BLACKOUT IN THE WHITE ROOM*

I only ever seem to blog about photography and that's mostly because I hardly ever go out if it's not something to do with taking pictures. It's ironic that I make my living partly from my social skills which to be honest I barely have. Photography forces me to leave my bedroom.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago I shot an interesting show for the BBC in someone's house. They had an MC (Envy), a band called Chapman Family, a DJ and The Blackout headlining - all in someone's kitchen with an audience of fewer than the number of people in the bands added up.

It's a good thing I'm cheeky enough to get right into the action and onto the 'stage' - the Chapman's guitarist apologised to me after for bumping me with his guitar, when I was standing _behind_ him.
I like Robert Capa's maxim, "If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough ..."!

The gig was okay but the main reason I was excited to do it is because The Blackout's management have arranged with Kerrang! to have it/them in the mag, so fingers crossed one of my photos will be in there. I've shot for quite a few magazines but Kerrang! is the only music mag I used to buy regularly when I was growing up and I've wanted to shoot for them for about 10 years. Okay this is via a third party but it's one step closer...

Here are the few of the pics. I love diptychs!


















*(I will send a free Mars Bar or alternative confectionary of your choice to the first person to explain the reference here, and why I made it).

HEART OF DARKNESS


Another song title / job coincidence, but not as good as this one. The band Arch Enemy (again) have a song called Heart Of Darkness

and last week I had to photograph a play (production? 'play' sounds like you do it in school.) called... Heart of Darkness.

The play certainly and probably the song got its name from the Joseph Conrad book of that name.
The play-thing took place over four levels of a nightclub and some of it was even performed on a staircase between levels. They had to limit the number in the audience to about 30 because that's all that was safe to have on the stairs, and at other times the audience is split into two and they see different performances in different rooms.
I had to go to watch it through once before I photographed it to work out how exactly I was going to do that, and when I went back to shoot it I had to dress to fit in with the cast and be in a small way a part of the performance because I would have been too obtrusive otherwise.

I've not seen a lot of theatre so I don't have much to compare to, but this was great. The audience has little idea of what's going to happen before they go in and even during it feels like anything could happen at any time. By the end, in a dark basement, I'm sure some of them were actually scared and that has to be a good thing.

I HAVE EXISTED FROM THE MORNING OF THE WORLD AND I SHALL EXIST UNTIL THE LAST STAR FALLS FROM THE NIGHT






I absolutely love coincidences.


I was at a film screening and Q&A session last night, and one of the special guests was the actor John Hurt.
I mostly remember him as being the victim in one of the best death scenes in a movie ever, the chest burster scene in Alien.

One of the things he talked about was playing the role of Caligula in the 1970s TV series "I, Claudius" and the film "Caligula". I've seen that series several time because one of my auntie's had it on VHS.

Here's a clip I Claudius Caligula shares gay porn with uncle Tiberius



Anyway, much later last night I was lying in bed listening to Arch Enemy, their 2007 album "Rise of The Tyrant". I've heard it lots of times before but obviously forgotten one part - the title track has a spoken word introduction that's a sample from "Caligula" and has John Hurt speaking!



So 30 odd years ago an actor plays Caligula, yesterday I meet him and listen to a Swedish melodic death metal band sampling him on the same day!

I LIKE CONFUSING THINGS


I like stuff which is generally just a bit too hard for me to understand properly. It's good not to know where you're supposed to be looking. Whatever way I think about it there's always a bit left out. It's boring if you understand (or think you do) every bit of what's going on. It's also bad if you don't understand anything, sometimes.

I spend so much time looking at a computer screen. I wonder will there be a time in the future when I see/use a computer that acts like this one and I think, "Oh yeah, I remember that! I used to have one like that!"

Dear random girl I saw in the bar tonight and who I forced to buy a drink, I love you.

I hate confusing things.

AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!



Mmmf mmm mmmffrrrfffl. Aaagh aagh-uh-ah. Eeeurgh!!!!
Mmeeurgh? Ammrrraarrgh!

THE ERIK SATIE MEMORIAL BARBECUE



I thought I hated pianos, but somehow I still manage to love Erik Satie. In some ways he's like Autechre or Aphex Twin, fiercely experimental, abstract, and exceedingly pure and beautiful.

Also with the made up song names like "Gymnopédie No.1" (although that may just be French).


I wish I could take a photo that looks like Erik Satie's music sounds. Maybe someday.

LAST NIGHT I DREAMED, SOMEBODY LOVED ME


Last night I had an amazing dream and woke up happy from it. I'm sure I dream all the time (when I'm asleep) but mostly I don't remember what happens, this time I remember what happened and how it felt.

The important bit was I was with a girl who in the dream I knew I'd recently met. I think we were on a bus together and we got off and I was showing her the way to get to somewhere, then we stopped and hugged and cuddled and kissed in parting. I LOVE kissing, probably more than anything else, and she was a good kisser and felt just right in my arms.

Then she walked off through the woods to get where she was going and I knew I'd see her again soon and I felt happy. I stood there watching her go and I thought, "I hope she looks back one last time " and just at that moment she paused, turned around to check I was still there and smiled :-)


Wonder who she is?

MY FEET, YESTERDAY


A year ago I quit my day job to become self-employed. It's going pretty well, which kind of surprises me, but it's not as satisfying as I know it could be. So I'm not satisfied!

The last few weeks in particular I've been thinking a lot about this and the direction of my life in general. I've come to the conclusion that I've lost my way and drifted away from the things I truly love doing because I feel I need to earn money to get by.

Now I've admitted that to myself I've realised it's not too late to change.So I'm going to.

I'm going to compromise less, finally choose a definite direction, drink more, find new interesting people to annoy and do what I want to do.

Fuck it.

BLACKPOOL WELCOMES CAREFUL TRANSSEXUALS


(Full sized here. Notice the reflection of Blackpool tower in the top right corner.)

Me and my brother went on a short road trip a couple of weeks ago, to North Wales, The Lake District, Glasgow and finally Blackpool. Blackpool is very odd. We got there on a Friday night and it was basically shut - the tower was closed, not many people about. The landlady and landlord in the guest house we stayed at warned us about evil girls who would seduce us into paying for taxies for them(!), and then I saw this in the window of a paper shop.

Usually these ads would be for second hand prams and cleaning ladies but the first one that caught my attention here was:

"GENUINE!! SHE/MALE T/S
Available 7 Days
12 Noon Till Late!!
DISCRETION ASSURED
call
CARLA..."

Made even funnier because just below it is an advert for kittens! ('creme (sic) and chocolate, very playful, good with kids').

Most of the other ads were for niche sexual services: "Mature Guy Offers Massage MAN ON MAN"; "Mature Generous (double underlined) gay male seeks company of guys FUN TIMES"; "VOLUPTOUS BBW WANTED... will help with money problems, bills, debt problems etc."; "Relaxing massage by mature lady" and so on.


I was genuinely surprised by all this, but on reflection I think it's a good thing. It's just people having fun in unconventional ways. I guess a lot of the people who live in Blackpool tend to be older and not on the internet so much, so paper shop windows are their equivalent of facebook (or Suicide Girls).

FUN TIMES.

Seriously, despite the germs women are great!

They're softer than men, more playful, have those great jiggly bits, wear dresses sometimes etc.
Not as good as pandas of course, but you can't (legally) have sex with a panda.

Until we invent something better, they'll do.