backup american blues news: NEW YORK BLUES: The Beat Goes On

And now...a word from the lensman...

Greetings and salutations fans of the Blues! Welcome to American Blues News. My role here is photographer and I'm excited about being able to contribute to this blog.
A little something about me...I started playing drums about 30 years ago and was the drummer in various New York rock bands, none of which reached the heights I had hoped. A familiar story, no doubt! I grew up loving hard rock bands like Grand Funk, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. It eventually dawned on me that a lot of the guitarists I admired like Ritchie Blackmore, Gary Moore, Dave Meniketti, Hendrix, were blues-based players. Even the great Scott Henderson, who is mostly known for his fusion work, has blues blood running thru his veins.

In the 70's I discovered the fusion band Return To Forever and musically speaking I was never the same. I remain a fusion head to this day but hard rock is still near and dear to my heart. And of course there's the Blues! Some of my favorites in the blues department are guys like Stevie Ray, Coco Montoya, Albert Collins, Chris Duarte, Tab Benoit, Gary Moore, Joe Bonamassa, etc. I tend to lean more towards electric blues but no matter what style they fall under there are some mighty fine blues players out there. My last band was an electric blues-rock band and we called ourselves Motel Soap. The good old guitar-bass-drums format!

I got into photography in the mid 80's and worked as a photographer while stationed in Berlin, Germany with the Army. Photography was not supposed to be my Army job but it's funny how things work out sometimes. I've been photographing live bands since the 80's, mostly for my own personal pleasure. I did take a photography course when I first started out but most of what I know was learned thru the old trial and error method and from just shooting a lot. Needless to say digital photography has made shooting somewhat easier. While harder to do I prefer shooting musicians onstage without flash because I think it captures the atmosphere and mood more accurately.

I attend quite a few live shows regularly because I love hearing
and watching a band perform onstage. If you want to know if a band can deliver the goods, see them onstage. Nothing beats live music played by a smokin' band.

I'd like to thank American Blues News for letting me contribute my images to the blog and I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoy shooting them. The fine writers here will say it with words and I'll say it with images. Whenever possible I will try to include a link to the artist's website so you can get more info on them and possibly hear some of their music. Let's keep supporting this beautiful musical art form known as the Blues.
Support the music and support the artists.

THANK YOU to the BB King Blues Club, Richard Lee and James Dalton at Terra Blues for allowing me to do my thing

I'm also at www.electriceyes.us where you can see some of my other photography and hear some mp3 tracks of me and my various bands. Cheers!
Nelson G. Onofre
e-mail: nelson@electriceyes.us