The Vital Muse

Winter Birds

2011-12-31T09:21:00.000-05:00

This year's arrival here in north Florida of our annual fleet of migrating birds is about a month later than usual. Every year at Thanksgiving, the Chipping Sparrows show up by the dozens, followed very closely by the Yellow Rumped Warblers. This year they procrastinated, probably in the warmer weather, until after Christmas. The first few sparrows actually came on December 10th, but our feeders and birdbath weren't mobbed until yesterday for the first time. We also had a few brave Tufted Tit Mice, and one show-off of an Eastern Bluebird.

I sat quietly about 10 feet from the feeders with my camera, and they quickly decided it was just fine to ignore me an carry on about their business... here are a few of those shots.....

Tufted Titmouse in a tree

Carolina Chickadee

Warbler in the flower pot, spying on the human

Landing Zone: Eastern Bluebird and two Warblers

Closer crop of the Bluebird and one of the Warblers

So Happiest New Year to you! Here's hoping for a peaceful, art-filled, productive, successful year for all!

2011 50-50 Nikon Cafe Challenge

2011-12-15T20:20:00.001-05:00

For the last several years I have participated in the Nikon Cafe's 50-50 photography challenge. Because this is the 50th week of the year, the idea is to shoot with only a 50mm lens. Any 50mm lens. I happen to own the basic Nikkor 50 f/1.8 -- perhaps the best value lens on the planet, so I plugged in into the D700 and set about shooting around where ever I happened to be each day. So far we are through day 5. Here are my choices...

Day 1: Walter Jones Historic Park, Mandarin, Florida

Day 2: My office. Gumby and Pokey make the scene on Credenza Beach.

Day 3: Something I try to do every day...

Day 4: On the nature trail at the University of North Florida.

Day 5: Sunset on the Saint Johns, near downtown Jacksonville.

Weekend Faces - December 3 and 4, 2011

2011-12-06T20:47:00.001-05:00

Quite a weekend. I participated (music) and photographed two great local events in northeast Florida. Saturday was the Mandarin Community Winter Celebration and Sunday was the CD release event for "River Roads", a compilation CD of Florida recording artists who are also advocates for the preservation of our state's natural environment. The CD will benefit the Putnam County Environmental Council (and it has totally sold out -- a second run is in process!). I shot a total of over 300 images, and offer a few faces here to share what was an amazing weekend of fun and "music with a mission".

Mandarin WInter Celebration -- young actress reenacting the life of Mandarin resident Harriet Beecher Stowe

Mandarin Winter Celebration - I asked her to smile. This was it.

Mandarin. Raven Stands Alone. A shining, brave spirit nearly destroyed in a recent bicycle run-in with a car.

Mandarin. Yes, they did face painting!

PCEC Concert: Bob Patterson. Florida Folk Legend.

PCEC Concert: Dale Crider: Environmental Warrior.

PCEC Concert: Whitey Markle. Florida advocate. Protector of the land.

Lis Williamson. Angelic voice of Florida.

Lon Williamson. Quiet strength. Remarkable talent. Relentless friend.

A Sunday Stroll

2011-11-13T22:37:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Muse and I headed out for a hike through the Julington-Durbin Preserve in Mandarin, Florida this morning. An absolutely beautiful fall morning, temperature in the low 70s. There is something new to shoot every week out here. I took my 150mm f/2.8 macro lens and shot these handheld. Working with a tripod would have improved the quality of some of the images, but half of the point is to get a little exercise... Enjoy!

Saint Augustine in 85 mm of (mostly) Black and White

2011-11-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

A brief diversion to our favorite historical city within 30 minutes driving distance of home...

Autumn Rose

2011-10-31T18:44:00.001-04:00

I just like this photo. We were walking around the neighborhood a couple of nights ago just before sunset, so I grabbed the camera with the 50 /1.8 attached, just in case. Also gave me an excuse to work on learning how to use Photoshop CS5. So here it is -- on my least favorite holiday of them all. A rose for Halloween.

Jack and Wilma: Still Crazy After All These Years...

2011-10-26T20:53:00.000-04:00

I was blessed with the opportunity to shoot a wedding this past weekend -- Jack and Wilma. Both 84 years old. That's 168 years between them. Jack told me that he had a crush on Wilma in high school. I guess patience is truly a virtue! I generally avoid wedding photography like the plague, but this one was just too special to pass up...

Falling

2011-10-21T12:22:00.000-04:00

My photo, "Falling" was selected by the "Earth Touch" blog for their Friday post. Pretty nice!

Savannah After Dark - 2011

2011-10-14T19:28:00.001-04:00

A few photos from our annual October pilgrimage to Savannah, Georgia. Savannah is a target rich environment for photography... full of art, history, southern culture.... Shot these with a Sigma 85mm f/1.4 lens on my Nikon D700.

Minor Rant 1.0

2011-10-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

Don’t you sometimes just get tired of it? Tired of staring vacuously at a LCD monitor for eight hours. Then getting cut off in traffic by that arrogant bastard in the bright blue Mercedes. Doesn’t it become just a bit dreary? Listening to the talking heads on any of the news channels. Making up the news as they go along. Leaving out small, important pieces of the truth. Surely you find it slightly unnerving that the best candidates the US can find for its highest office are all just a little off center? And their supporters can only sling crap and meaningless generalities at each other while their country crashes and (eventually) burns? Well, me too. Sometimes paying attention can be a burden. And when it all piles up too high to see over, I know it’s time for a hike in the woods and a visit with the wildflowers. They unselfishly do their jobs. They grow. They bloom. They pollinate. They feed the birds, bees, butterflies and other assorted wild things that are also doing their jobs. No ego-based bickering – just natural selection and self-preservation. The way nature intended. So here. Walk with me.

Songs From Sand Lake Named Album of the Year!

2011-09-19T21:19:00.001-04:00

My recently released album, "Songs From Sand Lake" has been named Florida CD/Album of the year by the Florida Times Union. Information from my amazing studio is here!

Concert Video - (1,000 Doors)

2011-08-27T10:30:00.000-04:00

Video of the song "1,000 Doors" from my August 20th CD launch concert in Jacksonville, FL...Be patient with my chattiness, the song's pretty good!

Songs From Sand Lake -- Shameless Self-Promotion

2011-08-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

Preview and purchase my new recording below... CD launch concert this coming Saturday evening (August 20th), European Street Listening Room (Beach Blvd. Location) - Jacksonville, Florida 8:00 p.m.

The Arrival and Concert #1

2011-08-07T16:52:00.000-04:00

Well finally!

After two years of fitful starts and incubation, my first solo recording in 15 years has arrived. The kind man in the big brown truck stopped by Thursday evening, and after being terrorized by my Labrador Retriever, Jake (all bark and no bite), dropped two boxes of CDs on the porch. There really is something magical about cracking open that first box of discs -- reminds me of the scene in the original Back To The Future movie when George McFly opens that first box of books that he wrote. That's it! I'm the George McFly of contemporary folk music... okay, maybe not. But they're here, they're done and they sound great!

Within the next couple of weeks the album will be available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and most anywhere else you can purchase music on-line. Physical CDs will be available on the web through CDBaby-dot-com.

So right on the heels of getting the album, I did my first solo performance last night at Olivia's Coffee House in Eustis, Florida -- a bit west of Orlando. I was joined on stage by three of my Ashley Gang bandmates (Bob, Michelle and Kay), which was a very comforting situation. We had a decent crown for a hot August central Florida night, and most stuck it out for the full three hours. I have to confess to a pretty heavy dose of nerves, which is actually pretty unusual for me. I think that it only really affect me on one tune... one not on any album that I played without any backup, and that is politically controversial. Otherwise we did a nice mix of my original music spanning the last 15 years, two solo albums, and two with the Ashley Gang. On the whole, it was great fun -- Fred and Olivia are the consummate hosts, as are Margie and Joel who put us up for the night and tolerated Bob's snoring...

The next concert is the August 20th "official" CD release concert at the European Street Listening Room in Jacksonville, Florida. Many special guests that night, not to mention excellent food and drink. If you are in the vicinity, drop by and say hey, and pick of a copy of "Songs From Sand Lake". Remember that this is music with a mission -- a decent portion of all sales proceeds for this CD will be donated to the St. Johns Riverkeeper, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of Florida's historic Saint Johns River, and a cause near and dear to my heart. We actually made some money for SJRK last night...

Stay tuned, support live music wherever you live, and stand by....

Soon....

2011-06-29T18:25:00.000-04:00

Creation and Transition

2011-06-19T14:54:00.000-04:00

No, actually -- this is not about religion :)... It's about the current status of the new album, and a title change.

This has been an amazingly busy and creative month, and we are coming down to the final few weeks of production on the new album. Over the two weeks ending this Wednesday, we will have had some pretty talented folks in the studio putting down supporting tracks... Bob Bronar (Ashley Gang), doing lead guitar and mandolin tracks on several songs, Al Scortino (Ashley Gang) playing Dobro and Hawaiian Steel on a couple, Tuck Tucker on Dobro for a last minute track, and Joey Kerr (Band of Brothers) dropping in an great electric guitar track. Add these to the bass playing of Lon Williamson (Driftwoods, Gatorbone Trio) on all tracks, Lis Williamson (Driftwoods, Gatorbobe Trio) on harmony vocals, Gabe Valla (Driftwoods, Gatorbone Trio) on guitar, mandolin and mando-cello, and Jason Thomas (Claire Lynch Band) on fiddle and we are about to give birth to a pretty amazing product. That's the creation part... now about the transition...

While the song "1,000 Doors" is a key to the philosophy of yours truly, and an important thread in the recording, I've decided to rename the project to "Songs From Sand Lake". During 20 months of recording in the little studio in the remote and inspiring sand hills of Florida, it is clear to me that the place is really the engine that drove the process. There on the banks of the ever shrinking lakes in the recharge zone for the Floridan Aquifer is where we found what I was looking for -- meaning in the music. I had no real idea of where this was headed when I first went down to Keystone in August of 2009, but over time -- with old songs fading away and new ones rising from the sand -- the project took on shape, substance and purpose. This is not a Florida songs album -- but the Florida sands is where it took root, and flourished. Hence the name change. The photos with post were shot there. That dock used to reach hundreds of feet into the lake.... but more on that in a later post.

So it looks like we're pretty much on schedule for an early August release date... you can check in with me at Reverbnation or FaceBook (see the two banner links at the top right and click away). In the meanwhile, pray for rain. And common sense. Rain and Common Sense -- hmmmm. Maybe the next album.

1,000 Doors Project - Update

2011-05-05T21:01:00.000-04:00

A quick note about the 1,000 Doors CD that I have been working on for, um.... 18 months now...

Had a great day in the studio on Monday and have some amazing musicians coming in to help add the finishing touches over the next month or so. Release date is August 1. This project is finally coming together -- music with a purpose. The details will be announced later, but a significant portion of the proceeds from this album and associated concerts will be donated to an important non-profit organization.

So among other on-going activities, this is a significant reason that I have not been able to post much lately. To atone for my absence, I have posted a couple of previews of songs from the new album (and an old, already released song) here: MUSIC They are unfinished, rough mixes, but you'll get the idea.

Please feel free to sign up for my email list while you're on the site, or click the link to the right of this post...

Thanks for your support -- more to come....

Portrait: Michael Reno Harrell

2011-04-22T20:54:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am still alive. Busy, but very much alive.

Enjoyed the music and stories of North Carolina's Michael Reno Harrell last night at European Street (San Marco) in Jacksonville last night. Great songwriter. Excellent photography subject. Interesting dude...

Al of these were shot with my Nikon D700 using the SIgma 150mm f/2.8 lens, available light only at ISO 5000... the one above was processed in Lightroom adding a slight bottom to top brightness gradient. The one immediately below was converted to B&W in Lightroom, then processed using Topaz Adjust with the Portrait Smooth pre-set.

The las one below was converted to monochrome in Lightroom. The contrasty effect of MRH's silver hair and the dark background (actually a street-facing window) was striking...

Until next time -- maybe six weeks, maybe less...

Princess Place Preserve, March 3, 2011

2011-03-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

Beauty In Destruction

2011-02-03T18:09:00.001-05:00

Trio

These photos were taken last weekend before I flew off to the snow and ice of the north... The body of water above is called Lake Oklawaha on the map. In reality this is the result of the damming of the Oklawaha River -- an utterly unnecessary reconfiguration of the Saint Johns most beautiful tributary. The pilings above support the exclusion fence at the west end of the lake, immediately east of the dam's spillway. A remnant of the failed cross-Florida barge canal, this is a monument to environmental re-engineering at its worst.

Below is the barbed wire fence protecting the unused Buckman Lock on the abandoned barge canal, about 5 miles east of the dam. An appropriate metaphor of the stupidity that continues to wreck natural Florida. Not that I have an opinion...

To Every Thing...

2011-01-22T20:13:00.000-05:00

...there is a season...

The Intellectual

2011-01-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

Our youngest daughter, tracy -- quite the amazing kid! Nikon D700, Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 lens, thru-the-window natural light only...

www.riverroadphoto.net

Progress

2011-01-20T18:34:00.000-05:00

www.riverroadphoto.net

Underdock

2011-01-19T18:14:00.001-05:00

A 3-exposure handheld HDR image taken under the pier at Alpine Groves Park, Switzerland, Florida (on the Saint Johns River).

