PUBLISHED IN ROLLING STONE!!

An image I shot of Dave Grohl at The Foo Fighters's secret show at the Roxy has been published in the March 2011 edition of Rolling Stone Magazine!! (Page 26). More of my images, a slideshow and a recap from the show (along with a recap of the secret show held at Spaceland) can be found at LAWeekly.com.

I can't even begin to explain how surreal it is to have shot an image I know I would have clipped in high school and hung in my locker, haha. I'm 26 now, but the 16 year-old-me vividly recalls forcing my parents to play "Foo Fighters", "The Colour and the Shape" or "There is Nothing Left to Lose" in the car on the way home from school AND to and from the movies AND to and from our weekly visits to our favorite Chinese restaurant, haha. And of course, I had to skip a lot of the songs because my mother thought Dave Grohl "screams too much" (She loves The Foo Fighters now, by the way), but songs like "My Hero", "February Stars" and "Everlong" were always welcome.

I never considered concert photography as a viable career option until it fell into my lap two weeks ago when L.A. Weekly's music editor contacted me and gave me an opportunity to cover the show. I have always taken cameras into venues, but never had a legitimate purpose which merited photo pass access. The irony here is... I couldn't get a photo pass for that Foo Fighters show at the Roxy and had to use my Canon PowerShot to cover the concert. I set everything to manual and convinced the camera it could shoot well. Securing an amazing spot in front of the stage helped too. I was able to capture the entire concert, not just the first three songs a photo pass would permit. I'm covering two concerts this week (Cake at The Troubador and 311 in Anaheim) where I will finally be able to use my 5D. Can't wait!!

I'm looking forward to attending concerts, shooting photos and writing for L.A. Weekly. (BONUS: I'm finally able to put my Journalism and writing degrees to use!!) I hate the word 'Serendipitous' (because it reminds me of that cheesy John Cusak movie), but that's the perfect word to describe how 2011 is shaping for me. :)

His name is Nick H-e-x-u-m

"Somebody pointed out to me that the point of a relationship is to relate. Humans need to hear other people that they can relate with and have similar thoughts and feelings. When you can provide that through art, when people say, 'That's the same way I feel,' then that's a masterpiece. The more honest we get with what's going on in our hearts, the more people connect with it and feel it." ~Nick Hexum of 311

excerpt from a recent interview via Artist Direct.

Smart guy who's looking good with a mohawk. :) Can't wait to see 311 live on MONDAY!!!! If you haven't already checked out their new album Uplifter, you can listen to the album in its entirety here. I highly recommend "It's Alright," "India Ink" and "I Like The Way". Great album to grove to this summer!!

OMG.

my boyfriend just met dave grohl!!!! rick stepped out of work and saw the peter pan of rock n' roll eating lunch and called me and asked "should i get my picture taken with dave grohl???" my reponse was "WHAT?! OHMYGOD, YES!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! DID YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK?!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" hahaha. when i got the photo via my cell phone, i started jumping up and down. i'm probably more excited than rick is about it. hell, i feel like i was the one who met him. hahaha. but i didn't. :(

lucky rick!! (and lucky dave grohl too, hehe).

mom's visit, san diego and 3.5 celebrity crushes in 2 weeks

my mom visited me for 9 days. despite me being sick for the entire time, we had a lot of fun. here's what we did...

saturday: ate lunch with rick. took my mom to get coffee then my mom and i slept. a lot.

sunday: ate lunch with hal in santa monica then drove to san diego where we spent three days in mission bay. i took a lot of photos at pacific beach of and from crystal pier. it was neat to see the same area i was in for the first time four years ago. it's interesting how you perceive an area if you've only seen briefly and then to go back to the same area and see it from all sides -- you see it in a new light.

monday: we went kayaking in the ocean at la jolla and saw sea lions (we were probably were a little TOO close to them...) and leopard sharks and dolphins!! san diego feels like a state away from los angeles. actually, being in san diego feels a lot like being in florida or virginia beach. i really like it there. lots of awesome shops and restaurants along the main streets. there's more of a beach town vibe there than in venice or santa monica, maybe because the people in san diego seem more laid back and the traffic doesn't suck as badly.

