People Under The Stares.

On a total whim, I went to eat a burrito and go see comedy with K-rock. Total whim.
Alright, I was thinking about it. My brain may have been into it, but my heart and body certainly didnt like it. It was a tired night.

We went to the sixth installment of The People Under The Stares at it's new home in The Hideout; a venue I've been told to visit by several people.

I grabbed some seats up front but ended up sitting off to the side on a tall stool.

I think I had an off night. I wasnt happy with the lighting in the back room and couldnt seem to get comfortable in my chair. At the end of the show I rejoined Elizabeth and Kristy, only to discover that if I had staid sat at the table, I could have gotten better shots. Ugghh!

Mike Bridenstine.

Morgan Murphy.

Those were the only two photographs I was remotely happy with. Faye and Hannibal went up, too.

I wasnt sure what to think about Morgan. A few of her jokes made me chuckle but some of her stories were pretty drawn out, making it hard for me to laugh when the punch came. Maybe all the hype didnt help, either.

I'm excited for next month's show. Niel Hamburger, the ultimate anti-comic will be headlining and I'm hoping I can make it. The guy is a photogenic dream.


I snatched that picture from Jim Newberry's site after I Google image searched for "Neil Hamburger." I ended up browsing Jim's site and was surprised to find myself really impressed.
It's quite rare for me to like another local photographer, but I really enjoy all the stuff he's done. At some point, I'd like to get to his caliber.

I snapped this on the ride home. From a car window. I have no clue where it is.

4th Friday and Scribble.

Seth Thomas.

Begging for a new assignment, I went with K-rock to see 4th Friday, a new show at the Town Hall Pub.
Starting last night, it's held (appropriately) every 4th Friday of the month.
I was really impressed. For such a little venue and such crappy lighting/sound equipment, they managed to pull off a good show.
Dan P.

I've been trying to experiment with how I frame my shots, mix it up a little, try not to remain "typical." I'm zooming in alot more on faces and it's a little difficult, as I'm not very good at cropping. Then I have to try and keep my focus on a moving person. Hopefully I'll get better as I practice,but for now these will have to do.
Darius Kennedy.


Robert Buscemi.


Karen Thomas.

After the show, Roger, K-Rock, Dredge, Boosh and I went over the the infamous BYOB theatre, Playground to take in Scribble, which I've heard alot about.

Dean Carlson.


Boosh again.

Brendan McGowan.

Adventure Club.

D-D-P.

So it's been awhile, eh?
I think I may have a little case of the writers block. I'm perfectly capable of taking good shots, I just cant seem to get words. Yeah.

The past six days, I've been sharing my abode with a didactic young man from Toronto, David Dineen-Porter.

He only had two shows, even though he intended to do comedy every night he was here.

The week started as I met up with DDP at Thomas Middleditch's show at i.O. last weekend.
He greeted me by showing me a game for his Nintendo DS. He then pointed out the improv games Thomas and his improvisors were playing.

There was some hesitance after the show about what we should do next, so we ended up stopping at the 7-11 and going to Thomas's to play Guitar Hero, an introduction for me.

I got to see something amazing; two geniuses in one room who worked together, created amazing, imaginative stuff and seem to act just the same at thier reunion as I imagine they would have two years ago...

He did Your Sunday Best and got stage happy.
We had a few folks in the apartment after the show, ordered pizza, played Mario World 3 and had a very late night, indeed. He made alot of observations about the difference between the States and Canada. It's kinda' funny being an unbiased observer when it comes to stuff like that.
I couldnt take sides at all, only agree on points for both sides. Eh.

An interesting house guest, David tends to leave all the pantry doors open after he's taken out whatever object he needs. He also ate all (and only) the Brazil nuts out of the nut mix sitting on the coffee table.

At one point, I was sitting in the living room, reading the paper and he came out with a Speak N' Spell. He held it in front of himself, glanced at me and started spelling something. He was twisting two knobs on the side, causing the letters to warp in pitch. I started to laugh and he stopped, smirked and said "Good, you laughed," and walked out of the room.

The crowd at the Tuesday Riot show wasnt very impressive, but they were an ok audience. I only managed to get in for the last two or three minutes of DDP's set because I got out of work late.


I managed to get a few shots of TJ and Thomas doing improv at the end of the show.
I walked with David to the train station yesterday and we took in a crap meal at the station McDonalds. He made some notes on his voice recorder and took off back to the motherland.
I was so happy to see him live and get to watch his creative processes.
It was a real priviledge.