More on my website: River Road Photo

Reaching

2011-01-18T16:15:00.003-05:00

A live oak retreating from the Atlantic breezes on the trail at the Fort Matanzas National Monument, South of Saint Augustine, Florida.

Shot with my Nikon D700 and Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 lens. Minimal processing in Lightroom.

2011 Creativity Resolution...

2010-12-27T17:15:00.000-05:00

New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken, it seems. I, for one, am well accomplished at failing to fulfill my intentions as planned at the onset of each annual calendar flip. Mrs. Muse and I have already discussed this dangerous business for the imminent next year and among my desired outcomes (no longer committed resolutions – know thyself) are to watch [much] less TV (broken in the previous three years), walk [meaningfully] every day (broken in the previous two years), and eat well (broken for the last twenty or so years). Less television could potentially equate to several additional hours per day for more meaningful pursuit. Thus my single, really meaningful desired objective for 2011 is to increase my artistic creativity. This is, after all, the stuff that truly feeds my soul. And makes me happy. Jefferson was really big on the pursuit of Happiness thing – and as he is my philosophical hero this would seem to make sense from multiple perspectives.

I read somewhere several times (probably in blogs about making resolutions), that making a public statement of one’s commitment increases the probability of success. Exactly how much isn’t clear, but given my record of past failures any increase in the odds can’t be a bad thing. So this shall then be my public commitment. But first the protective retreat and rationalization…

Photography and music are not my primary vocations. I am a fairly busy health professional working in the field of clinical research ethics and regulation. I travel for a week or more out of the month, and am thoroughly committed to the good things that we do for the right reasons (I work in a non-profit organization devoted to children’s health). This can be intense, rewarding, time consuming, frustrating, stimulating and challenging. That said, I believe that my creative passions contribute to my professional success, and my professional discipline contributes to my artistic success. The photography and music are also my creative refuge – a fortress to keep the stress at bay. And so I annually develop my professional objectives to keep my focus on what must be done in that most important of my worlds, and now also the creative objectives – to primarily keep me sane, gratified and invigorated – and secondarily to vitalize my professional contribution.

So the first commitment is to finish the 1,000 Doors Project – the recording of my music that was begun more than a year ago. We’re closing in on that one. The second is to turn that spare bedroom into a combined music room and homemade photography studio. Not the kind of studio that one brings clients in for family portrait sittings, but truly a place to “study” the art of photography – a small space to learn and practice. To visualize and invent. To improvise and experiment. I want to learn to create art, not to take pictures – to create the extraordinary from the ordinary. Or not.

I’ll share the successes and failures with you here – sonic and visual – and at the end of 2011 we’ll find out if I managed to succeed to some degree, or develop the art of procrastination to yet another barely achievable height. Stick around….

50mm Photo Meme, Part II

2010-12-19T15:11:00.000-05:00

This is a continuation of the previous thread, as promised. The final 3 days of photos shot using only a 50mm lens, on the 50th week of the year. I tool the liberty of adding an 8th, just because I like the way it turned out...

Thursday: Saint Francis

Friday: Acosta Bridge Ramp (3-exposure HDRI)

Saturday: Florida Rain

Bonus: Wire and Wood

A great week to all!

50mm Photo Meme

2010-12-15T18:16:00.000-05:00

This is the 50th week of the year, and the folks at one of the Nikon users websites have started a 50mm lens meme thread. I thought it would be fun to participate, as I have a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D lens. The idea is to shoot with only a 50mm lens, pick your best shot of the day for each day of the week, and post it to the thread. Through 4 days, I have seen some great shots using the "normal" lens (normal because 50mm closely mimics human sight), and been inspired creatively. Relative to most of the others mine are nothing special, but here are the first four -- I'll post the remaining three after the weeks ends...

Sunday: Live Oak Tree

Monday: Lights with Staircase

Tuesday: Gator

Wednesday: Face In The Wall

Attack of the Robot Voiced Animations...

2010-12-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

Today I discovered xtranormal.com, the website that brought us the animated explanation of quantitative easing that was bot funny and educational. Turns out you can build you own for free using an assortment of characters and editing options... very cool stuff! I produced this one with no learing at all in about 5 minutes... Look out. This is going to be fun...

The Joy of Fast Glass

2010-12-06T16:10:00.000-05:00

I recently caved in a acquired a Sigma 85mm f/1.4 lens. After testing several copies of the Nikon D and G 85s, looking at other folk's images with this new Sigma offering, and comparing price / value -- I settled for value. I have not been disappointed.

The primary reasons for purchasing a "fast" lens are 1) the ability to isolate your primary subject with a wide aperture that creates a very shallow depth of field, and 2) shooting in low light with minimal or no flash. These features make it an excellent portrait lens. I don't shoot many portraits, but I do shoot many low-light situations (concerts), and love the isolation effect on the focal point. So... I took a day out of the office today and, among other things, took a quick hike through the Julington-Durbin Creek Preserve in the south Mandarin area of Jacksonville.

This turned out to a fun lens for shooting outdoors, even in imperfect early afternoon light. The trip gave me the opportunity to try out new techniques and alternate camera settings compared with my habitual static style. I shot these in digital RAW at 14-bit depth. The extra bits increases the range of color variants available (by tens of thousands).

It was great to get out a bit, on the day before the first hard freeze of the season here in Northeast Florida. We're expecting 12 hours of sub-freezing temperatures tonight (temperatures in the mid to low twenties fahrenheit -- hey, that's cold for Florida!), and our world be be much browner tomorrow.

Today also happens to be the 35th anniversary of the day that Mrs. Muse and I ties the knot... another bridge crossed....

Ormond Beach Riverfest, 2010

2010-11-23T19:21:00.000-05:00

Not much time to blog these days, but to lighten the mood around this place a little bit here are a half dozen random photos from this past weekend in Ormond Beach. Mrs. Muse and I met our compadres from the Ashley Gang, and played a few sets on the main stage (not pictured here), and had some fun running around to listen to a few of our old friends from the Florida music scene...

AL Scortino -- my partner in crime in the Ashley Gang and songwriter extraordinaire

Rog Lee

Steve Waters of the French Connection and M.T. Pawkett's Review

Bob Bronar (left) with Larry Mangum (smooth and versatile)

Donna Frost -- came in from Nashville for the weekend

Under the U.S. 40 bridge over the Halifax River (east coast intracoastal waterway)

Wishing all of you here in the States a happy Thanksgiving -- and all the best to everyone, wherever you happen to be!

Racism In Black and White

2010-11-10T17:09:00.001-05:00

No, this is not about monochrome photography. Not today. Today I am stepping away from my socially safe worlds of photography and music to describe a highly non-artistic picture that was painted for me during a noon walk around the tree-lined suburban office park where I work. When the weather is cool enough here in the deep south, as it was today, I will head out for a stroll around the mile and a quarter loop along which are built several dozen large office complexes. It’s all new and modern. Tree-lined streets and driveways, well landscaped buffers between the main road and the sidewalk and the parking lots, retention ponds with parks and benches. The noon hour generally brings out walkers and runners, and today started like any other – me chugging along slowly, watching nature, runners and faster walkers passing by every few minutes from both directions. Most of the folks heading the other way will say hello, or at least nod. A young oriental woman with a bottle of water walked – actually half jogged -- past me then slowed to a fast walk as she made the left turn to stay on the loop. I thought nothing of it as she continued down the sidewalk about 25 yards in front of me.

Perhaps a minute later I watched her take a quick turn into the street, back into her light jog. Coming toward me on the sidewalk just before the location that the woman hit the street was a large black man, casually dressed. The woman’s sidelong glances at him, the over-the-shoulder checks and she moves away, made it crystal clear that he was the reason for her departure from the concrete onto the asphalt. About 10 more yards down the road, she cut across the grass barrier and returned to the sidewalk at a walking pace, still looking back. She looked back several more times as she continued down the sidewalk. As I walked up to, then just past the man, he turned and looked back at her and softly muttered:

“Racist-ass”

I stopped and turned back to him to acknowledge his remark.

“Not you, man,” he said, no doubt thinking I was offended, “her. Racist-ass bitch.”

“You’re right,” I said. “You’re right, I saw it.”

The look in his eyes was more disbelief than anger – through there was clearly some of that, too. I walked on and watched the woman walk down one of the driveways towards a glass office building. She continued to look back in the direction of the black man, who just stood there staring back. How simple it is to wreck a fellow human being’s lunchtime walk.

I try not to judge. I have no way of knowing what that woman’s life experiences have been. After all, she did speed up to get by me and didn’t slow to a walk until she perceived a safe distance. Maybe she fears all men, though she clearly, and perhaps overtly, avoided the black one. It was like she was trying to make a point of it. If she was, he got that point. Strait between the eyes. It was hard to watch. And all I could do was say “you’re right”. I have no similar experience to draw from and offer empathetic sympathy. Sometimes people just suck. No pictures. Not today.

Jeff and Tina's Wedding

2010-10-23T11:10:00.000-04:00

Our vacation started with a trip to northern Ohio for the wedding of Mrs. Muse's brother, Jeff, to the lovely Tina. Once again it was good to NOT be the paid wedding photographer (not a job I would want), but I had fun pretending that I knew what I was doing...

The practice handoff at the rehearsal...

Dad and step-dad, equally important in Tina's life, head down the aisle...

Catching their eyes mid-ceremony...

Lighting the Unity Candle - in with the new, out with the old...

Flower girl making a grab for spiritual food...

Let the games begin!

First dance -- and last photo for today.

More Savannah...

2010-10-15T21:29:00.001-04:00

I wanted to share a bit more of Savannah with you...

The photo above is the altar inside Saint John the Baptist Cathedral. I love church architecture for it's creativity and symbolism. This image is strait out of the camera, no post-processing. Sometimes you just get lucky... (you can click on any of these photos to see a larger, more detailed image).

Below is the road into the Wormsloe Plantation... truly an old southern plantation. So old, in fact that the old tabby plantation house is no longer standing; only a few remnants of the coquina and tabby covered walls remain.

The drive into the plantation is about three-quarters of a mile long tunnel of arched oaks above a crushed shell road.

Old Savannah is a city of squares (no, not the population -- but the street grid). Each square has it's own character and centerpiece...

This black and white of an open globe is in one of the squares about 4 blocks from the inn where we stayed (I forget the name of the square). Many have statues of famous people in Savannah history, others have sculptures, or simple sitting areas.

I mentioned in my previous post that I had shot quite a few Savannah doors to use in the cover art for my upcoming solo CD project, "1,000 Doors". Here is an example of why...

Finally -- every entrance has to have an exit. The image below is one of dozens taken in the old Boniventure Cemetery -- site of the voodoo scene from the movie version of "Midnight In The Garden of Good An Evil" (the entire film was shot in Savannah and is based on a true story). Until next time, here is an appropriate image for Halloween season...

Savannah, After Dark....

2010-10-11T14:44:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Muse and I have just completed a brief automobile tour of the eastern United States... Florida to Ohio (for a family wedding) and back, with leisurely stops for a day or two or three at destinations in between. So we'll begin at the end -- three days in Savannah, Georgia. The historic southern city that was left unmolested during the US Civil War, and our favorite weekend getaway spot. We stayed at the McMillan Inn -- a 150 year old restored Bed and Breakfast that we have visited each year for the last five. Joe and Cindy Celento are wonderful hosts, the accommodations are superb - at the edge of the historic district about two blocks from the famous Forsyth Park, and the breakfasts are the most decadent we have experienced...

Spanish moss hangs above a brick street

Savannah is a photographers delight -- a target-rich environment. These first few photos were taken during a nighttime stroll around a few of the streets north of the river, near our lodgings. No flash, just a basic 50mm f/1.8 lens, camera set up for black and white...

The United Methodist Church

Savannah is a church town -- 19th century houses of worship abound and steeples rule the skyline. After dark the religious facades produce a gothic effect -- especially in black and white, then smoothed a bit in post-processing...

I spent a good deal of time, both day and night, shooting Savannah doorways. Many of these will be used in the cover art for my new CD "1,000 Doors" (assuming I eventually finish the thing!).

An Arched Doorway

There is character at every turn in Savannah... the full set of our night walk photos are here. More photos in the days to come -- from Savannah (including Bonaventure Cemetery), Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (my political and philosophical hero), the mountains of West Virginia, and an Ohio storybook wedding... Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Back Soon...

2010-10-05T19:57:00.000-04:00

The Muse is on vacation -- back in a week with interesting tales of of weddings and historical heroes. Lots of photos as well.

Be healthy.
Be safe.
Feed your brain.

Grant Peeples - Okra, Ecclesiastes, and Leftneck Honey

2010-09-24T15:18:00.003-04:00

Grant Peeples

Grant Peeple's arrived at the European Street listening room in Jacksonville last night with the latest rendition of The Peeples Republik Band, and in his purely Grant Peeples' way, entertained the heck out of a pretty decent Thursday night audience. Every move, right down to his scripted sales pitch for Sopchoppy's own LeftNeck Tupelo Honey (attractively modeled by the lovely Susan Brown), was designed to exploit his audience's attention -- in order to instill his version of their own good. Grant doesn't just have a point of view, he IS a point of view. What you hear...and what you see... is exactly what you get. The evening was a nearly perfect mix of Grant standards (The Hanging) and new tunes (My People Come From The Dirt) for his planned third recording that he'll start working on in November.

