Music Tastes Good 2018

October 04, 2018 in Music Festival, festival, Music

My good friend, Chris Watson, runs an incredible festival called Music Tastes Good out in Long Beach, California. The festival hosts a wide variety of musical artists, as well as chefs from the area.

I met Chris in 2005 when I discovered Dr. Dog on MySpace when they had 25 friends. Well, Chris was the owner of Park The Van Records, which Dr. Dog was on at the time. Once Chris discovered my love for Dr. Dog he reached out and asked if I would like to be part of it all. I was pretty much in charge of promotions in Chicago. I think we had only hung out about 5 or 6 times, as he lived in Philly/NOLA but we grew to be very close friends during that time. Throughout the years Chris and I became digital brothers. And I have to thank him, because through working with him and Dr. Dog - I went on to meet and work with some incredible people, a lot that I call friends.
Working with these bands is how I wanted to start taking photos. Skip forward about 13 years, he now has this incredible festival and asked me to be one of the official photographers for it!

Thanks for (maybe?) reading my very long intro. Below are a bunch of photos that I took during my weekend at Music Tastes Good

Haunted Summer

Manuel The Band

Radiolistener

Los Master Plus

Oliver Tree

Cherry Glazerr

Big Thief

Princess Nokia

Santigold

Broken Social Scene

New Order

Hanna Vu

The Fling

B.A.G.

De Lux

Ezra Furman

The Blow

Lizzo

The Church

The Black Angels

Janelle Monáe

No BS Brass Band

Fun Around the Fest

Food

Sloss Fest 2016

July 20, 2016

First and foremost, I'd like to thank the home-extraordinaire Jake Ingalls for going above and beyond & making this opportunity happen for me. Hopefully my pictures justify everything. Love ya bud, you're the best. Secondly, I wanted to show off more of the photos I'd taken from Sloss Fest without annoying every single one of my followers with post-after-post about this weekend. So I figured I'd do a blog thing, and annoy everybody in this format instead. Cheers!

Jake and I get wet together all the time, so this isn't anything new to us.

trying to dry up & fuel up in the Flips trailer

Matt thinks these snacks are for him. Dummy.

Jack and Katie gettin' everybody to rock the Bright Light Social Hour hat

Wayne launchin a ton of confetti into the crowd

my GIF brother Nick slammin while Wayne bangs a gong

behind the rainbow, Wayne pointing at me

Jake feelin' real sassy after that perfect set. Now to the Syndicate Lounge for the Brother Griin after party DJ set!!!

Brothers Griin did a DJ set from 12am-4:30 am. Now to the hotel for the after-after party

party in the hotel room until almost 7am. Got to enjoy the sunrise with these goons

Jack taking a selfie of him and Big Red WITH HIS FOOT!!

probably pretty hard to tell how drunk we all are...

6:45am comes around, time to go to bed finally.

then came the stinky, farty, Taylor Swift filled 4 hour van ride back to Memphis. See you in 2 weeks, Chicago.

Riot Fest Chicago 2015

September 15, 2015

In March of 2015, I was given the opportunity to photograph Revolution Brewing's 5 Year Anniversary at the Riviera Theater. After buddying up in the green room with Andrew W.K. and his wife Cherie Lily, I went on stage to shoot their headlining set. I suppose they liked me and my photos enough, to invite me back to shoot their performance at Riot Fest in Chicago this year.

Most of my experiences from this amazing weekend are indescribable. I got unlimited deep dish pizza, and an open bar full of amazing drinks. I got to hang out with some truly amazing bands in their trailers and just shoot the shit. I made some amazing connections for when I move to Portland, and for upcoming road trips. And most importantly, I got to watch some amazing bands on stage, and got to avoid sweaty crowds in ankle deep mud. I cannot thank Cherie Lily and Andrew W.K. enough for having me back!

Earlier today, I posted more photos on Instagram (@geon666) in one day than I ever have before, and that still wasn't enough to show off the amazing photos from my weekend. So I figured I should keep trying out this blog thing. Enjoy the photos, and I hope you all got to see your favorite bands this weekend.

All Images © Geon Tillinghast. Any of my images used on social media require photo credit @GeonPhoto. Anything used beyond social media i.e. promotions, fliers, etc will be dealt with legally.

thanks Cherie and Andrew. Without you and this wristband, none of this would have been possible.

