philly

I'm told real men drink beer, poured out of a ceramic-top growler, into a horn (only if the empty skull of your defeated enemy isn't close by). This was the scene that greeted me at this year's Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby at the end of May (yeah, yeah, I have some catching up to do from all the wedding stuff I had going on). This was the first time I had made it to the derby since the first one 4 years ago when I was working one of the tables.

The crowd was massive, ten times what it was when I was there last. I'm told the crowd has doubled each year since and I believe it. There were some of the old teams in the actual derby and tons of new ones. The creation of a new beer company in town happened since my last visit and they've been a major part of the derby as sponsors of the event. They came through this year with a steam engine. It was ginormous.

But this was my favorite kinetic sculpture of the day. The guy described himself as a 'flying sack of manure' – how do you think up that one? It was awesome. Below is a flickr set of a bunch of shots from the day. It was cloudy and it sprinkled for a bit, but that didn't deter the crowd or the kinetic sculpture riders from enjoying the fun.

Way back in May [yes, I've been busy getting married (June 19th!)], I went to an awesome art show. It wasn't just any art show, it was the culmination of 10 years of work and thousands of miles traveled across America and beyond. I'm proud to call Zoe Strauss a friend and I'm incredibly fortunate to have gone to several of her I-95 shows during my tenure here in Philly. That's Strauss above getting her photo taken by Manny Dominguez, another great Philly fine art photog. She's posing under the stream of light that is present under the I-95 overpass right around 1.05p and lasts all of 10 minutes. For a few hundred yards, the stream of light magically appears, like a rainbow, but you can touch the 'pot of gold' at the end of this one.

And here's me taking in the ray.

It's always fun to go down for the show and see how the space changes from year to year. At some point since last year's show, some kids poured some concrete to make a ramp up one of the pillars. Zoe's print hangs just below the high points on the pillar. You won't see that in a stuffy museum.

Here's Jorj with a TLR (which was unfortunately stuck at f/22 or something all day) about to take a shot of the shaft of light coming through I-95.

Another of the country's best photogs was at the show, none other than Kathleen Connally whom I'm also proud to call a friend. She brought out the grapefruit and showed us what bokeh really looks like.

This has been one of my favorite shots of Zoe's for ages. I'd really love to have it, but my wife (how weird is that) would never allow a bunch of Mummers pissing hanging on one of our walls. Woe is me.

When it got to the end, the usual happened: people staked out their favorite shot and guarded it for the 4p riiiiip. This time around, people gathered earlier than usual. I guess the word was really out for the last show so tons of people were there. The vibe was a little different from previous years. It was more opportunistic. That's a good and bad thing I guess. It shows the continued popularity of her work. She hasn't diluted her work for the masses though, more people are being exposed to the realness and they like it.

Here's the rip in action.

Andy demonstrates one way to get a Strauss print home safely – on your tie-dye shirt!

Here's my friend Haley showing off two color copies she bought at the show.

Here's Zoe signing away. Since it was the final show, she said she's stay as long as it took to sign anything people brought to the show to get signed. I didn't see any babies being signed, but I wasn't standing around waiting to see it go down.

But like all good things, the show had to come to an end. People left on foot, on bike, by car and by public transportation. Philly came out for the last hurrah of an amazing 10 year project. What's next up on Zoe's horizon? Documenting the BP oil cluster fuck in the Gulf Coast. Help her get there.

Went to First Friday last week. I was worried that it would be incredibly overrun with people given the gorgeous weather, but it wasn't bad. I guess with it being Eater weekend, some people were out of town already. The coolest thing I saw was at The Clay Studio, above.

It's basically porcelain letters making a 3D human head. The artist is Rob Kirsch, Resident Artist at Clay Studio 2003-2008. The piece is titled The Remember, 2007 and that sucker will send you back $3,200.

Imagine my surprise as I was sitting on my couch, watching TV, when a high pitched bzzzz went by my ear. A few seconds later, it buzzed past my face and I could see the familiar shape of a tiny mosquito backlit by the TV screen. I told Kate to turn on the lights so I could see it. And there it was again. I clapped my hands together and got it on the first try. It quivered on the coffee table. I picked it up and brought it to my desk, got a white piece of paper and grabbed my gear. I Justin clamped a SB600 to my desk lamp and zoomed into 85° and had a SB800 on my D700 + Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 micro. At ISO 200, f/16, SB800 1/64, SB600 1/128, I got the shot above.

Let this be a notice to all of you internet browsing, blog reading, camera enthusiast mosquitos in the Center City area of Philadelphia: if you come into my house, I will kill your thousand-eye'd ass. I hate you. If I find your local breeding ground, I will get my hands on some dragonfly larvae to eat you up. Or I'll just fuck up your breeding grounds some other way.

April 4th is waaaaaaaaaaaay too early for mosquitos in Philadelphia. Waaaaaaaaay too early.