Susan Brown

Grant takes his audience on an emotional roller coaster ride, slipping from the far side of musical humor to the bottom of an emotional pit dug deep in the dirt of rural, impoverished Florida -- the significant bits of this state that they don't advertise to the tourists. And last night he was spot-on with a crew of talented musicians for support. Mike Legacy flat picked lightening fast lead guitar licks that were slick enough to impress, yet had just enough rough-around-the-edges necessary to the Peeples ambiance.

Mike Legacy

Eric Avlar, a music student at Florida State University, who was told he couldn't study the mandolin there, took up the bass instead. Eric supplied a sure steady, and often inventive foundation. How often to you get to hear a bass solo in a folk or americana tune? We got a great one last night. Eric also picked up the mandolin on short notice and tastefully filled in the blanks...

Eric Avlar

Susan Brown, who has been featured on these pages previously for her ever refined performances with partner Jamie DeFrates, added the feminine counterpoint essential to the Peeples' music. Harmonies and solo passages beautifully sung also point to the versatility of Grant's writing. Not many tough guys can write well for a woman's point of view. He does that really well.

Behind the band and generally out of camera range sat Randy Judy, providing percussion accents with a set of bongo drums, an inverted cardboard box, and a set of drummer brushes.

Overall it was Grant Peeples entertaining his people at his philosophical and musical best. Not to mention that song "Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns". You'll need to buy the new CD -- or track Grant down in performance before he hits the studio in November to hear that one. It can be a struggle to be a niche musician in a country with a 15 second attention span and an addiction to dance music. Grant Peeples is capitalizing pretty well in that situation. His fans, including me, hope that he can raise enough capital to continue raging against the machine for a long, long time to come.

Gamble Rogers Folk Festival Benefit Concert -- Good Stuff!

2010-09-21T17:04:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday evening, the fine folks who run the Gamble Rogers Folk Music Festival in Saint Augustine each spring were kind enough to put together a show to benefit that incredible event. The Festival honors local musician-hero James Gamble Rogers, who died in 1991 attempting to save a drowning tourist off of Flagler Beach. The benefit featured acts native to Saint Augustine -- some of the finest around -- and was hosted by Gamble's protege, Bob Patterson, who kept us laughing and crying with his tales of Gamble and assorted personal misadventures...

Bob

The show was opened by the Morse Family Band -- mom and her five talented kids who combined have that special sonic blend that can only be attributed to DNA. A sweet blend of old-time and gospel tunes, spiced with a bit of bluegrass for good measure. Look for their first recording, which should be available by the end of the year...

The Morse Family Band

Next to take the stage were Jamie DeFrates and Susan Brown -- two of my favorite people on the planet. Original songs sung by voices that soar to impossibly beautiful places and land dead in the center of your heart. Guitar wizardry that compliments the melodies and lyrics perfectly. Their version of Jamie's "Gravity" ends with Susan and Jamie vocally playing off of each other as if Newton discovered the physical concept specifically for them -- and for our enjoyment...

Jamie and Susan

Describing Charlie Robertson and his music is like trying to explain calculus in ten words or less. A complicated man with an intellect as broad as the sky, the use of derivatives might well be necessary to calculate the number of words - meaningful words - Charlie can fit into a song. Dealing with mental health damages and the Dalai Llama's birthday in the same breath. Or a chain saw wielding retired priest. Or the unfortunate and unknown demise of a mutual friend... Charlie is one of Saint Augustine's great gifts to my philosophical experience.

Charlie

Last, and certainly not least, we were treated to Men Of The House -- a father, his two sons (both classically trained violinists turned hard core fiddlers), and one of those Morse boys on banjo. The guys don't play music -- they attack it with a spirit and passion that is both rough and resounding. Irish bar tunes, foot stomping medleys of celtic fiddle tunes, a sweet Jay Ungar waltz. Speed and caution, foot slamming and tip toes. Broken fiddle bridges and audience rocking speed-burner strumming that left bow hair strewn around the stage like so much straw. That's what happens when you treat your violin like a rip saw. Cool.

Men Of The House

Great music for a great cause among great friends. Can't ask for much more than that....

Grant Peeples -- One Unique Individual

2010-09-17T16:53:00.003-04:00

Grant Peeples calls himself an "Americana" musician / singer-songwriter. The first time I met Grant he scared the $#!t out of me... and that's a good thing -- or a SWEEEEEEEET deal... a bit scruffy around the edges, shaved head, tatoo or three. His music rises from the dirt. Gut level, feel the pain, been there, got the rash pureness that you don't hear much. Truthiness. He'd hate that. Maybe not.

Next time I met Grant we hugged like long lost brothers. With different mothers AND fathers. But this man gets to me. He has the guts that I don't have -- to take the chance with the contents of your heart and soul, expose it to the world, and just hope it pays you back enough to make the next gig. Here's a bit of Grant's ruminating about the recent Americana Music Conference in Nashville:

What the hell is Americana Music?

It’s sort of a running joke at the annual Americana Conference: What IS Americana Music?

The definition I myself came up with this year was: “Americana music is the music you don’t hear when you are scanning the radio dial.” Cute, huh?

I had almost compartmentalized the proverbial “conference experience” and moved on. But then, in the USA Today this past Tuesday, there was a huge story about Robert Plant. (Yeah, the Lead Zepplin dude.) Robert Plant and Alison Krauss had THE biggest record on the Americana charts last year, “Raising Sand”.

And now, this year, Mr. Plant has assembled an All-Star cast of band members to form, “Band Of Joy,” which is sure to be the #1 Americana touring act between now and the NEXT Americana Conference.

So…I have to ask: Was I the only one that noticed that the USA Today story never ONCE said “Americana” music? They called it “American” music. Damn. Every time I think this Americana thing might be getting some traction, I realize the truth is....the wheels are still spinning.

Can anybody say: “Mar-ke-ting-con-sul-tant?”

Grant will be making an in-person live appearance in Jacksonville next Thursday night (September 23), 8:30 at the European Street Listening Room on San Marco in Jacksonville. I'll be there annoying the crap out of him with my camera. You'll find photos and a review here. In the meanwhile... check this out.

The Gatorbone Trio - Photos and Review

2010-09-05T10:14:00.001-04:00

Lon, Lis, Gabe

Another Saturday night at the European Street listening room on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville. Another fantastic ninety minutes of the best acoustic music Florida has to offer... The Gatorbone Trio, Lis Williamson, Lon Williamson and Gabe Valla, blend flawlessly into a montage of restfully simple to startlingly complex vocal and instrumental bliss. In their various incarnations (depending on who is performing with them) as the Driftwoods, The Gatorbone Band, or the Trio, these folks more than anyone I know should be performing on the biggest stages before the biggest audiences. They are as good as anyone out there today.

Lis

Lis Williamson is the vocal heart and soul of the trio. Her sweet, lilting, voice is equally at home with her original 1940's style tunes ("Do the Town", Deep") from her recently release solo album "Deep", to American roots tunes like her self-penned "Cracker Girl", to tragic ballads like "Bell of the Mine". ANd lis is no slouch instrumentally -- she strums her Martin guitar as an expert rhythm player while effortlessly grabbing complex jazz chords with her left hand like she was born to it. Her claw-hammer style banjo playing in excellent, and tasteful (even for a banjo!), adding variety and texture.

Lon

Lon Williamson is the trio's backbone -- his effortless bass perfectly supporting the broad range of styles with a firm, tasteful foundation. His smooth harmonies blend beautifully with Lis's lead vocals, and when he takes the lead on one of his original tunes you can feel the depth of his commitment to the pictures he paints with his lyrics.

Gabe

Gabe Valla. Wow. Gabe is simply the most versatile flat-picking guitar and mandolin player around. He is smooth, fast, complex, and intuitive on both instruments, and a creative composer of instrumental tunes (another style at which the trio excels). From bluegrass to ballads, Gabe puts together just the right blend of creative chord structures and lead breaks that leave journeyman guitar pickers like me wondering how he imagined that, and how his fingers covered the notes. Often adding a third harmony vocal, self-effacing young man is the definition of musical talent.

Lon and Lis

So okay, I'm a little biased -- Lis and Lon are co-producing my new solo project and Gabe is recording some back-up instrumental tracks for me -- but these guys are the real deal. You can read more and LISTEN to a few of their tunes here. And for information on upcoming shows at the European Street listening rooms (including my band on September 25th), click here.

Rod Picott and Amanda Shires - Photos and Review

2010-08-29T11:41:00.000-04:00

Rod Picott an Amanda Shires met at the North American Folk Alliance meeting in Austin Texas in 2006. They arrived at the European Street listening room in Jacksonville Florida last night, and a small, but enthusiastic audience was sure glad they did...

With five albums to his credit and co-writing several songs with Slaid Cleves -- including a tune recently picked up for a movie soundtrack -- Rod is an earthy, almost soulful singer with a cross-over Americana / Rock and Roll sensibility to his composition. His guitar playing is strait forward strumming and picking -- nothing fancy -- but nothing that distracts from the vocals and thoughtful lyrics. Anyone who can get a '65 Rambler into one song and Chet Baker's coat into another is all right with me.

Amanda Shires started her fiddle career at the age of 16 with the Texas Playboys. Her recent solo recording "West Cross Timbers" hit the Americana charts, with one song landing on NPR's All Songs Considered. Amanda's vocal style is teasingly vulnerable, with a bit of Emmy Lou red dirt, and a portion of Dolly's quavering vibrato-yodel melodic slide. Her softness is transformed to powerful, clear force in stunning instantaneous dynamic changes. She even whistles while masterfully strumming her tenor uke.

The two talented player compliment each other with near perfection. Rugged and vulnerable, sweet and pithy. Southwest and northeast...

Amanda's fiddle playing supports Rod's strait-forward guitar in tasteful undertones and complex, strongly played solo breaks. Their rapport with the audience is exceptional. Their stage presence was excellent, casual, comfortable, neighborly. We all felt right at home.

Jacksonville really has a precious resource in the European Street listening room music series, produced by the tireless Ray Lewis. Those who don't show up are missing something special and unique. If you are in the area, please make the effort to come out for the acoustic music performances on Thursday evenings at the San Marco location and Saturday evenings at the Beach Boulevard location, just easy of University. Good food, great friends, and exceptional talent... right here in River City.

A Muse-ical Weekend

2010-08-24T18:34:00.000-04:00

We spent this past weekend among great friends in the "Best Small Town in America" (as voted by the Ashley Gang), Eustis, Florida. With our band, (The Ashley Gang), Mrs. Muse and I performed at the historic State Theater on Friday night...

Bob, Michelle, Muse, Al

...and at the fantastic and quaint Olivia's Cafe on Saturday night...

Bob, Michelle, Muse, Mrs. Muse, Al

After about four hours of "on stage" time, we were utterly satisfied that we had given Eustis an adequate does of original Ashley Gang Florida-style Americana acoustic music. Thanks to all who came out to spend quality time with us. We'll be appearing in Jacksonville at the European Street listening room on September 25th and in Osteen (near Orlando) on September 26th.

The Percussion Section

Thanks to Cindy S. for taking control of my camera gear and taking these great shots while I tried to take control of my guitars...

The Accordion Section (norm)

Serious Muse

Saint Augustine in 150 mm of Black and White

2010-08-14T10:56:00.000-04:00

Friday evening after a long and stressful work week. What better way to shed some of the residue than a brief drive down to Saint Augustine for some walking, shooting, and relaxing... Grabbed the D700 and my Sigma 150mm macro f/2.8 lens, and off we went...

I have recently become enamored of black and white photography -- looking for the contrast in shades of gray. Forcing greater thought, composition and creativity. So I called up my B&W pre-sets and left it there. The shot above is the west lawn at the Castillo de San Marcos on Matanzas Bay (the Spanish-built coquina fort).

There are numerous galleries along the streets of the old town. I shot the carved relief above through the window of one of those galleries. Thought it would make for an interesting, and mildly erotic image.

After 30 minutes or so of walking the historic district, we lighted at the martini bar on the porch of the Casablana Inn directly across from the bay. The light breeze off of the bay made the early evening Florida August weather tolerable, as did the vocal jazz of Peggy Brown, whom I had never heard before. Quite good -- as was her guitarist, whose name I didn't catch...

A glass of California wine for me and a Key Lime Martini for Mrs. Muse, and hour of relaxation, conversation and music... not a bad way to end the week...

Another Sunday in North Florida

2010-08-08T21:14:00.000-04:00

Just another Sunday in paradise... we ended the day at the County Dock on the Saint Johns River in Mandarin as we often do. There are many such photos throughout this blog, but it's a scene I never get tired of shooting. It always changes. No two sunsets are ever the same, as cliche as the sunset photo has become in the digital imaging age. The biggest bonus is that the algae seems to be gone. No dead fish. At least for now. Nature is resilient, and will always prevail. Long after we and our polluting habits have passed to dust, my river will remain... Then there was this morning in the backyard...

