Kim kicking my....

not really! These are some images I took of Kim while we were waiting for Ross William Perry to begin playing on New Years Day. I missed some shots of Kim because I needed to put down my cue, grab my camera and by that time Kim was done with her shot. She wasn't waiting for me. I think that was another part of her strategy to keep me off balance and not thinking about my game... :)...sounds good anyways.

Here is the original post about the evening.

Don't stand to the right of Kim when she "breaks"!
Oh,my...this one gave me time to grab my camera!
Chuck

Tessiah Ebenta Ben

I had a photo shoot with Tessiah Ebenta Ben on Friday, 01-07-11. I had a cancellation the day before so I put out a casting call on Model Mayhem when I got to the studio to set up for the scheduled shoot. Although Tessiah filled in at the last minute I definitely would photograph her again. She told me she would like to come back to do some crazy stuff...

Thank you Tessiah!! It was a fun photo shoot. Tessiah...contact me at anytime and we’ll schedule another shoot.

Tessiah told me she has done some runway shows, but hadn’t been in front of the camera for any photo shoots.

Oh, today...01-09-11, is Tessiah’s birthday. Happy Birthday!!!!

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Chuck

Ross William Perry

After a wild night on New year's Eve, Kim and I decided to go see Ross William Perry at Wilebski's Blues Saloon on New Years Day!

On Wilebski's website have the headliner starting at 07:30 pm.Well, that's not always the case, but I wouldn't find out until I got there. Luckily, he was going to start at 9 pm.

I got there early waiting for Kim to arrive at 07:30 pm. Once she got there I told her about Ross William Perry not playing until 09:00 pm. I told her the The Belfast Cowboys, a Van Morrison Tribute Band, didn't start until 10:30 pm elsewhere.

We decide to stay and play pool until Ross William Perry started playing. I used to play a lot of pool in my younger day, but now my eyesight is not as good so (my first excuse) I didn't play that well. The second excuse, the place was once again cold. I hate to have to say it, but turn the heat up. This has been my 3rd or 4th time there where it's been uncomfortable inside. Later on other people were yelling turn up the heat. People walking around in their winter jacket or seated while sitting on their hands to keep them warm. Sad!! I know I wrote about it in another blog post where I was totally uncomfortable!

I think we won about the same number of games. If I'm wrong I'm sure Kim will say something. I played with no "slop", well, Kim...played very good!:)

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KiiAunny

On Sunday, 01-02-11, I went to the Guthrie Theatre with the Twin Cities Photography Club. I met Bill Houlton there who is also a member of the club.

Prior to going I put out a casting call on Model Mayhem looking for a model. I eventually picked KiiAunny who is a new model. She was excited about the opportunity and really wanted to go do the shoot.

Both Bill and I enjoyed photographing KiiAunny. I think we got her some good images to use. I hope to shoot with this young lady again.

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Steeling Dan

On Thursday, 12-23-10, Kim, Slick and I were looking for a place to go and listen to some music.

I found on place in St. Paul that was going to have a Blues Band, but when I called to verify I was told they cancelled. It was unknown if anyone else was going to play.

I checked Famous Dave's in Uptown and saw that Steeling Dan, a Steely Dan Tribute Band , was playing. Hey, I used to listen to Steely Dan a lot when I was in college as well as a lot of other music, but I liked Steely Dan.

Steeling Dan was billed as having 13 members. Well, something must be going on having that many members playing. I told Kim what I found and she checked with Slick. Slick decided not to come out and play. I arrived a little after 7 pm and grabbed a couple spots as close as I could get to the stage. The place was full and more people coming in. Kim wouldn't get there until 9 pm.

Once Kim arrived I got up and took some photos. As you can imagine 13 people packed up on stage it was tough to get any good shots. I ended up with some, but I didn't post any images of a few of the members. Overall it wasn't a place to photograph that many people on a smaller stage.

I was surprised to find the music delightful. Like I said it was a full house. There appeared to be many family/ friends of the band. People were dancing on the dance floor. Not much of a dance floor, but people were dancing!