A Somewhat Empty Stage

Another one for the "Empty Venues" collection.

Christmas Photos.

Good news!

I got my camera back today from the Geeks.
I dug up some pictures I took on Christmas with my dad. Not comedy, but a nice little change.

Check these out while I go to Sketchfest to photograph Mike Burns and Real Good Turbo...
Thas' muh' dad to the right.

NYEII

I took a little adventure to Kinko's today (yesterday)...and what an adventure it was. I stopped at Staples first to find out they only do copies. So I had to venture down to Western and Addison to Kinko's and have a preposterously flaky nineteen year old help me scan 30 some polaroids. He kept wiping his nose on the back of his hand. He muttered "Um," "Uh," and "Yeah" alot and suggested the slowest ways for me to go about scanning so the money on my Kinko's card can get sucked up as quickly as possible.

Here are some of my favorite polaroids with some synopses.

The night started off great.
When I walked in, Ken Barnard and Brady Novak were accosting people as they entered the bowling alley asking various questions and making comments like: "What are you looking forward to most tonight?" or "Let's go interview people at the McDonalds drive thru!" (as the McDonalds was about forty feet away from the alley). I hope to lord they dont use the footage from the interview with me, as I probably sounded like a bumbling hambone.
The joint was crowded and it was difficult to move around a lot. I brought the camera along without a second thought that I had no bag or pockets, so I had to sneak around with this giant box around my neck and ask various people to hold my drink, photos and sometimes wallet while I shot. Not to mention while wearing pointy black high-heeled shoes and a skirt. Whew. This was a big alternative compared to my handy digital camera.


K-Rock, Angel, and I stood near the ATM and noticed Bill Cruz (freshly soused from the Bronco's game) at the bar, complete with cane and cast (he fractured his foot some two weeks ago and had to walk around with this goofy cane).

A couple of people from LA and other out of town areas were around . I was excited to meet Eric Acosta and nerded out when I told him how much I love the videos on Channel 101.

I went upstairs to see what the set-up looked like and was blinded immediately by Josh's bright yellow jumpsuit and goggles. I went back downstairs to see what was going on and a few people had cleared out, so there was alot more room to move around. Here is Josh and said jumpsuit's girlfriend, Becky.


I came across Andy Ross diving into a toothsome piece of pizza. I went to take the photo but frowned, as I had run out of polaroids. I demanded he hold the pose as I ran to K-Rock's bag to reload the film...He did. A friend pointed out that in this photo, Andy's sleeve is sharper than his face.

Just before midnight, a small group decided to form a little dance party by the stage. I reveled in Mike Bridenstine's "Chicken-Noodle Soup."


It was not hard to convince Online Personality Rob Johnson to pose for a "Scowling Expression" photo.


After 12:01 we all gave each other our respective hugs and kisses and hung out for awhile, trying to find anyone we missed. Around 12:20, a group of us tried to figure out what the bowling situation was. Someone has booked two lanes for 12:30, so we grabbed shoes and set up teams.
I love this image of Faye screaming at the person on the loudspeaker...I think bowling was the most fun part of the night.

Josh Cheney with intereference from Steve O. Harvey's hand.

Speaking of Steve O. Harvey, he had a bit of a time last night. After a few drinks, he was goofing off and hoopin' and hollorin.' CJ Sullivan could be quoted as saying "I've never seen a man have so much fun...that made my 2007, right there." Here he is with David Angelo.

I was really proud of myself. I managed to win the game with a 93. Not much, but more than I've ever bowled in my life and I'd have to say my form was pretty good, too.
After bowling, we milled about the bar and a few extra's showed up including TJ, Nate Craig and Pat Brice. They started taking down the decorations as the bartenders tried to kick us out. Nate helped out and nabbed this purple doosy.


Someone pointed out that Pat and Steve O. were wearing (almost) the exact same shirt.

If you want to see more, I have plenty on my Flickr account.

NYE

My camera's in the "hospital" right now.

I substituted digital "right now" pictures with polaroid "right now" photos on NYE.

Just for the record (on a personal note), this was the best New Year's Eve I've ever had.
I had a tremendous time.

Look for pictures after I go to Kinkos...
...Or if anyone has a scanner I could use, speak up!