Todd Raviotta was busy this past weekend. In addition to capturing some great images and footage of The Trillions at the Camel on Sunday, he was also at the Black Girls CD release party, which happened at The Camel the night before. He hooked us up with a plethora of great images, as well as one truly unforgettable video. Read on!
Athens, GA's Tumbleweed Stampede opened up, delivering their uplifting set to an appreciative crowd. Mixing keyboard and even a horn section into their melodic indie-pop, Tumbleweed Stampede touched on influences as various as Afro-Caribbean pop and old-school Southern soul music.
Black Girls, though, were the stars of the evening. And how could it be otherwise? Having just returned from their first tour of the American South, they were hailed as triumphant heroes by an appreciative hometown crowd. They responded in kind with spirited renditions of tunes from their brand new CD, Hell Dragon.
For example, check out this performance of Hell Dragon opening track "Broadway," which closed out the evening's festivities. The wall-to-wall crowd is extremely enthusiastic; at one point, singer Drew Gillihan tosses his tambourine into the crowd, where it is played by audience members as Gillihan blurts, "I want that back!" in mock-protest. The rest of the members of the band are enthusiastic as well--bassist Jeff Knight bounces around onstage, nodding his head and pointing his bass at the sky, and guitarist Fletcher Babb manages to leap forward with such energy at one point that he scores a direct hit on Todd's camera (this is at about the 4:38 mark). Fortunately nothing gets broken though, and the result is an excellent document of a joyous evening for all involved.
CLICK HERE TO SEE TODD'S FULL SET OF PHOTOS FROM THE EVENING!
Images and Video by Todd Raviotta
Words by Andrew Necci