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!

Yesterday was the last full day of Film/ Interactive for me. Today I start my work for Sailor Jerry. Come by if you are in Austin! We will be at Gypsy Lounge all week. I might not survive that long but I am going to try.

So yeah, let’s run through day four. It was fucking exhausting. My day started out at 10:15am which meant I was up at 8:30am which means I got three hours of sleep. I shot portraits of the cast crew of Late Phases and Starry Eyes. The terrible thing is I don’t know anything about the movie yet. I did a terrible job of figuring all that out but we took some cool photos.

After that I got to shoot the cast of Mike Judge’s new HBO show Silicon Valley. I saw Mike Judge while I was waiting for the cast but I didn’t get to shoot him. I did however get to shoot the rest of the cast including one of my favorite dudes in comedy Kumail Nanjiani. The first time I saw that dude do stand up I knew he was going to be huge. TJ Miller, Martin Starr, Thomas Middleditch, Zach Woods and Amanda Crew. The only one of them I didn’t know was Amanda Crew and she impressed me by pulling out a 35mm camera and shooting me while I was shooting the rest of the cast. I tried to talk a little smack saying she had a kit lens on her camera but it was pretty much the fastest 50mm lens that exists and I was defeated. Turns out she is a bad ass photographer. These are some funny motherfuckers and I cannot wait for this show to come out.

After that I got to shoot Robert Duvall! I shot him once before with Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek for their movie Get Low but this time I got Mr. Duvall alone and think I got some pretty nice shots of him. I shot some black and white too so I can’t wait to see how that stuff turned out.  I got to see his film A Night In Old Mexico and it was pretty great. Well worth watching if you get a chance.

My last film work of the day was to shoot the Cesar Chavez red carpet but unfortunately I didn’t see the movie. I was on so little sleep I almost passed out during Old Mexico so I decided to skip the film and get more coffee into my brain. I get to shoot the cast later today so I hope to see the movie soon!

I took a break and got some food and coffee before heading over to this AT&T/Vice “Mobile Moment” party because Reggie Watts was going to be there. I have been a Reggie Watts fan for many years and it’s awesome to see that dude get all the attention he deserves. Fun fact, his photo has naked photos I have taken saved on it.

Lastly I went and got my final coffee of the day with my old naked model friend of mine. She stopped getting naked but she still rules and it was awesome to see her. Plus I got a ride home!

Highlights below. Much more coming soon!

So right now it’s 2:40am and I have to wake up at 8:30am so I am gonna make this wrap up really quick even though day three was total madness.

Step one: Show up 15 minutes late for my shoot with the cast of the movie Two Step because Austin is a nightmare during SXSW.

Step two: Shoot the cast of the Heart Machine including John Gallagher Jr. who at SXSW last year convinced me I should watch the West Wing. I finished the entire series in less than a month.

Step three: Book three shoots in 30 minutes and completely frantically fly through all of them hoping I got at least a couple shots. I shot the cast of Before I Disappear which features a sexy vampire, a Son of Anarchy and one of the most attractive women I have ever seen in real life. After that I shot the cast of Wild Canaries who I had previously partied with the night before. And then finally I got to shoot Tom Savini and the director of Doc of the Dead. I am not a huge horror/zombie nerd, but I am a huge George Romaro zombie nerd and meeting Savini was awesome.

Step four: Shoot Jemaine Clement eating a sandwich. The Flight of the Conchords star is in a movie called What We Do In the Shadows. Might have been the funniest five minutes I have spent taking a photo.

Step five: Shoot the Supermench red carpet. Mike Myers directed a documentary but he also happens to be in Wayne’s World my favorite movie of all time. So taking his photo was really important to my life even if it was just on a red carpet.

Step six: Watch Two Step. My brother edited what turns out to be a brutal fucked up and fantastic film that if nothing else should garner James Landry Hebert a lot of work. He was fantastic as a violent low life. I will talk about it more in the future but if you get a chance to see it, you must. And read the Variety review cause my brother got a mention at the end!

Step seven: Go to a dance party. IHeartComix threw a party at Empire Garage and AraabMusik and Just Blaze DJ’d and I met some cute girls and took a few photos and then left early because I have to be up in fucking five hours.

Step eight: Write this blog post and fucking go to sleep. Photo highlights below. Goodnight.

Day two got a bit busier for me and it was fucking raining all day. First thing when I got to Austin I headed over to the Intercontinental where I shot Leslie Bibb, Thomas Sadoski and director Liz Tuccillo. Their film Take Care was co-produced by my friend AJ so I was glad I got to shoot it for the Village Voice/LA Weekly slide show I am working on.

After than I headed across the street to the Driskill hotel to photograph Juliette Lewis and Jonny Weston to promote their film Kelly & Cal. I have had a lifetime crush on Juliette Lewis and I have now met her three times and each time I am more smitten than the last. I shot her band a few years ago at SXSW and they were fantastic as well. I hope I get a chance to see the film soon!

Next on my list was walking over to Red 7 where it had been turned into the bar Titty Twister for the new Dusk Til Dawn TV show. I got to shoot Robert Rodriquez, Danny Trejo, Robert Patrick and a whole lot of people in front of the sign. It was pretty fucking cool.

