eggs's blog

Last night, while lovers were spending their precious little Hallmark holiday moments together, the people behind Houston's Free Press Summer Fest were treating the fine music loving folks of this fair city to the announcement we've all been waiting for. For the past few weeks, tons of speculation over who would be playing the third-year event clouded the minds of those who have been waiting since The Flaming Lips played their final notes last year. Well, the wait is over. Omar at Free Press and Jagi at Pegstar and the many other people behind Summer Fest have been working diligently to make this year the biggest and best to date, and with a line-up that features the likes of Weezer, MF Doom, Ween and Yeasayer among many others, they have already stepped up their game.

As an avid festival goer, to have something of this magnitude a mile from my doorstep is something else. It's slowly and steadily helping to transform Houston to a destination for music, rather than a place bands avoid. Add to that the many great local bands, like Buxton, Grandfather Child, Robert Ellis and The Wild Moccasins, that are picked to grace the stages of Summer Fest, and I couldn't think of another place I'd rather be that weekend.

To see the full line-up, including the kick-ass poster and a video of last night's unveiling, take the jump.

For the first time in over five years, time and travel tested performer Keller Williams brought his one-man circus to the most appropriate venue I've seen him at in years, Houston's newly revamped hot-spot Fitzgerald's. After a conversation Bacon and I had with Kellerlast year before his gig in Dallas, we learned his absence in Houston was due to many things, but mainly stemmed back to his young children and his propensity to be with them on more of a regular occasion. No worries Keller, we still love you and will welcome you with open arms any time you decide to come back. Hopefully, though, it's sooner than 2016.

Read all about the show after the jump.

The first half of the year was jam-packed with musical adventures, and it only got better in the second half. July found us traversing the country to start the month with a pair of Phish shows in Atlanta and continued through September with the re-opening of Fitzgerald's in Houston, and along with it the rebirth of Houston's indie scene.

Check out my favorite shots from the third quarter of the year after the jump.

Well, two days after ringing in the New Year, and I'm just finally getting over my hangover. Maybe it's because I spent the entire first day of the year laughing over an assortment of cocktails throughout the day with some of best people ever. Now, still a bit foggy, I sit here at my computer reading through all accounts of the many New Year's Eve musical celebrations I missed throughout the country. There was one show that I payed attention to throughout the night, though, and that was Phish's big gig at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Shortly after the midnight hour, I checked Twitter to see how my favorite band celebrated, and all it said was "Meatstick" followed by the traditional "Auld Lang Syne" into the Eric Clapton-popularized, JJ Cale-penned "After Midnight," a very similar choice of setlist as their famed Big Cypress Millennium show which found them playing a near 8-hour set from before midnight up until the sunrise. The simple tweet saying "Meatstick" couldn't explain less what actually happened the other night. The video tells all...

This might be one of the best things I've ever seen in my life. So pissed I wasn't in attendance!

The second of my year end photo review consists of shots I took from the beginning of April until the end of June. This is most likely the biggest chunk of pictures that will be featured as I went to a ton of shows in this time span. Included are shots from Free Press Summer Fest and the Houston International Festival as well as a plethora of photos from a grab bag of bands throughout the Houston area.

Check out my favorite photos from April through June after the jump.

I took a lot of pictures this year – probably somewhere near the one hundred and fifty thousand range, give or take a few. Because of that, I came up with several that I've grown a bit more attached to than others. Over the next few weeks, the BOT staff will be posting a host of year-end lists and reviews, so I thought I'd start it all off with a healthy look at the past year in photos. I've been fortunate enough to photograph some amazing bands, and the results are a grandiose caché of visual evidence.

For now, I'll bring you the first quarter of the year, starting with Yo La Tengo at Warehouse Live and ending with El Ten Eleven at Rudyard's. Also including in this batch is one of the best trips ever to Austin for SXSW. Check out my favorite shots of the first quarter of 2010 after the jump!

Once in a great while, a concert is announced that you know is going to be great before you even see it. I grew up listening to the greats thanks to my parents, but whenever I picked up both of Pink Floyd's masterpieces, Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall, I was stuck. Pink Floyd are their own genre, their own complete type of music, and they own it. I had the opportunity to see Roger Waters perform live once before this date, when he brought Dark Side to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion for a late summer mind-blowing performance. When I found out that Waters was once again returning, only this time bringing The Wall, I was immediately pushing to both my Houston Press contact as well as my Live Nation contact about getting into that show. I needed to photograph it – it was going to be the biggest show that I had ever had the chance to shoot. Well, call it dumb luck, but I was accepted to shoot the show in the month leading up to it. Let's just say that, even though I had a ton of great shows to catch in November, my mind was completely stuck on the thought that Roger Waters would be in Houston very soon. Well, the moment came, and I was standing in the photo pit with a few photographer friends, awaiting Waters' arrival on the grandiose stage that was set up for his show.

Read all about Roger Water's The Wall performance at Houston's Toyota Center after the jump.

The final day of Voodoo Experience 2010 closed with a bang, with headliner My Morning Jacket enthralling the entire remaining festival crowd. I also had the good fortune to photograph sets from several others including Preservation Hall Jazz Band ft. Jim James & Patrick Hallahan, Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, Paul Oakenfold, MGMT and Deadmau5.

Check out my photos after the jump!

We partied pretty hard on Saturday night/Sunday morning, eventually stumbling back into our hotel room at 7 in the morning just in time for continental breakfast. Our goal was to try and make it early enough for Janelle Monae, but those were pipe dreams. Strolling into the festival at 3:30 with a serious Four Loko hangover, we headed to the closest music we could find.

Read all about the final day of the Voodoo Experience after the jump.

It's been a pretty hectic couple of weeks, but now with the upcoming holiday I'll be finishing up on our festival experiences from a few weeks ago. Saturday of Voodoo was much more lax, taking our time checking out both new and old acts we've mostly never seen before. I ended up catching sets from River City Extension, The Whigs, Cage The Elephant, Die Antwoord, Buckwheat Zydeco, Street Sweeper Social Club, Crystal Method, Eagles of Death Metal and Paul Van Dyk.

Check out my shots from Saturday, October 30th at the Voodoo Experience after the jump!