About

On July 4th 1994, I photographed my first Poi shows. In the afternoon they performed before tens of thousands at the XRT free 4th of July concert at Taste of Chicago. Brigid Murphy checked herself out of the hospital (or maybe snuck out) to perform. It was the era when Frank would don his discoball suit and sing the Chain through a megaphone. It was a hell of a show and I was so hooked that I followed them to Lounge Ax that evening and talked my way in. I was not yet 21.

They played an amazing, sweaty, late-night set to a much smaller crowd. I only had a few frames left on the roll of film in my Olympus point-and-shoot. 20 years later, I'm still shooting Poi Dog shows. Now it's all digital but for the first few thousand frames it was 35mm color and black and white. This site is the first comprehensive collection of those photos, and it is powered by a Kickstarter. I'm forever greatful to the amazing fans of this band, and of course to the band itself.

Poi Dog Pondering shows were a great lab for me to learn some new photo tricks. Over the years I shot this band many, many times but I also shot hundreds of other artists big and small as they passed through town. You can see those pics at rocknroll.net