LUBD does St. Patrick's Day!

My friends Sara and Jayson always throw a raging St. Patrick's day party. Actually, it's usually pretty laid back and mellow. This year they asked Level Up Beat Down to play the party. They set up in the small space in the living room and seemed to enjoy the change of venue. They had learned some Irish songs especially for the occasion and impressed everyone with their mad music skills! They were asked to play their first encore and they gained a couple of fans! It was their first time playing in the East Bay and this made it possible for my parents to make it to a show! All-in-all, it was a good, fun show. I hope to hear the Irish songs again. Please don't take them off your playlist!

LUBD at Unity Music in Santa Rosa

This was a some show. There were MANY bands playing and while one was playing on stage, the other set up on the floor. This continued throughout the night. I only watched Level Up Beat Down because the other bands were a little more harder than my liking. I did, however, meet a mother whose son goes to Novato High. What a small world! It was a fun show. The guys seemed to enjoy themselves. And, the teeny bopper girls came running in when they played Lady Gaga. They at least gained one fan from the show, which is what it's all about, right?




I loved the big sun rug behind the stage. It made for some great shots.

A study in low light, no flash

A friend convinced me to attend a Level Up Beat Down band practice while on Thanksgiving break. Even though there was no heat in the little room and I sat snuggled in my big coat, scarf and gloves, it turned out to be a good experience. It seemed too intrusive to use flash and there was only one little lamp in the room, so I played around. I upped the ISO to 3200, an option I did not have on my previous camera. It makes the pictures really grainy, but I was actually able to take pictures without flash. Here's the best of the bunch.
This first one was taken with an 800 ISO. I like the blurriness, although you can tell I wasn't holding the camera steady because the microphone is blurred too.

The only semi-good picture I was able to get of Russ. He was too close to me.

I took many pictures of the single light in the room. It photographed well and was visually interesting.

I think you can tell in every picture I have of Stephen that he loves to play the bass and he is very photogenic.

I tried to get some good drumsticks moving pictures, but it didn't work so well with the limited amount of light. I did like that I got the little band drawing Mic did in this picture.

Meet ...Level Up Beat Down...

Level Up Beat Down is the hubbies new band. They played their first gig at the Phoenix in Petaluma Saturday night. They seemed to have a lot of fun and played a solid show. There were a couple of tunes I recognized and to my relief their music is more accessible than his last two bands. My pictures are only ok, I need to get used to the new camera. It seems that I also forgot how to shoot in low light. I've been busy taking photographs outside. There are also things I could do with the D70 that I have to read the manual for on the new camera. I'm so lazy.

First up...Mic...Drummer Divine...


Russ...Singer Superb, Guitarist Glorious ...


Stephen...Bassist Brilliant

I saved Stephen for last because this is my current favorite band photo. I just love the lighting on this. I'm not sure about the focus. I think it makes more sense to have what he's looking at in the photo. But, it does add a little bit of mystery to it. The picture of Andrew with the light on him and his drums is still my top favorite.

Can't forget the token group shot.

You'll be seeing more of these guys, as their booking shows like they haven't played in years.