Lindsey Haun of True Blood Shoots with Photographer Anna Webber

Lindsey Haun of True Blood Shoots with Photographer Anna Webber

Lindsey Haun of True Blood Shoots with Photographer Anna Webber

Oniracom, a Santa Barbara based new media collective/record label, has interviewed yours truly, doing a pretty good job at getting inside the head of a music industry photographer

You’ll even get to see me in action, and read about what it’s like being a “rock music photographer” today.

It wound up on their Solutions for Dreamers blog. Check it out here!

Solutions for Dreamers: INTERVIEW with Anna Webber

Anna Webber

Austin City Limits Music Festival quickly went from how it should have been (perfect weather, brand new grass, incredible talent), to the mean monsoon that stormed across Austin on October 3rd, 2009.

Day 2 marked the uncomfortable transformation to the worst swamp any of us had ever seen. When we think of ACL this year, we think of trench foot, water boarding, gangrene, and the muddy slip and slide that became Zilker Park’s brand new grassy acres. We think of drummers shrouded in plastic tarps, and expensive camera gear getting duped. Also to note, Zilker park is fertilized with some form of modified treated swamp water, so when people’s shoes got stuck in the mud and were sliding on their underbellies down the oozing sludge, they were also sliding through some form of human feces.

Day three, the rain subsided and the blue skies broke free, only the mud and resulting humidity was the only thing left providing any discomfort. People left, sure, but the amount of fans that stuck it through the muck was unbelievable. Highlights: Them Crooked Vultures, The Dead Weather, Pearl Jam, Heartless Bastards, Dr. Dog, Blitzen Trapper, Grizzly Bear, Phoenix, Bon Iver, Levon Helms Band. Not: John Legend, the B-52′s, The Dave Matthews Band, Girl Talk. The ratio of great bands to only mediocre or terrible did however, make all the pruny fingers and hours of God’s water boarding torture worth it.

At first when looking at the weather report, I thought the thunder and lightning warnings for the next seven days must have all been a ploy to keep the fragile ones away so C3 might save some money on and lawsuits on the health care tents, security, and cops… as it turned out, all those were clearly necessary.

The 5:00 happy hour in the media tent quickly turned into as much free booze as one wanted all day, with four bars specializing in either vodka, whiskey, tequila, or beer – when the rain started pouring, we got a bit of a pleaseantly modified happy hour.

(Click for better viewing)

John Paule Jones ©Anna Webber 2009

Day 1, 12 pm

Day 2, 12 pm

In the photo trenches

Kyp Malone Photo: Anna Webber

TV on the Radio guitarist-singer Kyp Malone’s solo project (Rain Machine) has a September 22 release date, along with his debut LP (Anti- Records).

Check out these dates below:

Rain Machine:

09-21 Brooklyn, NY – Bell House
09-25 Echo Park, CA – The Echo
09-26 Los Angeles, CA – The Getty Center
09-28 San Francisco, CA – The Independent
09-30 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
10-01 Seattle, WA – Neumos
10-02 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Biltmore
10-09 Birmingham, AL – Bottle Tree
10-10 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks
10-12 Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
10-13 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
10-15 Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
10-16 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
10-17 Chicago, IL – Double Door
10-18 Detroit, MI – Small’s
10-19 Toronto, Ontario – Lee’s Palace
10-20 Montreal, Quebec – Il Motore
10-22 Cambridge, MA – Middle East Upstairs
10-23 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s

A little groggy on his fourth cup of coffee, clinking dishes in a New York kitchen, Matisyahu describes the incredible time difference between there, and where he just arrived from – Australia. He was out touring in support of his newest album, Light.

Matisyahu is a sprightly emcee who has been blending Hasidic Judaism with dancehall reggae since his emergence in 2004. He reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart after the release of Live at Stubb’s in 2005, with Youth reaching No. 4 on Billboard’s top 200 at its debut the following year.

Youth hit No. 1 on the Reggae Albums chart, gaining some serious critical acclaim by blending Orthodox Judaism and reggae, introducing holy purpose to music – like Bob Marley – at a time when spirituality was necessary in a hardened mainstream. Youth was nominated for a Grammy in 2007 for Best Reggae Album.