monday night: we saw the foo fighters at SDSU!! :)

tuesday: we bypassed the gaslamp district because my mom isn't into shopping and went to midway to see the giant kissing statue and military ships. we ate lunch overlooking the bay and wandered over to the maritime museum gift shop (that is located on one of the ships). we stopped at the flower fields in carlsbad on our way back home but they weren't in bloom yet. however, the employees in the ticket booth still tried to get us to buy a ticket to see nothing for $5 (1/2 off ) and tried to convince us to buy a season pass to the fields. but who needs to see a field of flowers more than once??? i wonder if people actually buy season passes there.

wednesday: we saw the foo fighters again (night 1 at the forum!!) and my mom got to meet my boss james.

thursday: my mother, rick and i went to a taping of the craig ferguson show -- amy sedaris (one of my faves!!) was the guest. we ate sushi and walked around hollywood & highland.

friday: my mom got to meet my boss dave!! :) and we went back to hollywood. it should be noted that during my mom's visit, i beat her and rick at scrabble numerous times.

saturday: went to our favorite beach in malibu... but it was pretty windy and cold but we saw dolphins.

sunday: i begrudgingly went back to the beach and was glad i did because it was a beautiful, hot gorgeous day for the beach.

all and all, a fun time!! :D

last week also marked the end of my 3.5 celebrity crushes in 2 weeks spree...
1: nick hexum at the las vegas show 2/22
2: dr. drew at the celebrity rehab reunion show taping (look for me and rick in the audience!! the reruns are being shown on VH1 now) 2/25
3: DAVE GROHL x2!!!! 3/3 and 3/5
3.5: BONUS: amy sedaris at the craig ferguson taping, woo woo!! 3/6

steve martin and loquats... two of my favorite things.

this weekend was pretty mellow. on sunday rick and i went to his parent's house and did laundry. we hung out with aldrin, picked up magoo food and checked out head units because mine is busted. i ate A LOT of loquats because they are amazing. for those of you who are unfamiliar with the loquat, it is a small, fragile fruit with the most indescribable taste!! they have a semi-fuzzy skin that needs to be peeled off and about six smooth seeds in the center. the seeds feel really kewl in your mouth when your teeth slide across them. the fruit that you need to eat at least a half dozen in one sitting. my boyfriend's parent's have a loquat tree growing in their back yard. i tried to start one in NJ, but no luck.

one spring, my best friend andrea and i were visiting rick and we raided his loquat tree while he was at work. we ate THIRTEEN of them... EACH!! we were savages!! you should have seen our fingernails!! they were so gunky. we scouted the biggest and best in the tree and i stood on andrea's back trying to reach them. after we told rick about the lengths we went to get the good ones, he asked "why didn't you guys just get the ladder that's sitting right alongside the house???" hahaha.

rick and i wound up eating dinner at chilli's with aldo, tim and his girlfriend morgan who is on spring break right now. we all are going to go hiking this week and aldo and his friend jen want to go to the griffith observatory. i've never been there but i've seen it in the movie Bowfinger, hehe. of which, i had no idea steve martin wrote the screenplay to Bowfinger!! he never ceases to amaze me. he's an amazing writer. i love his voice, his talent and his movies. he's timeless. he's a good looking man and i bet i'd even enjoy watching scary movie 3 (my least favorite movie) if steve martin narrated it.

some facts (from imdb.com) you may not know about mr. steve martin:
*He was chosen as #6 in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.
*He was considered for the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
and... *drum roll*
*Contrary to popular belief, Martin was never a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" (1975). However, he holds the records for guest appearances (25) on the show, hosting (14 times), and hosting in a single season (3). He is also the only person to have hosted a season premiere, a season finale, and a Christmas show.

"All I've ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work." ~steve martin