Uncategorized | photography by elisa sherman

Live by the…LA Guns

The truth is they are a brand new Guns…or at least the Trees say so…

It is not your 80’s Guns…it isn’t even your 90’s Guns…It’s not Guns and Roses…and it’s NOT Phil Lewis’ Guns…(thank god, no offense)…

The truth, while perhaps in the Trees…is that this iteration of the LA Guns, is a band, of founding member Tracii Guns, with a fresh lead singer, Marty Casey. The most striking thing about this band, is the chemistry that Tracii and Marty have.

Marty, is a talented front guy, that while getting exposure on 2005’s Rock Star, has seemingly not yet broken beyond the regional success with his childhood band. But not for lack of charisma or presence. And I know there is plenty out there he has done that I have not been privy to…

I have no idea, if this turn with LAG will push him beyond, but it certainly gives us all a chance to see him spread his wings. He is raw talent, electric, charismatic, and a washboard of ripped abs(seriously, does he crunch them in his sleep?!?!?)

All together the entire band was very interesting…younger(save Tracii) than I had expected…more charismatic as a whole…I honestly expected a bunch of tired songs, performed by old guys, and just not music nor a band that I could get behind. I was hugely SURPRISED! In a good way. Marty leads the whole band, in breathing freshness into material…On top of that, they don’t shy away from covering Marty’s teevee debuted love in the sky, the truth is there too, song: Trees…I loved their take on it. And they covered one of my favorite Rolling Stones tunes, You Can’t Always Get What You Want…LOVED it!

Oh, and Tracii reminds me a little of Keith Richards, lol…that is weird. Not correlating talent or no…but the look and style…Tracii, on his own merits, is a great guitar player…Aside from Marty, he totally steals or at least co-stars the show. And of course, he got to be in that “magical” guitar god light…

In all, thank you to my friends who encouraged me to go. Thank you to Marty, for being as great as I know you are…Thank you Tracii, Jeremy, Big Al, and Chad. Your band is something special. I wish you the very best.

And now, here is a bit of what I saw…

For full set: on flickr

Slideshow

:
on slide.com

http://lagunslive.com/
http://www.martycasey.com/

xoxo
~Elisa

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August 20, 2008 by elisa sherman

Who is that shirtless man?!

whoisthatshirtlessman, originally uploaded by Elisa ~ www.emswazzu.com.

…ponders…

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August 6, 2008 by elisa sherman

Stars Down is Minty Fresh…

In the last stand of their residency at The Mint I saw the band play July 29th…

I have seen Lukas play 2x previously acoustic…this was my first time seeing him accompanied by the new band…

I was convinced I liked him calm, thoughtful, and focused on his music, and voice. I was never a fan of the drunken frankenstein bit, that frankly was a turn off for me from his Rockstar: Supernova performances on the TV.

But, alas, that may have been just distant memory, because he was both melodic and fun to watch amongst his new bandmates in Stars Down. This band incarnation, is interesting, and you can see they are starting to get that organic band thing going.

I wish them much success. We(my friends and I) got to hang out with the Bass player, German Briseno, after, and hear what it is like being in this band, other bands, and what it is like to choose this life, a musician’s life…

I am a big supporter of the creative path in life…I myself struggle with having made the ‘safe’ decision to work in the business world over pursuing more creative endeavors. And I love music, as a consumer… I respect that the folks that struggle, oft times for years, chasing their dreams, may make it, or may just get by. The pursuit of what is art, and I believe music is art…is a long hard road. Sure there are “rockstars”…but mostly, there are folks that toil day to day, from band to band, dark bar to dark bar, playing their music for whomever will listen…Because they believe. Anywho, I just want to say to German, Lukas, Jon, keep doing what you are doing. Follow your bliss. Dream the dream.

And with that…I sipped my Diet Coke this evening, and snapped a few images from my lovely table right in front…

xoxo
~Elisa

Full set of images on Flickr!
www.starsdowninc.com
www.myspace.com/starsdownmusic
RockBandLounge.com :: Event thread ~ Stars Down at the Mint, July 29th

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July 30, 2008 by elisa sherman

Stars Down at the Mint sound check

Stars Down at the Mint sound check, originally uploaded by Elisa ~ www.emswazzu.com.

