2009. Best...year...ever. (Part 2: June and July)

June. Kicked off the summer concert season with a triple header night of shows with Rockit King. Started out easy enough at Fifth Third Ballpark opening for Kansas. Beautiful sunny and warm. No problems except the guy at the gate who almost wouldn't let me in with my telephoto lens.

After the Fifth Third Ballpark gig everyone headed downtown to play under the La Grande Vitesse at Festival Of The Arts. It was great staging with the enormous metal sculpture looming over the stage. A huge light from a building across the street provided a great backlight.

And then the rain came down.

Everyone rushed to get all the gear off the stage and under the tent and as soon as we did....the rain stopped. Well, it made for interesting photos anyway.

All that was left was gig number 3 for the night: Mulligans Other Side. AKA: A closet with a stage. No lighting save for a DJ style gobo screwed to the back wall. No AC or ventilation. Wanna know how hot it gets in there? Damn hot.

3 gigs in one night. Even I was exhausted and I didn't play a note.

Later in the month we got to see Indigo Girls at the Meijer Gardens and we shot photos for The Broadcast Union.

July. Started out with a bang. Rothbury. 3 days of bathing with baby wipes, walking for miles, and smelling dirty hippie funk. It was also 3 days of great music, meeting great people, and seeing some amazing sights.

Photographers covering Rothbury. I'm in the back left of center. Photo courtesy Steve Galli.

Photographers Steve Galli and Leni Sinclair backstage before The Dead. 4th of July.

By the time Bob Dylan took the stage Sunday night I was so exhausted I could barely hold my camera up. (Which would have been a lot easier, by the way, if the monopod and tripod hadn't fallen out of my trunk onto the highway on the way to up Rothbury.) Shot photos of 17 bands and took just under 2900 frames. Ate way too many energy bars as meals and learned why having your own internet connection is important (The internet in the media tent was non-existent). Highlights: Hard Lessons, Grace Potter, and Ani DiFranco.

Fireworks over the main stage 4th Of July while The Dead jammed incoherantly.