A Refugee

For those that don’t know, 311 Day is a celebration in honor of 311 and their fans that lasts a few days and climaxes with a super concert lasting five hours and includes up to 60 songs.

This year was my first experience going to a 311 Day. I have been a long time fan of the band and they have been one of my biggest supporters of my photography.

Leading up to 311 Day one of their managers, Peter Raspler, was in contact with me requesting photographs. I wasn’t sure of their exact application but, I was very pleased to see the execution of their use within the context of 311 Day.

First, the images were used in slide shows decorating the walls of the club during the Fan Party. It was awesome seeing my photos along with the great work of many other photographers being displayed.

The other key appearance of my photographs was in a fantastic booklet they put together reflecting on the last ten years of 311′s history, since 311 Day started. I have a few images that are featured on a page alone and it feels great to see them showcased, again, with many other fantastic photographer’s work.

The actual experience of 311 Day was refreshing and inspiring. The band was very loose and just focused on having fun.

The familiar 311 formula went out the window and the show was full of jam sessions and honest interaction between the band members that I don’t recall seeing before.

It was one of the biggest 311 concerts I have attended but, it felt like one of the most intimate.

I can only hope the summer tours follow in the foot steps of this show in terms of relaxing and putting their own fun in front of being some sort of pre-conceived form of perfect that requires a formula be followed.

Man, it was such a great time! I had a blast with my friends and making new ones.

So

many

photos…

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LA Kings cover feature in Fourth Period Magazine. ©2009 Gary Livingston

Here’s a fun little clip from the shoot:

After nine years as a freelance photographer and working with many different clients I have my images on a magazine cover for the first time.

It was well worth the wait considering I got to photograph my home team, the LA Kings. Not just my home team but, really inspirational guys that have faced adversity and doubt for most of their careers with the LA Kings.

This season is different. They found their confidence and have been in a playoff sport all season long. They always learn from their mistakes and come back stronger because of it. They make it easy to be an LA Kings fan for the first time in a decade. They make it even more fun than easy.

It was a the most difficult and stressful shoot of my career and it didn’t go close to what I expected when I first got asked to do it.

But, I learned a lot and have a lot of good things to build on. I can’t wait to shoot them many more times in the seasons to come.

I hope to shoot many more players for The Fourth Period Magazine too. They were a joy to work with and very patient and supportive.

Be sure to pick up the magazine on January 11th! It’s a great article by my new friend, Dennis Berstein.

Support the magazine! They’re new and deserve the readers. It’s a great organization.

More about the magazine can be found on the LA Kings website! Just click the image!

Thank you to Max Cohen, Dennis Berstein, and David Pagnotta for giving me this opportunity.

Thanks to Paul Mocey-Hanton for assisting me too! You can see that stud in the video. =)

It was another great show from The Dear Hunter.  It was one of those performances that makes you a little bummed out they are opening up in an early slot and restricted to only thirty minutes of set time.  The set they played was pretty amazing. High energy, a lot of on stage fun, and a decent mix of songs to give the audience an idea of what they do.

The Knitting Factory did good with the lighting and sound for them too.  Everything went well from a production point of view for them.  The audience had a real good reaction to their set too. Everything seemed to fall into place for them during their set.

It was exciting hearing the audience’s reaction to Casey announcing the band will be back with Thrice.  An enthusiastic roar was their reply to the news and those coming will be glad to know they can expect more songs during that tour from The Dear Hunter.  I can’t wait. =)

Enjoy the rest of the photos.

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Today was exciting seeing training camp take place. My camera broke and is being repaired but, thankfully I have good friends like Paul Mocey-Hanton. He let me take out his D300 so I could get some photos. Be sure to look him up. He’s a great photographer!

It was great seeing potential lines forming. It seemed like the Brown-Moller-Purcell line had a lot of chemistry. The Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds line looked just as energetic and aware of each other’s movement on the ice. I had to leave before I got a look at the group with Smyth-Kopitar-Williams. If those are the three top lines and they mesh as well as what I got a glimpse of then I think the Kings will be in good shape this year.

Ersberg and Zatkoff seemed to be battling hard for a spot on the team. Bernier, the most promising prospect the Kings have in net, didn’t seem ready today. He continuously got caught out of position and allowed his disappointment in himself get the better of him. He showed some great flares of awesomeness. However, they were far and few between. He barely challenged the shooters and it looked as though he was over thinking everything. I hope it is just something he sleeps off. I didn’t get to see Quick either. He was in the last group.

