The Dingo Times

Below: Max opens the set with a great rendition of John Bonham’s Moby Dick.

 

Those crazy Fortins have been hosting July 4th every year since they bought their house across from Hollman Stadium.  For 2008, Mr. Chip decided it was time to add some live music to the excitement.

The plan was simple: get one band, four sheets of plywood, an orange extension cord, and set us up in the front yard.

Getting set up went pretty well, although I have to say it’s been some time since I’ve had a gig, and I had forgotten how heavy all those speakers are!

While I tend to nitpick my performance a bit too much (I forgot all the words to Werewolves of London), the feedback we received was quite favorable!  It certainly makes all the weekly work the four of us put into it worthwhile!

Enjoy these pictures!  All of them were taken by the lovely Miss Holly Parker, except for the fireworks pictures towards the end of the spread — I decided to shoot those last minute, so they’re not as good as I would have liked them to be.  Oh well … there’s always next year!

~ Anand & Holly

 

Max nails his first official, public drum roll sans shirt.

 

Above: Max looking for a little help from the bass department.  I want bottom end!

 

Above:  Max works on his triplets.  Just like daddy.

 

Above:  Max Fortin uses Vic Firth sticks.  From eBay.

 

Above:  Max looks on as Chip plays Steppin’ Stone.  Next year we’ll have Max on tambourine.

 

Above:  Stretch gives his trusty Jazz bass a solid workout.  Notice the apprenticeship in the background.

 

Microphones are a great way to scratch your nose.

 

We were rather spread out, which made getting a group shot rather challenging.  Fortunately for us, the lovely Miss Holly Parker got the Nikon dialed in just right, found the perfect perspective, and nailed it.

 

Mell curtsies to the royal crowd.

 

Pedals in the grass.  Look at how ballsy my rig looks in the background.

 

Check out the Bono shades on the Mellster!

 

I’ve worn this tshirt every 4th since 2004, and it has the stains to prove it.

 

Everybody do the wave!

 

Chip on the ride.  Holly nailed this shot without using flash.  I love my Nikon girl.

 

Honey, does this guitar make me look fat?

 

I shot this handheld in the front yard.  Not terribly exciting in terms of overall composition, but I was excited I got at least some color and not a bunch of white streaks.  All without a tripod!

 

Power lines in front of the Fortin’s house were quite distracting.  I needed something to distract the viewer.  Enter Holly, stage right.

 

Notice the glow stick on Holly’s cranium.  Girls love glow sticks on July 4th.

 

Once I realized I was having a bit of success handheld, I decided to run across the street and see what I could get.  This picture was taken handheld while I was slowly running towards the Stadium.  In the lower left corner of the frame is a glow stick vendor.  When I was a kid, the glow sticks were never larger than 12″.  Today, they’re the size of light sabers.  I think they cost about $25 each or something.

 

This shot is a bit misleading: the leading trail is actually the next firework, not the one that got captured at the top of the frame.

 

Here the pine trees gave me a quick, simple silhouette to shoot against.  I shot off about 10 frames in around a minute’s time — this one was the best pic.  My camera card had filled up (from all the Max drumming shots), and I was quickly going thru and deleting pictures to create more room to capture additional images.

So, I have to say we had a wonderful Forth of July.  Great music, great company, and a fabulous show put on by the city.  Here’s my list of things that will help me for next year:

• Eat before you play!
• Get Max some percussion
• Bring a tripod!