Rock N Roll, In Photos: See Marc Brubaker’s Concert Photography, Starting Tonight

If you’ve been to any shows around this town since the year 2000 or so, odds are good that you’ve run across photographer Marc Brubaker without even realizing it. He’s a photo ninja, somehow hiding that lanky frame ’til just the right second to get the shot, popping up in the photo pit and then — poof! — he’s gone. Seriously, I’ve watched the guy work, and that’s what it’s like.

Brubaker, who’s also done time as part of {Prairie Cadets}, overseeing the sadly-defunct Houstonist, and running booking group Waste No Buffalo over the years, not to mention his {H-Town Rock} blog and accompanying H-Town Rock Wiki (which I’ve been meaning to mention for a long damn time now), has turned over the past decade from a guy who just shoots photos for fun into one of the city’s preeminent rock photographers. Houston’s got a small-yet-impressive crew of music photogs these days, and while I’m probably a bit biased, I’ll still declare that Marc’s one of the best working right now. He’s one of those photographers (along with Mark C. Austin & SCR‘s own Jason Smith) who make me look at my own half-assed attempts at photography at shows, sigh, and mutter, “well, crap; I suck.” And hey, I’m okay with that.

I bring up Marc right now because the guy will have an exhibition of his concert photography up at Catalina Coffee starting tonight, Friday, June 14th. There’s an official-shmofficial opening reception this evening, running from 8-10PM, so definitely make it out to that if you can. And hey, there’ll apparently be Saint Arnold’s beer for the drinking, so there’s that as a bonus.

If you can’t make it out tonight — like, say, yours truly…sigh — well, you’re not totally screwed. Marc’s work will be up at Catalina from now until June 30th, so stop on by whenever you get a chance.