Day 2 of North Park Music Thing started at the crack of noon with some of the panels at the Lafayette Hotel.

PLEASE DON"T DOWNLOAD my photos without asking first. Full galleries for all the bands can be found here. Or just click on one of the photos. 



I didn't find them incredibly interesting since they were mostly geared towards "making it" in some way. The most entertainig panelist was Dave Brown of Holiday Matinee. During the introductions, Dave said that his label puts out between zero and one albums per year, and pretty much everything else he said was sharp and funny. So many people seem to be leaving San Diego these days, and I just found out this week that he's one of them.



The last panel of the day was the best- the best songwriters in town sitting and talking about their craft.



They sang and played a bit too.





John Reis was not all that happy about having to play acoustic, mentioning that he's strictly an electric guitarist. He even joked that he was going to hunt down the sound guy for the recording.



After the talks and happy hour at Bar Pink, it was finally time for music! On my walk to Queen Bee, I stumbled across the Ray At Night event, where Zach and Josh Wheeler of Scarlet Symphony were playing in a band I never knew existed- Palindromes. It was uptempo electronica with live bass and drums, very much in the style of El Ten Eleven.



The bass was heavily effected and looped, so they got lots of different sounds out of this trio.

I haven't been back to Queen Bee since my photo/live music show back in March, but they had some bands I'd been meaning to see for a long time. I only had time to shoot one though, Mr. Gregory Page.



I'd heard his name everywhere in this town since moving here, but I always wrote him off as just another singer songwriter. But he's much more than that.



He is an actual Songsmith- forging music from the raw materials of our physical and emotional lives.



 I would have liked to stick around after his set to meet him, but it was on to the next stop to see some more local legends. It's not immediately apparrent where Sunset Temple is, especially with absolutely no signage. But the venue itself is really nice. Wendy Bailey & The True Stories sounded really good in there. 



And the stage lighting is great! I have no idea what this was used for before tonight, but it would make a perfect companion stage for it's neighbor (Claire de Lune) to host louder bands. Or even as its own venue, whatever it takes to be able to shoot here again.



I can only hope to be 1/10th as good a San Diego music champion as Bart Mendoza has been for decades. It's just a damn shame that no one could find this place by 7:30 to see it. There were more photographers than audience members for the first half.



After getting a big hug from Wendy Bailey and shooting my fellow photogs Steve Couvalt, Dan Chusid, and Terry Schwartz, I ran down University to get to U-31 in time to catch Hotel St. George's set. The venues didn't seem to care about sticking to the schedule, so of course I'm getting to some shows late and some shows early.  I wanted to make sure I could see their whole set, since they are always debuting new songs.



I've been a fan of theirs for over a year now, which is to say three albums ago. Their forthcoming release features more actual bass than the last album, Funshine Line. It's a fun listen, but all the guitar players are crafty bassists too, and the songs still sound like the same band, despite the shifting roles.



This is one of my favorite photo sets from the night with the bright lighting. Wise Monkey was playing at the Office, and they are basically in the dark. Even my fast primes can't catch enough light, so I slapped on the flash and blasted away, along with a few other who I never see at any shows.

 

I hate flash, but a quick conversion to B&W and they capture the show pretty well.



Andy Geib leads the horn section through funky, danceable charts that can get some booties moving. Next time I'll bring my wife instead of a camera and have some fun!



Now time to run back to Claire De Lune to see the Cathryn Beeks Ordeal. I was getting really tired at this point after 8 hours of shooting but Must. Not. Stop.



This was my first time seeing Marcia Claire live on stage. She is a damn good bassist.



Her new son-in-law was shooting too, and we had a nice chat after the set. I didn't think we talked all that long, but when I walked next door to Sunset Lounge, there she was playing with Jeff Berkley! Straightahead rock isn't my favorite kind of music so I don't make it out to see these bands, but they are seriously talented at what they do.



I only stayed for a song or two of Citizen Band, as I had to run all the way back to U-31 to catch a band that hadn't started yet. I did stay for a couple songs of Lion Cut though.



Lion costumes and preprogrammed "song" with lion roars. I don't get it. Isn't irony supposed to be clever, and if it's on stage, shouldn't it be entertaining? I rinsed my ears out with some soul funk at the Office, getting deep into Pocket.



I walked in during their straight rendition of some John Scofield tune, and I was bobbing my head by the time I wiggled my way to the front. Since I never use flash, I never drag the shutter to produce light streaks. It's fun to do every once in a while, but it's too random to make it a part of my style. Some people make a name for themselves with it, though.





By the end of the night, I was just as hot and sweaty a mess as this guy, who also plays with Dirty Sweet. It was worth totally worth it though, even if it hurt to walk for a few days.

Thanks to Rosemary Bystrak, SD CityBeat, and the bands, I was able to pull off shooting 16 bands, panels, and a couple random shoots too. Thanks to all the people I met (including the guy who recognized me from the eyebrows, I'll never get over that)and all the friends that I ran into at every venue, pizza place, and bar that I found myself in.

PLEASE DON"T DOWNLOAD my photos without asking first. Full galleries for all the bands can be found here. Or just click on one of the photos.