This was a great moment for me and my family as we bravely headed down to the 9:30 Club ( my wife and I ) that we had never been to in our lives sometime last year 2011. My son and his friend came along and he had already come to the 9:30 Club to hear the group Train ( before the song : " Soul Sister " I believe, with a couple of our neighbors ) so he already knew the lay of the land and was ready to take his friend around and show it while my wife and I stood in the center and watched.
Our eyes moved around the large room with the stage in front of us : darkened with some lights that fought to lighten up the large space but which failed in doing so miserably : at least in my humble opinion. Oh well, that was okay because it was the least of my worries as I looked for Dylan and realized a first and really shocking truth for me : we were the two oldest people in this large space : AGH! How could this be? How could this finally be? Here we were and it had arrived that I was noticing for the very first time in my whole life that we were the oldest in a space? Humbling, really quite sobering, too.
I had to mention this at least two or three times to my wife I am sure as we continued to scan the darkened space in search of those older than ourselves as we also looked for our son and his friend and Dylan our drummer friend of course. I had not seen you Dylan since we visited your home in Nashville many years ago and your home was undergoing a major renovation at the time. It was a really great visit that we had and you were quite young then.
These are pictures of the band YOUNG MAN that you are in Dylan and I got carried quite away is is my way these days and I both took a whole lot of pictures as well as did many portrait sketches of you and your band mates. You, of course are all quite young ( in your early twenties, I think 22 being a common number? ) and it was quite the experience to sit up on the balcony to the right of the stage and sit and watch and listen and both take all these photos ( I have many more ) and sketch, too. At some point I had to stop taking pictures as my memory card was full!
Being an artist I am always looking for some fun pictures like the one I got above.
I also like to tell as complete a story as I can of any moment that I am witness to or definitely involved in. In this case since we knew you we were a bit more involved and we sure do thank you for getting us these tickets to enjoy the show and to come meet the other band members after the show in your dressing room area.
I apologize for not getting as many pictures of the keyboard player that I believe is the son of one of the two owners of the GREAT LAKES Brewing company? I think I got that story straight from him after the show as I was doing a quick portrait sketch of him?
I really liked getting all these pictures like the one above just after the show when they were taking everything down to get ready for the next act who's name I have now forgotten. We did listen a bit to them, too but I must say that I clearly preferred your YOUNG MAN performance as I found it much more sincere and true to the raw music and not as commercial, too. I can understand a commercial sound and I know how it works but I really enjoyed the intensity of you playing and singing : so much more deep and emotional and personal and primal to me. Bravo for that.
I understand that you all had earplugs in while you were playing as your music and sound was so loud a brutal and guttural and as I said : primal. I could have had you tone it down just a tad as I think it would have sounded better and more distinct just a bit lower in register. But hey that's my opinion. As is often the case " live " music is often a whole lot louder than the pieces that are recorded in the studios and that we hear.
When I heard that we were invited to go to the show by Dylan I was quite pleased and quite curious and so I googled YOUNG MAN and stumbled upon one of the videos Dylan that I discovered you were not on ( as you are not on the album - c.d. that we bought before the concert started ). Too bad, that's a bit of a disappointment for us Dylan as the whole reason for us going to the show was because of you.
I did love this video and would gladly listen/ watch it over and over again. I will watch it once again after I post this blog in a few minutes. What I liked about it was, of course the song itself and also the setting with the various rainbow paints being dripped side-by-side-by-side-by-side-by-side beautifully down a wooden panel and the old couple dancing all the while. I loved them as they danced and got right into the moment and the groove with them as they did. This was an amazingly well-done, well-orchestrated, well-planned and executed video and I said so over and over and over again as I spoke with the band members after the show. Bravo to those involved in it's production. It should get an award I feel. It already does by me. I will include the name and the rest soon.
I have written this all from my head and without any notes or references. All from gut and memory and what I see here in these pictures. I will add the details later or any of you can add them in the " comment " section at the end of this blog. I would appreciate that : always good to get more of the story added by others/
It sure was fun to draw all these young musicians in the prime of their lives. Great to be able to capture them on the cusp, at the brink, the rim, the brim, the edge of their life's work as they start with such passion and dedication and such innocence, too. You can see it on their faces.
The glow and the golden hues above as they play and harmonize and weave their intricate melodies twixt the others is almost audible in the picture above. I can almost hear their music all over again. Nice.
