BonJovi vs. NorthernRoom

The band is called Northern Room and my affiliation is a friend of Greek friend of mine named Tony. I work with Tony and am also a friend of Tony's. Tony is Greek and likes shoe-boots. He also likes talking about shoe-boots. If you ask Tony what they are, he will tell you rightly.
So Tony has these friends that are in a band named Northern Room. Why, I don't know. But they are a really good band and recently won a radio contest to open for BonJovi. Big deal right, well to have a chance to play in front of thousands of fans always seems like a big deal if you're a really good band looking for a record deal. That is coming from my perspective. My Greek friend, Tony was the sponsored photographer at the concert for the radio station that ran this little contest. After the concert the Band had a CD release party at Major Goolsby's where I got my own copy of their new released cd "LastEmbrace EP". I must say the album is fantastic, a must listen. Might I also say I made the photo credits.
The end of last year Tony and I took some photos of the band in their studio. Where I might add, I slipped on the stairs because of my bad ankle, and broke my butt again which was previously broken from me falling off a roof where I broke my ankle which incidentally cause the second broken butt incident. All of which culminated in me feeling really broken for many more incidental days. Anyway, they decided to put a few of my pics along with my Greek friend's into the collage. It's only a few but it's worth mentioning.... It made me smile. I circled my photos.

What you can get for 33 cents/lb.... nice bananas and 1/2 hour of photoshop fun. I went to store and I got some bananas, they are really nice bananas. So, I took a picture and this is the result. Not to mention they taste good too.

Taxes, what are they why must I pay? These are simple questions that were easily answered when I was working for employers that would automatically deduct that cold hard piece of cash I refer to as dough from my paycheck each month. Now, living life as a sole proprietor, things have changed and I have entered into a cruel unknown world of learning the benefits and non-benefits of working for myself. I have been reading and reading and reading the IRS juxtaposed theory of who is who, and what is what for the past three hours... what I am hearing in that precious space between my ears is blahblIxihenˆ¨ndˆïhnblah. Somehow this subject and my stack of un-filed receipts brings my utter existence to a standstill.

What I keep in my fridge at all times. What is it? SPORTea of course. Why? Because, it is the ultimate daily beverage;
1. Award winning
2. Nutritious
3. Natural energizer
4. Stress fighter
5. Thirst Quencher
6. Distinctive flavor
7. Quality packaging
"SPORTea never failed to give me the lift I needed under the harsh conditions we were exposed to on Everest." -Dave Saas, Everest Expedition Leader. Gulp, gulp, gulp.

I have a new place of residence. This weekend I moved in to a new place. It is actually in every way the same except for a few shapes called numbers. -419 has become 517- You see I live in a hotel and the kind of places I can afford the rooms are all the same. Yes, I said room, I live in a room. One room with two windows and a door. I can't complain however, cheap rent, a month to month lease, a 24-hour concierge, and rusty h20. One difference worth mentioning is my frigi. Now instead of a mini-fridge, I have a double-wide, as I refer to it. Basically two minis stacked. It isn't 5th Ave. or anything but it makes me smile.

Are you looking for ideas in your photography adventures? Here is a secret, "hardly any of us have good ideas all the time. To take great fotos you must have great ideas." (-KR) A good place for ideas is VEER, a design website filled with great ideas. Check it out, I would suggest just browsing unless you have some serious cash you to drop. Here area a few of my favs.

Hey, do you want to have lunch? ; Sure. ; How about a Limburger? ; Sounds great!

If anyone ever asks you if you would like a limburger sandwich, by all means refuse. Refuse at all costs. Refuse to the death. What is limburger, you might ask? It is a cheese, a ridiculously, addled, decayed, decomposed, putrefied, rotten, rancid cheese. Try to imagine this creamy foot cream type substance sandwiched between fresh red onions and rye bread. If you like defiled eatable things you might think otherwise, but, I think it was one of the worst things I have ever tasted in my life.

what does it feel like to get hit by a truck?

î ®eally have ño îdea. but †he way my body ïs feeling at this moment says ï do. i let a friend talk me into playing a game of pick-up hockey tonight at the local arena. I must say now i know, without one shred of a doubt, that I am in the worst shape of my twenty-six years of existence. I don't know if you have ever played hockey before but here are a couple of things you don't do; don't eat four double decker tacos before you play and don't forget your cup. my body hurts like it has never hurt before, i just wanted to share that with you before i die.

Guinness--Brilliant

This is Guinness, stevi's other roommate, besides being named after one of the best beers in the world, he really enjoys Edgar Allen Poe poems. Cheers Guinness.

-working end-

don't let your finger get caught in the working end of stevi's german made sewing machine. $10 @ good will. now, beggars can be choosers.

