Straight after the Shonen Knife show at GoMA, it was a quick bus ride to the Valley for the Johnny & The Fembots show at Black Bear Lodge. The plan was to photograph this show as well but as the band had already started playing by the time we got there and the front of the room near the stage was packed, and I didn’t really want to push my way through, so it didn’t happen. With no photo pit, Black Bear Lodge is one of those venues where it’s always best to turn up early to claim a good vantage point before the bands start playing. The original plan was give my photography stats an early year boost, and make up for the lack of shows in the first few weeks of the year by covering three different shows in the same. Without any photo of Johnny & The Fembots, this became two shows in the same night, with the ZA! Show at the Zoo being the final port of call. Valve Records’ Paul Curtis, who was organising the media list for the Shonen Knife show at GoMA was also putting on this show, recommended that I check them out and kindly put my name on the door.
Having talked about the cost of gig tickets in my last post, this was also a cheap gig for an international act (about $20) but nowhere near as well attended as the Shonen Knife show. Having said that, ZA! obviously aren’t as big a drawcard as Shonen Knife, even though I think they’ve over to play down at MONA. It’s a shame as they’re pretty good and they’ve got one of those crazy drummers that I always enjoy watching and trying to photograph.
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