I was invited out by the people at Paper Garden Records to check out the CD release party of a wonderful musician from Doylestown, Peasant. His newest release Shady Retreat is just about to hit the streets. He's currently on his way to SXSW to where he'll be performing on the 18th and 20th. Opening up at World Cafe Live for Peasant was Sisters 3. While Emanuel and the Fear was also supposed to be at the release party, their van broke down and they couldn't make the trip down from NY. Hopefully their van woes are sorted out before they ship off to Austin for SXSW as well.

Sisters 3, an actual trio of sisters (Cassandra, Anna Christie and Beatrice) have a great soulful, harmonious sound to them. An easy mix of keys, vocals/guitar and percussion give them a clean sound.

Anna Christie.

Sisters 3 will be playing at the Johnny Brenda's charity event for the Mural Arts Program on the 22nd.

In contrast, Peasant, Damien Nicholas DeRose, is a one-man show. He played the guitar, sat at the piano and strapped on a harmonica, named Frank for a few songs.

He seems not fully at ease on stage which was okay. He was comfortable being uncomfortable. He was particularly happy to be at a piano at World Cafe Live. He noted that in so many venues there are horribly tuned pianos in horrible condition if there even was one. It was a joy for him to be at the keys in front of people who would appreciate it.

Simply put, DeRose has soul in his voice. It's hard for me to explain exactly what it means, but you know it when you hear it. There's a certain amount of pain and anguish along with perseverance and happiness in his sound.

He was really happy to see so many people come out for his release party. He thanked them numerous times throughout the show which was nice. The crowd yelled their support up at the mic throughout the show. There was a lot of love in the room. Anna Christie noted that they had known DeRose for many years too and that they were incredibly proud of where he'd come to.

DeRose spoke briefly about some of the songs he wrote. They were mostly about his friends and people he'd met along the way. One in particular was about a guy who had wronged him. It sounds like a particularly wonderful literal form of poetic justice.

The crowd forced him to stay on stage for two or three encores. He obliged noting that the crowd had paid for 3 bands worth of music and took request from the crowd. The crowd knew his stuff and were more than happy to shout out their favorites. With a little help from the crowd to remember the older songs, he left the stage all smiles.

Peasant will be at SXSW on the 18th playing at The Hidehout Theater at Noon and Tap Room at 6p; the 20th at Howl Interiors Studio at 2p and Grime's Photography Studio at 8p.

More photos from the evening in this slideshow. Click on the slideshow for a much, much larger version of the photos:

I buy one pair of Carhartt dungaree double knee jeans every year and change or so. I wear them just about every single day. Above and below are some shots depicting the wear patterns I put them through. Note: these all started out as the same exact jeans! Left to right: oldest to brand new and unworn.

It's like the selection one might find in a store with lots of different 'distressed' or 'washed' jeans styles. Bottom to top: oldest to brand new.

I've just started to break in the new jeans. I hate breaking in new jeans. So rough and uncomfortable for a good long while. But at some point, you stop noticing them and they're all good once again.

My friend Pat is quite the Renaissance man. I can talk to him about food, sports, art, cars… Our better halves have a ton in common to so we're well suited to hang out in groups and eventually split off to do our own things as well. One newly acquired skill for Pat is his touch at a potter's wheel. He started to take it up just a few years ago and he's got it down pretty well. We're very fortunate to have a bunch of his lovely ceramic bowls, pots and mugs in our house offsetting some of the not so nice stuff we've accumulated over the years. I tagged along as Pat went to the University City Arts League over at 4226 Spruce St in West Philly as he threw three vases. It was my first time in a pottery studio since Lauren Rossi's or Amanda Mittman's 2nd grade birthday party. I remember making a mold of a Mets logo and coloring it blue and orange. I wonder where that thing is now… Ceramics artists out there reading this post, please forgive me about the terminology, this is clearly not my field and Pat was throwing a lot of info at me while I was snapping photos for several hours. Above is Pat kneading the clay into the wheel. Centering the wet clay is crucial.

I set up a SB600 flash + Lumiquest Softbox III using a Manfrotto Super Clamp and Magic Armbehind Pat. I set up a SB800 flash + Lumiquest Softbox III using a Justin Clamp on a pipe running the length of the studio in front of Pat. I had a SB800 flash mounted on my camera as the trigger and offering some fill light. I used a D700 as my body and a bunch of lenses throughout the afternoon. I started off with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF and switched over to a Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 MF lens. Then I had my Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 MF and Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED AF for tighter shots.

Here's Pat starting to form the shape of the vase. This part is funny to watch. He stuck one finger into the clay and the hole just grew until he could fit his whole hand inside to feel out the shape. The wheel is mesmerizing to watch.

Here he's forming the lip of the vase. Even pressure has to be applied so things don't get lopsided and then they clay just goes flying off of the wheel. forces.

