Spring Festivities & Bad Art

Washington Square Park was a joyous place on Sunday afternoon. People came out in droves to sing and dance and sit in the sun.

 Sand art.

Piano Man. When I first saw him a few years back, he was playing a ratty old upright he'd wheel around the Village on dollies. Now he's playing a grand. Playing in the park has apparently been very, very good to him.

Sikh Fest 2013. Every year the annual Sikh Day festival happens in Madison Square Park. It's jammed with people. Beautiful, stimulating colors and all the free food you can eat. Friendly Sikhs came up to you constantly saying, "Please, please, get something to eat. Are you enjoying yourself?" And pointing towards the tables covered with trays of Indian food. I felt like I was in Mumbai. A great time.

Ridiculous Art: I started off my "gallery crawl" night Thursday in Chelsea at David Zwirner Gallery on 20th Street. I'd truly love for someone to explain this show to me. Blinky Palermo's (he's dead) works on paper ripped out of a standard 9x12-inch drawing pad. I asked a well-dressed gallery person what the prices were. She replied that they weren't for sale, so I pressed, "But what it they were for sale...What would the prices approximately be based on recent auction sales?" Thoroughly annoyed she said, "About a hundred thousand dollars each." I paused and looked her in the eye with my best look of, "Seriously? You're joking right?"  I'll let you be the judge. Once again, another over-priced show that appears to have been done by a primate. Stupid beyond belief. 

Times Square and Beyond

I was shooting for my good friend Nancy Stamatopoulos today and decided afterward to walk through Times Square on my way to the subway. Though greatly toned down since the old days, pre-Giuliani, it's still a bit of a freak show. After walking past two "Naked Cowboys" and one nearly naked woman I came upon this dancing fat guy. Not a pretty sight.

Some people are willing to go to the lowest depths of self deprecation for money. This guy said nothing as he stood staring blankly at people while holding this sign. People laughed at him and then dropped coins in a little bucket he carried around.... Amazing for many reasons.

This girl drew quite the crowd... Right up until the cops shooed her away. She turned up a block away a short time later. Laws are: if a man can be topless, so can a woman. Who knew? The four construction workers looking down offered plenty of catcalls.

I've been working for Fairchild/CondeNast publications for about 16 years...give or take a few. After shooting the latest Vera Wang collection Wednesday I still had to wait in line for a visitors pass when dropping off the images. Pissed, I made my best squinty mean face.

On the downtown E train yesterday I spied this latest fashion trend. Get dressed, apply gold spray paint to clothing. I think the fumes may have done him in. I have no idea what's going on here....

Blue and Through

Interesting contrails against the blue sky above 5th Ave.

Sky reflection

 Ear holes, corner of 6th Ave. and 14th Street.

Job search

Virginia and Back

Back from a week in Virginia. I spent some quality time with dad, shot some band photos for my friend Mary Ann Redmond, helped my friend guitarist Mike Ault record some guitar videos, shot some interesting photos in a barn of my good friend Christina and her friend Cynthia, sold my bike, bought a cool shirt and ate way too much. Chock full week. 

Mary Ann's wonderful A.D.H.D. dog. Continuously as we were shooting I would hear a "clunk" at my feet. Looking down there would be a well-chewed stick within inches of my boot, the dog poised and waiting for me to throw the stick for the 200th time.

 Mary Ann's awesome little cabin in the woods...

The Band

A favorite Virginia muse. 

Back home in NYC Saturday hitting a few art galleries. This 3D show was pathetic.

Back home shooting eyewear for 20/20 in Soho last Friday.

Cracked Up Close

Just east of Broadway in the Village I came upon this wall covered with old layers of paint and recent graffiti. I took a snapshot. I got closer and took another. I found that the closer I got, the more interesting it looked. When I got home and downloaded them, the textures reminded me of an old dried up lake bed I walked across in the California desert many years ago. Like the scorched cracked earth. 

Below Canal Street

 Man hair cut, Chinatown barber.

My question was, what was the money for that was supposed to be dropped in this mail slot? Lispenard Street, Tribeca.

 Walking around in lower Chinatown one can see that is hasn't been gentrified yet, which is good. Still has the open markets and very few non-Asian people walking about. I can't say I felt welcome. Most refuse to speak English when asked a question. 

 There are very few of these old alleys left downtown, which is sad. I like that gritty old feel to them. Dark, dirty, the ever present stench of pee and waste. 

Old alley doorway. 

Snaps Around Town

 Legs outside Bergdorfs on 59th Street

 Chinatown shoes

 Gucci window, 5th Ave.

 I bet on a collapse. I lost.

In this position when I got on the A train at West 4th all the way to 200th when I got off. Never moved. 

The Sudden Drop

When I left my apartment today around noon it was 61 degrees, sunny and beautiful. I went to a meeting, dropped off some images and made my way uptown to Phillips auction house on 57th St. and Park Ave. for a viewing of the upcoming photography auction. Great exhibit! Leaving an hour later, dressed only in a heavy shirt, it was raining and the temperature had dropped to the mid 40s. Not having an umbrella, I huddled into the side entrance of Tiffany's, taking snaps of people as I waited out the rain. Finally, nearing hypothermia, I walked from 57th St. and 5th Ave. to 50th St. and 8th Ave. I've never been so happy to get on a hot, stinky subway.