Corner of Rock and Mauro

January 18, 2006 - dramatic clouds, shot out my window.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Vision (Victor Wooten)
2. Not Too Soon (Throwing Muses)
3. Starstruck (The Kinks)
4. Way Down in the Hole (Tom Waits)
5. Me & My Bass Guitar (Victor Wooten)
6. Insomniac (Echobelly)
7. Your Woman (White Town)
8. So Lonely (live) (The Police)
9. There's a Fine, Fine Line ("Avenue Q") - between love and a waste of time
10. Lord Is It Mine? (Supertramp)

Some blown out winter-y scenes

December 31, 2005 - This is the Jones Road overpass over Rte. I-95 approaching New York off the New Jersey Turnpike and I-80. You can't see this if you go there because, in keeping New Jersey to its reputation that there's nothing worth seeing here, any view from this overpass has been completely blocked off by ugly panels. I got this shot by holding Bebe over the panels and shooting blind. This is looking west. Rte. 80 starts several miles down the road, and I used to live at the other end of it in San Francisco. Yes, I've driven the whole thing.

This is looking east into Fort Lee, quickly coming up to the George Washington Bridge:


Perhaps a default shot out my second floor suburban window:


iTunes soundtrack:
1. Been A Son (Nirvana)
2. Tomorrow Never Knows (Phil Collins)
3. Silverfuck (Smashing Pumpkins)
4. Stutter (Elastica)
5. Fly Me to the Moon (4 Beat TV version) ("Neon Genesis Evangelion")
6. Every Word (Belly)
7. It's Nearly Africa (XTC)
8. This Eye (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
9. it (live) (Genesis)
10. Pueblo Nuevo (Ruben Gonzalez)

Yamaha Beech Customs (redux)

Roll opening shot, frame 00. My rearranged set with two rack toms. Before I had it set up like John Bonham, with one rack tom and two floors. It was cooler before, but I realize now that my style of playing is better served by having all the toms closer together for faster fills.

Since taking this lomo, I set up the last piece that hadn't been set up, so now there are two crashes in front, and the ride is now lower and to the right more. You can barely see the China on the right in this shot. I have way to much stuff for the kind of drummer I am, but I swear I use everything.

I'm looking for something portable for when I go to Taiwan, and I'm vaguely thinking of looking for some paying gig playing drums there. How I'm able to think I'm good enough to get paid to do this is a little beyond me, but...it'll beat teaching English. I would love to get these puppies over there, but I'd only do it if I found something that paid to get them over there.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Star of the County Down (Béla Fleck & The Flecktones)
2. Roi (The Breeders)
3. In Your Eyes (live) (Peter Gabriel)
4. Breakerfall (Pearl Jam)
5. Twilight (Electric Light Orchestra)
6. Hair (Southern All-Stars)
7. Bring the Noise (Public Enemy)
8. Crack in the Union Jack (Suede)
9. The Man Who Sold the World (live) (Nirvana)
10. You Wonder How These Things Begin... ("The Fantasticks")

My door

Real quickie lomo. A nothing shot. The hall outside my room. I ruined the shot with the flash. The afternoon sun was making my room glow. It would have been neat without the flash, even though everything in the foreground wouldn't be visible. This was the last frame on the roll, too. I just got another roll processed to get into tomorree. The shadow on the lower right is the shadow of the lens barrel. Another reason to avoid using the flash.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Rudy (live) (Supertramp)
2. The Rhythm Method (drum solo) (Rush)
3. Duchess (Genesis)
4. Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead)
5. Looking For Water (David Bowie)
6. Check Your Mind (Idiot Box)
7. Tiny Cities Made of Ashes (Modest Mouse)
8. I Hear the Rain (Violent Femmes)
9. Love --> Building on Fire (live)(Talking Heads)
10. The House is Rockin' (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)

Color negative archive project

I'm an obsessive archivist. Last month I took all my existing color negatives, reconstructed strips of negative into their respective rolls, and then chronologized them, using any number of resources to figure out when what was taken. Then I did what told myself I wouldn't do, and scanned them all. Needless to say, it took a while.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Front Line (Stevie Wonder)
2. Does Your Heart Beat Slower? (June of 44)
3. You've Really Got a Hold On Me (The Miracles)
4. Refrain of Memory ("Haibane Renmei")
5. The Drop (Peter Gabriel)
6. Walkabout (Versus)
7. Help! (The Beatles)
8. Macavity ("Cats" - London)
9. Green Grow the Rushes (R.E.M.)
10. Never Enough (The Cure)

We call it "Winter"

This wasn't today, but you get the basic idea.