With tons of hype already in store from 2008’s Shattered EP, his extensive multi-national summer tour, Light’s high-profile collaborations and the Where’s Matis At Initiative (wheresmatis.at; his interactive social media space), his recent release should be well-received. Light is the most personal record Matisyahu has done, having a darkness to it he describes as “internal struggle and strife that comes from Jewish source, but can almost feel like it has a lot of eastern themes to it. A lot of ideals, emptiness within, allowing oneself to be with oneself.”

Light, produced by David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Regina Spektor, Sublime), has a new blend of sounds and talent, including world-class contributors like Fishbone, Sly & Robbie, Dub Trio, Good Charlotte, Ooah from the Glitch Mob and Eric Krasno of Soulive.

“I collaborated with Good Charlotte on the song ‘Darkness Into Light.’ It was a random thing, really … someone told me that they were fans and wanted to meet me, and I popped in the studio,” recalls Matisyahu.

The artist is the most regular, extremely irregular kind of individual, which can be easily noted from his calm and gentle demeanor and his brandished yarmulke, black suit and overgrown beard. The album has a story unto its own, opening up in new directions with the addition of each new fluid whim.

“We would decide on a live rhythm section, so let’s have Fishbone do this session because they’re the best at that style. Then we decided we wanted to go to Jamaica,” he notes, “so we looked up Sly & Robbie.”

That seems like the most logical move – right? Head to Jamaica – where reggae and rocksteady developed – to find one of reggae’s most prolific and long lasting production teams and also get them to collaborate on the creation of the songs themselves.

“We got Robbie to play bass on ‘I Will Be Light,’ then we worked with this kid Stephen McGregor who is a really great producer out of Jamaica, on ‘Smash Lies’ and ‘Motivate,’” he says. “It was really cool because in general I got to collaborate with people whose music I really respect and who come from different visions, different styles. There was so much variation, which I think speaks to who I am as an artist and the kind of music that I like – I like to listen to a lot of different things and hear myself doing a lot of different things.”

On tour now, the Matisyahu RV will be reaching 35 cities. They’ll be “inviting fans on board all along the way” and Twittering their locations, along with a GPS tracker and interactive map at wheresmatis.at.

Matisyahu’s latest Tweet: 08-19 1:38 p.m. “There are limited spots in the coffee house for this free performance. If you are in the area and want to come, hit me back.” Don’t let a coveted thing pass you by, take note of his coordinates.

Social media is an integral part of maintaining and building relationships with fans, increasing visibility into the “real life” of an artist, as well as providing an avenue for which to connect and understand them.

Matisyahu says, “The idea is to be able to reach people and to communicate with people. For me, Twitter has been a way for me to tap into how people feel about my music. When you’re out there playing shows every night, or doing press or traveling on planes or on the bus, sometimes you just forget that there are people that are being affected by your music. Then I’ll go and read my Twitter messages, and I’ll see that people are really touched by my music. It really affects me. It changes the way I behave because there exists a new responsibility to the people.”

With his level of self-cultivated spirituality and mental fervor, Matisyahu is heading down what was before, very uncharted territory. He’s essentially become an incredible spokesperson for his fans, representing them in society, propagating Jewish culture while making it mainstream.

His religiosity is an outstanding demonstration of faith and a testament to his mental and spiritual strength, uniquely since Matisyahu was not born into an Orthodox Jewish family. Religion was a blessing for him he later found, at age 22.

“Religion helps me stay focused – I don’t really know if I could have a music career if it wasn’t for that. It helps me go out onstage and have fun, and be with my band who is not Jewish, or religious,” he shares.

Matisyahu encourages you to keep talking, reaching out and to say “hello” when he’s coming through your town on the Matis bus.

I write this note in great respect today for all the expert advice HST has supplied me over my expendable course. On this day, July the 18th, 2000 and 9, the Good Doctor is alive and well in the form of crumpled and preserved words and pages that serve every purpose for us here now. The inducting of Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail ’72 into the Modern Library is upon us. Visit http://www.petitiononline.com/GONZOHST/petition.html to personally authorize its position alongside the best there is among writers and literats. Hell’s Angels and Fear and Loathing have already marred their way through the thick of fitful potential, let’s commemorate the fall of Nixon and any others with no faith in prophesy, today, on July the 18th, with two cheers and two bottles of absinthe, and a ratification.

