The Thrill That’ll Getcha When You Getch Yo Pictcha

I was contacted by Elmore Magazine about purchasing the rights to one of my photos for their web site and for the cover of their monthly magazine.

With a circulation only in the tens of thousands it’s no Rolling Stone Magazine, but still pretty cool if you ask me. There’s just something about print media that makes it seems more “real” even though more people are likely to see it on the web.

So shiny!

*Photo of Jay Lee courtesy of Cynthia

Tom Waits Glitter And Doom – Houston

The Tom Waits show was literally fantastic. Not only the performance, but the cast of characters in attendance. I got to see many current friends as well as people I don’t tend to run into except every so often when an event like this rolls around.

I struggled with the idea of not bringing a camera and I knew that cameras were technically verboten but I really wanted to get some shots of this once in a lifetime show.

It’s been many many years since I smuggled a camera into a concert. The last time was at a Frank Zappa concert in 1984. I pondered tucking a camera as I could not imagine the staff of Jones Hall patting people down or scanning anyone with metal detecting wands. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do that so I opted to bring my Alpha 100 with the good old 50mm lens for a low profile shoulder bag “hope they don’t make me go back to the car” casual walk through the front door and what do you know? It worked. In hindsight I should have brought the new camera and bigger lens. Ah well, live and learn.

Once the show was underway point and shoot cameras as well as pocket video lit up the audience and the staff at Jone Hall did nothing to stop any of it so I snagged a few shots of my own.

The set list from the show:

Lucinda
Down in the Hole
Falling Down
November
Dead and Lovely
Lie to Me
Day After Tomorrow
Hoist that Rag
Get Behind the Mule
Cemetary Polka
Trampled Rose
Jesus Gonna Be Here
Lucky Day
Tom Traubert’s Blues
House Where Nobody Lives
Innocent when you dream
Make it Rain
Murder in the Red Barn
Come on up to the House
Dirt in the Ground
Eyeball Kid

Goin’ Out West
All the World is Green

For a recap of the show itself you can check out the story at The Houston Chronicle

The above two photos are my favorites of the evening. The rest are here in my gallery.

Good Times In San Antonio

I must say, I enjoyed my (work) trip to San Antonio much more than I had anticipated. The River Walk didn’t smell like I remember from my last visit many years ago, so that was a plus. Must have had something to to with the spectacular weather last week.

And even though it was a work related event and there was plenty to do, I did manage to get out and shoot some interesting pictures and make some surprising discoveries.

We wrapped up the event at a ranch on the outskirts of San Antonio for the awards banquet. That’s where I encountered this odd fellow…

That’s one tame bull, I tell you what. I kinda felt sorry for the poor thing. But I suppose being a trained bull is one way to steer clear of the slaughter house. *rimshot*

And much like last year, I spent some time with The Irish Contingent which netted me a few more pictures of the gang from Galway who are more fun than a bar full of Irishmen. Speaking of which, here are pictures of a bar full of those same Irishmen plus one Irish woman (and Patrick, who’s Dutch but lives in Ireland).


Give Me Coffee

One good thing about these high end hotels where we hold our sales conference is the the hotel’s commitment to providing an abundance of coffee in the morning.

Speaking of coffee, I had the oddest dream the other night. In my dream there was an online service where you could upload your unused coffee to a web site to make it available to others to download free of charge.

It was for those times when you brew a pot of coffee, but don’t finish it. It wasn’t for uploading a half drunk cup of used coffee though I could see that as a potential abuse of the service.

Cynthia tells me it strikes her as a very “Jay-like” dream. I have to agree.

Guardian Angel

Jesse Trevino’s mural “Spirit Of Healing.”

The impressive tile mural, which is permanently displayed at the Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, is the only one of its kind in the United States. This tallest mural is made with tiles of 70 different tile colors, all imported from Germany. Each panel is cemented and put together like a jigsaw puzzle.

2,000 pieces of tile
70 tile colors
93 feet high by 43 feet wide.