There were probably 20 butterflies in our gardens when I went out to the porch for breakfast this morning. Fritillaries, swallowtails of several varieties, monarchs, and skippers. by the time I could grab a camera, they were out of there... but this black and white tailed dragonfly was hanging out on the blue porter weed. Little did he (or I) know what was creeping up from behind...

I have no idea what the little brown guy is... a hornet, some sort of fly? I didn't see him until I uploaded the image out of the camera. Pretty cool piece of luck. So yes, just another day in paradise after a remarkably stressful work week. We both really needed the sunset and cool river breezes down at the dock tonight. That leaves us with one last paddle stroke into the sunset....

Riverside Guitar Quartet

2010-08-01T11:15:00.002-04:00

We had the distinct pleasure last evening of attending a concert by Jacksonville's Riverside Guitar Quartet, directed and organized by our old friend and guitar virtuoso Don Casper (above). These four talented musicians performed an impressive range of styles, from baroque to ragtime to rock. I took my D700 along to get some practice shooting a low-light indoor concert setting. Glad I did...

I chose to do 75% of the shooting in black and white to better capture the moodiness of the classical vibe in the room, and I also shot almost exclusively with available light in order to avoid the distraction of a flash on the concentration of the players. The high ISO - low noise capability of the 700 is really quite impressive. (Click on any of the photos for a larger view).

These are the first few that I have processed (it was a late night last night and I haven't had much time). It was a difficult room to shoot in as there is no stage, making unimpeded visual access to the performers difficult. That said -- this was a truly wonderful concert and a rare opportunity. Jacksonville is fortunate to have players of this caliber around to add to our cultural diversity. If you EVER have the opportunity to hear these gentlemen together or as solo guitarists, please take advantage. Your ears will be delighted.
You will find their website here. And you can listen to them through this link. I highly recommend the Sonata in C Major.

Briefly....

2010-07-21T22:04:00.000-04:00

My apologies for being remiss in my posting these last two weeks... back into a crazy busy patch... The Ashley Gang (my band) will be performing Friday at the library in Sebastian, FL (kids show -- holy moley!), and on Saturday at the Bluesboro Cafe in Rockledge (near Cocoa). I put Mrs. Muse on a plane from Orlando to visit family in Ohio for a few days, and today was in the studio working on my solo recording project. Then there's this little thing called "making a living"... so I appreciate the understanding of those who have been nudging me to post some new photos. There just haven't been any. What I will do is recommend a new book for those who are (like me) avid readers. I downloaded "Faithful Place" to my Kindle yesterday -- the new Tana French mystery, and stayed up (too) late into the night reading the first 25% of it. If you enjoy detective stories (her's are based in Ireland), go get it! More soon. Really.

County Dock - After the Storm...

2010-07-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

Another Sunday evening trip to the County Dock on the Saint Johns River, off of Mandarin Point. The tide was in after a hard rain, and the ammonia smell of the algae blooms, while still present, was tolerable, and there were no dead fish in the water. In fact, the water was teeming with manatees -- a family of at least three, maybe four kept us well entertained for a good thirty minutes. Unfortunately I had only my 10-20mm lens on the D200 tonight, expecting to shoot the drama in the sky, not in the river, so no photos of the sea cows worth sharing today... On the other hand, the scene was beautiful as the cloudy remnants of the recent storm played agains the descending sun....

All of the images here (except the one above) are three-exposure HDR images, processed using Photomatix Pro. Some were also run through a Topaz Adjust filter to provide a variety of interpretations of the scene. So enough chatter -- I'll let the photos speak for themselves. These will help you understand why I'm in love with this river...

Unti next time -- enjoy your week, appreciate the world around you, and take good care of it....

In The Backyard, Again -- July 4, 2010

2010-07-04T14:20:00.000-04:00

She was in and out too quickly yesterday for me to capture a shot.. but today was another day, and another opportunity to photograph the humming bird who comes to visit our porter weed a couple of time each day. This was her second trip in today, and was raining lightly. I had the D200 handy with the 70-300 VR lens mounted. I stepped out under the shelter of the eves to avoid the rain, hoping not to frighten her away, and voila!

The light wasn't great and I forgot to switch the VR on, but these aren't too bad...

She stuck it out for quite awhile -- visiting every small blue blossom, then came zipping at full throttle directly at me by the porch, stopping to check out a daisy about two feet from me and my camera -- the lens too long to focus on her at such a close distance... then she was gone in an instant...

Her visit motivated me to clean out the old humming bird feeder, cook up some sugar water, and hang it out in the garden next to her favorite flowers. We've never had any luck getting the hummers to visit the feeder -- they clearly prefer the real thing -- but who know... maybe this year. Come back and find out...

Today in the Backyard

2010-07-03T17:13:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those comfortable (even for Florida in July), lazy Saturdays when the choice between heading out somewhere or just hanging around the house was an easy one. We stayed put. Worked on the yard a bit --- and kept the D200 nearby with the 150mm macro lens. The D200 give the lens 50% additional reach thanks to the digital crop factor that I don't get in the full-frame (but preferred for most shooting) D700... The one humming bird that I saw was in and out too fast for me to shoot, but I did find the occasional target...

A dragon fly finding nourishment in the spent blossom of a canna lily (taken from above and behind). He was an excellent and patient model...

We have replaced a portion of our water and fertilizer-hungry Saint Augustine lawn with native perennial peanut. Now well established after a month in the ground, these self-sustaining little ground covering plants gift us with tiny bright yellow blossoms every morning...

This clown spider has taken up residence in the side yard, having woven a multi-level condo / insect trap that would make I.M. Pei proud. Even wide open at f/2.8 the breeze was blowing too hard for a perfect hand-held shot... but you get the general idea...

Getting eye-to-eye with the Dragon made him a little nervous -- so he took off, then decided I was probably harmless and came back, keeping those huge eyes on me as I moved around and closed in. The intricacy of the wings is amazing. Click on the image for a full sized view.

Just goes to show you that if you're patient and observant, nature will put on the best show on earth for you...

Killing Paradise

2010-06-20T15:44:00.001-04:00

It's Father's Day and I wasn't intending to go off on an environmental rant today, but after an early afternoon walk down to the banks of my beloved Saint Johns River, I really have no choice in the matter.

The obvious devastation occurring in the Gulf of Mexico, despite it's enormity, is not the only man-made kill-shot aimed at Florida's fragile natural environment this spring. The Saint Johns is one sick river this year -- thanks to algal blooms facilitated by excess nutrients pumped into the river as fatally as BP is pumping oil into the gulf. In some cases, just as criminally, and for nothing but the motivation of pure greed.

The photo above shows the damage. In twenty-five years on the river, I have never witnessed blooms of this extent, nor so early in the year. The fish kills are hideous. I could only spend about three minutes on the bank of the water -- the smell of the dead fish combined with the rotting vegetation and deadly algae was nauseating -- though not as nauseating as the knowledge that this is all preventable. We bring this on ourselves.

I can't help but wonder at the damage blooms of this extent will cause not only to the fish and other river life, but to these grand old cypress trees being strangled at the roots. These blooms (this year's includes a previously unidentified type of toxic algae) are grown by the injection of "point source" and "non-point source" nutrient pollution (mostly nitrogen) into the river. Point source injection comes from industrial effluent -- companies such as Georgia-Pacific, located just north of Palatka, about 30 miles up river (south) of here. The non-point source pollution comes from the rest of use -- millions of Florida residents who live in the Saint Johns drainage plain. With our need to have manicured green landscapes that mimic the northern and English styles (that do not work naturally here), we cover our non-native grasses and plants with chemical fertilizer, waste our dwindling water reserves by watering the pollutants into the lawns, the excess of which is then sent down our storm drains and into the river with every tropical downpour.

I have never observed the above scene when the water in the river has been anything but pristine and clean. The crap afloat as far as one can see is the deadly algae. We are killing the environmental platform that sustains our own very lives by shear stupidity and greed. If you live in Florida -- stop committing time-release suicide. Learn how to use natural methods and native plant for your landscaping (we've just put in perennial peanut to replace the St. Augustine grass and over the years a large variety of attractive native plants that, once established, thrive in the local environment without much attention), encourage your legislators to create laws and enforce regulations that STOP corporate polluters.

It's time to take a stand before we have no viable land to stand on. Happy Father's day -- your mother (nature) is really pissed.

Florida Folk Festival, Photoshop, and Topaz Simplify

2010-06-17T20:59:00.000-04:00

Combining one's passions is not a bad way to spend an hour or two... Passion #1 is music. Even though it's been almost three weeks since the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs I'm still basking in the afterglow of great performances, by both my own band and the dozens of other acts we had the chance to listen to. Passion #2 is photography. Guitar cases and camera gear can be a load to lug around, but well worth it. I'm always looking for creative ways to capture and present these talented folk, many of whom are largely unknown beyond the borders of the Sunshine State. Here are some of the still photo results, adapted in Photoshop using Topaz Simplify -- appropriate for acoustic music, I think...

The image above is an emerging Florida-based folk / Americana family band called Jubal's Kin. These kids are now touring the greater south -- and will be the next big thing American folk. Keep an eye out, better yet keep an ear out. Their new recording is available for download via iTunes...

This is Chuck Hardwick -- one of the icons of Florida Folk music. A great writer and performer, Chuck is the real deal. Want to know what it's like to be on a Florida cattle drive? With your guitar? On horseback? Ask for Chuck.

This last image is of Florida native, now Nashville-based country star, Billy Dean. Billy has been coming back to his roots at FFF for a number of years, sharing his songwriting tips and performing talent with the rest of us mere mortals. I can honestly say that Billy Dean once opened for me...

Speaking of Florida songwriting talent -- check out the new blog by my musical partner in crime -- my bandmate in the Ashley Gang, Al Scortino. Find the box to the right with Friends and Favorite links and click on "Renaissance Man" to follow Al's adventures from the depths of the economic recession to wherever it is that his musical pursuits lead him... sure to be a fun ride!

One More Video From Florida Folk Festival

2010-06-11T20:40:00.001-04:00

Gail Carson at www.northfloridafamilyfunguide.com was everywhere with her HD video cam during the 58th Florida Folk Festival two weekends ago... this live performance video of the Ashley Gang performing my song, Duval Nights, was shot at the Old Marble Stage -- the original stage for this oldest American Folk Fest. Yep -- the skinny old guy in the middle doing the singing is me... and the lovely flute player is my wife, Kay... hope you enjoy my little love song for Jacksonville...

Florida Folk Festival 2010 -- Part 2

2010-06-03T17:16:00.002-04:00

A quick unexpected interim post -- thanks to Gail Carson -- this is a video of my band The Ashley Gang, at the Florida Folk Festival performing Al's song The River Road. One of my favorites. -- Great job, Gail, thanks soooo much for your creativity and effort!

Florida Folk Festival 2010 -- Part 1

2010-05-31T13:39:00.002-04:00

Every year on Memorial Day weekend since 1953, Florida Folk artists have gathered on the banks of the Suwanee River in the old town of White Springs. At 58 years, it is the oldest State-sponsored folk festival in the U.S. I have been participating as a performer, either solo or with The Ashley Gang band since 1997.. so this first post on FFF 2010 features photos of the Ashley Gang. Thanks to Cindy Scortino for handling the camera while my hands were full of guitar...

Above: The Ashley Gang on the Old Marble Stage (l-r: Bob on guitar, Michelle on bass and vocal, me, Al on guitar and vocals, Kay on flute, and norm seated on percussion). The Marble Stage was the only stage used for the first few years of the festival and is sacred ground for we Florida songsters. It is the first place I ever performed at FFF 13 years ago as a solo act. We had a full to over-flow audience that sent us amazing waves of energy and appreciation -- and I think we sent that back. One of our best sets ever as a band...

Above and below: 4 of the 6 Ashleys (Kay and norm are there but off camera) at the Ann Thomas Memorial River Gazebo. This is a fully acoustic setting at an old boat landing right on the banks of the Suwanee River, and a place for only Florida music by Florida songwriters. We performed some of mine and some of Al's original tunes for another full house... The concerts at the Gazebo are hosted every year by Florida folk music legend, Frank Thomas (seated behind the band in the photo above). Frank has written hundreds of Florida songs (and has never written a single one down). The Gazebo is now named after late wife and musical partner, Ann.

In addition to our little band of Floridians, there were dozens of others -- old favorites and new up-and-comers over three full days on multiple stages at the Stephen Foster State Park. I'll follow up in a few days with photos and notes of some of my favorites.... For those of you here in the States, Happy Memorial Day -- and please take a moment to remember what this day is all about.

Nature Where You Find It

2010-05-23T10:25:00.002-04:00

Temperatures up to the high 80s and low 90s now, and one day of hard rain... that's all it takes to kick start the blossoms in our back yard. So yesterday's photo outing did not require the expenditure of much energy -- just a walk out the back door with my D700 and the 150mm macro lens (still my favorite all-around glass)...

This is a beautiful, new magnolia blossom (magnolia grandiflora) in the woodsy northwest section of the yard. These fragrant blossom last of one day, then turn brown and drop off. This 60 foot tree is popping about twenty new blooms every day right now.

An orange and yellow Canna Lily -- the first to bloom this year in one of our south-east section beds. I transplanted about 50 of these from our center garden about 5 years ago to various beds around the yard. They multiply quickly and add a great touch of color wherever they grow...

