The Fragile Army from Polyphonic Spree was released on the 19th, sheesh, I’m behind.  I guess with all the excitement from Bonnaroo and ComFest I lost track of the release date.  Anyway, I downloaded it from iTunes today and gave it my first full listen.  Wow, great stuff, I think it’s their strongest to date.  Musically, it must be hard to get the 20+ members to be creative together and put sync just right, but after their third album I think they really have nailed it.  I love their previous releases, but The Fragile Army really pulls the collective together.

Um ya.

OK, I’ve been slacking on writing lately, sorry.  Now I’ll be back in the swing of things.  So I got back to Raleigh on Tues. to do a shoot on Wed and Thurs for Burt’s Bees. I have to say I really respect the company.  It started in the backwoods of Maine making all natural products like lip balm, etc.  It now resides in Durham, N.C., about 25 miles from my house.  I was contacted to do a shoot for them and we set out prices and times while I was still in Ohio.  I would show images, but they wanted to own the images, which costs more for them, but I can understand and I have to respect that.  But, soon they will be on the their redesigned website in a few months.

But anyway, I have to really respect the company, they produce all natural products and are really quite still a small company. Gretchen has always loved them and it was fun to shoot their company outing and then on Thursday, their manufacturing plant and execs portraits.  It’s good to see a company that can stick to their values and become a powerhouse in their industry.  I’m very happy that someone can start small, make a natural product and build their consumer base but stay true to their natural products.

So, once again it’s almost ComFest time. When most everyone in Columbus (and beyond) comes down to Goodale Park and wonders around listening to music and drinks way too much. I haven’t yet recovered from Bonnaroo and it starts tomorrow. So if you live in CBus, there’s no excuse for not coming out. Heck, I live in Raleigh now and I’m still going. I’m volunteering on Friday from 11:00 to 2:30 at the Gazebo stage doing stage crew. ComFest is the largest non-corporate run, all volunteer run music festival in the entire US. Come down and have fun, or I’ll have to do it for you, which no one really wants to see.

OK, I heard this term while at Bonnaroo. Basically people who have been to Bonnaroo. Kinda funny and odd, yet fitting. This year I spent more time this year shooting the crowd then I have in the past, trying to get a sense of the atmosphere of the festival and not just the musicians playing. Here’s some of the shots I got.

Fans dancing to Franz Ferinand

Fans watching the “Which Stage”

Body Painting with glitter at Centeroo

Body painting

A fan take a photo of Pete Yorn on Sunday at Bonnaroo.

This shot is for Holly: A fan watching The White Stripes in 96 deg heat.

Hey look, non-Bonnaroo news. Well, almost….the photo above is from Sunday @ Bonnaroo that I shot, but Icky Thump is out and it’s great. They played a few songs from live and the album is great. BTW, they put on a hell of a show live, I recommend seeing them every chance you get, it was one of the bigger highlights this year.

Exclusive to Feversmile - White Stripes gallery

So there are different levels of passes for Bonnaroo. Everyone has something, including the general concertgoer. You either have a wristband or two or a lanyard. Wristbands are good, red gets you into the concert grounds, VIP, I think was blue, you get special camping, food, parking, though you pay for it. I had a guest pass so I got back stage camping and access to guest areas with “nicer” food and beer. Though the beer was the same price as everyone else and the food was not so nice. Or at least what Chris and I had for breakfast on Saturday morning. Runny scrambled eggs with limp bacon, a croissant, and a Coke (since there was no fucking coffee in the morning) for $9. Ouch.
Anyway, I’m off subject. I also had a Photo pass, which got me into the pit for the first 3 songs at the What and Which stages and most of the time at any 3 songs at the tents. It also counted as a media pass to get into the media area backstage which had Internet access for uploading my photos to Spinner/AOL Music and Retna, press conferences (I’ll have video soon) and most often free water.

