First Post of 2012
I guess it’s about time I got around to updating this blog again. So far, it has been a busy month. But, most of what I have been up to cannot be posted here, at least not yet. This seems to be becoming the theme for this year. There are some exciting projects in the works. Blog post may not come as frequently as they have in the past, but they will be more exciting.
Anyway, I’ll get on with it. I give you video from a recent show with the Fort Collin’s band Wire Faces. If you haven’t seen these guys, you should. They are a great little three piece rock outfit with beats that will get your ass moving.
http://blip.tv/play/AYLn8xIC.html?p=1http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLn8xIC
http://blip.tv/play/AYLn8n8C.html?p=1http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLn8n8C
http://blip.tv/play/AYLn8msC.html?p=1http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLn8msC
The Last Post of 2011
In the last post I said I would be taking a break, and I did in a way. The last couple of weeks have been spent focusing on other things, and preparing for next year. 2011 has been a great and productive year; next year looks to be even better. I have a feeling that 2012 will bring about big things, but first I’m going on vacation. Until I return, I leave you with this. I have worked on a few different projects throughout the year, some have made their way to this blog and some haven’t.
Here is a collection of photos and video from this year that for one reason, or another have never been posted.
A quick slideshow with photos of Justin Charboneau, Post Paradise, The Rewards, and a short photo essay of a recording session with Ghost in the Machine(collective) at The Haus of Kraus. I would like to thank Kris and the gang for inviting me out. I was an awesome experience getting to see that side of things.
(WordPress doesn’t let you do more than one different slideshow in a single post, at least not with the version that I’m using.)
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I started various projects throughout 2011, one of those was a documentary project. It’s a work in progress that I hope to have completed by the end of 2012. The following is a some outtake footage from a shooting session with local musicians Sam! Well Hell and Nick LoFaro of Common Anomaly. It was a fun day, but sadly the winds of Eastern Colorado did not cooperate and it was not a good day for recording audio.
No Rest for the Wicked…
As the holidays approach and the year is ending, I have decided to take a break. Well, a break from blogging that is.There may be
a photo or a video posted once in a while, and you never know, this could be a complete lie. But anyway, this has been one of the busiest and most productive years that I have experienced in a long time. I am grateful, and feel that I earned a little break.
I will be taking the rest of the year to work on a few other things, and rest up a little before next year starts. Next year is going to be a big one, just wait, lots of things in the works. Until then, I leave you with photos from one of favorite local bands, Post Paradise.
See you next year.
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The Art of The Zombie
2011 has been the year that I have gotten back into creating art. This all started a year ago, after I completed editing photos taken at the Fort Collins Zombie Crawl. During the editing process, sometimes I can spend a bit of time staring at the details of a photo. Sometime during that process I find myself looking at a picture and thinking that it is missing something, or that it could be something more. Something about these photos affected me more than normal, could have been that the approach of winter is usually the slow time of year for me and that I looking for a project to keep me busy. It could have also been that I didn’t feel that these photos had the impact that I was hoping for. They are pictures of zombies, they should scary and disturbing. At that time I was looking for project ideas, and I was looking to do something that was completely different from anything that I had ever done before. This became just that project.
It was a short time later, but the inspiration struck and I started going back through these photos to pull out certain ones that I felt I could do some interesting thing to. I created a series of digital art pieces and then kept them hidden for nearly a year. This was something I wanted to do a show with instead just placing online; I would need to wait for the right time to show them.
Throughout this year’s Zombie crawl and during Halloween, ten of the pictures were on display around the town of Fort Collins, Colorado. Now the entire series is online for the rest of the world to enjoy.
To add a little something special, I created the following video with the before and after version of each pieces.
With the holiday season approaching, and as I mention above, this my slow time of year. Post on this blog may get a little inconsistent over the next couple of months. I might even take a break for a short period. If this happens, don’t worry, I will be back. We all got to rest a little from time to time.
We came to get down.
It’s almost Halloween, and this time of year means zombies. Well, anytime of year seems to be a good time for zombies now that
they have become mainstream. How did that happen anyway?
Someone asked me recently, what it is that has people so fascinated with zombies. I don’t know, not even sure why I like the genre. I just remember watching the original Day of the Dead as kid and since have always liked a good zombie movie.
With the rise in popularity of the zombie we now have zombie flash mobs, and of course zombie crawls.
It seems like almost every state has a zombie crawl somewhere in one of its town. Colorado of course is graced with two of them. Denver had its zombie crawl, and of course so does Fort Collins. I can’t tell you much behind the organizing of the Denver crawl. The Fort Collins Zombie Crawl is organized as a fund raiser for Turning Point, an organization who raises money to help at-risk children. A noble enough cause if you ask me. Turning Point did a great job, this year’s event was bigger and had at least twice the turn out as the first year. On October 22, the zombies came. They didn’t come for brains or to devourer the living. These zombies came to get down.
