Alex Brown
Every once in a while, as a fan of photographs, I discover someone with a new view of the world, you know? Someone that makes you laugh, or smile with recognition or takes you out of your own life for a few minutes and imparts in you an unaccustomed thought or emotion. Alex Brown is the latest. We found the above portrait, entitled "Sad Vader" in the book "The Vice Photo Book" today in Barnes and Noble and both TSO and I were instantly smitten by it.

Having checked out the portraits on his website, (many taken at Coney Island, I note with amusement) I'm trying to put my finger on what it is I like about his style. It's not anything technical, nor is it composition. There's just a certain uniformity of expression in the people featured in them that's really the thing that draws me in. I wonder what he says to them the second before the shutter trips?

(Picture used without permission but in the hope that linking to photographer's site might be payment enough?)

Coney Island

I love closed down funfairs and the one at Coney Island is just as I imagined it from all the songs, books, TV shows like the Sopranos (Ton's recurring dream about meeting Big Pussy at Coney Island for example) - perpetually, beautifully run-down.

The Boxer
On the boardwalk at Coney Island yesterday, it was cold enough that I got windburned quite badly and people wrapped up in fur coats still looked pretty frozen. Except there was this one kid, shirtless, shoeless, putting himself through all kinds of training manouevres for the benefit of an assorted audience of oldies sitting on the benches by the Aquarium, sheltering from the wind. Oh he was going at it, pushups with the figertips, the crawling spiderman pushups, balancing on the railings. I was, naturally, rapt. I got close enough to hear what he was saying to another guy who was there training with a skip rope. He was bragging about how soon he'd take the other guy out if they had a match. The other guy was trying to give him training tips etc. Shirtless wasn't having a bar of it - he actually ended up shouting at the guy to leave him alone, to "don't fuckin' touch me, man" etc. Great stuff. I think he's really, really fit but I have my doubts about his ringworthiness and I frankly pity any trainer charged with putting him in a match.

Brooklyn Bridge
Thanks, Elvis.

New York Walk
I've been really beating the pavements of Manhattan this week, and I'm developing a great playlist on the iPod that fits the mood perfectly. Here are some samples:.

Jaques Brel: La Foire
Tinariwen: Izarar Ténéré
Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah: Details Of The War
Omara Portuondo: Te Dije Quedate
The O'Kaysions: I'm A Girl Watcher
Colin James: Tin Pan Alley
Stone Roses: Ten Storey Love Song
Gene Pitney: Town Without Pity
London Symphony Orchestra: Canon In D Major (Pachelbel)
The Cramps: Goo Goo Muck
Wynonie Harris: Lovin' Machine
Toots & The Maytals: 54-46 (Was My Number)
Rory Gallacher: As The Crow Flies
Van Morrison: Glad Tidings
Michael Halasz, Michelle Breedt & Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia: Voi Che Sapete (From The Marriage Of Figaro, Mozart)
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: Mercury (as of today)
Nightmares on Wax: Flip Ya Lid
Roy Orbison: Domino
Echo and the Bunnymen: My Kingdom
Incognito: Everybody Loves The Sunshine
The Coasters: Down In Mexico
Charles Aznavour: Plus Bleu Que Tes Yeux
Willie Hutch: Give Me Some of That Good Old Love
Felt: Seahorses On Broadway
Patrick Wilson: The Great Escape
Donald Byrd: Fallin' Like Dominoes
Róisín Murphy: Checkin Up On Me
The Hidden Cameras: Heiji

Anyone got any suggestions for additions? I'm fine tuning every day, finding that certain songs really lend themselves well to the landscape. (Incidentaly, I Took this picture from the Brooklyn Bridge the other day when the sky was cooperating)

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Last night, at the 42nd Street subway station, I heard this huge sound booming off the tiled walls, horns, drums, this mad, jubilant energy. I was drawn to a place where loads of people were gathered. In the middle of it all were a group of young guys, obviously practiced, tight, effortless. Turns out what I was seeing was "Hypnotic Brass Ensemble" from Chicago and they've been around, by the looks of their gig history.

