Matson Belle at SXSW
On Wednesday the 17th, I went down to photograph and film Matson Belle as they played at the South by Southwest festivities. They were playing at the Cedar Street Courtyard, which is right by a bunch of Irish pubs. They had the whole street closed off and the place was a madhouse. Despite all that, I didn't have any trouble parking, and finding my way to the Courtyard was a snap. They started playing at about 1am, which was way past my bedtime on a "School Night", but they had energy that was infectious.
In case you haven't noticed, I have a huge crush on the entire band. Katy Belle the lead singer is uber-sexy and all vibrant-like.
Chris Sater, the keyboardist/producer/programmer is sexy in a quiet subdued way. His wife Elizabeth was there, (Also up way past her bed-time.) and I enjoyed getting a chance to talk with her again.
I finally got to meet Cellist Jennifer Mulhern, who brings a sassy punk rock vibe to the band while she voraciously attacks the cello. And of course, Omar Lopez's high energy violin playing and hip swingin' dancin' keeps the energy going.
So here are some shots of the band that I took. They're about to release their next album. Will let ya know when it comes out. I was totally impressed by the energy of the live show. There were two bands before them, and the one right before them, kind of killed the crowd.
As soon as they started playing though, the crowds started to pour in off the streets. It was great to see how magnetic they were.
When I left at about 2am, I was horrified at all the drunk people wandering around the streets. Freaked me out a little. Everyone was stumbling around looking for their friends, and you could tell they were all getting ready to get in their cars. Geez..these people were about to be driving. So I hustled back to my car, and took a back-way home. Avoiding the madness of all that drunken traffic pouring out through a few major exits.
HRC Dinner
As I mentioned last week, the HRC Black Tie Gala was this weekend.
Brandon and Brett were down from Dallas, and we got to sit together, and it was awesome seeing them again.
Earnest, along with Jill Wilcox, were the co-chairs and headed-up the organization of the event. This year the event went off without a hitch. Food was great (portions much bigger..hehe), and the guest speakers were awesome.
My table mates were quite festive too. They kept taking pics of each other, but having a terrifically terrible time getting a good photo. Mitch, the guy that sat on my right, finally gave up and resorted to this ploy to get a good photo.
 Mitch was lots of fun, and kept me giggling throughout the night. He says he has a fabulously classicly restored boat, and offered it for some photoshoots. Should make some great pics! Gonna def. take him up on the offer!
Training for the Ride
No pics from this weeks training ride. The skies were threatening rain, so I didn't want to bring my camera. I did the ride with teammate jbb (Bill).
The group went down Loop 360 this week. It was rainy and icky the entire time. At almost the turn point, jbb's chain came off, and it got bent out of shape.
More Picture Taking
I had several photoshoots this week. Photographed a guy named Sandy (hot Latin guy! YUM!) I met him at the gym. We played “smile” tag for a couple weeks. He finally said something to me when he saw me chatting on gay.com's chat room. He'd also been looking to have some new pics of him.
He's a great guy. VERY sexy, and even though this photo is intense, he has a great smile. I always called him “Sweet Smile Boy”.
Jonatan, the metal sculptor. Also came in for more shots. This is my fifth shoot with him. I plan on doing a giant spread of him in the upcoming months. I love working with him. He is so dang artistic and spontaneous.
I did go out and have brunch with the boys (and girl!). Earnest (not pictured-he stayed behind to chit-chat), Brand0n, Brett, Steve and uh...Julie. Yum! Z-tejas on a Sunday. Just like ole times!
Well, that's it for this week. I really have soo much work to do. Had to keep the text short.
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