There was a time I could do this.

Please excuse the extra code. Something YouTube and Wordpress need to work out.

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Amy+Grant does not = Amy Grant

yet I keep reading their names together like it does. Sweet siren Amy Blaschke came to town last month and played the Rendezvous’ Jewel Box Theatre with Grant of Arthur & Yu.  They alternated sets with two each, finishing up together with a few covers including one of my favorites; I’ll Be Your Mirror by The Velvet Underground & Nico.  I crept up into the red projection room towards the end for a different perspective.

Amy will be at the Rite Spot Cafe in San Francisco this Sunday and back that way again playing the Mama Buzz Cafe for Heeb’s Diamond Days Festival in Oakland July 20th.  Word is Tiny Vipers and Whalebones are also making the trip.  Seattle gets her back on June 23rd at Nectar.  Plants & Animals and the Quiet Ones join her on the bill. 

i can catch the moon in my hand

One of my wedding clients invited me to her bachelorette party last Saturday and I just couldn’t resist taking out my camera.  At Venus Karaoke in the International District you can rent out your own private room with your own private karaoke machine.  Secure a banquet permit ahead of time ($10 at any liquor store) and you can bring in your own alcohol and food.  I had the best birthday of my life at this place a few years ago (for those of you that don’t know me, I’m a bit of a karaoke lover).

Lately I’ve been setting up a strobe by the DJ/band at wedding receptions and triggering it via wireless receiver to get some great off camera light for dancing photos. I thought these shots would benefit from a similar effect so I strapped a Pocket Wizard to a Sto-fen covered Canon 580exII speedlight and placed it on top of a speaker hanging from a high corner, aimed where the majority of the action would be taking place.  The real magic started to happen when one of the girls grabbed a fan from the hallway. 

  

As I was heading up to do old standby, Fame by Irene Cara (below for your solid golden pleasure) I gave my camera to one of the girls and told her to shoot whenever I came between her and the light.  She nailed it!

    

    

 

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Have you been watching Survivor?  This season is so freakin good! Four blindsides in a row, medical drama, nutjobs, post-show insight via the cast-offs at Ponderosa, and we got to see James one more time.  Sweet, strong James. 

Btw James, I have a totally innapropriate crush on you. Robin seems to be ok with it though since it is mostly because remind me of him, being the hardworking, principled man from Louisiana you are.

Robin’s man-crush this season has been on Erik the puppy dog ice cream scooper, the last man standing prior to tribal council last night. 

Read the EW recap for what went down (pitiful) plus a little video recap at the end to get you caught up for Sunday’s finale.

 

Club Directory, 5/8 - 5/14

The Lock & Keel is where you go when you want to play pool, cuss, spit & smoke with the good folk of Ballard.  People that will offer you their seat, buy you a pint and open up and say ahh. 

This guy pulled me aside to say he wanted it on record that his name was ”Super Jim” or “Superman Jim” - I can’t remember which.  Or maybe it was “Ironman Jim”.  Sorry I screwed it up, Jim.  You’re super!

These two sweetie pies are definitely regulars.

The Club Directory is published every week in The Stranger.

Amy Stevens at the Photo Center

My buddy Amy Stevens is showing her photographs of the crazy colorful homemade cakes she makes, set on various patterned backgrounds at the PCNW this month.  They’re like Martha Stewart on mushrooms. Seriously - you have to click that link.

These days she’s living in Philadelphia (they give her grant money to do this!) but she’s here tonight for the opening reception from 6-8pm.  Come early and you’ll be treated to a firsthand explanation of her methods. 

Alex Prager and Susan Anderson are also showing, as part of the “Sugar & Spice” theme.

leave your mind behind, baby james

Oh Mexico.

          

 

Still to come:  Chichen Itza & Robin’s photos

 

Voyager One is doing a KEXP in-studio today at noon!

Club Directory, 5/1 - 5/7/2008

Happy birthday Jaime!  We went to the horse races for my rad lady friend’s birthday last Sunday, and some day I’ll get around to posting those pics but for now you’ll have to settle for me whoring my friends out at Linda’s afterward to get a quick Club Directory photo.  It was close to deadline. Sometimes you gotta pimp.  We walked from Redwood in the rain and ordered some bloody marys and sucked them down.  Sometimes you gotta fish for ice and suck them too.

Jaime shares her birthday with my mom.  Happy birthday mom!!  For her big day, mom is getting a  year subscription to Netflix so she can watch all the foreign films and musicals she wants, whenever she wants.

If you don’t know by now (it’s ok if you didn’t), the Club Directory is published every week in the Stranger.

in the news

NY Times Mag fawns over Flickr.  (Thanks for the link Jess!)

Strobist in USA Today. I’m sure to have that “work, rest and play” lyric in my head the rest of the day.