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Ghost in the Machine
The idea behind Ghost in The Machine is not a new concept. It may be something unique to Fort Collins, but does it really matter? It’s a great idea, and an idea that works. Either way it’s a great addition to the local music scene.
Awhile back Kris Smith, owner of Haus of Kraus, music engineer extraordinaire, and drummer for Ghost in The Machine went on a song writing binge. Of course if you’re going to write songs, sooner or later you’re going to want someone to hear them. Ghost in The machine was born when Kris started collaborating with several local musicians to produce those songs.
Ghost in The Machine had songs recorded, an EP, and had even booked its first gig before it officially became a band. In April of this year Ghost in The Machine was booked to play The Fort Collins Music Experiment. Only weeks before when Kris assembled a few of the musicians who helped record the songs for the Ep “Trespass” did Ghost in The Machine become an official band. You can say that they simply came together just to play FoCoMX, but it didn’t stop there. Featuring members of Post Paradise and Peace Officer, the machine is still going strong.
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Miss Zombie 2011
Say what you want about voter based contest. Sometimes they can be nothing more than popularity contest. The person 
with the most friends wins, maybe the winning photo showed a little skin, or it was a photo of someone famous, regardless of the talent of other entries. It can be a little dis-heartening to enter your best photo into a contest and lose to a poorly taken photo because of the reasons I mention in the last sentence. These kinds of contest have their place. They can be a lot of fun as long you don’t take them too seriously. It’s interesting to see what the general public will pick, and sometimes the best photo actually does win. As an artist it is something that you should pay attention to. Often times it’s the general public who will be buying your work.
When you tear it down to the brass tacks, isn’t popularity what were all after anyway? Our society thrives on popularity; it’s the way of the world. Why would we take photos, create art, or even write blogs if we didn’t think someone, somewhere, would like it. Of course we do these things for ourselves first. It’s all about the passion to create something, or capture a moment, or whatever. When we’re done, we want people to enjoy it. We want to be known for what we can do. The world would be much less colorful if we didn’t. There are different kinds of popularity, and we all strive for some form of it.
Ok, now I’ll cut the crap and get down to business. The reason I’ve written this post is because I have entered a photo in a voter based contest. I didn’t intend to at first; I’m not a huge fan of this kind of things and usually sit them out. My friend Steve at ZombieFX had recently created a steam-punk zombie that he wanted to show off, so he talked me into it. It didn’t take a lot of talking, once he told me what he had; I was too intrigued not to be involved.
Voting started Wednesday, and will last until the 22nd. The model in the winning photo will be crowned Miss Zombie 2011 at the Fort Collins Zombie crawl, and many accolades will be bestowed upon the photographer. Since I have entered the contest, I would like for that to be me. I ask of you loyal reader, and those who might have stumbled upon this blog to please go vote for my photo. It’s a Facebook contest, so all you have to do is click on my photo and then click “like”. Share it with your friends, family, and neighbors. Hell, scream it from the top of the tallest water tower. It will be good for you, good for me, and good for America.
Have a nice day. 
Of Cellos and Bearded Frontmen
O.K. I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I’ve seemed to have come down with a case of writer’s block. It happens to the best of them, I guess. I had an idea of how I wanted to write this post, but after the fifth try I still have not gotten past the first paragraph. This is a first for me; have to come up with a cure before I start with next week’s post.
For this week, I’ve come up with a video solution. I recently sat down with the finely bearded front man of Post Paradise, Nick Duarte. We spoke about music, his band, and the release of their new CD “The New Normal”. They had their Cd release party on September 30th. It was a fun night, and from what I saw the new music seems to have gone out with great success. It was a great turn out. So, without rambling on any further, here is the video.
Enjoy these other videos from that night.
The Music Here is Always Awesome.
After a weekend full of zombies, interviews, and awesome music, I think I can finally get some rest and recover from what I can only classify as a damn good time.
Vices I Admire.
I first met these guy about six years ago. unfortunately, sometime after meeting them they somehow managed to drop of my radar. Fortunately, Friday night I got to see them again for the first time in years. Turns out they moved down south a few years ago and became part of the Denver music scene. That explains how they drop off my radar; I don’t make in down to Denver very often. I must admit that I’m a little out of the loop when come to thing that happen outside of Fort Collins. I’ll fix that soon enough. It was great to see these guys again. They are a great band. I’m glad they’re still doing what they do best.
Common Anomaly.
A home town favorite, these guys always rock out.
