MICHAEL TULLBERG PHOTOGRAPHY

The Crystal Holga

2012-01-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

I'm really jazzed about my latest creation. I call it the Crystal Holga, for obvious reasons. I literally covered a white "Casablanco" model Holga 120N plastic camera with rhinestones. I actually initially wanted to use Swarovski Crystals, but those proved to be too expensive and I couldn't find them in the size and cut (square) that I wanted.

Let me tell you, it took me forever to make this. Each crystal had to be applied by hand, one by one. This was the first time I've tried making a project like this, and taking that into consideration, I think this turned out pretty darned good.

I think that there will probably be a second model on the way, eventually. I have some ideas on how to improve this design and make it look even better. Still, for now I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. :)

And, this is a working camera. I haven't actually run a roll of film through it yet, but unless it's a defective camera this should crank out pictures just like any other Holga. I'm thinking of painting a Holga Flash white and covering that with crystals as well, so that it complements the camera...that would look pretty cool, I think.

I wonder what this might go for on Ebay?

Recent Internet Stuff Of Mine

2012-01-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

Hello universe,

Yes, once again it's been a long time between posts, but that's something that's going to change pretty soon, since I'm likely going to have a bunch of things to post about in the near future. One of the things that's been keeping me busy is my writings for other web sites, which has picked up somewhat as of late. Here's a link to my review of the classic L.A. rave Flammable Liquid's 20-Year Anniversary Reunion Show:

www.urb.com/2011/09/30/live-review-flammable-liquid-20-year-anniversary-reunion/

And here's a link to a piece I wrote for Magnetic Magazine about plastic cameras:

www.magneticmag.com/2012/01/plastic-cameras-ready-prepare-to-flash/

Hope that provides you guys with some entertainment for the time being. More cool stuff to come soon.

Michael

More Alice Cooper

2011-09-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

No new pics, but I just wanted everybody to know that my Alice Cooper pics from last week have been bouncing all over the Net. No less than MSNBC, Rolling Stone, the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard have picked up my images for their reviews of the show...nice. No, rather, kick-ass. Here are some of the links:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/alice-cooper-surveys-rock-history-at-the-whisky-20110916

https://secure.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/backbeat/backbeat-alice-cooper-returns-to-the-whisky-1005356602.story

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/alice-cooper-at-whisky-a-236608

Enjoy!

Alice Cooper, live at the Whisky A Go-Go

2011-09-18T20:43:00.001-07:00

Man, this was a great night. Not only was it my first time shooting Alice Cooper, but the first time I had shot inside the Whisky in like forever...the last time was way back in the mid-90s when I shot my old friends the Humble Gods. On top of that, there were no photo restrictions (rare for any L.A. venue!) and I had clearance to shoot the entire set. Fucking fantastic.

"We're a bar band!" Alice proclaimed this night, and he was absolutely right--this band rocked with a real kick-ass, no bullshit attitude. They played one new song, a real rocker called "Bite Your Face Off" which I liked a lot. There were some guests throughout the evening, such as Robbie Krieger of the Doors (back in the place where the Doors played as the house band), and later Ke$ha, who joined in for "School's Out", which had Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall Part II" in it for good measure.

Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine was also there, but he didn't join Alice onstage. Cheech Marin was there too--in fact, he was peeking over my left shoulder when I was shooting alice fron the Whisky's front staircase up to the upper section. He was definitely rocking out, and for good reason...this band was loud, rude and very heavy. One particularly good example was their cover of the Animals' "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place"--much faster, chuggier and harder than Eric Burdon & company's original version.

Alice was telling a number of funny stories this night, like the one about the last night he played in the Whisky back in 1969...opening for a little band called LED ZEPPELIN. Robbie also had a funny story about when Alice first met Jim Morrison. Apparently Alice was on pins and needles, anxious as hell to meet Jim...who, in one of his many booze-filled foggy days, totally blew off the extremely disheartened Alice. The entire Whisky audience all collectively went "Awwwwwwww!" in response to this tale.

One cool thing was the fact that they opened up covering "The Train Kept A-Rollin'", which as a lifelong student of rock music I heartily respected. Rock on, Alice.

Deadmau5 at the Hollywood Palladium

2011-08-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

Just shot the electronic producer Deadmau5 at the Palladium last night. For those of you who don't know, Deadmau5 is one of the biggest electronic music artists in the world, thanks in part to his liberal use of visual effects in his show. He's certainly rocketed to the top of the genre--you should have seen all of the fan-made Mau5 heads that the Palladium security people confiscated. This was the second night in a four-night stand that Deadmau5 is doing at the Palladium, a first for an electronic music artist in that venue.

I shot this one with my Nikkor 200-400 f/4 lens. Nikon really knocked one out of the park with this lens--it enables me to reach all the way across the room and get right in there. I should note that I shot this from the very back of the room, which is pretty large as anyone who's been to the Palladium knows. That is one impressive lens, folks.

Here's another perspective, to show just how far away I really was.

Next week should also be interesting as the new electronic music festival called Identity makes its way to the vary same venue. I will likely be there to cover it--should be fun.

DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM Promo video

2011-08-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I finally realized that I haven't put any support material for the book I'm writing up on this site yet. So, to correct this matter, here is the promotional video for DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM, my photographic and written account of the glory days of the L.A. rave scene (1996 - 2002).

As you can see, it's pretty self-explanatory...and as you can bet, I'm looking for a publisher for this project. If anyone reading this post knows of anyone in the music or publishing worlds that you think might be of some help in this regard, I would appreciate it very much if you could steer them my way. Thanks!

BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE @ Club Nokia, 8.10.2011

2011-08-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Had a great shoot last night at Club Nokia, courtesy of Mick Jones and Big Audio Dynamite. The former Clash frontman and the original B.A.D. lineup (including legendary punk documentarian Don Letts) definitely rocked the house. Really wish I could've stayed for the whole show but alas I had to get up early this morning (*SIGH*).

Sunset Strip Music Festival is coming up, looking forward to that. Motley Crue is the band of honor this year--should be interesting.