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July 10, 2008 by elisa sherman

Foo-kin orgy…

Seriously…I have sweat soaked through my clothes coming out of this show…and I am not sure any of it’s mine! ick!!!! lmao…

With time passing, perhaps, I will just remember it as an orgy w/the Foo’s…lol, if only! Up front I was…I can only dream the dream…but the Foo Fighters were fabulous………and…

Dave Grohl was so hot…I don’ t know how to describe it..it’s not his fashion sense…perhaps it is the plain guy speak…when he says he is going to play some more good shit for us,lol…or perhaps when we , the masses voiced our preference for FIVE encore songs versus his stories…he thusly tell us “Fuck you!” …with love, of course…

He promised they would play all night if they could, or until they got kicked out…we got almost 3 hours of constant music…both sides of the arena…pulsing all around…everyone got their fix…

I will say, I may be too OLD for the mosh pit! lol…oy!!!! I was almost freaked out when he said they would play for hours….I honestly didn’t know if I could handle it….the writhing throbbing mass of 10k(probably a few of which were all crushing the floor) felt like it was pressed up against me with so much force…oft times, more than 10people were crushed on top of me practically…

And so many crowd surfers surfed them selves right out of the show….as they got spit out from the writhing crowd up front, that was their cue to exit…so weird the surfing….I clearly have not gone to enough of these types of shows…I had never seen it so prevalent…oy indeed!

As to photos, I had a camera packed in my purse that I could never get to…so I satisfied the brief urges via my iPhone…mostly though, I was half rapt by Grohl & Co…half holding on for dear life…

Foo-kin Orgy indeed! Thanks Dave! P.S. he wears grey underwear…lmao, yes I was that close! So, yes, thanks for the Orgy, Dave;)

xoxo
~Elisa

P.S. some more…cross posted on RBL with some fresh thoughts there: http://rockbandlounge.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=7399

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July 7, 2008 by elisa sherman

Me and the PNA…

Heya folks…yeah, yeah, I know, where are those damn Europe photos!?

Patience my lovelies!

I did want to stop and mention one of the new things I am up to…

I mentioned before, I need to get more involved, volunteer somehow…

Well, I think I found the perfect opportunity to give back to the community and further my current obsession! I am volunteering as the photographer for the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Association – the PNA : http://www.phinneycenter.org

They do cool things for their surrounding community, host neat events, and what they do is full of “life” and that, I think, is what I am about as a photographer…

So keep a lookout…I have just started, so don’t have much to show yet, I sent them some of their building exterior shots that they have running on a mini slideshow on their blog: http://phinneycenter.blogspot.com/ …there will be more, and they have some upcoming things like a beer taste, and a Farmers Market…so I will keep y’alls updated here, to check out new stuff!

Some other stuff image wise too…but we will see how that pans out…

Life otherwise is ok…Foo Fighters this week! squee! might sneak the old p/s into that…we will see…I have general admission tix, so we will see how close I get to that dirty rocker boy David Grohl—yum! ha ha…

Laters my people…

xoxo
~Elisa

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July 2, 2008 by elisa sherman

Seattle comes Out…

They sure did…it was a bright, shiny and a freaking HOT Seattle Sunday…and it was the big Pride Parade day…the featured parade in the few weeks of gay pride celebrations hereabouts…

I am not gay(not that there is anything wrong with it…tm J. Seinfeld, lol), and have never made any effort to check out the festivities…I mean I am totally ok with whatever folks do, have gay friends, etc etc…I have just never bothered to do more than notice that traffic is bad during these times!

Well, lately I have been a bit of an image whore, and any good opportunity to capture some colorful life out and about, and I am there! So…lol…needless to say, this event qualified! The previous weekend (see preceding blog) I had shot from within the Fremont Solstice parade…and this was a clear followup opportunity…I love shooting people…from an event/editorial viewpoint…capturing their passion and joy in life…

I have to say, this was very different, this Pride parade, than I expected, and from the preceding weekend…

First, one of the big call outs I would say is just how political it was…and I don’t mean, gay rights perspective, though there is that…

I mean, ALL the big local, I think mostly democrat, politicians were out, with their supporters…and legions of Obama supporters…

And kids…lots of kids…definitely a family feel to the thing…

Lot’s of official and varied church support…god is love was definitely a theme…

The obvious, drag queens, the Sisters, and super stereotypical gay imagery accompanied much of the displays…and was easiest to capture via photograph…the camera loves the flamboyant…and I have to admit, these folks are who I knew would get captured well in frame, and they did not disappoint…

