Rose Hill Cemetery – Macon, GA.
Dragon Lights Festival, Columbus - December 24, 2018
A few of the photos I snapped at the Dragon Lights Festival at the Ohio State Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Columbus, OH on Christmas Eve. A cold evening to be wandering outside, but the lights were beautiful.
I was too far from the stage to get good photos of the acrobats, but they were equally impressive.
On the 50th Anniversary of Duane Allman's 1969 New Year's Resolution
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Duane “Skydog” Allman’s legendary New Year’s Resolutions for 1969. In a pristine journal, Duane resolved in the first entry to “be more thoughtful of my fellow man, exert more effort in each of my endeavors professionally as well as personally, take love wherever I find it, and offer it to everyone who will take it. I will seek knowledge from those wiser than me and try to teach those who wish to learn from me.” He closed with “I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can.”
In the 364 days after Duane Allman wrote the resolution, he:
- recorded and released the first Allman Brothers Band album
- had a daughter
- mastered slide guitar
- recorded some of the greatest studio guitar work in the history of Muscle Shoals’ FAME Studio
- began working on albums with Delaney & Bonnie and Derek & The Dominoes.
2-1/2 years later, he was dead.
Chase your passions.
Accept love wherever you find it.
Don’t waste time; there’s far less of it then any of us would like to believe.
Welcome to 2019. Go kick its ass.
Aberdeen, WA - June 3, 2018
Aberdeen, Washington. Hometown of Kurt Cobain, my teenage daughter’s current artistic obsession. I created a whole “Nirvana Tour”, including Seattle and Olympia sites, and ending in a visit to Aberdeen.
Seattle - June 2, 2018
The legendary Re-Bar. A gay disco and underground hotspot located in an industrial building from the 1930s, it is now in danger of being demolished to make way for the forty-story office towers that have taken over its neighborhood. (Note the scaffolding in the background.)
On Friday, September 13, 1991, Sub Pop Records held the album release party for Nirvana’s Nevermind at Re-Bar, and the band (along with the founders of Sub Pop) were forcibly ejected from their own release party after drunkenly starting a food fight.
It was one of many grunge-related stops we made for my 90s grunge-obsessed thirteen year old daughter.
The Starbucks Reserve Roastery. When Howard Schultz said that he wanted to make a Starbucks experience similar to the Disney Store or Nike Town, it seemed silly to me. Even a shitty strip mall Starbucks is already an experience; it’s why people pay such a high premium for the coffee. I couldn’t imagine a Starbucks SuperStore being anything but underwhelming.
I was wrong.
Described (accurately) by a friend as “deliciously pretentious”, the place was amazing, the knowledge of the employees was impressive, and every worker was unfailingly friendly and patient.
And the Rwanda Abakundakawa may have been the best coffee I’ve ever had.
Pinball back-glass from the Seattle Pinball Museum.
The museum had some great old pinball machines that I remember from my childhood. (Sadly, no Fireball II, though.) The museum was laid out chronologically, but with the exception of a brief period where I played Ms. Pac-Man against my son, I never went past the 1970s. (And they had an original Sea Wolf arcade game!)
From the top:
- Captain Fantastic (1976), Bally – Art by Dave Christensen
- Wizard! (1975), Bally – Art by Dave Christensen
- Stardust (1971), Williams – Art by Christian Marche
- Quick Draw (1975), Gottlieb – Art by Gordon Morrison