Friday, November 07, 2008

WFNX 2008 Halloween Prom!

For the past few years I have been at the WFNX Halloween Prom at The Harp with my camera doing prom style portraits. Usually they have a semi elaborate back drop for me, and it looks more "prom-ish" , this year the background was back-in-black (hey, AC/DC just rocked the Garden this week). It's always a great time with about 400 people bringing out their inner freak. Shooting the prom this year was extra special (for lack of a better term) for me as Mike Snow at WFNX made some things happen and I was able to donate my bartered air time for advertising to a nonprofit art center. The nonprofit art center is the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC) in Portsmouth, NH.

PMAC is amazing, and I'm very proud to have a connection to it. My brother Russ and his wife Katie started the center about 6 years ago and he is the Executive Director and a faculty member. When Russ moved home from school in Chicago he found himself traveling to teach private saxophone lessons in several communities in NH and MA. The combination of gas, time in the car and being an independent contractor was killing him. So he networked with other local musicians to create a non profit in which they would have their own school (thus eliminating drive time and associated stress). The community has benefited from this tremendously. PMAC now has 30 faculty and hundreds of students from kindergarten to... well lets just say they have grandparents that have never played instruments before, or haven't in years, taking lessons and playing in bands now. They have visual arts classes, a teen rock camp in the summer, jazz bands, wind ensembles and more. Big names in the local music scene such as Amanda Palmer of the Dressden Dolls, Al Barr from the Dropkick Murphy's, and Dan Zanes are all supporters who are now donating their names and voices to radio plugs to be used with my barter. Some of them have even done private workshops at the school for the students.

So it was a great Halloween for me as I was able to help my bro's school get some airtime on the local rock station. Here are a few of my favorites from the night...


Was there a Halloween party this year without the Joker? This guy had it down!


Check this group busting out the Breakfast Club pose


Shyla, Krista (Our former studio manager) and Suzanne


Shyla and Suzanne had the perfect costumes for a Boston Halloween


Gotta love the Diamond Dog!


A BIG THANK YOU to Mike Snow and the gang at WFNX for hooking us up and supporting the local art scene as always, can't wait to see all you freaks again next year!

~Matt