Your choice on Spotify.
As for me….I am listening to Maggie Hamilton today. I had my head out the window talking to her. Watching the clouds’ indecision of what kind of day they wanted to give us. Watching the parking lot squeeze tight. Trying to zoom out into the big picture. And breathe. Breathe. Breathe…..
A client last night asked if they pay me more, will I work harder? We both laughed hard at that one. I don’t even know less than 1000 per cent. The compensation is great, but not the motivation.
Listening to this old Warren Zevon song which was the soundtrack for the last blog post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQWUdtU1t4k
Watching Will Epstein’s thesis from Brown – http://vimeo.com/41809923 Will is an old friend. This piece is so soulful and beautiful. Like Will.
Then the new King Charles album – which I am not sure I love….. – although my 1 year old is singing Bam Bam NON-stop! Is that okay?
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This is a light on my friend Jonny Daniels. I met him in Poland last summer and instantly found the same wave length. We were both in foreign territory (Warsaw and Krakow), strangers instantly thrown deep into joint histories that connected us all. Crazy soul I instantly bonded with.
Jonny is an operative in the best sense. He works every scene. He worked me until I was laughing so hard I begged for air. He worked out of the Kenesset in Jerusalem sweating his way just ahead of the mob, still managing to get in every picture. He worked the lobby of the King David, got his room and a big Sunday brunch picked up, then showed Jon Voight how to wash his hands. Jonny now works NY and LA like a pro. He grabs a stack of my business cards and calls from the road with his auto signature, “All The Best.” – which is his equivilant of have a great day. Really Jonny!
I have pictures that could instantly kill a political career, or make it take off if all news is good news. But I won’t be sharing those. I won’t even show you pictures of those pants he was wearing last summer with the cuffs and pleats. He promised they were disposed of. I can’t tell you most of what we talk about. Nothing is sacred. We almost died laughing at our driver in Israel who had a huge fake smile plastered on his face from 5 in the morning until midnight. It always feels like we are dodging bullets, and following the smoke trails.
Jonny shows up in NY with both phones dead, desperately needing an outlet. He talks about actresses and Hollywood producers he is meeting with. He talks about Dwayne in Nashville and Glenn in Dallas. Jonny is breaking velvet ropes, hanging out on rooftop bars in NY and Soho parties in LA.
Is is not easy being Jonny Daniels, riding in coach from Tel Aviv to LA. He belongs in the front. He has one of the most angelic singing voices you have ever heard. Didn’t expect that did you? He holds his little daughter like the most precious knock on the back of his knees.
Jonny is my friend. Some people don’t get Jonny. They are missing out.
05.08.12 Posted in Photos, Something I Saw
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I know I talk alot about Mac Miller. He and Karen invite me to take pictures. There is nothing more fun. These are from Roseland Ballroom in NY last week.
Mac is one musician who will never need a teleprompter to remember the lyrics. His audience is on every single word. The shows are loud and tight.
There are all new videos on huge screens behind him. They begin with scenes from a park I played at as a child in Pittsburgh. Mac holds onto those parks and memories from growing up in Pittsburgh like little pictures in a locket.
If you want to see the whole series of images from Roseland, you can download the pdf here: Mac Miller: Roseland
Mac Miller: Roseland
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Atlantic City – The Band
When I arrived in Ithaca for college, before classes even began I had a gig producing a column for a local weekly called, “Portrait of An Artist.” It was mostly an excuse to be able to photograph concerts in town, mostly up at Cornell. I photographed so many amazing muscians – from Joni Mitchell to The Band. Those pictures are slowly coming back to life. There is a beautiful one of Levon Helm, the great drummer and vocalist for the The Band that will appear soon. In the meantime, here is a beautiful vocal of Levon’s from the album, Jericho.
Bob Dylan recruited the Hawks (an earlier name for The Band) as his backing band in 1965, but Levon Helm found the highly charged scene oppressive and, after a few shows, left for Arkansas. He later explained, “for the first time I couldn’t stick to my policy, which was to whistle while I worked.”
In a 1984 interview with Modern Drummer magazine, Mr. Helm described the “right ingredients” for his work in music and film as “life and breath, heart and soul.”
This is one of the best obits I’ve read from jambands.com
Levon’s Web site read today, “Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends, and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and beautiful soul.
Have Scorsese’s great film from 1976, “The Last Waltz” playing now…..totally amazing!
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Left my studio to meet Stephie at the train station. It was so beautiful. 70 degrees in March. New York was drunk on the sun. Skin was starting to show. So nice going to the train station at rush hour and not having to board a train.
“Running Up That Hill”
There was a woman behind me. She screamed out, “WHERE IS MY SOUL? OH MY GOD!” Then after a minute I heard her collect herself and say calmly, “Oh, there it is. In my pocket.”
Went to an opening last night at the Guggenheim Museum. My classmate from RISD – Francesca Woodman. Everyone was dressed up, although few were there from our class. There were Francesca anecdotes being passed around. Francesca stories – all told in the past tense. There was talk about the art world. There were whispers about cashing in on Francesca’s work if we would sell the precious few prints tucked away in the box at home. There was talk about almost anything except the incredible sadness at the core of it all. The person I really wanted to see, wanted to be with, wanted to connect with was not there. Francesca was trapped in time on the walls in perfectly matted frames. She would be so thrilled of course, to see the work having taken on a life of it’s own on those big famous museum walls. Yet as much as Francesca was about the work, she was a person trying to survive, too. She was hungry and needed to eat. She was dirty and needed to shower. She was lonely and needed to loved. She was there, she created all these amazing images, and then she was gone.
For some of us….she was our friend and the work doesn’t replace the friend we miss.
“Let me steal this moment from you now”
03.15.12 Posted in Photos, Something I Saw
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