Here's some more shots from the B.A.D. show:

Happy Happy Sci-Fi Babes

2011-07-26T22:14:00.001-07:00

OK, I am now officially a very happy guy. Being an old-school sci-fi nerd, I've had my last two days be very good ones, indeed. Why? Simple: I got to shoot two very hot sci-fi women--the scorching Chase Masterson of Star Trek: DS9 and Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, and Karen Gillan, the demure, slightly daft and sultry Amy Pond from Doctor Who. I actually got to chat with Chase for a bit--this was at a screening of William Shatner's new Trek-themed documentary "The Captains". What a sweetheart, such a pleasure to chat with, and of course she's so (INSERT HOTNESS METAPHOR HERE) in a black dress. And to top it all off, one of my Shatner pics got used by MSNBC.com in the Entertainment section. They use my stuff from time to time, so it's good to see it up there again. Didn't get to talk to Pond...sorry, Karen. This was at a Doctor Who DVD signing at Amoeba this evening. Matt Smith was also there, with a hairdo that's slipping dangerously close to "A Flock Of Seagulls" territory, and the line of fans went all through the store, out the door and around the block...massive. Naturally this meant that I couldn't get near Karen or Matt. I think the two of them are only now just beginning to appreciate the fan base that Doctor Who has built here in the States. Hope they decide to film more episodes out here.

Back From The Dead

2011-06-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Hello world,

Yes, I know it's been six months since my last post. Quite honestly, during that time I haven't even thought about posting because of a wide variety of reasons that I'm not going to go into here, since that would involve writing a post that would be longer than the U.S. Constitution. However, here's a summarizing some of the highlights & thoughts from that period:

Coachella 2011. Assigned to the Dance music tent by Getty again. Sweated for 3 days straight. Got paid well for it, thankfully.
PiL @ Club Nokia. John Lydon still rules. Thank you, Mr. Rotten.
Many, many rejection letters from publishers regarding my book. Still working to correct that.
My Boston Bruins are in the NHL Finals. Hopefully they'll be able to finally win their first Stanley Cup since the Bobby Orr era. For those of you who don't know, Bobby Orr is the greatest hockey player ever. Yes, including those amateurs Gretzky and Lemieux, as they themselves will admit.
Hernia surgery is a drag.
Met Paris Hilton again at Coachella this year and confirmed that she is indeed irrelevant.
Shaq retires. Yawn.
I'm looking for a good WWII artifact appraiser. Send me a note if you know of one.
DJ Mea is the ideal new lead singer for Lords Of Acid. Check out my Getty Images gallery if you don't believe me.
Fetish parties are sooooooo much fun to shoot.
Robert Plant would not let anyone (re: ME) shoot his show at the Wiltern earlier this year. Oh, Percy, Percy, Percy...
The Belasco Theater is the best venue to happen to downtown L.A. in 10 years. Too bad they've botched everything up since their opening.
PopKiller is still the best East/West shop & clothing line to come around in like, forever.
I'm waiting like crazy for the new Gaiking and Robotech movies.
My father is just about the coolest Dad one could be lucky enough to have.
Digital/analog photography hybrids are the way to go. Seriously.
Everyone should visit Queen guitarist Brian May's web site at least once.
The iCloud is a very, very bad idea, unless you feel like surrendering all control of your life and vital information to Steve Jobs under the false impression that Apple can't be hacked. Just look at Sony for proof.
Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols needs a bigger radio show than what he's got on KROQ on Sunday nights.

That's it for now. More updates to come once something notable happens.

Behind the scenes: Video shoot for Christopher Lewrence/SuZie del Vecchio single "A Little Rush"

2010-11-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Yeah, I know it's been a month since my last post...I've been busy with LOADS of stuff, including shooting stills at a video shoot for two of my friends, DJ Christopher Lawrence and singer SuZie del Vecchio. They have a new single called "A Little Rush" coming out soon on Curvve Records, and it is hot. We shot at the Playhouse on Monday, before the house opened its' doors for the usual Monday Social crowd. Anyway, I wrote up a review of the event for URB.com, and here's the link:

http://http//www.urb.com/2010/11/17/christopher-lawrencesusy-del-vecchio-video-shoot/

Here are a few shots from the gig as well:

The single will be released late this year. Pick it up.

Cypress Hill Smoke-Out, 2010 Edition

2010-10-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hello, all! Well, this posting may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you, but in light of my participation in the 2010 edition of the Cypress Hill Smoke-Out, I suppose I should reveal that this is a sort of re-convening between Guerilla Union (the Smoke-Out's producers) and myself. You see, I actually shot the first six Smoke-Outs as part of the crew, because back in those days the Smoke-Out was in part a product of Insider Magazine, which I was a staff photographer and writer for. Thus, I crewed on the first six Smoke-Outs, and the one that occurred last year was the only one I didn't participate in. So, when I put out feelers to my old colleagues at GU, I was happy when they accepted me back into the fold, so to speak. As usual, it was a marathon--but what all-day, all-night festival isn't, hmmm?
.

I was hired to shoot the acts in the Stoned Garden Tent (meaning dance music tent), which meant I got to shoot the likes of DJs Muggs, Reza, Dan Black, Chuckie, Basement Jaxx, MGMT, my friend Paul Oakenfold and Deadmau5. This was a real long haul: after arriving at 9:30, I made my way over to the stage, and over the course of the next 14 hours (12:00 PM to 2:00 AM!), I shot all of the acts listed above, plus loads of candids from the attendees. For those of you eager enough to keep reading, here are some of the moments that I managed to capture from the evening:
.

Deadmau5:

Paul Oakenfold:

MGMT:

Basement Jaxx:

Chuckie:

DJ Reza:

DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill):

In spite of the usual issues associated with a gig like this (fatigue, security, bands' management, etc.), it was still a good gig to work on. Hopefully more collaborations with Guerilla Union will be in the works in the future.