I just realized the frame counter on Bebe isn't working, so the end of the current roll of film will come as a special surprise one of these days. Joy.

current soundtrack:
1. You're In a Bad Way (Saint Etienne)
2. Play Dead (Versus)
3. Hateful (The Clash)
4. Seven Stones (Genesis)
5. So This Is Love (George Benson)
6. Tali Lama (Victor Wooten)
7. Exit Music (For A Film) (Radiohead) I wonder how many filmmakers asked Radiohead to use this piece as exit music for a film, but were turned down being told that it's the title of a song, not a descriptive of the song, and using the song as a descriptive would cheapen it. That's what I would have said, and I would have called them "wankers".
8. Nostalgic for Nothing (J Church)
9. Andy Warhol (David Bowie) "hol" as in "holes", not "hall"
10. Giyopela Omudou ("Betel Nuts" compilation)

around the house

It rained hard on November 22nd. This isn't a past roll, this is the second most recent roll, but I slowed down shooting and got more discriminating about subject matter, so it just seems like it. And it goes all the way back to November! Oy. The rain was pelting the window screens of what used to be my brother's room.


November 23rd was nice and sunny. It would seem this is a nice room with its nice afternoon sun, but it's really the hottest room in the Summer (sweltering) and the coldest room in the Winter (drafty). And since it doesn't get a neighbor's wireless signal, I don't spend that much time in here. It does have a TV, though. Ah, suburban luxury. Wherever I live next, I will not get a TV.

soundtrack:
1. Oh! Pretty Woman (Van Halen)
2. Market Square Heroes (Marillion)
3. Perspective (Peter Gabriel)
4. Hang to Dry (Julie Plug)
5. Get Crazy! (Princess Princess)
6. Don't Worry About the Government (Talking Heads)
7. Help! (The Beatles)
8. Bury Me With It (Modest Mouse)
9. From My Window (Keiko Matsui)
10. Thousand Knives (Ryuichi Sakamoto)

Coming to the end of past roll redux (hopefully)

November 12, 2005 - Cemetery. Dumont, NJ. It's a teeny cemetery of the New Jersey provincial style.


November 1, 2005 - Not sure what I was going for with this, but I think I failed. At my parents' house.


October 31, 2005 - A bit too personal for posting, but whatever. I shot it, might as well post it.

10 song shuffle on iTunes:
1. Ho-Sho-Su (Goro Yamaguchi) shakuhachi music
2. Accretions (Shriekback)
3 Independence Day (Ani DiFranco)
4. The Magnificent Seven (The Clash)
5. Ballet for a Rainy Day (XTC)
6. Tres (Pinback)
7. San Juan (Sukay) Andean flute music
8. Teddy Boy (demo) (The Beatles)
9. To Life ("Fiddler on the Roof")
10. Sometimes (My Bloody Valentine)

Past Roll Redux , pt. 6

October 29, 2005 - Sunset outside my window.


November 1, 2005 - Here's another of that same scene as below. I liked that there are people at the picnic table, but the sun's glare is what probably prevented me from posting this before.


George Washington Bridge from the Henry Hudson Drive in Fort Lee. Maybe you can just see the tiny pinpoint of red that is the Little Red Lighthouse.

10 song shuffle on iTunes:
1. Azuma Jishi (Katsuya Yokoyama) shakuhachi music
2. Purpose ("Avenue Q")
3. Waters of March (David Byrne & Marissa Monte)
4. Mediterranean Sand (Keiko Matsui)
5. Northern Lad (Tori Amos)
6. Time (Rebecca)
7. ...Baby One More Time (Britney Spears)
8. Genius of Love ("Stop Making Sense" version) (Tom Tom Club)
9. Pan in "A" Minor (Amoco Renegades Steel Orchestra)
10. Aqualung (Jethro Tull)

Part 5 - Past Roll Redux

October 19, 2005 - Another shot of my southern exposure window that, as with the shot from a few days ago, I'm not sure why didn't get posted before. I've had those windchimes for over 20 years. In the shot also is my as-of-yet un-named cactus.


October 28, 2005 - No idea why this didn't get posted before, maybe because it got caught up in the deluge of Autumn color bike ride shots that even I was getting sick of, but this is quite nice.


