Star Dog Cafe

Her Name Is Victory at The Crowbar - 2009-04-17

2009-05-01T18:21:00.002-04:00

Click the photo below to see the entire album

Her Name Is Victory - The Crowbar -2009-04-17

Mr. Bella at The Crowbar - 2009-04-11

2009-04-24T14:15:00.002-04:00

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Mr. Bella at The Crowbar - 2009-04-11

Weszt at The Crowbar - 2009-04-11

2009-04-24T14:09:00.002-04:00

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Weszt at The Crowbar - 2009-04-11

Tantrum at Green Iguana Ybor - 2009-03-28

2009-04-24T14:04:00.002-04:00

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Tantrum - Green Iguana Ybor - 2009-03-28

Rocket - Test with new Tamron lens

2009-03-25T23:14:00.004-04:00

I recently got a Tamron SP AF28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) lens for my Sony A100. I researched this lens for months, and I finally decided to purchase one for myself.

I took a few sample shots of Rocket out back. It locks on a fast moving target like Rocket, and it produces a sharp picture on the Sony. I plan to test it out soon at the clubs, so I hope some decent bands are playing this weekend.

The Crowbar - 2009-03-14

2009-03-17T23:33:00.003-04:00

Ybor City had its annual "Saturday before St. Patrick's Day - unless St. Patrick's Day is on Saturday" parade, and thankfully I skipped the parade. I already saw both the Gasparilla Day Parade and the Gasparilla Knight Parade in February. Some of the floats have a St. Patrick's Day theme, but most of them use the tired old pirate theme from Gasparilla. The worst part is that almost all the bars and clubs try to take advantage of the parade by charging cover when they normally do not or by jacking up the drink prices.

Fortunately, The Crowbar is different. They charged normal cover rates and they did not jack up the drink prices. To top it off, they had some great bands playing that night.

Liquid Limbs was the first band I caught that night. They are a two piece band from Gainsville.

Click the photo below to see the entire web album.

Liquid Limbs at The Crowbar - 2009-03-14

The second band I saw was Early Man. I do not know much about them except that they rocked.

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Early Man at The Crowbar - 2009-03-14

The final band was Red Fang. They rocked as well. I got a series of action shots of the drummer. I happen to like stop motion shots like that. If you do not, well then go buy your own damn camera and take some pictures.

Click the photo below to see the entire web album.

Red Fang at The Crowbar - 2009-03-14

Mr Bella at The Crowbar - 2008-12-06

2009-03-12T08:20:00.002-04:00

This is another time I saw Mr Bella at The Crowbar. This is from late last year. These are the raw, untouched photos; There are too many of them to go back and edit up.

Click the photo below to see the entire web album of the show.

Mr Bella at The Crowbar 2008-12-06

Paradigm at The Crowbar - 2009-01-10

2009-03-12T08:15:00.002-04:00

This is some older pictures from last year that I finally got around to posting here.

Paradigm played at the Crowbar on January 10, 2009.

Click the photo below to see the entire web album of this show.

Paradigm at The Crowbar 2009-01-10

Chromatic - Gasparilla Knight Parade - 2009-02-14

2009-03-12T00:03:00.003-04:00

These are some older pictures of Chromatic from the Gasparilla Knight Parade in Ybor City. It was crowded, which made it a tough shoot. Not my best work, but there are some interesting shots here.

Click the picture below to see all of the pictures in the album.

Chromatic - Green Iguana Ybor - Gasparilla Knight Parade - 20090214

Chromatic - Green Iguana Ybor - 2009-03-07

2009-03-11T19:39:00.004-04:00

This is Chromatic at the Green Iguana Ybor on March 07, 2009.

Click the picture below to see the full album of pictures from the show

Chromatic at Green Iguana Ybor - 2009-03-07

Silvertongue - Green Iguana Ybor - 2009-02-27

2009-03-05T23:17:00.007-05:00

This is Silvertongue at the Green Iguana Ybor on February 27, 2009.

Click on the picture below to see a web album of the show.

Silvertongue - Green Iguana Ybor - 2009-02-27

The Beauvilles at the Crowbar 9/11/2008

2008-09-13T16:03:00.004-04:00

The Beauvilles held their CD release party at The Crowbar on 9/11/2008. The opening acts were Mouse Fire and Lush Progress. They gave a free copy of their new CD with admission to The Crowbar, but I would have bought it anyway. The new CD is incredible; it you like this band then you must get the CD.

Check out their music at the Beauvilles website or at their MySpace page.

Lush Progress at The Crowbar - 9/11/2008

2008-09-13T14:37:00.004-04:00

Lush Progress played at The Crowbar on 9/11/2008. They have a unique style and really put on an incredible show. How many bands have a cello player who rocks down the house?

Check out their music at their MySpace page.

Mouse Fire at the Crowbar - 9/11/2008

2008-09-13T10:07:00.005-04:00

These pictures are from Mouse Fire's set at The Crowbar on 9/11/2008.

I have their CD, and they really rock. Check out their music at the Mouse Fire website or at their MySpace page.

Mr Bella at the Crowbar - 8/23/2008

2008-09-07T14:55:00.000-04:00

Mr Bella is a Tampa band that played The Crowbar on 8/23/2008. They always rock the house down.

Check out their songs at their web page or their MySpace page.

Weszt at the Crowbar - 8/23/2008

2008-08-26T23:28:00.000-04:00

Weszt is an Orlando based band that came over to The Crowbar on 8/23/2008. I have never heard of them, but I am glad I caught them at this show. They are incredible.

Check out their songs at their website or their MySpace page.