I backed off a bit with the 20mm in this shot to get more of the very cool studio into the frame. I like this environmental portrait with Pat at work. You can see the tools Pat uses to form his various pots, mugs, bowls, vases and other items. Sticks, rods, sponges… All different textures giving him a different feel digging into the wet red clay.

Here's Pat starting up another vase. The textures of hands pressing into the clay – picking up the excess, the water dripping through… It was poetic to watch.

And here's a final shot of Pat with a vase ready to dry. For this shot, I moved the SB600 to a lightstand and put it directly behind his body. The SB800 is on a lightstand just to camera left and shooting down at his face from about 5'. SB800 on camera is pointed to the shelves at right leaving the rest of the studio in a warmish color cast from the fluorescent lights being balanced by the camera (damn you 60hertz lights!). I'm currently helping Pat pup up a website to sell his lovely wares. I've been taking photos of some of his finished pieces and will continue to do so. I'll be posting some images of those finished pieces soon so keep your eyes out. If you see something you like, lemme know and I'll tell Pat.

Below is a slideshow of more images I put up on flickr. Click on the set to see it fullscreen (at 1200px on the long side!).

Kate and I went to see it at the 10p showing at the last second on opening night right here in Philly. Unfortunately, the theater was pretty empty, but the earlier 7.25p show was sold out. I think there was a special event along with that showing. The film outlined the basic history of Barnes and his facility which was a school and museum set in an idyllic arboretum, from whence Barnes' interest in art began, to his death and decades later when his cherished artwork was squabbled over irregardless of what he thought was an ironclad will. The film was heavily one-sided (against the move) and I have no problem with that. I learned a ton of stuff, albeit mostly from one point of view.

Barnes amassed what is described as the most important collection of post-impressionistic art in the first half of the 20th century (I believe the art critic for LA Weekly said that in the film). He bought Renoir, Cezanne, Henri, Picasso, Van Gogh and others valued at over $25B. He wanted his art collection to never be within Philadelphia with which he seemed to have a spitefully hateful relationship. His first art show was showered with negative reviews and he swore to never show in Philly again – Philly's loss. So he built his art hall in Merion, just under 5 miles northwest of the city. And in his will, it stated that his collection was never to be sold nor loaned nor was it to ever land in Philadelphia. After his death in 1951, in a car accident, a member of the school took over for 40 years and that's when the shit really hit the fan after her death.

Philly power brokers like now Governor Ed Rendell, then Mayor John Street, Pew Charitable Trusts President Rebecca Rimel, billionaires Walter Annenberg and Ray Perelman and Gerry Lenfest are all a part of the equation in yanking the Foundation's collection from Merion.

It's a solid 101 minutes of angry film. However you felt about the situation going into the film, or if you had no opinion at all, you'll leave this film charged. It's playing at The Ritz 5 in Philly right now.

One year ago today, the Rocky Mountain News, the paper of record in Denver, published it's final edition after 149 years and 311 days of publishing. The 22-minute video below was created during the last month of the paper's existence when the paper was initially put up for sale for one month. I'm frightened as to the future of news, and as a result, the future of all of us from the lack of reporting of the news we need to hear/see/read.

I did my best impression of a cool kid on Saturday night. I went to a gallery opening for a new gallery up in Northern Liberties. It was an opening featuring the artwork used for rock shows. The artwork was by the screenprinting graphic arts design group NODIVISION. I'm quite familiar with their stickerart work, but had no idea about their commercial print work.

How'd I hear about this über cool event? I did some work for iFractal, probably the coolest bunch of people working under one [super cool] roof. They do HR communications and they do it well. The owner of the gallery, Shawn (above at left) is the Art Director at iFractal. Shawn also lives in the gallery which he cleared up for the show. At any given time there were 100 people in the 2,000 sq ft space across the street from Honey's. NODIVISION's JP Flexner gave a lecture about the process of making a poster. The drawing, the scanning into a computer, a brief look at the Illustrator work and the final processing for export to print. He gave away one trade secret which is to save at 200% of the final size of the image to make sure the screens turn out right.

There were dozens of original prints hanging all over the space; $10 for the small ones, $20 for the big ones including a 3-D poster which came with a set of blue/red glasses for home enjoyment (I saw at least one of those sold before I left). I'm a big fan of the public healthcare option poster at the top of the post, but I only had so much money on me and wanted to buy one of Shawn's prints.

Shawn's been screenprinting for a little while too and had some for sale (some of them are pictured above). I grabbed one of the 'Try Try Try Again' prints and had him sign it in pencil. Once I'm done setting up my new workspace (new awesome antique teacher's desk and badass computer) I'm going to hang it up for inspiration. Four different fonts for at least four different ways to look at an obstacle. Try, Try, Try instead of the traditional Try, Try. The cascading colors blending one word to the next. The print is awesome. But for now, it'll live in a folder until the time is right.

Bigger shots, and a few more shots in this set: