Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Pics from The Bright Light Social Hour at The Belmont

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Last night was another example of a reason I freaking love the Austin music scene. Jorts rockers The Bright Light Social Hour played a free 2-hour show at The Belmont. That venue isn’t exactly known as a bastion of local rock, but they do have a nice stage with good sound. Bright Light put the stage to good use; if for some reason you have yet to see these guys, please do yourself a favor and correct that. It’s Deep Purple meets Spinal Tap, and it’s awesome. The guys are skilled musicians, talented showmen, and just downright fun to watch. Hell, it’s just fun to watch Jack’s mustache

They will be having an album release party on September 17th at Antone’s. Get your $10 advance tickets here. It will be a fantastic night of music as The Bright Light Social Hour will be joined by Brass Bed and The Frontier Brothers. Plus you can get pre-release copy of the self-titled album at the show.

For now, check out a few pictures I got of The Bright Light Social hour last night below.

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Get it in writing!

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Over the weekend, I got an email from my buddy Marcus over at LegitArt. Sam Feathers, from LegitArt, went to Burning Flipside and wrote up a review of the event. LegitArt posted the review, along with a handful of pictures taken by Sam. Although Sam asked permission from the subjects of his photos, he did not have written permission so the organizers sent LegitArt a nice letter after they posted the review/pics. Take a minute and go read Marcus’ post and the letter from Kat, one of the Flipside organizers.

If you’ve been following TwoGroove for any amount of time, you know that I like to rant about things like this. Typically, I would take up the banner and charge headlong against the festival organizers on this one. However, if I did that, I’d be wrong. So why write a post at all? As a cautionary tale. Hopefully, LegitArt doesn’t think I’m throwing them under the bus on this one!

I’ve been in the exact same situation as Sam and Marcus, with the same reaction and results. I was shooting an event and had permission from the venue but not the promoter/organizers of the event. I wrote up a post, threw up some pictures, and promptly got a polite but firm “cease and desist” letter. Unlike the situation with LegitArt, there were no legal threats. I pulled the entire post, even though I could have edited it, removed the pictures, and reposted. I was a little frustrated, but eventually realized that the fault lay with me.

In the case of Burning Flipside, their photo policy is clearly laid out in their Survival Guide. Here it is:

Burning Flipside is a private event. Redistribution or public display of images, including
internet-based media, requires the explicit consent of all subject parties.

• ASK FIRST before you shoot! Many people are sensitive
to photos taken of them at the event.

• Images may only be taken for personal use and may not be used
professionally or for any commercial purpose without prior
written approval by Austin Artistic Reconstruction, LLC.

• Videotaping for personal use requires a signed Personal Use Agreement,
which indicates that the footage will not be used commercially.

• ALL motion-capturing cameras must be registered. Registration
can be done at Greeters or the Ranger Station.

• Please see “Commercial Media” for more information.

And that pretty much does it. I understand the frustration on the part of LegitArt; we want to provide exclusive content to our readers and promote/support events. However, the organizers have a right to set and enforce their photo policy. It’s the responsibility of us as content providers to jump through the hoops necessary to provide that content. I’d love it if every event allowed the free taking and distribution of pictures, but I know that’s not going to happen.

The moral of the story is this: Get to know all the policies of the event you’re covering and get permission in writing. Verbal permission from the subjects of the photos is not enough if you are being governed by an event’s photo policy.

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Pictures and Report from Baconator vs. The Thingamabots

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Saturday night, ND (formerly The Independent) hosted an evening of music, drinks, and robots. So many robots! The event, put together by Couch Professor Entertainment, was also a “robot dance party” world record attempt. I was there in my favorite ascary evil robot shirt from Southside Sanctuary to capture the madness. Here’s the report, along with some tasty pics.

The Good: Pretty much everything about the event was good but I have to give it to the people that came dressed up. There were some fantastic robot costumes, from the group of fembots to the fully functional costume with CD player, flashing lights, and extendable arms. People really got into the spirit of the show, which makes for a fun night.

