YouTube, Whitney and the Art of the Point and Shoot Video Clip

Last night my friend Joe and I went to see The Fratellis at the TLA in South Philadelphia. Kristen decided not to go because of the two opening acts and the 11pm start time for the Fratellis and it being a work night. When Joe told his wife we were going she asked him if he was still in college?

Joe and I have been going to concerts for almost 25 years. Our first was The Hooters at Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre. One of the best may have been Billy Idol at the Allentown Fairgrounds just before we went off to college. The most memorable may have been Whitney Houston at Hershey Stadium (what?, we thought she was hot...and she was in 1987!) Joe harassed Whitney by shouting out the same request for an hour. Whitney eventually walked back to the band, called an audible, came back to the front of the stage, knelt down and proceeded to sing a one verse ballad to Joe. It was a long drive back from Hershey that night and twenty years later I still hear about it. Joe went on to be an attorney, Whitney went on to be a crackhead.

Since moving to Philadelphia Joe and I have seen a couple more shows. Last night was the Fratellis. We arrived on South Street to find a line of kids around the corner waiting to get in and claim their position at the front of the stage. It was 8 o'clock and there was no way we were going to go in and suffer through two opening bands with a bunch of kids. So we went to the bar next door, ate a hamburger, drank some beers and managed to watch half a football game. We then made it over just in time for the Fratellis at 11. We walked upstairs with the rest of the over 21 old heads and claimed our space. Eventually, a spot opened up in the balcony where the house videographer just vacated. We jumped in there and had the best spot in the joint. It was move that only a couple grizzly vets could have made.

Now I nearly had my camera confiscated at the door, but somehow made it through claiming that I wouldn't take pictures. But what was I going to do now that I had the best vantage point in the house?

My first YouTube clip was last summer after seeing the Fratellis at our XPN Festival in Camden. It's a great clip and I decided on the ferry trip back to Philly that I was going open up a YouTube account and post this clip. If all the kids could do it, so can I. I posted it and have posted several since. I've got a couple subcribers to my account, but I think Joe is my biggest fan. We saw the Hold Steady last year at the same place and were buried in the back. I was too far away to take still pictures, but made this clip of their closer. Sometimes it's just luck and you really capture a moment. I think this is one of those times.

At this point of the game, Joe is always curious to see if we could do better. If you like the Fratellis, you should like these clips. Flathead is the song from the Itunes commercial and
Baby Frattelli was the closer.

I'm amazed at the traffic that these clips get. I compare it to some of my photography exhibitions where I put these pictures on the wall, put a guest book at the door, and over the course of a month you may get a couple hundred people to look at your work. Now I'm not comparing the quality of work of Jim Harris Images to a point and shoot video clip, but that Hold Steady clip has had 3,500 hits. The Flight of the concords clips have had almost 10,000.

It wasn't until watching these new Fratelli clips this morning that I started thinking of those kids in the front rows. They are awesome. They stood there since 8 o'clock for that very moment five hours later. Joe and I had that moment watching Billy Idol a million years ago. I still get in there from time to time.

We almost didn't make it though. After hanging at the bar for three hours we talked about just going home. It was only a fifteen dollar ticket. It wouldn't be a great loss. I don't think we seriously discussed it, but it did cross our mind. I told Joe that if we went home we could mark down September 4th, 2008 as the night we officially got old.

Besides, I owed it to my minions of YouTube fans to get these clips online.

Rodney & Jennie

I just wanted to post this picture. Rodney's Dad passed away two nights ago. I only met him a couple times, but I think this picture shows his kind personality and the kind of person he was. A lot of you know Rodney from our wedding. He was the one driving the van, shooting the bachelor party, rehearsal dinner and wedding....and playing piano during dinner. We work together often, throw each other jobs when we can and have breakfast once a week to talk shop and plot how we're going to take over the world. I just wanted to send our best out to Rodney and Jennie and their family in Virginia.

Jimmy Rollins Charity Event

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to shoot a Phillies charity event. It was a Jimmy Rollins sponsored event for a camp that helps children with Arthritis. It was at one of the local bowling alleys in the city. For those of you that know me, I found this to be a pretty cool way to work and spend an afternoon. Since working in Hollywood, I'm not exactly star-struck so I didn't end up with any autographed baseballs, but I could have. The entire team was there. My liaison for the event did send me a Jimmy Rollins autographed Sporting News....so that's cool.






