After the group shot, I made my way into the Casbah for the show. It was a different crowd than most of the nights I'm here, but I did find a couple friends to chat with before the bands started. I didn't know much about the Burning of Rome except that they like to dress up and put pig heads on spikes.



The pig heads didn't make it out this time, which is good. I don't shoot bands that spray the crowd with liquids like blood, spit, or worse. No band is worth the professional camera cleaning bill- unless they're paying me.



If there was going to be a theme to the night, it would be bombastic performances featuring keys. These guys had two keyboardists. Guess which one was the cute one.



I actually liked the songs, but some of the stage antics felt really forced. Mr. Frontman spent a lot of time jumping around on his keys, drums, monitors, and even the bar table close to the stage.



The guitar player tried to outdo him with his own trips into the crowd and funny faces.



They even invited everyone up on stage to sing along with them for a song.



Despite all that, I actually liked the songs better than I thought I would. I might even pick up the CD next time.



Since they are a colorful band, I processed their images in a colorful way, leaving the red lights burning bright.

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It's no secret that I'm a big A Scribe Amidst the Lions fan. In fact, they're playing at my photo/music show on 3/5 at the Queen Bee Arts Center, along with the Tractormen, Seesaw Ensemble, and Irradio. Tonight was their EP release show, celebrating the first part of their trilogy album.



Since I took care of the group shots earlier, I didn't bother with trying to get a decent one while they were on stage.



For some reason, I always mute the colors slightly by desaturating the channels individually until I like the mix. I guess that's just how I see them. They wore their written-on T-shirts, just like in their Reader pic shot by my buddy, Danny De La Cruz.



Last time I saw them, Mike Hams was just doing percussion. Now they're an actual double-drummer band. He also has great taste in Myspace profile pics.





I've mentioned before how these guys bring a lot of female fans to their shows. It's a bit strange to be crowded out from the front of the stage by women, since I'm usually surrounded by guys twice my size up there. Not that I mind it at all. Heather did look at me funny when she found glitter on me the next morning, though.





This next shot totally reminds me of Mike Stern's album cover for Give and Take.



If you want to see them and all the girls they bring, come to my show next month!



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Last time I tried to see Astra at the Casbah, the show sold out before I could get in.



If you like early 70s prog rock from the likes of King Crimson and Yes, you'll love Astra. Their CD sounds like it was plucked from that period and held in suspended animation for 40 years. Long, drawn out suites instead of just songs that rely on vocals- great stuff for smoky bedrooms.



They tried to recreate that feeling with a fog machine that completely obscured the stage by the second song. Not so great for photos or the video projection they had going too.



For this set, I tried to emulate the low contrast look of film from the 70s, with slightly inaccurate colors and muddy shadows. For one thing, it fits the music, but the fog pretty much made that the only option anyway. I don't see problems, everything is an opportunity to challenge myself. I also thought of Astra's group shoot with the very talented Noa-Azulay-Sclater, wife of the bassist. Click on bands and you'll see where I got my inspiration for this look.



A couple guys from this band and Scribe play in Seesaw Ensemble, the free-jazz group that's also playing at my show on 3/5. I'll have a flyer up soon enough, but message me if you want details now.