Electric Paris
Here are a few shots I took in Paris while experimenting with shutter speeds. It was July 14 (Bastille Day) which is the French independence day. Most of the light sources were streetlights or car lights except for the first, which came from the fireworks light.
*****Fireworks Display*****
*****Lynx*****
*****Determination of the Pisces*****
*****Let it All Hang Out*****
******I Found a Reason*****
*****Vietato Fumare*****
*****Gila*****
June 2008 pt. 1
June 2008 was principally marked by the end of Spring quarter. I was glad that the quarter was over because it had been strangely difficult for me. All of my intellectual gears were rusty after being out of school for a year and transitioning was a struggle. Socially, I was looking for friends and confidants because of my general feelings of displacement -- most of the friends I had come to know since I had moved to Athens had left a year earlier with graduation. If I had taken a more orthodox path in college, I would have graduated with them in the Spring of 2007. So knowing that most of them were already out in the "real world" was a strange thought paired up with the reality that I still have some way to go before I can enter a more advanced "adult" life.
That and transitioning from being in a band was overwhelming. Most of the goals I had in my mind being a musician were changing. Change is the only constant in life and I could certainly feel it all around me but mostly within myself. I was looking for serenity or at least some where and some one that I could really sink into and figure out some things with myself. When I told a lot of people that I was spending most of the summer in Switzerland, the general reaction was eye-rolling misunderstanding but coupled with people just trying to be nice. It does sound impractical, far-fetched, or escapist to go somewhere so foreign and far but for me, being with my family (particularly my parents) centers me. It puts me at an equilibrium where I can remember where I came from, who I used to be, and perhaps give me nurturing and encouragement to decide where I am going. It just so happens that going "home" for me is about 5,000 miles away in the Swiss Alps. I have come to terms with whatever people's opinions/judgements are about my life and in the end I don't really care. If someone judges me negatively for aspects of how my family works, it is something I will generally disregard.
June was difficult for me because it was all about getting into productive habits. When I lost my job back in January, I fell into a nether-world of laziness and messiness. My life seemed pointless and chaotic for awhile because I had felt like the rug was pulled from under me. Going home for the Summer was all about getting in the habit of making healthy decisions for me and wrapping myself with a big blanket.
The first couple of days for trans-atlantic flights are always hard for me. This was on the day after I arrived in CH. My mom and I went out for a walk around the village where she and my dad live. This was a flower stand along the way.
*****Swiss Dairy Cow*****
*****Oberaegeri Farm*****
The landscape and outdoors are breath-taking where my parents live. It is heavily agricultural, although my parents live in a newly developed condominium. The name of their town is Oberageri and it has been around since the 16th century. It is mind-blowing for me to see some of the buildings when I walk around the village -- they are often marked with the year they were built and a lot of them read years in the 1700s.
*****House-Horsie*****
This artwork was painted on the side of a house that I saw on our walk.
*****Cyber-Caitlin / Cyber Ricky*****
Caitlin bought a Mac computer shortly after I left to CH and we communicated through iChat's video chat feature. It was a good way to keep in touch, to see each other face to face. I still missed her very much but at least we could see each other.*****Kitty*****
Neighborhood tom-cat.
*****Clouds*****
*****Psychedelic*****
*****Woah*****
April & May 2008
Attending lectures is really enjoyable to me. This past spring I took two Spanish classes -- Advanced Composition and Conversation III and Poetic Images of the Hispanic World. Both courses dazzled me but I especially enjoyed the poetry course. My instructor, José Delgado-Casta is perhaps the best teacher I have ever had. I think I also worked nearly as hard or harder in that class than I ever have worked in a Spanish course. We covered a broad range of materials -- beginning with the medieval peninsular writers and slowly following the course of expansion to South and Central America and further to the Antilles poets like Guillén. My favorite poet was Federico García Lorca for sure.
The spring went by very fast like a steep water slide ride at a water park. Here are some of the memories:
Nostra Nova played its last show at the Nelsonville Music Festival on May 18th. One of the headliners for the festival and for that night were the Avett Brothers. Truthfully, I was not impressed a whole lot by what they were doing musically. It seemed a little grandiose but to their defense they had great energy behind their stage presence. And they were all very handsome, too.*****We are Here and Glad first meeting @ China Panda -- Sushi!*****
I don't know if I can talk about our secret club too much but this was our first meeting. Our club is called We are Here and Glad (up to reconsideration). It primarily consists of Caitlin, Me, and Larry but Jamie was at this dinner and so was Julia. *****Matthew Emmons*****
Matt is a good friend of mine and he composes wondrous waves (as in sine, saw tooth, square etc.) and sometimes plays them for Us All. I love you Matt.*****Morky Magic*****
She looks like a pirate trying to steal some treasure. *****Rem and Amanda in front of their house*****
Great news for Adam and Amanda Remnant -- they are buying 3 Ring Street! They made an offer to the current owner (who had just bought the house) and it has all panned out. They close on the house on July 30th. The house itself, I think, is one of the most interesting houses in all of Athens. It has so much character, whether in plain daylight or in the dark shadows at night. I remember Rem listening to Bonnie "Prince" Billy's song A Knight at Night one morning at home -- the lyricsthis is how I start another day in my kingdom
always stood out when I think of Rem and Amanda and this house. I am so happy for them and I am lucky to have such great friends and even (technically) landlords.
