Death Angel @ The Roxy

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010. A day that will live in infamy (for me at least LOL). Thanks to VJ Benz, I was able to secure a photo credential for the Death Angel show at the Roxy in Hollywood, CA. This was the final stop on the Scion Metal tour, all free shows. WOW. Death Angel has always been one of my favorite groups, ever since their debut album came out in 1987. They disbanded in the early early 90's and got back together to release their third album in 2004. Their fifth studio recording is set to release this year, late summer or early fall. Death Angel is one of those rare metal groups that has truly gotten better with age. I had never seen them live and jumped at this chance to both see and shoot them. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen. No bells, no whistles, no BS! Just pure, energetic thrash metal at its finest. I can't believe it has taken me this long to see these guys in concert and guarantee that I will be at their next show that is even remotely in my geographic region. Enjoy the pictures.

Megadeth !!

March 31, 2010. The Palladium in Hollywood. Megadeth, Testament, and Exodus. This was the 20th Anniversary Tour for Megadeth's album 'Rust In Peace'. They played the entire album, and a few other songs as well. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I've seen Megadeth several times before, but watching them play one of their best albums from beginning to end, especially an album from 20 years ago was just perfect. Dave Mustaine is one of my all time favorite guitar players...not because I think he is the best player, but more because the stuff he plays just works for me, and because he has such STYLE on stage. Went to this show with a good friend and his son (a sophomore in high school), his son's friend and another guy. Got lucky enough to be given a photo pass for Megadeth, by another good friend. Thank you very much Mr. Clarke!!

Overall, the concert was one of the best I've seen. Exodus was very very good, although I am not the biggest fan of their current vocalist. They played mostly 80s era material. When Testament hit the stage, I must have been the only fan in the world that didn't know they were playing their entire 1987 album 'The Legacy'. One of my favorite albums of any group, to be able to see it played in its entirety live, was just mind boggling. I can't imagine a much better concert experience than what Testament provided for me. Megadeth was equally as great. I got to shoot the first three songs, amongst 35 or so other 'photographers'. Yes, I put photographers in quotes for a couple reasons. First, many of them had really really low level cameras. I was quite surprised...some didn't even have SLRs. Weird. For sure, though, I was the only one there with a Nikon rig. I was talking about this with someone, and they asked me what that meant to me....I said it meant I was the only professional there. Haha.

A great by product of this show, Christian, the friend of my friend's son who went with us....this was his first concert! Holy crap. He's set the bar quite high. He is a short, short, very good kid. Went down to the pit, got hoisted up and did some serious crowd surfing, said he high-fived Dave Mustaine and basically had the time of his life. In addition to never forgetting the concert, I will never forget the look on Christian's face following the show. Pure and total joy. If I could bottle that look and sell it in a cream or pill, I'd be a gazillionaire.

Owl

One day during my morning walk, a couple of ladies stopped me and began talking about the owl that had burrowed into the side of a hill right along the sidewalk. Sure enough, there it was. I am not normally a 'bird' person, but this owl is just beautiful. I went back after my walk with the Nikon rig and got a couple cool shots. Since this first time a few weeks ago, I have seen two of them (assuming a mother and father to be). The hole they burrowed is too deep to see any eggs, but these owls are very very attentive and weary of the many people who walk the perimeter of the soccer park. It is a shame to think that the majority of others there every day probably never notice these beautiful animals.