New Video: ME at the Monday Social

2010-10-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

This is so funny. I honestly thought I would be one of the last candidates possible for a reality show, but apparently my friend Eric Ede thinks differently. Let me explain: a number of weeks ago, he proposed the idea of a show (or at least video presentation) of me going around L.A. clubland, doing what I do. No, I meant my photography. What did you think I was talking about, you nasty pervert? Anyway, I finally agreed to let Eric follow me around with his video camera at the Monday Social on the 11th, during Dave Aude's birthday party there. I had to cut out earlier than I would've liked, but I think we got enough to put together...a good beginning. No really, it's a decent start, but definitely not a finished product. But anyway, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbLBwYJ_9EU&feature=player_embedded

Feedback is appreciated. I personally think we need to get footage from at least one or two other nights, in different venues, to make the thing really pop. There's some stuff that we shot that was not included in this cut that I think would make good additions, so I need to talk with Eric about this. The sound inside the clubs needs to be worked on as well...either that, or we're gonna have to start running subtitles like on Jersey Shore!

More footage to come later. Now I have to depart and prepare for the Cypress Hill Smoke-Out tomorrow...yes, I'm shooting as part of the production crew, as predicted. I'll be shooting the Stoned Garden stage...meaning the dance music stage, appropriate, no? Will provide a wrap-up of that sometime afterward--could be a while, considering I'll be working a 14-hour day tomorrow. This will be the first Smoke-Out I've worked on since 2003, and it's definitely gonna be a marathon. Wish me luck...

Laura Bush

2010-10-10T23:02:00.001-07:00

Former First Lady Laura Bush, speaking at the Los Angeles Police Foundation's annual True Blue Gala. This was held on the roof of one of the parking structures at L.A. Live, downtown. The LAPF is the largest source of private financial support for the LAPD, as the department traditionally has monetary needs that the city couldn't possibly cover, even if it were in the black. Also had the unexpected pleasure of shooting Placido Domingo performing at this event, too.

Lots of stuff coming up. It looks like I'll be crewing on the Cypress Hill Smoke Out next week. It's been a long time since I've done the Smoke Out...a long way from those Insider magazine days. Should be interesting. I also might be heading to South Korea in mid-November, with my good friend Mark Lewis. Keeping my fingers crossed about that one. Will keep you posted...

Far Out, Man...

2010-10-03T23:27:00.001-07:00

OK, mixed bag concerning the shoot I had last Thursday at the Music Box. It was a Getty shoot for High Times' 10th Annual Stony Awards, featuring (as you might guess) an assorted bunch of pot-oriented luminaries. Tops among this list was the immortal Cheech & Chong (seen above), who are always fun to shoot, especially if you grew up in the 70s and 80s listening to their albums like I did. My photographer colleague/friends Anna Webber and Katy Wynn were there. And as it turns out, MSNBC.com picked one of my pictures of Tommy for their daily Celebrity Sightings photo blog. Nice.

And now the other side of the coin: the truly nauseating conditions under which those pictures were taken. You see, unlike other Music Box gigs in the past where I've shot either out front or in the lobby, the geniuses who put this event together decided to move the step-&-repeat around the corner, to the Music Box's parking lot. This in of itself wasn't a problem...until you got to the problem of...THE VENT. You see, right next to the Music Box is a little bar/restaurant that has a kitchen, and this kitchen has a motorized VENTing system that empties out--guess where?? YES, directly over the step-&-repeat! Isn't that brilliant?? Not only does all the TV interview material get nearly ruined by the jet-plane-like drone of THE VENT, but the celebrities and photographers get assaulted by these smelly, offensive waves of deep-fried catfish and the like. We on the green carpet literally could not remain on that carpet for extended periods of time. It was that gross. If you stepped away, you could see clouds of the stuff spewing out of THE VENT, down towards the carpet area. Yuck.

At least Cheech and Tommy helped make it worthwhile.

My mama talkin' to me, tryin' to tell me how to live
But I don't listen to her 'cause my head is like a sieve...

I love getting new photo gear

2010-09-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

I've been particularly stoked the last few days, even if they've been spent on some rather pointless shoots for Getty. I'm stoked because the new equipment I recently ordered from Nikon has begun arriving, piece by piece. I'm particularly happy to have received the Nikon D700 camera body--yes, I'm finally going full-frame for my digital work! This means that very soon I'll finally be able to retire my D200, which has served me well but is getting a bit long in the tooth. I suppose I'll use it for my personal stuff from now on. The D700 is so far above it--especially in low-light shooting capabilities--that it doesn't make much sense for me to keep using it professionally.

I also just recently received Nikon's SB-900 Speedlight, which will be a welcome replacement for the one I lost at Coachella earlier this year. I have two more items on their way: a 24/70mm f/2.8 zoom lens, and a fixed 16mm f/2.8 fisheye. This should be enough to get me going on the D700 for the time being, though more lenses for it are definitely on the books for the future. Of course, I'm also going to be needing new software, and most likely a new computer soon as well--such is the nature of the ever-changing world of digital photography. I was able to get all this gear at a really sweet discount too, thanks to Nikon's Employee Purchase Program...one of the perks of working at a Nikon dealer! Needless to say, I'm going to have a lot of fun breaking all this stuff in.

Most likely going to be doing the Nocturnal Festival this weekend, if I'm not assigned to shoot KROQ's Epicenter show. We shall see...

DJ Benny Benassi at the Music Box

2010-09-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

Shot the great DJ Benny Benassi at the Music Box in Hollywood last night. Definitely was a fun evening. The full gallery from the evening is here:

http://www.pbase.com/mtullberg/benassi_mbox1&page=all

Good to be back out on the circuit again.

Holgas In The Night

2010-08-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

One of the lesser-known facts of my photography career is my penchant for shooting with plastic cameras whenever I can. I'm talking about that category also known as "toy cameras"--the home of the Holga, the Diana and their various relatives. I've been shooting with plastic cameras for several years now, mainly because I really love the quirky, wayyyyy out of the mainstream look that they deliver. Usually the best images of these kind are produced in daylight, but from time to time I've brought my plastic babies out into the world of Hollywood nightlife. I must admit that daylight is much better suited to this type of camera than night imagery, for the day pictures really bring out the major features of plastic cameras--the light leaks, blurred subjects and vignetting. Night pictures just don't show these off as much, so it's really up to the photographer to take advantage of the camera's idiosyncrasies and use them to maximum advantage in the image-making process. Needless to say, this can be quite a challenge to the photographer who's been educated in the new-school DSLR mode of thinking. I mean, the fact that the Holga can only produce twelve 6x6cm images per roll of film must be a daunting one to those accustomed to the ability to shoot continuously until they get an acceptable images, thanks to the invention of the memory card.