And this interesting blossom is an African Lily -- one of the few non-natives that we have left in our Florida yard. They add nice filer foliage and beautiful intricate flowers. I shot this in full sun and processed the image in photoshop elements by de-selecting the blossom and using the "average" filter in the background (exposed at - 3EV in bright, direct sunlight in order to darken the background, leaving the result above after processing).

Promise Kept....

2010-05-08T16:43:00.000-04:00

As promised in the previous post -- the following is a photo of yours truly after today's St. Baldrick's Foundation event to raise funds for children's cancer research... EGAD!

Not exactly the album cover shot I was looking for -- for it was worth every shorn hair on my head. My donors contributed around $500! Thanks to those who contributed! The total contributed for today's event is not in yet-- but certainly in excess of $20,000. There are many newly bald heads to go with those dollars.

In these hard times, when so many worthy causes are competing for your charity, I am humbled by your gifts. If you are interested in contributing to this chrome dome's cause, It's not too late... just click here.

Be a Hero...

2010-04-29T22:14:00.001-04:00

On May 8th, I am having my head shaved to raise funds for children's cancer research. My day job is in the field of biomedical research -- much of it pediatric cancer research. I work with, and spend time with these kids every week... Help them out... be a hero... donate what you can. I'll get credit for your donation at this link: CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

You will have my eternal gratitude -- and the knowledge that you have helped these incredible kids and their families through the gift of hope... Thanks! I promise to post pictures after the event... Paul

The Finest Season

2010-04-24T11:35:00.005-04:00

I have always found Spring to be the finest of all the seasons. Not that each does not have its own special charm and beauty, not to mention necessity. But Spring -- whether in the southern New York of my childhood, the northern Ohio of my early adult years, or the northeast Florida of my last 25 trips around the sun -- has forever been by favorite...

Green Eyes

Here in northeast Florida, where we are not in the middle of the tourist vision of Queen Palm trees, mouse ears, south beach glamour, and year-round 70 degree temperatures, Spring is the wildflower season. To many these are weeds to be kept from copy-cat mid-western style lawns of manufactured Flora-tam grass. To me they are amazements... signals and signs that nature will triumph every time, despite our best efforts to subdue her.

Lyre-Leaved Sage

This has been a particularly abundant year for Spring native wildflowers here in metro-Jacksonville. You have no doubt read about our pollen storm following an unusually cold winter of extended freezes here in the extra-tropical north of the Sunshine State. That's Nature's way of self-preservation... while the non-local immigrant-planted warmth-loving invasive flora were frost-burnt to the bone beyond the point of no return, the natives turned on their reproductive afterburners to assure their future survival in this world of climate changed seasonal weather patterns.

Fleabane

So last weekend we hiked the trail down at the Julington-Durbin Preserve, a thin stretch of protection on property that used to be part of a cypress swamp, logged out long ago, to photograph the spring crop of tiny, flowering native wonder. I used my 150mm macro lens in order to get up close and personal with the blossoms, some of which were no more and an eighth inch in diameter.

Southern Fleabane

What a fantastic time to on the hoof in the recovering, ever more rare, natural sand hills and wetlands of north Florida...

Link to more Rookery Photos...

2010-04-11T10:29:00.002-04:00

I have posted 23 of my favorites from Friday's outing to the native bird rookery at the Saint Augustine Alligator Farm (note to the uninitiated... these are not captive birds, they arrive at this natural rookery every spring. The alligator population keeps the birds natural predators away).

The photos are on my website here.

St. Augustine Native Bird Rookery -- 2010 Visit 1

2010-04-09T16:51:00.004-04:00

Took a friend from Ormond Beach, Florida on his first visit to the native bird rookery at the Saint Augustine Alligator Farm this morning. Dan is a major bird guy and budding photographer. I love the jaw-drop reaction of folks who have never walked into this amazing slice of nature before... already there are hundreds of birds pairing off and building nests...

...like the great American Egret above, and the wood stork below... though so far there is only one hatchling (that I could find) -- a tiny egret.

The photographers were nearly a numerous as the roseate spoonbills (below), that I have never seen in such numbers in one place. I take this as a good sign for the north Florida ecology. Tourists were easily identifiable today by comments like: "I didn't know flamingos could fly..." when they saw the beautiful pink spoonies for the first time...

These are three quickly processed shots of more than 400 shot today. More to come plus a link to my website where the "good" ones will be posted... stand by.............

Wildflower Macros

2010-03-28T14:04:00.005-04:00

Friday was my birthday, so I took the afternoon off from work and headed out to spend the rest of the day in my favorite environment, engaged in a favorite activity. Kay and I drove to the Julington-Durbin Creek Preserve a few miles from out house, Camera in hand...

I brought only my 150mm macro lens, planning to shoot the northeast Florida wildflowers that would, no doubt, be arriving in abundance after the wet, warm weather of the previous day. I hadn't planned on the huge, remarkably fast flock of Tree Swallows that was all over the pine flat. Wrong lens to shoot them, but I did get one lucky shot off (above), as a solo speed-burner zipped by... then on to the wildflowers.

The yellow guy above is a bud-heavy goldenaster. They are everywhere in the piney flatlands and in many local lawns right now. The opening blossom is about 1/4 inch in diameter.

The purple bloom above is a viola septemloba (literally purple flower with five petals).

This last one,as near as I am able to guess, is a dwarf huckleberry. Beautiful little quarter-inch white bell-shaped blossoms on stems covered with bright green, waxy leaves. More north FLorida wildflower images can be found on my website here.

Sometimes It's Good To NOT Be The Photographer!

2010-03-24T18:13:00.005-04:00

Kay and I attended the wedding of Keith and Becky this past weekend. Becky is the daughter of Steve and Michelle. Michelle is the bass player for my band, The Ashley Gang. They hired a great photographer to be their "pro" wedding shooter -- which gave me the opportunity to just relax, and shoot unposed, random stuff...

There is certainly something to be said for NOT having the pressure of someone's wedding memories in your hands -- or in the memory card of you digital camera...

I shot about 200 images -- then got to go home and "play" with them in photoshop, knowing that I had that luxury...

Weddings are great opportunities to learn the craft of digital photography, particularly when you're not the one being paid to get it right!

I have immense respect for photographers who do this stuff for a living. There is tremendous pressure to please your client, whose tastes in artistic imaging may be much different than yours... or the clients whose wedding you shot last week. They earn every cent they are paid, and you get what you pay for...

Thanks, guys, for letting me learn more of this craft at your wedding! You were amazing. More photos from Becky and Keith's wedding can be found here.

Topaz Adjust 4.0, Briefly...

2010-03-03T17:02:00.004-05:00

Just downloaded the Topaz Adjust upgrade version 4.0, and thought I'd give it a (very) quick workout... for the uninitiated, Topaz Labs produces a variety of cool photo adjustment "plug-ins" for Photoshop. Adjust is perhaps the most versatile, allowing everything from mega sharpening to excellent noise reduction capability. The 4.0 "touch and feel" is very nice -- a slicker, cleaned up graphic interface, and a number of new presets (pre-designed photo effects that you can simply use as is -- you can, or course do all of the modifications yourself). So here's the brief part... I chose an under-exposed shot of the surf off of Turtle Beach near Sarasota Florida from last summer... this one....

... pulled it into Photoshop elements 6, and used the "Shadows and Highlights" adjustment to brighten it up just enough... then called up Topaz Adjust 4.0 from the plug-in menu. I skipped through the presets one by one (you get both a thumb nail and an adjustable -- up to 100% -- preview pane to get a very good idea of what your process image will look like). After running through them all I chose the "dramatic" preset, and enlarged the main review pane to view the details of the result. Between the earlier brightening and the Adjust "adjustment" there was a good bit of noise in the image. So still in Topaz Adjust I selected the "noise" tab, and ran the slider up until I got the amount of reduction I wanted, while keeping enough detail. I hit the process button and... voila....

There's a guy surf casting out there in the Gulf of Mexico under that approaching storm front... pretty slick, eh? You can find all of the Topaz products and download free trial versions here....Simple!

Salvaging a Cold, Wet Weekend....

2010-02-28T18:26:00.004-05:00

It had been our intention to go "primitive" (no electricity, no running water) camping in Florida's Seminole State Forrest this weekend. But.... with rain and temperatures in the 30s forecast, we turned old and wimpy and decided to camp out in comfort with family and friends in Winter Park (FL) instead. While this meant we were not going to have the chance to spot any bear, deer, or big birds, we did manage to capture the images of a few feathered friends outside of the kitchen window...

The photo above is a Downey Woodpecker, hunting a bug meal in a small tree. Below is what we believe to be a Carolina Warbler in the same little tree a few minutes later....

TUrned out to be a great weekend after all -- not much photography, but very much time with family and friends that we don't get to see often enough... simple!

Down The Digital Orton Path

2010-02-24T20:10:00.006-05:00

Michael Orton was a pretty ingenious guy. Experimenting with film photography, he took two shots of the same scene -- one perfectly exposed and the other overexposed (too much light) by a number of stops. Back in the old darkroom he's expose the perfectly focused, correctly lit shot to the photo paper, then expose the over-exposed (lighter) version, but shift the focus (make it blurry) on the same piece of photo paper. Basically he performed a double exposure of two versions of the same scene... now we get to do that digitally...

This photo is from our outing at the Julington-Durbin Preserve last weekend, right at the creek. I took the original image, and using Photoshop Elements, digitally overexposed an exact copy of the it, then added a gaussian blur filter. The copy was virtually unrecognizable. I then placed one image over the other and blended them using the "multiply" filter, flattened the image (turned two layers into one), lightened some of the shadows and voila!

An Orton process tends to add a dreamscape effect to landscape images. More fun can be had by experimenting with the duplicate file -- desaturate the colors, remove the colors completely, shift the hue of the image, remove or add one color only, increase or decrease the amount of blur or try different blur filters (motion blur, for example)... have fun and create some art!.... simple.

Transitions

2010-02-22T19:04:00.005-05:00

Sunday was the perfect north Florida late February day. Temperature near 70, deep blue southern skies... After eight full weeks of winter and a couple of freezing nights in the last week it was welcome relief. We hit the trail at the Julington-Durbin Preserve at the south end of Duval County, early enough to enjoy the warmth, and late enough for the angle of the sunlight to come slashing in at about 45 degrees.

I love the backlit effect the natural light provides in the late afternoon, piercing the translucent shell of a recently ruptured seedpod. Even though this is Florida, almost everything here is the color of this pod -- gold and brown. Here and there we are getting early previews of the spring to come -- red maple seed pods and some early blooming redbud -- but most of the vegetation has been frozen to a crisp by an unusual number of nights in the low to mid twenties.

I shot this photo with a Sigma 150mm macro lens -- the actual seedpod is about an inch long. Looking forward to the transition to spring, which will start here in the next couple of weeks as the azaleas spring to life. Change is truly the only constant....

Orange Bracket Fungi and Aperture 3

2010-02-21T13:22:00.005-05:00

This photo, shot a couple of weeks ago at Alpine Groves Park in northern Saint Johns County, Florida, demonstrates nature doing her business in perfect style. The orange bracket fungi are important in the process of recycling felled trees in the north Florida woods...

Nature's clean up crews are part of the absolute perfect beauty of the natural world, and framed with the first green leaves of Florida's February pre-spring weeks makes wonderful art. Now the rest of the story...

I downloaded the 30 day trial version of Apple's Aperture 3.0 photo processing software onto my iMac. I've tried earlier versions and have always found them to be extremely s-l-o-w. Ever hopeful as a Mac fan that their product updates will improve functionality -- I was quick to try this one out. Lots of new features that are great for processing at a professional level (200 new features, to be precise). So.... the image above? Processed in Adobe Photoshop Elements. I, along with other reviewers that I have read, have found Aperture 3 to be slower than ever, not to mention unstable. A simple saturation fix, that happened instantaneously in Elements on a 9 megabyte file took a full 30 seconds of waiting and watching the ball spin in Aperture. It's like waiting in the line at the bank behind the sweaty guy who can't find his checkbook. Time to change lines... Maybe the next version will run efficiently. Not holding my breath.

Belated Valentine's Wishes..

2010-02-20T14:33:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I've been remiss in my posting -- missing in action -- lost in cyberspace...Yep - all of that. Many, many things on my plate these days so I'm looking for, and taking the easy path here...

Here's a photo of lichen on a tree at Alpine Groves park just south of Jacksonville -- I had started an extended rant on the subject of civil discourse (lack of it, actually), and may in fact finish it one of these days... but for now -- the road less traveled by. A small natural hug. Non-adversarial, natural, interesting, not controversial, apolitical. Just a heart. Maybe a reminder. Look for the good -- act on the good. Sometimes you find it when you're not looking... simple.

Resolved......

2010-01-05T18:21:00.005-05:00

'Tis the season for those annual, utterly breakable resolutions we are prone to make as we cross from an old year to a new year. Lose ten pounds, save more, spend less, be happier, write more, play more, work less... you know. I've been thinking about this. A lot. That's why I'm getting around to New Year's resolutions on January 5th. Besides it's bloody freezing here in northeast Florida. Things slow down when they get cold. I know. No sympathy. He's been missing in inaction since December 19th... blog more? Nah, bad resolution for that guy... I am indeed a miserable failure when it comes to those hundreds of resolutions of muses past. Write more, write more songs, perform more, work harder, focus, focus, make more friends, take more pictures, learn to relax, focus...

