Crawling from the Reruns: 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

11/01/09 "if what you want... if what you need is poetry .......

...so, let's fight this tide....let's fight this tide....

let's swim harder than we have in our lives 

cause what's the point of being here if we're not going to try....?"

  -brie sullivan

I've wanted to put this photo up since before I started posting to this blog.....

the above quote reads like something that your Dad might tell you somewhere along the way...but to hear the writer sing those words gives them a whole different texture and meaning...

the dog in today's shot, my Rose, lived those words as they are sung - from before she even made it out of the birth canal - She fought the tide, She swam harder.

...and, yeah... I'm gonna be really sad that She's gone - for a long time

a friend sent me a message, today - it was a reminder that I need to come back into the world - I need to start functioning in the care

Rosie was always willing to go back out and fetch up another one

I think - me, too. 

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

10/31/09 "....Grip this stem of my history...

.....and help me shake through to ugly"  

-rose polenzani

when I hear people tell me that I'm a good photographer.... well... inside I kind of chuckle a bit. I'm the guy who learns most quickly by making the big mistakes... and I maintain that if you take enough shots - eventually you are going to come up with a good one.

somewhere... must have been a movie..I heard a saying, "don''t take pictures of beautiful things, take beautiful pictures of things..." 

that's trite but also very true... 

back in the early days of taking shots of the rock stars in my life at places like Schuba's in chicago... I took a lot of shots.... and I got some very nice ones - sub-consciously teaching myself the aesthetics as well as the technicals.... 

from time to time I will be showcasing a shot that I like of one of my folkie rock stars - see... the idea in my head about this blog is to not repeat anything that's already been published somewhere.... and that's not easy because all the great shots have already been pushed forward... it also means that I've got to get busy with my cameras and go out and start shooting again.

it's motivation

so here's one I came across from february of 2000

in this case - it's a beautiful picture of a beautiful woman - a good artist makes it easy to take a good picture...

10/30/09 "...it's cloudy today but no rain came....

...still on most days - I hear myself say - everything's easy....

but you never know...wherever I go... is a way...."       

-nate borofsky

today's photo comes from Amherst Ohio at the Days Inn...

I found myself stranded there while waiting for my transmission to be rebuilt last july - for four days.....

luckily I had my travelling companion and competent storyteller, Rufus, the knitted sock monkey to keep me company while I tried hard to not miss home too much...

Rufus likes very much to people watch.... but on this particular day there were no swimmers at the pool...... 

10/29/09 "...isn't it sweet... out in the street out in the sunshine...

...oh what a day, everyone's gay, isn't it so sublime.... 

and will I see the only home for me?

tell me I'm beautiful I promise I'll believe you this time... "

-david nields/nerissa nields

so this is what it looks like to be on a float in a parade in my hometown of Libertyville, Illinois.... it can't help but be fun because everyone is cheering for you! it's kind of strange... really.

why was I on a float in a parade - in my hometown - earlier this month....? My 30 year High School reunion - so much fun!

Namaste!

10/28/09 "....me, i'm a part of your circle of friends...

and we notice you don't come around......
and being alone is the best way to be.
when i'm by myself it's the best way to be......"
-brickell/withrow

ok..... this is the window I woke up to after arriving at Heathrow airport in the middle of the night... once again I'm presenting you with a photo of a room where I can see the happiness and wish I could show it to you, too! Sometime, after barely falling asleep, I was woken up in the pre-dawn by a milkman below my window.... seriously, the clattering of glass as this guy dropped off fresh dairy and picked up the empties.....

so.... eight hours on a jet away from home I'm pulled back forty years... by a sound heard outside a window.....and I fall back- this time deeply since it was finally late in central standard land.....

this. my first England sky!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

10/27/09 ....something completely different....

"and the train conductor says take a break driver 8, driver 8 take a break

we can reach our destination, but we're still a ways away"

  -Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe

...and so... in september of 2006... I made the trip across the pond in order to attend a friend's wedding. This is the friend who calls me an anglophile as if it's a bad thing.

 Hmmmm.... 

The wedding was splendid- taking place in a suburb of London. After the wedding, though, it seemed practical to spend a few days in London, having never been. I'll never forget London - I hope to return soon - Well. despite being completely overwhelmed by everything UK - I took photographs.

