Night Six!! Really?! No way, that has to be a mistake...right? The OC Music Awards showcases are already waning, though it seems like they began only yesterday. Night six was yet another great acoustic performance, featuring five up and coming talents - Justin Soileau, Micah Brown, Parker Macy Blues, Danny Maika, and FoxxHound - as they battled ahead to attempt a spot in the Best Live Acoustic Finals, which will take place at the Fullerton Museum on Thursday, February 24th.
I learned a lot this evening, as it happens. First, it's nice to have friends at your side. I was pleased to have company tonight with my friends Rico and Eric. Rico has a brand new camera, and was excited to join me to try his hand at live band photography. I also learned that it is more difficult than it appears to navigate a filled-to-capacity coffee shop in order to get into prime shooting position - helps to have friends in this case, too. After all, there's safety in numbers when you have to shove your way up to the front. Finally, I learned that there are two different Gypsy Dens in Orange County, and if you wanted to see live music on this fine Tuesday, you weren't going to find it back down at the Anti Mall (home to the other Gypsy Den). So after the drive back up from Costa Mesa to Santa Ana, I was a bit tardy arriving tonight and, as a result, missed Justin Soileau's set entirely. I was bummed, but I hope to catch him next time around.
Please enjoy some of my favorite shots from tonight...and be sure to tell your friends who perform live - Jason Barrett Photography is available for hire, and ready to capture their live energy as well!
Micah Brown
Parker Macy Blues
Danny Maika
FoxxHound
The OC Music Awards Showcase continues next Tuesday with the Best Live Bands, night seven, at the Slide Bar in Fullerton, CA. Two of my recent favorites, Echo Echo and Stereofix will be playing. Make plans to check them out, won't you?
I spent 10 amazing years in the Attractions Department at the Happiest Place on Earth. For the overwhelming majority of those years, I was qualified to pilot the Ganges Gal, the Zambezi Miss, the Mekong Maiden, the Orinoco Adventuress, and the Hondo Hatie, or equivalent*, down the exotic rivers of the world. (*And for skippers that were in my class in the mid 90s, pre-governors on the engines, you know that there was no equivalent to the Ganges - that baby could create a wake!) But enough of my glory days speak. I may have thought of myself as pretty hot stuff in my time as a skipper, but I never put myself out there quite like the brave souls that participate regularly in Skipper Standup. This performance "by Skippers, for Skippers and their friends and family" has been happening regularly for the past several years at the local Maverick Theater in Fullerton, CA. For past and current Skippers of Disneyland's World Famous Jungle Cruise, Skipper Standup is an environment for their natural comedic abilities to take center stage, without any pressure from management (after all, even though the setting of the Jungle Cruise is built for comedy - with 40 passengers per boat providing their undivided attention, and humorous antics setting up jokes around every river bend - the skippers who pilot the decorated launches are expected to adhere to a strict spiel, approved by the show-protective executives at the corporate office). This was my first time out to see the show, and though the cast insisted it just wasn't the same without Skipper Standup founder David Marley (the reliable and consistent master of ceremonies and comedian in his own right, who had been admitted to the hospital earlier that day with food poisoning), I laughed out loud several times at the performance of the featured comics.Please enjoy the highlights from the night's performance below, and be sure to stay connected to the Skipper Standup website for info on the next performance. 
Mike Pucher
Chris Ramirez
Paul Stallings
Nik Lillard
Austyn Jeffs
Kaz Liput
Dr Knickerbocker & the Homo - in addition to their scheduled appearance, they graciously agreed to fill in for the sidelined David Marley on MC duties.
The Unsinkable Trevor Kelley
Joey Hurley
The time passed quickly last week. It seems like yesterday I was down at The Lab, listening to acoustic rock and getting into minor traffic accidents, courtesy of the teeny, tiny, impossible to negotiate Anti Mall parking lot. But enough about me, it's time to enjoy some more images. This week the OC Music Awards, along with the usual sponsors like KROQ radio, Wahoo's Fish Taco, and Popchips, made it's way down to the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa. Now, I used to work at the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland, but this place is completely different. Flocks of macaws and Bird of Paradise are replaced with Red Bull energy drinks and sweaty fans. But since this week's line-up was decidedly harder edged, featuring such bands as Entice, Railroad to Alaska, Pistolero, and Seedless, the sweatiness was more than appropriate. Please enjoy this round of images, as always.By the way, if you happen to be in a band and you like what you see here on my blog, feel free to hit me up. I am in business to serve local bands and performers with live concert photos as well as portraits for album art or personal use! Need to update that lousy headshot of yours? Give me a call!
Entice
Railroad to Alaska
Pistolero
Seedless
**My apologies to any fans or members of She Screams Remedy - I was not present for their set**
