Author Archives: charrcrail

Wow. Wall to wall people, seven stages, 40 bands, music everywhere and a rigorous pace getting from one stage to the next. So well run though. Everything on time and the security people very cool, letting us do what we needed to do all day– with the right credential of course– but it was a crazy fabulous event out at the Sleep Train Ampitheatre in Marysville. I shot it for www.emusiconnect.com, a very cool and totally useful website dedicated to promoting music and events all over town.

Far and away my favorite band was The Matches. Four young guys from Oakland (and undeniably adorable judging by the dozens of smiling girls singing along in the audience) with great songs, energy and spirit that translates to one word– EXCITING– and I could not get enough. They played on one of the smaller stages but next time I’m betting they are on a main stage having been picked up by a label now– Epitaph– and the incredible talent and stage presence they have.



The Matches rock the SmartPunk Stage.

The headlining band was Story of the year and they deserved top billing. Great performance.



This is one of the NOFX guys making a lewd gesture after someone– what were they thinking?– sailed a breast implant kind of thing at him. Yikes.

See more of my Warped Tour pics at EmusiConnect.com, a great website for all the local music happenings in the entire Metropolitan Sacramento Area and the client I shoot lots of live music for.

I’ve been slacking! It’s been far too long since I posted last and I’ve been shooting lots of stuff too. So, a couple of weeks ago I went to see the amazing 80’s band Berlin– Riding on the Metro– remember that song? One of my favorites. So, they played the Roadhouse.



Terri Nunn is the lead singer and still gorgeous.

At some point she spun and spun all around the stage…



She invited women from the audience to join her for a dance…

The keyboardist had a look… and he loved to pose. Again and again as I raised my camera to shoot him he would give me the “look”, which was very opposite of his normal cute smiley personality, but it definitely worked for him on stage!

Kevin talked to the sound guy traveling with them who had asked about pics for their website… Kevin gave me the info and I followed up so you can see the 29 images I sent them on the Berlin website in their gallery section.

Went out to The Boardwalk last night to see Brand X Savior perform and it was great. There was a sizeable crowd too! The band took control of the stage and wailed. Everyone really worked it, put on a great show and were musically strong. The lead singer Jason prowled the stage and sang hard! They have been nominated for a Sammie too! Go Brand X Savior!

It’s surprising how many bands get onstage, do their thing and get offstage without a word. These guys really engaged the crowd.
The second band was a trio of women– Bottom– loud, screaming, intense. The bass player was just fun to watch because she was flinging her burgundy red hair and smiling so big the entire time… having so much fun!!

I also took part in a Miller vs Budweiser taste test.
These are the nice girls who administered the “scientifc survey”. First I looked at the color, then experienced the aroma, then tasted the beer. Miller won both the sight and smell portion but I went for the Bud in the taste sampling surprisingly. But then I am a lightweight and like a lighter flavor. I asked how the results were going overall and one of the girls told me it’s been about 50/50. Interesting. Oh, and thanks for the rabbit ears guys!
They had this odd little computer printer camera all rolled into one and at the end of the test took my photo with Kevin and Mike and made me a “I’m voting for Miller” wearable button, which I did not wear. Some cute young guy put himself right behind us dead center and got in the photo too. I didn’t know it till I got the button. Funny.

The Sacramento band Tesla performed to the hometown crowd last night at Memorial Auditorium and thanks to gal pal Anna Marie I was equipped with a photo pass, which took me to the photo pit and solid photo access– for the first three songs. Such has become the protocol for nearly every arena show and I think it is bogus.. however, it certainly makes it easier to shoot when you don’t have to fight the crowd so I’ll get over it!

This is a view from the balcony during the last song or two of the show. I took the artsy path on this one because it has such an odd feel to it anyway. Each of the band members seem to be in their own little world. The crowd was in heaven.
Frank Hannon wails on the guitar… but Tommy, Dude! Didn’t they tell ya? No smoking indoors!
And what would event coverage by me ever be without this– Yup, me and the lead singer…

Brian Wheat, the king of Tesla, sits back during the after show meet and greet and kindly autographs this woman’s breast. Word is that this is one of the perks of being a bonafide rock star! Brian was so nonchalant about it I guess it really does happen all the time… I’m told that one band member refused her.
Oh, and happy birthday to Chris, the guy on the left of Brian.

