Okay, I'll probably regret this - but what the hell - this is a snippet of me "hacking up" Mississippi Fred's, "You Gotta Move" today. It's a beautiful song - check it out here by The Stones.
I'll get better (timing, rhythm, notes, slide), just give me some time. This isn't something I share a lot of (for good reason). Please, no nasty email!
National guitars are known for having great tone and are all around sweet instruments.
(I took it down - someday, I may post another one).
I've been thinking a lot about value lately. The other night on NPR, there was a program about how Americans have lost the ability to discern what value is - they are confusing it with cheap.
It was based on buying cheap products that we know are "disposable" They used Ikea's business model as an example. That's no surprise, we've been trained to do that. Our options today are top-shelf (expensive) stuff or Wal-Mart. There's nothing that's well made for a reasonable cost available to us. At least not like the previous two options. I think our grandparents knew what value was (at one time). We've all been trained to buy cheap - get it as cheap as we can - use it and throw it away. We don't even look for quality - we look for cheap.
Quinn and his National Resonator Guitar aka, DobroIt got me thinking about photography. Photography has changed so much over the last 10 years, it's hardly recognizable to me. I don't want to sound like I'm stuck in 1851, or that I'm a Luddite, because I'm neither. My thoughts go to the word value, again. I wonder what's happened to "cheapen" photography so much?
Susan Sontag wrote that all photographs are meaningless and have no value. This was based on her belief that because we're inundated with so much imagery every day, it all becomes a big, blurry, meaningless mess. We are quick to dismiss images, or ignore them - I know I am. And Summer's (my daughter) generation seems to be far worse. This worries me and it also tells me that I can share some valuable information with those young whipper-snappers (as he reaches for his cane)!
When I'm out doing my "performances" there are some obvious things happening. There's a big wooden camera/brass lens and a portable darkroom set up - these are unique, not often seen items that draw attention. Moreover, there's something tangible in watching me "perform" and listening to my stories. They see quality, dedication and passion. They hear the narrative of photography - it gives meaning to them, even to the ubiquitous digital image.
The result of the "performance" is extraordinary, or special, to their eye (the image itself) mind and heart. Photography is universal, everyone understands the basic concept of what I'm doing, but I believe they recognize the value of what I'm doing.
And lastly, please don't think that the images I posted have any value - I just wanted to expose you to another set of meaningless images today.
Summer sang the German National Anthem and the American National Anthem at the 2009 Mannheim High School graduation ceremony yesterday at Congressforum in Frankenthal, Germany. She has an amazing voice and to hear the anthem is quite moving. No (Grandmas and Grandpas) Summer didn’t graduate yesterday, she graduates 2010!
It was a hectic day. She had to be in Heidelberg at 0745 to take her SAT. That went until 1230 and then we had to drive to Frankenthal (~40km) to get to the graduation ceremony on time. Summer and I were suppose to be there at 1330 – we made it. They asked me to photograph the graduation ceremony, too. It was a very nice ceremony in a very nice facility.
After that, we ended up going out for a bite to eat and in a weird series of events, Summer got picked up for the Mannheim Idol competition. It’s the post (MWR) sponsoring it, but should be fun to watch her crush the competition! I’ll be sure to shoot some video and post it.
Summer singing the anthem – I think it’s cool how there is a couple second delay on the big screen.
We drove up to Frankfurt last night to see Mike Doughty. Doughty was the front-man for the band Soul Coughing in the 1990s. They were very popular (at least with the people I ran with). Do you remember the song, “Circles”? That was a Soul Coughing/Doughty tune.
He had a lot of problems with the group – he also had personal addiction problems. He quit the band, got clean and started a solo career in 2000. He’s been making outstanding music ever since.
Doughty’s a talented wordsmith, poet, and musician. He’s a true artist in my opinion. He played in a place called Nachtleben (Nightlife) in Frankfurt. Tickets were 12 Euros. The place was about 60 square meters and when Doughty started playing, there were about 15 people, six of those were us. His buddy and fellow virtuoso, Scrap Livingston accompanied him on Cello – beautiful stuff.
He speaks this fast, broken German (he’s obsessed with the German language). It was funny to watch the Germans in the audience as he said things like, “You look sexy and healthy,” auf Deutsch. Good stuff. It’s easy to trip up a German with American idioms and random sarcasm, they don’t get it.
We got to meet him after the show. He seems like a nice guy, down to earth. He could have sold out for big money and a few “pop” songs, but choose to stay independent and play for the real people. That says a lot to me.
I sent him the photos, maybe he’ll use some on his blog, I hope so. We hope his "German obsession" doesn’t go away any time soon, and that he comes back to play. If you get a chance to see him, do it, you won’t regret it – like I said, he’s a talented dude.
Mike Doughty in Frankfurt, Germany
Mike Doughty in Frankfurt, Germany
Mike Doughty in Frankfurt, Germany
Mike Doughty in Frankfurt, Germany