Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

As a DJ at my college radio station at the University of the Pacific back in the mid '90s, I used to always play a Juliana Hatfield song during my show. The combination of Hatfield's honey sweet vocals and chunky Gibson SG guitar riffs easily won me over when I first saw her videos on MTV's Alternative Nation. She had been on my radar previously with her swooning background vocals and rollicking bass work on the Lemonheads album "It's A Shame About Ray".

She toured sporadically back in the day and I remembered doing whatever I could to catch her live shows when she came to town. Hatfield is responsible for igniting my interest in concert photography as I snuck in my brand new five megapixel Sony camera into her show at the Knitting Factory and taking a slew of blurry photos. I had no idea what I was doing but luckily scored a few good shots due to the sheer volume of shutter actuations.

See Also:
*Last Shot: A Concert Photographer's Battle With Cancer

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

It has been two years and three months since I was initially diagnosed. The shock of hearing my gastroenterologist telling me I had cancer crippled me as much as the disease itself. The doctor dropping the bomb on me with both of my parents in the room was hard enough. The next difficult task would be to tell all my friends about my diagnosis.

Another unique aspect of collapsing at the hospital I work at was that all my co-workers and colleagues would constantly check on me and ask me how I was doing. It was traumatic to have to recant how I had a tumor obstructing my colon and I needed surgery right away. Over and over again. My CT scan gave a detailed report of how I had a large tumor in my colon and that it had spread diffusely into my liver.

See Also:
*Last Shot: A Concert Photographer's Battle With Cancer

I soon got the wise idea of handing my fellow pharmacists and nurses the actual CT scan report so they would fully understand the scope of my diagnosis and prognosis. My parents were great enough to disclose my situation to my immediate family members and relatives. All that was left for me to do was inform my close friends.

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

I knew my diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer would change my life in many ways. Looking back over the two years and two months since that fateful day, I appreciate life and the little things so much more. Some of the things that I did so effortlessly prior to my illness now require more planning and strategic sacrifices.

See Also:
*Last Shot: A Concert Photographer's Battle With Cancer

Taking medications was something I rarely did before I was sick. Nowadays, I carry around a blue pill bag that doubles as a small pharmacy for relieving a host of potential ailments. The medications I use the most are Lomotil (Diphenoxylate and Atropine) and Imodium (Loperamide) which battle the effects of diarrhea which is a common side effect due to my extensive chemotherapy regimen of Tarceva (Erlotinib), Erbitux (Cetuximab), Camptosar (Irinotectan) and Avastin (Bevacizumab).

The difficulty in dealing with chemotherapy is that after all this time you never know when the side effects will hit. Shooting concerts used to be so much easier as I would eat before the concert without having to worry about stomach problems. I learned about not eating before concerts the hard way when I photographed Red Hot Chili Peppers at Club Nokia in August of 2011.

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. This series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

One of my favorite bands in the world is Hum. You may remember their alt-radio hit "Stars" from the mid-'90s. As I get older, I have realized that the music I listened to religiously during my late teens and early twenties left an indelible mark on my music tastes. Hum's combination of heavy space-rock guitars, unique bass parts and complex drumming had me listening to their albums You'd Prefer an Astronaut and Downward Is Heavenward on constant repeat while I studied organic chemistry in college. I had seen Hum a number of times in the '90s and even serendipitously in London while on vacation after seeing a flier in Tower Records.

Hum unfortunately broke up but would occasionally reunite for special shows. Back in September 2011, Hum announced that they would play two shows. The first show would be at the High Dive in Champaign, Illinois, and the second would be at the A.V. Club festival in Chicago. I had only been back in action photographing shows for a few months after my initial surgery and still was on chemotherapy. While the idea of traveling across the country while undergoing treatment and not being at full strength was daunting, I was determined to make the trip because Hum rarely play, and I figured the boost of seeing them again live would be worth the risks.

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. This series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

My anxiety levels finally dropped to "normal" when I pulled my car into the garage. Arriving home late on Monday night, I immediately collapsed into my favorite chair. My goal of photographing two weekends of Coachella was accomplished. It still ranks up there as one of my proudest moments, as I ended up photographing 12 of 13 nights this month. Cancer has altered many things in my life, but I will summon every ounce of resolve to not let it prevent me from doing what I love.

