No distractions. Leica M9, 28mm Summicron.
Archive for May, 2013
Just Getting From Point A To Point B
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 28mm Summicron, Leica M9 on May 14, 2013 by johnbuckley100Okay, This Goes Way Further Than The Plot Of “The Geography Lesson”
Posted in Uncategorized with tags National Geographic Society, The Geography Lesson on May 14, 2013 by johnbuckley100My new novel, The Geography Lesson, is a comedy based on the repercussions stemming from the National Geographic Society failing to protect an Anasazi ruin discovered in Utah in 1968. (Want to know more? Go here, and check it out.)
But the sacking of that fictional Anasazi site was positively low-key compared to this Mayan ruin bulldozed to get road fill for a highway under construction in Belize…
Mary Timony As The Rock Star Next Door
Posted in Uncategorized with tags D.C., Helium, Mary Timony, The Mary Timony Band, Wild Flag on May 13, 2013 by johnbuckley100Even as fans of Helium, The Mary Timony Band, and Wild Flag yearn for her next record, it should be noted that there are a lot of Washington, D.C. kids who know Mary Timony for a different, related reason: she is the coolest, and most dedicated, guitar teacher in town. Yesterday, The Washington Post Magazine ran a great profile of one of our fair city’s cultural gems. Nice piece, richly deserved, and we can’t wait to see the output from Mary’s next project.
The Kind Of Day It’s Going To Be
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on May 11, 2013 by johnbuckley100Old Rolling Stones albums on the stereo, strong coffee, naps calling? Or will we pull out of this?
Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95.
Passing Through
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 28mm Summicron, Leica M9 on May 10, 2013 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, 28mm Summicron.
Before The Memory Of Cherry Blossoms Fade
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 35mm Summilux, Leica M on May 9, 2013 by johnbuckley100
Leica M, 35mm Summilux.
Mikal Cronin’s “MCII” Provides The Missing Link
Posted in Music with tags "MCII", Brendan Benson, Kelley Stoltz, Mikal Cronin, Ty Segall, Woods on May 9, 2013 by johnbuckley100Followers of Tulip Frenzy know that we have marveled for some time about how San Francisco could have in Ty Segall and Kelley Stoltz two artists who are both so alike and so different. Ty heads to his basement studio all by his lonesome and produces album after album of thundering punk’n’psychedelic glories. Kelley climbs the creaky stairs to his atelier and without any assistants crafts these pop gems that seem like a mashup between Ray Davies and Hermes’ finest saddle maker. These two towering talents may as well have been operating on different planets, not the same area code. Until now…
We enjoyed Mikal Cronin’s first solo album, but honestly, the reason we were so interested in him was in his role as a Ty Segal sideman and collaborator. The reflected glory, the association, was sufficient to get our attention, but to hold it, he needed to produce a record we wanted to listen to as avidly as anything done by his harder rocking, shaggy friend. Happily, now comes his wonderful second album, MCII, which fits directly into a modern power pop milieu familiar to anyone who loves the New Pornographers/A.C. Newman or Brendan Benson/Raconteurs.
But damn if, on the third album’s third song, “Am I Wrong” — the song on which Ty lends a hand — you don’t immediately think of Kelley Stoltz. Wait, you don’t mean… Yes! We have the missing link! The twain has met, Ty Segall and Kelley Stoltz are connected! See the electricity arc! Somewhere busking in the middle of Union Square, we see Ty and Kelley backing up Mikal, who by now has joined their ranks!
It’s a terrific album. It would take the FBI to distinguish between the falsetto registers that Mikal and A.C. Newman can sometimes hit, which is a compliment. In fact, there are moments when we swear we’re listening to the new album by Woods. But this is a wholly original, deeply satisfying foray into modern American power pop, and wholly worthy of your interest in its own right, not just as an extension of Segallmania.
