This arrived today, none of which I needed but the price was irresistible. As was the possibility of making a portrait. Smaller than my Mole-Richardson gear that I sold on retirement. But maybe, a good fit for an apartment , to make a portrait of a young friend I greatly admire, a la the following image, made after my 2012 lighting epiphany.
Made this photograph in September of 2009, on the back end of a wonderful voyage aboard the Aurora Explorer. The car ferry from Victoria to Seattle, via the Strait of Juan de Fuca, allowed me to be topside, something ex-Submariners find, astonishing. Saw this on the stern quarter. Big Boat – 560 ft vs the 425 ft Lafayette Class Polaris Boomer I was aboard. They’re sailing for a “Nuclear Strategic Deterrent Patrol” aka “Making a hole in the water for a few months”. In 2026, they’re still on Patrol.
Ohio Class Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine with USCG Escorts, outbound.
This CD arrived today. Miles Davis opened for her at the Fillmore East, in June 1970. Her music is, extraordinary. Miles knew. And me.
This is wildly ahead of the chronology of my Post Plan but:
A mid-April, windows open, 90 degree Saturday in North Carolina, with good Hefeweizen from Bavaria & Bourbon from Kentucky, listening to Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time”. Deciding on the last prints I’ll order for my home gallery and an exhibit plan I’ll submit in mid summer. But that’s not what this is about.
Made this photograph on another Saturday, in Sept of 2016. Print arrived last week. I’ll frame tomorrow. That September afternoon, after wandering about Le Marais near our apt., we lounged a few hours at the cafe on the right. Shared a meal with my late sweetheart. It was, the very best of times.
Like a lot of others, we’d both made poor marital decisions, had child custody battles, witnessed the deaths of parents and got corporate downsized. And we struggled through two years of Stage 4 Cancer consequences. Yet, we’d found each other – “In the Nick of Time”. Arriving home in North Carolina, we decided the kitchen renovation could wait a year and revisited Paris, the next September. Which included the 5oth Anniversary Performance of Balanchine’s “Jewels” in a good box at the Palais Garnier, aka the Paris Opera House. Which the Paris Opera has announced for it’s next Season. I won’t attend because my love, to paraphrase Etta Jones, won’t be there.
Got to thinking about movies I loved. And listening to Laura Nyro sing “Flim Flam Man”, resonated. The aptly named movie DVD is on the way!
George C Scott plays “Mordecai C. Jones – a self-styled “M.B.S., C.S., D.D. — Master of Back-Stabbing, Cork-Screwing and Dirty-Dealing!” Topical!
“First Songs” is the re-release of the 1967 album by Laura Nyro, “More Than A New Discovery”. The CD version arrived today, another Goodwillbooks buy. Listening, I found “Flim Flam Man” ironically topical. CD copy of “Eli & The 13th Confession” is in transit, to moi.
My Nina Simone CD “Silk and Soul” was lent today to a dear friend and a soprano and pianist who, I hope, finds it, as I do.
Purchased primarily for “I Wish I knew How It Feels To Be Free” by Billy Taylor. Nearly Gospel. Entirely human. An anthem for all of us.
Somewhere, between GoodwillBooks.com and me, are two CD’s by Laura Nyro.
On “First Songs” is “He’s a Runner”. A Sister In Law explained there was also a female version, literally on the road. In my case, it was a motel bar in St. Louis, while hellish lonely in a loveless marriage. I met the female version.
The other Laura Nyro CD has “Wedding Bells Blues”. My father, a tough guy with Capital T, was a ginormous fan of my late Sweetheart. And told her on a Saturday afternoon visit, at the kitchen table, over a Bourbon and Beer, “If he doesn’t marry you soon, throw him out!”. And he meant it!
So, not long after, about 3 AM, in bed together, I proposed – and it scared her -got a high pitched feeble “Yes”. And later, in Cocoa Beach, we were married by a Notary Public in the Managers Office of a Ramada Inn – completely legal! And it lasted till death did part us. We were very lucky.
“I knew I was in trouble when we met, dark clouds all around me, I couldn’t find the light.”
