Add Comment
Misery VS The Wall Of Death, Part I of IV Photo by Christopher Alvarez Viva Hate - Las Vegas 03.11.07 10.28.07 4:25 AM: Today I'm set to venture off on the next concert trip... this time dragging my camera down to San Diego to photograph Viva Hate, Madball and Sick Of It All at HOB. If you know me at all, you know that my concert trips are invariably both Tragic and Legendary.... anywhere from lost tickets, to stolen credit cards, to being stranded downtown in a strange city at 3am with a dead cell phone and $3 in change, to injuries leaving scars and/or requiring surgery (that's just going to and coming from the show). I don't know what I did to deserve the bad karma that clubs me on the head whenever traveling to a show comes up... either I was the proverbial Nazi in a former life, or I'm enabling several other women to live happy and disaster-free by taking on their shares. This one had already shown potential early... As of a few days ago, I don't think (now confirmed) I was on the press list to get my camera into the venue. Two out of the last three shows I've attended I had been left off, but was finally able to get cleared in (the third they had to lock my camera equipment in a stairwell during the show so I could go into the club just to see the show). I've also had to resort to the bus again, even though on the last trip they stranded me in Los Angeles when the show I was holding someone's ticket for was in San Francisco (and she had already flown there from Texas). I also had to ride next to the creepy-pervert that every bus carries as standard equipment and I suspect they train by showing them photos of me off the internet. There's also the matter of half of San Diego county either currently on fire or charred to a cinder, with hundreds of thousands of refugees who were evacuated from their homes. Many have fled to downtown San Diego or Mission Bay and filled the hotels rather than sleep at the evacuation centers surrounded by thousands of strangers (I totally understand)... Irregardless of the chaos I know I'll run into (anything I get excited about in advance gets run over by the karma bus. without fail. no exaggeration), I've been looking forward to finally being able to photo Viva Hate and Sick of It All. I missed out when I saw them earlier this year (each on seperate tours supporting AFI) because of camera problems. Viva Hate especially as 3/4 of the members are from Bay Area bands I listened to when I was younger (and still do)...AFI, The Force, Circus Tents, the Swingin' Utters... and really, as an artist, I need to get a shot of Wedge doing his "I'M GOING TO COME DOWN OFF THIS STAGE AND EAT YOUR LIVER" snarl. Viva Hate will swing back through for some more California shows in the not too distant future... But I'll probably never seen another lineup with them AND Madball AND Sick Of It All (those things just don't happen all the time!) 10.28.07 11:31 AM update: HOB called and I am definitely not on the press list (someone called them Friday night requesting it, probably Viva Hate's booking agent). Since I wasn't cleared through HOB management a week in advance (a ream of paperwork is required), they offered me a couple of tickets to get in and a stock photo (for a Buzznet write up of the show), but said I couldn't shoot. However, since photos were okayed by Viva Hate, the HOB rep who called me said she'd try to reach the band to ask for confirmation (they may be onsite right now) and would try to get hold of HOB management to see if they'd approve me photographing the one band. If I can get in to at least shoot VH (probably won't be allowed to photo SOIA at all), it'd be worth the trip, and I'd try to shoot some fire coverage while I'm down there... I can't afford the bus tickets just to go watch a show right now, though :( ... I went way over budget in the last month on photo trips, what with the San Francisco Road Trip From Hell and two weeks down with injuries, then getting stranded 100 miles from one concert and scrambling to shoot the following night with my ribs barely stitched together. If I hadn't been able to talk my way into Download Festival to snap the best show photos I've ever produced I think I'd have given up and gone to live in a hut in the woods. If I can't make rent this month I'll probably be down by the river living in a tent next door to those registered sex offenders the County is housing out there. 