My New Novel, “The Geography Lesson,” Is Available Via Amazon Kindle And Other Sites
Posted in Uncategorized with tags "Family Politics", "Statute of Limitations", John Buckley, National Geographic, National Geographic Society, Robert M. Poole, The Geography Lesson on May 6, 2013 by johnbuckley100
I’m very pleased to announce the publication of my third novel, The Geography Lesson, which is available via Amazon Kindle and other sites. In the days ahead, it will be available through the iBookstore, the Nook store, and all such upstanding digital retailers.
The Geography Lesson is a novel about the consequences emanating from a botched expedition by the National Geographic Society– which may be the last great Washington institution never to have come under the scope of a comic novelist. Forty years after the 1968 discovery, and subsequent looting, of a magnificent Anasazi ruin in Utah, the novel’s narrator, a retired National Geographic writer, spies in a magazine a photo of a vase he last saw in an obscure canyon out West all those years ago, and in an instant, he knows exactly who betrayed him — and one of America’s most storied institutions.
Ready to learn more, maybe even ready to buy it at the low, low price of $3.95? Well, you can go you can go directly to TheGeographyLesson.com.
Still need persuading? Well, here’s what Robert M. Poole, former executive editor of National Geographic and author of Explorers House: National Geographic and the World It Made, has to say about it: “With The Geography Lesson, John Buckley has produced a novel that is part mystery story, part adventure, and pure delight. He guides the reader on a fast-paced voyage of discovery, from the silent, unspoiled ruins of the Anasazi cliffs to the solemn grandeur of the Inca highlands to the Byzantine maze of the National Geographic Society. All serve as backdrop for Timothy Prescott’s journey of the heart, fueled by one man’s need to reconcile lost love, betrayed friendship, and what seems to be a brazen assault on a cultural treasure. Buckley is a masterful guide who writes with clarity and grace that never intrude on a narrative you will savor and remember.”
Ready to go to the website and buy it?
Look, we often don’t come out from behind the mask of Tulip Frenzy, but in this instance, allow me to say this. I believe The Geography Lesson is stronger than either of my two well-reviewed prior novels, Family Politics or Statute of Limitations. It’s a fun read, if I do say so myself.
If you read it, and like it, you could:
- Leave a review on the Kindle page.
- You could tweet out a link to your zillions of Twitter followers. (A cut-and-paste ready sample: “Go read the new novel by @johnbuckley100, The Geography Lesson, which is really terrific!” And then you could link to TheGeographyLesson.com. Oh, and by the way, go ahead and follow @johnbuckley100 on Twitter, and I’ll keep you posted on the book’s progress.
- Post a link on your Facebook page and alert your zillions of friends.
The most important thing, though, is reading the book, which I hope you enjoy.
On Meeting Eric, The D.C. Ice Cream Man
Posted in Uncategorized with tags "DC As I See It", 35mm Summilux FLE, Leica M9, Leica Store DC on May 5, 2013 by johnbuckley100
In this country, we have the right to take a picture of anyone in a public space. There is the separate question of whether people want to have their picture taken, or what morally is your right to do with that picture. The latter question is something I grapple with all the time.
The photo above was taken in September 2012 near Washington’s Verizon Center. I submitted it in the Leica Store’s “D.C. As I See It” juried competition, and it was one of my photos chosen. About ten days ago, the Leica Store contacted me to say that, having heard his picture was up on their wall, Eric, the man depicted in the image, had come to the store, and that he really wanted to get a copy of it. After connecting with him, we agreed to meet on Friday on the Mall, where he was selling ice cream to tourists.
What a delight it was to meet him, a really nice guy, who seemed to genuinely enjoy getting copies of the photo taken of him. He said that while working near Union Station, someone told him his picture was up on the walls of the Leica Store, and he should go check it out. He said it made his day to see the picture. I can only tell you that giving him a copy made mine.
The Iron Horse
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 28mm Summicron, Leica M9 on May 4, 2013 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, 28mm Summicron.
Tulip Frenzy 