This is an epically short post, but I had to say something. My fingers are still crossed for The Used. Well, at this point, there’s really not a doubt in my mind. This is about to be the summer of Warped.

However, there are still the top four bands on the leaked lineup that have yet to be confirmed–Taking Back Sunday, All Time Low, The Used, and New Found Glory. I’m assuming there will be some epic announcements over the next four weeks if those bands truly are playing.

My thoughts: it’s legit. I know it looks a bit weird, but I think someone really did snap a photo of a program/magazine ad/something because they wanted the world to know that Warped was making a comeback in terms of lineups. And I’m still super stoked about the possibility of The Used playing.

What are your thoughts?

It was bound to happen to me sooner or later. I arrived at the Madison Theater around 7:15 this past friday for the We Came As Romans show. I got a pass through blessthefall, signed to Fearless Records. But alas, my name was not on the list.

So I called Fearless. I was able to get the tour manager’s info. I got in touch with him, but things just went downhill. The guy was great, but this was the first stop on the tour. blessthefall’s bus had broken down and they still weren’t at the venue. They’d be arriving RIGHT before their set, so there was no way for me to get in. After some more texts and phone calls, I got a ticket, but no photo pass. I waited it out, but ended up never getting one.

I can’t say enough good things about Dave, the tour manager, and his efforts to help me. My question is how my name magically didn’t end up on that list. I guess miscommunications happen, but it’s annoying. When you work for a publication that relies on your photos to fill space, it sucks having to tell them you didn’t get the photos and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

It sucks. Period. And I can’t tell you how many more confirmation emails I’ll be sending now just to make sure that this NEVER happens. Of course I’m super frustrated, and I will be for a while, but there’s nothing I can do about it at this point. On to the next show…

Now don’t get me wrong–there was a packed Avicii show here last October, Warped is always busy, and artists like Beirut and The Devil Wears Prada sell out venues as large as Bogart’s. But just this weekend I chatted with a friend who had tickets to see Mord Fustang play. Now, he and his buddies ended up not attending and noticed that they were refunded for the tickets. (I went to this show but left an hour before Mord came on because I was straight up bored). After a brief discussion, it was decided that Mord probably didn’t even play. I remember hearing a conversation on my way out the door about how the table for all of the DJ equipment wouldn’t work for Mord…not to mention the venue had changed just an hour before the show because so few tickets sold, and it looked like it could have just been held in some random person’s basement in Clifton.

And it’s because of things like this that artists don’t come back here. Now, obviously Mord isn’t that well known and it’s awesome that a venue like Bogart’s got him here in the first place. But I’m guessing that it’s highly unlikely that he’ll want to return, even though I don’t know what the circumstances are.

Back to the tours that don’t come through here. There was an All Time Low tour in the fall that took a pass, and an upcoming Breathe Carolina / The Ready Set tour that’s skipping the Queen City. Big stuff usually stops at Riverbend. The more you look, the more you’ll realize that artists just don’t come here. Maybe it’s a money issue, maybe it’s something else. But it seems like everyone has a good time. Well, except for that one AP Tour I believe, where Cute Is What We Aim For headlined? Cincinnati was the last stop on the tour, and the showing was pathetic. I actually felt bad for them. But hey, the guys are not in a band anymore, so it’s not like they’re passing on Cincinnati for a reason.

At the end of the day, as a photographer, I do enjoy smaller crowds. It’s easier to get up to the pit in front and you’ve got fewer crowd surfers. Chatting it up with crowd control between sets actually gets pretty fun too. But hey, I wouldn’t mind a few more shows here and there. Now, I’ve just gotta wait until the end of March for Every Avenue.

These kind of things “leak” all of the time, and this looks like a really official magazine ad, leading me to believe that it’s actually this year’s lineup. The past few years, there haven’t been that many big names on Warped. You’ve got your Jack’s Mannequins and those types, but The Used? Yellowcard?

I’m thinking this could be the year of the veterans. And I like that a lot.

With that being said, if this is all true, I will be incredibly impressed with the Warped people for getting these bands all in the same summer. It makes my life difficult when I’m a photographer…I’m guessing at least three bands will be playing at the same time with all of these good artists. That and the pit at the main stage will be impossible to navigate. But that is kind of what makes concert photography fun. It’s a free for all, a competition of sorts. You’re all going for the best shots.

And let me tell you, I will photograph Bert McCracken and Quinn Allman before I die. It looks like I just might have that chance this summer. Wish me luck!

That being said, there are still only a couple of shows a month that are worth shooting. Which is why, this evening, I’ll be shooting the Cody Simpson show. That’s right. He’s 15. He’s from Australia. He may or may not be dating Kylie Jenner. But you know what? He won’t jump around that much so the photos should turn out alright.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening.

So let me start by saying this: I steal. A lot. And it’s all done on the computer. But I have to say, I’m 87 percent sure that people out there are actually OK with it. Now, for example, I’m a member of it-leaked.com (and I have no idea what I’d do without it). For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it’s a site where people post CD leaks as well as already released stuff. The thing about this site, though, is that nearly ever label has an employee monitoring the site to make sure leaks happen at the appropriate time. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty when The Used’s “Artwork” was out nearly four months ahead of time…

So what’s happening here is a strategic release. The thing about it-leaked is that you can’t just sign up. Someone has to invite you. Each membership comes with two free invites, but to earn more you have to upload music to the site. Now, you can also donate money to earn invites. Record labels know that their stuff is going to leak, but here’s an example of how it’s done well.

