Friday, July 27, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Rebellion of 67'
45 years ago on July 23rd, Detroit erupted into a war zone. The riots of 67' have long been an ever growing fascination of mine, and over the years I've read numerous books on the subject and have searched the internet high and low for any photos from those fiery five days. Well the Detroit News set up a slide show with some photos I've never seen before, and they just blew me away. Reading about it is one thing, but seeing images from that time in history is entirely on another level. Here are some of my favorites, but you could click the link to see the
rest of them.
My grandfather was a Detroit Firefighter in 1967 and had to leave his wife and 6 children (including my mother) alone in the house in the middle of a war zone so that he could extinguish blazes while dodging sniper fire from roof tops. From his second story window on the east side, my dad was just a young boy, and stayed up late into the night watching as flames and clouds of smoke filled the sky from burning buildings in the distance, giving the impression a bomb had just been dropped.
My grandfather was a Detroit Firefighter in 1967 and had to leave his wife and 6 children (including my mother) alone in the house in the middle of a war zone so that he could extinguish blazes while dodging sniper fire from roof tops. From his second story window on the east side, my dad was just a young boy, and stayed up late into the night watching as flames and clouds of smoke filled the sky from burning buildings in the distance, giving the impression a bomb had just been dropped.
"We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes."
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Not a bad set up...
one day maybe this will be my preferred method of travel, altho i think i'd need a kayak thrown on top there somewheres.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Tear The Roof Off Tha MothaSucka
This past Sunday was one that felt like an entire weekend all jammed into one day. It started with a plan to burn down Gratiot from Mt. Clemens into Detroit, with a side stop planned at a very awesome mural we had only seen glimpses of in the past.
On a building set a good 40 feet back from the rest of the store fronts along Gratiot stands a collision shop with this amazing, amazing Statue of Liberty painting. If you don't look over at the precise moment while you're doing 55 down the strip mall infested stretch of road, you'll miss it. We caught it at the last minute, pulled off the road just in time and rolled the scooters around front and center for a supreme photo op.
Continuing onward into Detroit, we meet up with a bunch of our buds for a taco night party before the FREE George Clinton show at the Max Fischer Theater on Woodward. Evan rolled up on his red rocket and I got to take her around the block.
And holy shit is that fucker is FAST!!! last three photos by Alyssa!
Shortly after, we all took off on foot for the show. I planned on getting there at 7:45, seeing as how it was a free show in a very small venue, and would most likely fill up very quickly, but the best laid plans don't always go as designed. We didn't get to the theater till about 8:25...
I approached the doors knowing full well that we'd have no chance of getting in, and as the usher at the door told us "show's full, no more room, sorry folks!" I just grabbed Kelly's hand and muscled right by him, with our train of funkateers following close behind. Standing in the lobby, there were still more signs saying "Venue full" followed by numerous people with name tags letting eeeeeveryone know that incase they hadn't heard already, the venue was full. Well fuck that. Nobody's gonna tell me there ain't no more room inside a free Funkadelic show... I've gotta see the Mother Ship! I AM the Mother Ship connection!
Gaining entry to the inside of the theater involved more infiltrating of security forces and worming our way around a packed venue. We eventually landed at the back of the standing room only section, not ideal, but better that out on the side walk. Just before the show started, I spotted a clearing right behind some chairs that provided for a great view, so I made a move for it, and only half the crew followed. We stayed there for bout half the show, boogieing down and having a ball, then I hit up the rest of our crew to see where they were feelin' the funk. They let us know they had a booth section on the second story, and there was more room to get down, so we made our way upstairs, more infiltrating, more chained arms breaking through barricades, and found the rest of our comrades. The view was amazing, and George was so close it was insane! He was looking extra fly in those neon pants and his slick hair cut, I must say for a man almost 80 years old, he was clearly the funkiest guy in the whole building by a long shot.
See the guy with the double guitar? Yeah, he slayed it during "Maggot Brain" and broke not one, but two strings on that double guitar. Last time i ever make fun of a dude for rocking a double necked guitar. I mean, he clearly needed all 12 strings, and somehow i feel like it still probably wasn't enough for him.
Encore was Atomic Dog, quite possibly the best song ever penned and Kelly and I's own personal anthem, and the show ended with no less than 70 some people up on stage just gettin' funky. George blasted off on the Mother Ship and just like that the show was over. Had it been a paid show, i'm sure the seats we had would have been easily in the 75$ ball park range. But that night, they were free. Free as funkin' free can get.
What a blast! Long Live the Mother Ship Connection!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Light Painting Along the Ohio River
It seems like ages ago I left for the Long Road with Kelly close behind. She peeled off after Lima Ohio, and I powered on to just outside Madison, Indiana, on the Ohio River.
Pulled up to a camp site just around sun down and it looked like it could have been abandoned... there were no more than 6 or 7 trailers on this huge plot of land, and at least 4 of those trailers were completely blown out. A guy came rolling up in a decked out golf cart with his kid in tow and said "you can camp anywhere on the property for ten bucks" I spied the half empty box of Busch beer in between his feet and said "Throw in a few beers and its a deal."
After I set up shop in the middle of the field along the river, my golf cart buddy came whizzing by again and said i could take any wood I found on the property to make a fire. Like a typical white man, I grabbed as much as I could possibly stuff on the back of my bike and proceeded to make a glorious blaze.
Took out my camera and tri-pod and started experimenting with long exposures. Turned out I could make it look like there were two of me... spooooooOOOOoooky!
A few moments later, I pulled out my head lamp and tried my hand at some light writing. Whats light writing, you ask? It involves shooting on a tripod and leaving the shutter on the camera open for a long time, about 30 seconds, and using a flash light to "write" a word in the air. When you're doing it, you really have no idea how its going to look, but once its done you can go back and see how good (or bad) your light writing really is. I had way too much fun with it, if you already tell...
A few beers later, i tried my hand at a custom flame job. Turned out better than i thought it would!
What fun!
Pulled up to a camp site just around sun down and it looked like it could have been abandoned... there were no more than 6 or 7 trailers on this huge plot of land, and at least 4 of those trailers were completely blown out. A guy came rolling up in a decked out golf cart with his kid in tow and said "you can camp anywhere on the property for ten bucks" I spied the half empty box of Busch beer in between his feet and said "Throw in a few beers and its a deal."
After I set up shop in the middle of the field along the river, my golf cart buddy came whizzing by again and said i could take any wood I found on the property to make a fire. Like a typical white man, I grabbed as much as I could possibly stuff on the back of my bike and proceeded to make a glorious blaze.
Took out my camera and tri-pod and started experimenting with long exposures. Turned out I could make it look like there were two of me... spooooooOOOOoooky!
A few moments later, I pulled out my head lamp and tried my hand at some light writing. Whats light writing, you ask? It involves shooting on a tripod and leaving the shutter on the camera open for a long time, about 30 seconds, and using a flash light to "write" a word in the air. When you're doing it, you really have no idea how its going to look, but once its done you can go back and see how good (or bad) your light writing really is. I had way too much fun with it, if you already tell...
A few beers later, i tried my hand at a custom flame job. Turned out better than i thought it would!
What fun!
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