I love drawing my quick portrait sketches of everyone as it becomes my thanks to them and for the good times that we have spent in each other's presence. I like this, I really do. I love doing these quicks sketches and have mostly done them of wine-makers and wine owners. I have expanded that to include now many others as it is both fun and challenging for me as well as a great gift. All I want is to take a picture of the people I draw holding the sketches and then I can give them the sketches in return. Simple and effective and I think it's good for everyone even if they may not like my quick interpretations of them.
I like this picture above. I like the extension that I got as Dylan reached far over his drums to continue playing. I do wish that I could have been closer : that would have been nice. I could have gotten more of the player's features that was. These shots from the distance that I was paints a broad scene that works overall. It would have been nice, however, to get some shots a bit closer. I still love the lighting and the motion in some of these photos of YOUNG MAN playing from the gut, so primitive, primal, hearty, savage almost, raw and all from the depths of their guts. Oh yeah!
There's some really nice motion / emotion in the picture above. That pink-red glow that makes me think of neon lights some really adds to the intensity of their playing quite well as a band. They created their sound and kept it throughout the entire set that was of pretty long pieces of music. They were all around ten minutes or more : correct Dylan?
I love how the color of setting up and taking down the show was in blues whereas the band playing was clearly in reds and deep pinks. There's also a warmth here to the colors of these lights : a contrasts with the warmth of the yellows and the chills of the blues. No one notice, however. That's why a picture tells more of the complete story. It helps to paint a more complete picture of what happened at the 9:30 Club here one night in late 2011 when YOUNG MAN bared their souls and guts and youth.
There's almost a calm in this picture above. It's as if the groove of the music and the sound has been well-set by this moment and so everyone : band members and audience are clearly an integral part of this intense moment of music and words and meanings...
Dylan, I like your smile. I am glad we journeyed into Washington D.C. from northern Virginia to see and meet with you and hear you play with your band. What an intense and great experience it was for us all. I loved it, really I did and was thrilled to be there even though I was , in fact , one of the oldest in attendance. I bet that even so in spirit I was still one of the youngest there in attendance.
You all had lots of help taking down your stage and from what I heard you all say after the show that you were pleased to have so much help.
In this picture above you all were clearly getting into this set and starting to really hunker down and bend into your instruments and feel " one " with them and the music, the sound, the stage and your place here as " center ' stage " for the moment at the 9:30 Club. That's how I read the picture above anyway. Your thoughts?
How must it have sounded to those in the picture above so close to you all playing : so very close to the stage where they could almost reach out and touch you all?!?
I must say that I absolutely loved the red hair of the person above helping you to take down the stage after your performance. That red really sticks out. Did you all meet her and get a chance to talk to her and the others?
I'm in love with this right hand drum-stick extension of your Dylan in the picture above! Can you remember what you were playing from looking at this picture? Is it obvious to you or a complete stretch to as what song you might have been playing? Do you like seeing yourself Dylan / do you all like seeing yourselves from this vantage point of mine? Does it help to give added perspective to your performances? I hope it does.
I love this broad shot that I got of all five of you in the picture above. I think that I have more of these and will try and include them all as it paints a better picture of you five playing as such a tightly cohesive band : YOUNG MAN! I also love the deep translucent color of the red light, too. I especially love the movement of the one of you to the far right of the picture above in the yellow t-shirt and how you are leaning into your guitar. That's cool : really cool.
I also love this photo that I took of you all above : you are having such a personal and unique and different experience on the stage above with your drums, keyboards and guitars above. Look at your postures : all so you and so different. I like that a whole lot , too. That is also really cool!
Nothing like a fine Great Lakes keyboard player : fine beer and fine keyboards and music : what else could anyone want? AS well, of course as the great promise of these talented and dedicated and young men - five here in all - in the band YOUNG MAN. What will they do as they age? What Dylan will become the name of this band as you all age? Like the changing labels on the bottles of fine beer and fine wine will you change your name as the labels change to " keep current ?".
This must have really been an intense piece in the song / music above as you are all really hovering and bending down into your instruments and towards guts? Do you know what you were playing by looking at this picture Dylan?
This picture above is just a split second of difference from the picture before it. You guys were all clearly in your groove and in your element above. I like that.
Here you all are above after the show - all five of you very young and very talented musicians above in your dressing room as you relax from playing so intensely just minutes ago. Great smiles and expressions of relief on our faces as you get ready to rest before your next show the next night there all over again. How was that show? Do you think that it was even better than the one that we saw?
There she is again after the show : the girl with the red hair helping to take down your stage. Do you all like seeing these pictures of yourselves? Are you happy to have a start-t0-finish group of pictures to see and get some enjoyment from as at the time this was all happening you were so completely focused just on what you were / would be doing? I hope so : it is one of the reasons that I take so many photos . Like I said I want to tell a more complete story with these photos. You can all fill in the gaps with them. You can all tell your own stories as you look at them and share them with you family and friends.