I barely had time to recover from the first weekend, as I stayed in Indio until the late afternoon and stopped at the Fox Theater Pomona to see a stellar set by the Postal Service. Things took a disastrous turn on Tuesday, as one of the memory-card slots on my primary camera was damaged moments before catching a raucous set by Franz Ferdinand and Palma Violets at the Fonda Theatre. Instead of panicking, I proceeded to order 128 GB of extra memory through my phone for immediate delivery on Thursday since I couldn't get my camera repaired in time for Coachella. My nerves were starting to fray; this was the last thing I needed to worry about.

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

I am happy to report that I survived the first weekend of Coachella. It wasn't without some close calls and numerous trips to the bathroom. I'm still sore from walking around the polo grounds and have a few bumps and bruises to prove it. My feet also despised me for a couple of days although I wore my comfortable Nike running shoes. The sandstorm that hit on Sunday was the ultimate souvenir from Coachella as I'm still finding sand in various places.
See Also:
*Last Shot: A Concert Photographer's Battle With Cancer

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

Before I was sick, I used to run marathons. It was something that I had wanted to check off my bucket list and the sense of exhilaration and joy after completing my first marathon was overwhelming. I never ran in high school or in college and I was by no means fast, but I eventually got addicted to running and it was a great way to listen to hours of music on my iPod shuffle.

See Also:
*Last Shot: A Concert Photographer's Battle With Cancer

The one thing running marathons taught me was the importance of mental toughness and how to fool yourself that you are actually running 26.2 miles. While you have to listen to your body, your mind and will power are powerful allies and can push you past the finish line. Ironically, all the bands I used to listen to on my running mixes, now constitute my chemotherapy listening mixes.

More »

Lindsey Best

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

There are a handful of diagnostic techniques used to assess the current state of my cancer. My blood is frequently analyzed for tumor markers of CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) and CA 19-9 (cancer antigen 19-9), both of which roughly indicate how much cancer is roaming around inside my body and are used specifically for colon cancer patients.

See Also:
*Last Shot: A Concert Photographer's Battle With Cancer

When I was diagnosed, my CEA was 855 (normal is 0-5) and my CA 19-9 was an astronomical 10,337 (normal is under 55). About a year ago, while on chemotherapy the whole time, my levels dipped to almost normal levels, indicating a potential brief remission. Then, suddenly, both levels started slowly increasing. It was incredibly scary. I foolishly thought that since they were near normal, they would stay that way. I would just have to continue treatments.

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]
I've had a number of moments since my diagnosis that have inspired me to keep on fighting my battle with cancer. When I was laying in my hospital bed after my diagnosis, I reflected on the multitude of concerts that I attended. One of my immediate flashbacks was from 1992. I attended two nights of Ministry, Helmet and Sepultura at the Universal Amphitheatre. It was incredible. Ministry was at their most destructive in support of their album Psalm 69 and Sepultura was gaining momentum in the thrash world with their album Arise.

See Also:
*Last Shot: A Concert Photographer's Battle With Cancer

More »

Lindsey Best

Andrew Youssef

[Editor's Note: Longtime concert photographer and fellow Weekling Andrew Youssef found out almost two years ago that he had Stage IV colon cancer. In that time, he has continued to shoot tons of music events for us on top of other freelance work and holding a day job at a hospital, of all places. As he continues to fight for his life, this series allows him to tell his story in his own words.]

Music has been a large part of my life for as long as I can remember. My fascination with concerts occurred back in 1984 at the tender age of nine when I attended Judas Priest at the Long Beach Arena with my brother and our father, who was our escort. It was a spectacle to behold as I can still remember Rob Halford driving onto the stage on his Harley Davidson motorcycle. Flashing lights, scorching twin guitar leads, and Halford's punishing vocals are what cemented my love affair with concerts.

As I have eluded in previous columns, I truly believe that music is keeping me alive. Photographing and attending concerts gives me the physical and mental energy I need to keep battling this disease. When I first started getting my bi-weekly chemotherapy treatments, I was scared to attend any shows within the first week as the side effects of tiredness, nausea, diarrhea, and my horrifying skin rash squashed my will to attend shows.

See Also:
*Last Shot: Chemical Warfare

More »