2010 KISW Rock Girl Gala

What a night. Thanks to Island Jenn throwing out her back, I was able to fill in for her and shoot the Rock Girl Gala tonight. Along with the selection of the KISW Rock Girls, there are 3 bands. This year it was Adelitas Way, Halestorm and Theory of a Dead Man.

Mike and I got to the Showbox SoDo in Seattle, WA at about 6 and got out photo passes (and his All-Access) from Will Call and made our way inside the venue. Doors opened at 6 so the KISW people had an hour to do a dry run of the show with the girls. 40 would be narrowed down to 16.

One of my jobs was to photograph the sponsor booths. I made my way to the Lovers table and took some shots of the shoes they had and the tubs-o-condoms and lubes. I got shots of the tequila booth and the merch tables before the crowds were let in.

Rock Girls:
Just before the show started , I made my way to the photo pit. I like being in the pit. You should try it sometime :) First up was the morning crew. BJ Shea, STP - Steve the Producer, Double R, The Rev (with some lovely angel wings on) and a New Orleans Saints decked out Top Shelf. These guys had the honor of introducing the Rock Girl finalists. The girls came out wearing white for the Saint part of the Saints & Sinners theme of the show.

The white outfits the girls wore ranged from bikinis, to minis, to things I don't know the words to describe. The footwear I think was most impressive. The fact that no one broke an ankle amazes the hell out of me! Each of the girls did a 15 second cat walk for the crowd. I shot each girl a few times. Some were great, others were complete and utter duds. A couple didn't even look like they wanted to be there. They did not command the stage at all. For the most part though, the other girls were putting forth effort. Only a few really had fun with it and played it up for the crowd.

Music: Adelitas Way
I've seen this band before. I liked the music but the energy from the singer, Rick DeJesus, was lacking in the performance in December. Come to find out that they flew in that evening for the show and were just exhausted from the road and flight. This time though, they were ON and ready to rock. Midway through their 3rd song, one of their roadies came out dancing around the stage in drag pretending to be a Rock Girl. The guitar and bass player both put pies in his face. Unfortunately this meant the singer couldn't run around the stage any longer or he could have gotten hurt slipping on pie. The music was great. I absolutely LOVE the guitar players (Creighton Bibbs) energy. He's a little Energizer Bunny. Darn cute too :)

After a 9 hour nap, I'm back to continue my blog.

Rock Girls:
The Men's Room guys were out on stage for the second round of the Rock Girls introductions for the crowd. This time it was Sinners themed outfits. Lots of black and red and lace.

Music: Halestorm:
Lzzy started singing off stage. She made her way on stage alone covered in a white hooded jacket. She has an amazing voice. Powerful, passionate and melodic all at the same time. The other members of the band made there way onto the stage after about 3 minutes of her intro. They were all mesmerizing.
At one point, a drumstick was tossed to the crowd but it missed. I picked it up and turned around to decide who I was going to give it to. I saw a girl I went to hand it to. A guy reached over and tried to take it from me. I wouldn't let go. I yelled NO! to him and he actually let go. I did get it to the girl I had intended to give it to. Made me happy that he backed down.
 The drummer, Arejay, was wearing a blue St. Pepper looking outfit complete with a huge baby blue hat that made him look like a 60's marching band member. He was insane. He brought out a set of drumsticks during his solo that were at least a yard long and a couple of inches in diameter. With his long hair, he looked like Animal from the Muppets when he got those sticks going! At the end of his solo, he made his way to the front of the stage and started to play a garbage can like a skit from Stomp. Then one by one, the other 3 came back out and joined him with their own garbage cans. It was just amazing and so flippin' fun!I found a new band to add to my list of faves after that performance. Instant fan here, big time. And a big thanks to Arejay for giving me my own drumstick at the end of their performance :)

Rock Girls:
Time for the announcements of the 2010 Rock Girls. Ryan Castle and Jeets were out to make the announcement and give the winners a rose. The 40 were narrowed down to the 16. 6 are returning Rock Girls and 10 are new to it. Mike told me later that they were impressed that he had a wife that would actually let him do this. He was in the dressing room with them a good portion on the night in between music sets and KISW segments. Four of the girls that I thought should make it did, but there was one I thought was a for sure who didn't. Mike said there were tears and disappointments back stage after the announcements.

Music: Theory of a Dead Man
I had seen the lead singer back stage before the show, but I didn't know that's who he was. He has a Chris Isaacs look going on. Bit of a rockabilly poof hairdo. Great voice and good tunes, but after my 3 songs in the pit, they got a little boring to watch. Music was still great, but I didn't need to watch anymore. I think they are a band that I will enjoy more on the iPod than live.

Overall, it was a really fun night. The girls were nice and entertaining. The music did not disappoint. Thank you to Brian from KISW for allowing me to shoot another show. I'm not Mike, but I get the occasional great shot that he can use for his KISW submissions.

Until next time... Ciao!

Hmmm.. This should be interesting!

I've set up blogging from my Blackberry for this blog. I should be able to keep up on this better with the built in commute time on the light rail.

I'll also be able to do real time posts instead of hoping I remember what I saw or what I was thinking by the time I get home! We'll see how that works :)

I just wish there could be more than one phone number though. It would be nice for Mike to be able to do posts from his phone as well. I have a feeling that I'll have more time for this though.

Time to go get ready for the KISW Rock Girl Gala. Tonights bands are: Theory of a Dead Man, Halestorm and Adelitas Way. I have already see Adelitas Way. It will be nice seeing the other two for the first time.

I'll be typing to you later gators!

We've been too lax

Stef here...

So the intent of this was to just have a daily journal of our life, opinions, observations, reviews, and so on. We've failed so far since we haven't written anything since the first post!

That is changing today!

Today I'm charging my phone. It appears that I may be a photographer at the Rock Girls Gala since one of the female photogs cannot be there due to injury. It will probably be somewhat like the Steel Panther show I shot for KISW in December. I'll go around and get crowd and sponsor shots for Mike since he'll be back stage most of the time.

I'll also put up a separate post about our weekend last week in Lincoln City, OR with Sugar Ray and the beach. Good times!!