During the first break about half the members went off to do whatever they wanted and the other half and another guy on keyboards came back up and played some Fleetwood Mac. I don't know if they have been playing publicly as Mac Attack but they played about three songs. They sounded pretty good!

Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening. I will go see these guys again. In fact, they announced that they will again be playing next year once a month on a Thursday at Famous Dave's. I believe this is or was their 6th year at Famous Dave's.

Steeling Dan

About half the members





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Davina and The Vagabonds

Davina and The Vagabonds

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Davina

Davina

Davina and Kim
Corey Franks and Davina

The two "Little Dancers"

Kim Buell called me earlier in the week wanting to know where we would go this week-end to listen to some music. I hadn’t checked around as I had been busy working on photos, work and other things. Besides I had to work Friday evening so I wouldn’t be going anywhere that night.

We both said we would look and get back to each other the next day. Kim likes the Belfast Cowboys, Van Morrison Tribute Band, who were playing Saturday night at the Whiskey Junction. I also like Van Morrison so that’s where we planned to go.

I’ve been wanting to see Davina and The Vagabonds for some time now. One thing or another and I just haven’t seen them. I’ve had then penciled in on my calendar on several different days, but just never made it.

Well, Saturday afternoon, I saw that Davina and The Vagabonds (DATV) were playing at Famous Dave’s in Uptown. After Kim got done at her “Craft Fair” or at least that’s what I call it. Anyways, Kim sells Handmade Polymer Clay jewelry and photo cards at different places on week-ends. What I hear...Kim is one of the best at this Polymer Clay stuff art.

Back on topic...I called Kim up around 5:45 pm and asked her about changing our destination for the evening. I told her I wanted to go see DATV. I reminded her that DATV was the band I had sent her some YouTube links of a while ago. At that time Kim made some very postive comments about DATV, but she had told some other people that we were going to the Whiskey Junction tonight.

Kim called her friend, Tom, and Grace aka Slick, to see if they were going to the Whiskey Junction. Nope...Kim called me back and said she would be at Famous Dave's at 08:30 pm.

I got there about 8:15 pm. Paid my cover and asked for a table. I saw Davinain her blue and whire dress, sitting at the table next to the one the Famous Dave employee was cleaning for me.

Before the table was clean Davina walked up toward the front. I introduced myself and she said I must be the photographer. I guess she recognized me from my Facebook photo or maybe she saw my camera. We spoke briefly then I sat down at the table.

About 10 minutes later Kim arrived and we immediately notice that there was now an open table directly in front of where Davina would be playing on stage. We moved to that table.

DATV reminds me of New Orlean’s style jazz/blues. Davina has such a unique voice and she can belt out the vocals. Davina introduced the band members: Conner “Chops” McRae on drums, Darren Sterud who they call “Ray Ray” on trombone, Daniel Eikmeier who they call “ Daniel Eikmeier” on trumpet, and Michael Carvale on upright bass.

The stage was big enough for “Ray Ray” and “Michael Eikeimer” to move about the stage while playing and dancing around.

There isn’t much room for dancing at Famous Dave’s as the tables are fairly close to the stage. Later on the dance floor was full. There were a couple young girls who were doing most of the dancing earliy on.

Kim and I stayed the entire evening. During the first break Kim bought DATV latest CD, Live @The Times and I got that one and their first one, Under Lock and Key. DATV have a new CD, Black Cloud, due out....when....in April. As someone in the band said, April 32nd.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening and watching the band. I will go and see them again soon! Thank you, Davina and the rest of the band, for putting on an excellent show.

I found this to be another tough venue to photograph with the way the lights are positioned. The lights when they hit any object i. e. microphone, instrument, etc. cast a different color shadow right back upon the band members.

Chuck

Chuck Ryan Photography

Charles W. Ryan II

Chuck Ryan Photography (Facebook)

42nd Avenue Station Monday Night Music...

with The Langer's Ball and Felonious Bosch (minus David Stenshoel and Katy Thomasberg) last Moday night, 12-13-10.

Chuck

Chuck Ryan Photography