Ain't No Party Like A...Gay Party.

When a set is only 6 songs long, and a DJ, then the main act play in the four hours that pass and still someone comes up to me at 2am singing "Topless...Gay Love...Tekno Party"/"That song is going to be stuck in my head for days!" ...you know you have something good.

Thursday night I pulled myself out of my house (with a headache and the knowledge that I was going to be dancing) and went to my second home, The Media Club, to photograph Topless Gay Love Tekno Party.

I saw some photos from their show in Tofino and upon arrival, volunteered my abilities for the dance sequence at the end of the set.
Meaning?
I donned a Ketchup costume and danced beside Mustard and a Hot Dog on the stage.

These guys are way too much fun, which is probably why the Media Club is featuring them as the artist of the month. Here are some shots by me and two by Mr. Mark Cohene, who was kind enough to shoot while I danced it up.





Mark Cohene Photography:

Floating Just Offshore...on English Bay

The initial plan for the day was The Beach, to get relief from the heat...but when an invite comes along to float on/jump off/swim around/bbq & drink on a BOAT in English Bay, you drop everything and go...

Here are some photos I took with my cell phone... Yup. That was the only one I brought with me. (We managed to get 4 musicians, 2 photographers, an actress and a tv guy on the boat.):

Vinny By The Sea...

What could be a better prequel to a lightning storm and fireworks than live music by English Bay? Nothing!

I wandered down to the beach with my camera (and NO umbrella) to see Vince Vaccaro play on the roof of the Bathhouse to Second Beach/The Ocean. It was pretty epic. With members of Maurice (JP, Connor and Mark) backing him up, Vince played a short set to the beachy crowd before the rain forced them off the stage.

Here are some shots:

The After After After Party...

So Junofest weekend had to end sometime...and it went out with...a bang!

After a mini photoshoot in my front hall with the dolled up Nat Jay and her Juno dress, a few friends (including Sarah Sears! visiting from Toronto) and I attended the Fashion vs. Rock - David Suzuki Foundation Junofest/Fashion Week After Party. There was as much going on at the party as there is in it's name!

After about an hour outside in the cold (while security tried to figure out what they were doing) we headed into Storeyum on West Cordova in Gastown. I did a quick wander around to see what was going on...

The VIP Room (behind me in this photo are large windows into the main room. Later in the night there were tons of girls with their faces pressed against it looking in...):

Ed Robertson being interview:

George intro-ing David Suzuki:
David Suzuki talking about "Kevin" (referring to K-OS!):

An awesome painting that I would love to have, haha:


These are the extent of the photos that I took that night as I was highly distracted with the party. There were some very fun people there, including Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene (he DJ'd in the back room)(we shared a "It's really hot in here" moment). K-OS played DJ in the main dance room (he smiled at me when we passed each other once). I ran into my friend Jean-Paul Maurice from the band Maurice and said hello! and Parker Bossley of Hot Hot Heat (the one who gave me the beer on Thursday) recognized me and broke my eardrum screaming "CHRISTINE!" into my ear and gave me a very wet kiss on the cheek.

The big news (I'm not too obsessed so it was mostly big news for everyone else) was when I was sitting on the couch in the VIP area nursing my tired feet/heels. I looked up to my right and standing beside me is none other than Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame (in MY mind he's Cedric Diggory first, vampire second). I smiled, waved and said "hi". He said "hi" back and I stuck out my hand told him my name and said it was nice to meet him.
I also told him that he met my friend Shawna last night but I don't think he could hear what I was trying to explain so I just smiled and let him sit on the couch.

The girls started freaking out in the main room, staring in the windows and everyone tried to rush into the VIP section, which got too crowded for me so I left and found the wonderful Vanessa Heins. We wandered back in the room shortly after, sitting on the same couch as some more of the Twilight cast and the very talented Sam Bradley.

After that story, I don't know what is left to say about the weekend except that my internal clock is still set to party-time and I'm having trouble falling asleep before 3am and am still waking up at 8am. At least I'm getting sleepy work done.

Thanks Junos! Come back soon.
-Christine

Junofest: Day Two...

Dear "The Media Club",

Please get better lights.

Sincerely,
Christine McAvoy

Day One: Friday March 27th.
Start Time: 8:00pm
End Time: 2:30am
Locations: The Media Club, The Backstage Lounge, Fir St & 7th at 2:14am

RUN DOWN:

Now that my distaste for the lack of proper stage lighting is out of the way...
I got to the Media Club in time to miss the line up. Which was lucky because on the way out, there was no getting in. It was, as they say out here "a gong show".

I saw Shawn Hlookoff (HULL-ook-off). There were lots of screaming girls. To me, he sings like a gimmicky cross between Justin Timberlake and John Mayer, but I dunno. Not my cup of tea...I didn't even take photos. (well, one, but it's nothing special).

Said The Whale...oh how I love you. And I am so happy the room was packed. Government Heart was my favourite of the night. I needed Dave Vertesi for a Goodnight Moon dance party though.

After this, the executive decision was to say bye to STW and leave to get to the Backstage Lounge in time for Maurice. The bus/walk was too slow to catch Laura Smith, which I was sad about.
We got there with a minimal wait outside and sat and chatted with the boys pre-show.

Vince Vaccaro came with 3 of 5 Maurice-s on stage, which was cool. But everything was running late and the set was short... still listened and took photos.

Maurice was a dance party. All the friends, and friends of friends, were there and I loved Love is Love (go figure).

Day Two ends with getting heckled by drunken idiots on the way home.
Can I Get A Witness?

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS: www.mcavoy.ca/junofest - Day Two

Updatage

I've been busy and I've been lazy... those are my excuses for not updating.

I was busy with this: www.mariettesmith.ca
Creating a website for Mariette's new project, which I can only describe as "Life Enhancement" as it is so many things. If you have emotional problems and don't want to just talk about them, it might be something for you... I think... I still don't fully get it yet.

Anyways...Other exciting things?
-I shot for FASHION magazine. I think it will be in the April issue... so I will have the tearsheet for you next month.
-I have shot 4 shows in the last month: Hey Ocean, Adaline, Maurice and just the other day The Big Makeout (pictures will be below)
-I have been booking weddings with Bonnie & Clyde, so click here if you need photographers!
-Jon and I did a photobooth for his little brother and sister's birthday party... check them out here: Mishak & Camille
-I am still going to redesign my website, but that where the 'lazy' thing kicks in often.

So here are some of the recent photos:

Hey Ocean @ Richards on Richards:





Adaline @ Richards on Richards: Feb 6 2009:



Maurice/The Raccoons @ The Biltmore: February 11 2009:





The Prettiest Face In Town (@ The Big Make Out) @ Media Club: February 14 2009:
(Jon has the ones of Laura Smith and of the Painted Birds Acoustic Set)

More Maurice/The Media Club vol. 1

Evening One of Two to be spent at The Media Club! Maurice was in town once again before their fall tour began and I had a fun time with the boys in the band, some Whales and a pretty lady named Caroline.
The band is now in Edmonton, so check out their schedule and see when they'll be near you!

Love is love...

By chance I saw that Maurice was playing downtown on Wednesday night, and after my tough week of shooting, I figured I'd relax and take some live photos.

Here are some of my favourites of a band that always gives a great performance...

Howe Sounds...Great!!!

My very fun friends in Said The Whale had their CD release show for their new album Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia at the Biltmore in Vancouver. It was quite an amazing show with Maurice AND Lotus Child supporting.
The guys played probably their best show to date and the crowd was amazing and filled with so many friendly people.

Here are a few of my fav's and a link to ALL of the photos I took that night:
www.mcavoy.ca/biltmore