But, the formality and grandiousness of size of the event also surprised me a bit…

I guess, it was so much in contrast to the free and arty Solstice bit, that the big floats and police escort kind of threw me…and of course, I was just a spectator here, so shot from the sidelines…

The other bit that pleasantly surprised me, were all the locals that came out to stand with me on the sidelines…many totally straight, and many families…just coming out to see a fun parade, and share in the love…

To me that was mostly what this thing was about…it really wasn’t all that showy to me…not excessively flamboyant, as compared to the exhibitionist displays from the preceding weekend(though I did recognize a handful of the same folks turn out in the parade:)…it really was about love, acceptance, diversity, and excitement—the political supporters were effusive, even…it was catchy….

So, without further adieu, I suppose, here are my favorite images from the 2 hours I spent in the scorching sun…

The preceding are a subselection(though majority) of the full set I have loaded here:
http://flickr.com/photos/emswazzu/sets/72157605917942489/

Peace & Love Seattle…

xoxo
~Elisa

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June 25, 2008 by elisa sherman

Fremont brings in The Summer…

Spent this past Saturday bringing in the Summer over in Fremont at the Summer Solstice Parade and celebration…

Went on Friday to get the press pass so I could shoot from w/i the parade…

So I shot walking through the middle of the parade, back and forth from every angle…It was fun, crazy and full of sheer abandon from the participants…

From the naked(yes, I said NAKED) painted cyclists, the topless chocolate painted dancers, naked skater girls…to all the fabulous people powered floats, the imperfectly gorgeous belly dancers, the fabulous drag queens, the political statements, the zombies, the love fest huggers, all of the enthusiastic participants, the crowd, all of Fremont…it was all sheer madness…

It was fabulous. By the end of the day with the bare and painted skin scattered through out, I was numb to excessive exhibitionist displays…

It was a celebration…Fremont, goes full monte bringing on The Summer…

Here are the images I clicked that hopefully communicates some of the pure joie de vivre that was there at every turn…Here is a slice of the spectacle, the PG version…you can go straight to the set for the “full monte” so to speak;)

Full slide show of the set including the chocolate lady and a few select painted bicyclists, skaters…beware, NSFW(not safe for work)!

Europe photos will be coming soon!!! swear! lol…

xoxo
~Elisa

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June 18, 2008 by elisa sherman

Noise for the Needy ~ Festival 2008

Ok, I do not lie…as I mentioned previously, I am back to tell everything about the Noise for the Needy Festival shows I shot this past weekend!

I shot 2 shows: The Funhouse on Friday the 13th(spooky! lol) and King Cobra’s early show on Saturday…super fun!

The lines ups for the shows were as follows:

The Funhouse ~
Omnia Mutantor
Oswald Effect – www.myspace.com/theoswaldeffect
Mos Generator www.myspace.com/mosgenerator
Sunday Night Blackout – www.myspace.com/sundaynightblackout

King Cobra ~ Featuring Fourthcity DJ’s http://fourthcity.net/ – www.myspace.com/fourthcity
DJ Zapan www.myspace.com/zapan
DJ Same DNA www.myspace.com/djsamedna
DJ Absolute Madman www.myspace.com/absolutemadman
Specs One www.myspace.com/specsone
Delicious People www.myspace.com/deliciouspeeps

Both fun shows…the first at the Funhouse, a hardcore rock line up…the second, a kind of mellow chill hip hop bit with DJ spinners, etc…

As well, both shows were just a few in the line up of the Noise for the Needy ~ Festival 2008, www.noisefortheneedy.org. This year, the NFTN festival sponsored the charity: Urban Rest Stop ~ www.urbanreststop.org.

It felt great to contribute in some way…my way is to give images to them(NFTN) and the artists. I had a great time…it was great practice and I got to meet some great people. My good deed for the year(I kid…)…

I actually rented 2 lenses ~ a 24mm f1.4L(test drive), a 50mm f1.2L(dreaming), and used my own 100mm f2.0. I had a flash in my bag, but I am both not a huge fan of flash in show photography, and I honestly don’t know how to properly use it in such a setting…so it was more a if I absolutely need it back up. I was pleased with the images I composed and captured with out…

Here are a smattering of my favorites from the two nights!