Here are the photos from last Wednesday’s Kick Ass Karaoke…with a twist.
I decided to experiment with what photo junkies refer to as available-light photography at last week’s Kick Ass Karaoke. I took these photos of the Karaoke regulars (although given the nature of the folks who frequent the Bovine Sex Club, perhaps the term should be “irregulars”) without the flash, relying only on the stage and ambient lighting of the Bovine.
The photos were taken on my ancient but trusty Olympus D320L digital camera. if you carefully choose the light source and holding the camera very still — the camera tends to be very motion sensitive without the flash — you can get some very dramatic and “arty” shots. They were not treated to any Photoshoppery other than being rotated ninety degrees (most of them are “portrait” shots, taken with the camera on its side) and shrunk to about two-thirds their original size.
The Titano close up. The grill work on the keyboard side of a piano accordion lends itself very well to photography. Here’s a shot of the Titano, my “street accordion”, taken from above.
Ladies and gentlement, your host, Mr. Carson T. Foster. He always starts off the evening fully clad in his silver tuxedo, but he’s usually down to just the pants by the end of the night.
The extra burlesque is free! That night, he went a little farther stripping down to the silk boxers. It looks as though his stint as “Derek Shaw” on
The Naked News did rub off on him.
Welcome to Mapplethorpe Country! He’s singing Such a Lovely Day.
Channelling Iggy Pop. I got this candid shot while he was riffling through his library of Karaoke CDs looking for the next song.
Cass!
Cass and Melanie, putting on a show. The suggestive “hot girl-on-girl” pantomime never gets old, no matter how many times I’ve seen it.
Still Life with vodka and cranberry. Ah, sweet liquor…eases the pain.
Eric! Kick Ass Karaoke’s resident ’80’s specialist gives us his serious look.
Leila!
Melanie! Mel’s the reigning goth fashion queen of Kick Ass Karaoke.
Robin again. A close-up shot of Robin Black.
Self-portrait.
This is my patented “
Yakuza” stare. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
I’m not Trent Reznor, but I play him on TV. This guy says he never looks good in photos, but this pose is serious album art material.
Nice effing T-shirt. She wins the award for T-shirt with the most gratuituous use of the word “fuck”.
Karaoke hip-hop specialist Special K. Believe it or not, there are karaoke versions of Eminem’s numbers, and nobody does ’em quite like Special K.
Tina! Kristina “Too-Tall Tina” Gravelson wanted to do Queen’s
I Want to Break Free, but it wasn’t in the Kick Ass karaoke library.
The longs and the short of it. Tina and Dorian do a duet. By the way, Dorian is standing up, but I think Tina’s also wearing platform shoes.
Kissed by Nosferatu? Me and Tina, hanging out on one of the benches. The “vampire” effect come’s from Tina’s moving towards me.
Tina and me, again. This shot has “album liner notes art” written all over it.
Will! The half-Asian half of the Asian gang known as “Asian Gang”, I chose him to end this set of photos.
