Creepy Crawly

Happy Halloween to all of the ghouls and goblins out there.  I'm not sure if this will become a yearly tradition, but I have another eight legged friend to share with you all.  A little something to maybe raise some goosebumps or get your hair standing on end.  This little guy was made homeless when we took the roof off of our deck at the end of summer.  After sunning himself on our table, I took a few photographs and gently transferred him to a more comfortable location.  Namely the lilac tree in our backyard.  The photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/2000sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  Have a fun evening hunting for chocolates and candies and be careful on the roads.  There are sure to be lots of Heir Apparents and Crown Princes out there on the road.  Keep an eye open for them.

The Damned At Théâtre Beanfield

We're a little bit backed up on getting my concert photographs up here on The Old Blog.  I suppose we will catch up at some point, but this would be a good time to remind you that my concert photographs can be seen in a much more timely manner by visiting V13Media, which you can do by following the link.  If you'd like an even more direct route to my photographs, you can visit my personal page over there but using the following link.  After getting in to the concert photography business late, there is a list of several bands that I thought I might never get the chance to shoot.  This past September, The Damned ended up performing at the Théâtre Beanfield in Montreal and I got to remove them from that list.  The first of those legendary late 70s punk rock bands out of London don’t make their way here very often.  I don’t think it’s possible to measure just how happy I was to be able to photograph them.  The names of Dave Vanian, Brian James, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies are written in punk rock lore.  Sadly, guitarist Brian James passed away earlier this year.  But, the rest of The Damned are still out there and tearing up joints on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.  This most recent tour was close to wrapping up when they hit the stage in Montreal.  The evening got off on a bit of a sour note as just when the lights were due to go down.   It was announced that our opening band, The Bellrays, were unable to be there.  Being a good soldier, a member of The Damned’s management group hit the stage to give us a DJ set of some punk rock tunes.  It might not have had the energy of a live band, but the crowd totally appreciated the effort that was given.  Up next, The Damned hit the stage.  Dave Vanian, still punk rock’s most dapper singer, was in great form.  Vampires don’t like the sunlight, but this one shone under the Beanfield spotlights.  Captain Sensible, being the eternal punk that he is, hawked a giant loogie on to the stage as the band roared to life for “Love Song”.  He spent the rest of the night with a giant troublemaker grin on his face.  He also made the night of one of my fellow photographers by personally handing him a pick as we left the pit.  An extended version of “Wait For The Blackout” brought down the house and the rest of their set consisted of their biggest hits with some covers.  Their heyday may have been almost 50 years ago, but this crowd held many different generations.  From grey haired rockers in their leather jackets, to a young fan in the front row.  He had a sign saying that he had been there a baby in 2017.  Dave took the sign and placed it next to the drum kit, where it remained for the rest of the show.  The same drum kit that Rat Scabies would take a few seconds from his rabid playing of the drums to look out and smile at everyone who was looking his way.  It may have been 2025, but this concert felt like it took Marty McFly's DeLorean and arrived straight from The Damned's late 70's heyday.  What a great experience to behold.  All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of The Damned as they performed on the Théâtre Beanfield stage.

If you would like to find out more about The Damned and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website.  A big thank you goes out to Don Jenkins at Raw Power Management, Evenko and Christopher Gonda of V13 Media for getting me a pass to photograph the show.  As always, it is very much appreciated.  This tour has come to an end, but hopefully these youthful 70 year olds will be back on the road again soon.  Don’t you dare miss it when The Damned play in a town near you.