I am a fan of power pop music. Starting with some of The Who's early songs and branching off into bands like The Kinks, The Raspberries, Cheap Trick, 20/20 and a long time personal fave, The Knack. This is a great branch on the tree of rock.
I was thrilled to be asked by Sugarbuzz Magazine to shoot a show by a new Power Pop band called Magic Christian featuring Cyril Jordan of the Flamin' Groovies and the drummer from one of my personal favorite bands, Prairie Prince of The Tubes. Paul Kopf (Lead Vocals) and Alec Palao (Bass) rounded out the band.
The show was held at The Cat Club in Hollywood, CA on January 19th, 2006. This was my first live concert coverage. I appreciate the faith of Lucky and Victoria from Sugarbuzz in giving me the opportunity.
The venue, The Cat Club, was not really designed with photography in mind and the lighting was very low and had a strong red palette to it.
I came prepared for anything, but I ended up shooting much of the show with my Canon 20D and either my 18-55mm kit lens that came with the camera or a cheap telephoto lens as I worked from the back of the room. These were not lenses designed for low light and no flash shooting. I learned that while warming up on the opening band, Zhain.
However, I found settings I liked, novice that I was, and I think I turned in some decent, if low quality shots, and a few interesting 'happy accidents'. The shots must have been good enough because Sugarbuzz asked me to do more shows after that.
The story online featuring my pictures is no longer available, but here is a link to a JPG of the story.
Magic Christian is no more. Cyril is back in the Flamin' Groovies and Prairie is back behind the kit for The Tubes. As far as I know they had only one album out. I highly recommend adding it to your collection if you are a fan of this type of music like I am. It is a two disc record with their debut on disc 1 and a full live concert on disc 2. It's good stuff and worth having.
I hope you enjoy these pics. I learned a lot about shooting in low light in clubs and very soon after this my lovely wife blessed me with the purchase of some better glass for shooting these things. I still don't count myself as an expert, but I really do like shooting shows and trying to capture things as I see them.
