Obama Speech at Invesco Field

(Photo by Denver Post)

It was remarkable to see history made, regardless of political affiliation. It was an amazing event, and a historical feat to see the first black presidential candidate accept the nomination. Even though I was not in attendance, it was quite an end to an incredible week.

However, it was more than an apolitical moment, and Obama spoke to people of all creeds, colors, classes, and kind. I especially like Obama's ideas on getting us off foreign oil in 10 years, something McCain has not addressed in his repeated votes against renewable energy. (See the non-partisan Politifact for straight answers on this).  This is not just a Boulderite thought; this is great for our national security, the economy, and the idea that America can once again lead the world in innovation.

It is kind of funny to see how unapologetically Chris Matthews loves Obama. He can't keep from gushing. I have to check the drudgereport to see the other side of things, and even they are praising Obama for an amazing speech. It's kind of like MSNBC is far and away for Obama, and Fox is far and away for McCain... so it's prob best to stick to some of the other networks. Even though MSNBC put me on tv. I can't deny them on that one.

Anyway, tonight was an epic night and I will be supporting Obama on November 4th and hopefully celebrating at the stroke of midnight... my birthday is on November 5th!

Crosby, Stills and Nash Suite: Judy Blue Eyes Woodstock 1969

In honor of seeing my musical idols David Crosby and Graham Nash at etown on Tuesday night, here is a video of their performance of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes at Woodstock in 1969. I can't tell you how incredible it was to see Crosby and Nash from the first row. They have impacted the way I hear music, and have been a creative influence in how I do things.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE & Peace March during the DNC

(Zach De La Rocha and Tom Morello, saluting the troops of the IVAW)

Yesterday I attended the Rage Against The Machine War Protest show... led by the band and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) was founded by Iraq war veterans in July 2004 to give a voice to the large number of active duty service people and veterans who are against this war, but are under various pressures to remain silent.

Rage was explosive on stage. I have seen hundreds (thousands?) of shows, and never anyone with that much focused energy. Zach De La Rocha was righteously indignant, and the passion he put out on stage was insane. Tom Morello absolutely commanded the guitar into something between heavy rock and experimental music... it was incredible. State Radio and Flobots also performed.

After the show, a protest march started at the venue and proceeded 3 miles to the pepsi center. Soldiers involved with IVAW led the march, followed by the bands, and then thousands of people. It was a peaceful event, to stand for peace.

Here are the Rage photos:

And the protest photos:

Donald Miller Blog

Check out Don Miller's blog...  the correspondence (if that's what you call it) between him and Obama is hilarious. And my photo is featured as well...

-Rusty

ETOWN LIVE with james taylor, david crosby & graham nash, ani difranco, robert f. kennedy jr., tom morello

Check out my photos and blog at Elephant Here!

-rusty

blogging for elephant

hey guys, 

just finished the night out after a big day in denver. pictures to come. i'm crashing at a friends house tonight instead if driving back... way easier. So we decided to stop at the red square too... a russian themed bar. had some baltika russian beer (no. 6, the porter), and some zubrowka polish vodka. yumm. 

anyway, i'm blogging at elephant now...  check out elephant journal for photos and things! Here's my Monday night DNC blog... similar to the one found here. 

More photos to come from tonight! And tomorrow I have the Rage Against the Machine war protest show, as well as an indie rock event in front of the Manifest Hope gallery featuring Clap Your Hands Say YEah, Silversun Pickups, Nada Surf, Cold War Kids and others! Press passes for both, should be fun!

-r'fari

Monday's DNC adventure.

Donald Miller, giving Monday night's closing prayer at the DNC.

You can find the text of the prayer HERE, as well as a video.

I never really expected to actually get inside the Pepsi Center for the DNC, but I guess my life is filled with unexpected things. Cheers to that.

On Sunday, I heard that an author by the name of Donald Miller was doing the closing prayer for Monday Night's convention. Don is the author of several books, with his most popular probably being Blue Like Jazz. If you haven't read it, check it out.

Because I am very interested in the intersection of faith and politics, I really wanted to shoot some photos of Don and try to include him in the next issue of Elephant Journal, the magazine where I am a staff photographer. I contacted his publicist, and she passed on his info to me and told me to see if he was available. So, I gave him a ring, and it turns out that Don is a really rad guy. Very down to earth, thoughtful, and mold-breaking for a lot of people. So, we chatted and Don came up with a better idea than snapping some photos in the afternoon... he hooked me up with a DNC pass!

So, thanks Don for the hook-up! We bummed around the convention, saw James Carville being super skinny and sporting Puma's, had some buffalo brats, and we met people from around the country taking part in democracy. Experiencing the convention from the inside was a truly historic occasion, and the words from Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama were really touching. It was also cool to see the closing prayer in person, and to have a real convention wide event support the notion that no political party has God in their corner. It was refreshing to hear the prayer, which embodies a lot of my thoughts, reverberate throughout the Pepsi Center... and I liked the closing... "in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice." You can read the full text HERE.

It was an epic night, which was then followed by some beers at the Falling Rock (Pliny the Elder IPA... get some) with some buddies and then Brandon and I getting a little face time on MSNBC (see below post).

Enjoy the photos! Click to Enlarge.

Michelle Obama Takes the Stage... the crowd erupts.

A republican takes the stage... hence, the "One Nation" signs.

Senator Edward Kennedy makes a triumphant return to the spotlight,

despite battling a brain tumor.

Jimmy Carter and Nancy Pelosi



Donald Miller, giving a pre convention interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting.

