A few Sundays ago we went to my uncle’s house for a family birthday party. We celebrated a lot of birthdays.
Five. Could have been more if more people showed up. Those people will remain nameless, but they know who they are.
Two of the five people were Donna Novak and Melissa Jones. Donna is my cousin Steve’s wife. Melissa is her oldest daughter.
In February, Donna’s mother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. I never got to know her very well, but I did know she was a great cook and a longtime busdriver for the Magnolia Independent School District.
A scholarship was created in her honor after her passing, and word is a Magnolia student’s college burden was gratefully lighter.
Anyway, so, for their birthday gift, Donna and Melissa received a 5×7 frame with a print of some photo art I worked up for them. From recent photos I had taken at Melissa’s November wedding.
Mike and Judy Chaney pose for a photo during Melissa's wedding. This was the photo I gave Donna. I took out the red eye, made the background grayscale and blurred it a bit to bring out the brightness of Judy's smile. Mike and Judy Chaney join the newly weds Melissa and Tim Jones for a wedding portrait. This is the photo I gave Melissa for her birthday. I combined two photos in order to capture the whole arch, took out the red eye and gently blurred the background to emphasize the happiness in these couples.
I share these photos here not only to show off my skills in Photoshop, but also as a way to honor the Chaneys who mean so much to people who mean so much to me.
I've been seeing lots of dragonflies in the garden lately.They're almost as nice as the occasional butterfly I'll see. They're not as timid, either, meaning they'll stay still long enough for me to shoot them.
HYPER-LOCAL
“Heck, you’ve already reduced the size of the weekday paper to a point the delivery folks are having to add weight to keep people’s copies from blowing away.” : http://loseaneye.blogspot.com/2009/07/chronblog-lets-talk.html
MOVIES
New Wes Anderson flick, Fantastic Mr. Fox : http://www.29-95.com/movies/story/wes-anderson-totally-wes-andersons-out-new-wes-anderson-trailer
MUSIC
Meridian, JavaJazz merge in a move that makes no sense : http://www.29-95.com/music/story/meridian-javajazz-become-one
Rolling Stone nods Listen Listen : http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/07/30/hype-monitor-listenlisten-ramona-falls-neon-indian
Loving it up while you’re falling down : http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/06/aerosmiths-tyler-airlifted-to-hospital-after-falling-from-stage/
Get Tweedy on the phone and over here, stat : http://www.29-95.com/music/story/sigh-another-wilco-tour-passes
From Jimi Hendrix’s eighth and final song during his May 24, 1969 performance at the San Diego Sports Arena.
It will blow your mind.
I artistically altered the short clip from the bootleg using audacity, providing for an echo effect and a cross fade in during the fret scratching part. Best. Guitarist. Ever.
So Kim and her sister and I went to Rod Stewart at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on July 24, and you know what? It wasn’t really all that bad.
Kim and I on the hill at The Woodlands Pavilion
Well, getting out of the reserve parking garage ($15: for the privilege) was the worst nightmare ever, we were all the way at the top of the darn garage and it must have been 45 minutes before we could even get in the exiting line. There were other traffic jams elsewhere, thanks to the cops’ strategic decision to route traffic away from Woodlands Parkway, but a few turns away from the herd found us on that main road and onto the freeway while others probably waited another 20 minutes just to get to the feeder road.
I think the musical climax of the evening was when one of his backup singers, who’s from Houston, led the other stage performers in a Tina Turner-esque rendition of Proud Mary.
Apparently, someone bootlegged it and it’s up on YouTube, but I can’t vouch for the quality because, hell, I was there. No need to see it again. It appears to be an amateurish capture from the hill, which is where I was, just a little to the right of that obnoxious guy with the foreign flag who kept outstretching it and pissing off all the old people whose view he blocked.
I’m serious, a few of those old Rod Stewart fans almost threw down.
Rod played all the songs that I knew he was famous for, including that Van Morrison song “Have I Told You Lately” that kick-started his career once again when he did it on MTV Unplugged. I think that’s how the story goes. I dunno. He also sang that Creedence Clearwater Revival “Have you Ever Seen the Rain” song, I think it’s on his new (covers) record. He tossed around a few of Sam Cooke’s hits, too.
I could have done without all the soccer video montages and the constant stripteases … but his computer animated video intro was so … adorable. I can’t find it on the web, so I guess you just kind of had to be there.
He only performed one encore song – Maggie May – and then the large screen behind him lit up with “Mr. Stewart has left the building.” Kind of rude, but hell – it was Houston in July.
I busted my toe and I have learned that I must always wear shoes at the beach.
Some lessons hurt more than others. Especially those involving the sudden loss of half a toe nail.
They didn’t have to amputate it, but man – what if they would have? I certainly wouldn’t be having to wear sandals to work, man.
Ow ow ow ow ow
Kim said the photo I’m adding to this post may not be suitable for all viewers, especially those who may be missing a toe. I don’t think I know anyone missing a toe, but I do know a guy who goes by Toes because on one foot, he has six.