Here are more shots from the event.

Ella Rocks Philly

Having your own studio and working for yourself has its perks. One of them is being able to hang out with my niece for a couple days in the summer. Last year we hit the aquarium and some of Philly. This year I gave her the option of going to the beach or following our nose through Philly again. Since she still doesn't make the weight requirement for sitting in the front seat, she's designated the back seat on road trips. With our 8 hour trip back to Vermont in mind she opted for bumming around Philadelphia. You don't need to do too much to impress an 11 year old. Not this one anyway. When I asked her on the phone a couple weeks back what she wanted to do while here, she just wanted to walk the dog through the trails and make shmores by puffing up marshmallows in the microwave.

Here are some shots from our day. We hit the park by the Constitution Center with the Carousel. The Duckie Boat was probably the highlight. Hot dogs and a 24 ounce Mountain Dew in the park behind Independence Hall and a tromp through Logan Circle Fountain. We drove home down Kelly Drive with her soaked in the backseat singing the Greatest Day Ever from Sponge Bob Square Pants. Maybe not the best day ever, but definitely a top fiver!

Just Listen to it...Vol VII Released

I just got back from the post office where I sent out about 15 copies of Just Listen to it...Vol 7. We have plans to see our friends in Western Pa this weekend, where I'll hand out another 15 or so. Then it will be done. Another year of production. Another successful year for the Just Listen to it Music Club.

It goes like this...about 20 years ago an Italian friend of mine named Massimo handed me a compilation tape of stuff he was diggin. At the time he had a record store just outside of Florence called Discofolio (The crazy Record). At that time it was just that too. All records, some tapes, a handful of 'the next big thing'...called CDs.

I still have that tape somewhere,,,,but that was the origin of Just Listen to it. I kept the title and sent out some tapes through college with the same name. When burning CDs came into vogue I was there moving from comp tapes to comp CDs. I thought it was the greatest technological advancement since Ol' Thomas Edison was mixing it up. I remember spending two days installing my CD burner into my mid-tower.

At this point I was making CDS for everyone I knew....just cause I could. Everyone was getting a 'Just Listen to it...'. It was getting confusing though trying to remember what I sent to who and how many Just Listen to its...were out there. So I began to make one universal copy of 'Just Listen to it...'. I started it at Vol III figuring that most everyone had a couple CDs that could account for Vol 1 and 2. I'll re-lease them all one day in a collectors edition box set.

So that's how it got started. I wouldn't exactly say it's snowballed from there, but we do have our cult following that grows a little bit every year. I have friends that tell me they burn copies for their friends and I have friends that rate them and compare them against each other. Some of our friends kids have all the songs memorized and request them on road trips. So, yeah, it's grown. Sometimes I think people aren't actually listening to them and then years later, someone will bring it up and rave about a particular song or CD.

My brother in law says that I think life is a soundtrack. And I do. I thought everyone did. I have every comp tape and CD that anyone has ever given me. They are bookmarks to all the chapters in my life. Some are a little more embarrassing than others,,,,but I'm still glad to have them. The just listen to it series are summer bookmarks. I try to get them out every year around the Fourth of July. That doesn't mean that all the songs are about summer cause they're not. But they might remind me of summer in some way or another. It's become it's own genre to me. I listen to music all the time and when I hear a song that fits this genre it gets put into a folder in my head and often into the next years CD. It's a challenge to try and fit all these music styles into one. Every decade, every genre. Johnny Cash, Elvis, New pop, Old Rock, Country Bop. It's a bit of an illness with me.

We were visiting our friends Laurie and Seth and they popped in an old Just listen to it. Seth said this is a good one...you must of spent some time thinking about this. Kristen just nodded and looked at me. I do, I confess. It's a hobby. I get a lot of this music on my own, but I get a lot of it from friends too. I usually try to give credit where credit is due.