Having been fortuitous enough to bridge the gap between film and digital, I can truthfully say that I'm pretty much equally comfortable shooting in both worlds. As of late, I've been shooting quite a bit with my Holgas once again. Over the past few weeks, I've been bringing them out for my nightlife shoots. The image shot above was done at the Monday Social at the Playhouse last week (not the best scan, sorry!). My Holgas almost always attract attention, even as they've become more popular as a sort of cult camera over the past decade or so. Working at Freestyle Photo Supplies, the US distributor for Holga, has given me the chance to contribute in some small way to the Holga legacy, which I did happily in not only rewriting and editing the Holga Manual, but also in writing the copy for the Holgawood marketing and advertising materials. Since Freestyle also provides Holgas for Urban Outfitters, some of my images and text have ended up on the Holga boxes for U.O., which I think is pretty cool.

Plastic cameras are really their own unique photographic category, especially considering that they produce images that could very well be called "anti-digital". Their ambiance is so completely removed from that of digital cameras, it almost doesn't merit a comparison. It can be a pretty extreme example of analog (film) vs. digital under the right conditions. I find it very funny that there are iPhone apps that will convert their phone's camera images into fuzzy, discolored "Holga-like" pictures. I feel very pleased and challenged when I find great plastic camera imagery online...challenged because my competitive nature keeps yelling at me: "Why the hell didn't you think of that one, huh???"

Well, I'm finally going to wrap this one up...got VMA shoots to prepare for, starting tomorrow. Should be a busy weekend.

Old cameras/present-day fun

2010-08-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Yeah, it's been another long drought between posts, but it's been for a good and legitimate reason...I've been working like hell on my rave book, and just as importantly, the official proposal for it as well. This is the thing that I've begun to send to various publishing houses that I think would be good candidates for putting out my book. Needless to say, I had no idea that it would take this long to print up all the various sections of this proposal, or that it would be as expensive as it has proved to be. Oh, well...c'est la vie, je suppose...

Anyway, that's not the main reason for me posting tonight (11:50 PM!). The main reason is because I want to describe the pleasure I experienced earlier today when I attended the monthly Pasadena Camera Show at the Elk's Lodge in...yep, you guessed it, Pasadena. This is a show that specializes in used camera gear--meaning mostly traditional (read: FILM) photography. I can't tell you how good it felt to be rummaging through all sorts of near-ancient camera bodies, lenses, flashes, etc...it was going right back to my photographic roots. I ended up purchasing some truly old-school gear...an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic camera body for $25.00, and two vintage screw-mount Pentax lenses for $110.00. What significance does this hold for me? Well, plenty--especially considering that the Pentax Spotmatic is the camera that I taught myself photography with during my early years in the rave scene in the Nineties. The camera pictured above is that very camera, actually...a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic that my father purchased in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1967. Needless to say, all the equipment of that age was manual...meaning no autofocus, no auto-anything. I think you can imagine the struggles I went through in those early days, learning for to manually focus and calculate exposure...in the dark! It was incredibly difficult at times, but it was SO worth it in the end. It drilled the basics of photography into my head, to the point where my subconscious mind learned how to make all those complex maneuvers without me really thinking about it. Plus, the Pentax was a joy to work with, since it's such a lightweight and compact system. It allowed me to work my way through densely packed rave crowds without being weighed down by bigger and bulkier equipment. Makes me wish that Nikon and Canon would design a smaller, lightweight DSLR system with bright lenses--Pentax proved that it can be done, so why can't the big boys of today do it? And don't tell me that the Micro-4/3rd system is doing this, because...it ain't matching up, sorry.

Anyway, I've gotta be up for work at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I've gotta cut this short. Hopefully the next post won't be so long in coming. Hope you folks are going good to yourselves out there...

Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner at the American Cinematheque

2010-07-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

Had a hilarious time the other night at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, where the American Cinemateque is holding a week-long retrospective on the film and TV works of those two comedic geniuses, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. For those of you who are not into comedy as much as I am, Reiner was working in the 1950's on Sid Caesar's immortal early TV classic Your Show Of Shows when he discovered Brooks and brought him aboard as a writer. The rest, as they say, is history...and what a history it has been, including The 2000 Year-Old Man, Get Smart, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, The Jerk, History Of The World Part 1, High Anxiety, Oh God!, Young Frankenstein, and soooooooooo much more.

This particular night was devoted to the duo's early TV work, including Your Show Of Shows, which is still as gut-bustingly funny as it was back in 1954. (Thank God parts of it are still available on YouTube, and other outlets open to the truly devoted...hint, hint!) Between the two screenings, Brooks and Reiner came on for a Q&A session with the audience, and proceeded to floor them with stories from that early part of their careers. They even got the crowd salivating with a slow tease that a new installment of The 2000 Year-Old Man just might be in the works. As Brooks said, "We're at the 'mebbe' stage...and if it feels good, we'll go on the the 'maybe' stage...". Needless to say, as a fan and former comedy writer, I was basking in these guys' glory. It really is amazing--even after all the decades they've been doing this, these two are still comedy rock stars. It was fantastic to be able to almost literally sit at their feet and soak up the comedy gold that they served up. Wait, you can't eat gold, maybe comedy caviar is a better term. In any case, I probably won't make much money off of this shoot, but I really don't care...just being there was reward enough. Thank you, Mel and Carl, for all those years and sketches and shows and movies--you two really did change the world. I mean that, you two guys changed the world.

Carole King & James Taylor - live

2010-07-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Just found out today that the Hollywood Reporter is using my images (or at least one of them) from the Carole King/James Taylor show I shot the other day in Anaheim in today's edition of the paper. They're using the above picture in their online review of the show. I shot the show from the floor at the Honda Center, surrounded by what must have been around 16,000 Baby Boomers...made me feel mighty young by comparison. Of course, I only got to shoot the first three songs--as usual--but I must say that they looked and sounded in fine form.

Going to be shooting Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner tomorrow night at the Egyptian Theater--that should be fun. With a little luck I'll be at Brian May's book signing next Tuesday...when I have a little more time, I'll tell the story of how I have a genuine (if admittedly tiny) connection to Queen. Gotta run for now, though...