MSNBC - Live with Rusty

In case you thought you noticed my smiling face on MSNBC last night, well, you did. My buddy Brandon and I were watching the post convention coverage live from behind Union Station. We were watching Norah O'Donnell lead the MSNBC panel, which included MSNBC political analysts Rachel Maddow, Pat Buchanan, and Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post... the camera decided to do a crowd shot and there we were... pretty cool.

More later on being inside the DNC last night...

Live from the dnc!

Shepherd Fairey - Manifest Hope

***First, let me say that I'll be at  rad events and concerts surrounding the DNC the whole week, so check back for more!***

Today I had the opportunity to check out the opening reception for the Manifest Hope gallery, presented by Shepard Fairey and his brand OBEY. If you're not familiar with his work, check out the OBEY website HERE, a wiki page HERE, and more info on the Manifest Hope gallery HERE. His work was on display (below), as well as pieces of art from many others.

Shepard is one of my favorite designers, and he's known around the world in the art community. I was fortunate to get a little face time with him, some photos of him, and a cool signed Obama Hope print like the one on the below marquis. He's a pretty laid back dude, and pretty quiet and simple. I liked that.

Here are some images from the Gallery opening:

Installing Obama "Hope" posters

Shepard being interviewed  by the Denver Post

The real OBEY painting... the level of detail on this is amazing.

Rooftop Installation... can't be missed!

A cool asian design I liked from the show

mountain adventure through nederland, ward, and gold hill

Lurking in the mountains of Colorado are several towns that seem to be left behind, apparently after the gold rush swept through the west. My friend Caroline was in town so we decided to explore some of these places, including Nederland, Ward and Gold Hill. Nederland is a small mountain community that is a mountropolis compared to the other 2 places... which are basically dirt roads with a general stores.

Ward is known for it's crazy residents, and the Boulder Police Dept just let them do their thing... so they have a reputation for law breaking drug using outcasts. Notice the old car below with some old hub caps displayed. There were literally rusted out cars on the side of the road... pretty wild place.

Gold Hill is supposedly not as crazy, but it's still out of a different world. I mean, Caroline and I were at the general store and there was a 4 year old kid who walked in naked and just was hanging out. So yeah, this place is a trip. I guess Stephen Stills lived in a cabin near Gold Hill in the 70's after CSN&Y broke up and he went solo. I found this quote from one of his band members: "Gold Hill was a rustic community of artists, university types and pine-huggers with no stores, no paved roads or other related commercial blemishes." I guess his band Manassas recorded their album near Gold Hill in the 70's. I bet those were some heady days. Populations for both places are under 200 people! Yeah, I just wiki'd that shizz.

Anyway, here are the photos that Caroline and I shot on our journey...
Click to enlarge...

mail boxes in gold hill

the aspen-lined dirt road from ward to gold hill

ward fire "hall" - for all those fires in the 200 person town

the heart of ward

self timed photo, notice the mountain lion warning above my shoulder, yep.

coming back to boulder

It was a great trip filled with some awesome food and beer on the patio at the wild mountain in Nederland. The sky was crystal clear and the weather was around 75 degrees...
couldn't have been a better day.

My Morning Jacket / Black Keys - Red Rocks

(pic taken from blackberry)

the best band in the world!

i think they really are. 

not only did jenna and i see my morning jacket and the black keys

completely blow the collective mind of red rocks,

but we also got the post-show backstage underground rocks hang. 

my former boss scott was in town, and provided the experience, (thanks scott!)

which led to seeing some old friends, and making some new ones. 

the show was incredible! my favorite moments were phone went west, war begun / lay low, highly suspicious, and a totally blazing version of one big holiday. the band was on fire, and they rock harder and with more skill than anyone around. i have no doubt that seeing mmj now is as good as seeing the best bands of the 70's in their heyday. they're just spectacular.

some of the highlights after the show:

-meeting dan from the black keys and joking around calling each other the wrong name. the running joke was referring to dan as don... repeatedly. it was hilarious and we had a great time talking about our mutual home state of ohio. dan is a really nice guy, and we had a blast discussing ohio steel towns, richard pryor skits, his baby girl, and other things.

-kicking it with carl (mmj guitarist) and discussing how played out the double neck gibson guitar is, so the next logical step is to buy a double neck and then break off one neck and play it as a single neck. oh yeah, that is rock and roll.

-catching up with my former boss, scott, and hearing about what's going on in nashville and hearing about his 2 year old being so big and also all the rad bands he is working with. scott rocks, and was so cool to hook us up like old times. and i offered him a congratulations to being the agent of the best band in the world. because he is. it was so great to see him and connect again.

-seeing courtney jaye, who i met a couple years back in la la land. we mutually agreed that we were soooooooo glad to be out of los angeles. hopefully we'll shoot some photos soon. and she'll be rocking the pangea soon b/c jenna is sending out the hookup. jenna and i had a great time kicking it with courtney... so much fun!

-toasting some patron tequila backstage with mmj, the black keys, scott, and the rest of the crew... can you beat raising a toast under the stage after an epic show!?

-and last but not least, at 1:30 AM walking up the red rocks stairs to the top of the venue with jenna and jim james and everyone else to overlook the horizon. thanked jim for introducing me to bookers and we chatted about them completing the show without oxygen hits... an amazing feat for a rock and roll show at red rocks. and then we all sat above the top row and marveled at the incredible view and moon and how amazing a night it was. 

and man was it amazing.

cheers to that!