October 28, 2005 - I have an idea why this didn't get posted before (aside from the blinding glare), and I think I have other similar shots to this. I was trying to imitate a fave black and white photo of mine because I'm like, dude, such a geek, but wasn't sure what I was trying to get out of shooting the scene with a fisheye lomo. This shot is flipped to match the black and white:

December 24, 1995 - Hudson River Boat Basin

10 song shuffle on iTunes:
1. Air ("Hair")
2. Stop the Show (Built to Spill)
3. The Infamous Date Rape (A Tribe Called Quest)
4. Torch Song (Marillion)
5. So This Is Love (George Benson)
6. Tres Bien (Le Tigre)
7. Moon Mist (Duke Ellington)
8. Just Calling (Tara Jane O'Neil)
9. What Sarah Said (Death Cab for Cutie)
10. There Is a Sucker Born Every Minute ("Barnum")

Who'da thunk I'd get so much mileage out of lomos I didn't post? (pt. 4)

October 19, 2005 - Maybe too many drum shots in recent days, oh well. I'm not ashamed of my Phil Collins "Phil's Choice" signature ride. Marshmallow-head that he became in later years, provoking even the ire of the South Park creators, he's still my fave drummer of all time. Jimmy Chamberlin may have changed my life when I really started playing regularly and thinking of myself as a drummer, but Phil Collins has been around a whole lot longer, and was blowing me away in those all-too-important high school years when I only wanted to be a drummer. It doesn't even matter that this ride sounds nothing like on Genesis records. If anything, it's from his 90's era big band experiment which went over like lead balloon. John Bonham would round out my top three fave drummers.


Suburban living at my parents' house. Hopefully for not too much longer.

10 songs shuffled on iTunes:
1. Murder Sounds (Enon)
2. Sally Simpson (The Who)
3. Mankind (Pearl Jam)
4. As Long As He Needs Me ("Oliver!")
5. I Don't Need Anything But You ("Annie")
6. Heading for the Light (The Traveling Wilburys)
7. Dazed and Confused (live) (Led Zeppelin)
8. Rebecca (Pete Johnson & Big Joe Truner)
9. Chan Chan (Eliades Ochoa - "Buena Vista Social Club")
10. You Were the Long Way Home (764-HERO)

Past Roll Redux , pt. 3

October 11, 2005 - Another version of this was posted before. This wasn't. In Manhattan with my sister-in-law.


October 14, 2005 - Attempt at enhancing a low-light shot during rain in my parents' backyard. I didn't post it before because of the obvious low quality, but it's neat in its own way for a review.


October 15, 2005 - Sunset from my room at my parents' house. Hm, not sure why this didn't get posted before. Didn't fit my aesthetic back then? Whatever.

10 songs shuffled on iTunes:
1. I Love the WB (Versus)
2. Overture/Audition ("42nd Street")
3. Jezebel (live unplugged) (10,000 Maniacs)
4. Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good) (Skunk Anansie)
5. Tango Till They're Sore (Tom Waits)
6. Willie the Wimp (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)
7. Steve Biko (Stir It Up) (A Tribe Called Quest)
8. Front Line (Stevie Wonder)
9. Deep Forbidden Lake (Neil Young)
10. Beat the Time (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)

Drums in black and white

September 23, 2005 - I went and looked at the first roll of lomo fisheye I shot, and noticed this one hadn't gotten posted. It's interesting that now I can go back and look at those black and whites and see what sort of lomographic characteristic comes out in them. Not sure if it's interesting enough to load up another roll of black and white. This is the third frame I shot with Bebe.

This is the second, also missed getting posted before, also September 23:

Mitsuwa Japanese grocery store, Edgewater, NJ.

current sounds:
1. State of Confusion (live) (The Kinks)
2. You Almost Feel Sad (J Church)
3. Flute Concerto in D Major (Vivaldi)
4. Sit On My Hands (Frente)
5. Do You Love Me Now? (The Breeders)
6. Pretty Noise (Soundgarden)
7. Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon)
8. After the Gold Rush (Michael Hedges)
9. Assassination on X-mas Eve (Archers of Loaf)
10. Day In, Day Out (Sakura)

Broken snare head

November 19, 2005 - I had this Aquarian Hi-Energy head on my snare for longer than any other type of snare head I've tried. The thing was indestructible. Almost. To its credit, it lasted years. I have photos of this same head from 2001, when I was playing in gigging band in San Francisco. Also, most heads break in the center, where it's struck, and when it breaks, you know it because your stick goes through it, and you go, "uh-oh".

