Florida Thanksgiving and Photoshop

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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!