Tag Archives: Music

LeRoy Bell Cover for Seattle Weekly

Written by admin. Posted on December 13, 2011. No comments.

Couple weeks back, I got a call to shoot LeRoy Bell for the cover of Seattle Weekly.

Must confess that I wasn’t all that familiar with the X-Factor, but I was blown away by LeRoy’s story and his own career in music that encompasses writing songs for the likes of Elton John and Teddy Pendergrass, along with fronting his own band – LeRoy Bell and His Only Friends.

If you’ve got five minutes, you should check out the embedded video below (click here if embed doesn’t work) to see a performance and to catch a glimpse of how soulful he is.

At 60, he was the oldest candidate on the X-Factor, and in my opinion, the most down-to-earth and real guy there. Life experience, perhaps yes?! It’s evident that LeRoy feels every lyric he belts out, and it was an absolute honor to have the opportunity to spend time with him in his home north of Seattle.

If you’re looking for a hot ticket on New Year’s Eve, you should check LeRoy out at the Moore Theater. Run by his Twitter page to keep abreast since I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot more from him in the coming months. Either way, look for LeRoy in the Seattle Weekly out now!

More always,

Clinard

I shot this Sunday.

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on October 14, 2009. No comments.

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. . . among other things with a local rock trio by the name of Happy Birthday Secret Weapon.

Saw the gents play at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard a few months back in support of Levi Fuller’s ‘Ball of Wax’ project and was blown away by their performance.

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We got to talking about influences, and two came up: 1) Hella and 2) The F*cking Champs.

The image above had us laughing on account of it’s remarkably sublime homage to the snarky, self-mythologizing album covers the Champs were known for.

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With titles such as ‘Nebula Ball Rests in a Fantasy Claw’ and ‘Thor is Like Immortal’ or ‘I am the Album Cover,’ the Champs had a pretty good sense of humor much like the gentlemen of Happy Birthday Secret Weapon.

In addition to our image above, the guys helped me with a triptych concept that I’m still working hard to complete, so that I may get it up on the blog and soon-to-launch website.

In the meantime, you should go out and give their music a listen.

More always,

Mike

Late Breaking News from the Office of Michael Clinard. . .

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on August 7, 2009. No comments.

It’s being reported that some of my images are featured on the Behance Network!

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I got an email a couple hours back saying that the editorial team selected my project from the several hundred that folks post everyday. Pretty neat being that a couple days ago I decided to pull some images together that I’ve shot over the last year or so in anticipation for the new site that’s being developed. Figured I’d give folks a preview of some of the visuals to expect, and here it goes getting some neat attention!

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I suspect that project will drop from the front pages after a week or so, but in the meantime, feel free to visit the gallery and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy looking at them as I had a great time creating them. Big shout of thanks to all the nice folks that sat for me!

More soon,

Mike

MC Virus and Promo Sneak Peak

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on June 16, 2009. No comments.

I’m slowly adjusting to life back in the states after getting back last weekend from Ecuador.

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Above and below are a couple of the many notes I wrote to myself as reminders on the days leading up to our Exodus from the Emerald City.

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The more I think about the ‘Dor, I always find myself humming Palace Brothers’ ‘West Palm Beach’ track. Oh, sigh. . .

Anyhow, while looking through the images from the sojourn, I remembered I’d shot this interesting chap named Dan who goes under the moniker of MC Virus here in Seattle.

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A super nice guy, his beats are unlike anything I’ve heard before. He played me a few tracks from an upcoming album he’s releasing on the label called Rarefied Heir. Go check him out!

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In other news, I had a few of the upcoming promo pieces accepted onto Heather Morton’s Art Buyer Blog. Check it out here (scroll down to #4).

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More always,

Mike

Ron from Arkansas

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on May 25, 2009. No comments.

Had the great fortune of photographing Mr. Ron Fulton for my Refugee project. If you’re unfamiliar with it, check out past explorations here and here.

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Met him a few months back after finding myself in a conversation about The South and Jimi Hendrix. We hit it off immediately: he telling me about Arkansas, his time serving in the military and his 40-year-old parrot, Sailor; myself talking about Bama and my quirky, conceptual portrait style.

Since then we’ve been chatting every other week or so about getting together to do a little colab in the studio, and a few days back we finally had an opportunity.

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What a treat to hear Ron move with ease from Hendrix to Skynard to ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow.’ I found myself smiling and kind of zoning out, rapt in his guitar wizardry. This man has got endless amounts of talent, and a damn fine bird to boot!

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On this great Memorial Day, I wanted to get this post up to honor Ron and all the service men and women who serve or have served our country to give us the freedom we enjoy today.

More always,

Mike

The Approximation Parrots

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on May 18, 2009. No comments.

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Getting things square in the studio today for a shoot tomorrow.

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In sum, part of the gig involves a bird of flight, so–during pre-light–we busted out our best parrot impersonations.

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I don’t know about you guys, but I’m really digging these images. Hope the parrot brings it as hard as we did this afternoon.

Enjoy,

Mike

Pure Love

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on February 19, 2009. 1 Comment.

I don’t remember how I found it, but the other night I came across the video below and forwarded to Jenna.

My heart just smiled with every subsequent screening. Then this morning, I awoke and my good buddy Uncle Beefy came across the very same thing somehow and had the good sense to post for all to see. Needless to say, watched it again and was laughing aloud.

Tonight, while scanning the blogs, I came across a similar item that yet again made my ticker smile.

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

Thanks to HRO, one of my favorite blogs, for posting. *Note: if you’re getting this on an aggregator, iPhone or similar that doesn’t support flash, do yourself a favor and get to a computer to view this bro’s getdown with the getdown.

Year 2009: first transmission from CLINARD

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on January 7, 2009. 1 Comment.

‘Twas a particularly special holiday season visiting the family and friends due to the fact that yours truly turned 30 years of age on January 2nd. I’m saying “so long” to my twenties. So long 2008, and all the years before you (both in the Common Era and how ever many more there were B.C.E.).

As time continued its march into 2009, I took some time to photograph family and friends.

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Above is the one and only Mr. James Fain. Perhaps one of the most knowledgeable guys in my hometown, it was great seeing him and having him sit for these portraits. All the while listening to his remarkable collection of experimental/noise discs and LP’s.

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So here’s to a great start to 2009. I’m excited to see how things continue to shake out.

More always,

Mike

Ich Habe Austrians (schnitt zwei)

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on September 17, 2008. No comments.

I don’t remember all that much from my year in German class. What I do remember is amidst the haze which was my junior and senior years, industrial music was high on my radar. In fact, the only German that stuck with me was Schnitt Acht. . . they ‘habe angst’ in this one.

Charles from Alabama.

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on September 11, 2008. 3 Comments.

So, I’ve been working on this personal project tentatively titled: Refugee: The Southerner in Seattle.

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