My apologies for the lack of input this month, it's been an intense month full of work, more work with a little extra work thrown in for good measure. Spent the first week of the month out again with Def Leppard. Had a blast with them as they rehearsed in Nashville with Taylor Swift for the CMT Crossroads TV show. An unlikely match that at first you would think wouldn't work. I'm happy to say that my first thought of "Oh, that's a strange match" was very much wrong. The fact is that the Lepps along with Taylor and her band gelled really well together performing each others songs. The rehearsals at the sound stage in Nashville and then at the Acuff theater were a lot of fun on both sides of the camera. Everyone had a great time and I got some excellent photos in the process although I did get my bottom pinched several times by various and unknown females on the front row. Saucy beggars! Went out on the town after the filming of the show and tore it up in Nashville with a couple of the guys from Def Lep and most of Taylor's band as well.. Much much fun was had and anything past that would be more than what I swore to...hehehehe...

Everything is pretty much under wraps at the moment with the photos but I'm sure you'll be seeing some of them here and on the Def Leppard official website shortly. The Crossroads show airs on CMT November 7th so look out for it then. Plus, there'll be another little surprise coming shortly that a number of you will like I'm sure.

After we got done in Nashville we headed up to sunny Detroit, cultural capitol and pinnacle of refinement to rehearse and film a live TV performance for the NHL. As we drove through downtown Detroit I was shocked at how many old buildings were boarded up, razor wired off and abandoned. I felt pretty sad especially knowing what a power of industry the city once was in it's heyday. It sucks that we're getting our asses handed to us by foreign car manufacturers but the truth is that they build better cars than we do these days. The mess that the auto industry here is in is the auto companies owns faults... They want 25 billion to be bailed out?!!! Let the OIL companies bail out the auto companies and use our tax dollars on something better like putting Americans back to work. Saying that, I do still love the Jeeps that I have. The Fox theater was a beautiful old building, probably built in the 20's and very ornate inside. It's a pity that there aren't more historical buildings like this here in the States. We tend to build to last 20 or 30 years and then knock it down.... A pitiful mindset and a guarantee that this country will still be way behind the rest of the world when it comes to historical buildings.

Anyway, I ramble and blabber... Rehearsals for the guys were long, very long in full make up and stage wear. I have to say that the highlight of rehearsal was Joe having to pretend that a big black coffee urn was the Stanley Cup. The look on his face holding that was pricelessly funny. Maybe if the NHL had the actual cup on hand he wouldn't have put it upside down on the night of the show... Hockey fans everywhere whined about him doing this but he'd never seen the bloody cup before and to be fair, a cup is narrower at the bottom and wider at the top... All went well though and the crowd loved the performance.

So I've just spent the better part of over two and a half weeks sifting through over 3,000 images, sorting, categorizing and editing. My eyes sting, my arse is numb and my back aches. Other more well known photographers have minions and re-touching people to do all this work for them but not here... I just have Daisy Buttons who sits by my monitor supervising the proceedings. Still, at least the whole thing from start to finish is my work eh. ;O)

The new Guitar world has three ads this month featuring my work. EMG pickups, GHS Strings and Jackson Guitars.. Sweet!

 

By the way, as I write this drivel that you're using to pass your time, I'm firmly ensconced with a numb bum at 33,000 feet en route to Connecticut for a photo job with the lovely Miss Taylor Swift who has personally requested my presence and photographic services for a couple of days. I hear that the weather there is cold enough to freeze the you know what's off a brass monkey.......GOOD! I'm sick of the heat in South Texas...bring on the icicles! I just hope that the driver is on time waiting for me at the airport as it's a late arrival.

Keep your eyes peeled for more ramblings here soon.

ASH

 

 

Pop up the road to San Antonio for a little jaunt to the Mayhem tour. I'm shooting Phil Demmel from Machine head for Jackson Guitars. Phil's a great guy to work with, always friendly and talkative. Actually all the Machine Head fellas are nice and easygoing. Phil meets me at the backstage entrance to the venue and helps me get through so I can scout out a suitable place to do photos.....there really isn't anywhere so we make do with Phil atop a pallet of Monster Energy drink and we use the sky as a backdrop. The heat is pretty bad and the humidity is making it suck even more.. The heat index ended up being about 110 that day I think.. 20 minutes and a very drenched Phil and Ash later and we're done. I stow my gear under the bus and get onboard to cool off and have a drink with the guys from the band.

See my photographer buddies Jay and Gary backstage and Jay shoots me hauling my gear. They've been there all day and were there until Slipknot closed the show..... The heat was too much for me already. Shot Machine Head live as they closed the second stage show to a pretty wild and drunk crowd. Got right on the stage next to Phil Demmel and got some great close ups of him. Ended up staying a little while and hanging out a little before a splitting headache arrived and cued me to leave....