Summer 2022

Where have I been and what have I been up to?

Well, a lot of everything. Lots of concerts, lots of hikes, some travel, and lots of quality time with friends and family. Let’s update you with a few photos!

Discovery Park

I’ve been going on many different hikes throughout the past year and it has been so wonderful to see more of the PNW. Along a few of these hikes, my best friend Angela was my companion. She has also been getting into hiking on her own during the last year. It’s always so nice spending time with her, and she gave me an excuse to bring my camera with on our hike in Discovery Park.

Anna Eisch

Finally truly getting back into shooting some shows - for Anna Eisch, who had just release her new EP, I Know About Emily. My good friend Maddie was shooting some video footage, and I attended and took some still photos. Anna and Maddie are also close friends and it was so nice to watch her perform at the new Café Racer!

Justin!

Justin was in town briefly and we all grabbed dinner in Ballard!

A rare photo taken on my camera by someone else of me! Love these two so much, I have known them both since high school and cherish few people the way I do them.

Lusio Lights Festival

I have been a fan and attended other Lusio Lights productions throughout the year, but have never made it to their big festival in the Summertime before. This year we went - it was held at Mary Olson Farm in Kent and it was spectacular. Quite the party - kids were running around mad, and we were all transfixed by the different art installations and projections.

Lucky Sweater Clothing Swap

My best friend Angela is a core member of the app Lucky Sweater, that helps to promote finding slow fashion clothing and facilitate trades between members. Different local swaps in person were held throughout the country and she hosted the Seattle event.

Seattle Design Festival 2022 - Block Party

I didn’t have any friends (models) to come with me to the Seattle Design Festival this year, so I went alone. I haven’t missed one of these since I started going many years ago. This year’s theme was “Connection” and it really translated well within the different art installations. My favorite was probably the circular ping pong table that had a rotating net. Plants were given away for free, Seattle housing was discussed, there was a happy map where you could add a place in Seattle that brought you happiness - I added “Neumos” to the map.

Velocity Music Festival 2022

Bad Snacks

Velocity was back this year, finally! It’s been a minute. The festival holds a trade show, seminars, workshops, and live music. I only went to the trade show and a few of the live sets - I so love to go because the crowd that attends is so different from my other shows as it is a celebration of Synthesizers - it is quite niche. This year the festival sold out. My friend Maddie was also a volunteer handling video for the festival and I found an awesome new artist - Bad Snacks!

Golf Alpha Bravo, Dark Dazey, and The Groovy Nobody

Golf Alpha Bravo

Dark Dazey

The Groovy Nobody

Record Store Day 2018: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio

Album cover photography: Bebe Labree - promotional photo courtesy of the artist

This Record Store Day (April 21, 2018) is especially exciting because a few of my photos are going to be included as a part of an incredible release!  Seattle locals, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, performed a live session with KEXP at the Upstream Music Festival last year - I was the photographer for the session, and that performance has now been pressed as an official Record Store Day 2018 release! For the album art, a few of the photos I took are going to be included.  

The performance was a highlight of mine from the 3-day Seattle festival's debut.  People we lined up around the outside of The Little London Plane in the Pioneer Square neighborhood.  There was an entire warm up set performed before the live streamed performance, so we essentially got two individual shows!  It was quite a treat.

The band is also currently on a quick tour in support of the Record Store Day release:

Photography: Bebe Labree - poster courtesy of the artist

Here are a few of my favorite photos that I took during the live performance, as well as the video shot by the wonderful team at KEXP covering the event.  If you want a taste of what is going to be on the official album release, this video is what you want to check out!

This performance was just a blast to be a part of!  I'm so lucky to be able to shoot photos for KEXP and to have such incredible local talent to enjoy!

Diet Cig, Great Grandpa & The Spook School at Chop Suey 2.11.18

Last weekend, Chop Suey opened it’s doors to a sold old, all-ages night filled with delightful pop-punk splendor.  New York duo Diet Cig brought with them an enthusiastic Scottish four-set, Spook School, as well as local outfit Great Grandpa.

