Category: News

ECLIPSE 2017

The Great American Eclipse passed from coast to coast on Monday August 21st and photos taken in the Path of Totality by LB have gone viral worldwide.

As a longtime nerd and astronomy buff, LB loves celestial events like eclipses, meteor showers and planetary alignments. He’s also dabbled in astrophotography, recently traveling to Idaho’s pristine night skies to shoot the Milky Way.

Braving what were expected to be dicey weather conditions, he flew to Charleston, SC and then traveled to Saluda, SC on the morning of the eclipse. Setting up in a local cemetery, Lou was blessed with clear blue skies by the height of the event. While he would have been happy with normal eclipse pictures, LB captured something extraordinary. During totality, a small plane photobombed the sun and moon, actually eclipsing the eclipse. Out of the millions of pictures taken during the eclipse, a rare few featuring aircraft, this is the only photo series to occur during totality.

Soon after the eclipse, LB’s photos were picked up by both Getty Images and the Associated Press. News services and publications around the world then began featuring the shots after that including National Geographic, BBC Science Focus, Zaikei News of Japan, AOL, Global Times of Beijing, Huffington Post Korea, aeroTelegraph of Germany, iHeart Media and many others. Please feel free to make us aware of any other usage.

HELLYEAH

Brutus returns to the country roads of West Virginia to host the latest stop on the Hellyeah “Undeniable Tour” on Saturday July 29th.

The show is at Shiley Acres in Inwood, WV where the bill also features Black Stone Cherry, Cane Hill, Kyng, Silence the Mind, Souther Governor, and Let There Be School of Rock.

Along with interviews, stage announcements and photographing the bands, LB will be out in the crowd with stickers and pins. He *might* have a *very* limited amount of guitar picks but his expected order of new picks has not arrived yet! Please don’t be shy and come up to say, “Hello!”

To order tickets or find out how to get there hit: ShileyAcres.net.

ROCK FEST 2017

It’s Rock Fest Week as Lou returns for the fourth straight year as the official host of Rock Fest in Cadott, WI July 13, 14 and 15.

The line up for 2017 is arguably the best in the festival’s long history including Avenged Sevenfold, Rob Zombie, Slayer, KoRn, Shinedown, Volbeat, Stone Sour, Megadeth, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Clutch, Insane Clown Posse, Sevendust, Ratt, Hellyeah, Cinderella’s Tom Keifer, Lita Ford, Lit, Mushroomhead, Thousand Foot Krutch, Avatar, Faster Pussycat, Gemini Syndrome, Texas Hippie Coalition, Vimic (featuring Joey Jordison), Failure Anthem, Rachel Lorin, Shallow Side, and too many others to name.

Brutus will host onstage, interview the artists on camera backstage, and also shoot down the photo pit. In addition, a special Meet & Greet with him will happen, and official Lou Brutus merchandise will be available.

For ticket information and the full line up hit the official Rock Fest site.

IDAHO ROCKS AND ROCKERS

Brutus made his first-ever trip to The Gem State of Idaho for a bit of Rock N Roll, baseball and astrophotography.

The main reason for the journey was to host KoRn, Stone Sour and Islander at the recently opened Portneauf Health Trust Amphitheater in Pocatello, ID. LB had long promised his listeners in the area that he’d get out for a visit when the stars aligned correctly with scheduling. The gig was a massive success with fans from Eastern Idaho, Montana and Wyoming showing up by the thousands. When Lou wasn’t onstage hosting or in the photo pit getting images, he was wading through the crowd handing out Darla the Wonder Dog pins.

The day before the concert, Brutus threw out the first pitch at the Idaho Falls Chukars victory over the visiting Grand Junction Rockies. Sadly, Lou was caught scuffing the ball before the pitch and was ejected from the game by stadium officials. However, he did get to keep the ball which he had signed by each member of the three bands playing the concert the following day.

Finally, Brutus was fortunate enough to make a trip a very remote park of great natural beauty: City of Rocks National Monument. He arrived shortly before dark and was able to capture images of the Milky Way under the pristine, light pollution-free skies along the Idaho/Utah border.

LB summed up by saying, “I can’t thank the rockers of Idaho enough for their many years of listening and for coming out to support live Rock N Roll. Much love also to my friends at K-Bear 101 and my buddy Viktor Wilt for all of the hospitality. I hope to get back out again soon for both music and your beautiful night skies!”

Read up on the show and Lou’s visit with the East Idaho news here.

GREGG ALLMAN, THE YEARBOOK AND I

Out of the sadness in the wake of the recent passing of music legend Gregg Allman, comes a Rock N Roll story that will warm your heart.

Back in 2006, Brutus was preparing to to travel to Savannah, GA to interview Allman at his home. A friend of Lou’s learned of the trip and mentioned Gregg visiting his high school in 1976 under somewhat bizarre circumstances. It seems Allman played a secret show at the school after completing drug rehabilitation at a nearby hospital outside of Buffalo, NY. The students had invited Gregg to visit. Amazingly, he not only accepted but played a show for the kids, bringing along his wife at the time Cher. When Lou’s friend mentioned Allman and Cher were in featured in high school yearbook for the visit, Lou suggested bring the yearbook for Gregg to see.

However, the full story is far richer and more wonderful than you can imagine. The incident as posted by Brutus was noticed on social media and turned into an excellent story by writer Sean Kirst of The Buffalo News.

You can read the entire article here. It proved so popular that there was a follow up article you can read here.