One thing leads to another...

So Jason Castro...American Idol Season 7 contestant with the dreadlocks.
Came in 4th.

But he also did something else. He put his friend's bands on his myspace page. A few of them, actually.

And in May(ish...) of 2008, I did what I always do on musicians' myspace pages and troll their top friends for other bands I will like.
I did that with Jason and added this band, Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights. I listened to the songs on their page, and bought their album on iTunes that same night. Loved it. Listened to it all summer long.
They are a Dallas based band, like Jason....so their schedule didn't bring them anywhere near me in VA.
But in September, I found out I was heading to Dallas for a business trip (you know, the job that PAYS the bills...not racks them up...) so I looked at their schedule and found they were playing the night before I was supposed to leave. Sweet.
Done deal.
Made the arrangements with a high school friend and a Castrocopian friend to head out to Woody's Tavern in Ft. Worth, TX on Sept. 24th 2008 to finally see JTNL.
I get there, sit at the bar with my friends and start looking around the bar, people (band...) watching.
I see this guy sitting at a table in front of us and say to my friend "Holy crap, that guy is hot." LOL. Had to talk about something while we waited for JTNL to go on...

(Sidebar - this shit is NOT about who is hot and who isn't. I promise. Attraction is an added bonus...)

10 minutes later, that hot guy gets on stage and starts singing from the album I had been killing all summer. It is safe to say, that my ability to NOT stare went very far out the door. I fell for JTNL hook, line and sinker in about 17 seconds. And so did my camera.

The first one....I love this.



So after that show, which I will never forget, I got a chance to chat with Jonathan and Beau, get a picture and generally shoot the shit about how much I dug their album. I bought the "hard copy" and a tshirt that night, from the lovely Mo Brown. And the next day, I took my "prized possessions" back to VA, where I promptly told everyone that would listen - "These guys are the next big thing."

Understand, this was more than just falling in love with a band. This was a giant slap in the face for me, one that reminded me just how much I love live music and how much I enjoy being a fan.
And it made me think - how can I do this, and give back...somehow...to the artists themselves, but also to the people that don't realize that they are fans yet.

Which is where my "light bulb" moment driving to Charlottesville comes into play...that happened in the time between my first and second time seeing JTNL. But I wanted there to be a purpose in the second time....and the contiguous times.

And my little "band taping business" idea was born.
So when I went to Louisville, to be one of 8 people watching the band that night, I also took my Canon S3IS with it's nifty video feature, that was kind to me for Jason and my first little JTNL video.

Which is where I got this...."Time for Love", my favorite song of theirs at the time.



So, I then knew I needed better equipment. I knew that I needed to do this before the next time I saw them.
I owe them a lot, because they continue to tolerate me "learning" on them.
I got my camera, Canon HV20, before the next time I saw them...and they were the first band I taped with that camera....as it should be. *sigh*

And I ended up with this:



And this:



This was in Atlanta, in November....time number 3 that I had seen JTNL.

Not much "behind the lens" action being told, huh? Crap.

I still consider this the "getting to know you" part of my relationship with JTNL. I think by Atlanta, I was known...I don't know as what, but hopefully as some chick with a camera who loved this band "so much it hurt", to use a quote from Almost Famous. If there was more, I don't and don't want to know about it. I treat them like friends, even if that isn't a two way street. Treat others how you would like to be treated....help if you have the means to. So that is what I did....

It is merely a giving back thing for me.
At this point, JTNL had revived me, got me thinking, inspired me to start a business and really take steps to do something about this interest of mine.
Plus I knew people who would love this band, and couldn't necessarily "see" them - which is essentially the premise of my business - bring bands to people that can't get to them as easily or as often as I am able to. And bring them in a real and personal way.

I am going to conclude this chapter here, because the next chapter is a little complicated, plus it begins with a new year, so I need to think about the presentation of it a bit.

A teaser?
It involves what happens when I do NOT bring my camera to a show and try to take a night off from Behind the Lens.
I have done that about 4 deliberate times since this whole thing really took off, and each time has been dramatic in some way.

That should tell me something.

That has taught me a lot, actually....