Reggie Watts vs. DieHard

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

While doing my daily blogroll, I came across the video below. And it's amazing for several reasons.

I'll get to that. First, the 90 second spot:



First, it's Reggie Watts. Former lead singer for the Seattle soul band Maktub, now solo artist. The man is quite simply a talent supernova. Funny, improvisational, smart, fearless and a voice that leaves velvet feeling coarse. Let me put it this way, once you see his full range of talents, his epic fro is the LEAST interesting part of his persona.

Second, it's a great TV spot. Smart creative paired with good production values and shot well. I'd love to know how many takes there were. Probably many, and I bet they're all different. And awesome. (Thank you advertising gods for them NOT using the low-hanging "wattage" pun.)

Lastly, I hope this brings Reggie's sweet gentle creative goodness to more people.

My path crossed with Reggie's a few times in Seattle. The first, I think, was at a party hosted by my artist friend Cassandria Blackmore circa 2001. I'd seen Maktub and loved them. We struck up conversation and I was immediately impressed by how nice this guy was. No ego whatsoever.

We would meet again two more times while I photographed him for KEXP.org.

Truthfully, I had forgotten about Reggie after I left Seattle. That is, until last night when I saw DieHard Battery vs. Reggie Watts. Such a nice surprise. I hope he begins to get the wide-ranging recognition he deserves.

Be sure to check out more of his amazing performances on Youtube.


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Kane Hodder - RIP

In Hell's Kitchen (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

According to my compatriot and former fellow Seattleite, Ryan Schierling, the tonsil-hemorrhaging NW band Kane Hodder is no more.

For those of you not of the great gray/green Northwest, Kane Hodder is a very loud, very crazy band named after the stunt man that played Jason in the Friday the 13th movies. Ryan was a megafan. I had never heard them live. All I'd seen were Ryan's photos of them. And in those photos, you rarely saw Andrew Moore's (lead vox) feet touching the ground. He was either mid-air or writhing around grand mal style. Only Guy Picciotto from Fugazi did the front stage tortured writhing better. So when Ryan asked if I'd be interested in shooting stills at a KH music video shoot with him, I agreed.

I had no idea what I was in for.

It was shot in a grimey shithole in Tacoma called Hell's Kitchen. (That's a compliment by the way.) It was crammed full of pre-, mid-, and barely post-pubescent fans and the video hot lights lived up to their namesake and kept the interior temperature in the club well above the BROIL setting.

They were awesome. "Reckless abandon" got redefined for me right in front of my eyes. I nearly died of heat stroke. But I have a cache of images from that night I'll hold dear for a long time. The image above is my favorite.

Godspeed Andrew et al.

P.S. Kane Hodder, the person, is still very much alive. And, apparently, a very good poker player.

Rogue Wave's "D Tour"

Evan and Pat. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

I had another “hey I know these guys!” moment last night while watching TV. Though, this one more somber than the last. I came across an Independent Lens documentary on PBS last night called D Tour: A rock 'n roll film about life, death and bodily functions. It is the story of Pat Spurgeon, drummer for the great Bay Area band Rogue Wave. Pat was born with one kidney. The original transplant he received 15 years ago began failing just as the band began to reach success. The mostly self-shot documentary follows his grueling wait for a new transplant organ as well as his amazing decision to tour while on dialysis. (Which gives the film its name, “D Tour.” D is for dialysis.)

I photographed Rogue Wave for KEXP in NYC while they were there for the CMJ music festival in 2005. They seemed like really nice guys. Really driven, nice guys. They were obviously a tight group but after seeing this documentary I had no idea to what depth.

This moving film is eye-opening. Stunning. It touches on love, friendship, passion, loyalty, endurance and the incredible pain that comes with heart-wrenching life-and-death medical decisions. It also touches on the very timely topic of the state of healthcare in America. I’ve met so many musicians over the years that have no health insurance. Not out of complacency, but simple financial necessity. And on occasion, one of them gets injured or sick. But I can tell you that every time that happened, the wagons were circled, benefit shows were booked and healthcare simply becomes friendcare. The story of Pat Spurgeon, and his former bandmate and close friend Evan Farrell, is as inspirational as it is heart-wrenching.

And I can think of no better time for people to see this than now. Now that legislators are deciding who lives and who dies based on how much of a premium they can afford.

Rock and Roll Takes Its Toll

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Was sifting through some archive disks last night. Came across this image I'd completely forgotten about but have always loved. It was a band from Tacoma, WA called The Jet City Fix.

Phoenix (de la France)

Live in-studio. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


Thomas. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

A few weeks ago, while flipping through channels on a Saturday night, I was pleasantly surprised to see the French band Phoenix performing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. I had photographed them back in April of 2005 in New York for KEXP 90.3 FM. Their in-studio was mid-week, way too early and downright, unapologetically incredible. It was about 8am, the band looked hungover and there were about 12 people there. Half of which had never heard of them. The whole front row was empty. But you'd never know by the way lead singer Thomas Mars performed. All out.

Now, four years later, they're on SNL, Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and a slew of other big, national spotlights. Kudos to them. And for their first release from the new album, 1901, they've created one of the most creative, beautiful music videos I've ever seen.

Panoramic memories

While going through the archives I came across some panoramic images I shot while living in Seattle, steeped in the music scene. All images shot with my Widelux camera. Good times.


The Dandy Warhols. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina of The Evens. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


John Doe before his live in-studio performance for KEXP FM. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


Kinski live. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


Kinski for Seattle Weekly. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


Interpol backstage. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


Schoolyard Heroes backstage. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


Kane Hodder crowd. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony