Seniors 2009 ~ Dylan

Seniors 2009 ~ Blake

Seniors 2009 ~ Linda

Seniors 2009 ~ Heather

As I Stood There, Counting Crows...

I’m driving down the road in my baby blue 1983 Mercury Lynx (it’s 1995 by the way) dealing with the perils of High School life. Questions plague my mind like, “Did I pass my Geometry test?” “Will I have a date to the Band Banquet?” “Are collarless shirts still cool?” Mr. Jones is playing on the radio and I’m singing every word.

I’m running up the stairs to my third floor dorm room in Jennings Hall. I’ve just sat through the most boring class ever, but it’s all ok because I’m about to hook up with my friends and go have some fun. I walk into the doorway to the sound of A Long December, my friends look at me and give me the quick upward head jerk that means what’s up in guy body language, and I know I’m home.

Chilling with Tripp, Matt & Ernie in the Booker-Beaver Mansion playing Playstation (the first one). We mute the volume on the TV and sing along with High Life.

I decide it’s time to attempt a movie with the kids. We buy our tickets, get our drinks and popcorn, and find our seats. We get settled in as the room goes dark. I was expecting the movie to be entertaining, but it’s still a cartoon. As the opening sequence begins, all of a sudden I hear that familiar voice. I think to myself... “This is the Counting Crows. On Shrek 2. And it’s a good song.”

The Counting Crows have been an integral part of my life for about half of my life. I own all of their albums, studio and live, on CD. I have one on vinyl. I have seen them live three times. I know every member of the band by name. Not only do I know what instruments they play, I know what instruments they play on most of the songs. David Brown and I have sat around for hours discussing songs, stories, and other minutiae. I really don’t have a hardcore fan personality. I’m not obsessed. I just love really great, emotional, and vivid songwriting expressed through incredibly clean, creative, and inventive music. There are not many groups that accomplish both of those, much less do it as well as the Counting Crows. Another thing I love about this band is that they are always evolving. I don’t mean evolving from album to album (although they do that too), but constantly. I have heard Round Here performed live at least twenty times from various concerts and it was never the same. Each version is completely different, but at the same time totally familiar.

Recently I had the opportunity to shoot their concert in Dallas. It was a great show (I wasn’t surprised), and it was a lot of fun to enjoy it from that perspective. I’d like to thank David and his friend Alicia for the “hook up,” I hope we can do it again sometime.

On to the images.

We'll start with one of Charlie rocking the accordian on Omaha.



Adam.









Charlie playing accordian, Adam playing piano, Immy on mandolin during A Long December.





I got some nice shots of Dan.











Dave and Adam.

The World Will Never Be the Same

The assassination of JFK. The fall of the Berlin Wall. The invention of the Internet. These are events that have shaped our world and forever changed it. An event or individual does not have to be so huge to make an impact in our world. Sometimes you don’t notice the impact they had until they are gone.

I believe that the heart of America is our diversity. Our country is a fusion of many different cultures and lifestyles that have entwined together to form a melting pot of ideas, technology, sports, art, and music.

LeRoi Moore passed away on August 19 in Los Angeles, California. As a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, he has been a great influence on music and pop culture over the last twenty years. Moore died from complications due to an ATV accident in late June. He was 46 years old.

Moore started the Dave Matthews Band with Matthews in 1991. He was already an established jazz musician in Charlottesville, VA., and used his connections to recruit drummer Carter Beauford and violinist Boyd Tinsley. Leroi Moore brought a jazz and blues feel to Matthews alternative-rock sound and was integral in establishing DMB as the “ultimate jam band.”

The band announced Moore's passing at their show on August 21, at the Los Angeles Staples Center, with Matthews saying, “It’s easier to leave than to be left. Though LeRoi is gone, we still have his music, and that will live on forever.”

Though many people may not know Leroi Moore by name they have undoubtedly heard his music and probably been touched by it. Moore made a huge impact on music in America, and he will be missed. The world will never be the same.