“The importance of Liking Yourself is a notion that fell heavily out of favour during the coptic, anti-ego frenzy of the acid era — but nobody guessed back then that the experiment might churn up this kind of hangover; a whole subculture of frightened illiterates with no faith in anything.” Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72 (1973)

Yours,
-Juanita Caruso

[03:45] the prowl-dan auerbach

[06:18] Dan Auerbach live at SXSW 2009

(photos: anna webber)

Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys Live at SXSW’s Mojo Magazine Party at The Mean Eyed Cat

Danny boy Auerbach kills it again, slapping out the mean-eyed blues in the hot sun at Austin’s cherished Johnny Cash tribute bar. Hungover as we can so become after playing through a secret show till 5:00 the same morning, Auerbach still manages to thread together a thick dose of blues loud enough to stain any olfactory lobe within convincing reason. Chugging bottles of ice water, the globs of beard gum dripped quickly loose, hung, and at a moments notice landed if not on the high register, on one of us. He looses the tie fettered round his neck, and like mad, amounts to greatness. Though the delirium tremens clearly awoke the spins, he manages still to make good use of his loving arms (see below:)

It was an intimate gathering of saints, sinners, filthy blues and little or no upset. Backed by the San Antonio band Hacienda, Auerbach gave it as beautiful as always, his love for country and blues hardly unsurpassed. The girls were coming around serving ice cold Coronas, as if we looked like were lacking. They were happily accepted as we choked on our twelve bars of country twang, surely a day I had already concocted somewhere in dreams. It was the abrasions left on my psyche, applied by the unusual thing that is young Auerbach that convince me to remember it wasn’t just that.

Like a gentleman he took one of my photography postcards and stuffed it in between a few spent papers in his Moleskin. For a moment he had it rough and posed during a few photographs with the very tactile version of me, and, unsatisfied as they so become, he, along with Hacienda, had to bolt immediately for some tacos.

(Here are some photographs of the day. Click, they will become larger)

Looking forward now to Patrick Carney’s solo debut (drummer of The Black Keys duo), titled: Drummer. It  features Carney (on bass), Jon Finley from Beaten Awake (guitar/vox), Steve Clements from Houseguest (keys), Jamie Stillman from Party of Helicopters (guitar) and Greg Boyd from Ghostman and Sandman (drums). They are working on an album to be released in the fall on Carney’s label, Audio Eagle.

(photos: anna webber)

The Black Keys guitarist, Dan Auerbach, Solo Record

The Black Keys‘ guitarist Dan Auerbach has announced what was to me, a pretty surprising rescript… a solo debut! Keep It Hid, will come out February 10th on Nonesuch records. Though at this point it’s going to be pretty difficult to beat the Key’s last album Attack and Release, which was, in my gracious opinion, the best album released this year, right next to Radiohead’s In Rainbows, and Beck’s Modern Guilt. Auerbach is said to get up against the line of scrimmage, facing up with the drums, keyboards and six-strings — his uncle James Quine contributes guitar to “Street Walkin,” and his father originally wrote “Whispered Words.” “This record is a mixture of things I like to listen to, psychedelia, soul music, country harmonies,” Auerbach says in a statement with Rolling Stone Magazine.

Looking forward to this more organically homegrown record, partly recorded when on tour with the Keys’ and during the recording of Attack & Release in the studio with Danger Mouse — also responsible for the A1 fabulous Beck Album. Anything that man touches is turning into dddirty dangerous philly cheese steak sandwiches with a bucket of au jus positioned beneath to catch the drips.

Dan Auerbach’s Solo tour dates:

February 28 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
March 1 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
March 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
March 3 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
March 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
March 6 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
March 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
March 10 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
March 11 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
March 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s
March 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

(i’ll be at the El Rey show shooting).

Though we could have expected more from the almost-first solo album by Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder—more than a 33-minute Into the Wild movie soundtrack—the album does have a cohesiveness about it that may have only been met through divine intervention. Vedder is arguably the most recognized superstar of the grunge era, after Kurt Cobain, whose vocal style has become almost synonymous with the genre.

And he releases a motion picture soundtrack as his long-awaited solo attempt? Check it out.