Goin' back to Freestyle...

2010-07-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Got some very good news on the employment front: my friends at Freestyle Photographic Supplies have agreed to bring me back into their fold, as supervisor of sales down at their distribution center down in Santa Fe Springs. For those of you who are not familiar with Freestyle, they are the premier retail outlet and distributor for traditional darkroom supplies in the United States...and I know this because I was with them for seven years until late 2009. No joke, folks (and I'm not just saying this because they're paying my bills again)--these guys are the real deal. If you want proof, and are in the Hollywood area, just pay a visit to their retail store on Sunset & Normandie and see the mind-blowing assortment of film cameras, papers, films and supplies they have available on a regular basis. If that doesn't satisfy you, take a peek in their galleries, which feature some of the most impressive film and mixed-media pieces you'll see on the West Coast. Plus, the all-star lineup that is their Advisory Board of Photographic Professionals is enough to make any fan of darkroom photography salivate...people like John Sexton, David Burnett, Dan Burkholder, Elizabeth Opalenik, Kim Weston and so many, many more. If you don't believe me, go to www.freestylephoto.biz and have a look for yourself. If you have any interest in black & white, color or instant film photography at all, Freestyle is the place to go, and I am soooooooo glad to be associated with them again. YES!

Photos from Lotus Festival, 2010

2010-07-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just thought I'd throw in a few pics from this year's Lotus Festival in Echo Park, which is of course where I live. Didn't stick around for all that long (thanks to stupid short-term parking meters!!), but had some fun nonetheless.

The crowd seems to like what's happening onstage...

This guy was playing Yankee Doodle Dandy on his Chinese flute...seriously.

Chinese tranvestisism?

Book Title Ideas

2010-07-07T00:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, another post so soon after my giant EDC monologue! Sit down, relax...I actually have a genuine dilemma here that I would appreciate some help with. Let me explain...

You see, a couple of years ago I started up this insane photo book project about my experiences in the rave scene in the 1990s. Well, two years, several hundred drafts (no, really!) and a ridiculous amount of photo editing later, I'm approaching the end of the writing...but there's a problem. What is it, you ask? Well, I'll explain...I'M STUCK FOR A F*CKING TITLE. I genuinely thought I had a workable one, but after a certain amount of soul-searching, I decided that the title I'd come up with was...how do I put this delicately...a bunch of pretentious crap. This, dear reader, is where you come in. You see, I've spent much of the last 48 hours throwing around just about every dance music-oriented title I could think of...and I'm getting an enormous migraine as a reward. So, after narrowing down a huge list down to a somewhat less huge one, I'm going to put the remaining candidates here on this blog for anyone to comment on. And believe me, any comments, both favorable and derogatory, will be appreciated. Now remember, this is a book about the Southern California rave scene, and how incredibly awesome it was...and yes, it was for the most part incredibly awesome. So with that in mind, here is the list:

Forbidden Rhythms
Stark Raving Mad
Beautiful Chaos
Joy On The Dance Floor
Heaven On The Dance Floor
Rhythm Of The Night
Dance The Night Away
Land Of The Free, Home Of The Rave
Rave On
MASSIVE
Burning Down The House
Something Wonderful
Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night
Groove Explosion
Look For Me On The Dance Floor
God Is A DJ
Glowsticks & Glory
Turntable Revolution
California Raving

As I said above, please feel free to comment on these candidates. If you have any ideas of your own, please feel free to offer them. Yes, I'm serious...thanks. Looking forward to reading what you have to say.

Post-EDC Thoughts & Comments

2010-07-02T14:44:00.001-07:00

Sorry that it's taken me so long to post again...things have been pretty busy on this end, what with all the shooting I was doing at the end of June (chronicled in my last posting), working on my book project, and doing research into getting a new car. Fortunately, all of that's done now...the last round of photo editing for the book went better than expected, and I'll shortly be picking up a new Ford Fiesta...so at least on that end, things are pretty good. :)

Unfortunately, if you're an electronic music fan, then you probably already know that things didn't quite go so well over at Electric Daisy Carnival back in June. Though the event had its highest-ever attendance (185,000 people over two days), as well as stellar performnces by many of the headlining artists--Deadmau5, Armin Van Buuren, Wolfgang Gartner and Swedish House Mafia come to mind, among others--it was sadly also marred by the death of a fifteen year-old attendee. This has already been covered extensively in the local and national media during the hoopla that surrounded this truly regrettable turn of events, so I won't labor over all of the details here. Instead, I'll summarize. Over the two days of the event, more than 200 arrests were made by the police, and more than 100 people were sent to the hospital. In the case of this young girl, reports seem to indicate that she overdosed on Ecstasy after drinking water from another person's water bottle. Apparently she collapsed and hit her head, and may have been trampled by other concertgoers before slipping into a coma. The next day, her distraught mother took her off life support systems, which led to her passing. It should be noted that this girl was less than candid about telling her mother where she was going to be this night--news reports are saying that she told her that she was going to be with her father and not at the event. Toxicology reports are still pending, so it's unknown at this time whether Ecstasy is the only substance that this girl had in her system. However, the press has been having a field day with this, and there is an investigation pending into the performance of Security at the event, and whether future events like EDC will be allowed at the Coliseum (and indeed the city) in the future.

There also has been a bunch of videos that have surfaced (mostly on YouTube) about the unruliness of some elements of the crowd; jumping fences, clogging entranceways, and generally messing with security. Needless to say, these videos are for the most part unflattering, to say the least. Also unflattering are the reports of the performance of at least some of the security guards at the event. Some attendees are saying that there was no searching done by these people at the entrance gateways to the event (which were jammed solid when I arrived), although some people I know who were there in attendance dispute this. A major problem that dogged the festival was access--meaning the inability of attendees to get from one part of the venue to another, particularly the staudium floor. The access points to and from the floor were so choked with people that it was nearly impossible for folks to get in and out. Also, the construction of some of the fences leading to the stages outside the Coliseum were nearly maze-like, leading to some extreme difficulties in navigating from stage to stage, particularly at night.

