R.I.P. JOHN McCAIN

R.E. the book Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember by John McCain with Mark Salter. It is a book like Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy, also co-written and for younger readers, about people who battled THEIR OWN SIDE or PARTY as well as obstacle forces, which takes courage and character to do the right thing when all others oppose. 

Peruse this list, and remember John McCain as a politician (which means "flawed" to me, all of 'em) consistently on board for all Americans. Rest in peace, America's ethical maverick.

Part One: Honor 
HONESTY -- Thomas More 
RESPECT -- Mohandas Gandhi 
AUTHENTICITY -- Joan of Arc 
LOYALTY -- Sir Ernest Shackleton 
DIGNITY -- Viktor Frankl 
Part Two: Purpose 
IDEALISM -- Sojourner Truth 
RIGHTEOUSNESS -- Roméo Dallaire 
CITIZENSHIP -- Pat Tillman 
DILIGENCE -- Winston Churchill 
RESPONSIBILITY -- Lord Nelson and His Lieutenants 
COOPERATION -- John Wooden 
Part Three: Strength 
COURAGE -- Edith Cavell 
SELF-CONTROL -- George Washington 
CONFIDENCE -- Elizabeth I 
RESILIENCE -- Abraham Lincoln 
INDUSTRY -- Eric Hoffer 
HOPEFULNESS -- John Winthrop 
Part Four: Understanding
 FAITH -- Christian Guard at Hua Lo Prison 
COMPASSION -- Maximillian Kolbe 
MERCY -- Mother Antonia 
TOLERANCE—The Four Chaplains 
FORGIVENESS -- Nelson Mandela 
GENEROSITY -- Oseola McCarty 
Part Five: Judgment 
FAIRNESS—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
HUMILITY -- Dwight D. Eisenhower 
GRATITUDE -- Tecumseh 
HUMOR -- Mark Twain 
COURTESY -- Aung San Suu Kyi 
Part Six: Creativity 
ASPIRATION -- Ferdinand Magellan 
DISCERNMENT -- Leonardo da Vinci 
CURIOSITY -- Charles Darwin 
ENTHUSIASM -- Theodore Roosevelt 
EXCELLENCE -- Wilma Rudolph   
Part Seven: Love 
SELFLESSNESS AND CONTENTMENT -- Mother Teresa

R.I.P. EARL HAMNER, JR. (two years ago)

 fair use screen capture from The Twilight Zone episode "The Hunt"

Let me summarize an incredibly poignant Twilight Zone episode written by a screenwriter who passed away two years ago, called "The Hunt." A rural gentleman and his dog encounter a gatekeeper alongside the road, and come to realize his dog and he have passed away. The gatekeeper welcomes the man but says his dog can't come in, there's a separate place for dogs. The alternative is to wander eternity with his dog outside the gates, which the man chooses, and ambles off with his dog. Soon he comes upon another gatekeeper who joyously welcomes them both inside. Who was that who said my dog couldn't join me, asks the man. The answer: that was Hell. 

R.I.P. Earl Hamner Jr., who hopefully met up with his past dogs...

Best known for creating "The Waltons" tv series, Earl Hamner Jr.'s obituary proper: LINK  *



*http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/the-real-life-john-boy-earl-hamner-jr-who-created-the-waltons-dies-at-age/2270739

JAMES WILLIAMSON and the PINK HEARTS, Change of venue 2.0 July 1, 2018

 

July 1, 2018, another change of venue for live show by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Stooges' guitarist JAMES WILLIAMSON and the band featured on his latest solo album of all new original material "Behind The Shade," featuring vocalists Frank Meyer of the Street Walkin' Cheetahs and Petra Haden of her all a capella "The Who Sell Out," plus many of his Re-Licked live gig musicians. New venue is the Monty Bar, downtown Los Angeles, 
1222 W. 7th St.

JAMES WILLIAMSON and the PINK HEARTS LIVE! Change of venue

July 29, 2018, change of venue for live show by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Stooges' guitarist JAMES WILLIAMSON and the band featured on his latest solo album of all new original material "Behind The Shade," featuring vocalists Frank Meyer of the Street Walkin' Cheetahs and Petra Haden of her all a capella "The Who Sell Out," plus many of his Re-Licked live gig musicians. New venue is Alex's Bar Long Beach, 2913 E. Anaheim Blvd.

R.I.P. KOKO

Rest in peace Koko, shown here with her pet kitten All Ball (photographer unknown, fair usage.) She was perhaps the most successful species ambassador ever due to her command of ASL English, and her easily understandable sense of humor. When young, she made a mistake in her housetraining, to which her handler signed "Bad gorilla!" to which Koko immediately replied, "No. Funny gorilla!" She later was seen to be signing to herself "hurry! hurry!" thereafter when running to her restroom...

R.I.P. ANTHONY BOURDAIN

I am forwarding the assessment of Little Caesar's intelligent soulster/hard rock singer Ron Young, as it seems to be the most accurate while still being heartfelt...

The man admits he was a cocaine and heroin addict for a long time and then we spend years watching him travel all over the world getting drunk as fuck. Don’t be shocked folks. We all enjoyed watching him slowly kill himself every week. It’s one of the reasons we loved him. He was punk rock. He wanted to punch Guy Fieri in the face. We tuned in hoping we would get to see it.
 
Don’t be so naive. We love watching a car crash in slow motion and having it poetically narrated by the driver.
 
RIP Mr Bourdain. I will deeply miss you buying tacos off a truck in a dangerous neighborhood. I saw it coming and wish people in places of power did too.