I really like the intensity and the motion of the band member the second from the left. That's really nice to be a spectacle to as well as to everyone playing so well above.
I really love this picture above of the sole ( soul ) red and shiny drum above. That's the heart of the stage, the grounding, the center, the focus on this stage as it was set up for you five to play and to belt your hearts and souls out so completely, so loudly, so emotionally, so intensely!
There was clearly a good topic of conversation going on in the picture above Dylan. Remember what it was?
I liked talking to all of Dylan's band mates. They seemed happy to talk to us, too. I think we all felt quite relaxed huddled there together in the hallway as we exchanged bits of information, smiled, laughed, grinned and overall had a good exchange of ideas.
The drum set above being dismantled and put away until it would be needed once again tomorrow night Dylan for your second evening of playing at the 9:30 Club. How was the second night by the way? Did things go even better than tonight? Look above at the picture : hues of red and blue and white and silver and lavender, green and tan and gold ... nice.
As I said it was a privilege to draw quick portrait sketches of each of these young musicians. I think the only one I missed was the manager that we met at the end before we left to drive home through the dark and reflective streets of Washington D.C. that were rather calm considering it's a big city? D.C. sleeps early, does not stay up late? It depends now doesn't it?!?
I was so busy snapping these pictures and waiting for my Lumix camera Panasonic to click as it was so dark inside and I was not using the flash ; and drawing, too that I had no real idea what I would get and I must say that I am rather happy for the very little planning that I did. I do believe that these pictures help to paint a quick darkened pastel collage of rather muted colors at time - rich and full of expression and emotion, too? It works somehow and for that I am also grateful as my intentions were to get a feel of Dylan playing his drums surrounded by his other four band mates.
I especially wanted to get Dylan with his hands reaching out over his drum set so that you could see that and his drum sticks and in the photo above I achieve that. In many I do as well. If not I manage to get some movement and action from his fellow band mates and that is also key to capturing the moment as it unfolded sound-wise and visually right there so fast and quick and fleeting : all right in front of us as we were all swept up and brought close together in the is impressive YOUNG MAN sound and sight. Thanks guys, you gave us something to enjoy at the moment and I hope these pictures help to bring it all back to you as it's pretty impressive to be playing at the 9:30 Club! Congratulations on that : that's a big score, really it is.
Sometimes my gentle moving of my camera gives the pictures like the one above an added sense of movement/ power/ urgency / connection? I think so, just a slight, subtle edge of all that : making it easier to fit right back into this moment at night deep in the heart of Washington D.C. and not too far from two important hospitals that also buzz and hum all night long and also reflect the life and the emotions of Washington D.C. in another vital manner.
Taking off at a galloping leap in the photo above : everything has come to a great red boil, the motion and sounds and feeling of the moment are all on " automatic pilot " like one's car. It's almost as the whole room now above has been swept up and is moving and humming by forces much greater than themselves. Combined forces, multiplied forces? All great to have been a part of. I like the simplicity and the fire of it all. The coals are so hot now that no one better get too close or touch them for fear of being burned.
There's a lovely red glow after the show as seen in the picture above. Hearts are not racing quite as fast and the temperature of the room is calming just ever so slightly ... and slowly now. Time to regroup.
I really love the clarity of the picture I have taken above. There's a bit more of a crystal ball aura to it which I like. The golden hues and stripes everywhere from on exposed arms and shining off of metal surfaces and wooden floors, and defining the left leg of the guitarist in the forefront right - even his shoes - is pretty neat. I like it, I notice it, I bask in it for full split seconds before my hungry eyes find other places to note and appreciate for whatever - the silliest, the most simple, the most ridiculous, the most profound, too - reasons. So much fun. Hope it is for you all, too.
It's like a golden glow or cloud or mist is rising from the floor which they are performing on. That's a great sign. I like it once again. I like a whole many things and am not ashamed to say or show or share it. What is there to be lost anyway?!? So much more to be gained from sharing.
Sorry that I copied a couple of all these pictures twice. That was not my intention but I leave it all the same. Hope you have enjoyed this blog. I intend to work more on another one as I add those pictures later. In the meantime I will publish this one and thus share it with you immediately as I work on the next one time-permitting. Being an artist myself I luxuriate and enjoy thoroughly the appreciation and sharing with myself and with you other art forms that move and inspire anc capture my imagination and fire within. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
