Surfer Blood cover Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Two-Headed Boy”
Surfer Blood cover Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Two-Headed Boy” After shooting portraits of the band for a magazine, the guys offered to play a few songs for us. Among the three songs played, they covered Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Two-Headed Boy”. (Thanks to Steev at www.theHoneyComb.com for letting us use home for the shoot.) A little preview from the photo shoot: **ALL VIDEOS COPYRIGHT IAN WITLEN. ALL UNAUTHORIZED USAGE IS PROHIBITED. PLEASE CONTACT IAN WITLEN FOR LICENSING AVAILABILITY (ian@theCameraClicks.com)
BUY A PRINT, SAVE A LIFE!!!
URGENT | URGENT | URGENT | URGENT!!!!!
New Found Glory front man, Jordan Pundik’s mother, Maureen Waters, is in dire need of a heart transplant. After being laid off from her job, Maureen’s COBRA health insurance ran out and currently only has 10% of her heart working on its own. Jackson Memorial Hospital is the only hospital in the area that has the facilities and capability to do a heart transplant, but they will only admit her if she can afford to pay for the surgery and hospital recovery. They need a minimum of $500,000 to be admitted and the surgery may total around $1,000,000.
I am trying to help raise money for her medical costs, via a photographic print sale. With authorization from New Found Glory and the band’s label, Epitaph Records, I am proud to offer a limited edition print run of six photographs with the hope that the proceeds will help fund Maureen Water’s medical treatment. Each of the photos will be a limited run of 50 prints and each will be hand numbered on the back. The photos are from the band’s secret hometown show which I shot on October 16th at Solid Sound Studios. Each 8×10 print is priced at $40 (+ $5s&h), with the proceeds going to Maureen’s medical costs. I have launched the site: www.photosforaheart.com also mirrored at: www.theCameraClicks.com/mendaheart.
In addition to my print sale, I have provided Jordan Pundik with three (3) 16″x20″ prints, each a one of a kind printing to be autographed by Jordan and auctioned on eBay, all proceeds going to Maureen’s medical treatment.
I know exactly what Jordan and his family is going through right now. 14 years ago (as of 12/5), my own father suffered from something very similar, in which he was clinically dead for 33 minutes. With the proper treatment and being in the right place at the right time, he survived and is thankfully out and about today.
Additional information is on the site. Please email me with anyquestions: info@photosforaheart.com
Please spread this on your own blogs!
Thank you in advance!!!
Ian Witlen
___________________________
ian@theCameraClicks.com
www.theCameraClicks.com
blog.theCameraClicks.com
954-663-5224
Recap: Lollapalooza 2009
Lollapalooza '09 prior to gates on Day 1.
While on assignment for SPIN Magazine to shoot Lollapalooza 2009, the grandfather of music festivals, I shot well over 60 bands during the three days. I had the opportunity to hear some of today’s top artists, all within the confines of Chicago’s Grant Park. Three entire days of music from the likes of Hockey, Portugal. The Man, Manchester Orchestra, Jane’s Addiction, Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, No Age, etc. With eight stages stretching a span of 1.5 miles and over 150 bands, there is no possible way to see every band playing Lollapalooza, unless of course, you are able to clone yourself.
Most people conceive shooting concerts to be a glamorous, easy going lifestyle, in which the photographer gets to hang around rock stars all day long. While in some cases this is true, most of the time this is not the case. Festivals usually entail shooting for 10+ hours a day in addition to editing the photos for daily deadlines. After the jump, you will find out what I mean.
A quick update until I have time.
I have been neglecting my blog as of late. This quick update will have to suffice until I have a moment to do a real update.
I currently have a TON of photo galleries on SPIN.com
CMJ ‘09 Music Marathon in NYC: http://spin.com/gallery/best-pics-cmj-2009
New Found Glory’s Secret Hometown Show: http://spin.com/gallery/new-found-glory-play-secret-hometown-gig
Miami Music Scene Photoblog Round 3: http://spin.com/gallery/scene-miami-0
Leonard Cohen Tour Kick Off: http://spin.com/articles/leonard-cohen-launches-us-tour
Hockey plays SPINhouse Live Rooftop during CMJ: http://spin.com/articles/hockey-play-spin-rooftop-cmj-party
Clipse & SPIN Kick off CMJ ‘09: http://spin.com/articles/clipse-celebrate-cmj-spin
New Found Glory Secret Hometown Show (10/16/2009)
Yesterday I got word that New Found Glory was playing a secret hometown show at Solid Sound Studios in South Florida. I called ahead and got clearance to take photos of the show and called my editors at SPIN to give them a heads up (gallery goes live on Monday). In the mean time, I wanted to post a few photos from the show.
