Thursday, June 28, 2007

Long Moments . . .


Continuing with the theme here - Musician/artist/composer/futurist Brian Eno -
- premieres his "77 million Paintings" for three nights only (June 29-30, July 1) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco's museum district. Sponsored by the Long Now Foundation, the self-generating ambient sounds and visuals ("Visual Music") Eno presents are part of a world tour that bears little resemblance to his rock'n'roll days with
Roxy Music. Read the full SF Gate article here. Our favorite Eno quote from article: "I can't bear the rock music tradition," he says. "So much of stage work is connected with the presentation of personality. It's about, 'Oh there he is, that's him,' and I've never been interested."

Still more info about the project
here, and at the official 77 site.

All of which got us to thinking (seriously!): about the "slow movement" (be it food, 'de-stressing,' reducing the frantic pace of life, in the creation of art, etc.) and Night Photography's relation to that idea. Call it the "long moment" (with a nod to Henri Cartier-Bresson's"
decisive moment"), the compressed moment, "these small hours" (with some tasty Rob Thomas to follow soon), or these expansive moments (as in long, time exposures) - it's all related to photography (light) - over time. And, which is more important: the light, or the time?

More to follow . . .

(from The Nocturnes NightNews feed)
"Take a picture here . . . "

Photo by Graham Nash


"This land is the land of ours, this river runs red over it.
We are not your allies, we can not defend.
This is where they walked, this is where they swam.
Take a picture here, take a souvenir.
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone." (Cuyahoga lyrics by REM)

In a special issue of American Photo magazine (July/August 2007) Guest Editor Mark Seliger hightlights various musicans-turned-visual artist (and vice-versa). A natural course, we thought, here at The Nocturnes! Now on newstands everywhere.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Still Lost . . .

It's not like he needs the press, nevertheless certified Nocturne/Raconteur Troy Paiva has a one man night photography show simply called "Lost America" installed at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Some 33 pieces in the exhibit, it runs there thru July 15th. More info here.

Friday, June 01, 2007

"It was forty years ago today . . . "


Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released 40 years ago today (in the U.K. - U.S. release two days later) coincided nicely with the "Summer of Love" here in San Francisco - "now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall."
Tho' not the first "concept" album (Frank Sinatra did "In the Wee Small Hours" - one of The Nocturnes faves - in 1955), Sgt. P. is considered one of the most influential albums of all time.