What a difference a lens makes

Dave Alvin last night at the Continental Club along with the Hacienda Brothers. A great show and a great opportunity to try out the Sony 1.4 50mm lens.

First up, The Hacienda Brothers.

To fully appreciate these you should click the image to see a larger version. They are scaled down to fit this page.

Also note; all of these were taken with NO flash in a club known for poor lighting.

Hacienda Brothers

Hacienda Brothers

Those guys are great and I am pleased with the results of the lens.

Next up, Dave Alvin. The main attraction and he did not disappoint.

Dave Alvin

Dave Alvin

Dave Alvin

Again, if you click any of the images you will see a larger version that gives you a better idea of how well these pictures came out.

Snakes in a hotel lobby

The East Texas Herpetological Society were hosting their 16th annual Reptile Show & Educational Exhibit at the Crowne Plaza Resort over off 290 this weekend. Today all the vendors/breeders/misfits gathered to display their snakely and reptilian wares for public gawking and purchase.

We only just heard about the event from our camera salesman when I was picking up my lens on Saturday. Cynthia expressed an interest in going out to see if she could be in a room full of snakes without involuntarily shedding her own skin. I thought it might be a good photo opportunity.

While we were walking around viewing the various exhibits we did see some cool snakes. Cynthia did not freak out and I got this awesome shot of a baby yellow python using a magnifying lens I picked up as an add on for my 50mm.

And this is a picture of a very frisky 6 1/2 foot long Australian Scrub Python that, even though it was out of it’s cage and was being continuously reeled back in by it’s keeper, did not seem to bother Cynthia at all

It was an interesting side trip for a Sunday and we’re both glad we went. We’re also happy to report that we did not actually purchase any snakes…

…but we did gawk.

Avast ye scurvy pop-music lovers!

One thing you can say about my band The Flying Fish Sailors is that we lack a broad commercial appeal. There’s just not that many people in the world all that interested in a rousing sea chantey or depressing sea ballad. Still, it’s good fun music and we enjoy our fair share of loyal fans and seem to draw new ones when we play.

On top of that, there’s certainly no shortage of nautical bands scattered around this small blue planet.

Movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the recent sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest have had some effect in recent years in popularizing all things piratical. I noticed this most strongly in my recent visit to San Francisco. I suppose this whole “Pirate Pop” thing will only benefit us when we play in the future.

Why do I bring this up? I bring this up because last Friday I had a “when worlds collide” experience.

I may play in a folk band but I love alternative rock and even some popular music. I would say my tastes are ecclectic and diverse even if my band plays mostly within a certain niche.

Friday night I was in Sig’s Lagoon and Thomas (the proprietor) called my attention to a CD that had just come into inventory. The name of the CD is “Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys.”

Ok, a Sea Chantey CD…cool. Their not all that hard to find and I kinda shrugged. Thomas drew my attention to the producers…Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski. Ok, Interesting. But Johnny Depp? I’m so tired of Johnny Depp. You can go to your local ren fair and see a dozen or more Jack Sparrow wannabes wandering the site. Bleh.

At Thomas’s urging I took the CD in hand and gave it a closer look.

The song list was not surprising. It’s a two CD set featuring the expected songs like Cape Cod Girls, Mingulay Boat Song, Shenandoah along with some bawdier one’s like Good Ship Venus and The Mermaid.

But what was really startling is who the performers are. The CD is billed as “various artists” but those “various artists” include Lou Reed, Loudon Wainwright III and his son Rufus, Stan Ridgeway, Bono, Sting and the list goes on.

I bought the CD on the spot and I have REALLY enjoyed it so far.

Here’s the song list:

01. CD1: Cape Cod Girls – Baby Gramps
02. CD1: Mingulay Boat Song – Richard Thompson
03. CD1: My Son John – John C. Reilly
04. CD1: Fire Down Below – Nick Cave
05. CD1: Turkish Revelry – Loudon Wainwright III
06. CD1: Bully In The Alley – Three Pruned Men
07. CD1: The Cruel Ship’s Captain – Bryan Ferry
08. CD1: Dead Horse – Robin Holcomb
09. CD1: Spanish Ladies – Bill Frisell
10. CD1: Coast of High Barbary – Joseph Arthur
11. CD1: Haul Away Joe – Mark Anthony Thompson
12. CD1: Dan Dan – David Thomas
13. CD1: Blood Red Roses – Sting
14. CD1: Sally Brown – Teddy Thompson
15. CD1: Lowlands Away – Rufus Wainwright & Kate McGarrigle
16. CD1: Baltimore Whores – Gavin Friday
17. CD1: Rolling Sea – Eliza Carthy
18. CD1: The Mermaid – Martin Carthy & the UK Group
19. CD1: Haul On The Bowline – Bob Neuwirth
20. CD1: A Dying Sailor to His Shipmates – Bono
21. CD1: Bonnie Portmore – Lucinda Williams
22. CD1: Shenandoah – Richard Greene & Jack Shit
23. CD1: The Cry Of Man – Mary Margaret O’Hara
24. CD2: Boney – Jack Shit
25. CD2: Good Ship Venus – Loudon Wainwright III
26. CD2: Long Time Ago – White Magic
27. CD2: Pinery Boy – Nick Cave
28. CD2: Lowlands Low – Bryan Ferry w/ Antony
29. CD2: One Spring Morning – Akron/Family
30. CD2: Hog Eye Man – Martin Carthy & family
31. CD2: The Fiddler – Ricky Jay & Richard Greene
32. CD2: Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold – Andrea Corr
33. CD2: Fathom The Bowl – John C. Reilly
34. CD2: Drunken Sailor – David Thomas
35. CD2: Farewell Nancy – Ed Harcourt
36. CD2: Hanging Johnny – Stan Ridgway
37. CD2: Old Man of The Sea – Baby Gramps
38. CD2: Greenland Whale Fisheries – Van Dyke Parks
39. CD2: Shallow Brown – Sting
40. CD2: The Grey Funnel Line – Jolie Holland
41. CD2: A Drop of Nelson’s Blood – Jarvis Cocker
42. CD2: Leave Her Johnny – Lou Reed
43. CD2: Little Boy Billy – Ralph Steadman

So yea, I’m going to talk about the camera some more.

One of the features I wanted in a new camera was the ability to shoot in black and white (not just converting to B&W in-camera which this one will also do). In the past I have simply desaturated a picture in Photoshop but that just doesn’t compare to capturing the actual image in B&W.

I shot this one of my best friend Jim as we hung out at Onion Creek last night enjoying good conversation and tasty beers:

Here’s Cynthia posing in the garden:

Oh, and isn’t that a lovely blouse Cynthia is wearing? She put that blouse together last weekend. She’s a renaissance woman who can make her own clothing. How awesome is that?
Here’s a color picture:

New camera

I have finally taken the plunge and purchased a digital SLR. I decided on the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100. It was a toss up between this and the Nikon D80 which is slated to be released later this month.

It shoots at an impressive 10 mega-pixels and is extremely feature rich and so far, has proven very easy to use. I purchased the kit that includes a 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. For the extra $100 it’s a great backup lens and is rather versatile.

Wanting a faster zoom lens I added a Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di. This adds even greater flexibility when shooting the style of pics I tend to go after.

The main reasons I went with the Sony are the built in image stabilization and the anti-dust technology. To get image stabilization in the Nikon cameras you have to purchase lenses with that capability and that alone doubles the cost of any decent piece of glass.

For the price point this camera is pretty unbelievable and I think it will suite my needs for some time to come.

I took it for a test spin last night and was pleased with the results.

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