The show was scheduled to start at 3PM, so I arrived about an hour early, only to see that a line had already started to form. Around 2:45PM, they started to let the fans inside and within 10 minutes the small practice space was packed with around 125 screaming fans. Since Solid Sound Studio’s capacity is around 100 - 125 people, there were about 125+ people locked outside unable to watch NFG’s practice for their upcoming tour. The band wanted to find out what songs their fans were dying to hear them play, so the only songs played were requests from the crowd.
With over 125 people crammed into a tiny practice studio on a hot day in South Florida, it must have been at least 95 degrees inside. Just about everyone in attendance looked at though they had just jumped into a swimming pool. At one point NFG’s drummer, Cryrus, took a five minute break to catch his breath outside. While Cyrus was outside, Chad jokingly asked the crowd if anyone knew how to play the drums. NFG fan, Nash Nardone, anxiously responded that he knew how to play “Dressed to Kill”, and was immediately invited onstage to play the song with the band.
NFG played for a little over an hour with fans pouring onto the stage and crowd surfers hitting the ceiling as they made their way towards the stage for a chance to sing along with NFG’s lead singer, Jordan Pundik.
Jordan Pundik and the rest of New Found Glory take a break to cool down during their secret show.
DJ AM found dead in SoHo, NYC
DJ AM - also known as Adam Goldstein - was found dead in SoHo today. Authorities have released that his body was surrounded by prescription drugs.
I shot DJ AM when he deejay-ed a late night set at Passions @ Hard Rock in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
- DJ AM’s laptop
DJ AM at Passions Hard Rock
DJ AM's decks.
Warped Tour 2009: Highlights
This past Saturday I shot Vans Warped Tour on assignment for New Times (Village Voice). After having shot Warped Tour many times at Pompano Beach Amphitheater, it was a bit strange to shoot Warped at Cruzan Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, which is a smaller venue.
The highlight of the day was definitely Gallows. As the band’s tattooed front man, Frank Carter, took the stage, he immediately jumped onto the photo pit barricade and then leaped into the crowd. Its from pit that Carter, along with his guitarist and bassist played the entire show. The crowd immediately made room for the band and formed a circle around them. I stuck close to Carter for almost the duration of their set.
Just as the AKAs took the stage at Warped Tour, the sky let loose and all the fans ran for cover. I always pack emergency rain gear, so I just stood where I had been shooting from in the pit. The band was nice enough to invite me up onstage to take shelter. We got to talking and one thing lead to another, so I snapped a few frames of them onstage with the sheets of rain coming down behind them.
The A.K.A.'s Josie Outlaw onstage at Warped Tour while waiting for the rain to stop.
Read after the jump for portraits of Dear and the Headlights, Alexisonfire and more.
Stonefox (Photographed for New Times / Village Voice)
Last week I received an assignment from my editor at New Times to shoot portraits for a feature on Stonefox, an up-and-coming band from South Florida. New Times is a South Florida alt-weekly with two separate editions, Broward and Miami. They are owned by Village Voice, but operate independently, similar to sister publication, LA Weekly.
Having worked with some of Stonefox’s band members in the past, I knew this shoot would be a breeze, as these guys are pretty laid back. I met up with the band on location and discussed a few options for the photos, as the creative angle was being left up to me. After setting up my lights, the shoot seemed to fly by. I spent about an hour with the band and got some solid results. After showing the band the final photos, they were pretty excited to see them run in print.
From left to right: Dave Barnard, Jordan Asher Cruz and Jeff Rose.
Here are a few of the outtakes:
SPIN Photo blog: Best of the Miami Music Scene
I am officially one of five photo-bloggers for SPIN. Each one of us represents a different city. I have been assigned as the photographer representing the Miami, Florida music scene. The blog rotates each week and consists of a variety of music related photos taken over the course of a month.
The other day, I spent about 45 minutes on the photo with my editor, who interviewed me about the 16 photos that were selected for the gallery.
Check out the gallery in full: spin.com/gallery/best-miami-music-scene
More photos after the jump.
Black Kids: last show of tour
Black Kids had been on the road for nearly two years without more than a 5 day break. The last time I had seen the band was at the Harvest of Hope Festival in St. Augustine, Florida. At the time, the band had just flown in from London after playing a stadium show, sleeping about four hours after reaching Jacksonville and then taking the stage at HOH Fest. The band then left had to board another plane the next morning at 4am to play a few more festivals in Mexico.
This being their last show of tour and for the next six months, the band played a hometown show Freebird Live, to packed audience.
Black Kids
Reggie Youngblood
Reggie Youngblood
More photos after the jump: