Ryan Adams: La Cienega Just Smiled

Beautiful song by Ryan Adams:

La Cienega Just Smiled - Ryan Adams
"Ah the night...here it comes again"
It's on with the jeans, the jacket and the shirt
How'd I end up feeling so bad
For such a little girl
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
And I'm too scared to know to how I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiles..."see ya around"
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
And raise my glass 'cause either way I'm dead
Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore
One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul
La Cienega just smiles as it waves goodbye
"Ah the night...here it comes again"
It's off with the jeans, the jacket and the shirt
How'd I end up feeling so bad
For such a little girl
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
And I'm too scared to know how I feel about you now
How I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiles and says, "I'll see you around"

Sia: Breathe Me

(Sam took this picture with the lensbaby of me at Union Station)

I have been listening to thesixtyone lately, which is a website kind of similar to pandora, but you can rate songs and bump them up the "charts". Anyway, it has been a great source to discover new music and I wanted to share this beautiful song with you, "Breathe Me" by Sia. I heard the song and tried to find a copy of it online...found the video, really awesome video. I'm working on a similar stop-motion-photography project, so it was inspiring to watch:

Phoenix!!

Phoenix was phenomenal. They are one of my favorite bands, from Paris, and it was just such a treat to see them live in Los Angeles at the Greek Theater. They started the show playing 3 of my absolute favorites. The last song they played, everyone was screaming along: "Falling, falling, falling, falling"... (This is the song they sang on the tonight show on Sept 15th: http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/categories/season-1/1094645/). Everyone was dancing and singing along, standing the whole show. The show flowed great, not a lot of down time. I've known of them for about 3 years and was super excited to finally see them. Definitely a great experience.

Idyllists Photo Shoot at the Jesus Wall

I shot the Idyllists (www.theidyllists.com) at the Jesus wall (this photographer's loft in downtown LA) this past Sunday. It's tough shooting 6 people, but I'm really excited about the photos we got. Here's a few:

The Idyllists are: (from left to right) George, Colin, Ian, Daniel, Sam, Nick (and Matthew, M.I.A.)

The Idyllists were such great sports and beautiful subjects. Thanks to everyone, including Meg O, a.k.a. toots.

Glendale hike

(click on picture above to see larger version)

I hiked this beautiful trail in Glendale on Sunday with Courtney. Perfect overcast cool weather. Loved it.

R.I.P. Switzer Falls

(click on picture to see larger view)

Due to the recent fires in Los Angeles, one of my favorite hikes has been burned to the ground. I wanted to post a few pictures in memory of the beauty there...

Also here's a link to a group of recent fire pictures...
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/wildfires_in_southern_californ.html

(click on picture to see larger view)

I will miss you, Switzer Falls.

Flagstaff

I'm from Flagstaff, AZ...where there's not much to do as a teenager. Now I look back and wish I had taken advantage of the hiking in the summers, but I did get to hike Mt. Elden the last time I went back. Beautiful weather, I'll include some photos from the hike below.
But first, please enjoy a movie that my brother Robbie made with some friends. It's at the home where I spent 8 years of my adolescence. This is what high-schoolers come up with when they get bored in Flagstaff:

Discovering New Music

A new band I've found that I've been quite fond of: AM. I found their music on a website called thesixtyone.com, then bought their CD at Amoeba the next day. I'm also planning on going to see their show at Spaceland on Sept 22nd. :) AM sounds

Click on Play button to hear one of my favorite songs...

• The Other Side by AM

More AM music on iLike

Metallica

These are photos from last year...I just never got around to posting them. I got invited to a private Metallica show, the pre-show of their Death Magnetic tour. Having worked on the game, it was a thrill to be able to see them play live in a great venue, and be able to get so close to the stage during the show.

Island time...

(click on picture to see larger version)

This weekend Sam and I got to spend a relaxing time on Catalina Island. So good for the soul... to get away and to feel like you're on vacation so close to home. Here are some night time pictures I was excited about:

(above: the casino from the boardwalk)

(below: paintings on the walls of the casino exterior)
(below: you could see the LA fires from the island)

(above: at the top of the Wrigley memorial)

(below: panorama of Wrigley memorial)

Concert Review: Flaming Lips and Franz Ferdinand

I went to see Franz Ferdinand last week. Quite crowded and hot! Here are a few shots that I got from the show. I was pretty far back so they're not amazing, but still fun shots.

The show was pretty cool. They played mostly their new songs, which I'm not into as much as the others, so I only knew about 1/2 of the songs. But there was a lot of good energy in the room.
Towards the end they did an electronic jam for about 20-25 minutes and we all got bored and left. :\ The rest of the show was really great though.

I also saw the Flaming Lips a couple weeks ago. Overall it was such a fun show. You can't help but smile when these big canons blow out tons of confetti and they release giant balloons out into the crowd. They had a crew of dancing bunnies and chickens up on stage and visually it was just incredibly stunning. (not my picture, but great shot!)

There were down sides: the sound was really weak, especially the vocals. And some of my favorites, like Yoshimi, were sung with only vocals and keyboards, not the full band, which was a little disappointing. But the beginning and end of the concert were so invigorating that it made up for the down sides.

Prickett Photo Shoot

This last weekend I got to photograph my long-time friend from highschool, Adrieanna, and her family. She is 8 months pregnant with Stella and has a sweet little girl Abigail (almost 2 yrs old) and a wonderful husband Jared.
Here is the link to the photo shoot if you're interested in checking out all the pics:
PRICKETT PHOTO SHOOT

Work Walk

Here are some lens baby photos from a recent walk I took during my lunch break:
http://picasaweb.google.com/blueeyedgallagher/WorkWalk#

Band of Horses, Detlef Shrempt

http://bandofhorses.com/Detlef.mov

And take a little walk when the worst is to come
When I saw you looking like I never thought
And say you're at a loss or forgot that words can do more than harm

The town is gonna talk, but these people do not
See things through to the very minimal
But what's it gonna cost to be gone?
If we see you like I hoped we never would

When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way

So take it as a song or a lesson to learn
And sometime soon be better than you were
If you say you're gonna go, then be careful
And watch how you treat every living soul

My eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way