The lineup was stacked with local favorites, drinks were free until 11pm, and the event was run well. The ND is a great space; they’ve made some much-needed improvements recently including the installation of a full bar as you walk in. Much better than that tiny bar at the back of the venue they started out with.

Also, special mention to the projector girl from Wave Hands Like Clouds. I’m not a very artsy guy, but I was enthralled watching her projected creations move around on the wall. The pictures in the gallery below don’t really do it justice.

The Bad: I haven’t heard the final report, but I’m fairly certain we didn’t break the record. Attempts were made throughout the night, but there weren’t more than 250 people there (we needed over 400 to get close to the record). It didn’t put a damper on the night, though.

People wanting quick, free drinks had to exercise a little patience. There was a DIY mojito station that had a long line the whole time. The bartenders helping people make their mojitos get special mention; they were constantly assisting people. Many TwoGroove props to the patience and professionalism of those two!

The Funny: Just seeing all the costumes, as well as 200 people do the robot is funny enough. However, the girl who kept cutting in line to make ever-more-sloppy mojitos gets the crown on this one. She would butt in, slop together what can only loosely be described as “mojitos” and then push her way to her friends. By the third time she did this, her friends stopped accepting the drinks, leaving her with a handful of drinks. I can almost guarantee she was worshipping the porcelain throne at some point.

What made it even better was the one time she offered a drink to the bartender. He didn’t even look at her; he was too busy helping people who had waited in line make their mojitos. She put the cup in his face, asked him his name, and finally stormed away when she wasn’t getting the attention she felt she rightly deserved. Stay classy, drunk chick.

Without further ado, here are some pictures from the night. I wasn’t able to stay the whole time, but I think you’ll get a good feel for the party from the pictures below. There were plenty of photographers, so dont be surprised if you see a metric F-ton of pictures on blogs, Facebook, and the like.

Many thanks to Andy and Cole of Couch Professor Entertainment for putting together a killer event. They tirelessly promote and organize these things!

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Pictures from the Bass in Ya Face boat party

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Last Sunday, LegitArt rented out a two-story party boat to put on the Bass in Ya Face cruise. Captian Marcus Swagger (thankfully they didn’t let him drive the boat) hosted the festivities…in his entirely too-short swimsuit. We boarded around 7pm and people were already getting silly when we disembarked at 7:15. There was plenty of free booze to be had to go along with the pumping tunes blasting out of both stories.

Although the boat held 200; I think there was a little over a hundred people on it. Lines for the bathroom and bar were short and by nightfall, the dance floor upstairs was packed. By the end of the cruise, bartenders were pouring Red Bull & vodkas in tall cups instead of the little ones, ensuring we used up every last bit of booze. Funny thing was, I asked two bartenders about who the vodka sponsor was. The first didn’t know, and the second said “you don’t want to know”. Whatever, it was free!

For those of you that couldn’t join us out on the water, here are some pictures for your enjoyment. Note the lack of pictures after sunset…I was on the dancefloor and couldn’t be bothered to take pictures.

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Pictures from 40 Rocks: a Jen Leduc Birthday

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

I am a slacker. Jen Leduc‘s birthday was a couple weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting the pictures. Well, here they are!

Don’t give me that “who’s Jen” stuff, either. If you don’t know her personally, you’ve seen her at shows. Seriously, this chick goes to more shows than even us music blog types. She’ll be the one near the front of the stage, taking pictures with a point & shoot digital camera.

Jen celebrated her birthday in style at Beauty Bar with musical help from Ideal Soul Mart, STEREO IS A LIE, and Buttercup. Beauty Bar was hopping that night, as they were hosting Learning Secrets 6 year anniversary party at the same time.

From TwoGroove with love: Happy Birthday, Jen!

Here are the pics, feel free to grab them and post them to Facebook or whatever.


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