One of Chicago’s radio stations, Q101, has an hour broadcast every week called “Local 101″ that features local bands. Throughout the years they have put on local showcases, released local CD compilations, and many other things. It’s a great program that makes local music junkies like me happy. This past Thursday, Local 101 released their third CD compilation at the Cubby Bear in Chicago. The release show featured three local bands: Main Street Minority, Last Fast Action, and Holding Mercury.
Regular readers might recognize the name Last Fast Action (LFA) from the crazy painted promos I did with them not too long ago, or from the blog entry about SXSW, which documented my trip to Texas with them. Obviously, they are good friends of mine, and I was excited about this show, not because of the Local 101 CD release, but because LFA promised that they were going to perform a new song live. Up until this point, I had only heard bits and pieces of the song, but not the final product. The new song is called Satellite, which can be heard on the band’s Myspace, or can be downloaded here.
The show was great!
Shooting Notes
I was very excited about the light when I first walked in because there was a brilliant light show playing onstage before the bands started playing. Actually, the light show even continued throughout the sets… but only with backlight. The performers were bathed in a dark, dim red for much of the sets that was overpowered by the bright colored light behind them.
This is one of the first sets I’ve done purely in black and white in a while. I converted it to black and white not only because of the red light on the performers, but also because I was able to more easily balance the light on the band with the light in the background. The color balance and dodge tools both came in handy when processing these photos.
Also, in hindsight, the floral carpet of the stage provided great leading lines and pattern, and I wish I would have played with that element of the stage a little more. So, Chicago photogs, if you ever shoot at Cubby Bear, don’t ignore the carpet!