The Price I Pay – Desert Rose Band
A screen door open day led to a conversation with my young upstairs neighbor, thoughtfully sweeping my walk & patio from errant planting soil. Showed her my evolving photograph gallery and pointed to my late Sweethearts Portrait. And she asked me how we met and I told her the truth – the parking lot of a neighborhood saloon. And it lasted almost 30 years – until death we did part. It was love at first sight – scared both of us. And now, I miss her, all day.
Goodbye is the other price, paid.
Yep, yesterday at St. Francis Methodist to hear the Cary Concert Singers perform “Breath of Life”.
The program included “Come To Me, My Love” by Norman Deila Joio. I’d told my neighbor/soprano/dog rescuer/recipe sharer about a vivid dream, with my late Sweetheart & Boss Lady. She said during rehearsals, she thought the lyrics could be about me. Which sorta explains two prints I recently had made from my photographs, made in Paris. It was the best of times for “vieux amants”.
“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men often go awry”
The wonderful Dancer and Actor who has performed as “Herr Drosselmeyer” in the Cary Ballet Company productions of the “The Nutcracker”, recently asked me for some photographs to show some folks who had never seen it. Retired as I am, I set off into archive land, thinking I could give him a well deserved chronology and evidence of his artistry, from my work of 2011 to 2021.
Was going well until I discovered I’d never edited the rough gallery from the 6 PM Sunday performance in 2018. And it was a bit of photographic special. I do remember thinking, last show, I have everything, so let’s take some chances! Added a 1.5x Tele Convertor Lens to my tripod mounted Sigma 100-300 F4 Zoom. So now, I was at 150 mm to 450 mm focal length – capable of making head shots from rear of theater. But high risk, including the loss of an aperture stop and narrower Depth of Field, so lots of soft and out of focus images. Still had my 50-135 mm on the other body. And I’ve spent the last two afternoons winnowing down my mistakes. I forgot how much work this was. Stay tuned!
Latest Goodwillbooks.com buys. Old stuff on DVDs, not streaming. Highly recommended – The Right Stuff & Apollo 13. The best of America.
This AP News article took me back to another Sunday morning, standing at the intersection of Rue de Rosiers and Rue Ferdinand Duval, near our Paris Apt Rental. I’d walked down the very narrow street to a Jewish Bakery for our daily bread – and some goodies.
And nearby was a plaque, that I made this photograph of. And after I read it, closed my eyes and opened them and saw nothing that could not have been 1944 and I was there, then, being taken to Auschwitz. And it was the most terrified I’ve ever been.
And thought, I’d served in a Missile Control Center on a U.S.N. Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine. Willing to be directly responsible for the unimaginable, collateral incineration of millions of innocents.
I need to have a serious discussion with The Great Spirit.
Found a copy of “Love At First Bite” , released in April 1979, at my favorite Book/CD/DVD store, Goodwillbooks.com. Arrived this week.
It was coincident with my surrender to a legacy AM/FM/CD/DVD/BluRay 5.1 entertainment sound system (being donated to Dorcas Ministries Thrift Shop) that had me doing 20 minutes of remote control Kabuki to watch a movie with a paired Bluetooth headset (considerate of my apt. neighbors).
My 2 year old TV has no audio out except it’s speakers and Bluetooth. And it’s own take of who controls what. A $65 DVD player fixed me up. The last lines in the script are my favorite:
Cindy Sondheim: Oh, this isn’t so hard. I think I’m going to love immortality!
Count Dracula: There is one small disadvantage. We can only live by night.
Cindy Sondheim: Oh, that’s all right with me. I mean, I could never really get my shit together till 7:00 PM, anyway.
Somewhere, I have a NASA Causeway Pass, given by friends and hosts of my late Sweetheart, to witness the maiden launch of the Shuttle Endeavor – STS 49, in May of 1992. They worked for NASA and lived in Cocoa Beach. This is a photograph of the launch, copied from the NASA web site. “Endeavor” replaced “Challenger”. Riding the rocket is incomprehensibly risky business. And gives new meaning to the phrase “The Earth Moved”.
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