My last photo shoot of the day was with Jeremy Sisto, David Walton, Vincent Ventresca and this rad kid Joshua Rush who was prank calling pizza places in Alaska using Siri. It was pouring rain the whole time so I kept them dry on the porch but I got pretty soaked.

It only got worse when I shot the red carpet for Neighbors. I sort of hate the red carpet stuff and I wanted to see Neighbors and shooting red carpet stuff is better than waiting in line. Still I got pretty wet but at least I was slightly under the marquee. The movie was pretty hilarious and I think I shot some pretty good shots of girls losing their minds over Zac Efron. I gotta wait till the roll of film gets developed though.

Lastly I hit the Heart Machine/ Wild Canaries after party at Cheer Up Charlie’s. I didn’t take any photos but I had a lot of fun and got to hang out with AJ and my friend Teddy and my little brother. I am shooting Heart Machine and Wild Canaries tomorrow so I it’s gonna be funny shooting people in a professional setting that I partied with the night before. I also get to shoot (And see!) the film my brother edited tomorrow. It’s called Two Step and I am pretty excited.

Here are a few shots from yesterday!

Day one started SXSW slow. My friend Moni Love was in town for some SXSW fun so we did a quick photo shoot before either of us did any fun SXSW stuff. I shot Moni in this guest house/ motorcycle repair garage in the back of my friend’s apartment. It was quick and easy and I am glad I got another chance to shoot her.

After that Moni gave me a ride downtown and we met up with a photographer friend of mine and checked out Robert Rodriguez’ new museum. He was showing some Frank Frazetta art work as well as some other stuff. It was all pretty awesome. There were a couple Drew Struzan pieces which were awesome to see after watching the fantastic documentary on him. I didn’t take any pictures (well, almost none) but it was pretty cool to check out. I get to photograph Rodriquez later in the week too!

Finally I got to do some proper work. I shot the red carpet for “Chef” the opening film of SXSW. Jon Favreau directed, starred and wrote it and it’s probably my favorite of all his films, and I loved Iron Man (and Swingers but don’t tell anyone). It’s about a Chef who quits his job and starts a food truck with his 10 year old kid and John Leguizamo. Honestly I really dug the film a lot. It combines my love of Top Chef with my love of Twitter. You’ll see…

After the film I rushed to meet my brother and my friend Teddy Blanks who did the credits for a movie called Ping Pong Summer. We hurried way over to this movie theater way north of the rest of SXSW and I bought a ton of shitty candy and popcorn because I hadn’t eaten all day and then the movie ended up getting canceled but we didn’t find that out until I had eaten a ton of terrible food. Evidently the projector broke so they did a midnight screening across town.

Ping Pong Summer takes place in 1985 and looks very much like a film from 1985. It’s sort of like an 80’s summer comedy meets the Karate Kid or something. Nothing I will say about this film will do it justice. You need to see it for yourself. I can’t promise that you are going to like it, I certainly did, but even if you don’t like it it’s well worth seeing. PLUS Teddy’s title sequence is nominated for an award and is up against films like the Lego Movie and Pacific Rim and TV shows like True Detective and Black Sails. Super proud of him.

By the time the movie ended it was after 2am so I called it a night. Today is a much more action packed day with four film portraits booked and the premiere of Neighbors plus a party! Good times! For now check out Teddy’s Ping Pong Summer credits and a couple shots from yesterday!

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/88071514[/vimeo]

South By Southwest is here! I will be in Austin until the 18th covering the 2014 SXSW Film, Music and Interactive festivals. It will be my 11th year in a row at SXSW. I spent the first few years there with the band I managed and then in 2008 I switched to covering it as press. It’s by far my favorite festival and I should get some amazing shots over the next two weeks. Here are a few highlights from last year…

Keep checking back for daily updates!

So it’s 5am on Saturday night/Sunday morning and I just left the Gathering of the Juggalos for perhaps the last time. I am skipping tomorrow and heading to St. Louis early so I can edit and get ready to post real updates and huge galleries and start sending images to clients. With deaths, less major acts, low attendance and a split between ICP and Twiztid it seems like maybe the Gathering has run it’s course. I hope it comes back better than ever next year, but if not this might be my last year. I had fun and took a ton of crazy photos but something was ominous about this year’s Gathering.

Whatever the case I will have TONS of photos next week and I shot a ton of full sets of naked juggalettes for a Hustler spread on the Gathering. I won’t get those up any time soon but once the Hustler comes out I will have a ton of fun stuff for you guys.

Anyway, this road trip blog is over and I will be back soon with real posts but until then here are a few shots from Friday and Saturday at the Gathering of the Juggalos.

So promising road trip updates from the Gathering of the Juggalos was a huge mistake. I haven’t had any internet except shitty and expensive WIFI that I only got on my phone. Tonight I drove into a small town about 15 minutes from the Gathering to use the internets to send images to clients and update this blog.

I will do real updates later and I will try to do one more of these tomorrow, but this Gathering has been a bit smaller and a lot darker than normal. Less big acts, less people and a lot more drug overdoeses and weird things happening. At least one person died and there have been rumors of some crazy shit happening like someone biting off their own tongue.

Anyway, pictures and updates will come soon. Here are a few pictures for now….