Colors and patterns:

Recorded via the Voice Memos app on the iPhone.

“Get me my [...]]]>

Elvis Costello, Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA. May 19, 2011. Click to enlarge.

I last saw Elvis in ’86 or ’87. That was great, this was greater. Tons of energy, over the top showmanship, and lots and lots of fun. A favorite of mine was the Time set which included a superb cover of the Stones’ Out of Time.

“Get me my Goldtop…”

S(3) was great and easily held its own against the contemporary work across the hall. I’m always amazed at how dark prints from this era look but always astounded by the detail, the [...]]]> I was at the Met yesterday afternoon to see the the Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand and Guitar Heroes exhibits.

S(3) was great and easily held its own against the contemporary work across the hall. I’m always amazed at how dark prints from this era look but always astounded by the detail, the tonality, and the local contrast. They feel like all of the range is in the bottom quarter tones, little is blown out, and there are specular highlights to keep them from getting too flat.

Me in The Steerage, by Stieglitz, 1907.

Me in Stieglitz by Paul Strand, 1929.

What surprised me the most was Steichen’s work. I’ve seen Stieglitz and Strand countless times so there’s a bit of fatigue there. Steichen’s early work is sumptuous – he really, of the three, had forged his own printing style and pushed the limits of what could be done.

The Flatiron by Edward Steichen, 1904. Gum bichromate over platinum.

One corner of the Steichen room has a half-dozen or so autochromes. This was one of the earliest color processes which uses colored potato starch to act as color filters. Color images this old always feel special, as if they shouldn’t exist and in the act of seeing them you are discovering them for the world.

Mrs. Selma Schubart by Steichen or maybe Stieglitz (not known which), 1907.

Rodin - The Eve, by Steichen, 1907.

From the S(3) show on the second floor, across the building, and down to a gallery below grade you’ll find Guitar Heroes.

The crowd at Guitar Heroes with an 1870 Bini.

The exhibit looks at three luthiers in NYC; John D’Angelico, James D’Aquisto, and John Monteleone, but provides historical context going to back northern Italy in the 1500′s. I tend to gravitate toward simple and unadorned in guitars so my favorite was a James D’Aquisto New Yorker made for Paul Simon.

Oval Hole New Yorker, Archtop Guitar, by James D'Aquisto.

Guitar Heroes, as an exhibit, relies on the visual over the aural. It’s beautiful but that’s not enough. You wish there was a way to give a sense of how one guitar sounds versus another or even feels. The Met has a gone a long way to fill this gap with a free iTunes app, an extensive web site, and the option to rent an audio tour but a guitar exhibit without a shared sense of the music… something’s missing.

One other new item on display at the Met is the Roman Mosiac from Lod, Israel. It was discovered in 1996 during a highway construction project, it dates back to A.D. 300, and it will be at the Met only through early April.  It’s a real treat – fun, playful, vibrant – and as unique for what it does not portray (people) and as for what it does (animals like the giraffe and rhinoceros.)

Roman Mosaic, Lod, Israel. A.D. 300.

Via aPhotoEditor and the original site.

The duo:

Listening to The Black Keys – Brothers and trying to find a bad song. I can’t.

The classic:

I heard Pink Floyd’s – The Great Gig in the Sky on Radio Paradise the other day [...]]]> The chart:

Should I work for free? The flow chart.

Via aPhotoEditor and the original site.

The duo:

Listening to The Black Keys – Brothers and trying to find a bad song. I can’t.

The classic:

I heard Pink Floyd’s – The Great Gig in the Sky on Radio Paradise the other day which I hadn’t heard in years. We probably have it somewhere, I know I had it on vinyl at one point.  I even met David Gilmour once when I first started out on my own in NYC. I was doing PR photography for *The Tunnel in NYC and Gilmour showed up. He was pretty insistent that I not take a photo of him. “I’m old and I’m fat,” he said and walked away.

So, now I’m listening to the remastered version of Dark Side of the Moon. It’s surprisingly tight. No wasted space and even though it’s 60′ish (early 70′s to be exact) it comes off as of a piece, far less self-indulgent than some of the preening on Led Zeppelin’s songs.

And that’s the world in classic rock…

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*Previous Tunnel posts: Lost Boys and Miles Davis.