I am a ridiculously impatient person by nature. I can't sit still long enough to keep a resolution... one of those who makes good starts, gets bored, rushes off to the next thing, poor finishes - or never finished. There is this constant sound track in my head: "hurry up, you'll miss something, move, stay, here comes the next big thing..." Remember the Billy Crystal character in City Slickers? He asks the old grizzled cowboy what the secret of life is, and gets the one finger response from Jack Pallance... "one thing". That one thing that's different for everybody, but is your own personal secret of life. So maybe I can handle one thing this year. One simple (?) thing: discover patience. PATIENCE!!!!!!! Okay, that's it. The Zen act of inaction. Being in the moment. Stilling the internal dialog. Living where -- and when -- you are. Life will unfold as it will no matter how quickly I try to push it along to the next level. You'll see more when you walk instead of fly -- more detail. Learn more. Slow down.....

My resolution for 2010: Be in the moment. PATIENTLY in the present. Attentively in the present. Consciously in the present. Hell, I'll be 57 in a couple of months -- what's the rush?

The Birds of December

2009-12-19T15:04:00.004-05:00

While our friends to the north are getting clobbered with the season's first blizzard, we feel but a bit of a chill in the north Florida air. With a day to rest, I was able to enjoy these visitors to the backyard feeders today...

A Chipping Sparrow

Cardinal (male)

Florida Thanksgiving and Photoshop

2009-11-27T17:37:00.010-05:00

Still working on that consolidation thing (see previous post)... but as I have a day off of work, and a tiny bit of time on my hands I thought I'd go ahead and post a little of what I've been playing with using Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home after spending the previous weekend in the Orlando area with visiting family from Ohio... So Mrs. Muse and I headed out to one of our favorite hiking trails at the Julington-Durbin Preserve at the southern end of Duval County.

It was late afternoon, so the sun was heading down in the western sky, casting beams at sharp angles on the golden fall foliage on the sand hill ecology at the trail head, and piercing through the dense, damp sub-tropical flora of the wetlands section that begins about a half-mile in.

The water in the swamp was high because of the previous days rain -- on this trail, moving from sand hill uplands to cypress swamp wetlands you can literally feel, see, and smell the abrupt change of eco-systems.

At one point over a swampy pool of black water, a shaft of late day light turned the fan leaves of a scrub palmetto into a glowing holiday decoration of neon green. I took several shots at a variety of exposure settings, settling ultimately in the half-frond original shot up at the top left of the page. Working in PSE, I lightened the green and yellows to the second version, and used a gaussian blur filter on much of the background, which added to the contrast of dark and light.

Next, (immediately left) I used the water color artistic filter to add a painterly effect, and a bit of additional mystery to the image. The, last, I used the black and white conversion "infra-red" option to take the color out, but maintain an extreme level of contrast.

Fun and games, but good practice, and a good way to learn to find your way around the more than adequate capabilities of PSE (the limited -- and WAY less expensive version of Photoshop)...

So happy holiday season to all - hope you survived Black Friday (we stayed away from the stores as two of my least favorite things in the world are shopping and crowds. Off to some leftovers for dinner...........

Consolidation

2009-11-04T17:12:00.004-05:00

Yellow leaves on the North Delaware Greenway

So, this business of managing a 50 hour+ per week job, performing both solo and with the Ashley Gang, photo shoots, juggling a blog and two photography sites and two music sites... a home life... holy smoke, Batman! At my age something's gotta give! I'll be doing some consolidation of my cyber-life over the next few weeks (between performing in Barberville, Florida this weekend, business in Nashville next week, performing in Ormond Beach the next weekend, and in Jacksonville and Orlando the last weekend of the month)... YIKES! Will be making it easier on myself, and hopefully easier on you all to stay in touch with the music, photography and philosophical ramblings... news soon.

The photos above are from our trip to the Brandywine Valley last week. The weather was damp and dank, but we did get so see some fall color and some new work by Jamie Wyeth, Andrew's in-your-face artist son (great stuff at the Brandywine River Museum). From the tropical Saint Johns to the mid-Atlantic Brandywine and Delaware rivers in a week. Not bad for a tired old guy....

Saint Johns Riverkeeper Eco-Heritage Cruise

2009-10-24T10:52:00.004-04:00

Sunrise at Astor, Florida

Mrs. Muse and I spent the last two days on our river... 115+ miles from Palatka, up river to Astor (day one), and Astor to Sanford (day two). We were impressed by both the natural beauty of our most important natural resource, and the fragility of it. It ain't what it used to be, and she faces threats from development and misguided water-use plans that could easily ruin her (and so much that we take for granted) very quickly... Here are a few starter photos. More coming.

Entrance to Lake George, From the north.

A Florida Alligator, sunning on the river bank

A manatee in the spring run at Blue Spring

Reflections of the coast in Murphy's Creek

Lake County Folk Festival.. briefly

2009-10-12T19:04:00.004-04:00

Standing: Bob, Michelle, Me, Al

Seated: Kay (Mrs. Muse), norm

Yes -- I know I have been remiss in my blog posting. A few things have gotten in the way recently... performing (with the Ashley Gang, above), recording, writing, photo shoots, and that little "making a living" thing. So here's a start on the fantastic Lake County Folk Festival in Eustis, Florida, held this past weekend. A small selection of photos ( about 60, I think) from the event (unprocessed, strait out of the box) are available here on my photography site.

There are a few tales to tell when I can find the time... including a personal saga of nearly being run down by a speeding cop in an unmarked car while I was crossing the street in a pedestrian cross walk (complete with a "yield to pedestrians" sign in the middle of the intersection). The encounter that I had with this goober after flagging him down will be the subject of song in the near future... In the mean time, check out the photos, (including a bunch of me with The Ashley Gang, shot by Al's wife, Cindy), and check out the music (links on the right side of this blog page)...

Back soon!

In Concert...

2009-09-27T16:17:00.014-04:00

First (almost) solo performance in many years... A few nerves at the outset, especially after having awakened on Thursday morning with laryngitis -- my speaking voice fading in and out for the next two days. Minor sore throat. Lot's of vitamin C and TLC. Took the time to plan instead of practice. Time well spent.

The European Street Cafe on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville, Florida is a great little room. We had an almost full house of friendly, familiar faces mixed with folks we'd never seen before -- and a few surprises.

"Hi, are you Paul?"

"Sure am."

"I'm Jane. We went to elementary and high school together. Remember?"

"Holy crap!"

I hadn't seen Jane in 38 years... and here she is, living in Jacksonville, and come to hear me sing... how cool is that?!

So with bassist / vocalist / Ashley Gang band-mate Michelle Lowe on my right and flautist / percussionist / band-mate and life-mate Kay on my left we made our way through the show -- and had a total blast doing the old favorites and a few of the new songs I've recently written for the new recording.

The nerves vanished as the energy from the audience -- always palpable -- pulled us into the music and the stories and the (occasionally political) commentary. It all ended with a standing ovation after the first ever public performance of the song "1,000 Doors"

After my set, I wandered the room, visiting with the audience -- people who talked about being touched by one song or another -- about how they cried through "Empty House" (about the foreclosure crisis), or lived in the rapidly vanishing rural south in a small town that reminded them of "Crackertown" (a real Florida community), or laughed through "Duval Nights" as the lyrics made fun of our city and Florida politics.

A nice way to make a local solo performance "comeback". Can't express how much I appreciate the effort of all of those who came to hear -- especially during a University of Florida football game!

So next Saturday, Michelle, Kay and I will be performing at a tribute for the amazing and heroic Gamble Rogers, at Gamble Rogers State Park in Flagler Beach -- if you're close by, stop in for a little Florida music... The the following weekend we're at the Lake County Folk Festival in Eustis, Florida with the full Ashley Gang. More schedule information and some sound bites here.

Michelle, me, Kay

1,000 Doors Project - Session 2

2009-09-20T12:32:00.003-04:00

Brief note.... Returned to Gatorbone Studio this past week to work through the second session of the new recording. No playing or singing at all for me this time around as I was strictly in Producer mode working on arrangements and getting some violin / fiddle and flute tracks put down.

We dragged Doug Richard out of his rural Florida home to dust off his old fiddle, crack his knuckles and record tracks for 3 of the 4 songs that I have recorded so far ("1,000 Doors", "House on the Hill", and "Empty House") . My lovely and talented wife Kay put down a flute track for "Home For The Healing". Lon Williamson, my recording engineer (and musician extraordinaire -- the Driftwoods, the Gatorbone Band), has laid down bass track (stand-up acoustic bass) on "1,000 Doors" and "House on the Hill", and will be doing a bowed bass track on "Home for the Healing".

It was also a day for decision making for future sessions. Ashley Gang (my band) members Al Scortino and Michelle Lowe will be coming in to help out with Hawaiian Slide Guitar, electric bass, and vocals. Lis Williamson of the Driftwoods and Gatorbone Band will be doing some of her angelic harmony vocals for me. Many, many hours of work ahead. Not to mention writing new songs and selecting previously unrecorded tunes to fill out the album. More updates to come as the project moves forward....

On a side note, I'll be playing my first solo performance in a very long time this coming Saturday (September 26th) at European Street Cafe (Beach Boulevard location), Jacksonville. Showtime is 8:00. I'll be splitting the bill with Bill Sheffield, a great blues / roots player from Atlanta -- if you're near by.... Lots of other gigs coming up in the next couple of months in both solo and Ashley Gang configuration. More info here: Myspace Music

A Green Lesson From The Apple Store...

2009-09-07T12:24:00.006-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I trucked over the Apple Store at the Saint Johns Towne Center in Jacksonville to pick up a Blue "Snowball" USB microphone. I can use it for near-professional level audio and video recording on my iMac. One of the best parts of shopping at the Apple store is the check-out process. I love getting that question from person checking me out on the little handheld device: "Okay if we send you your receipt by email?" Always, always always!

So this morning we headed out for a little bit of Labor Day sale shopping for a few things that we both had on our minds. Kay was after an ergonomic pillow, I was intent on Richard Russo's newest novel, and we needed a few things at the grocery. First to Bed, Bath and Beyond for the pillow -- Kay had her 20% discount paper coupon -- in we went, got the pillow, checked out, scanned and trashed the coupon, received our paper receipt. Next door then to Borders for the book -- stopped at the coffee bar first -- slid the debit card through the machine and in return received two cups of coffee, a receipt for those, plus an eight inch paper receipt for the store survey (URL and instructions, etc.). Then found the book -- went to the front checkout where I once again swiped my card after handing over my 40% discount paper coupon for scanning, received my paper receipt for the purchase and another eight inch long paper survey invitation. All of the paper gathered up so far stuffed into my pockets...

Next it was a quick stop at Winn-Dixie for the bits and pieces of grocery that we had neglected to pick up yesterday -- maybe 6 items. Back to the check out, scan the card, get another paper receipt and several feet of paper receipt-size discount coupons. Into the pocket they all go. By the time we got back to the car I couldn't locate the car keys in my pocket beneath the multiple feet of receipts, survey invitations, and coupons.

Now multiply this by several million orders of magnitude for a single day, time 365 days per year, and think about the paper waste -- pure trash -- pure unnecessary trash that American (and no doubt Canadian and European) merchants are pumping into the environment every business day. From Apple -- zip! I get home and the electronic receipt is in my inbox -- if I should ever require it for a return or repair. Honestly, I can't be the first person to recognize this opportunity to save paper, and reduce pollution... The world could learn a lesson from Apple (and the few other merchants who, I am sure, do the same thing) -- granted some folks will require paper (no access to email) but there are so few that fit that category here in the States anymore. Time to start a paper receipt-free shopping movement? Every opportunity that you have to turn down paper and replace it with electronic equivalents - please take it! Monthly bills, software purchases (no boxes or paper instruction manuals), warranties, registrations... on and on... think about it. Simple!

Siesta on Siesta

2009-08-29T22:38:00.005-04:00

We decided to take a break from the work-a-day world this week, and headed cross-state to Siesta Key on Florida's west coast. A nice break it was -- time with family, time on the beach, time by the pool, time at the Selby Botanical Gardens, time at the auto dealer's service department when my battery went bad... More than anything else I had expected to spend time with my photo gear on the beach shooting a Gulf of Mexico sunset or two. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas and every evening was either drowned in torrential tropical rains or simply clouded over. These shots are as close as I could get -- finding a bit of artistic drama in the late day storms, backlit by a setting sun that never showed us her true colors. A minor disappointment in the end...

I read a great deal ( finished Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning", Dennis LaHane's "The Given Day", Richard Russo's collection of short stories "The Whore's Child", got a start on Jana French's "In The Woods" and revisited parts of Harriet Beecher Stowe's

"Palmetto Leaves"), and Kay and I are working on jointly composing a little waltz -- something we've not tried before. We kept mostly to the back roads and off of the dreaded Florida Interstate highways, passing through miles of undeveloped interior land that few folks even know exists (ever hear of Dallas, Florida?). What a treasure this state is! Time now to recover from our Siesta...

Learning To Relax...

