Pre-election Blues - L.Cohen

"I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A."

"Sail on / sail on / O mighty Ship of State!"

Those Post-Labor Day Blues . . .



("Don't have a friend who feels at ease . . .") 

Labor Day, 2012

In heavy rotation in the week or so running up towards Labor Day - the music that accompanied the 1990 BBC special series "Hard Cash" - work songs by Richard Thompson and Friends, on Labor Day!

("I've always been good with my hands . . .")



Happy Birthday to a Bay Area Icon!

North Tower, Detail - Image by Tim Baskerville

"When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I'll take your part
When darkness comes
And pain is all around.
Like a bridge over troubled water."
(Lyrics by Paul Simon)

Today marks the 75th (Diamond ) Anniversary of the opening of that most famous - and most photographed! - of bridges: the Golden Gate Bridge!

Hope you enjoy all the festivities to be had this long weekend. Here's a great example - the California Historical Society has extended weekend hours to view the current exhibition: "A Wild Flight of the Imagination: The Story of the Golden Gate Bridge." Be sure to check out and download the lovely ebook they have produced!

"Shine on, you crazy diamond . . . "

A North Coast Nocturne

"Point Arena Lighthouse at Night" © 2011 Richard Skidmore

Just one more day (deadline is May 26) to register for a great 2-night Full Moon Night Photography Workshop, held up the Coast in Gualala, CA; June 3 and 4th. We meet early evening at Gualala Arts Center for brief lectures, before venturing out into the night to photograph historic Fort Ross (which we've acquired a permit to photograph at night on June 3) and Point Arena Lighthouse and The Sea Ranch (2nd night - June 4)

All the details are here.
 
BTW, we encourage attendees of the Workshop to submit work for an exhibit -  "A Little Night Music" - which we are presenting at Gualala Arts Center October 5-28, 2012 - see the details and registration form thru their site. 
 
Maybe it's time for a post-Memorial Day Holiday "two-day staycation" . . .
 
From The [not so] Daily Nocturne

Nocturne / Noir

Helen K. Garber's NoirFest Santa Monica is in full swing, starting this week (actually there was a big opening last Sat'dy night . . . well, we missed that one!) - with a full calendar of events running thru March 28, 2012. Included are a Spoken Word event tonight (!), a Film Screening of Farewell My Lovely (1975) on January 25, Wine Tasting on January 28, and our favorite: Night Photography at the Santa Monica Pier, February 4, 7, and 21, 2012 - part of a class offered by Otis College of Art & Design.

And like that . . . events throughout February and March, with a Closing Party on March 28th! All the details are at noirfestsm.com - The Inaugural Interactive Arts Festival Celebrating Noir as a Unifying Theme.

If you're in the neighborhood, you should try to make it to some part of this - it's an ambitious offering of complimentary events that Helen has delivered - all in the name of Noir!

From The [not so] Daily Nocturne

(“The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.”)

Jaguars . . . on Mare Island?

Advance notice - this is NOT what we will be photographing at our next AlumNight on Mare Island - late February or early March!
(A while back, this was pointed out to me by some of the ‘usual suspects' of The Nocturnes. Recognize any of the locations? Is that Building 253 the cars are streaming into, at the 17 second mark? There's always someone making a film or commercial somewhere on the Island.)

From The [not so] Daily Nocturne