thrashvanilla!

I’ve been a fan of Urbandub since high school but I haven’t seen them play live ever. So you can just imagine me singing along to their jams while raising my hands in the air. They played their famous tracks such as “Evidence”, “Alert The Armory”, “Soul Searching”, and “The Fight Is Over” just to name a few. But seriously, even though you don’t know any of their songs, once you hear it, it will stick to your brain for a long while. This band is one of a kind.

Now who doesn’t know Rivermaya and this guy? I haven’t seen the original Rivermaya live ever but I’ve seen the Rico Blanco fronted Rivermaya back in ‘02-’03. With that, I saw the contrast between the 2. With his set that night, it reminded me of Coldplay. The theatrics, the vibe, and the diversity of sound and music. Of course he played those classic Rivermaya jams but just on a very short while. I’m pretty sure he’s sick of playing it and as an artist, you want to be known more than what you’ve already showed. Nonetheless, everyone was singing along and it is funny to think that the crowd know more Rico Blanco sings than I do.

Looking forward in seeing these 2 great artists play live again in the future.

My band AntiTrust was part of the opener for the show. We were 3rd in the lineup. Food and drinks were provided and we had are own dressing room. As for someone who’ been doing this for so long, I am always thankful that we get better treatment even though we’re not that established. Getting comfortable as much as possible before stepping in to the stage makes a lot of difference.

They played most of their mainstream hits to the delight of the crowd as they were singing along to every note. I was trying to take good photos while filming them using my GoPro and it was such a work even though I am just carrying my Fujifilm X100T. There’s no way for me to do both at the same time.

I was also looking forward in seeing them play some of their not-so-friendly-but-funny-and-heavy-as-fuck songs such as “Chinelas”, “Turon”, and “Shoot Dat Bol”, just to name a few but of course, it didn’t happened, Such sadness.

Cirka Sik. Heard of these bad boys when we’re still recording our EP Resurgence (out now on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, etc.) and it was my first time listening and watching them live. Pretty solid jams.

DiM (Death in Motion). Heard about them before as well but first time seeing them. They had a heavy sounding set that made me wear my metal face while banging my head.

Congratulations to Mastiv for 10 solid kickass successful years. Massive shoutouts for putting us in your compilation album too! Big ups to all the bands who performed and represented the scene well. Here’s to 10 more and I can’t wait to share the stage with you guys once again!

The drive isn’t always the best part of any other trip. It took us some 5-6 hours getting there. Sleeping is always the best time killer for such long trip with a little bit of silly jokes thrown around.

We reached the vacation house at around 7:30pm. We rested for a while and went to Gaslamp Quarter in Downtown San Diego. Our first observation is that the place is somewhat like Fremont Downtown here in Las Vegas, but calmer and more welcoming. It’s not as crazy and annoying as the people in Fremont and there’s not much loud music playing in the streets. We had dinner, a couple of drinks, then hopped in a bar where there was a mechanical bull. It was fun seeing people especially your friends ride that crazy thing when your alcohol level keeps on going up.

We had to wake up early the next day because we’re scheduled to ride some boat in Mission Bay. We brought our own food and booze of course as having none of those would be a dull affair. We had to divide the group in 2 boats but we managed to stop once in a while, tie those 2 boats up, and party in the middle of the bay. The only thing I hated about that thing is the absence of a restroom. Being uncomfortable after you’ve drank a lot just kinda killed the vibe for me. Such shame, such bullshit.

We then drove to Mission Beach. Crowded as expected but not as bad as Santa Monica Beach. We setup a camp and pretty much spent most of our time in the sand, drinking, talking and listening to music... because the waters were just too damn freezing. Some of us braved the cold. It was just too impossible for me because if you know me well, you know how I get cold so easily.

House party started at around 7:30pm. By this time, I’m already wasted and fading away. I was on party mode as early as 8 that morning. After a couple of shots under thick smoke, I was out at around past 1am. I can vaguely remember some of my friends trying to wake me up, asking me what’s up. I even remembered that there was a small fire in the carpet and everyone just grabbed a bottle water then ran towards the wet bar behind me. At that time, I thought that was kinda funny but my brain and body was so far-out to comprehend what was going on.

Had to wake up early the next day again because we need to get going by 11am. Good thing that the NBA Playoffs was on. I had something to watch while packing-up.

We had lunch at a seafood restaurant by the bay in Coronado Island. Seafood restaurant. Guess what I ordered. That’s right. Chicken. In a fucking seafood restaurant. I don’t have to explain why. You know it already. It was somewhat of a grilled chicken marinated with butter and herbs. Sorry I am not good at describing cuisines although it’s part of my day job. All I can say is that it was good a definitely will order it again. That and an IPA beer to wash it down.

We walked around Hotel del Coronado which by the way has an amazing vintage vibe and architecture. We took pictures of course and some of us had ice cream. We left for Las Vegas at around 4pm. By this time, I am still recovering from last night and I was ready to pass out of existence. We got home at around 9pm. We can check this one out as one of our epic mini-vacations that we had so far and I’m sure many more of this are yet to come.

I was referred by a friend to do some portrait photos for this young man named Jay as he is about to graduate high school. It’s not easy to make someone comfortable when you just met them for a photo shoot. You don’t want any signs of uneasiness or awkwardness reflect on your photos. It was just “hi-hello” and we went to work straight away.

I’m not good at instructing poses to a subject especially if the concept of the shoot is as simple as this. So I just focused more on the lightning and using the nature as part of the photo.

I used Fujifilm X100T and Fujifilm XT-1 with 35mm 2.0 lens along with a Yongnuo external flash and a diffuser. Fujifilm being the lightweight and compact that it is was definitely a big help as it made me focus more on the lighting and composition. Even though I miss my old Canon EOS 7D with 50mm 1.4 in this kind of shoots, I can’t imagine myself having those again as my main gear. The ISO, in-camera settings and filter, and weight makes the Fujifilm as a gear to have. Not to mention, the Jpeg quality of Fujifilm are second to none. And that is a common knowledge.

This gig made me want to do another project like this but with a little bit more. Better setting with an artistic concept and a well-designed, carefully planned props.  Hopefully I can find someone to work with and learn something from them. The process was just fun for me.