Watching Moller and Purcell was the most fun to me. The two of them were battling hard on the ice and showed a lot of passion. Purcell was hitting the back of the net a lot more often than I remember last year.

Actually, the most fun was watching Greene, Frolov, Moller, Brown, and Purcell show some personality and joy on the ice. They each had some really fun moments joking with each other. Watching Greene react to scoring a goal was well worth going down to Toyota Center today. Haha, I hope I get to see some more outbursts of excitement like that while I’m at games this season.

I’m heading out to the pre-season game tomorrow night against the Coyotes. I’ll be sure to update this post with more thoughts on how the Kings are looking going into the 09-10 season.

Enjoy the photos.

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WoW! These are overdue!

RX Bandits headlined the show with dredg. They are taking turns headlining shows this tour. It was appropriate for them to have the Anaheim date, being that they are local.

It was a really good concert. The RX Bandits fans are a great crowd! Even the ones that were not there for dredg were really open to the music and very courteous.

Once RX Bandits came on they knew the drill. Everyone there for the band erupted into dance and jumping around. It felt like an old 311 concert. The vibe was awesome!

RX Bandits are pretty insane musicians. I didn’t realize just how talented the guys are from the CDs. That’s one of the pitfalls of not being a trained musician. Seeing the music played live and watching the movements involved on the instruments really makes it clear the difficulty of some parts.

The only downside to the show was the lack of a lighting technician that understands how to light a band.

The guys are all very energetic. It was a lot of fun for sure. Highly recommended to see!

Be sure to check RX Bandits out! Click

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The final show of the tour. It was as good as the last four I saw.

Loads of energy. Nice subtle changes in the drum solo and bass solo. Worth seeing a fifth time =)

ouch.

The only change for the worst from the other nights was a dude flying out of the mosh pit and into my face. haha.

Other than that, it was just like the last entry. Lots of fun =)

Enjoy the photos and see a few of you cool people next tour =):

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It is pretty much the same as the last three I covered. The addition of the crowd knowing the new songs and singing along and the evolution of Pnut’s bass solo are the key factors that enhanced the whole experience.

Pnut played a sick solo tonight that featured him on a 10 string Warwick bass. It functioned just like a 12 string guitar.

The sounds he made on this thing were astounding. I stood their with my mouth open the entire time. Even while I shot photos. Again, I wished Trevor Martin was there to witness it.

Good thing I made friends with a girl taping it. I’ll get him the video. =)

Enjoy the photos:

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I went into this tonight not expecting much. I saw they were coming to town and decided to give them a chance due to it being a few years later and, well, I just missed seeing them.

Good or bad, it would still be fun.

I gotta say…I was very impressed and excited by what I got.

The band seems to have finally found their rhythm together with Ben Kenney (the bassist that replaced Dirk Lance). The man seems much more comfortable and natural on stage now.

They all seemed to be having a great time up there. The crowd was super fun. A lot of sing a longs and energy.

It felt like an old school Incubus concert. The set list was very good too.

There was a good mix of material from S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and the albums following it. I was so happy to see them play Redefine. =) Ben slapped the shit out of his bass. That was something he didn’t do quite so well the last time I saw them.

Incubus also redid the way they approach acoustic songs. It is a lot more intimate feeling even though a few of the songs include the entire band playing acoustic. It just feels less staged than seeing just Mikey and Brandon play together.

Extra enjoyment came from seeing Brandon play his djembe and didgeridoo. I missed that.

All you old school fans better go check out this tour. It was a treat.

It was a great night =) I made some awesome new friends too. I owe them a print for the beer they got me.

Enjoy the photos.

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The audience sang along more than I’ve noticed too. It was a really fun vibe at the HOB.

Fantastic energy all around. I think the RX Bandits fans are a cool group. It was RX’s hometown show so, the majority of the crowd was their for them. Even with that being the case everyone seemed very excited and open to hear dredg and see what they were about.

It was really fun seeing the band play some of the more interesting songs off El Cielo that show Gavin utilizing some fun creative ways to add effects to his voice. He didn’t bring out the trumpet but, it was still fun to watch.

Enjoy the photos:

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Most recently, Ashley Tisdale. haha.

I got to hang out with her band and catch the warm up and concert at The Grove. Her band is full of great guys and a cool ass lady. It was awesome.

We had some good catering, hijacked the offices of The Grove, made our own name tags, and got some sun.

It was a really fun show for what it is. A pop show.

I did love the chemistry between her and Jacob. That made the show a blast to watch. haha.

Enjoy the photos.

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