flashback: june 30, 2007

this actually is still on the 40 image slim edit of eldridge street. gosh, i have to go through a reedit.

earth celebrations

i wish i could have such quick turn around times on the mermaid parade. shoot saturday, post monday. most people on the blog-o-sphere post the same evening. alas this is not the mermaid parade but the hudson river pageant i shot in early may.

years ago, earth celebrations would parade through the community gardens around the lower east side and east village in an event called the rites of spring. there were puppets, people where in face paint, and it was set in mid spring to revel in the oncoming warmer weather. it would also give publicity to the need to save the community gardens of the neighborhood. i photographed it three times, the best part is they would costume up the photographers as well.

the event went into hiatus for the last five years becauase of funding. this year, they transformed it into the hudson river pageant. so i felt and obligation to bring the cameras out for it. it was nice to see some of the old puppets out and about again.

loosey goosey edit here.

is there still a coney island?

most people i know are fair weather photographers. they will take the camera out the skies are blue and a gentle summer breeze is in the air.

it's been raining almost non-stop since may here in new york. and today proved not much different. this morning the forecast was solid rain.

what better than to head to the mermaid parade in coney island. i've been looking for something slightly different to shoot.

foul weather festivals are great because there's just not as much competition from other photographers. the lighting is consistent. it's easier to get access. and everyone there really wants to be there.

so i put on the waterproof jacket, the tevas and luchador mask and headed on the d train. a beer, two dogs, six rolls off film later i hopped back on the d train back to the city.

one of the initiatives was to "fix the plan" to stop a 27 story hotel complex from being built on coney east, the same area of the wonder wheel and nathans.

pictures to come, maybe -- two more weeks of printing ethiopia.

no more virgins

today was the last day at virgin megastore. i had a feeling last september, but didn't think it would really happen.

everything was 90% off, though there really wasn't much to pick out for. during the past few weeks. i picked up what may be the last set of cds that will buy. everything from 30% off to 70% off. lee ann womack -- crazy; once soundtrack; i'm not there sound track; allison krauss/robert plant -- raising sand; amaia montero; snow patrol -- final straw. i wish i knew more music to pick up.

virgin used to be close at midnight and provided a logical stop between icp and home. aircon in the summer time, a bit of heating in the winter time.

there were so many other options only a few years ago. i could drop by half a dozen different places to listen to a complete cd. besides the two virgins there was barnes and nobles, the wiz, tower records. i would even be able to sit aorund in magazine shops til past midnight reading. the only things to do past 10pm now is going to a bar or a club.

so much for the city that never seeps.

oh, i also bought half a dozen cameras.

the last picture show

this is my final evening of television. so now i'm going through the choices of...

20090612 0100 53
2 WCBS Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen
4 WNBC Last Call With Carson Daly
5 WNYW King of the Hill
7 WABC Oprah Winfrey
9 WWOR Malcolm in the Middle
11 WPIX Frasier
13 WNET The Natural History of the Chicken
21 WLIW Victor Borge: 100 Years of Music & Laughter!
25 WNYE Africa Trek
31 WPXN Swivel Sweeper
41 WXTV Contra Viento y Marea
47 WNJU Universal Church
50 WNJN The Mother Road
68 WFUT Así Es la Vida

tomorrow, the analog broadcast signal dies. it is likely i will buy a digital tv in the coming months, too bad they don't make a 5" black and white one like what i am using now.

incidently, the natural history of chicken isn't really on. channel 13 really has a traffic/mass transit/transportion program on.

i'm going to miss being able to tune in and tune out.

stache

j-139eldridge busted me with an iphone.

i have to start writing iphone apps -- but first a shave.

flashback: june 9, 2004

innesheer, ireland.

it's not even a good photo by any means. but i was amused at the sign posting on the small island off the western coast of ireland.

the entire trip was played by ear.

a week earlier i had gotten a gig ch. i found out k-cork had an extra ticket to a chili peppers/pixie concert the following week. only catch -- it was in phoenix park, dublin.

so, i booked a ticket. new york to dublin, dublin back to new york.

i had to go to one more meeting with ch. it was coerced to be four hours before my red-eye flight.

flying to dublin there was a stop over in shannon. 20 minutes before landing on irish soil i decided to get off the plane there. ended up in ennis for breakfast and decided to base myself in doolin for the few days. hike around the cliffs of moher, the burrens and the arran islands.

i don't remember 9th, too much. log entry looks like:

another day, another hike. legs a bit beat. hopefully bounce back by tomorrow fanere -> blackhead and around. might want to photo copy those pages.

today was quiet, a 9.15 wake up too late really, but the boat was at 10 and there really isn't too much to do in town -- except drink. not the best of bases maybe i should stay in finore tomorrow.

still have to get a phone card to call k-cork, have to do that tonight. hopefully hit dublin by midday friday. squeeze in a nap and a museum before dinner, but we'll leave that for another day.

for the weekend i would make it to dublin to stay with k&a-cork and catch a concert with them.

(side note story...)

my flight was the day after, it was bloomsday. between getting up lazily and traffic, i missed my flight. i would have to start at ch the next morning.

i calmly went to the counter. "so, when's the next flight to new york?" "tomorrow." "tommorrow?!" "yes."

i looked up at the big board.

"is the flight to boston full?" "let's see... no, but you'll have to hurry through the gates to board" "i'll take it."

landed in logan, t to chinatown, chinatown bus to new york. turns out would get home before i would have by taking my original flight which had a stopover in shannon.

i figure i will only get lucky like that once every five years.

flashback: june 2, 1997

people often wonder how can traditional newspapers take on the beasts that are craigslist and google.

one of the solutions thought of is why don't the newspapers just join forces to become a huge consortium. they have the market, the writers, and some of the infrastructure.

little do most people know, they tried. in the late '90s. new century networks (ncn) was formed by nine major news conglomerates -- the new york times, cox, gannet, hearst, knight ridder, tribune, times-mirror, advance and washinton post. there goal was to bounce content off of each other, sell advertising in a broad yet targeted way.

in early '98, the company folded. the large papers were afraid that the smaller papers would take away readership. the smaller papers were afraid that the larger papers always got say into what the direction of the group should go into.

the day marks the first day into salaried workforce. i worked for ncn as a network engineer and quickly became a website programmer. the people were good, and there were a handful of dotcom startups that spawned from the relationships of ncn. i missed the chance at my millions not joining c-mail afterwards.