Click the Pic.
Okaaaay….this actually happened on 5/17, and the gallery has been up since the 23rd, and I’m only just now getting around to saying anything about it. Well, what can I say?
Kick Rocks was a birthday party for Julien and Brian Brown and I honestly only pics of the first band, The Beats, Man because again, there was sort of a surplus of photographers. Still, there are a ton of photos of one band anyway! Perhaps someday I will get used to doing this again.
After a full year of technical difficulty after technical difficulty, FINALLY!
Everything seems to be working properly.
That is kind of terrifying to say, like I might jinx it or something.
See below for new pics of a recent Beats, Man show at Cafe Racer and Romance at CHAC, their first show with a new drummer.
For new viewers, or old ones who need a memory refresher, click on the pics to go to a specific gallery. At the gallery, click on a thumbnail to see a full sized photo, click on the full size to go back to the gallery, or just use the slideshow to see the whole set full size.
It’s hard to get back in the swing of going to shows, but I had to see this one. It was The Beats, Man first show ever, and not only are Tim and Erik our friends, but they are in Pleasureboaters who, I’m sure you know by now, TOTALLY RULE.
I’d never been to Cafe Racer, but I knew it was small. I never would have thought it was THAT small, and I found myself wondering just how this was going to work. A few hours and plenty of drinks later, I found myself standing in the very front, so size was no longer an issue. I was vying for shots with way too many other cameras, but as you’ll see, it makes for some fun pics.
I have so many favorites from this show, it’s too bad I didn’t have time this morning to pull out more of the great ones. Here’s a few favorites for now - look for more later on Myspace and other photo spots.
Oh yeah, and click on any of these to see the rest.
I did not realize that I have never photographed Romance until this show came up, so I’m glad I finally have.
I haven’t seen them play for quite a while, it turns out, and this time around they’ve got a new drummer, who happens to be someone I actually hang out with.
This was their first performance together, and I’m afraid I didn’t do them justice, as it was my first time back behind the camera in almost a year. The show was great, Josh really brings them the energy and style they needed.
Click on either photo to go the gallery and see the rest.
On June 6th, 2006, Bobby came down from Heaven, drunk on whiskey and wearing a tie. We were friends right away, exchanging knowing glances and sly grins. Bobby took life in stride more than anyone I’ve ever met. I remember being really surprised the night that he arrived, and Reno told me he was taking the bus from SeaTac. He thought absolutely nothing of it, and I later learned that Bobby just wasn’t the kind of person that asked for a ride from the airport, or would have thought to take a cab or a shuttle. He’d show up in town by the seat of his pants, with little more than the clothes on his back, and a few bucks in his wallet.
That first night, neither Reno nor Bobby even had money to take the bus, so after getting off of a flight from Chicago, and taking a bus to Belltown from the airport, Bobby walked with Reno up to Capital Hill to the Comet.
Bobby had broken his arm in Chicago, and was sporting a bright pink cast. He will wear that cast in my memory forever, even though he did eventually get it off, and I have seen him plenty without it. The cast stayed on for months though, and when it came off it was replaced by another. Bobby had the cast on for the first 6.5 months I knew him, which is why it’s easier for me to remember it on than off.
Bobby had an infectious grin and a great laugh. He always looked great in his hodge podge wardrobe that consisted of a wide variety of Vibrators t-shirts, dress pants that were always just a bit too small but looked great anyway, and a pair of Vans that he wore well after the expiration date had come and gone. I always felt good when I was around Bobby. I never had a single problem with him, we never found a thing to disagree about. We always had a great time, and he was one of the few people I know who would always show up.
The last time he was here was around Thanksgiving again, and I didn’t see him as much as I’d have liked to, but he showed up for Thanksgiving Friday, again taking the bus, this time from the ferry from one of the islands, I think Bainbridge. That was the thing about Bobby. If you invited him, he’d come, and he’d get himself there, never complaining about whatever means it took to get to where ever you were, no matter how much it might seem like an inconvenience to any other person.
I never really heard Bobby complain about much of anything. He was always a pleasure to be around. That first summer he was here, he barely had two pennies to rub together because there wasn’t much he could do for work in that cast. He did what he could though, and because he never said boo about being poor, and always managed get by, I was always more than happy to give him a place to sleep and as much food as I could stuff in him. He was always appreciative, and had good manners.
One morning that first summer, we were at Reno’s and Bobby went outside, I guess looking for someone to bum a smoke off of. There was a homeless guy outside, and Bobby talked to him for awhile. He came back with a few cigarettes, a beer, and some spare change. That’s what kind of a guy Bobby was. He didn’t ask for all that, but he was such a likeable guy that this homeless person who had nothing gave Bobby probably half of what little he did have. Bobby wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and so he accepted these meager gifts gratefully, I think even sharing them with others.
He left to go back to Chicago at some point, to get that damn cast off, and returned a few days before Thanksgiving with a black one. He was at that first Thanksgiving Friday, and I was glad to see a lot of him that next month before he left again on Christmas Day.