This one broke on the edge, and there was still enough tension along the rest of the rim that it took me a few minutes to realize where it was broken. I noticed something funny about the sound and feel, but I didn't see a break and thought it sounded cool and just kept playing. Talk about reliable. If this thing broke during a gig, it might have even lasted out a set, whereas with other heads, I'd have to change heads, losing a song or two in the process, or would have to borrow a snare from another band. I had no qualms going out and buying the same head.

current soundtrack:
1. Isn't She Lovely? (Phase II Steel Band)
2. San Tropez (Pink Floyd) 3 in a row!
3. The Narrow Way, pt. 1 (Pink Floyd)
4. Dogs (Pink Floyd)
5. Follow You, Follow Me - remixed (Genesis)
6. Uncertain Smile (The The)
7. White Trash Heroes (live) (Archers of Loaf)
8. Sweet Valentine (Princess Princess)
9. Riders On the Storm (The Doors)
10. Blue Rondo a la Turk (Dave Brubeck Quartet)

Season check

December 4, 2005 - Shooting outside my window. Winter came early this year. It's not unusual for it to snow this early, but it is unusual for it to stay as long as it did - full coverage for about two weeks in unseasonably cold temperatures until it rained. And the rain didn't even wash it all away, which it should have. Even now there are still isolated mounds of dirty snow on street sides and parking lots, reminiscent of early Spring. But it's not early Spring with warm weather just around the corner, we're just heading into Winter.


December 1, 2005 - A few days before the snow we were in full-on Autumn. That's my high school. Corner of South Woodland and Palisades Avenue.


December 15, 2005 - The day before the big rain was forecast, I went out to shoot some winter and went to the Alpine Lookout off the Palisades Parkway. That road down there is the Hudson River Drive, on which many of my ride lomos were shot. Rte. 9W is up at this altitude, running parallel to the parkway.

current soundtrack:
1. Where Your Eyes Don't Go (They Might Be Giants)
2. Big Brother (live) (David Bowie)
3. Wait (The Beatles)
4. Tired of Waiting for You (The Kinks)
5. Lonely Butterfly (Rebecca) 80s j-pop band
6. Storm the Gates (Enon)
7. Voodoo Child (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
8. Little Mascara (The Replacements)
9. Supper's Ready (Genesis)
10. Evidence of Autumn (Genesis)

Nouveau Riche

November 16, 2005 - I stuck Bebe out the window of my room at my parents house for this one. They just completed building the house across the street on the left. The person who lived in the house that used to be there died a couple of years ago. I never met him or knew him, but apparently he was a dentist or something. All last year, I saw his relatives and/or executors coming in and out, and apparently part of what was going on was the sale of the property. During my time at the monastery, the old house came down and construction of this house began.

This architecture can be seen all through this town. They are called "mini mansions", but I prefer calling it "Nouveau Riche" architecture. Opulent monstrosities that would look good on a bigger piece of property, but not on the size of properties that were carved out decades ago, intended for the rising upper middle class in harder, if not hard, economic times. All of the other houses in this shot are the older style. Nice affordable private homes, architecturally practical and boring, but inoffensive, with nice lawns for children to play on.

The trend now is towards this new architecture. As the older generation dies off or moves on, their properties are being sold to these developers who readily tear down what was there to put these up. All the houses look the same, no lawns, unfriendly to children playing outside, but friendly to children watching flat-screen TVs inside and playing video games after school until their dual income parents get home. They all say "we've got money (even though we can't afford a larger property in Alpine a couple towns north)". I prefer the older houses that say "this is a home".

current sounds: last 10 songs shuffled on iTunes:
1. Arbor Day (10,000 Maniacs)
2. Rhinoceros (Smashing Pumpkins)
3. New Genious (Brother) (Gorillaz)
4. Bullpen (The Pugs)
5. She's So Lost (James) (Versus - Drawn and Quartered)
6. Twisted (Everyday Hurts) (Skunk Anansie)
7. Answers (Steve Vai)
8. Sketch Pad with Trumpet and Voice (Peter Gabriel)
9. Action (St. Etienne)
10. Flute Talk (Travis Terry) native American flute

My Space

My desk in my old room at my parents house. But this furniture came after I left, so I never really used it. The computer's mine from San Francisco. This isn't my work station now because I don't get some neighbor's wireless signal from here. And this computer isn't wireless and still has Windows ME, anyway. BLEAH!!


Corkboard right above the desk, and indication of an unhealthy obsession with Audrey Hepburn. But really, I don't. She's just my favorite icon.