10.28.07 12:40 PM: Verizon just shut off my cell phone. The owner finally reported it missing, probably. Unfortunately, my home phone service was semi-disconnected because I couldn't pay the entire bill, so I can't make outgoing toll/long distance calls on it. Like, to HOB, to see what the status of the press pass is. And I can't leave, because now I don't have the cell for them to contact me on if I'm on the way; and my voice ail was shut off, so I can't get messages and just check them remotely from calling from a different number. I'm so screwed. I either have to leave, immediately, to get to Greyhound, or find a phone and miss the bus, or stay and wait for the call and miss the bus... 10.28.07 4:43 PM: Oh yeah... I'm just going to find something with a lot of calories and start editing all the photos that are backlogged from shows last month. At least this way I don't have to sleep in a Greyhound station tonight, but dammit, they turned off my HDTV and I couldn't pay my Netflix bill... I need to find my copy of Tank Girl... or Evolution... I'll send Viva Hate a message that I can't make it, and hope they'll be coming through California again soon. 10.28.07 5:32 PM: FUCKING HELL You know as soon as it was 5 minutes late to get the last bus down to SD the HOB publicity person called back with two tickets, a media pass and she hunted down and got special permission from their road manager to photograph Sick Of It All. 10.28.07 5:37 PM: HOB calls back with the set times I requested. 7:00-7:30 Down To Nothing 7:45-8:15 Viva Hate 8:30-9:15 Madball 9:45-11:00 Sick Of It All If I was driving to San Diego, it'd take about 90 or so minutes to get to Downtown San Diego, I figure... but the bus takes longer and there's only one chance left to get one down if I can catch it down the route. 10.28.07 5:40 PM: ISN'T THERE ANYONE HOME ON EMAIL ON A SUNDAY NIGHT??? WHERE IS EVERYONE??? 10.28.07 5:50 PM: I've been loaned a cell phone. I think it's a cell phone. It looks like a thinly disguised iPod. I hate iPods, but I figure, it's really a phone, and how difficult can a phone be? I call a cab! If I take a cab to Temecula, I can get the last Greyhound down to San Diego. It's too late to catch one at an earlier stop, but it hits Temecula at 6:50 PM. 10.28.07 6:10 PM: Where... is... the... TAXI??? 10.28.07 6:15 PM: Where... is... the... TAXI??? 10.28.07 6:25 PM: Where... is... the... TAXI??? I take bids from two cab companies for a flat rate into San Diego. They say they'll "send one right over". 10.28.07 6:40 PM: Where... is... the... TAXI??? 10.28.07 6:48 PM: Where... is... the... TAXI??? 10.28.07 6:49 PM: AAAAIAIAIISIIEIEIEUUEGH@HHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!. 10.28.07 6:51 PM: I SEE IT!!! I SEE IT TURNING DOWN MY BLOCK!!! I wave. No, wait. HEY! WTF?? He's turning around??? WHERE ARE YOU GOING???I'm standing in the middle of the street, waving my arms over my head, and the guy stops in front of my neighbors house. I run up behind him, he pulls away and drives off. I say REALLY bad words Okay, he's turning around.. I run back into the street and wave..Hello!?! Over here!! Duh!!! Finally, he pulls up in front of my house. I throw my camera bag and hoodie inside and tell him, you know where we're going, right? "Uh, in general". Mmmkay. Gotta stop at a store and get batteries and cash, then we're off (will have to stop later to get additional cash as the grocerie store wouldn't give me the entire amount with my change). Whatever... I just want to get on the road and get moving. I'm dying with every minute that passes, here. I'm going to miss Viva Hate. Continued in Misery VS The Wall Of Death, Part II...
Photos
|
ARCHIVE
December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 
Female 35 In Subterfuge Unrequitable The Devil's Trailerpark CA, United States
MY FRIENDS
PanasonicYouth
shalua phoenix82 blaqkcadillac djscribbles JargonTalk © janicethemenace rockinponda heartsapocolypse Gabriel's Gonna Rollerblade beatofthedrum Ikky-ikky-arriba! FOLLOWERS ALL FRIENDS Miseryxchord's Journal Widgets: RSS | ATOM | JavaScript |
but first, clean clothes...food...sleep...because I haven't had any since a million years ago yesterday...