2009-08-19T17:27:00.007-04:00

Those few folks who have been regular readers of mine know that I have shifted gears several times since the start of this. I have refocused from reflective rumination to story telling to lifestyle simplification to photography technique to music to environmentalism and back again. I have veered from a free-form out of the blue approach to a pre-planned "here's what's coming next" format I've posted as many as three time per week to once every three weeks. The blog gurus would tell me I'm a complete idiot and an example of precisely what not to do. Inconsistent, untimely and unfocused blogging is not the way to attract mobs of readers and ad dollars. Well... psssst.... my little secret is that I'm not trying to attract a following. Not that I'm not thrilled to have regular readers -- I am! Maybe we can all learn something from each other along the way. The reason I do this is because I want to -- sweet and simple. It's therapeutic.

I'm learning with greater and greater clarity lately that listening to what my conscience tells me to do (or perhaps just suggests) is a really good thing. I've always been a deeply philosophical person, and for just as long have straddled the border between conformity and true independence. What I am learning now, more than half way through my sixth decade (yikes!) on this planet is that my happiness lies in being what / who I know intuitively I am, as opposed to what / who the world at large thinks I ought to be. Being able to hear that inner voice requires that one drop their expectations of what should be, and relax sufficiently enough to calm the noise and learn. Quiet, peaceful meditation gets me to that place. Be still and know. Let go and let God. Follow the Tao. Whatever you call it, however you name it -- it's all the same.

So right now, my intuition is telling me to follow a strategy of taking what life sends my way, and trusting myself to do the right thing with it -- at play and at work. And I am finding extraordinary consistency in the practice. When I trust my instincts -- the inner voice -- the correct thing happens at the correct time and place. Thus the 1,000 Doors Project... the recent return to songwriting and recording -- to a greater emphasis on my music as a way to communicate the importance of diversity -- in the environment, in our beliefs, in our solutions to our seemingly insurmountable problems... can't only be just one, must be a thousand doors... So relax, like my brother-in-law in the photo above (shot at Six Mile Creek, near Orangedale, Florida). Go with the flow. Hang out and listen for the muse to show up. She might surprise you.

What Next?

2009-08-13T21:28:00.002-04:00

Too many of my musician friends have been using ReverbNation for me to ignore it any longer. Something else to occupy (hijack?) my time at the computer... Has a decent built-in player, where I've posted some different songs than those already posted at MySpace. So your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to click on the banner above, check it out, and let me know what you think... simple!

Royal Palm Folk and Acoustic Music Festival - NOT

2009-08-06T20:33:00.004-04:00

A quick note to let you know that I'll NOT be playing with The Ashley Gang at....

THE CANCELED...

We will NOT take the stage as the featured act at 8:00 Saturday evening -- hope to see some familiar faces NOT at Veteran's Park Amphitheater - Royal Palm Beach, Florida. Heck, they brought Rick Nelson back for this.. you should NOT come! --- The city of Royal Palm pulled the plug on this event at the last minute after the organizers apparently did their job of organizing TOO well. Originally expecting less than 1,000 to show up, advance ticket sales, reservations, and other clues indicated a crowd into the multiple thousands -- somewhat beyond the communities ability to manage safely. So we understand the event is to be rescheduled at a more appropriate venue. We'll see....

1,000 Doors Project

2009-08-01T18:00:00.009-04:00

So this old man found himself back in a recording studio putting down tracks of his own songs for the first time in a number of years. I almost need something else to consume my time these days, but I just can't help it. My manic episodes tend to last for up to years at a time, so buckle up your seat belts kids, here we go...

I am totally unsure of where this is going... a solo project, an Ashley Gang project, something in between? Who knows? For now I'm planning on using 4 or 5 songs as a "sampler" CD for promotional purposes mostly.

The most important thing to me is that I document this sudden resurgence of lyrical and musical energy. Even if nothing at all becomes of it. Funny how that happens... after literally years (at least three) without a new tune popping out of my head, the muse decides to land on my shoulder. An when the muse arrive, she is impossible to ignore. Ideas flow, words appear, chord progressions park in your driveway and melodies poke you in the ribs.

So here we go -- off to the remote sand hills of Florida and a little studio by a dried up lake. I'll work on getting a home-grown video clip or two up here for you to see and hear over the next few months and do my best to bring you along on this little indie recording venture. Welcome to the world of Florida Folk Music.

Next stop is the Royal Palm Folk and Acoustic Music Festival in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, next Saturday (August 8th) with the Ashley Gang. We're on stage at 8:00 p.m. Veteran's Park.

Thanks to Gar for snapping these pictures --

Worldwide Photo Walk - 2009

2009-07-22T20:19:00.010-04:00

Scott Kelby is a photographer, artist, teacher and trainer who developed an idea last year. Let's get people together in cities and towns around the world for a few hours on the same day with their cameras and see what happens. This year, Saturday, July 18th was the second annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk and 36,800 of us participated! In Jacksonville, 50 of us were guided around downtown by Jim Brady. We were challenged to look at familiar (to many of us) sights in unfamiliar ways. What a blast. Below is a small sampling of the 100 or so images that came out of my camera in the two hours before it rained...

Above: Jacksonville's Main Street Bridge, spanning the Saint Johns River - looking south from the north bank near the Jacksonville Landing.

Above: The principle photographer for the Jacksonville Times-Union, our daily newspaper, shooting the shooters....

Above: Couldn't resist the colors in the Siouxie and the Banshees sticker -- haven't seen one of these in years!

Above: The Bank of America Tower -- the predominant building in the downtown Jacksonville skyline.

These and more of my photos from the day can be viewed on my website here. Until next time...

It's About Time...

2009-07-09T19:40:00.006-04:00

... or lack of that precious commodity these days. Little time to create blog posts, what with everything going on in this ready-to-slow-down life. Writing... yeah, lot's of lyrics suddenly dropping into my head. Not to mention melodies to go with them. Landing like a dragonfly on a wounded porterweed stalk...

It clearly takes more time to memorize a song these days than it used to. A real agitation sometimes -- but worth the effort. I've turned the process into a kind of meditation and it does bring a bit of peace... Then we have a weekend-long practice with the band to get ready for our appearance as the featured act at the Royal Palm Beach Folk and Acoustic Music Festival. Getting my guitar chops back into shape. Float like a....

...and in between I'll be heading into the studio to record some of the new stuff. Hopefully the energy will hold out. Have obligations to photography clients too, not to mention work (the activity that makes the rest of this all possible). We're into budget preparation season, and in this economy it makes a tough process that much more of a challenge. But when you do the right things for the right reasons, it's worth the aches and pains. Though right now my eyes pretty much look like this...
All of the images are from our backyard butterfly gardens, that are finally starting to become active. Dragonfly up top, gulf fritillary in the middle, and a fiery skipper third. All shot hand-held with a Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens. Up close and personal. So we'll let you know how it goes.......... simple.

Local Focus July 1: Gators and Birds...

2009-07-01T20:21:00.009-04:00

The Saint Augustine Alligator Farm might strike you at first as being one of those trite, old, U.S. Highway 1 roadside Florida attractions from the 1960s, designed to trap unwary tourists and separate them from their vanishing financial resources.

Not so!

In addition to being quite the cool little, well run, professionally staffed zoological park (yes, inhabited by hundreds of Florida Alligators -- among many other rare and exotic creatures), Nature's perfect processes have conspired to create an absolutely amazing, unplanned (by the park) environmental phenomenon. A large section of the park's wetland areas are inhabited by (hungry) free-ranging gators. A wooden causeway built into the heart of the area allows visitors to view the reptiles in their native habitat, and, yes, put a quarter into the little machine and toss a handful of treats into the snapping jaws below. The primitive area is dotted with a wide variety of north Florida regional flora, including majestic live oak, and tall palms. The combination of trees and gators created a perfect rookery habitat for the Florida native birds...

Every spring, hundreds and hundreds of great white egrets, snowy egrets (like the one above), cattle egrets, little blue herons, great blue herons, tricolor herons (like the one below with eggs), and wood storks fly in to build their nests, lay, incubate and hatch their eggs and raise their young above the watchful protection of the alligators that keep the bird's natural predators away.

In return, the gators get the occasional egg and feather breakfast (survival of the fittest in action), and hundreds of photographers flock in to observe and photograph every bit of it. The birds a so unintimidated by the stream of humanity gawking at their courtship rituals that some nests are built with a few yards of the causeway.

We made two visits this year, the most recent was last Saturday -- and it produced the photos posted here. Nature in action.... simple!

More photos from the 2009 rookery season can be found on my website here: RiverRoadPhoto

Strangers in A Familiar Land

2009-06-24T21:25:00.008-04:00

We blew out of the heat of Jacksonville last Friday to the even more extreme heat of Savannah, Georgia. Savannah is easily our favorite weekend getaway destination -- a great walking town full of incredible early to mid 19th century architecture, interesting and often friendly locals, great restaurants and pubs, and our favorite bed and breakfast, the McMillan Inn. Joe and Cindy are wonderful hosts, and the multi-course breakfasts are second to none.

With the temperature above 100 every day, we did not get much walking in during the daylight hours -- though upon our arrival for lunch at the Six Pense Pub, we strolled through Oglethorpe Square and followed the sound of a flute to this gentleman's bench...

We stopped for a few photos and a bit of conversation. He said he would be down at River Street after 7:00 to sing the blues with his guitar playing partner (and he was)...

Oglethorpe Square, at the intersection of Oglethorpe and Bull Streets is but one of more than 20 town squares -- small parks, really, that make the Savannah historic district so accessible by foot. The shade of the old live oaks -- some once used for hangings, they say -- make it almost tolerable on a summer day. Each has it's own character. Remember the movie Forrest Gump, when Forrest was sitting on the bench, waiting for the bus and telling his story? That was the next square east on Bull Street...

Part of the character and style of downtown Savannah is shaped by the presence of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Were I 35 years younger, it's the kind of school I'd want to attend. The youthful creativity of the students really dresses up the old 1950's era cross streets, adds a Bohemian flair, and the perfect contrasting ambience to the Civil War era historic district. A great place to be with a camera and the love of your life...

Local Focus - 6-18-2009: Alpine Groves

2009-06-18T13:49:00.003-04:00

Took off of work on this steamy Florida overcast, rumbly day to relax and test a new lens out before engaging in some serious photography this weekend. Ten miles south on State Route 13, along the banks of the Saint Johns River in Switzerland Florida (originally settled by Swiss farmers, if you don't count the Timacua -- imagine that), sits Alpine Groves Park.

Alpine groves is the historical remnants of a formerly working north Florida citrus farm, where oranges and lemons were raised. The old farm -- the remaining structures, including a beautifully restored grove house, were constructed in the first decade of the twentieth century -- sits on a high bluff above the river. At low tide the pilings of the old wharf are visible above the brown water of the north-flowing Saint Johns. You can easily imagine horse drawn carts at the wharf and crates of orange and yellow citrus being loaded onto boats for the trip up to Mayport, and from there to the great ports of the east coast...

The upper window in this hundred year old barn was made of panes of blue, green and red stained glass. Only in the last six months have the local knuckleheads shattered the last of them. Part of the yin and yang of turning a piece of history into a publicly accessible space. I've never understood the lure of vandalism -- some psychologist once told me it provides a false sense of control to the transgressor. Power to the idiots of the world...

Rising from the bluff, and eventually toppling from the bluff as it is worn down by the slow but steady effort of the river, live oak and cypress trees provide perches for egrets and osprey. It's a great spot to watch them, and the occasional anhinga search for food below. We've often seen manatee gather and play within a few hundred feet of the shore here. A favorite spot of our to walk, shoot, meditate and relax...

OId City Strangers...

2009-06-11T20:12:00.008-04:00

Being stuck in the office all week has made it difficult, to say the least, to get out and and do any street photography... so I am reaching back to our February trip down to Saint Augustine (see my "St. Augustine in 50 mm of Black and White" post) to fulfill my first iteration of the "strangers" posts.

We had stopped at the Tiny Martini Bar on the front porch of the Casa Blanca B&B (great place that Kay and I have stayed at) -- and ended up sitting next to a growing family gathering of folks vacationing from the northeast. I jumped off the porch midway through my glass of California Zin (no, not a sweet white zinfandel, but a real, pure red robust zin!), turned and focused with my camera while encouraging the gang to smile...

Little sister on the porch, obviously in a playful mood put up the ubiquitous horns behind her husband's head... you can invent stories for each of them -- all good sports. By the third time we ran into them in different parts of town, they were certain we were stalking them.

After shooting the above frame, I turned toward the rumble on Avenida Menendez behind me in time to capture this group of bikers...
I stepped off the curb, hollered "smile" (most of the did), and pressed the shutter. Another opportunity to imagine their stories....

I'm not very comfortable with this style of shooting -- taking a chance at photographing complete strangers on the street. Half of it is the fear of being perceived as one of those dorks with a camera (yeah, I know..), and the other half is fear of getting my butt kicked by offending someone in a federal witness protection program. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be a good thing, too. I watched a video blog this morning by a guy (Tim Ferriss) at a Google conference who talked about Stoic productivity principles... his point was that it's more important to define your fears than your goals. At my age, new approaches are more difficult -- but I'm willing to challenge myself -- and (hopefully) show up here with new shots of new friends each weeks, and no bruises for the effort.... simple?