Tailgunner Joe and the Earls of Slander at the Crowbar

2008-08-26T22:17:00.000-04:00

Tailgunner Joe and the Earls of Slander are another great band I saw at The Crowbar on 7/18/2008.

Check out some clips of their songs at their MySpace page.

At this point the guys from No Circus and the other opening act (I wish I remember his name) joined in with Tailgunner Joe in the final song for a big jam. That was awesome!

No Circus at the Crowbar - 07/18/2008

2008-08-25T22:27:00.000-04:00

No Circus is a hard rocking original band, and these are photos from their show at The Crowbar on 7/18/21008.

Check out their songs at their website or at their MySpace page.

Rocket

2008-08-25T22:16:00.000-04:00

Rocket is finally learning to pose for the camera. So much for the athletic Field Bred Springer Spaniel who only wants to hunt. He is learning to be a "fancy pants" Bench Bred Springer Spaniel. Next thing he will want to go for weekly trips to the groomer.

The Beauvilles at the Crowbar - 07/12/2008

2008-08-25T20:54:00.000-04:00

The Beauvilles are an incredible band, and this is from their show at The Crowbar on 7/12/2008. Checkout their website or their MySpace page for clips of their songs.

2009 Dodge Challenger

2008-08-04T09:40:00.000-04:00

I designed this car at the MSN Cars site. If I bought a 2009 Dodge Challenger, it would look like this.

Pictures coming

2008-07-31T14:52:00.000-04:00

Huge break between posting pictures. My old PC took a major shit, and I lost a lot of photos. I have a few Crowbar shows to post, and some great images with my new flash. Look for the photos in the next few days.

Driving The Fall at The Crowbar - flash pictures

2008-05-14T23:14:00.000-04:00

These were also taken on 04/19/2008. I used the built in flash on my Sony A100. Some pictures were good, but others still did not get enough lighting. It is just too damn dark in The Crowbar when they turn on the red lights. I now have Minolta 5400HS flash for my camera, so I would like to see how that performs at The Crowbar.

Driving The Fall at the Crowbar - no flash pictures

2008-05-14T22:50:00.000-04:00

I took these pictures on 04/19/2008, which was almost four weeks ago. I finally got around to posting these.

This is the first time that I tried taking pictures at The Crowbar without a flash. I feel the results are mixed.

This band is Driving The Fall, and they are one of the better bands I have seen at The Crowbar. Check out their songs at their website.

The Crowbar

2008-04-20T12:19:00.000-04:00

One of the best places to see bands that play their own original music as at the Crowbar.

I have many good shots from Driving the Fall's show from last night. I hope to process the pictures and post them by the end of the day.

Video Test

2008-04-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

I was goofing around with the video camera on my cell phone, and I shot this short clip of Rocket. The humming at the end was me. I did that to get his attention so he would sit still, but it sounds really stupid when I play it back. I do not have any video editing software where I can change the audio, so the video will have to stay as is.

I know one thing. The 2 megapixel camera on the phone will not replace professional HD cameras, let alone film cameras anytime soon.

Ybor City's Mounted Police

2008-04-13T15:44:00.000-04:00

Bartenders Gone Wild

2008-04-13T15:28:00.000-04:00

Chromatic groupies

2008-04-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

These are all shots of friends of mine who always show up to a Chromatic gig.

Dianne at the Chromatic gig

2008-04-13T14:51:00.000-04:00

B-man at the Green Iguana

2008-04-13T14:45:00.000-04:00

What happens when your buddy's girlfriend is out of town and he decides to go to the Green Iguana and watch Chromatic? He goes nuts every time I take a picture of him.

Chromatic - Johnny on guitar

2008-04-13T10:49:00.000-04:00

Chromatic - Joe on bass

2008-04-13T10:37:00.000-04:00

Chromatic - Jason on drums

2008-04-13T10:21:00.000-04:00

Chromatic Rocking Out

2008-04-13T10:17:00.000-04:00

Chromatic at the Green Iguana Ybor

2008-04-13T10:11:00.000-04:00

I finally got a chance to use my Minolta 50mm f/1.7 lens on the Sony Alpha last night. Chromatic was playing at the Green Iguana Ybor, and I got some great low light and flash pictures. Since I got a lot of pictures, I am going to post the best ones over several postings.

Insect macro shots

2008-03-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

I found these very young insects on my front lawn. I think they are either grasshoppers or locusts. I got out my big 70-210mm zoom lens and used its macro range to shoot all but the first two images. I like the results and now I wish I had a really good macro lens for better closeups

The sad thing is that these little buggers grow up to be very destructive insects that destroy lawns and decorative flowers, so they will meet a grueling demise from insect poison when they grown up.

Tribute to Sir Arthur C. Clarke

2008-03-25T19:37:00.000-04:00

Like many Arthur C. Clarke fans, I was sad when I read that he passed away on March 19, 2008. He was a huge influence on my life, and I dreamed about an amazing future after reading every one of his novels. His work inspired me to pursue a career in computer science, but alas, I have yet to develop a working model of the HAL 9000.

The pictures below are from some of my treasured books in my library. The first book is the back cover of my prized first edition of 2010: Odyssey Two. I have owned that book since it was first published when I was an early teenager. The second photo is all the hardback Clarke novels that I have as first print editions.

African Gray eyes

2008-03-25T18:54:00.000-04:00

Morning Lizard Hunt

2008-03-23T23:26:00.000-04:00

Breakfast Time

2008-03-23T23:22:00.000-04:00

Bird Sitting

2008-03-18T21:26:00.000-04:00

Photos of Rocket

2008-03-16T23:43:00.000-04:00

Reboot

2008-03-16T23:40:00.000-04:00

Time for a new direction.