About a year ago my girlfriend Jessica and I made plans to attend her cousin Pablo’s wedding February of 2011… In Mendoza, Argentina.  Jess took on a second job, I saved every penny I could and in December we purchased the plane tickets and began making plans and reservations.  We found a small apartment in the center of the city for about $25 a day for the two of us.  We took a 14 hour flight from JFK to Santiago, Chile, then over the Andes mountains to Mendoza, Argentina.  We went from the beginning of February in NYC to the end of summer in Argentina, the change was glorious.  Jessica has been in and out of this city her whole life, and this trip was my first step out of my own country, I couldn’t have been in better hands.  Somehow I squeaked by with my awful spanish and to Jess’s annoyance “si, si, si, si… claro” translated “yes, yes, yes, of coarse” (sounding incredibly gringo).  We spent three weeks in this wonderful city, I’m sure I’ll be back again in the next year or so.

Photos by Jessica Garro and I

Marc Merza is a friend of mine I met through my girlfriends room mate, he is the bassist of his band (formerly Inoculist, now Glory Girls).  He asked if I could do photos for the band he has with his girlfriend Cory, named Lizard Kisses.  I was more than happy to do so for a couple bucks and a meal, so we set up a date to shoot at their apartment.  As a side note, I’ve had a creative block, or maybe I’ve just been lazy, but I feel like this shoot has lifted this curse.  The shoot could have not gone better, we all agreed it was a good time and got some sweet shots.  Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/lizardkissesmusic

Until next time, I’ll be in Argentina for three weeks starting February 12th, can’t wait to post photos from there!

Here are some recent photos of Mat Stevenson, a serious skate in Norwich, CT.

Jewett City–a small rural town in southeastern Connecticut with a mere population of 4,000–is the absolute last place you would look for a rockin’ rap show. Well-hidden beside the train tracks, PJ O’Conner’s Pub is a low-key hangout for the locals. But come Friday and Saturday nights…good luck getting in. The small pub transforms into a wall-to-wall packed arena for local rap and metal artists. Week after week, the bored youth of rural Connecticut form an unlikely bond between the different genres. Shows are sure to have an electric energy full of stage-jumping, crowd-pushing, politically driven rap, face-melting metal, and fans hanging on every lyric.

How’d this almost invisible bar get on the radar? The success of these local shows was achieved by the constant planing and promoting of the headliner, none other than John “Skobie-Won” Skobrak. John manages to book artists, promote the show with his own flyer designs and rap on the bill at least 3 times a month. Working under his own label appropriately named “Work Horse” John has recorded and produced his own music as well as a number of other local bands. It all happens in his basement work shop complete with a home built vocal booth. John spends a great deal of time mixing new loops and writing new lyrics.

The regulars and the old-timers are sparse but still present on these nights. They must be wondering what overnight tour-de-force saved both their pub and that forgotten feeling of how music once saved their lives, too.