Local Focus - June 5, 2009

2009-06-05T19:13:00.006-04:00

In an effort to bring some amount (however small) of discipline to my writing here, I thought that I would try to venture down a path of recurring themes, wrapped around my photography. Two or three areas of "focus" (pun totally intended), that might produce two or three posts per week. So here's what I came up with: 1) Local Focus -- a look at the northeast Florida region (not what most people dream about when they dream about tropical Florida...), 2) Strangers -- photos and stories of people I have never met, and 3) Free For All -- whatever happens to come to mind through the lens of my camera.

So tonight we start this little effort locally...

...County Dock Road in Mandarin dead-ends at the Saint Johns River. An old boat ramp adjacent to the dock that extends a thousand feet or so into the brackish water. Here we found a fisherman casting for bait, in silhouette near sundown on a cloudy day. The river was calm - it had rained heavily earlier in the afternoon. A good evening to fish...

Fifty feet out on the dock a couple fished and smoked. There were at least ten people, men and women, fishing on the dock. They all smoked. I wonder if North Carolina Tobacco attracts Florida fish to the end of those lines. His white tee shirt and red shorts made an interesting reflection on the slick surface. We didn't stay long, what with the smoke and all.....

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-06-02T19:28:00.007-04:00

With all of the rain that we had the week before last (more than twenty inches in five days), followed by nothing but warm, tropical sunshine this week, the gardens in the backyard are really starting to explode...

After a long, stressful day at work a sure way to relax and lower my blood pressure is to sit on the back porch with a glass of wine and enjoy the view...

Or better yet, head out into the yard with a camera (Nikon D700) and some fast glass (today I used a Sigma 150 mm f/2.8 macro lens), and click off a couple of dozen shots of nature's handy work...

Those are Gerber daisies and pentas up top, periwinkle in the middle, and a Golden Globe bush immediately above. Not many butterflies yet this year, but Kay reported the first hummingbird in the lantana this afternoon. Happy Monday!

The Father's Dance

2009-05-25T17:40:00.010-04:00

There comes a point in every boy's life when he suddenly turns around and finds himself to be the 56 year old father of the bride, walking his amazingly beautiful and graceful youngest daughter down the center aisle to the handsome -- dashing -- young man who now becomes number one in her life. This is one of those never-to-be-forgotten moments in both lives. Certainly in mine. One of two major moments this past Saturday for Tracy and me. The Aisle Walk and the Father's Dance. Not that there were not many, many other memorable moments -- but these two mark the transition from one phase of two lives to the next with a certain unmatched emphasis.

It was easy to become distracted in the previous days and weeks by the planning, the family hosting, the bill paying, the anticipation of the frenzy -- the business of her wedding. Easy until that second that she steps through the door in her gown... this angel in white... this sophisticated, poised young woman. And for just a couple of seconds we both tear up in a rush of emotion that had been forced under the surface until that second. The you catch your breath, wait a moment for the direction that sends you down that narrow path between the sea of chairs filled with friendly faces that you don't even notice. You talk to her in subtext as you move, about the matching clover leaf tattoos you are going to get, about who is steadying who while you put your left foot down after your right. A kiss on the cheek, an admonition to the young man to "remember to be careful with this", and suddenly... you're dancing...

"Call Me Papa" is the song she chose. It was a long, sweet tune. I thanked her for the length of it. Happy to have kept my feet off of hers. Hated to let go. But then life is all about letting go... It was an amazing evening.

Photos by Gar. Thanks, bro.

Interlude

2009-05-09T14:16:00.001-04:00

Piano Study I, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

Recuperating (still) from last weekend... preparing for Tracy's wedding in two weeks... writing, re-learning old songs, working, working. Irons in the fire. It's pretty hot in there. Patience is a virtue. Wish I possessed it.

Not As Young As I Used To Be...

2009-05-03T20:00:00.002-04:00

Jack Williams, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

Kay and I decided we would roll back the clock this weekend and camp with the other musicians at the Gamble Rogers Festival in St. Augustine. Around the folk scene it is a tradition to camp out, and swap songs late into the night after the stages are closed down. On Friday night we had 50+ players and listeners around our tent, including Jack Williams (pictured above in silhouette during his main stage sound check). That finally broke up at about 2:00 a.m...

There was a time when I could get away with just a few hours sleep and get up the next morning, gargle with a cap full of Captain Morgan's spiced rum, and hit the stage. Like Jack, we are all getting older, though he is the youngest, hippest, fastest-handed 65 year old that I have ever met. The guy's a super star (look him up), but utterly without pretense and ego -- never fails to look me up and remember my name on those once or twice per year occasions when we cross paths... anyway....

Come Saturday afternoon, and our first set... It was actually very good, but beyond that I barely had the energy to snap a few frames, and pass out on top of my sleeping bag shortly after 9:00 p.m. I woke up briefly to the sound of some angel's voice I was sure had come to carry me home... but otherwise slept through another late night jam a few yards from our tent. Some of the playing in the campground continued until the sun edged over the eastern horizon. There was a time....

I guess it's time to learn to pace ourselves... into the sack a little earlier (maybe at a local motel)... rest up in the afternoon. But I have to tell you, if you've never experienced a night by the fire, swapping songs with your idols, your friends, folks you've never met before but sure hope you will again -- you've missed something.

A few photos will be posted in a gallery on my website in a day or two (insufficient energy reserves tonight), including that song circle in our camp. Check it out... home made, live music. It's a thing of beauty. Simple.

The Best Things

2009-04-26T13:28:00.002-04:00

Smooch, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

This is our youngest daughter and her fiance, at a family pre-wedding cook-out. The wedding is just four weeks away now. Both are firefighters, both are amazing kids with great hearts, great ambition, focus, and drive. These are tough economic times, but Derek and Tracy remind everyone who meets them that there is great hope for the future -- absolute reason to be optimistic.

It will be sweetly heartbreaking to walk her down the aisle -- but I know that I am helping to move her on to a life of meaning that will inspire all of us within their circle of contact. These are the best things... simple.

The Butterfly Effect

2009-04-19T20:43:00.002-04:00

The Butterfly Effect, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

Yet another fantastic north Florida spring weekend. No obligations to speak of, we planned to continue the hard work of recovering our back yard after the hard winter. Twenty-eight freezes is a lot of cold for semi-tropical flora to handle, and we lost much -- but are relishing the opportunity provided to replace the frost-vulnerable plants with more hardy north-Florida varieties. So Saturday was was "visit the nursery" day -- then more clean-up and planting, fertilizing, watering and patching. And Sunday was our day of "rest".

Some of our lantana have started to bloom, but not enough yet to attract the butterflies back to the yard -- so we set off to Alpine Groves Park -- a restored citrus farm on a bluff overlooking the east bank of the Saint Johns River. There I found the monarch in the photo above. I was moving in with my macro (close-up) lens for one last eye-to-eye shot when he bolted at the same instant that I depressed the shutter. I thought I'd lost him, but found this left behind in the camera. Fantastic luck! Then it was lunch (crab) at Six Mile Creek and back to the house for more yard work and a two mile walk as the sun headed west. Now a couple of chapters from the books I'm currently reading (Lincoln's Virtues, and Shakespear's Two Gentlemen of Verona). Weekends don't get much better than this... simple.

Losing Florida

2009-04-14T20:34:00.002-04:00

Finding Florida, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

The past 5 days have brought amazing contrasts. The image above is a Swallowtail Kite hunting in the skies above the Seminole State Forest, about 15 miles west of Sanford in central Florida. This image is from a distance of about 250 - 300 yards. Mrs. Muse, her sister and husband, and I spent Easter weekend camping the way nature intended, 5 miles into the forest. Other than the occasional sound of a jet engine and the daily visit from Ranger Linda, we neither saw, nor heard another human being. What we did see were the piney woods, stands of live oak, open Florida sand hill prairie, sulphur springs, Hawks, the Kite, wild turkeys, deer, skinks and lizards, sand hill cranes, Florida Spring Wildflowers, butterflies and Blackwater Creek. Then, of course, there were the gnats, red bugs, ants, and ticks -- but they were well worth the price of minor annoyance. Nothing quite like sitting under a broad, black Florida sky on a Saturday night counting the passage of satellites and watching shooting stars flash by. Fantastic. Then there was yesterday...

Once again, a State of Florida agency, supposedly existing in order to protect our natural resources, acted shamefully, foolishly, stupidly. The Saint Johns River Water Management District Board voted to permit the DAILY withdrawal of more than 500,000 (half-a-million) gallons of water from the Saint Johns River to meet the needs of the exploding population of Seminole County. This is the same SJWMD Board that limits residential irrigation to 2 days each week (still probably too much), and is likely to grant a permit to Niagara Water to draw 175,000 gallons per year from the aquifer to bottle and sell. Political appointees at their worst. Follow the money and it very likely ends up in the pockets of board members or their supporting cast of Florida real estate developers. Keep the population growing, keep the cash flowing, but ignore the vast majority of knowledgeable scientists, environmentalists and city governments along the Saint Johns who testified that the scientific evaluation of the impact of the withdrawal is incomplete. One must hope that the ink on the dollar bills will quench the thirst of these dolts when the water is gone.

So we protect a wee bit of natural Florida -- then do what Florida good-old-boy politicians do best: suck the life out of the land for a few dollars more. When WILL they ever learn.

Will McLean Festival, 2009

2009-04-07T17:45:00.003-04:00

Songweaver, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

Mrs. Muse and I spent this past weekend among friends and family performing with The Ashley Gang, shooting photos, and listening to the music at Willfest 2009. That's Amy Carol Webb in the picture above, performing on the Magnolia Stage along the banks of Florida's Withlacoochie River.

It was a peaceful, yet powerful weekend as I was reminded of the power of words and melody. My busy life doesn't allow me the time I once had for making music and enjoying the sounds made by friends accumulated over 25 years in Florida. These are musicians who care about Florida's heritage and Florida's future -- preserving that bit of natural, undeveloped beauty that yet hangs on against the flood of cash hungry "growth" agents. Even out in rural Dunnellon (levy County) you can see it and feel it as the city of Ocala spreads west into the oaks and subdivides the horse farms. Where there used to be an occasional sink hole, the land is now pock-marked by dry retention ponds. We sing loudly and with passion because we have so much to loose.

So, passion for making music renewed, we came home, we went back to work, and began to look forward to the next opportunity to come together and sing our memories, celebrate friends gone and friends still here, and sit around the campfires to swap tunes.

As norm would say... let's have a tune! Here's Rod McDonald, on stage at WillFest...Simple...

(More photos from the festival are on my website HERE)

Crack in the Sky

2009-04-02T17:30:00.002-04:00

Crack in the Sky, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

Quick post -- life's been crazy busy, but not half bad. Heading down to Dunnellon Florida for the Will McLean Music Festival this weekend. Will be performing Saturday and Sunday with the Ashley Gang. If you're in the vicinity -- stop by and say hello!

Another Year Down...

2009-03-26T21:08:00.002-04:00

Untouched, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

Time to update the profile information to reflect my passage through year number 56. I've passed the speed limit on many roads today. But the regrets, while there, are remarkably few. Interestingly, I've had more birthday calls, wishes, and visits today than I've had in the last five years combined. Not sure what that means other than that I've expanded my reach a bit. Friends connected with through FaceBook and MySpace Music that I haven't heard from in 30 years... my office crowded with co-workers singing Happy Birthday... my 2 year old grandson leaving a phone message that sounds vaguely like "happy birthday grandpa"...e-cards from distant relatives... dinner with my wife, youngest daughter and her fiance. A song by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris posted by a friend 3,000 miles away. Pretty cool business.

So I'm 56, employed, healthy, more full of friends than I really knew. Life is good. Simple.....

Mind over Matter - my battle with Tai Chi

2009-03-21T14:42:00.002-04:00

Mind over Matter, originally uploaded by Paul-G.

I am one of the (seriously) least coordinated individuals without a physical disability you will meet. This is in part because I am inherently inflexible (physically), barely able to reach my knees, no less my toes, and in part because I am by nature highly impatient. I never learned to dance both because I was never agile enough to make it look good,and because I would give up on the moves quickly when they didn't come naturally or quickly. I frustrate easily -- which is why more solitary pursuits tend to suit me best.

A month ago we started, for the second time, a beginner's Tai Chi class. Both of us need the discipline of a regular exercise program, and we have seen in our friends the physical and mental benefits of a consistent Tai Chi practice. The first time around (about two years ago) I frustrated out after less than a month when, as with dance, I couldn't string the subtle, slow movements together quickly enough to suit myself. This time seems to be different, so far... we have a much more patient, intuitive, and helpful teacher. She is helping me to learn that the secrets of Tai Chi are not in your muscles, but in your brain. Learning to let go of your expectations, of rigid expectations of immediate success and gratification -- learning to relax and let it happen, has made an amazing difference. This morning, after four weeks I was able to come home and take myself through the 17 moves of the "starter set". Very satisfying, confidence building, relaxing and stimulating at the same time.

So wish me luck -- the full set we are learning is 102 consecutive, connected moves. Simplification of thought is the goal. Let the body learn and remember, and the ultimate benefits spread to every sector of your life... simple.