HodeUpHodeUpHodeUp.

Nelly. St. Louis Legend.

The St. Lunatics. St. Louis Coattail Riders.

No, in all honesty, I have nothing against the St. Lunatics. But when I went to photograph the Nelly concert at Home, I was a little dismayed that most of my shots were obscured by one of the twenty other people on the stage with Nelly. Who were these people? What were they doing? I swear, one of them was just drinking and waving his hands. Chingy actually climbed OVER the DJ booth to get to the stage.

And there was this one guy… I have no idea who in the hell he was. He was clearly A) very important and B) lacked any significant talent whatsoever because all he did the entire time was bring things to a dead stop. In the middle of a song this guy would determine, randomly, that things needed to stop and would scream into the mic “HodeUpHodeUpHodeUp….” And then make some comment that seemed really unimportant.

I have very little doubt that neither Nelly or any of the St. Lunatics will be reading this posting, so I don’t mind saying that this guy really needs to find a job. True, he’s hobnobbing with the likes of Nelly and is clearly important enough to garner a microphone, but is this a talent? “HodeUpHodeUpHodeUp”. Fuck. I could do that. HIRE ME! Because every hip hop act really needs a little irish girl to act ghetto.

So, here’s a question for all my fans…both of you… Is it better to be part of the party your are documenting or not? Seriously, do you want to remain outside of the party in order to document it properly, or is the only way to really see a party is to be a part of one? Anyone? Bueller?

Covering Nelly was, in actuality, quite the sight. The hometown hero vibe is a strong one. And why shouldn’t it be? He was wearing diamond covered dogtags! I am not sure what the significance of that is… Perhaps he is making a statement about the amount of money we have spent on the war. (Somehow I doubt that…) But when you see a St. Louisan reach the Hollywood heights, even me from West County privilege, you do sort of get excited. I don’t have diamond crusted dogtags. I never wanted any, and there was a time in my life that I wore dogtags (please see my early teen emo phase), but that is hardly the point.

The point is, this guy made it. And he stayed true to his roots. And he took his friends. And all of that is very very very cool, and I am honored to be one of three publications who were allowed to shoot him.

But, please, get rid of the “HodeUp” guy. He is ruining the pacing of the show.