January 25, 2007
Robin’s New Orleans trip ::
photos — tagged disaster, family, flickr, katrina, new orleans, photos, robin and travel
9:27 pm
our house
Originally uploaded by rho-bin.
My sister just got back from a week-long trip to New Orleans, where she helped with post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. She’s been posting photographs from that trip to a rapidly growing flickr set, which is worth taking a look at.
January 10, 2007
Milwaukee sidewalk imprints ::
photos — tagged flickr, milwaukee, photos and sidewalks
12:40 pm
2006
Originally uploaded by M.Theory.
A guy from Milwaukee has a Flickr set of all the different imprints on Milwaukee sidewalks. Whenever the city would install new sidwalks, they would place these imprints intermittenly. I’m not sure what the point of the imprints were, other than to serve a reminder of when the construction happened, something like stuffing current newspapers into the wall during home renovation projects.
In any event, growing up in Milwaukee, I remember seeing those imprints on the sidewalks in my neighborhood, and I remember them changing throughout the years. I especially recall them from the time we got all new sidewalks on our street. It’s nice to see how the designs evolve over the years.
December 24, 2006
Holiday Mixer ::
photos — tagged flickr, holidays, photos and vermont
12:16 pm
Holiday Mixer (2)
Originally uploaded by found_drama.
It’s nice to see the Christmas cement truck is making the rounds back in Montpelier. I’ll get back home on December 28th—hopefully the holiday lights won’t be retired before my return.
December 4, 2006
Runaway Flickr hit ::
photos — tagged flickr, meta and photos
10:57 am
So, I posted one of my photos to the Quote Abuse Flickr group, which I found through my del.icio.us links. Quote Abuse gained substantial popularity over the past few weeks, likely due to this Boing Boing post. So, I noticed this morning that the photo I posted had 1,042 views since I first added it to the group’s pool—by far it has become the most popular shot I’ve ever taken. And I mean ever.
October 6, 2006
Post Punk Rock Show, 1990 ::
photos — tagged 1990s, milwaukee, music, narrative, photos and the unicorn
8:20 pm
Post Punk Rock Show, 1990
Originally uploaded by Quicksand2005.
I don’t know anyone in this shot, but I do know where it was taken. It was the parking lot of the Unicorn, one of the coolest punk clubs in Milwaukee in the early 1990’s. As I mention in the photo’s comments, I grew up going to shows there.
What’s funny is that those shows seem like such a long time ago—it’s almost like I dreamed them. So it’s good to know there are other people out there who shared the experience, even if I don’t know them.
September 15, 2006
Slate on that weird 9/11 photo ::
photos — tagged photos, social conscience and weird
10:00 am
Slate has an article written by the photographer who took that creepy photograph of young hipsters who appeared to be relaxing on the Brooklyn waterfront on 9/11 (the photo is included in the story). The photographer’s commentary particularly piqued my interest:
Four and a half years later, when I was going through my archive to assemble a retrospective exhibition of my work from more than 50 years, the color slide from Brooklyn suddenly seemed to jump at me. Now, distanced from the actual event, the picture seemed strange and surreal. It asked questions but provided no answers.
For me, the photo screamed cynicism, to a degree that was nearly unbearable. The photographer noted that as well. But at the end of it all, we really don’t know at all what was going on—the appearance of not caring could simply be an illusion. Ultimately, I think the photograph reveals one of the great shortcomings of visual media, rather than of people roughly my age.
August 4, 2006
Pitchfork, the full treatment ::
travel, personal, photos, music — No Tags
10:19 am
So I suppose this post is coming overdue, but since it’s been less than a full week since I went to the Pitchfork Music Festival writing up my lingering thoughts on the event would not be entirely untimely. That said, I should say that, the more I think about it, the more I think that the Festival was one of the best music experiences I’ve ever had. I felt a strange connection to the music, the particular bands playing there, and even the other people attending the performance. I’d never had that before in the musical context—I suppose that means that I’ve found my people, and possibly that I’ve found myself since the last time I tried going to one of these rigorous, multi-day events.
What specifically about the experience made me come to this conclusion? Well, the temperature both days was unbearably hot and humid, the festival took place on an open field in the middle of the city, and the crowds were enormous. But despite all that, I never once thought about going home early. And now that it’s all over, I find myself already starting to plan for next year’s festival (will there be one, I do not know).
With all that, I decided that I didn’t want this post to be a review so much as a description of what I saw there that was worth remembering. Much of the work I put into this site has been an effort to hang on to my ever-fading memories, so I figure that such a memory-driven post would be more consistent with the overall function of this site than a straight-up review would be. And with that, I’m going to take a page from Jeremy’s book of philosophy, and make this into a list of accomplishments.
That said, my musical highlights included: coming off the Red Line at Ashland to hear Band of Horses playing, their now-familiar guitar riffs echoing off the nearby buildings; seeing The Mountain Goats play, and especially hearing John Darnielle sing the quite apropos—the festival being in Chicago and all—“Cubs In Five” (And the Chicago Cubs/Will beat every team in the league/and the Tampa Bay Bucs/will make it all the way to January/And I will love you again/I will love you/Like I used to…); Seeing Destroyer play his songs live (this was particularly cool for me, because his latest, Rubies, was coming off a little flat for me in the past few months, even though I knew it was a good album); seeing Ted Leo live for like the fourth time; Seeing the Silver Jews tear it up during their first tour ever; seeing Tapes ‘n Tapes live (did I mention I started their Wikipedia entry?); seeing The National play live for the first time (their music, and particularly Alligator, has been a mainstay in my musical rotation over the past three months, and has been a soundtrack for me as I’ve sorted through my current life-in-transition); and of course, seeing Mission of Burma—that just speaks for itself.