 Below, (photographer unknown, fair usage) shot of Anthony Bourdain

 and Iggy Pop at the latter's Florida residence; plus one of Bourdain's favorite objects ever,

 the Raw Power by Iggy and The Stooges Deluxe re-issue, as was featured in an article

 in the Wall Street Journal about Bourdain's favorite things ever in his life.

 

REESI ROCCA BRAND NEW VIDEO- BIZARRE YET SO ACCESSIBLE !

Full frontal disclosure: 
I shot stills for this production (some herein.) That said (or written) I always have liked the 'a girl and her dog" angle of stories, and this video's star Reesi Rocca also shares a nice quality with the current actress who plays Wonder Woman, Gal Godot. Both emote a sincerity in their facial expressions to do good as a superhero. Lastly, think of all the bizarre disparate elements in this. Reesi not only thought them up, she arranged to make them all happen...

Click Video: LINK  

 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnnDlUHgqUE&app=desktop )

R.I.P. TOM WOLFE, MARGOT KIDDER

 Fair usage photograph © 1967 Marie Cosindas. Tom Wolfe for her series 

on modern Dandies.

 The Right Stuff might also be a generalized epitaph, as Tom Wolfe always got his research dead right. His vivid descriptions and immersive "you are there" stylization spawned useless drab imitation, and kept Pop Culture on its toes with his cogent insights thereupon. Marie Cosindas, who passed away a year ago, worked exclusively with large format Polaroids for her commercial and fine art photgraphy.

 

                                  Fair usage photograph © 1979 Patrick Jarnoux.

Hollywood chronicler Alison Martino found the above stunning and cool pic. Rest in peace actress Margot Kidder, who reportedly was last heard from yesterday morning, raspy-voiced on the phone to friends complaining that she was throwing up every hour. It sounds as if our wretched 2017-18 flu season has claimed another poor soul...

MUSINGS ON SUBJECTIVE ACADEMIA, IN MY CASE ART SCHOOL

 Four examples of my fine art and photojournalism completed while I attended UCLA: Rod Stewart in Faces,1972; my 6' x6' painting that was stolen right after this documentation; Alice Cooper at the beginning of their career; my copy of Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Sonja Knipps, assigned to teach students how to utilize undercoats, as currently displayed in our home.

Last night my friend Lisa Davidson inspired me to muse on subjective academia experiences. Actually, in the late '60s/early 70s the art instruction at UCLA's Dept. of Fine Art was pretty cool, with the gamut from learning hardcore systems like 3 point perspective to no less than Ed Ruscha telling us to paint whatever we wanted or no less than R.B. Kitaj requiring us to make a line drawing from a nude model for all 6 weeks of the class*, asking us to "make it perfect. Erasure is allowed." 

In contrast, I've been told the current emphasis is on "cultural development" and "contemporary issues" rather than honing one's art to the best of one's abilities to present it to anyone and everyone. Also, my very first week at UCLA I figured out that A) if 19 out of 20 professors concurred, that was probably close to the truth and B) out of any given class of 20 art students, only 5 had any art expertise, 1 was probably a future success as visuals genius, and 15 were there to goof or were bereft of any real visual talent. I always endeavored to be at least one of those 5... 

My most important accomplishment at UCLA was meeting the writers and journalists of its newpaper entertainment sections. We dealt with our company town's actual record companies and studios, which forged the directions of my life's work in photography, art direction, writing and photojournalism. Life lessons indeed... 

 * "It's all true. I stood next to you in Kitaj's class." - Phil Savenick

CHEETAH CHROME/JOHNNY BLITZ THE DEAD BOYS with kindred STREET WALKIN' CHEETAHS IGNITE HOLLYWOOD: Passion Part 2

2017's most memorable gig, 11.11.17 at Hollywood's the Viper Room-- the 40th Anniversary of The Dead Boys featuring original members their own bad selves, guitarist Cheetah Chrome and drummer Johnny Blitz. The audience went apeshit berserk, with singer Jake Hout coaxing and cajoling them into the palm of his hand a la Stiv Bators, whom he frequently praised.  

For further details, I am passing the virtual microphone over to the headliner's genial road technician, Ames Flames, as his perspective and enthusiasm are uniquely palpable:

"Last nights Dead Boys show was off the hook! WOW! I literally had to fight my way through the crowd just to get the guitars on stage. Once the show started the crowd went nuts and stayed that way through the entire set. The stage monitors were being pushed, thrashed, and unplugged. I was cornered on the stage steps and couldn't move. It was hot and I was drenched. The sound was thunderous. It was like the old days. It was the 3rd time in LA this year, and it was the charm. This is the show we all hope to see when we go out to see a band. The kind of show where you have to pinch yourself to make sure you are actually awake and seeing it. It was a pleasure helping these guys out, I see them as family. J Blitz was totally killing it on drums. He was amazing to watch. He did some stuff so fast I couldn't see the sticks. As they continue (to tour) I doubt you will be seeing them in clubs. I see festivals in their future."

 

and openers: The Street Walkin' Cheetahs--

  Cheetah's onetime almost eponymous backing band The Street Walkin' Cheetahs opened for The Dead Boys with their usual hi-speed, hi-energy clever punk rock. Angelo Moore of Fishbone jammed sax on a cover of the Stooges' "Fun House," dexterous singer Frank Meyer got fresh with bassist Dino Everett and guitarist Bruce Duff debuted his Errol Flynn/Captain Hook look.