Buy George Contreras a Camera

If you are in a band or go to rock shows in Los Angeles, you have no doubt seen George “the gentle giant” Contreras, camera in hand, standing in front of the stage. Frankly, he’s hard to miss. A hulking figure with a wild beard and laser-focus on getting “the shot,” he can come off as intimidating. But all who know George know he has a heart of gold. Despite medical issues and other setbacks, he has made it his mission to shoot every show he can. He provided my former band Aboleth with hundreds of amazing live shots and never asked for anything in return. In fact, the back cover of our album “Benthos” features a picture George took at The Whisky! All he asked for was a credit in the liner notes.

Well this weekend, something unacceptable happened. George’s trusty old canon d60 took its final shot. The camera is dead, and now George has nothing to shoot with and can’t afford a new camera himself.  Which is why we, the rock/metal community of Los Angeles, need to step up and help our Gentle Giant in his time of need. Frankly it was time for an upgrade to his rig anyway, ideally to a new or late-model Canon DSLR. It doesn’t have to be top-of-the-line (though that would be amazing), just a good working professional camera so that George does not miss a step. He’s done so much for us, let’s do something nice for him in return.