at Mr. H.

Filter Magazine and Hyundai threw some crazy party in the Chelsea Market for CMJ last Saturday. It was an amazing clusterfuck of crazy social networking madness, toys, shoes, Hyundai cars and all sorts of wild shit. There was an insane amount of free Sailor Jerry, a performance by Cold War Kids, a DJ set by Datarock and some insane Underground Rebel Bingo thing. I really had no idea what was happening the whole time but it was clearly a lot of fun.  I also thought Cold War Kids were pretty awesome live despite never really being a fan of their music. Probably not gonna run out and buy a CD or anything but I would check them out again for sure. I have a bunch of stuff to do today so I am gonna end the write up here, but look at the pictures because it was a pretty good time.

Click here to see all the pictures from the Filter Magazine/ Hyundai Re:Mix Lab CMJ Party at the Chelsea Market.

This CMJ was my best in a few years. Every since CMJ stuck my friend Teddy Blanks in the back room of some bar that should never have had bands play there I have been down on the festival.  The last two years I sort of avoided it completely and was planning on doing so again but luckily I got a gig working for Sailor Jerry Rum and they got me off my ass and I had a great time in the process. Every event they had me cover was a good time and I was psyched to work the Brooklyn Vegan Day parties at Public Assembly.  I have worked for Brooklyn Vegan in the past and I was glad to be working with them again, plus it was in Williamsburg so I didn’t even have to get on a train.  On top of that there were free Sailor Jerry drinks so everyone was clearly going to be properly partying all day.

Friday’s party ended up being a lot of fun but musically a little down tempo for my liking. I walked as A Place To Bury Strangers were midway through their set. They were good performers and so fucking loud which of course I was into, but they are just a little bit droney for my personal tastes. Everyone else I talked to was psyched about them though. Plus I took some pics of them in the Sailor Jerry air stream and they seemed like good people. Chelsea Wolfe was another performer that everyone seemed really into. Her music was really pretty and I get the attraction but it was a little too sleepy time for me to listen to at a rock club. When I am out and about I want to rock. For me the highlight of the day was Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis who did things with an acoustic guitar that I didn’t think possible. He didn’t exactly put on a wild show or anything but the guy is a legend and he impressed.

Saturday’s party was a bit more up my alley. I was kicking myself because Peelander Z was leaving right as I go there. I have seen the crazy Japanese rockers a half dozen times over the last 10 years and they are always amazing. They were a highlight of this years SXSW for me. Luckily I grabbed them and took some photo of them in and around the Sailor Jerry air stream before heading into check out the New Orleans booty bounce madness that is Vockah Redu. He did an insane NWA cover and I found out that I had actually met his dancer before and we have some mutual friends. If you get a chance to check out Vockah you fucking owe it to yourself to do so. The band that I would most likely go home and listen to (I am actually listening to them now) was a California punk band called Fidlar who headlined the second stage. They are no Fucking Bullshit of course but I would go see them any time. Headlining the main stage was Idle Warship a hip hop/soul group fronted by Talib Kweli. They were great and I am pretty sure they covered Devo and there was just awesomeness all over the place. Oh, and also there was a guy dressed like a stegosaurus. Wild.

After that I headed home for 90 minutes and then right back to Public Assembly for another Sailor Jerry party… but we will get to that another day.

Click here to see all the photos from both Brooklyn Vegan CMJ Day Parties!

PS. Shout out to the cute girl with hot dog tattoo who is a big fan of Driven By Boredom. Keep me bookmarked!

I feel like I have shot 100 New York City zombie crawls.  Just do a search, it’s amazing how much zombie stuff I have shot for my friend Doug Sakmann who runs these crazy things.  I always end up with great photos and meet crazy girls with questionable morals so it seems to work out. This year was no different.

This year the crawl started out at Beauty Bar, made it’s way south through the Halloween Adventure costume shop and then over to The Continental for cheap shots. After that the craw continued south to the after party at Arlene’s Grocery where Angelo Moore AKA Dr. Madd Vibe from Fishbone performed his solo set for the first time. He also joined the crawl shooting a music video along the way. Also performing was Nassau Chainsaw who always put on an insane and very dangerous show. After that there was a performance by God’s Green Earth but I had been awake for way too long at that point and I left with two zombie babes to go eat some human food for the first time all day. Brains are just not that filling.

At nearly every NYC zombie crawl the Disgraceland Hook Squad performs. They are a suspension group and they hang themselves by hooks which I always love photographing. They always perform with Nassau Chainsaw and this year was no exception. One of the first people I met at one of these zombie crawls was a Disgraceland member named Spliff. He was a great guy and I was really upset when I heard he was in a horrible car crash that paralyzed him last year. Sadly Spliff died on Sunday and everyone found out during the zombie crawl.  So many people there knew him and it really changed the mood of the whole thing. Everyone still had a lot of fun but everyone who knew had their minds on Spliff. I know I did. This post is dedicated to him and I am asking you guys to donate a little something to help his family bury him. He will be missed.

Now to lighten the mood a bit before we get to the pictures I should probably mention that there are a bunch of giant zombie boobs in this gallery and on top of the blood and gore normally associated with zombies and flesh pulls this gallery is very NSFW.

So assuming you are not offended by fake blood, real hooks and zombie boobs please click here to see the HUGE gallery of photos from the 2011 NYC Zombie Crawl.

Ps. If anyone knows Jennifer Davis… I found her ID.