Beg the question.

Symmetry: the Latin symmetria, from Greek, symmetros. The word symmetry's definition from webster means balanced proportions; also : beauty of form arising from balanced proportions. Symmetry is a mark of beauty in not only cultures around the world, but the animal kingdom and nature as well. It deals with the form of an object or subject. Let me just tell you what I am not saying before I say what I am saying. I am not saying unsymmetrical forms are not beautiful. I am not saying unsymmetrical forms have no use or purpose. What I am saying, is that symmetrical forms draw our attention more readily and more perfectly than unsymmetrical forms. Almost every aspect of our lives deals with this in some way; our architecture, automobiles, bodies, language, food, and recreation to name a few. I am not going to go into too much detail or any detail, for that matter,l on any of these subjects. However, I will say this world, everything in it including humans were designed not haphazardly, but with thought and determination. I do not have any conclusive evidence of this in some lab anywhere but what I do have is knowledge of the world around me. I have eyes that can see, fingers that can touch, and a brain that can wonder about how things were made, are continually being made and will be made in the future. I have a personal experience that says "there is a God, and I'm not Him". This is the God of the Old and New Testament who created us in His image. I cannot live on this earth and think things just came together. Everything has beauty, everything was and will continually be created. The sun's energy in the raw form cannot be consumed. It has to be converted by some means, photosynthesis, or photovoltaics. This goes for everything, food, gasoline, electricity...etc. There must me a conversion process. We as humans play a vital role in that conversion. Not only building these conversion machines but being a conversion machine. We can act by transferring the truth we have received about the world by opening those truths to others, whether it be through art, writing, simple conversation, or simply living a life that is so dramatically different that it begs the question, "there is something different, what is it?" Striving to live a life of symmetry and balance according to truth... becoming beautiful.

Sufjan...(sufyan)...Stevens

Sufjan, one of my favorite artist of all times, he has a series of Christmas albums out. You can't get them anywhere except for his concerts and this LINK. Sufjan's latest album "Come feel the Illinoise" got album of the year on Amazon.com. Seriously, this album along with "Seven Swans", and "Greetings from Michigan" are three of the best albums I have ever heard. Do yourself a favor and pick them up, you won't be sorry. Also read this sweet action article about Sufjan on NPR and download "Lord God Bird", an NPR exclusive song.

Christmas albums
Amazon
"Lord God Bird"

lineup

This is my girlfriend stevi wearing a lot of makeup. I am so glad she doesn't do this on a daily basis.

QUEST for the WIND GIANTS

a pink elephant from indiana I had never been to a wind farm before and was really excited to be there. If you ever take a trip off the highway to chase a wind farm there is something you should know. Those things, the wind giants, are really big. Just looking at them I thought they would be relatively close, but I kept driving and driving and driving. My slight excursion that I thought would take a mere 10-20 mins tops, took about an hour.
I passed a few friends on the way.Getting closer, I could actually feel the draw the wind giants have. I think there was some sort of tractor beam streaming in my direction. These sirens of the sky were singing a tune that sang directly to the inner child psychologists talks so candidly about. I could feel myself becoming more and more entrenched with excitement the closer I got.
Finally there, I realized how big those things are. Standing at the base of the metallic, industrialized creatures, I could not help but think of what was being harvested by these windavours. I could feel powerful gusts from across the plains and I saw massive blades swinging over-head, like a reaper reaping his crop, so too these wind giants were reaping theirs. Only days earlier I talked to my oldest brother, Brian, about how the Spirit of God moves in the same way. John 3:8 "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." We also talked about an up and coming artist friend of his named Dayton, who is currently working on a sculpture entitled "Tilting the Giants". Yes, this is where I got the idea of the wind giants. I think it is no coincidence that I ran into the wind giants on that glorious day. check out dayton's blog ->That is me with my snowboard magnified 10X standing next to the giants After reaching my goal, I turned back only to be on the quest for my bigger goal: reaching my lake Michigan studio apt. in the luxurious Shorecrest Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. While visiting the wind giants, I learned their sign... that is what I am doing with my fingers. Hopefully the giants will be talking the day you arrive.

A new endeavor

I have recently stumbled upon a relatively simple photo share website where people can comment on photos you post. I discovered this in the same fashion that I discovered this blog... through my friend Barrett Doke, who was fellow resident of "the Headquarters" in Nachogdoches, TX during the fall of 2003. If you follow the link (doke) you will find his blog which looks very similar to mine. I contribute that to a couple of things; 1) there are not a lot of options when it comes to the template of the blog, 2) i like doke's creativity and decided to use his instead of mine, i don't think he would mind as long as i give him credit. As of now I only have one photo on flickr, but like this blog I am working on updating. Keep looking for updates.