Man, if I remember one thing from this trip to New York, it'll be this band, the way the normally don't give-a-shit rush hour crowds were stopped in their tracks, walking from the other side of the station to hear where this huge sound was coming from. Check out their story here. I mean, people were nodding their heads, silently saying "yes" to an invisible question, obviously moved by what they were witnessing. The sound is immensely thick with influences: you can hear traditional, classical brass, you can't miss the R&B horn stabs, bringin up some funk in the back, there's blues, there's folk, jazz, hope, inspiration, POW! what a mix. Above all, it's beautiful to see music played just because it's in the people playing it, not to be cool, not to get paid (though they sell their discs, naturally), thy were just IN IT, you know? I can't say enough.

Great quote from the voice over in the Youtube clip: "We make ourselves very hard to catch up with, so when you see us, it's a treat". Indeed, made my week. An appearance on Jools Holland would blow the European world wide open for these guys, and they deserve it more than most.

Built NY

Things continue apace here in the Big Apple. I met up with an old friend from the Kanazawa days, A.L. who is now back here in his hometown, creating amazing things by way of his company Built, NY. I can't stress enough how well made and damn well-thought-out their products are. Each fills a need that mostly, heretofore has, unbelievably, gone unmet. Even the items they produce that do already exist, like laptop sleeves and computer bags, - they've just really stepped back and thought the task through before coming up with their unique twist on it. Crumpler? Crumpler? They can kiss my royal pink Scottish ass from now on! I'm a huge fan of neoprene anyway, I just love that indestructible, businesslike, bouncy, stretchy feel in my hands, so to see such awesome things made from it, I'm like a kid in a candy store. I remember ages ago when cassette Walkmen were still the go, I had a thing called a Tunebelt: a fanny pack, basically, with a pocket that fit a walkman perfectly - all made of lovely, stretchy neoprene. I cried the day the fucker rotted through and snapped.

Anyway, I urge all you tasteful and discerning NewSoup readers to seek out Built (they're available from Amazon, for a start) and fill your wheelbarrow with lovely Neoprene goodies. That new corkscrew of theirs, too, is so simple it's brilliant. Ooh we've got a shopping list in our heads already...

If nothing else, go to the site to play the Electrica game: old skool arcade action.

Elliot's Bay
We spent New Year on a two day camping trip to the north of the north island in New Zealand. TSO's close friends have been visiting this place for over a decade from what I can make out, loving and being loved by its trance-inducing beauty. The weather was not even any great shakes, windy and pretty cool at times, but even so, it was idyllic. It not being a registered and official campground, fires are okay and firewood is everywhere in the area. Thus we spent much of the time sat around roaring fires. Our tents were pitched under a grove of the gorgeous Pohutukawa trees. I'm loathe to give away too many details concerning its whereabouts but lets just say its immediately south of Bay Of Islands.
The picture is of me at the top of the lookout hill that stands sentinel over the bay, we'd gone up so's someone could get a signal on their cellphone (another added bonus - if you want that kind of convenience, you need to work for it). I've not long arrived, and am struggling to contain a massive, internal grin as I dispose with my watch, and the notion of time in general, for a few days. There's another trip planned in February and I am already dreaming about it.

In A New Year State Of Mind

Man, the curveballs life throws you. This is the view from my window this morning, the streets of Manhattan, after another grueling airline trip during which I came to realize that air travel in the US, in this day and age, is an enterprise best avoided, really. The whole system is so jittery and up its own arse, post 9-11 (which, let's keep in mind, happened ages ago now) that the customer's needs are completely and utterly buried under a minefield of impoliteness, inefficiency and uniformly accusatory tones. I had three hours between my fights through LAX to NY and only made it by the skin of my teeth. I was shouted at, spent two hours in needless queues, demeaned, made to feel as foreign as a blue comic at a nun's convention and generally felt debased by the whole affair. I consider myself a pretty seasoned traveler, did everything spot on and as it was meant to be done and that's what I get. I was surrounded by holidaymakers, confused, worried, lost who were getting no help at all from airline staff or anyone else. You'd think two buildings had been hit by planes again yesterday. I'd advise anyone I respect to avoid travel by air in America for a while. Even passing through it is a chore.

But here I am, in the city, the brand, for two weeks. TSO is here finishing the last few weeks of filming for the movie we were working on in Berlin, here. I'm back to being camp follower, happily. We're staying at Sixty Thompson in Soho which is pretty nice though the walls are thin as washi - I just heard my neighbour's morning movements in far more detail than I'd have chosen for myself. Looking forward to getting out and getting into it today, though.