Less Than Jake, with their homemade toilet paper gun

KONGOS. This is the band that sings that "Whooaaaa come with me now" song. I don't personally like them. But hey, they were there.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela. I'm not sure why, but I only shot this image from their set. I think I had to be somewhere else at the same time as their set. Whatever.

Beach Slang. I watched them, but didn't shoot 'em. No idea why.

unlimited deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's, and open bar with Jamison Gingers and other tasty treats

huge crowd, that I thankfully got to avoid, for Andrew W.K.

takin' a big ass selfie with Andrew W.K.

hangin out with Jack Black, making fun of people who take selfies while we take a selfie

Jack Black posing for pictures with a little girl and her mom

Jack Black being a good sport about photos backstage

unrealistically huge crowd for Tenacious D

I think Kyle Gass may have had some weed in that recorder..

Tenacious D's drummer trying to seduce me

Kyle Gass wondering who this weirdo kid behind him is..

so I watched the rest of the show with my main dude Chris Sutter, who played Riot Fest the day before in his band Meat Wave

Modest Mouse was the only band we weren't allowed to watch on-stage, but at least we got to hang in the "super VIP" area where there was no mud and no crowd.

all the bands finished, so Chris and I went to get more free drinks and hung out in Andrew WK's trailer

Meat Wave and Andrew WK mend, becoming one. Meat WK

Erik from Andrew W.K. doin some crazy shit

The night is over, so I say my goodbyes and go home to my boring life.

Road Trip Hosts: 4.11.2015 - 5.22.2015

August 15, 2015

In the late Spring of 2015, I went on nearly a 2 month road trip. Fortunately, I know at least one person in each state and only had to get a hotel once. Amazing.

Every place I stopped at, I made sure to photograph the people I stayed with outside of the home I stayed in.

Orlando, Florida: Cheyenne Logan & Christian Padron

Des Moines, IA: Patrick & Ashley Fleming

Seattle, WA: Maren McNamara & Steve Guardi

Sacramento, CA: had to get a hotel; Vince Zywczak, Justin Stone, me

Los Angeles, CA: Justin Stone, Michael Summaria, Mike Walsh, Meredith Mayer

Memphis, TN: Big Red (Daniel Quinlan) & Space Face

I'm so thankful to have made so many friends throughout the years, that are so selfless and willing to put my stinky ass up for a few days at a time - most without having heard from me in a couple years - and a couple that didn't even know me prior to letting me crash.

The world is a truly amazing place, and good things can happen if you put the energy out there. I hope to return the favor to y'all one day, and hope to see you again soon.

Nelarusky & Special Olympics crew holding a check for $25,000 in front of a sold-out Metro

Nelarusky 2015

July 30, 2015

http://nelarusky.com/

http://www.soill.org/

For the past couple of years, I have been fortunate enough to help out Nelarusky by photographing their festival.
Nelarusky is an organization created by Lauren McClusky when she was only 16 years old, to raise money and awareness for the Special Olympics, as well as showcase upcoming talent, through an annual benefit concert at Metro in Chicago.

There are so many photos that show off the hard work of all involved, as well as photos of the bands that performed. It's easy to get very post-happy on social medias, but that can get annoying to most - so I'll post a larger amount of photographs in this blog feature - which I have not yet used. Enjoy!

green room at Metro before most of the interns and bands came

this Fender Strat was to be autographed by the bands, and then auctioned off to raise money for the Special Olympics

Chaz Bundick of Toro Y Moi autographing and drawing on the auctioned-off guitar — Chaz Bundick of Toro Y Moi autographing and drawing on the auctioned-off guitar

Fender Strat with Chaz Bundick's autograph & doodles — Fender Strat with Chaz Bundick's autograph & doodles

Young Buffalo getting interviewed backstage

the crew chatting, and enjoying some food & drink

more information about Nelarusky & Special Olympics

Nelarusky & Special Olympics announcement comes to an end

this huge crowd is excited to be part of something great

Young Buffalo getting ready to hit the stage

the Nelarusky crew gets ready to present the check on stage

a quick photoshoot takes place backstage

Nelarusky presents a $25,000 check to Special Olympics Illinois!

Nelarusky crew has the crowd's full attention

so many people made this amazing moment happen

Toro Y Moi takes the stage to close out the fest — Toro Y Moi takes the stage to close out the fest