I have no clue what any of the switches do but they look really cool.

Anyhow, the visuals during the Lights in the Sky Tour were incredible, it was the greatest show ever put together.  Here’s a great article from wired, great insight on how it was put together. That’s a pretty ignorant statement since I haven’t seen every show put together but watch footage an entire concert and then tell me you’ve seen something better.  I saw it twice and shot it once, by far the greatest concert experiences of my life…even after getting decked twice in the span of one minute.  Unless I’m friends with a band there’s no way I’m going to have the privilege to watch the first 3 songs from the side of the stage.

I still can’t understand why I didn’t take any shots of Freese, maybe because I was in awe and staring at Trent Reznor the whole time.  When he was lurching over us I made a mental note of how all the photogs looked like minions, we didn’t know it but he did and he thoroughly enjoyed (even though he looks miserable) having 10,000 people in the palm of his hand.  I was also admiring JMJ’s fro, he seems like a classy guy.  I still think Robin Finck has the worst hair of anyone on this planet.  Does he go out of his way to look like a circus freak?

1. Listen to “Free me” and go be those guys again.  You have one of the greatest drummers in rock at the throne, go off, play in odd time signature but make it sound cool and not wanking.

2. Only allow one ballad on this album, this means one song with Grohl on piano, no more.  That’s cool you love your wife and kids but come one man, we’re here to get drunk and scream…not weep.  I’ll listen to Alice in Chains if I want to feel like shit.

3. Don’t listen to anything you’ve done in the last 10 years.  Let it Die and the other song that-I-can’t-remember were exactly the same, we don’t need an acoustic intro that segues into huge guitars more than once. Its extremely predictable and you’re getting one step close to Bon Jovi every time you do it.

4.Please do not tour as a 15 piece band with a chick on cello out in front.  What the fuck are you doing with percussionist?  Come on man, you were in Scream!

5.Use Butch Vig as a tool but don’t let him go super crazy and get everything too razor sharp.  You’re already as tight as a band comes, don’t over edit…this is why I hope you’re recording to tape. I like the juxtaposition of using one of the most arrangement savvy producers around-but keep in mind his last record was with Green Day.  We’re trying to be cool, not rip off the Who and call it our own pop-punk-opera….yeah that last line was just an excuse to rip a band that’s 40 something and rocking eyeliner…so was this one.

6. Write about some cool shit other than being a dad, how about some UFO’s?

7.  Let Taylor loose for more than 4 bars at the end of the singles.  Please, do it for all the drum geeks.

8. Guitar solo’s-we need more, please reference Summers End.  Its the only song I could listen to on the last album.  Come back to Virginia for a weekend, write a song and then go back.  People with private jets can do this.

9. Realize you’re getting old and the guard is changing.  Please make this a great album and walk away gracefully instead of limping.

10. Take me out on tour.

Tomorrow when I walk out of the Hangar and hand the keys back to John I’ll have finished my greatest acvhievement ever.  I wrote, recorded and played every instrument for my rock album. I channeled all the shit from the last couple years and made it into something positive.  I’ve been chasing this album since I quit my job at the FDA 5 years ago so I could play music all day. Now my dream is on a reel of tape, I can hold whatever was playing in my head in my hands.

It amazes me how life has lead me down this path of fulfilling my relentess need to create.  It used to haunt me since I had no clue how to treasure, control or enjoy it.  I used to struggle with what I should do with photography in music; it didn’t seem natural to be good at both.  Now I love it more than anything, I’ve been given gifts that some people never get the chance to posess or even find out if they have them.  I didn’t care for my 30th birthday, tomorrow was the day I was looking towards.  I started this album the day Declan was born, he came out because he wanted his uncle to start his life on the same day he started his.  His birth signified the cloud being lifted and he immediately brought a joy to everyone in our family.

Tomorrow I wake up as the person as I’ve been working to become.

Now everything in the future is perfect.