Local Spotlight - Fireworks Over London

My friend Mike invited me out to check out this band. Not my usual type of music, but it is always refreshing to get out and see what else is going on. The band came all the way from Nashville, but I think MI is home to most of them. Check out this video.

My Gear List - What I shoot with

I see that a lot of blogs and photographers list their gear on their web pages. I think it is important for anyone trying to get a gig shooting to be able to give a reference. Well here is my modest list:

Nikon D7000
Nikkor Zoom Lens -18mm-105mm VR -F/3.5-5.6 -
Nikkor Prime Lens - 50mm -f/1.8 D-AF - Nikon F
2x 32GB Sandisk Extreme Class 10 SDHC memory cards
2x Nikon EN EL15 Camera battery - Li-Ion
Promaster 67mm UV Filter
Tiffen 52mm UV Filter
Nikon Lens Pen
Rode Stereo Videomic Pro

Induro Cm24 Carbon Fiber Monopod
Manfrotto 190XPROB Camera Tripod
Manfrotto 701HDV Pro Fluid Video Mini Head
Lowerpro Rezo 160 AW Shoulder Bag

I am sure it will be ever changing. I really want to get a wide angle lens for shooting Electric Forest this year but I don't think I will be able to in time. We will see :)

Local Spotlight - Thick as Thieves & Skee-town Stylee

Went out last night and hit up The Hamilton St Pub. Seemed like the only place I frequent with any good bands playing. I was pleasantly surprised and walked away from the night feeling musically fulfilled.

Skee-town Stylee

This outfit from Muskegon, MI brought the Slightly Stoopid/Sublime sounding vibe to Saginaw. They weren't just any Sublime sounding band, their singer Brett Kerr has a great voice and can easily pull off the sound. All of their songs seem to feature a marijuana oriented theme so I feel they sound more like today's Slightly Stoopid than yesterdays Sublime, although they kind of have a sound somewhere in the middle. I was happy to hear their music as I love this kind of sound. I would love to see these guys again. Check out this video.

Thick as Thieves

This was my first time ever checking out this Saginaw local band and I am happy that I did. They have a lot of different sounding songs that range from Reggae, to blues, to Rap, and probably even more. I was very pleased because all of their songs were great. I can't wait to just sit back and enjoy these guys again. Check out these two very different sounding songs.

Few new Shows on the Agenda. - The Macpodz

I have recently been invited to come out and shoot a few more shows.


April 05 - I have been invited by the Macpodz and will be attending the Rubbles show in Mt Pleasant. Expect something fun!

Can't wait!

Thanks for all the support,
Pun

New website and camera! + Local Spotlight! Mason's Case, The Holy Gun, & Life Size Ghost

Things have been going great lately and my plans for this summer couldn't have me any more excited. I want to keep you all updated on what is going on and I must say that there is a lot to look forward to!

First and foremost is I bought a new Nikon D7000 Camera and have already been shooting and releasing content with it. I am really happy with the quality and  the extended capability this will give Punlive in the future. Check out this great video I shot last night of a Saginaw native band called Mason's Case. Check out our Youtube for more videos.

Ok enough about the camera... We also are about to debut an all new Punlive.net. I never intended on using the Blogspot.com as a true home for punlive. Now with the help of our friends at Design Hawx, Punlive will  have it's own page that will feature a lot more direct content. I am very excited to show you all. The site should be live within the week so stay tuned!

My summer schedule hasn't changed much but here it is for all your viewing pleasure!

May 24-27 - Summercamp Music Festival (Chillicothe, IL)
June 10 - Radiohead @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
June 22-23 - Dave Matthews Band @ Deer Creek (Noblesville IN)
June 28-July 1 - Electric Forest Festival (Rothbury MI)
July 10 - Dave Matthews Band @ DTE Energy (Clarkston MI)
July 19-22 - Allgood Music Festival (Thornville OH)
August 17-19 - Hoxeyville Music Festival (Wellston MI)

On top of all these great summer big band events, I will be continuing to release coverage of all sorts of local Michigan talent. Make sure to subscribe to the Twitter in order to keep up with all the videos and pictures I am posting of new content. I am using Facebook and Flickr to release photos I am shooting for now. I just got the Flickr account created and they only let you upload so much at a time so the updates might be a little behind on Flickr until it all gets caught up.


Local Spotlight:

I am going to start writing in the blog on a more consistent basis and I am starting a section devoted to all the local Michigan area bands that we will cover. Here are a few showcase videos of some of the great local Michigan bands I saw this week.

The Holy Gun - I had seen this band open for Sprout a few times and it took a few to get by Ray Torres extreme "Trey Face" to realize that this guy can really play awesome guitar. Pair him up with Ryan Fitzgerald, who is in my opinion Saginaw's best bass player, and you've got a great combination. Ray obviously is Phish influenced. Check out this video!

Life Size Ghost - I have been covering these guys since my ears first had the pleasure of hearing Talitha's amazing voice. Erik their lead guitar player is amazing at taking their music and blasting it into the stratosphere.  Check out our Youtube for a lot more videos of these guys.

Mason's Case - Originally from Saginaw, Matthew Alfano's Mason's Case is now based out of Chicago. It was great to have them back for a local show. I shot what is probably some of the best video about to be on the internet of them yet! Here's one tidbit for now. We shot this show with 3 cameras, so expect some edited version to come out eventually featuring all of the set from different angles. Here's one song the D7000 captured. 

The Banana Convention - This was my first real time going out and attempting to shoot video with the new camera. I learned a valuable lesson about turning the microphone on and ended up with a bunch of soundless footage. Of course it was all the best shots. You live and learn. Here is an amazing cover of Adele's "Rolling in the deep" that they did. This girl can really sing I am excited to check them out again sometime. Thanks for letting me shoot the show :)

Thanks for all the support ~ Pun