Now, another thing about stealing music online…is there anything so wrong with converting a YouTube video including a song that doesn’t have a title yet, hasn’t been released, or isn’t available in this country into an MP3 for your own listening pleasure? For example, Avicii’s got a new track out that I adore, but how else am I supposed to listen to it?

So, that being said, I don’t think anyone’s changing their ways anytime soon. Happy listening!

So, as I said, I deleted my account. I said goodbye to the username I created when I was in high school (thankfully) and opted for cathcouretas, the name I use for pretty much everything else I do on the Internet. I also said goodbye to some embarrassing statistics. About a year ago, I cleared Metro Station from my account so no one would ever know how much I listened to them. Now, I’m saying goodbye to many, many more plays just like that (and you’ll never know!)

With this new account will come a boatload of new artists and a few familiar old ones. I guess my taste hasn’t changed that much, but I’ve added a lot to it. I’ve lost some music as I’ve switched from computer to computer, but I do like that Last.fm scrobbles from all of my devices, where some of that music is still hiding…somewhere.

But back to the fact that Last.fm annoys me. It’s almost like those in charge don’t want to change the system because it works how it is. I mean, it does, but I couldn’t name to you a single difference in the site’s functionality since I first signed up in 2007. Granted, there probably are a few that I just haven’t noticed, but it’s still such a basic concept and they could do so much with it. With Pandora, Spotify, and who knows what else, there’s a lot of room for Last.fm to take over in the United States, but the guys just aren’t doing it, and that will forever baffle me.

If you’ve got the opportunity, why not take it? You never know what will come of it.

I know this kind of stuff goes on all the time, but I just didn’t understand how three people who were chatting about their fake IDs were all OK with bringing cocaine to a concert venue. Talk about getting hit with the worst double whammy ever if you get caught.

But I ignored them, because their issues aren’t my business, and if they choose to be out of their minds, then I guess that’s the way it goes. As long as it doesn’t affect me.

But alas, a couple of hours later, it did affect me. All of us were in the first two rows of the crowd, and seeing Avicii live was an unreal experience. But when I got pushed out of the way violently by people who claimed to have been there first and chose to leave and try and get their spots back, I got pissed. One girl kept dropping–it looked like she was about to fall asleep and the loudest show I’d ever been to.

Another girl kept telling this one guy to get that first girl out of there, but he was too out of his mind to care and ignored everyone around him. So your drugs are fun, but you all turn into the rudest people I’ve ever met when you’re on them in public. As they continued to shove me around, I gave up. I walked out of the crowd, gave word to the bouncer that they were doing cocaine, and found myself a healthy, breathable spot in the back with a kick-ass view. Within 10 minutes, the annoying ones had filed out of the venue.

I couldn’t believe it. I was that girl.

Afterwards, I talked to a friend of mine who I know has done cocaine somewhat regularly. He asked if the cops were involved and I said I didn’t think so. “Good,” he replied. “That could’ve ruined their lives.”

Well of course it would have. But that’s not my problem.

A couple of weeks later, I chatted with a guy working crowd control at another venue while I was up in the pit taking photos. Between sets, I asked him about the whole drug thing at venues like this. I learned that essentially at any smaller-ish show like that, people with drugs just get kicked out unless they become out of control or violent, at which time the police are called.

So you know what? I don’t feel bad about ratting those kids out at all. They just got kicked out. I don’t even care if it didn’t teach them a lesson, because if you’re dumb enough to keep doing that, you’re going to get caught by the people you really don’t want to see you. And you know what else? Anyone who does that on a regular basis is lucky as hell that bouncers don’t care anymore.

So go ahead and keep pushing the limits. But if you see me, you should probably run for your life.

Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade. All Rights Reserved.

On Saturday, Oct. 23, Mayday Parade headlined The Noise Tour at Bogart’s in Cincinnati, Ohio, pleasing fans who had been aching to see the group for over a year.

As the show began, lead singer Derek Sanders could not have been more excited, as Mayday Parade and four other bands were forced to cancel a show at the same venue in October of 2010 when a stormy day lead to a leaky roof over the stage.

“We’re so excited to be back and ready to play for you guys,” Sanders said.

On this tour, Mayday Parade was promoting its most recent album release: its self-titled album came out on October 4.

“With this album, we were able to get back in the room with just the five of us and create songs that we love and music that we absolutely care about 100 percent,” Sanders said. “That was kind of the main focus for this CD, just to go back and make it a CD that we love first. As long as we did that, I think that’s what people will see the most and find the most real.”

The group has come a long way from its days of following Warped Tour and selling CDs outside the venue.

“When we started the band, we all loved writing music and creating music and playing it and that’s why we started doing this,” Sanders said. “We wanted to give it a really good try and tour as much as we could and promote our album ourselves.

Early on, then-lead singer Jason Lancaster left the group (later starting Go Radio), and the fivesome went from there.

“We did our second album we kind of strayed from the path a little bit,” Sanders said. “We had just signed to Atlantic Records and they wanted us to do all of these co-writes and go with a big producer and experience that world which is very different. When you have a whole lot of people who are involved with the creative side of the band, people are telling you what your band should be and what your band should sound like. I think we learned a lot from that experience.

Fans also enjoyed performances from We Are The In Crowd, You Me At Six, and There For Tomorrow.

“We’re very lucky to be where we are, Sanders said. “We’re very fortunate to do tours like these.”