Caravan is Duke Ellington’s Eastern/Latin vamp. The version I am referring comes from Money Jungle. Money Jungle is a nasty album with Duke Ellington on piano backed by Charles Mingus and Max Roach.
The band frenetically bulldozes through Caravan with all three musicians contributing to a whirlwhind of point and counterpoint, a question and answer period that reaches the pinnacle with Duke emphatically restating the opening theme.
This picture came as a pleasant surprise for me tonight. There is a new blog called The Nashvillest that talks about the daily goings on in Nashville. I had some photos of the Belle Meade mansion up from my last trip, I guess they saw it and I added it to their flickr pool.
But, after submitting some of the Belle Meade pics I decided to dredge through the hard drive to pick up some pics that I took during my final days in Nashville. I came across some photos that at the time they didn’t come out as well as I would have liked or they just didn’t fit in to the pics I was uploading at the time. It was an intriguing experience looking at photos that are just distant enough to be tainted with a bit of nostalgia. It really made me sit back and think about why I like taking photos. Photography should not be about other people, but to capture and freeze moments in time so you will never lose them. If someone enjoys my photos, great. But in the end I need to take more time to look at them myself to remember the moment and to think why I opened the shutter.
The only downside to all of this reminiscing is that, for the first time in my life, I really miss being in Nashville. The people, the city, the culture, all of it is a great place. There is something genuine in the dirt and air in Nashville that makes it an alluring place where it seems that any dream can be accomplished and despair is forgotten at the city limits.
I am starting something where I am going to try to post a song per day that describes how it is going.
Today, because of the late spring monsoon the song “Rainy Day Dream Away” by Jimi Hendrix is fitting. Hendrix captures the mood of waking up in a dark room when it should be light, the rain pounding on the tin roof and asking yourself, “why do I need to wake up today”. The languid organ and funky wah make this song embody taking a rain holiday.
Unfortunately, sometimes we can’t just stay in bed.
There are two new additions to our family, Linda and Gary. It is always amazing when introducing new animals to the home environment. I am not a cat person but I must say these two little critters are starting to grow on me.
Also, we have pets with a purpose. I am hoping that these two little guys (actually guy and girl) will take care of our ever growing mice problem. Apparently when you live around fields and farms, there is not way to stop the mice other than having a cat. So now we have two.
What is the most interesting thing about these two is how different their personalities are. It will be an interesting story that will be played out. My first impressions is that the male, Gary, is going to be Jane’s cat. He is very skittish and shy. where they are both very wary of their new surroundings, Gary decides to hide and stay out of the way. But once he is pulled from his hiding place, he will sit on your chest/neck for hours not moving and enjoying human affection.
Linda, however is a terror. She refuses to sit still and will will stand up to the bigger dogs with no fear. I have my money on her to be the ever elusive mouse killer that we need.
I hope that the cats, despite having each other will become good people cats. I have always hated cats that stay away from folks and hide under the bed whenever you have company.
Wish me luck and hopefully there will be many great posts of vermin killed.
I am a gear nut. I love gadgets. I like tinkering with them, configuring them and using them. The one piece of gear I have never desired or wanted is a cell phone. There are many aspects about the cell phone that I am not fond of and therefore have always held a general air of disdain for cell phone technology.
But alas, my desire to be cool was overcome by my love of gadgetry. I bought a blackberry curve yesterday 
and I have to say that I am hooked. I have wanted an iPhone, but with a new model coming out soon I decided to wait for that purchase. But upon walking in the At&t store I realized that I am a sucker for bright shiny things that have lots of buttons. So I got the curve and after a day I must say that I am hooked. Between gmail, twitter, and being able to administer my contact list with address book I am addicted and don’t know how I lived with a cell phone that just made calls.
So excuse me for the rest of the day as I type on my blog, read my gmail configure my blackberry, and totally nerd out on my shiny white macintosh.
Wow I have turned in to a douche.
Last weekend I noticed a phenomenon at double decker that I know that I will continue to fight throughout the rest of my life as a photographer -> Attention. For some reason, people are truly fascinated by anyone with a big boy camera. I can count on two hands how many people I had that asked me who I worked for or why was I shooting pictures.
Does it not occur to most people that maybe I do it for fun. Just like this blog, I do it for fun. If you like my photos, great, if not so what. I like taking pictures of people and things. And yes, I do enjoy it when a friend or a total stranger tells me they really like one of my photos.
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Reflecting on Double Decker I realized that it was a good time, but I really was not impressed with any of the bands playing. Taking photos of these bands was more fun than actually listening to the music. My day started off well with a Murff burger, a couple of beers, and good company from old friends. The sheer mania and volume of temporary Oxonians is mind boggling. (more…)
I took this pic the other day in Jane’s Grandfather’s garden. We got married there and it is a pretty cool place. They moved out in the middle of the a cotton field about 50 years ago and he grew all of these plants from the ground up.
I took some pics but this was one of the view that I think came out pretty well.I like how this one blossom is separated from the rest of the bed.
View the rest of the set on my flickr page.
I have been wanting an iPhone since they came out. But because of budget and mainly my current contract with AT&T I decided to wait till this May to upgrade my plan an purchase an iPhone.
But, now everywhere across the net are rumours about a 3G iPhone, the iPhone 2, ect.. ect… ect. I am going to wait it out, but if it isn’t here by June that could mean more agonizing months without the iPhone. The 3G of the new phone will be nice, but I hope that with the new SDK and phone coming out there can be good GPS implementation.
If it isn’t out by June, maybe I should just get the Blackberry Curve, which has all the features I want but it is no iPhone.
This is an article about panic overtaking the city of Kinshasa in the Congo. Apparently there have been lynchings and mob violence surrounding sorcerers who are allegedly making men’s penises shrink or disappear.
