going east


GOING EAST

Elsewhere,
a babe's first words might be
ma ma, or da da
In Berkeley,
babies are born in a
lotus position
Their first word is
Karma
There might be more
Buddhists in Berkeley than
in Tibet
Some are from Tibet
but many are from
Brooklyn
Bishop George Berkeley
you got it backwards
It's "Go East, Young Man,
Go East."

-Ishmael Reed

dark and stormy

























The Albatross, Berkeley, CA.
I <3 this photo.

i do like instant gratification after all

Last week my friend Rituski surprised me with a Polaroid camera that she'd picked up at a garage sale for five bucks. We didn't know if it worked or not, so I ordered some film and tested it out. And whaddya know, Hallelujah! I've been carrying around the Polaroid ever since, which is a bit like owning a laptop and opting to lug around a typewriter instead. Just for the novelty of it.

I've been hearing, ever since last year when Polaroid announced that it was going to stop manufacturing its instant film, that people have been scrambling to stockpile Polaroid film as though instant Polaroids are the remedy against the coming Apocalypse. The Polaroid Y2K. From my own recent buying experience, the remaining back supply of Polaroid film now comes out to about $2 per photo. I wonder how many poor artists are investing in film instead of in down payments. And thinking that it's totally worth it.

The good news is that, while the film is expensive, the camera itself is going the way of vinyl, which means that these days you can buy an operating Polaroid camera at a flea market for five bucks. And to meet the renewed demand for instant film, The Impossible Project hopes to start producing Polaroid instant film by next year. So I'm holding my breath. And buying film.

outside lands festival
































I've been a Pearl Jam fan, in all of my anger and angst, for the better part of my teenage and adult life; have listened to their live recordings and imagined being at one o' their shows somewhere in the world- in Boston, Seattle, Verona, Prague. This past Friday night at the Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park, I finally saw Pearl Jam perform live for the first time. I was very, very far away from the stage, most of my fellow fans were blazed out of their minds, it was the end of a long week, and Eddie Vedder was just as unintelligible as expected. It was great. AND I can honestly say that I enjoyed myself more dancing to the only other band I got to see that night, a super fun Mexican band called Kinky (top photo) introduced to me by my friend Adam. I used to see a lot of bands live, and not so much anymore, but each and every show brings new bands to know, new albums to buy. Heart-thumping thrilling every time.

minolta

A couple of months ago, I won a furious bid for a Minolta XG-M on eBay (which, by the way, is a pretty ingenious concept- auctions, I mean. People like winning things, right? So an auction essentially frames things as "Congratulations! You've won the right to pay for something!!!" And I actually get excited). I've since fallen in love with the camera and it's been treating me well. If it weren't for the fact that I have to pay to get film developed, the Minolta and I would probably be monogamous. Alas......

Anyway, I just developed my first few rolls of film off of the camera yesterday. I love that film doesn't offer instant gratification- that it can be days or weeks or months before you see the photos that you thought worthwhile to shoot old-skool style. That there are no take-overs. That you are inevitably surprised by the photos that you took and how they turned out. There's always the photo you don't remember taking. And the photo you were really excited about that ends up being all underexposed, dammit. And the last frame on the roll that more often than not ends up being one of the hottest photos ever taken, y'know?

I shot many of these film photos last week in California's Anderson Valley, where a whole crew of friends and I vacationed for a week leading up to two dear friends' wedding. Looking at these photos makes me so happy, in part because I got to experience the unexpected when I saw them for the first time and to remember some perfect moments.


It was a whirlwind week. Among many other things, I... lay out under an epic night sky and watched a meteor shower; celebrated my birthday with 40 friends (it was a night so overwhelming and love-filled that I cried so hard I couldn't breathe); biked a total of 110 miles along ocean, redwoods, vineyards and sheep; helped to organize a Grilled Cheese Invitational; participated in a Little Mermaid singalong; did a lot of singing, talking, crying, celebrating, shit talking, eating, coffee drinking, and chillin like a villian; and attended one of the most beautiful, heartfelt weddings I will ever hope to participate in. A couple of mementos: