Halloween Spandexxx

October 31, 2009 | Sonotheque | Chicago: Spandexxx was as fun as always during the Halloween edition with Dragonette performing live, along with DJs Moneypenny, Kid Color and Midnight Conspiracy. Click here to see all the photos!

Click here to see all the photos from Spandexxx at Sonotheque

Going Going Gone

October 23, 2009 | Sonotheque | Chicago: Go Bang was a good time. Shit Disco is a fantastic DJ. I'm not sure what it is but I manage to get good and wasted any time I'm out to see an awesome DJ. Thanks everyone for all the free shots, but one of these days I'm going to remember an entire DJ set, I swear! Tigersapien also played and they are a good time as well. Be sure to stop by Sonotheque for Spandexxx on Halloween, while you still can...... and click here to see all the photos!

Click here to see all the photos from Go Bang at Sonotheque

Friday afterparties

As if eight hours of music festival isn't enough, six hours of afterparties are standard-affair during Lollapalooza weekend. I was not much in an afterparty mood and, seeing as I had to shoot a wedding the following day, I took it a bit easy Friday night. On a whim, I stopped by the always enjoyable Hard Rock Hotel afterparty, notorious for it's endless flow of free booze, novelties & condoms in the bathrooms. On top of that, there is generally a great lineup of Lollapalooza-performing artists. I'm not sure who it was this night, as I did not stick around late enough to find out, but I heard Mom Jeans was a headliner (I knew there was a reason I cut out early).

After a quick re-charge of my body at a downtown Subway, I was persuaded to stop by Sonotheque on my way home. I had expected the place to be buried in people, a situation I can't stand at Sonotheque, but the place was tolerably crowded for the Fool's Gold party with Nick Catchdubs and A-Trak on the decks. I snapped some shots, saw some friends and that was that. Some photos below or click here to see them all.

Click here to see all the afterparty photos from Hard Rock Hotel & Sonotheque

Matt Roan's DPM Birthday

The entire Crossfader crew threw down the jams this past weekend at Sonotheque in celebration of Matt Roan's birthday. Old pal B$ was in town from NYC to play, along with DJ Galvan, Kid Color and of course, the headlining 4-table set from E-Six & Roan, which I have to admit was a ton of fun. I think the last time I can recall moshing to a DJ set would be during a Floss set at Town Hall Pub. Well, that definitely happened again and coincidentally, this time Curt was in the building not as DJ but as club-goer. E-Six & Roan need to do more of these fun, not-so-clubby 4-table DJ sets! And next time, Matt, play my "Boom Shake the Room" request, please.

Click here to see all the birthday party madness from Sonotheque and Matt Roan's birthday bash!

Bright Nites Release Party

Matt Roan recently released his Bright Nites mixtape and the Crossfader Crew decided to throw a party to commemorate it. I was asked to DJ and shoot the party and these photos are from after my set was finished. Johnny Love and Matt Roan himself were the other dudes to take the decks. As always, more photos via the links below!

click here to see the rest of the shots from Sonotheque

Go Bang #4 Portraits

This was the fourth monthly Go Bang party at Sonotheque. Knowing that Crystal Castles were going to be DJing and the place was going to be a mad house, I avoided my usual setup with backdrop and all and kept things as simple as I could inside that little room near the entrance. The downside was that I had no room to set up lights, making for some rough shadows. The upside was that the wall in there looks great and I wouldn't need a backdrop. I decided to just keep it simple and then spice things up a bit in photoshop after the fact. I tried to get a bit of a retro look going and in the end I enjoy the results but really spent way too much time on each shot for what it is. Rambling aside, here are the rest of the shots! Come back next month for an all new theme!

click here to see the entire gallery

Go Bang #3 Portraits

Another monthly Go Bang party under the belt. These are so far the best portraits I've puled off there. I tried a bit of a unique look this time around, unfortunately the space is so small it's hard to make the light work the way you want it. Fortunately, the shots are still pretty solid and I have no regrets. Be sure to come by next month I'm pretty sure we have Crystal Castles doing a DJ set. Anyway, here are the pics! Click a pic to see the whole gallery..

click here to see them all!

Go Bang #2 Portraits

Go Bang! is every second Friday at Sonotheque here in Chicago. This month we had Dances With White Girls from NY/Philly headline along with resident Jordan Z. There was a bunch going on around town and turnout wasn't as good as last month, but we had a good time and Dances played some great stuff. And of course stay tuned for future Go Bang! parties, we have some solid guests in store for future parties!

Click on any of the photos below to see the entire gallery!!..

Spandexxx #1

Spandexxx is apparently a new monthly joint over at everyone's favorite spot*, Sonotheque. They got the party jumpin' this month with live performances from Silver Ghost (from Detroit) and He Say She Say. I must say that Silver Ghost were really great and sounded surprisingly awesome considering Sonotheque's sometimes less-than-stellar sound for live bands. And of course, Drea and Mano aka He Say, She Say killed it as well. Prior to the party I tested out my fun new faux ring flash I bought by taking some press shots for He Say, She Say and the thing works very well! Expect to see me with a giant ring flash on my camera in a club sooner or later.

*my love/hate relationship with this place has been love lately

Click any of the pics below to see the full gallery!

Go Bang! Portraits

So the first monthly Go Bang! party w/ Vito Roccoforte from The Rapture has come and gone. Our big kickoff night was a lot of fun. We had a line to get in most of the night so apologies to those of you who were turned away or did not want to wait to get in. We're back again next month (February 13th) with Dances with White Girls and a new portrait setup by yours truly. Be sure to rsvp to rsvp@gobang.biz for free entry before 11pm.

And on the subject of portraits.. this was kind of a trial run for me. I had the idea to use the party as the backdrop and see how that goes. Unfortunately, it kind of just made the pictures look like they normally do when I am out shooting. Aside from that they turned out alright but expect to see some cool new and different concepts from me in the coming months!

Click here to see all the portraits from Go Bang! at Sonotheque with Vito Roccoforte (The Rapture) & Jordan Z..!