im SO GLAAAD you took that road trip up here! sounds like you had a hell of a time. literally. i wouldve loved to see viva hate, sick of it all, and of course, MADBALL!! all at the same show. lucky bum. yes, yes, bay area bands are the bomb. makes me appreciate living here even more. but i do miss texas. i used to live in houston, the music in the austin - texas area is what i listented to in early elementary. i hope your injuiries are healing fine. *offers bandaid* ill be sure to check out those pics, they costed alot of effort
so if your a photograoher and just call the venue people, they give you a media pass? or is it much harder than that? i never really understood how to get passes
I was knocked unconcious at AFI because I tried standing on Jade's side of the stage and a horde of underage teen girls ran up my back trying to get to the stage to "drag him down and rape him" (disgusting PIGS) and knocked my face into the shoulder of the drunk jerk in front of me who was crushing me and everyone else in his girlfriend's way because she was determined to "get to the barrier and sing" because they "were DF and had got their early" (3PM) an everything. I hate radio station gigs. I hate shows that sell alcohol. I hate morons. I still owe Gerard Way a punch in the nuts for inciting the crowd (right before AFI) Then they refused to help me out when I came to enough to realize I was going to DIE if I didn't leave (I was too crushed in to actually fall down). I had to turn around and fight my way out the back.
Mosh pits at SOIA are a cakewalk compared to drunk college idiots and teenagers who were raised by wild dogs, on an Island, ruled by Paris Hilton. (which is basically, learning their social interaction from Myspace)
I've never been BIT in a mosh pit, but I was at two other shows this year D-=
This one was actually to the South... they were just bands with guys from the Bay. (I did two other trips up North in Sept and Oct, though..one I didn't get my camera in to and was the one that resulted in a LOT of trip related trauma and later surgery :( )
I missed everything at this show but SOIA.... I'll get to that part of the blog soon. I'm still contemplating my notes from the frustrating taxi ride around the docks while Madball was on stage.
It's not easy or simple, believe me. At least, not for me. You need to have an assignment, basically, someone who's sending you there to cover the show, whether it's a magazine, an image bank, a news source etc., and they tend to limit how many passes they'll give out, so someone shooting for a magazine with a a few hundred thousand subscribers is generally going to get in ahead of someone covering it for a fanzine. Or you could be the only one there. Or they could allow no one in. Or they could lose your name, or never get the request. Usually it has to come from the band, their label or manager, or directly from yourr editor/company to the venue. Usually the photographer doesn't make the request.
I've had my camera locked out of 2 of the last 5 shows I went to, and missed shooting most of this show, because I didn't get the okay to shoot at all until an hour and a half before it started (and I wasn't there at the time I didn't believe I was getting in at all, or I may have risked going down blind).
I was covering myself 3-4 ways to make sure I got in, so they got my name/number from one of the sources, or they probably wouldn't have called me. I was pretty surprised, as no one's done that before. They didn't know it was MY number at the time, though. :)
shiiiet, those girls did that to you? thats so effing immature, they should keep their hands off the band! i hope security kicked them out. it sounds even worse than a moshpit. its sad how these days no one helps anyone up anymore. like if u fall, youre basically screwed. what happened to the good ol days when you fell or got hurt, a complete stranger is there to help you out! for example, i heard a man died at a smashing pumpkins concert bcuz of the crowd, complete assholes! thats why i like shows with seats. you can still stand, dance, all that stuff, and you dont get killed by a mob of disgusting fangirls. but way years back, rolling stones was playing a show, and an 18 yr old girl was stabbed to death by the hells angels, right in front of them! members of the crowd were being mauled!!
what show was that where mcr played, and then afi came right after? the middle is so hard to pass through, its easier to go through the sides, but even then its a tough struggle
I was way over on Jade's side, not the middle... I don't think I could have fought out from the middle.... it's safer on Hunter's side for some reason. The center was okay for the AFI show in Vegas except for several drunks and the fact security was pulling people (the drunks) out and dropping them all ON MY HEAD and turned me into a whackamole. At one point I went down like a tent peg and couldn't get back up because people were pressing forward, but the people around me saw my arm sticking up and eventually hauled me upright. That was one of the shows I got bit at (by one of the aforementioned drunks)
(sorry, couldn't resist an awesome pirate song lyric when the opportunity presented itself...)