An appraisal of a good soundtrack should consider how well it stands on its own without the movie. While the album sometimes lacks those certain defining characteristics that Vedder is glorified for, it does stand strong regardless if you see the movie. It stands strong even with a few wavering production decisions that consequently, causes it to fall a bit short of what listeners may have expected. Disappointing to some of Vedder’s really fervent fans, it does seem a bit overproduced in some areas like over-the-top instrumentation and commercial intent, as well as the disappointing lack in length.

All things considered, it is a major motion picture soundtrack, bound by major motion picture creative control. Which is why we could—and will—expect more of Vedder with his first real solo album that is hopefully in be the making.

Because a major motion picture was backing the project financially, there are major motion picture production guidelines, writers and unfamiliar accompanying musicians to deal with which may be frustrating and limiting for the artist.

But 33 minutes of mostly great music hammers 50 minutes of crap, which has become much too acceptable for many consumers these days.

“No Ceiling” is one of the best tracks on the album. It plucks banjos, acoustic guitar and mandolin, that lead you to “walk the hemisphere/ sure as I’m breathin’/sure as I’m sad.”  Wandering around unnamed territory, it leads you to climb a mountain and, just as your eyes scan the expanse before you, the edge gives without warning. It ends, you wait, and nothing but the minute-long acoustic instrumental that follows ending the same way. Perhaps there’s wisdom in it to be found; the album photo for this song, Tuolumne, has an old Bronco driving on the train bound side of a railroad track along the Alaskan coast. They do what they want.

Vedder’s distinctively sexy tonality will be turning the ladies into sugar, no doubt. And the men? Expect to feel the same as you hear his deep cracking baritone that you’ve come to know so well with, if you’ve got any taste, your favorite high school grunge band.

Vedder wrote all but two songs, “Hard Sun” and “Society” which incidentally are the two most produced songs in that they lack the unchained Vedder quality that his listeners have come to know and trust. “Hard Sun” is supplemented by professional voices and has a very clear commercial appeal. Graced with the throbbing of echoing tribal drums and tribal voices, the song is sweating during a daring travel through African plains. It is hardly what one would imagine Vedder to record on his own. But knowing he did not write it, helps.

No song exceeds two and a half minutes, which consequentially torques up some serious disappointment among excited fans. Consider this a warning for Vedder aficionados; you’ll be swept off your feet into the tightly woven textures of some of these tracks, like the striking 12-string guitar on “Setting Forth”, the ethereal electric guitar on “Long Nights”. Expect to be left suspended from time to time, hurting even, because a great song will drop off, while it could really stand at least two or three more verses.

Lyrically contemplative, Vedder’s songs contain short, sound lyrics in response to dreams of freedom and wandering away from society’s consumption with everything and nothing, particularly in the song, “Society”. “I think I need to find a bigger place/ Cause when you have/ More than you think/ You need more space.” In “No Ceiling”, his journey responds to returning home with a promise: “to keep this wisdom in my flesh.” These songs don’t just sit on your skin, they saturate.

The last song on the album “Guaranteed” sounds like a bedtime lullaby for his baby girl, soft, whimsical and dreaming: “If ever there was someone to keep me at home/it would be you.” Explaining his rambling and his intentions, it’s “wind in my hair I feel part of everywhere.” He ends, “Leave it to me to find a way to be.” If you’re the emotional type, the song alone could nudge some tears, as it seems to have a common nostalgia about it for anyone who is or has known someone with a spirit so free, itching to breathe outside unfeeling city lights.

We could expect this to be an action packed movie without lengthy musical punches, full of watershed realizations and the grasping of one’s inner wisdom. With weeping electric guitar, bouts of piano keys and pump organ, a kick drum keeping time with a consistent and sure heart beat while solid bass lines hold the bottom down, this album really does leave us wanting more.

Because it’s so honest. Not a Pearl Jam rock anthem, though political and charming just the same. Bound with basic human insight, it penetrating race, creed, home, no matter. It is a departure from Vedder’s usual arena energy, which by no means denotes an end for Pearl Jam. In fact Vedder is the last of his band mates to record a solo album. Pearl Jam is however, on brief hiatus as two of his band mates care for their newborn daughters. In response to the circumstances Vedder has hit on an exciting possibility to the L.A. Times, he says he is “mulling the possibility of playing a few shows on his own, preferably at venues more intimate than the band’s usual arenas.”
anna webber