So this years breakdown is as follows:
1. Bread and Water ...getting that first song to start things off is the biggest challenge. This fit the bill. Slow building start, hand claps,,,banjos... Busting on Texas...No brainer
2. Wizard of Menlo....Yes, I am the last American Chumbawamba fan. I think they're great.
3. Brimful of Asha. I guess this song has been out for 10 years. I missed it somehow. This is a Fatboy Slim remix
4.Acid Jazz Singer. Brand new Fratellis. These guys are great. Just fun stuff.
5. Mansard Roof. Vampire Weekend. Got a lot of press this year. Kristens favorite CD of the year. I like them, don't love em.
6. One more Cup of Coffee. Keep coming back to Damian Marley. They don't like genres either.
7. Old dylan sounds new.
8. Yell fire. My sister is a huge Franti Fan. I think this guy is a brilliant songwriter.
9. Run. Gnarls Barkley. These guys are awesome. It's no crazy,,,but that's okay!!
10. Into Action. My friend Kevin came across this song. This song could have been about our crew at one time.
11. Dan Blocker 12. Red Hot....both from Deryn's vault. Dan Blocker is like nothing you ever heard. Try and get it out of your head... Robert Gordon is rockabilly from the 70's. He has a cult following including the Boss. I guess he's back on the circuit these days.
13. Meet me on the corner. From Dan Hicks who covered Waits 'Piano has been Drinking'.
14. Sitting on top of the World. Only gem on an otherwise bloated Greatest Hits Vol III from Van.
15. Heavy Metal Drummer. Quintessential Summer song....been meaning to drop this on here for a while.
16. Missed the boat. Just saw Modest Mouse. Liked em...didn't love them.
17. Diner. Kristens favorite on the mix.
18. seriously, Donovan and Gnarls Barkley on the same CD. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.
19. This guy was on a lot of favorites list for this CD. This reminds me of a couple summers in Scandinavia.
20. Turquoise House. Equally as important as the opener. Need a closer.

Last note. My friend John was in town this week as I was wrapping up this CD. He's a big fan. I mentioned I didn't have the cover art together yet. Kristen mentioned being a little put out that she hasn't made a cover yet. The dogs, my niece, me.....so here she is in all her glory.

Any requests for next year, send them my way. If you are tired of getting these CDS in the mail, I'm sorry, you can't get off the list. You'll have to indulge me on this one....

Hail George!

Just read about the passing of George Carlin on my MSN homepage. A friend of mine stopped over and we talked a little about George and his influence. Discovering George Carlin at the tender age of 13 or so was one of the most revolutionary experiences of my youth. I remember my friend Jud and I stumbling across Carlin at Carnegie on HBO late one evening. We had the volume down as low as it would go and our faces pressed up to the screen. This was something that we knew we shouldn't be watching, but it was also the funniest thing we had ever seen. We laughed that uncontrollable laughter that makes your gut hurt. Jud was from a Mennonite family and my folks, who used some colorful language from time to time, refrained from throwing the F-bomb around as far as I knew. We had literally never heard most of what was coming out of Carlin's mouth...at least not as polished. Polished profanity... Needless to say, we tried to memorize everything we heard and bring it into school on Monday. They still show the Carnegie Hall show on HBO and I stumble across it every once in a while. It's still perfect.

The summer after graduation Carlin came to a small theater in my home town of Wilkes-Barre. Jud and I and a couple other friends sat in the front row to see Carlin. His act was less silly and more cerebral than what we remembered. It was still funny, but probably just a little bit over our heads at that age. Carlin was a genius at what he did. What he did with words and language I've never heard from any other comedian. With his elastic facial expressions he was able to juxtapose intelligent social insight with ridiculous observations and sometimes vulgar response. I appreciated his view of the world. Most times I needed George to validate some of my off color observations. He was one of a kind.

Check out this stuff on George!

The Manyunk Wall

The headline in the Inquirer today is Fast Times in Manayunk. Yesterday was the Philadelphia International Championship Bike Race. It's 10 laps of 14 mile loops through the city of Philadelphia. The feature attraction for many is the Manayunk Wall, the steepest part of the race that runs right through our neighborhood. This year some friends invited us to their party on Manayunk Ave where the race was right outside their door. (See the first picture) Anna and Jason hired me to shoot their wedding this coming November. I thought these guys were really into the race with their biking gear and spandex etc, but Anna was a competitive biker in College.

On this day it's like one huge block party through the city, but especially in Manayunk. For those of you that didn't know, Manayunk is an Lenape Indian word for 'the place to drink.' No joke. The race starts at 9 in the morning and so does the drinking. Great party, great people, great race. Here are a couple pictures and check out this link for more pictures.