*****The salmon, tornado warning, and twilight sky*****
Weird Spring weather.*****Morki*****
I took this a couple days after school was over and before I left for the summer. It was somewhat of a candid shot in my car. She is so beautiful!*****House*****
Another shot of 3 Ring Street.*****James*****
Jamie is probably my best friend in the world. We communicate in our own wavelength -- perhaps the wavelength between green and blue. It is not indigo, however,...there is just no way that it is indigo. Jamie has written some songs that speak to me. One day, when he records these songs, look out for the one's called Blue Skies or American Chesnutt Tree.*****Caitlin*****
This was immediately before the winking shot (from above).
March 2008
March was a great month. I feel lucky to have been a part of South by Southwest, to travel down to Texas, and to be around such great music.
March signified some endings and some new beginnings for me. It was the last time I played in Southeast Engine, a band that I had dedicated a large part of my life to for almost three years, and it was a time that I returned back to Ohio University as a student (I had taken a year break from studies).
Here are some memories of being a part of Southeast Engine:
1.) Our first tour in August of '05. It was just me, Rem, Leo, and Box. It was sweltering that summer and I was intimidated of being in the band. We played a hilarious show in Cleveland for a radio station and had an interesting time at a nearby Cleveland Hotel. Box did tai-chi in the hotel pool at 6:00AM and Leo had his famous "Hello Cleveland" moment. Our New York show was equally sweaty. I remember playing "Try" in the basement of the Lit Lounge to about 30 people (which was great being that we were an unknown band from Ohio playing in New York for the first time). Whether he was inebriated it was hard to tell, but my friend Jeremy approached me after the show and was so complimentary to us it was as if he thought Southeast Engine had invented rock and roll. This was my favorite memory of the band. This tour along with the short 10 day tour we did in the spring of '06 were my favorite times on the road with the band. The tour down south was extra hilarious because Ben Froehlich rode as our friend and confidant, but more importantly our manager. He offered us invaluable knowledge for weeks, if not years, to come.
2.)The day we heard that Misra Records wanted to sign us. Disbelief and jubilation followed. All of a sudden we all started listening to bands on Misra's label.
3.) Playing CMJ in October of '07.
4.) Covering "Margaritaville" on August 17, 2007 at the Union Bar and Grille in Athens, Ohio.
5.) Playing "Please Come Home For Christmas" at a X-mas show at Donkey in December of '07. Before the show I purchased 5 Santa hats for us all to wear. I tried to get the sax solo down for that show as well.
6.) Dressing up in a tight black shirt, a black bandana, black pirate boots, and wearing fingerless gloves for a show at the Union with Southeast Engine back in the fall of '05.
I am sure there are tons more memories but for now,
7. The CD release show for A Wheel Within a Wheel.
This ended up being used for a story in the AthensNews to show how exhausted the band was.
*****Leo means business*****
This is also one of my favorite memories -- we all took dopey photos of each other holding up this giant lollipop I bought from a Cracker Barrel in Texas.
*****Leo means business*****
This is also one of my favorite memories -- we all took dopey photos of each other holding up this giant lollipop I bought from a Cracker Barrel in Texas. *****Give me back my milk money!*****
*****It's not fair!*****
*****South by Southwest (band photo in front of a brickwall)*****
These were our official band photos for South by Southwest. I thought it was funny that they were both in front of a brick wall. *****SXSW II (band photo in front of a brick wall II)*****
This was outside of the Victory Grille (I think) in Austin. I was trying to look like Dustin Diamond from Saved by the Bell.*****The Human Cannonball*****
Jessie released his record The Human Cannonball when we got back home from South by Southwest. He is such a great musician and a wonderful human being.
*****Poor Bastard*****
*****Poor Bastard*****
This has nothing to do with the band but I feel for this dog. It appears that he had some sort of treatment for his tail. We saw him on our walk back to the house we were staying at in Austin.
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