What I consider my current workstation in my brother's room, where I can get a wireless signal. Film scanner's on the left. In the background there are several clothes racks of my mother's clothes. After the kids all left, she invaded all our closets, packing them full of clothes. Having run out of closet space, she filled this room with her clothes, many of which still have price tags on them. She might be what Buddhists call "hungry ghosts" - beings with huge stomachs, but teeny, tiny throats. They crave and want, but are never satisfied, and obtaining only feeds their desire for more. She's a classic example, but we all have varying degrees of that in us, so I'm not criticizing her here. With age, she has realized the folly of such vanity, and doesn't go clothes shopping anymore. I see that the behavior still exists, though, in other ways.

The big black shadow on the right hand side is another downside of the fisheye lomo. The shadow is of the lens barrel caused by the flash.

current sounds:
1. Kali Kali Zulfon Ke Phande Nah Dalo (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)
2. He Knows, You Know (Marillion)
3. Your Own Special Way (Genesis)
4. Where Do the Children Play? (Cat Stevens)
5. Me and My Charms (Kristin Hersh)
6. We've Got a File On You (Blur)
7. Honshirabe (Katsuya Yokoyama) shakuhachi music
8. Sentimental Lady (Duke Ellington)
9. Gepetto (Belly)
10. A Little More Mascara ("La Cage Aux Folles")

not a ride lomo, but then...

October 24, 2005 - Self-portrait with Takamine #1. Yes, I have two Takamine's. Oy. This one I bought for $500 a long time ago, and it sounds better now than when I got it, so I don't want to let it go. My other Takamine I got for $800 used, and it has a very mellow sound. No one is impressed by how it sounds upon hearing it, but I've grown to love it.

Obligatory ride shots, consecutive frames from November 6:

Frame 3


Frame 4 - there were a lot of riders out that day because it was Sunday and relatively warm. I was trying to get a lomo of other riders, but even when they are close, Bebe makes them tiny.

current sounds:
1. Sunburned (Versus)
2. Two Step (Dave Matthews Band) - I don't care what people say, their first two albums were excellent.
3. Woman On the Bass (Neal and Massy Trinidad All-Stars) - steel orchestra
4. Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (New Radicals)
5. Hammer To Fall (Queen)
6. Y (Spitz)
7. Mars, the Bringer of War (Holst)
8. Blu-Bop (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
9. American Without Tears (Twilight Version) (Elvis Costello & the Attractions)
10. Helpless (live) (Neil Young)

Bass for your face, homes.

Spector NS-2000:

Thru-neck body, meaning the neck isn't bolted on, but is made from the same piece of wood as the body for better sustain. "Ergonomically" curved back, incredibly comfortable, but strictly speaking has nothing to do with ergonomics. Passive EMG-HZ pickups, but active electronics. Decent, but I prefer full active pickups and electronics.

Riverhead "Unicorn" headless bass:

I'm sure I can get a better picture of this freaky looking bass. It's called a "Unicorn" for a reason, but someone once refered to it as a "Squid" bass, and I liked that better, so that's what I call it. Semi-thru neck body, meaning it's still not a bolt-on neck, but the wood of the neck is extended and embedded into the body. Active pick-ups and electronics. Japanese made. The bass came with more than a full set of Allen wrenches to perform all the little adjustments required, and as such, must be one of the most poorly designed basses of all time!

I can swear I had a third bass around here someplace. Must've misplaced it.

current sounds (last 10 songs shuffled on iTunes):
1. Sugar Water (Cibo Matto)
2. Unauthorized Autobiography (Unwound)
3. VI. Denn wir haben hie (Ein Deutsches Requiem, Brahms)
4. Learo, You're a Hole (Archers of Loaf)
5. The Funky Avocado (Michael Hedges)
6. Angel (Echobelly)
7. Nothing Without You (Tery Bina) (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)
8. Mexican Seafood (Nirvana)
9. Sukiyaki (Sandii)
10. Usnisa Vijana Dharani (Mantras of the Sanskrit)(Imee Ooi)

me and my shadow

November 1, 2005 - Dear Diary, no more taking Bebe with me on rides. I have a backlog of ride shots, it's ridiculous. What makes me think any of these are interesting. Pretty colors, tho'.

Here's some sunset shots from my window:

Through a screen.


Bebe poked out the window.

current sounds (last 10 songs shuffled on iTunes):
1. Cashout (Fugazi)
2. Buri Buri Borderline (Southern All-Stars)
3. KB (Elastica)
4. Aquaboogie (Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop) (P-Funk)
5. Go For It! (Dreams Come True)
6. Fences of Pales (Shannon Wright)
7. Young Conservatives (The Kinks)
8. I Would Love To (Steve Vai)
9. A Pile of Time (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
10. The Ocean (U2)