It's difficult to say what impressed me most about England...but in the top 5 had to be the London underground railway system - otherwise known as "the Tube."

I loved riding the tube! easy. efficient. clean. this picture is of the Queensway station in the Bayswater area of London near to where I stayed.

a week later I found myself on Chicago's "El" railway system... trundling down to watch the Cubs cream the Brewers. 

I felt sad, though... the car I was in was hot, stuffy.... dirty, slow and wreaked of urine.....

  Blecch!

"...mind the gap...."

10/26/09 ...consequences got set free....

"....it was far beyond over before we started any of whatever this is...." -andrea coller

sometimes it's the simplest of emotions that are the most difficult to convey.....

when I came upon this photo all I could see was the laughter that fills this room... the lack of sleep - the never wanting it to end - the texture of friendships, as cluttered as the room, aching for an encore of the happiness that created this collage.

those three simple words: "sharpie come home......"

10/25/09 ...if that train ever does come back, then I will be on board....

"there hasn't been a train here for about two thousand year

maybe there never was one but the tracks are everywhere.... " 

-David Nields

a mayor and his wife in the background - waving from afar down a muddy lane lined with vagabond cars - sometimes it's our own face value staring us down - waiting for us to blink....

sometimes a mountain sits where it has for thousands of years.... and that's all it will be for thousands more....

sometimes a train is just a train....... remember that the next time you see a banana on a bright red air mattress...

 and you feel compelled to take a picture of it...

Friday, December 10, 2010

10/24/09 ....all your crimes forgotten...

"It's not love.... it's indian summer... it looks like love, but you're already gone..."     -sarah b

Today's shot is of a friend of mine - one of my favorite singer-songwriters - Sarah B.

I took the opportunity of sneaking in some snaps while we were in Libertyville on the set of a video we're collaborating on.

'nuff said.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

10/23/09 ....honey in the chemicals......

"....I can't pose for this portrait without you....
the light is fading fast on what is true...." -Philip Price

...and so it goes....

...for a few years, now I have been planning my first feature length film, called, "Nookers..."

the idea behind it is that my sphere of influence now - my friends, media choices, attitudes - is directly and tenuously related to a listserve I joined in the mid-nineties devoted to a band I was following at the time....

The plan was to get down and dirty with myself - by examining the parallels of a wretched accident I was in, my subsequent self-medication and substance abuse, depression, music and friends.... as well as the resulting hypochondriasis and agoraphobic tendencies which all occurred while I was recovering from this all too brutal head injury.....

Part B of this plan included interviewing many of the people who were active on this listserve as well as as many of the band members I could talk into sitting for questions..

Not being a very persuasive person... and wanting to respect certain privacies.... I decided to abandon the project after feeling that many of the "instrumental figures" were hesitant to sit in front of a camera....

....and so it goes....

Today's shot is one I took this summer of a man called Bruce and his son, Peter... Bruce was waiting to be interviewed in my backyard.... and the footage I got will probably end up in another project that I have in mind.... but there will probably never be a "Nookers."

...and that''s really not a problem with me....

10/22/09 ....forever....

"And I don't know why I'm here. I only know that this is true..." -david nields

Here in northeastern Illinois it's been rainy and cold. The swine flu has hit. Almost everyone is feeling crabby or crappy. 

Or both.

Today's shot is a summer scene which features another of our Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers, June, a couple of years ago bringing back to hand a live pigeon. The Pigeon is obviously unhappy but the feature of the fetch the bird ought to appreciate is the softness of the dog's mouth when it comes to it's carry

Hang in there.....

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

10/21/09 .... a full midwestern moon....

Just over a couple of weeks ago.... while I was still contemplating this blog... and trying to figure out wordpress...and themes...and whatever.-.I took this shot out the window of the front door of my house.
I love the moon. I think it's gorgeous.
Alternatively I think that there is a certain beauty in utility poles - or as we call them in the midwest - telephone poles. What really amazes me about telephone poles is that they really are quite ugly.... yet we rarely ever notice them. Look around! They're everywhere! Slanting. Twisted wires dangling.

copyright juneplastic/george green

10/20/09 .....just like christopher columbus.....

