PATTERNS AND TONES

Interviewing Nardwuar, the amazing music journalist from Vancouver, British Columbia, who has interviewed everyone from James Brown, Jay Z and Joan Jett to Cory Feldman, Crispin Glover and Cynthia Plaster Caster was a bit intimidating but since I've know this fun loving, sweet hearted man for over the last 18 years, I thought I would give it a go.  I was visiting some friends in Seattle last month. While having dinner in Capitol Hill at  Lost Lake , they casually asked me what I wanted to do that night. I of course asked what bands were playing in town. My friend Kerry pulled out her iPhone and began to list bands, when she suddenly mentioned The Evaporators who happened to be playing that night right around the corner at The Comet Tavern . I stopped her from listing any other bands. That was it. Nardwuar was in town and I happened to be a block away! We finished our hearty meals, headed out into the kind of rain I hadn't seen since I moved down to LA and headed ...

"You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing!" How I do enjoy this time of year when little children are transformed into little ghouls and goblins, continuing a tradition passed down to them of a holiday that celebrates the dark side of life... a chance to be just a little bit devilish and a little bit deceptive... a day filled with the symbols of death and rebirth. It fits my personality and fills my visual appetite.  Halloween, which originated in an annual Pagan celebration which marked the harvest (hence the pumpkin), the changing of the seasons (corn husks and scarecrows) and a celebration of the dead (skeletons anyone?) was called Samhain, a Gaelic word for "summers end". It was believed that this time of the year, a thinner veil between the living and the dead allowed us to communicate with each other. Pagan's would welcome their ancestors to large feasts but warded away mischievous souls (bats, cats and witches!) by disguising...

Winding your way through the wine country of Napa Valley in Northern California is truly a delight. Calisoga has been a destination for my family for generations. We would annually meet at the Gazebo in Pioneer Park and then head over to what was then the historic Pacheteau Baths with their olympic sized public pool. It's now no longer open to the public and has become Indian Springs Resort and Hot Springs . Many Italians have immigrated to the Napa Valley since the 1840's. I suppose my Italian family felt right at home when they moved to the Bay Area in 1950 and would come up for the annual family visit. It was the candy store owner Giuseppe Musante who in 1920 accidentally  tapped   into a hot water source which eventually evolved into the Calistoga Sparking Mineral Water Co. (If only my Grandmother had bought those 6 brown and white striped cabins right on Foothill Boulevard at Lincoln Avenue back in the 50's...) As I have wandered beyond my familial spots, I ...

In honor of our National Park System, which is currently closed due to the shenanigans being played out in Washington D.C., I thought I would feature one of my favorites,  Pu'uhonua O Hõnaunau National Historical Park on the Big Island of Hawaii. This National Park is the largest historical park in the state of Hawaii. It is located on the West Coast of the island of Hawaii, South of Kealakekua Bay in southern Kona.  This 180 acre archaeological site, which contained Royal Grounds (Ali'i Lani), a Temple (Heiau) and a place of refuge (Pu'uhonua), had been reconstructed around the ruins of the Hale O Keawe Heiau.  Established in 1955, the park was originally called The City of Refuge National Historical Park but was renamed in 2000 to observe the Hawaiian spelling under the Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act. Photographing in infrared film, I tried to capture the sacred qualities of the space by using the "Wood Effect" (named after the in...