Lanyards are much better passes, the “Why” pass is an all access pass. I saw a ton of these running around and people who probably didn’t need them with them. It’s all about who you know. The best pass is the “Infinity” pass. It’s all access, plus you can take anyone you want wherever you want with you. These highly regarded passes where pretty much only given to the publicity company for Bonnaroo. They need the passes to bring the photographers to and from the stage shows and various other duties. Pretty much the people that should have these passes had them, which is good. Security was pretty tight around the stages. But there was one woman who ran the gate to the “Which” stage, who each time we came in with our Infinity escort, would yell “ Where’s my INFINITY?” Every time. Once Steven, one the very nice publicists who I’ve gotten to know over the 5 years I’ve been shooting Bonnaroo was talking to another security person at the gate and this woman started yelling “Where’s my Infinity!” Steven, standing right next to her very calmly stated “right here” rolled his eyes and gave me a look. All the photographers started commenting on her and it really started to become a joke with us all.
So over all, it’s good to be a guest, better to be media or photo, great to be Why, but best to be Infinity when your trying to get to What, Which, This, That and The Other.

Wow, great show last night. Might have been the highlight of this year’s Bonnaroo. Incredible show, great production. If you have never seen the Lips live, you need to. More to follow.

Exclusive to Feversmile:

Flaming Lips Gallery
Bonnaroo 2007 Gallery

Manu Chao, more photos here.

OK, I’m pretty much running ragged around here. 10 bands so far today and I haven’t hit the late night yet. You can check out Spinner for more of my photos and lots of great coverage. Taking all I can to keep up loading, captioning and sending them to Retna and Spinner, I’ll have more photos up later

Retna did call earlier and ask for a crowd shot for the NY Times, here’s to hoping it got in after I shot a few. Anyway, More later.

We all made it and it’s hot and hot. More later with photos.  Everything starts very soon with Lewis Black.  Bonnaroo also sold out today at 80,000 people.

Well, I’m leaving for Bonnaroo.  I’m officially, as of now suppling photos for Spinner, AOL Music and from Retna for resale.  I’m excited, video is going to be interesting and challenging. Look for photos soon.

Well, Bonnaroo is 5 days away.  Paul and I will be posting directly from the press tent during the show.  Might not have too much before then because of travel.  Drive 8 hours to Ohio on Sat.  Drive 7 hours to Manchester, TN from Columbus on Wed. night, spend the night on the road or a rest stop.  Paul, Chris and I head into Bonnaroo via the back, guest entrance, then check in around 10AM.  Set up camp and hit the shows for four days.  Sleep, what’s that?  Lets see how many bands I can photograph this year.

Sunday @ Bonnaroo, I’m sure I’ll add more, but it I’m normally fairly tired by Sunday and may edit more on this day and your know, enjoy some of the shows and hang out with everyone. These are my “for sures”

Pete Yorn (1:00 - 2:00)
Wolfmother (2:30 - 3:45)
The Decemberists (4:30 - 6:00)
The White Stripes (7:15 - 8:45)
Wilco (5:30 - 7:00)

Oh, and Retna or Getty Images, two very well known photo agencies may be picking up my photos this year.  Retna is mostly music and Getty is the biggest photo agency out there.  If they both offer, I’m not sure which I’ll go with yet, I’m leaning towards Retna, because I would be their only shooter, Getty has 3 other photogs already there.  But I’m excited either way.

Wow, I have to amend my Friday listing. I will be hitting up The Superjam on Friday night. This year they actually announced who will be there ahead of time. Get this, former Led Zeppelin bass player, John Paul Jones with Ben Harper, and Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson. Wow

Ok, I’ll hand it to Bonnaroo this year, they are at least up on their technology.  Apple’s iTunes and Bonnaroo have teamed up to give away free music.  Bonnaroo normally give out a CD to everyone that enters, this year they have made it so you can download from iTunes, one per account, so I’d say anyone with the code can download it.  So hey, it’s free music if your going of not.  Click here to download, then enter this code: HWYWTPKFP3MX

Expires on June 30, 2007