"i'm driving down that same old road, i'm finding nothing new...
but every road I take seems to bring me back to you....." -nerissa nields

In July of 2000 I took the boldest trip of my life to that point and this exit was one of the unexpected side effects ...as the word flew out of my mouth - breaking the butterfly silence of my solitude, in a tone both high and low at the same time, "scotia....."

......it trailed off into uncontrollable giggles

I knew - then- in the back of my mind I told myself - I''ve started a tradition!

Monday, December 6, 2010

10/19/09 "...this is my home. this is my only home......

...this is the only sacred ground that I have ever known...
and should I stray in the dark night, alone...
rock me goddess in the gentle arms of eden..."
-dave carter

when I need comfort... I come here.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

10/18/10 ......my back pages......

"Ah, but I was so much older then....
I'm younger than that now........."
-bob dylan

...recent events in my life have led me to certain tributaries of thought about where I was just, like, six.... seven years ago..... searching for meaning in a continually brightening world - but also dealing with the onset of arthritis brought on by an ancient injury that coincidentally pushed me into the grey...
Life's funny - and short...
In this picture - I shot one of my favorite groups of people - EVER.... getting ready for a group photo. I remember and understand our happiness at that moment just by looking at this image - beautiful

Since then..... sadly...two of us have passed. Some have been married, divorced, became parents....loved. lost. ....some aren't even talking to each other. some have become tighter in their friendships and some have walked away.
There's a texture to everything. There's a texture to this photograph that I cannot share with most people.... but like heightened senses or shakras or intuition... these textures exist. They change as quickly as the texture of a favorite food left out too long does..... but they change.

....and so do we.

copyright juneplastic/george green

to view the "official" photo, taken by T Wong, click on the link below:

http://www.georgegreen.org/frffactual.jpg

10/17/09 'watchin-the-wheels-go-round-and-round'

This is my girl, Rosie, about two weeks before she passed....

We spent a lot of our downtime together in the backyard doing what we loved best - sitting in the sun - watching the people and traffic go by.

 I took this shot with my iPhone. An iPhone is not the best camera in the world.... but it's ok in a pinch.... and I wouldn't have had this shot if I hadn't had my phone in my pocket...

10/16/09 .....old crushes.....

As long as we're speaking of the cameras that kept us company "back then" I would like to present a photo that I took in Rock Island Illinois somewhere in the late 90's. It's a shot of The Nields, a band I have seen well over 100 times, and would without question back then - drive 5 hours each way to see on any given night. Although The Nields still play together as mostly a Sister folk act and not a 5 piece rock band.... those gigs remain fondly in my greying memories...... The camera I took this photo with - the Canonet QL17 - also remains in my heart. My Dad gave it to me when he moved on to more sophisticated machinery. The Canonet was a 35mm camera with an "instamatic" feel.....it came with a 40mm 1:1.7 lens that could not be replaced with other lenses - It featured fully shutter-priority automatic exposure and fully manual shooting modes. Just writing about it makes me want to buy a roll of film and start shooting! Fans of John Waters will recognize the Canonet as the Camera that Pecker uses in the film of the same name. I miss the Full Band Rock & Roll of The Nields just like I miss shooting around with my sleek, compact, Canonet.... but these days I'm rockin' in different ways.... and that's good, too!

copyright juneplastic/george green

Thursday, December 2, 2010

10/15/09 Sophomore effort....

...Okay... I used to walk around with this camera called the Mavica by Sony. It was my first digital camera and I thought it was a miracle! With it I could record images on to floppys.... I know, right! Floppys! reusable! I could just take picture after picture....
.....until I filled the floppy, that is...
Things have changed and we can take photos WAY faster and store WAY more onto constantly evolving digital media.... I am still partial, however, to the somewhat grainy texture of the Mavica images....
I will feature more in the future. Today's picture was shot with my Mavica in October of 2000 at Horseneck Bay in Rhode Island.

copyright juneplastic/george green

10/14/09 ...tuning

......not necessarily a 365 blog... but I will try to post daily. Today I'm just tuning... and so... A a picture of Rose Polenzani tuning her guitar before a show in Evanston, Illinois, in November of 2008 - when she got on stage later it had gone out of tune - that kind of reminds me of my life.

copyright juneplastic/george green