He had this coat that time around that was both awful and perfectly stylish, all at the same time. Really, no one else could have gotten away with wearing that coat, but he rocked it. At one point that winter Bobby lost his coat, or it got locked in someone’s house and he couldn’t get it. There he was, walking around in the freezing cold in a T-SHIRT. After a while he somehow found a vacant apartment, and managed to get inside. He wrapped himself in some curtains and went to sleep on the floor. When I heard about this, I decided that Bobby needed a better coat anyway, and a few days before Christmas, Liz and I set out to buy him one. We finally found one, and the next day, we presented him with a big gift-wrapped box. I’ve never seen anyone so surprised to get a gift, and when he saw the coat, tears streamed down his cheeks. I have never felt better about giving anyone anything.
Bobby was beautiful inside and out. I’ve never met anyone so photogenic in my life. I didn’t realize how many pictures I have of him until now. My camera seemed to be drawn to him, and there is not a single one in which he actually looks bad. He was a handsome devil and a sweet guy. I’d have trusted him with my very life.
He went back up to Heaven on January 19th, 2008, still drunk on whiskey and wearing a tarnished and slightly dented halo. I don’t know if he was sent to be our Guardian Angel, or if he simply grew bored and slipped through the Pearly Gates when no one was looking to come down here and enjoy a little Earthly pleasure.
Alex and I were looking at his pictures today and this one made us laugh and laugh.
When we were done, we saw that there were the most amazing purple clouds in the sky, all lit up with the most amazing rosy orange glow I’ve ever seen. I imagined that it was Bobby’s megawatt grin lighting up the sky with his delight as he laughed with us, his one size too small wings slightly askew, and those damn Vans still coming up apart at the seams.
I love you Bobby. We all do. Since you have been gone, I’ve felt you with me in a dozen different ways. That sunset the other day, the brightest moonlight I’ve ever seen that night. Yesterday, I sat outside and watched cigarette smoke swirl through a gentle sunbeam like a ghost. That must have been you. Monday night Heather and I were talking about you, and some stupid guy from Buffalo started asking us stupid questions, and when he was gone I told her that I was sure it must have been you playing a prank on us somehow. Then yesterday, I went to get some straight pins and found a whole package of safety pins that I’d bought for you because you were always asking me for them to pin your shit together.
I am privileged to have known you and to be able to call you my friend. These past few days, remembering you, I have laughed more than I cried because you are a delight. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being there. Thanks for some of the best times ever.
And thank you Reno, for introducing us.
I’ll see ya someday, Bob. Sooner than later.
(all photos by Isabella Borlo, except the Johnny Walker Red Alley shot, by Tyler Lee Soverns)
It’s amazing how these things get away from me.
Clearly, the website has not been updated for quite some time.
It is also amazing how any number of problems and inconveniences tend to pile up.
Initially, it was just that I was having problems with the Rebel, and around the same time, I lent the A540 to a friend, which I didn’t get back until September.
In the interim, I began having some computer issues, which became bad enough that after I got the A540 back, I couldn’t download pics off the camera and onto the computer anymore.
Not only did I not have the money to get these things fixed anyway, but it also turned out that I had to move, i.e. I needed even more money. Not to mention that took a fucking long time for reasons I’m not even going to go into.
But now that the moving has been completed and paid for, I have begun working on rectifying my computer problem, and I would expect by next week, not only will I be back in business in that regard, but I should be able to multi-task to the point where I can be three times more productive in the same amount of time.
The Rebel is still not fixed, but I’m hoping that that will be my Xmas gift. It will probably turn out to be something totally stupid that costs nothing and takes 5 minutes to fix, but I don’t care, it’s all I really want for Xmas. In the meantime, I may or may not take photos with the A540. I suppose I will if there’s anything worth taking pics of.
Otherwise, I may try to work on getting some of the backlog of old pics posted.
So that’s that. If nothing else, I hope to be caught up and back to my old tricks by 2008. Actually, I really hope to be doing more interesting things. We shall see, eh?
I’m going to be oh-so-busy shooting Noise for the Needy events this weekend, but other stuff in my world is getting taken care of, so look for more photos new AND old SOON!!!
Going waaaaay out of order as usual, click the pic below for Wednesday’s Deep Cuts.
TONIGHT: 9:00PM
The Lights, Thee Emergency, Kissing Potion, The Whoremoans @ The Comet Tavern
TOMORROW:9:00PM
Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death, Pleasureboaters, Bullet Club, Whiskey Tango @ The Funhouse
x and o
♥
OMG, more Pleasureboaters!
The NFTN party ended up being lots of fun. I hung out in the band room in the back, but I did not drink their free beer, or mine for that matter. I left that up to Alex, who actually likes PBR, in exchange for a couple of real drinks. The Sunset is one of my favorite places to shoot bands, because the light is awesome. I didn’t take so many pictures of the Cops or the Hands, because the Pleasureboaters wore me out. They always do.
X and O
♥
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