The non-music memories for me included: riding the El from Andersonville to Union Square park, watching the train fill up with young, sunburned hipsters with Pitchfork Festival programs under their arms; showing up at the park and seeing multiple levels of bikes chained to the fence; watching storm clouds build up around us and then dissipate; looking at everyone’s shoes; watching people in the crowd interact with each other; photographing photographers; hanging out at the record sale, talking with people from Sub Pop, Touch and Go, and Southern Records; photographing people sleeping (is that rude?); and of course, hanging out at Flatstock.
July 31, 2006
More on Pitchfork ::
travel, personal, photos, music — No Tags
12:01 pm
Well, that was a blast. In two days at the Pitchfork Music Festival I think I’ve just about made up for all the live music I missed since I started law school in 2003. It was an overwhelming experience, but for the first time in my life I went to a music two-day music festival in unbearably hot temperatures and didn’t walk away from the experience feeling sick and exhausted. Instead, I was completely psyched about the whole experience. Not sure what’s different this time around—probably it’s some combination of enjoying this music culture, being in better shape, and having a better understanding of how to take care of myself in hot weather (e.g., beer does not count as hydration).
In any event, I made it to Milwaukee this morning after dealing with Chicago construction and rush hour traffic. (After four years in Vermont, I forget to take such things into account when travelling.) I’m on a timed wireless connection—only have an hour—so I’m not going to go too into depth about the whole Pitchfork festival now. But I plan to write something up in the next couple of days. In the meantime, go check out my Pitchfork Music Festival Flickr set.
July 30, 2006
Chicago ::
travel, personal, photos — No Tags
11:29 am
Chicago
Originally uploaded by gjs.
So, I’m in Chicago for a few days for the Pitchfork Music Festival. I took this picture while I was stuck in traffic on Lake Shore Drive; the temperature was somewhere in the high 90’s and getting to the north side of town seemed near impossible at the rate we were going. I’d forgotten what it was like to live—not to mention drive—in a city.
In any event, things have been great since I got here. It’s been nice to catch up with old friends and to see some really great bands. And the best part is that I still have one more day of sweltering heat and great music. It should be fun.
June 11, 2006
Old science fiction covers ::
books, photos — No Tags
4:10 pm
More Than Human
Originally uploaded by finn.
So, while procrasting yesterday, I posted a photograph of my vintage science fiction paperback collection (small though it is). This got Finn talking about his similar love for science fiction covers. He then posted a couple of photographs of the cover for More than Human. (Here’s the other cover). He also found an interesting bit of information about the artist who did work for Theodore Sturgeon’s books:
Richard Powers’ cover, painted in his proto-psychedelic style, luminously illustrates Sturgeon’s themes of childhood and transcendence. The faces and bodies of all six outsider characters are contained within the image of a single upraised hand reaching for the stars. MORE THAN HUMAN (1953) was the first of many Sturgeon novels and short story collections with cover paintings by Powers. Others include Caviar (Ballantine 1955), E Pluribus Unicorn (Ballantine – different covers for 1956 and 1965 editions), The Cosmic Rape (Dell 1958), and A Touch Of Strange (Berkley 1959).
OK, so I probably should have spent more time studying yesterday. But what a nice interaction to brighten an otherwise dull day.
June 1, 2006
Calvin Johnson plus guest singer ::
personal, photos, music — No Tags
6:58 pm
Calvin Johnson plus guest singer
Originally uploaded by gjs.
This is what happens when I study for the bar: I review old photos and put them up on Flickr. This one is from a Calvin Johnson/Microphones show I saw with Jeremy back in August, 2001.
And lest you think this is the only trip down memory lane on this site between now and the time I take the bar at the end of July, don’t worry—I have lots of archives to go through.
May 26, 2006
My contribution to the growing pool of cuteness on the Web ::
photos — tagged basset hound, photos, puppy, shamus and vermont
5:31 pm
Shamus puppy 5
Originally uploaded by gjs.
Last week we found a small photo album with pictures of Shamus, our house Bassett Hound, in it. The pictures were just so adorable I felt compelled to share them. So here you go.
You can find other puppy photos of Shamus here, here, here, and here. But browse wisely—cuteness, like candy, will make you soft, you know.
March 8, 2006
Town meeting ::
politics, narrative, personal, photos, vermont, legal photos — No Tags
8:20 am
2006 town meeting agenda
Originally uploaded by gjs.
Yesterday was town meeting here in Bethel (as it was throughout the state). At one point in my life, I could see such a day as being time off from work or school, an extra day to shirk responsibilities. But yesterday, at least until noon, Jessamyn and I went to Whitcomb High School, met with the other Bethel citizens (Bethelites?) and dealt with the seventeen items on this year’s agenda.
In this picture, Jessamyn checks off each of the items on the agenda as we vote on them. Here’s my small Flickr set for the day.
February 23, 2006
Flickr talk ::
meta, personal, photos — No Tags
2:53 pm
Originally uploaded by jessamyn.
And our background conversation, over chat:
her: put some pix on flickr
me: cool
I read that
checking now
dude, those are great
I marked the sink shot as a favorite
February 17, 2006
Ridiculous ::
personal, photos — No Tags
8:32 am
Happy Birthday Rick!!
Originally uploaded by jessamyn.
Despite my generally reserved manner, sometimes I can be totally weird if the situation calls for it.
