Greetings from Tokyo’s skid row… Part four of my S&R Tokyo Series Just a guy, a bit too much in his cups perhaps, that I photographed in Nihonzutsumi in Tokyo. He was […]
Random thoughts about the record album – part 4: singers and songwriters, concepts and collections
The album was king, thanks to male singer-songwriters (Crosby, Stills, Nash, James Taylor), female singer-songwriters (King, Simon, Mitchell) and bands like Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon) andThe Eagles (Hotel California). “You take […]
Random thoughts about the record album – part 3: the Beach Boys and the album as art and artifact
Sgt. Pepper’s gets a lot of credit for launching the “concept album,” but it never would have happened without Brian Wilson and Pet Sounds. “We were fed up with being the Beatles. We […]
“We Can Work It Out”: that wonderful harmonium
Not enough songs make use of the harmonium. “In ‘We Can Work It Out,’ Paul did the first half, I did the middle eight. But you’ve got Paul writing, ‘We can work […]
Yakuza leisure dōjō
Let’s alcohol with happy gangster human… Third in my ongoing S&R Tokyo Series. Here’s part one and part two. In Asakusa at Kamiya Bar (神谷バー) you never know who you might meet. […]
Chronicles Part 1: Bob Dylan being Bob Dylan
Dylan gonna be Dylan. But in his memoir he reminds us why he’s Dylan. “I’d come from a long ways off and had started a long ways down. But now destiny was about […]
The democratization of photography: S&R Honors George Eastman
Our lives are full of Kodak moments, even now. The New York Times estimates there will be 1.3 trillion photos taken this year. Granted, the signal:noise ratio is low. A vast majority of […]
Don’t Pass Me By… because everybody loves Ringo….
“Don’t Pass Me By” is a rollicking faux country blues honk and the fiddle part is as crazy as Ringo says. It’s charming, funny, and totally Ringo. For a first effort, it’s […]
Yasukuni rain
Second in my S&R Tokyo series… Yasukuni Shrine is an interesting place, but I won’t make more of visiting it than doing so deserves. Suffice it to say the Japanese struggle spiritually […]
Random thoughts about the record album – part 2: the Beatles up the ante…
“Full grown men, full of emotion and on top of the world. Meet the Beatles.” – Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone (Part 1 here) When Bob Dylan met the Beatles in late August […]
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