Butterfly

Cynthia called to me from the other room. She said the largest Swallowtail butterfly was in our back yard and I should try to get a picture. I was rather dismissive as my camera was not ready and I thought by the time I re-inserted the memory card and got the battery out of the charger it would be gone, or that when I did get outside it would fly away. Cynthia was insistent so I thought I would give it a try.

Not only did it not fly away, it seemed to pose for the camera.


Lens: Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di.
Focal length: 75mm
ISO: 800
Sutter speed: 1/250

Musical time warp…

On almost any given Friday you can catch Molly and the Ringwalds serving up a heaping helping of 80’s standards on the main stage of the Houston Continental Club.

In the early days of my digital photography they were one of my most photographed bands. They’re fun to watch and good sports about getting their pictures taken, especially Dekan Ringwald (the lead guitar player) who is actually a bit of a cam-whore and can sense something as small as a camera phone from over 50 yards away in a dark room and strike the right pose.

The new camera yielded some excellent results last night:

From there it was off to the Big Top to catch the Light Rock Express and their stylized brand of 70’s light rock hits.

The two best pictures from that show:

This is Mitch Pauls (aka Paul Bebee)

Looks like he’s added another “L” to the light rock lexicon…lip hair.

This is Thomas Escalante, proprietor of Sig’s Lagoon and lead singer for Clouseaux.

He came in toward the end of the evening and sang a few songs, one of which was “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” by Leo Sayer. Thomas just doesn’t look like someone who should be able to hit those high notes, yet he did so flawlessly.

Comedy Workshop Reunion – 2006 – The evidence

Last night was day one of the three day extravabonanza that is the 2006 Comedy Workshop Reunion at the Laff Spot in Houston, TX.

As I mentioned previously, this event held special meaning for me so I was very enthusiastic about attending last night. The kick off show featured 14 comedians including:

1. Jim Holder
2. John Farneti
3. Steve Epstein
4. Ron Crick
5. Steve Moore
6. Bill Silva
7. Andy Huggins
8. Riley Barber
9. Jimmy Pineapple
10. Mike Vance
11. Ron Robertson
12. Carl Faulenberry
13. T-Sean Shannon
14. Ron Shock

Most of these guys I remember from my days at the Comedy Workshop in the early 80’s and it was a real hoot to see them again. There were moments when I was transported back in time and it actually felt like I was back in the old Workshop. Many of the routines were the same, but there was some new material. Some of the guys really don’t look all that different.

Last night was the powerhouse show. Tonight and tomorrow there will only be 3 or 5 comedian per evening with longer sets. Last night was the show to see, I’ll likely skip tonight and tomorrow.

It was particularly good to see my old friend and schoolmate T-Sean Shannon. He’s just resigned from the writing staff of Saturday Night Live to pursue his own show on Comedy Central which will be based on his books of short stories.

It’s good to see him being so successful. He’s still one of the funniest stand-ups around, IMHO.

Let me say that comics are not great material for a photo shoot. I mean, I know they were funny and when I look at the pictures I remember the funny but, more often than not, the funny does not show up in the pictures.

There’s plenty in the gallery if your interested.

Don’t forget the one’s from 20 years ago for comparison….

Jonathan Coulton: Eventful request

via xtopher42

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You may recall me blogging about a guy named Jonathan Coulton. He’s the guy doing the “Thing a Day” blog where he writes and records a new song every day for a year. The most popular one (IMHO) has been Code Monkey.

Apparently he has agreed to a performance in any city that can generate 50 or more Eventful requests. I confirmed this at his Myspace page.

I just added my name to the list for #33 so we just need 22 more “demands” to get him here.

I think this would be an awesome show. If you would like to add your name to the Eventful demand list please follow this link. It only takes a few minutes.

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.

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