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Diet Cig

Diet Cig is Alex Luciano on vocal/guitar and Noah Bowman on drums….or are they?  The self-descried “slop-pop” two-some debuted a new lineup this tour, adding two members to their performance for the first time - Karli Helm of San Francisco’s Plush and Anna Cory of Scotland’s Spook School (this tour’s opener) on bass.  The new additions were exciting for Luciano to bounce energy off of, but with Bowman in the far back and Luciano mobile and controlling center stage, there was really no taking your attention off of her for the entire show.

Alex Luciano is a charmer on stage.  Her smile is infectious and she never stands still! I lost count of her high-kicks well into their second song.  The majority of tunes performed came from their 2017 release Swear I’m Good At This.  Diet Cig opened with album’s first track “Sixteen”…a song with a slow buildup that turns into a radical belter-of-a-tune.  All of their songs are quite intimate for Luciano – focusing on her past experiences with dating and the lonesomeness of finding yourself.  While some moments are heavily emotional (there were definitely tears shed by some fans in the front row during their set), the spunky side of the band comes out in full force live.  Luciano wears sparkles on her cheeks at each show, prepping herself for the night in the same way a football player adheres grease on theirs.  She knows a Diet Cig show is going to be a fun time, because she is going to make it a fun experience for everyone to enjoy.

The theme of the night besides fun was inclusivity.  At many times Luciano explained to the crowd that they were so thankful for everyone to be there, and singled out anyone identifying in the LGBTQ community and told them “thank you for taking up space at our show.” They further explained that they really cared about the personal space of each person at their show and encouraged the crowd to speak up if they every felt uncomfortable. That being said, they wanted everyone to have a fun time, and asked those who wanted to dance, to do it, but to respect the space of those around them. Following this mindset, Luciano did check to make sure a group of people were okay near the center of the crowd after a particularly eruptive part of the performance brought some pushing and light moshing. After a thumbs-up confirmation from the crowd that all was well, Luciano twirled off her worry and powered through the rest of the track.

Luciano edged closer to the crowd the longer the night progressed.  Upon their finale track, “Harvard,” Luciano jumped onto Noah Bowman’s drumset and finished the song with another explosive kick.  All smiles, the chords from Semisonic’s “Closing Time” were played as the band sang the iconic 90s chorus “I know who I want to take me home” a few times while saying their goodbyes.  

Great Grandpa

Just the night before, Great Grandpa had to cancel their set.  Illness had taken a few of the band members, including vocalist Alex Menne, whom had her wisdom removed in an emergency procedure hours before taking the Chop Suey stage, and also guitarist Patrick Goodwin, who was struggling with diarrhea.  The band made the joke that they had “literally gone through shit to be able to perform tonight.”

Despite all of the obstacles facing Great Grandpa earlier in the day, the group dominated the stage without distraction.  Menne rolled around on the stage floor and also embraced the crowd while belting through their power pop ballads.  Goodwin never flinched while singing backing vocals and thrusting his guitar.

The Spook School

I wasn’t sure what to expect when Spook School took the stage – I only knew they were Scottish and that my friend who attended the show with me was at the show just to see their set.  They burst out with some properly punk anthems and thick accents were present as expected.  Lyrically the band tackles subjects uniquely them, the song “Binary,” challenges social normality with the ending chant of “I am bigger than a hexadecimal!” Drummer Niall McCamley ripped his shirt off, exposing a chest with taped x’s across each nipple exclaiming that sometimes the band likes to sing about queer concepts and to get ready for their next one about boys kissing boys!

The evening, filled with retaliation and expression, had no better place than performing at Chop Suey in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.  Radical decisions for the city of Seattle were forged in this community, and it has been the location of the most LGBTQ+ friendly establishments in the area for some time.  These bands, this venue, and this neighborhood all melded harmoniously as they came together last weekend.