I have had considerable time to sift through the information that has been trickling out, so now I feel ready to offer up some thoughts of my own. I should preface this by stating here that I have not talked to any member of Insomniac (the event producers and promoters) after the close of the event. Thus, I have not been influenced by any input from them, even though I've known them personally for a very long time. The opinions I'm about to give are purely my own.

First off, I want to say that it's always terrible when a concert-goer loses their life while attending a show like this one. I don't mean only raves, either: arena and stadium shows have had a long history of attracting casualties in multiple genres of music. There is the tragic example of the infamous Who concert in Cincinnati in 1979 when eleven fans were crushed to death. Similar events have happened at AC-DC and Guns 'N Roses shows. There have been several instances of fans being shot or stabbed to death at hip-hop concerts in the past. People died at the original Woodstock, and even more horribly at Altamont--outright murder. And there have certainly been many occasions where fans have overdosed on drugs at rock shows which didn't make the local or national news. So, this is not a problem that is exclusive to electronic music or their fans, and to pin the blame on the culture in this genre alone is not only incorrect, but downright hypocritical as well. Rave culture did not create this issue; it's been around for a long, long time already...something the press should take note of, but unfortunately (and unsurprisingly) rarely does.

One of the primary issues at hand here is the sheer volume of the crowd in attendance, and whether the event staff were in any position to actually control the crowd in a way that would not result in incidents and injuries. I am usually pleased when an event does so well that it exceeds its expectations for attendance. However, in the case of the Coliseum, I have my reservations, mainly because this is an old football stadium that was not built to handle the enormous throngs that a festival like EDC attracts. The inner entraceways can get easily clogged with people looking to get in and out, which rapidly turns them into choke points. This was clearly evident in some of the videos posted, which showed gangs of people completely stuck in large piles in some of these choke points. Those unfortunate enough to be at the bottom of these piles were in genuine danger of getting crushed, or worse. If there was a fire or other smiliar incident in the stadium, these people would have been completely screwed. This access issue was particularly evident at the access points to and from the main floor of the Coliseum: those fortunate enough to arrive early were the ones who were actually able to make it onto the floor, while the rest were banished to the stands above. I don't really blame Insomniac for this; there's precious little they can do about something like this short of limiting ticket sales to something well below 100,000, as this is a structural problem. Perhaps limiting the attendance to somewhere around 75,000 to 80,000 would have been helpful...but then again, a production company is a business, and to stay in business a business needs maximum ROI (that's Return On their Investment for you non-marketing people out there). This isn't merely a question of greed; indeed, in a business such as entertainment, it's a question of accumulating enough capital to ensure that future events can be produced at all. The L.A. Times has been reporting in numerous stories that steps are being considered by city officials to prevent the Coliseum being used for future massives. Quite frankly, considering the headaches I've run into at that place as a fan and as a photographer over the years, I won't be shedding many tears if this comes to pass. I personally have no problem with the notion of gigs like EDC going back to places like the Orange Show in San Bernardino, or Verizon Wireless (or whatever it's called now) in Irvine, or even the Rose Bowl. Hell, even the Polo Grounds in Indio would do...it certainly worked for Nocturnal Wonderland back in the day.

However, the attendance problem admittedly was one of the contributing factors to another problem--that of people defying security and police by jumping fences. This was a problem that was rampant at many locations around the site. This is somethng I have a big issue with: people flagrantly challenging law enforcement in such a stupidly cavalier way. I can understand one's frustration at the inability to get down to an area where their favorite artists are playing, but fence-jumping is not a solution to this problem. All it does is encourage other equally stupid people to follow this dubious example, and add to the chaos in general. There were plenty of other stages to go to where amazing DJ talent could be found, all around the stadium. The numerous carnival rides and art exhibits all around the stadium were also available for public entertainment. In other words, there were alternatives. If people were manhandled and/or injured by security or the police while getting nabbed when fence-jumping, I'm not surprised or sympathetic to them in the least. The sheer lack of respect for authority--indeed, treating the open defiance of such authority as something like a game--is not glamorous or heroic. Rather, it's galling at best, and disgusting at worst. It almost smacks of gang culture, which is something the electronic music community has gone to great lengths to distance itself from over the years. Again, there's little that Insomniac could have done about this, except perhaps to build higher fences so as to discourage such behavior. This was not an organizational problem, it was an individual problem.

Then there's the issue of the security itself--whether there was enough of it, and the competency of the staff at the location. I have shot literally hundreds of parties, concerts and raves over the years, and in my humble opion, I don't believe there were nearly enough staff there, and I don't believe that many of them were up to the task at hand. This particular security company (which I'll call the Yellow Shirts, as that's what they wear as a uniform) has been notorious in the past for lax and or unprofessional behavior. I have received multiple reports that they were not checking IDs at the event, which could have been one of the factors in enabling the young girl to get into the event (she was 15 years old, and the "official" cut-off age for EDC was 16). There were many cases of security not being able to provide assistance to attendees to such basic questions as where certain stages were located on the premises. They certainly were clueless in several instances as to how to keep the crowd moving smoothly through the areas that would turn into choke points. There was at least one incident reported on the URB web site of a security officer removing his Yellow Shirt and then assaulting a member of the crowd. And above all, there just weren't enough Yellow Shirts around to prevent the rampant fence-jumping and other similar behavior; in many cases, they had to be assisted (or perhaps "bailed out" is the better phrase) by the police in carrying out their basic duties. I don't know where the Yellow Shirts recruit their people from (outside of the Marine base at TwentyNine Palms, according to ABC-7 News), but based on my observations of them at multiple events, I can say that their performance standards have more than once fallen far below that of the professional standards exhibited by the regular security personnel at most sports stadiums. One has to wonder, given this track record, why would Insomniac choose to go with the Yellow Shirts to provide security for this event? Obviously paying for such a large contingent of officers isn't cheap, but considering that EDC nearly sold out both days, wouldn't it have made sense to spend the extra money to hire more personnel, or another security company, to help prevent some of the problems that ended up arising?

