The Chances

How a 250+ Pound Couch Potato Got Healthy

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of shooting Colin Hay from Men At Work.  My friend was the concert promoter, and our standing agreement is he lets me into all his shows for free if I take the pictures.  So... I did, hehe.

At the beginning of the show, I positioned myself next to the stage and up close.  I would have been more towards the center, but the way the auditorium seats are, they're barely 2 or 3 feet from the stage, so there just wouldn't be room for me.  After this song he looked at me and asked me if I was trying to steal his soul.  He then said he wishes someone had at least asked him ahead of time.  This sort of freaked me out, since my friend was supposed to have taken care of all this.  More on it in a minute.


After Colin gave me these comments, my friend came up and told me the "terms" so to speak, which as Colin said, it would have been nice to have been told ahead of time.  He said they only wanted me to take pictures during the first few songs and the last few, but none in the middle.  That's pretty standard for concerts, so I wasn't upset.  It just would have been nice if my friend had been a little more prepared.



After the first few songs, he went electric and brought out his band, which includes his wife, named Cecilia Noel.  She has a band in the Los Angeles area called Cecilia Noel and the Wild Clam, which is salsa music.  She dances and sings, reminded me a lot of Stevie Nicks.


I had thought the set would weigh heavily on the Men At Work songs, since it was called the "Man At Work Tour", but really they only played a few of those.  The main focus was on Colin's solo work, which is really good.



After the show, Colin and Cecilia signed autographs for everyone.  I talked to him and apologized to him for "stealing his soul", and in talking, I realized that he thought I was videotaping him!  I said no, it's a still camera, and he said oh, I have no problem with that!  So it all worked out in the end.



I have the entire gallery online if you're interested in seeing the rest:

http://www.thechances.com/gallery/ColinHay070905/index.html

There are 78 images total, both in B&W and color.  This is what I delivered to my friend on a CD.

Thanks for looking!