Wednesday, January 29, 2014

TRAGIC BUT PRODUCTIVE YOUNG COUPLE: MIMI & RICHARD FARINA



Here's a brief musical introduction to the truncated legacy of this long ago young couple which outstripped most tragedies detailed on VH1s Behind the Music. He'd be dead from a motorcycle accident two months after their one video appearance on Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest tv show from which the above screen captures were taken, widowing the younger sister of Joan Baez on her 21st birthday...

Thomas Pynchon dedicated one of his books to him. He wrote the novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me still in publication and made into a film, plus this solo song with the classic British folksong melody of "I Loved A Lass" about the real life innocent child victims of an anti-civil rights bombing, later covered by his sister-in-law Baez.
 
They recorded two and a half albums together between 1965 and 68, the last posthumous to him, he on mountain dulcimer strummed oddly and aggressively, she on rather adept acoustic guitar, both singing. Both wrote this, their strongest offering lyrically here performed on aforementioned video appearance:

and this one by which a long ago boyfriend fond of substances in teaspoons introduced me to their music.
   
Their most covered song was never recorded together albeit solo by her. Here it's given proper magnificence by the late Sandy Denny:
 

Shell-shocked after his death, she briefly remarried and divorced, and sang and played on a few solo and duet releases, but found performing for causes more personally satisfying. Incorporated that sentiment, she founded Bread And Roses, LINK a non-profit foundation providing free, quality live music to those in institutions and prisons, continuing on to this day. She died young herself at 56. Rest in peace Mimi and Richard Farina.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

IGGY AND THE STOOGES LIVE C2SV, SAN JOSE 9.28.13

 Lots and LOTS of my photographs, and a blow by blow account of C2SV, the Create. Converge. Silicon Valley Music and Technology Festival, with Iggy and The Stooges as headliners, and its guitarist James Williamson, also recently retired Sony Vice-President of Technology Standards as keynote speaker. Go to LINK.
Below, the fresh nose gash photo, exclusive to Fastfilmblog herein.

Some feedback on the photographs therein:
"Heather, you've manage to capture some great classics of Iggy over the years but this will be handed down from generation to generation. Nothing short of pure dedication. We all owe you big time for satisfying our unquenchable desire to see Iggy and the Stooges. This is as close as a lot of us will ever get. Thanks for all you share." 
- Doug Hatfield 

"Great collaboration. You seem to capture not only his out-there-ness, but also that Midwestern folksy charm that coexists with the chaos. Endearing, sexy, edgy... a man for all seasons!" 
- Brenda Lane

Monday, January 20, 2014

THE KINKS, LUTHER VANDROSS

 

 Back in the day black and white photo proofs for my negatives of The Kinks, with Ray Davies versus a beer bottle; Luther Vandross solo, sadly missed.

5-DOG PLAYDATE 1.14.14

Cast of characters: Karis, Callahan, Norris- Scottish Deerhounds; Sarahbelle- Golden Retriever; Lily-Labrador Retriever. In the canine variant of rock-paper-scissors, sighthounds chase retrievers.
Sighthounds coursing retriever, bitches glamorously resting.
Both sighthounds and retrievers are hunting dogs, (sighthounds course/chase game, retrievers are gundogs,) but I don't think this (below left) is what was intended when marksmen routinely yell "Pull!" (Below right) Lily shows off her best show stack (posing for a dogshow judge) to Norris, who then asks, "May I see the bite please?" (Unfortunately, Lily was shown the bite too often by an over-playful Callahan.)
 


Friday, January 17, 2014

FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF THE 1994 NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE



Twenty years ago today our across the street neighbors Sarge and Judy were killed in the 6.7 (or reputedly higher) Richter Scaled Northridge earthquake. This tragedy dispelled virtually all neighborhood complaints about the manifold actual property damage everyone suffered. Our block was three miles diagonally from the quake epicenter. In our own case, the entire 2-story chimney came down 10 feet away from where we were sleeping, all the plaster walls of our then 84-year-old farmhouse cracked, ceiling light fixtures hit the floors and our television did a swan dive to oblivion.

 What did it feel like?  Like being in a waterbed on some small boat trapped on raging storm-tossed seas, with the sound of every truck and train on the entire planet rumbling by. Lifelong Los Angeles residents that we were, we had bolted top heavy bookcases and armoires to the walls heretofore and had placed flashlights and hard-soled shoes beside our bed every night by habit so the dogs and we made it safely outside. No one anywhere in the county stayed inside with all of the huge aftershocks coming one after the other, and between aftershocks we made hurried sortis back inside for supplies as needed.

All Los Angeles electrical power was gone. In the now unnaturally dark 4 a.m. morning bereft of citylight glare, we didn't even know the extent of all our damage until the sun rose. Power was returned in about five days, but we had to boil our plumbing water to potability for the next two weeks, as the reservoirs had all taken massive hits of debris and contaminants. That quake night, immediate neighbors shouted over the fences to one another to establish that all souls basically were still okay. 

It wasn't until three days later that we realized Sarge and Judy weren't accounted for and, unlike most supplies seekers, that their cars hadn't moved. My adulthood BFF and then neighbor Mary Kay, bassist of The Dogs devised an effective plan for getting help in an emergency of no power, pre-cell phones and a population of 11 million panicked people. She went to the restaurant most frequented by local police on their breaks and told them she was worried about our elderly neighbors, that we were going to break in to check on them, and that we wanted the cops to know in advance that we weren't looting. Of course the cops then followed her to our block, wherein one chop of a borrowed ax through the door odiferously told the whole sad story: the hoarder couple had been dead for three days, crushed by their belongings.

