Brother Firetribe @ Kellari 9.1.2009

Even though the pictures from Amorphis’ gig had been up in our gallery for ages, I finally got around to selecting and editing the best shots of Brother Firetribe’s last gig.

They are a side project for many of the members – just a way to have fun – that play good old 80s style hard rock. I know many die-hard metalheads who tried to hate them, but failed. But then again, what do you expect when the musicians are skilled and the music is mostly upbeat hard rock. It does make you smile.

Musically the gig was very much what you’d expect. Good, fast moving music and an enthusiastic crowd. When compared to the other metal acts we’ve seen in Kellari the audience was much more colorful (the black uniform of metalheads were more to the back). The band seemed to enjoy themselves and really worked up a sweat (as can be seen in some of the pictures).

Emppu Vuorinen

The gig was the first one we went to see in Kellari (which celebrated it’s first anniversary at the time), so the venue was unknown. What little I could tell from their website was that they don’t have all that much lighting on the house but at least they don’t prevent photography in any way.

Jason Flinck, Pekka Heino & Tomppa Nikulainen

Emppu VuorinenThe bang lighting didn’t make things any easier. The light was mostly from the back and generally quite red. Liberal use of the smoke machine meant that I didn’t get any decent shots of the drummer.

The venue doesn’t have a separate area between the stage and audience for photographers so getting a good spot for photography means getting there early and staying where you are. Luckily I’m not small, so keeping my spot and staying steady in the pit isn’t an impossible task.

Pekka Heino

Pekka HeinoEvery time I’ve seen Nighwish play live I’ve enjoyed how Emppu Vuorinen interacts with the audience – even from the larger stages that Nightwish play on in Finland. Brother Firetribe’s vocalist Pekka Heino is also great with the audience and I got several good shots of him interacting with them (us).

The full set of pictures can be found in our photo gallery.

Amorphis @ Joensuu Areena 15.3.2008

Tomi Joutsen Hmm… A bit late to blog about shooting the show over a year ago. But then again, I am eagerly waiting for the release of their new album tomorrow.

Tomi Joutsen and Esa HolopainenLast year Amorphis played live in Joensuu at a small pre-festival gig (Kohti Rokkia 08) of three bands. Of the three Amorphis was definitely the one we wanted to see, the other two not so much. Although I feel that because of hometown loyalty I should like Stam1na and Mokoma as well…

Tomi JoutsenAs a venue the Joensuu Areena is large, so we had to start navigating through the crowd as soon as the previous act quit to get far enough to the front for some decent images. Since the venue is large there were enough lights and the smoke didn’t linger too long around the stage.

Jan RechbergerThe shots are almost all vertical due to our position in the pit and not a separate area for photographers. Trying to catch the less prominent members is always hard – even more so from the pit. The shots were all taken with a Canon 30D and 70-200 f/4 L (non-IS).

Sometimes a rare momemt makes the shot, even if it isn’t technically all that good. Esa isn’t famous for going up to the mike and I almost missed this shot.

Esa Holopainen

These shots are some of my favorites, the rest that I published can be seen in our photo gallery.

Tomi Koivusaari Tomi Joutsen Esa Holpainen Tomi Joutsen Esa Holopainen Tomi Joutsen

Questions for Marcelo Cabuli

As a fan of Nightwish’s music I’ve been following the controvercy surrounding the firing of Tarja Turunen from the band. Yesterday Marcelo Cabuli’s letter was published on Tarja’s site in which he promises to openly answer questions sent to him. While I’m quite doubtful of the openness that is promised (and generally anything that comes from his mouth), as a advocate of privacy and data security I’m very concerned about the following in his letter:

I wish to be able to answer to the people that might be really interested to know. In order to avoid wasting time with emails of other kind, I will request that every email sent has as subject the following info: complete name of sender (not nickname), ID number and country of origin. Please send the questions in English (or Spanish)

I read the above paragraph several times and I can’t figure out any other interpretation to the ID number other than an ID code that is used to identify an individual . At least in my understanding, this would be equal to a personal identity number as defined in Finland.

The Finnish Data Protection Act (PDF) states the following about gathering personal identity numbers:

A personal identity number may be processed on the unambiguous consent of the data subject
or where so provided in an Act…

While there are exceptions and such in the act, the relevant content for us is the requirement of the unambiguous consent from the subject. Sending an email message with your ID number isn’t adequate to satisfy the requirement in my book. Finnish law also requires that the party responsible for collecting the data states how the data is going to be processed. Using a personal identity number just to filter out spam or questionable messages isn’t an adequate use for an ID number in my book. The relevant act also states several requirements on data security and sending information to officials.

After all of this and based on my own doubts, I strongly recommend everyone to not send their personal ID number as the subject of a message to anyone. There may be even some cause for Finnish officials to take action in this matter.

This post is also published in Finnish in Satunnaisia leiskahduksia. Update: typo in Marcelo’s name fixed.

Criminal acts

While I have a small sliver of hope that the president will not accept the copyright law that the parliament just passed, I’m a realist and will just have to accept it. The law has some good changes compared to the old law, but it is filled with too many weakenings of consumer rights and against the basic rights of people as noted in the Finnish constitution that I’m very sad that a law like this can be passed.

But, my criminal acts to date are: copying copy-protected music from CDs to MP3, publishing guides on how to print protected PDF documents, and how to rip DVD audio into MP3. Both guides tell you how to circumvent copy-protection and are thus illegal. I will hold on to my rights as a consumer and Finnish citizen and will fight against it — even if only by civil disobedience.