The awesome photographer Jesse Vasquez, posing for me, painting with light…

A little piece of art just for you… Artwork by me from photos by Kevin Graft!

Saw a bumper sticker today that read “What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it’s all about” and it gave me real pause to wonder…

But on a different day, yesterday, I found myself in the evidence building of the police department shooting pics and we passed by “the gun room”… NOTHING BUT GUNS IN THIS ROOM.. each one carefully tagged as evidence and put away in it’s own tidy little box. This is Gary, a very nice man, handling the job! I love my job. I don’t care for guns, they scare me… but I love getting to see and photograph things other people may never get to see. So I went in to talk to him a bit and see up close and personal some of the firearms, which were fascinating in their variety, shape and size. Anyway, he’s holding an odd looking, long snouted gun in this pic though it’s hard to see it. As I unwittingly touched one of the envelopes I kinda froze up while simultaneously noticing the white cotton gloves he’s wearing, and in a paranoid moment said (out loud like a dufus) “OMG my fingerprints will be on this envelope!” Silly girl. I am probably the most law abiding citizen in the world but a paranoid freak when it comes to any kind of law enforcement! I’ll be driving down the street, see a cop car from the corner of my eye and suddenly this mountainous check list arrives in my brain to check myself for any possible infraction or reason the cop might want to get me…

Went to a fantastic show today at Raley Field– the Hullabaloo concert put on by 101.1 fm– hired to shoot Gary Puckett for his hometown paper in Minneapolis that is doing a feature on him. It started out with Beatlemania, then the Crystals and The Kingsmen, Gary Puckett of course, BJ Thomas and capping it off was the Blood Sweat and Tears man himself David Clayton Thomas.

This is a picture of me and BJ Thomas before his performance while backstage. I don’t think he quite got the concept. An interesting tidbit– another very cool man I met, Ken, was wanting to take a picture of BJ and BJ says “c’mere Red” and pulls me over to be in the photo with him… twice… chances are those are better pics but I continue the series “101 horrible photos of myself with famous people” nonetheless. (and in this case the unfortunate lack of much needed lipstick!)

Gary Puckett got it… he was a doll! And huggy too!



Remember Louie Louie? Well here’s me and the lead singer from that group– The Kingsmen. This is the one photo I didn’t shoot.

Then I met some other very interesting people along the way– how about these two girls who had their chests autographed with a sharpee. And I quote– “I have no idea who they were but I gave them the pen and let’em go to town!” She is sure they were band members though– which band is the question and there were many! (Upon closer inspection the band was “The Kingsmen”. One of the kind bandmembers wrote that across each chest.)

During BJ Thomas, another killer performance, this woman and her man came up to get a pic of her in front of BJ.. but the security guard was telling her to stay low… so what does she do? See photo and see. It worked too! I happened to catch it at the precise moment the man’s flash went off. That’s BJ onstage in the background.



So, here is one pic from the show of Blood Sweat and Tears– man they were great! I was totally lucky. I had a backstage pass so I went back and forth for the right angles, for candid stuff and to meet and greet etc. but there was a front row seat that somehow remained mine for the entire show, whenever I wanted to be out front there it was. Soon it just became understood that it was mine. Thank you! It was a great spot.

I noticed it was beginning to appear as if I never shoot myself with women, but not so… This is me and Arianna Huffington at a recent book signing at Tower Books on Broadway.

Me and Bobby Jackson of the Sacramento Kings, hangin’ in the hood, uh I mean the parking lot at the tire place… 🙂



And then there’s the charming Lasalle Thompson, former Sacramento Kings player… that’s Bobby’s Hummer in the background. Lasalle has a black Hummer with a Expedition front end. It’s fabulously beautiful even if you don’t like Hummers!