WHAT?! The JONAS Brothers!?

Yes, I bought a Jonas Brothers' "The Burning Up Tour 2008" t-shirt. Get over it. I couldn't resist. Maybe I can sell it on eBay when I want to buy a house, haha!
That's right, the Jonas Brothers. So what? You're just jealous I got to go and you didn't, haha! I had the opportunity to shoot their July 13th show of their Burning Up Tour at the Honda Center for OC Weekly. They are such a HUGE band right now, thanks to the genius marketing machines at Disney, that I couldn't resist seeing what it was all about. There was probably close to 17,000 people in attendance. Three fourths of which probably couldn't have driven themselves to the show. Just hearing the constant crazed screaming was an unique experience. The show, of course, was a super over-the-top production, which Disney is famous for, but it only made the show that much more interesting. The shows I typically attend are usually just the band on a stage playing music, so it was fun to see such a big production like that. I will also say the music was better than I was expecting. It wasn't unbearable.

It's crazy because I almost missed the show! The email I got from the Jonas Brothers publicist said the show started at 7:15pm with Demi Lovato opening and then the Jonas Brothers would go on at 8:30pm. I got to the Honda Center at 6:45pm thinking I made it in plenty of time. I walked up to the press entrance where the security guard told me I just missed the show! Apparently, the email I got was for Monday night's show. The Sunday show started at 6:15pm and was only the Jonas Brothers. So I stood there bummed for like 10 minutes when we found out the show was over an hour late getting started. The photo escort ran back up to get me and I was able to make it down to the floor 5 minutes before the Jonas Brothers came on stage! It worked out so amazingly! We got stuck shooting from pretty far back because they were filming a 3D movie of the concert, so I had to shoot over the heads of a 1000+ screaming fans with big "I love the Jo Bros!" signs and 2 huge camera cranes. I left thinking I got nothing but crappy photos. Thankfully, I was wrong! Check them out!

I was done by 7:30pm which was awesome because I was able to go to my friends, Scott and Becky Bates', farewell party. They are moving to Denver. After the party, I edited my photos until close to 2am. Good times! Hope you enjoy the photos!

My awesome Bible study Brothers!

Cornerstone 2008 Entry Number One: The Videos

Here are a few videos I took of my recent trip to Chicago and then the Cornerstone Festival. Hope you enjoy them.

The Scurvies are an amazing band from Fairbanks, Alaska. They stayed at my place awhile back and we have been friends ever since. They are a peculiar bunch, but some of the nicest guys you will ever meet. They put on a crazy show and they get better every time I see them. Check them out!




Dan Otto Nobot Petersen is the vocalist/lyricist for one of my all-time favorite bands, Blaster the Rocketman. He gave a lecture at Cornerstone about monster in the Bible. a very appropriate subject for him if you know anything about Blaster the Rocketman and/or his new band, Voice of the Mysterons. He is now a missionary in Scotland, and I had the privilege to stay with at his place for a week when I went to Scotland for a week. I had never meet him before then and he opened up his home for me and my friends. It was an incredible witness of hospitality. Anyway, I hope this spoken word version of "The Behemoth cum Leviathan cum Cherubim cum Seraphim Monsters of Heaven and Earth Meta-Flesh Manifesto" will make you want to checkout his bands.



This is the band I stayed with in Chicago and then rode with to Cornerstone. Flatfoot 56 is an amazing band and put on an incredibly fun show that anyone can enjoy. They over-filled the Underground tent on Wednesday July 2nd for their Toga Party. The crowd was insane. Tons of people in togas, even a guy in a chicken suit. They also had the biggest mosh pit the Underground Tent has seen in awhile. This video is just a glimpse of the madness. They played the Main Stage that Friday to open up the 25th Anniversary of Cornerstone Celebration. They had tons of fans show up and just took the place over. Checkout this video on YouTube of their Main Stage performance. Click HERE. You can kind of see me shooting pics of the mayhem. I am the guy in the white shirt in front of the stage. After Flatfoot played their 2 songs, everyone in the mosh pit left and the place was almost empty. Bummer for the next few bands, haha!




There was a Facedown Records day at the Underground Tent on Thursday July 3rd, so of course I went to hangout and snap a few pictures. I took a little video of xDeathstarx. Good, heavy hardcore from the Inland Empire.




I was excited for the chance to see Sexually Frustrated, Kyle from Flatfoot 56's side project. SF is an old school hardcore all about remaining pure from sexual immorality. I had only heard like one song of theirs and loved it. I bugged him all weekend before leaving for Cornerstone that SF had to play because when else would I be able to see them. They are from Chicago and don't tour, so I knew this might be my only chance. Talks began and they decided they would play a few songs right before Flatfoot 56 played Saturday night at the Fat Calf Tent. They started to tell everyone that SF was playing and people were getting stoked. Well, late Thursday night, they found out that the guitarist and bassist wasn't going to make it out to Cornerstone. Kyle didn't want to not play after telling everyone that they were. Thankfully his buddy, Brandon, pretty much knew all the songs and Adam from Flatfoot told Kyle that I could play the bass. Kyle told Brandon and I that if we could learn 3 songs, then we could play. Brandon and I grabbed my laptop and a copy of SF's demo CD and set to work trying to learn the 3 songs Kyle wanted to play. With acoustic guitarist and an unplugged bass, we strained our ears to see if we were playing things right. We thought we had them down well enough. We had a brief run through with Kyle and Justin (the drummer), and we all felt we had it down well enough to make it through the set. I was completely nervous because I would be playing in front of probably the biggest/rowdiest crowd I have ever played in front of before, not to mention we were playing right after Blaster the Rocketman (one of my all-time favorite bands) and right before Flatfoot 56, another amazing band that attracts big crowds. Thanks to the encouraging words from my friends, I just went for it. I definitely butchered a few parts, but we got through the songs and the crowd loved it. It was an amazing thing to play in front of that many people and you yourself are hearing how you sound for the first time as well! It was incredible. Check it out yourself. Thankfully it cuts out right when I am butchering a bass solo, haha!