I Killed the King With My Lies

..October 1997.. ..Hammerstein Ballroom, New York..

On October 30th, 1997 I photographed Jane’s Addiction at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. I have a large photograph from the concert hanging in my living room. A symbol of the start of my career.

I remember the exact moment when I snapped the photo and the lyric Perry was singing during Ocean Size. He put his leg over the monitor leaned towards the crowd. I snapped away.

I was about a foot away in the photo pit. A nervous sweat poured out of me all over my camera. My finger was on the shutter button all concert. The energy from the band and crowd made me feel like I was on a hard charging wave.

At the end of the second song Dave leaned down from the stage with a rose sticking in his hair. I heard his soft voice over the anarchic crowd and shreeking teenage girls. “Is everything ok?’ I nodded. I can’t say it was surreal. It was unrealistic.

I drove to Washington, DC the day after. Worrying all night if that shot came out. Back then everything had to be shot on slide film for magazines. 320 Tungsten pushed 2 stops. I picked up my film, immediately looked for that series of shoots. Walking down a cobblestone street in Georgetown and looking at the film simultaneously. I got the shot. I remember the walk like it was yesterday. 23 and the beginning of something. Of what?