 We had just moved in three years prior, refurbished everything and now had to do it all over again. Luckily we'd had the prescience to retro-fit the house for earthquake safety those same three years prior.  As our contractor guy Tim said, "You'll have lotsa damage, all the walls will crack, but unless its a nuclear earthquake on steroids, the house basically should stay up. If it's bigger than The Big One, you'll be dead anyway and won't care." If we hadn't retro-fitted in advance, the house would have been matchsticks.  

At that point in our personal history we would still travel a long road for many years to repair everything in our now 103-year-old farmhouse in the middle of a now 15 million persons populated, eternally natural disaster-prone city. Today's variant, Jan. 17, 2014: terrible wildfires borne of a drought (3 inches of rain last year vs. 18 as the norm) and fueled by both hot, dry Santa Ana winds and also by the three brainless morons in custody who deliberately started it. 

Left, similar Sears kit house in nearby Fillmore CA that did not survive same quake. Right, our house as of 2016, post drought.
 



Top photo of my better half Mr. Twister assessing further damage after we'd picked up the chimney bricks during the afternoon of the quake: photo © Heather Harris. All remaining shots are courtesy of guest photographer Kurt Ingham. Below, contemporary news broadcast footage.


Monday, January 13, 2014

R.I.P. GARY GRIMSHAW

Rest in peace GARY GRIMSHAW, legendary Detroit poster art and fine artist of the Grande Ballroom in the 1960s and '70s plus numerous others. HE both pioneered and adopted the universal underground graphics style of the era and worked extensively with the MC5, termed Minister of Art for the band's Trans-love association with John Sinclair and the White Panther Party. Check his website for gallery of art and book goodies here LINK and Detroit News feature here LINK.  

Friday, January 10, 2014

AT THE RANCH TODAY

 

Today at the horse boarding ranch 1.9.14 ... at what were my National Show Horse Indy and his Arabian pal Cody staring so intently?  A: a wayward egret in the turnout paddock.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

1974: ROY WOOD & WIZZARD, THE PANDORAS, MR. TWISTER





















This was my answer to the Facebook Pandoras (see LINK) Fanpage question on what you were doing in 1974 (most of them were in elementary school):

"In 1974 as now I tried to photograph those artists whose music meant something to me (although I'll shoot anyone for money, I'm easy.) This is Roy Wood with Wizzard at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1974 (above left.) Once introduced to same I adored The Move, then and now. Recently graduated from UCLA, my day job out of college was assistant art director at the L.A. Weekly News, a spin-off from the L.A. Free Press (underground press.) It went bust, then I did the same work for Designers West, #2 magazine to Achitectural Digest in that interior design field, while photographing and writing for Performance Magazine at night. 

Social life: my obsession with Mr. Twister (of the band Christopher Milk) took a hiatus when he emigrated to England to get in on nascent pub-rock evolving into punk rock scene in England, (pub rock kept non-prog hard rock sufficiently on life support to miraculously awaken into punk.) We hooked up after he was deported (troublemaker, plus turned in by jealous bands) and returned to L.A. in 1975; he founded punk band Chainsaw in Hollywood circa 1976 and we have been together ever since."

My other photograph above adorned The Pandoras' 45 single cover for Thunder Alley with its Roger Corman movie retro-biker look (in 1985.) For younger persons they cared about the past those Pandoras, hence the initial question.

Below, Roy Wood & Wizzard & bagpipes; Mr. Twister back in the day slightly later.



P.S. the above right photo depicts Mr. Twister doing his circa 1970s Bruce Dern impression.


Monday, January 6, 2014

IGGY AND THE STOOGES, San Jose C2SV Festival T.K.


Coming soon: my photofeature for Paraphilia Magazine on Iggy and The Stooges headlining the C2SV Music and Tech Festival, San Jose CA. "T.K." is oldskool journalist edit-ese for "to come."

A FABULOUS THUNDERBIRD!


This fabulous Thunderbird in the top image indeed is the same one depicted on The Fabulous Thunderbirds' release Different Tacos, as I took the photo as well as co-designed, with Nannette Freeman, this CD cover for Denny Bruce and his clients.

The sky blue, 1967 4-door Thunderbird with suicide doors has remained all in the family for 3/4 of its existence. First my brother purchased it from my uncle's collection of 30 1967-1970 4-door Thunderbirds, all garaged in his "Bird House" in Tennessee. Then my better half Mr. Twister bought it from my brother in New Mexico, and we drove it back to California along as much of the old Route 66 as we could. Twister eventually sold it back to my brother, who then peddled the classic car to our mutual friend Rico Cardinale, and drove it back to California a second time. I've known A-List hairdresser Rico since 1966 so he's almost family. 

Top photo taken 1.6.14 in our driveway, Rico on the left, Twister on the right.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

FIRST PHOTO OF 2014 et al...

 First photo of 2014, our new tree at New Year dawn; last photo of 2013, my maternal unit; and...



















 ...my best photo of 2013, Iggy and The Stooges, San Jose, C2SV Music and Tech Festival...

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