Leica M9, Noctilux, of course.
Archive for the Uncategorized Category
Christmas Cheer
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on December 25, 2010 by johnbuckley100Lighting The Neighborhood Tree
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on December 20, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, Noctilux @f/0.95, ISO 800
A Proper Send Off To Don Van Vliet
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Byron Coley, Captain Beefheart, Don Van Vliet on December 18, 2010 by johnbuckley100When we read that Captain Beefheart had died, we wrote our friend Byron Coley, who had introduced us to his work ’round about 1976. (Yeah, we were late.) Here’s the reply, which does tend to wipe that bad New York Times moron-obit writing taste right outta our mouths:
john.
yeah, the news traveled fast. best to you this season, as well.
here’s what i wrote to my little newsgroup.
bc
although he was reportedly felled by complications from his long-standing condition of MS, i offer an alternate theory — he was killed by trying to read that recent, endless, infernal john french book, through the eyes of magic. that book was enough to kick almost anyone over the edge. guh.
but it’s rotten news, what can you say? beefheart has been one of my own hallmarks of friendship and brotherhood since trout mask came out in ’69. after that rolling stone cover feature me & my friends almost all decided to dip in. but very few could stand the heat of the weird water. we who tried to figure it out, even though we were only 13, 14, 15, have proven to be my best friends ever over the years. and the fact that i was known as a beefheart expert was the reason i got my first paid writing gig — interviewing beefheart in ’78 for new york rocker. things might have gone very differently in my life without beefheart. from the girlfriends i swayed to with clear spot in ’73, to the many shows i saw and the many weirdos i met via them. so many of my best pals were quiet fanatics for the doc. it was never worth making noise about because so few understood. but, just as syd barrett fanhood was a path to lasting friendship in the early ’70s, so beefheart-ism remained, even through the relatively ‘mersh tours of the later ’70s.
anyone who doesn’t miss the guy is suffering from a profound misunderstanding of underground musical culture. or is an architect.
as don once told me, “an architect is someone who wants to crawl up yr penis, pull down the shades and type all night.”
so long, sir. you made this planet a whole hell of a lot more bearable for weirdos. and here’s to you.
byron coley
Almost There
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 35mm Sumicron v.4; King of Bokeh, Leica M9 on December 17, 2010 by johnbuckley100Th White House, 2009
Leica M9, Summicron 35mm (King of Bokeh)
No Evil
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on December 8, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, Noctilux wide open.
Brighter My Love
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on November 30, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, Noctilux f/0.95 wide open, no ND filter to protect us from the fallout… retinas still burning… aarrggh!
Two Suns
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Summilux 21mm on November 29, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, 21mm Summilux
Thanksgiving At The Audubon Society
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on November 27, 2010 by johnbuckley100Birds galore, but why take photos of animate objects when you have mysteries like this before you?
Leica M9, Noctilux f/0.95
The High Line
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on November 21, 2010 by johnbuckley100That’s the Empire State Building behind the thistle. Leica M9, Noctilux @ f/0.95.
Two Data Points On The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Anton Newcomb, Boardwalk Empire, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Dandy Warhols, Dig, Martin Scorsese on November 21, 2010 by johnbuckley100I don’t know about you, but when the BJM’s “Straight Up And Down” plays as the theme song for Boardwalk Empire, my pulse quickens. It seems simultaneously to reaffirm Martin Scorsese’s hipster credentials and the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s greatness. Not that either were ever in doubt.
But then last night, I watched Dig! for the first time in a while, and it was a reminder of just how tenuous Anton Newcomb’s hold on — what? everything: his music, his life, his sanity, his work — was for so many years there. As he spirals down, as the band flounders, you could forget, for maybe a moment, just how extraordinary is the BJM’s contribution to the rock’n’roll canon.
(The most telling two lines in the movie come when a) Courtney Taylor-Taylor, having been brutal to Anton for much of the movie, states that just when he thinks he/the Dandy’s have caught up, he hears something new by the BJM and it takes his breath away, b) Anton, in one of his typical ego riffs states, quite accurately as it were, that when they started out, Pearl Jam was the biggest band in music, but how many PJ imitators are there now, versus how many BJM imitators? Brilliant insight.)
The whole film is a reminder of what was, and we can compare it to the live output of the past two, three years. We don’t much care for the Icelandic recording sessions that have found their way to the public, but having seen BJM three times since the Summer of 2008, it’s clear that Anton has found some measure of stability, and surely the band today is a glorious machine, as Anton hangs on and just plays one great song after another.
And so we gear up to watch another episode of Boardwalk Empire, knowing that “Straight Up And Down” is as oddly well matched to be the intro theme as “Gimme Shelter” was to be the soundtrack to Casino’s denouement. Knowing just how great it is, and how close things came to Anton’s never having survived to hear his music reach this level of popular culture acceptance and veneration, is one of today’s many reasons for gratitude.
Tulip Frenzy 