Feb 12 2010
Recent visit to WA
I was traveling recently to the Pacific Northwest, and took a handful of photographs in and around an area I was visiting.
Here they are:
Archive for the 'Photographs – Non-Art Images' Category
Jun 17 2008
Gracie @ Angel’s Gate
My dear friends have an adorable daughter, Gracie, who was having a grand old time a few weeks back. I happened to catch a few moments of high spirits:
Feb 25 2008
Ain Soph Aur
Ain Soph Aur (A Live Video Excerpt)
Before the gig:
During my many years as a musician, I’ve performed in a variety of contexts. In 6th grade, for example, I sang a solo in Hebrew as part of The Chitchester Psalms, a piece for chorus and organ, written by Leonard Bernstein. In rehearsals, the feeling of singing with so many voices was thrilling and euphoric. I felt myself open up in a way I’d never experienced before.
The night of the performance, I was filled with confidence. I remember walking out onto the stage in my new electric blue wide-wale corduroy pants, feeling the enthusiasm and support of the musicians behind me. The choir director remembered that the translated words were in the program and asked that the house lights be brought up so the audience could read along.
All of a sudden, hundreds of people emerged from the darkness and, much to my surprise, they were staring at me. In an instant, all that joy and confidence evaporated and, in its place, arose a new feeling: Terror. The music began, and I felt a bit heartened but, as my moment to sing approached, my body felt like it was going to split in two.
Feb 20 2008
A Family Photo
As I continue to sift through the remnants of my past, I occasionally find a gem amongst the detritus. Here’s an example:
Oct 23 2007
Creating a bass – Step one: buy wood
Ever since, or perhaps even before, I completed the guitar project I’d dreamed of creating a custom bass. Encouraged by the results of the Sandblaster, I decided to undertake a 2nd instrument-building project: A bass.
I originally hoped to create an instrument using similar African Mahogany but, much to my dismay, large pieces of highly figured African Mahogany are becoming harder and harder to find. Old growth trees are now almost entirely gone, sadly.
Anyway, I began to expand my search to include other woods, and even several woods in combination. ( I just had this idea that one solid piece is somehow better… I don’t know if that’s true, though.) Anyway, I have a Taylor acoustic guitar with Sapele sides and back. Sapele is similar to African Mahogany, but it is heavier, darker, and more expensive. Also, like most popular woods, large highly figured pieces are hard to find. So, after many weeks of patience, John of West Penn Hardwoods selected some pieces that, ultimately, will end up as the body of my next bass.
There are three ‘sections’: The top, which is made of book-matched sapele, the middle, which is made of flame maple (soft), and
The book-matched top:
Oct 12 2007
Niko Nekko: Hellspawn
Niko was beating up on our other kitty, Violet, so I went out to the living room to play with him. He wasn’t playing:
Oct 11 2007
My Sister Kelly Hardgrave
My father remarried shortly after I graduated from High School and, before long, he and his new wife, Mary, and her two children, Kelly and Tom, were off to Washington State. My plans to move in with some friends fell through and, with no place to live, I decided to join them in the Great White North. The year I spent there was one of the best, most challenging, and certainly the most transformative of my life. What made it really great was being an older brother (for once) to two great kids.
I was quite the shutter bug, and I was always with my trusty Pentax K-1000. Here are a few images of Kelly from that time:
When Kelly graduated from College the parents had a shin-dig at the house. I believe this was from that time. She and I were abandoned by our respective parents, and this was going to end up on a milk carton or something:
