Hey, Down In Front!
So you're at this music venue listening to some really good music.
Mudcat Dedeck is playing terrific Gospel and Blues.
I had enjoyed Mud several years ago in Atlanta at The Northside Tavern.
People are dancing and moving all around.
Then this guy plants himself in front of you as he talks with a friend.
They converse back and forth for quite a while.
It must have been YEARS since they last saw each other. Lots of catching up to do.
His other buddy is up ahead of him but not blocking my view.
I'm pretty sure they came in together. With several others. Bikes parked out front.
I decided I could shift a little to my right and keep taking pictures. That's what I did.
The next night I was back at the same venue for a different group
The Nick Moss Band (formerly & The Flip Flops.)
Thought I would move in closer and shoot my photos from the side this time.
The place was packed so getting a good angle was a challenge. All the lighting is from above so performers wearing hats create a shadow. Be patient and wait for the proper moment.
Nobody stood still in front of me this night.
Michael Ledbetter, playing on the other guitar, made some beautiful sounds.
These two work smoothly together. The whole band was a solid unit.
This would have been the 23rd annual Lowcountry Blues Bash, presented by Gary Erwin, aka Shrimp City Slim.
Gary announced recently that he was not staging a two-week event this year so Home Team stepped in to provide our needed dose of the Blues. The name
Fest replaced
Bash.
Long-time supporters of the Blues, they used both the West Ashley and their Sullivan's Island BBQ places as music venues to help fill the gap.
The finale was to bring in
Big Bill Morganfield on the final Sunday.
The son of legend Muddy Waters always presents a powerful experience so I plan to be there.
Up front if at all possible.
(Click on the photos for more details).
The concept of a "listening room" for music has not caught on here in Charleston.
Performers have to hope their fans outnumber people who come just to chat - loudly.
It's nice when that does happen.
Thanks for stopping by.
Labels: Fiery Red's Home Team BBQ, Hell's Angels MC, Lowcountry Blues Fest, Michael Ledbetter, Mudcat Dedeck, Nick Moss Band, Northside Tavern, Sullivan's Island, West Ashley
And now for something different...with cars.
This is a type of shot called
"Panorama."
A very wide shot that can be made easily in modern cameras.
Panning from left to right, snap a view, then another to the right, with a little overlap.
Then you "stitch" them together into one shot. Unfortunately, this was done many years ago.
I just taped two photos together.
Very LOW tech.
More recently, I realized NOT having a garage is bad sometimes.
As when hail is predicted.
I enjoy my deck upstairs and downstairs.
(The hail did not materialize. Whew.)
Some will have noticed my heavy use lately of a Fisheye Lens effect.
Maybe even OVER use.
I will try to get through this posting without doing that.
These cars are an example of the
Tilt-Shift effect.
A narrow band will be in sharp focus while
either side is diffused. Or at the top and bottom.
Then, crank up the contrast and color saturation.
The usual result looks like miniatures.
Tiny models of real cars, er, I mean subjects.
I looked but can't find any other Tilt-Shift examples
that show cars.
But, here's a shot looking down from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
Too bad there's no cars in the scene.
But...there's no Fisheye lens shots either.
(Click on the photos for more details.)
Had to dip into my files to resist showing more fisheye lens shots.
That effect is addictive.
I'm hooked.
Labels: Ben Sawyer bridge, cars and decks, fisheye lens effect, hail no, London, Panorama view., St. Paul's Cathedral, Sullivan's Island, Tilt-shift effect
Sounds Great ...
BBQ and Island Characters.
Fiery Red's
Home Team remodeled Bert's old place and now there's a brand new music venue on Sullivan's Island.
Home Team also is still in West Ashley.
Sound tech Scott Rosenbrook fine-tuned the board to make sure
Delta Highway had clarity, separation and definition.
Oh, and plenty of volume.
The hard pounding group from Memphis was scheduled to play again the next night at the original Home Team on Highway 61.
Makes sense. It gives a band two gigs and a chance to park the van overnight.
I remember a few years ago that
Wild Wings would book acts to play its mini-circuit when - in addition to the three here in Charleston - they also had an eatery in North Myrtle Beach and down at Hilton Head.
And, for those who like to plan ahead, (I got my Seinfeld tickets about 5 months before his show) mark your calendar now for Sunday October 18 at the PAC.
That's when the
Life on the D List lady, caustic comic
Kathy Griffin, charges into Charleston.
Kathy has a new book out and I guess she didn't want to wait and see if Oprah would endorse it. The book is titled
Official Book Club Selection.
Catchy and misleading. I like that.
Labels: Brandon Santini, Delta Highway, Highway 61, Home Team BBQ, Kathy Griffin, Oprah Winfrey, Sullivan's Island, West Ashley
Google me this....
OK, I know this is just wrong.
Public office leaves you open to criticism.
Even lame off-beat crap, er, stuff.
Last October I was among a very select small group of people who were invited to the
Grand Opening of the new
Google Data Center in Berkeley County. Pretty heady stuff for a retired newspaper guy who now does a blog.
However, it was not really
"open" except for a select few.
The Governor was allowed inside the private, private, inner sanctum.
They knew he could keep a secret. Boy, howdy!
Now, many are counting back to see where he might have been in his relationship at that particular time.
As a local writer commented, it's quite a jarring impact to move from Sullivan's Island to Columbia.
Sorry Columbia, that was yet another cheap shot.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Labels: Berkeley County, Buenos Aires, Columbia, Google Data Center, Governor, Governor Mark Sanford, Republican Governors, SC Gov's Secret, South Carolina, Sullivan's Island