And then of course there is the issue about the unfortunate victim herself. Obviously more facts need to come out regarding the circumstances surrounding this girl's death, such as just what other substances this girl may have had in her system besides Ecstasy--if anything--and just how she got it into her system. As of this writing, sources are saying that she injested it solely from the contents of a water bottle from an unfamiliar source, presumably laced with the drug, perhaps even without her knowledge. Based on long experience at raves, I find this scenario to be at least somewhat unlikely. I'm not looking to assign blame here, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to surmise that this girl may have exercised some incredibly bad judgement, as uninformed children often do. Much as many of us would like to believe otherwise, security can't be around every attendee in the stands babysitting them, and the fact is that it's almost ridiculously easy to sneak drugs into an event like this one...just as it's easy enough to do so at a rock, hip-hop, pop, or country music event, if one is so inclined. Unfortunately, Insomniac will almost certainly be vilified in the public eye for this, even though they themselves had next to no control over who brings what into one of their events. They stated very clearly in their flyers, brochures, and on the EDC web site that illegal substances would not be tolerated at the event. It's not entirely their fault if security failed to do its job, and it's certainly not their fault if the parents of the girl never adequately discussed the potential dangers of illegal drugs (or prescription drugs, for that matter) with her. The only real fault I can find with Insomniac on this issue--and I am only one of many in the electronic music media to bring this point up--was that they made EDC an all-ages event. It would have made a lot more sense for them to restrict this party to 18 and older. Why they didn't do this, I don't know...as I said earlier, I haven't spoken with anyone in Insomniac about this issue, and they're not talking to the media now.

In any case, there will almost certainly be more public fallout in the media in the future, as the latter has been all to eager to target this music and this community over the years. Whatever the city does as far as allowing electronic music festivals like EDC to take place within Los Angeles is out of the electronic music community's hands now...although personally, considering how deep in the financial hole the city is, I believe that these festivals will continue to operate within the metropolitan L.A. area in one form or another. However, wherever the next parties take place, the event producers--whether they're Insomniac or someone else--are going to have to run a tighter ship if they expect to survive in the long run.

Electric Daisy Carnival this (eventful) weekend

2010-06-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend is going to be crazy for me. Tomorrow (Friday) I have a Getty shoot in Brentwood at noon. Following that, I get to drive home all the way across town, edit & transmit, and then prepare for my best friend and her step-daughter's arrival at my place around 4:30. Then we have dinner and then go to the Dodgers/Yankees game at the Stadium...go Blue! On Saturday, I will of course be at the Coliseum, covering Electric Daisy Carnival for Getty...still haven't decided when I'm gonna show up; probably somewhere around 4 or so. Then I go home, crash, and then hopefully wake up at a "reasonable" hour so that I can go through what will probably be a huge amount of material, edit & transmit, and then make my way over to Mr. Chow's in Beverly Hills for yet another shoot for Getty--this one being a post-BET Awards party. And then go home again, edit and transmit, and then crash again and hopefully not wake up until Tuesday! Wondering now if I've really bitten off more than I can chew this time...what was I thinking when I accepted all this work?? I'm really going to have to pace myself this weekend...this is gonna be ridiculous.

With a little luck, this year's EDC will be at least as productive for me as last year's was. Of course, with so many stages there's no way I'm going to be able to get all the headliners, so I'm going to need to be selective. If possible, I will manage to get Will.I.Am., Benny Benassi, Armin Van Buuren, James Zabiela, Groove Armada, Sasha, Christopher Lawrence, John "00" Fleming, Wolfgang Gartner and MSTRKRFT. If I manage to squeeze anyone else in--and that will certainly be a struggle--it'll be Fedde Le Grand, Boys Noize and Above & Beyond. And on top of that, I'll also be trying to get good crowd shots and shots of ravers (oops, sorry...electronic music festival-goers!) being their usual goofy selves. Sometimes I ask myself, why the hell do you kill yourself like this every year? The answer is the same, every time--because of my love and support for this music, the scene, and the people in it. It's a type of devotion that would seem almost masochistic if it weren't so heartfelt and genuine. This scene has sustained me for the past fifteen years, and even in my 'elder statesman' status, I still find myself enjoying it immensely.

Gonna rest up tonight and lay low; got a lot of work ahead of me. Hoping to see a lot of friends out there on Saturday...yeah.

Engagement Party for The Crystal Method's Ken Jordan

2010-06-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

Passed over my usual weekly haunt the Monday Social last night to attend a special event--the engagement party for my good friend Ken Jordan, who as you electronic music fans know is one-half of the great dance music duo known as The Crystal Method. It was held all the way across town at the Pourtal wine bar in Santa Monica, mere blocks from the water's edge. It was a refreshingly laid-back and relaxed atmosphere, which perhaps isn't so surprising since wine bars aren't exactly considered to be party central. A bunch of my old friends were there to help Ken celebrate: DJ Eva (lovely as ever), ex-Digital Assassin Mike Licata, Misty Roberts--fresh from New Orleans, Alex Greenberg, old-school rock manager extraordinaire Tom Bunch, and of course Ken's TCM partner Scott Kirkland, among others. It was definitely nice to have the chance to just chill and hang out with good friends in an atmosphere that's far removed from the madness that'll be happening this coming weekend at Electric Daisy Carnival at the Coliseum. I suppose we all have to grow up sometime...

The funny thing is, Ken and his fiancee Janine sure waited a long time to throw this little gig, considering that Ken actually popped the question live onstage at Avalon all the way back in February! Here's what that moment looked like as it happened:

Needless to say, it was quite a moment--the crowd went wild when they realized what was happening, as you might imagine.

I should say here what a privilege it's been for me to have known Scott and Ken as long as I have...it's been about twelve years now, and I consider them both to be good friends. I've shot and hung with them many times over the years, and it's been a real pleasure to have been able to watch them develop as artists during that time. As far as I'm concerned, there are few bands of any musical genre who can not only deliver such a wide variety of sounds and musical styles as TCM does, but also rock the house to the point of their fans reaching luscious heights of beat-driven delirium. They've just finished their current live tour--a shame, to be sure--but they'll be on the road again soon doing their dual-DJ sets, which are nothing to be sneezed at. If you get the chance to go see them, I highly recommend that you do, even if you're not particularly a fan of electronic music. For real. So congratulations, Ken and Janine...you two definitely deserve it.

A little more Betty White...

