Life and Other Things I Don't Understand
Monday, September 13, 2004
Uli Jon Roth's shadow. My favorite shot of the night. Blew this one up and hung it on a wall in my entryway.
Posted by Hello
Here, But Not
Sorry for the rare posts recently. Too much life, not enough time. Went to two concerts recently; one for fun (ZZ Top last night) and one as work-for-hire on the 2nd (Uli Jon Roth - an amazing guitarist; and The Michael Schenker Band). I've spent much of the last week tinkering with the MSG pics, as they were mostly digital, and mostly side- and backlit. Not an easy scenario to photograph. Even the ol' tried-n-true Nikon let me down on this one, and the digital shots weren't much better - all soft focused and sorta mushy-looking. So me and ArcSoft's PhotoStudio have been getting VEEERRY intimate. I didn't have much choice - Graham Central Station (the venue) wanted 8x10s to hang alongside the autograph sheets.
I did the best I could, but I'm not all to thrilled with the results. Uli Jon Roth (former Scorpions guitarist and self-styled Renaissance Man) was not only front-lit and easy, but almost made me forget to shoot - I've never heard Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' on an electric guitar and it was both exhilarating and astounding.
In contrast, I'll never be able to hear 'YMCA' without picturing a man sporting a palm-sized patch of hair in foot-long braids and tattoos all over his body (including the his shaved scalp) wearing nothing but a blue terrycloth bathrobe and boxer briefs singing lewd lyrics onstage in Graham Central's karaoke room after the show.
Mason's computer began to go spastic. We suspected the hard drive was failing (it's an 8 year old Dell, and it's seen better days) and we had to rescue what we could before it could quit altogether. We went computer shopping, and ended up with a nifty little laptop from WalMart.com for just under $700 with tax and shipping. He's thrilled, I'm broke, and his desk looks oh-so-much neater.
Cleaned out the mostly-dead garden, battled with grubs in the lawn and reseed before I can fertilize for winter, and had to shut down the hardly-used-due-to-summer-rains murky swimming pool.
I'll post some pics here (Damn! almost forgot, I still gotta email some to the Michael Schenker bandmembers, too) when I figure out where I put the blasted CD on which the tinkered shots are saved.
I'm tired. Can I have a bonus day off for sleeping?
p.s. Just did a spellcheck; it suggested that I replace "bandmembers" with "pandemonium"... Nah, I think they can do that all by themselves... he he.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Tig's Okay!
I talked to Tig a little while ago and she and her family have weathered the worst of Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Big Ol' Bitch Frances. She's without power, her water's gotta come from a bottle or be boiled before using it, and Asha's not happy about having to pee in wet grass (she's a bit prissy, that dog), but all in all, they're doing fine. All her 'stuff' seems to have made it through unscathed, too. Car and home are still intact, just wet and lots of debris everywhere.
She'll be sharing her stories with everyone soon, once she's powered up again. Just thought you might like to know.