2010-06-21T11:00:00.001-07:00

Just thought I'd mention that MSNBC.com is running with one of my Betty White pics from Saturday in their daily celebrity gallery today. Yay.

Betty White is an animal (lover)

2010-06-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

Spent the late afternoon/early evening at the L.A. Zoo today, shooting the 40th Annual Beastly Ball fundraiser. This year they honored the fantastic Betty White, who as most SoCal residents know has been a long-long-longtime supporter of the zoo and of animal causes in general. I'm not really one to go tooting celebrities' horns (I leave that to "ET" and the like), but I've gotta say, Betty White is the real deal. She really is as sweet and gracious in person as she appears on screen, and she's also sharp as a tack. This is the second time in a few weeks that I've shot her at an event, and it really is a pleasure to do so. I wish more celebs would exhibit the poise and genuine-ness that she does; it would make my job a lot more enjoyable sometimes.

Oh yeah, and she looks great with a snake, too.

New picture up in Rolling Stone: Electric Daisy Carnival

2010-06-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

With the yearly massive Electric Daisy Carnival coming up next week, I was tickled when Alex Greenberg at MSO sent me this clipping from the current issue of Rolling Stone...containing one of my images from last year's EDC! Thanks, Alex!

And yes, I will be at this year's EDC, on Day Two...I will be busy on Day One cheering the Dodgers on as they're beating the Yankees. If you're a fan of electronic music, hope to see you there!

Middle-school Paparazzi

2010-06-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

This is not exactly breaking news, but something happened at a shoot I was at yesterday that really got under my skin as a photographer. I was at the Industry nightclub in Beverly Hills, shooting an admittedly forgettable event that was being attended by a small number of the lower-level "Twilight" cast members. Naturally, besides the regular agency photographers like myself, there were a number of autograph-hounds and paparazzi there as well. Well, among the paps on the street were two boys who couldn't have been more than thirteen years old, wielding cameras. I can't tell you how much I think this is a BAD idea on their part. The phenomenon of kid paparazzi is not new here in L.A., and I think it's something that needs to stopped, quickly. Setting up these kids along a career of being a professional parasite is something that really turns my stomach. Where the hell are the parents of these kids? Do they have any idea how much potential danger their children are exposing themselves to? And if they do, what does that say about themselves as parents? Honestly, I really wanted to grab these kids and growl, "Go home and do your f**king homework!". What galled me even more were the adult paps, autograph hounds, and even one of the publicists--the publicists!!--who were laughing along with the kids and encouraging them, as if this were some sort of field trip! I mean, I almost can't blame the paps and the like, because let's face it, many of them are too far gone in terms of abandonment of moral values and human decency to be able to understand that sending kids out into Hollywood's streets at night is not a positive development. The publicists, however, should know better, because they're working on the inside, with the adults...like myself and my colleagues. They should not be encouraging these kids down the path that they're going, at all. Training to be a paparazzi is not something that young children should be doing whatsoever; this is the time when they need to be gearing up towards high school and developing skills that will serve them in the long run in a real job. Also, doesn't this violate child labor laws of some kind? I mean, who can be held responsible for this--the parents? The agencies who're making money off of these kids' work? This is something that needs to end. For the most part, the city has been loathe to go after the paparazzi due to free speech laws. As I see it, though, this is something entirely different. Is it going to take someone calling the police on these mini-paps for something to be done? It just makes me sick.

Diana Ross, Live @ the Nokia Theatre @ L.A. Live

2010-06-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, this was certainly a highlight of this year for me, so far...the chance to shoot the original pop diva, Miss Diana Ross, live in concert at the Nokia Theatre last night. This shot was taken right at the beginning of her show, as she was being raised up through the stage floor to the top of the staircase that made up the rear of the stage. I shot this from wayyyyyy back, near the soundboard with my 200-400mm long lens...it was the only way I could get a shot like this from that far back. I found out this morning that MSNBC.com is running with this picture today in their daily celebrity gallery. Very cool.

(Naturally, my logo was not featured on the screens behind Miss Ross. I inserted that watermark so that no one who might think of swiping the picture could use it for monetary gain. I hate doing that, but ultimately it's necessary...one of the pitfalls of living in the digital age.)

Louis Gossett Jr., Part 2

2010-06-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Louis Gossett Jr's book signing, and I did indeed get to meet the man--and he is definitely a gentleman. I got to tell him the story of when we met back in 1993 (see my last post), and he was very gracious about it. Very cool.

Web Site Update: www.michaeltullberg.com

2010-06-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you know that I've updated my professional web site with images of John Lydon, Justin Bieber, Deadmau5, Russell Brand and DJ Mea. Go to www.michaeltullberg.com to see the new pics.

Louis Gosset, Jr. today

2010-06-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

Gonna be shooting the actor Louis Gosset, Jr. at Book Soup in West Hollywood this evening. Should be a short and sweet shoot, as is usual for Book Soup. I've actually encountered Mr. Gosset before, a long time ago. It was in either 1992 or 1993, when I was working on the Cable Ace Awards for Dick Clark Productions as a P.A. It was the day before the show, actually, during the rehearsal. What usually happens at these sort of things is that the celebrity presenters show up at the venue, get up on the stage, read their presenting bit, and then leave without paying any attention to the production people milling around them. However, Mr. Gosset didn't do this. Rather, while waiting for his turn to do his thing, he went out of his way to introduce himself to just about every member of the crew that he could find. I was deeply impressed...that's when I understood what class among actors is. Hopefully I'll get the chance to tell him that story tonight.

The Beginning Of The Blog

2010-06-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hello! Well, all blogs have to start somewhere, so it might as well be here, right? So I suppose I should first and foremost say, welcome. I can only say that throughout the life of this blog, I'll do my best to convey just what goes through a photographers' mind when they navigate through the bizarre entertainment wonderland that is Los Angeles, California. I can't promise that I'll be posting every little bit of minutae that pop into my head every day, but I'll do my best to offer a peek into my world, and hopefully keep whoever deigns to read my words entertained. And yes, that is me up on that banner.

With a little luck, this will be the start of something good. Of course, I'll need your help and attention to make it so, so please feel free to leave comment, and let other people know about the blog, 'k? See you again soon!