Photo-of-the-Week #183 The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music, New Creek, West Virginia, September 2010

The musical genre known as Bluegrass is alive and well and moving people around the country. This photo was taken at a small bluegrass festival in a small, unincorporated area of West Virginia called New Creek, probably named after the creek of the same name that runs through the area.

As you can see, there are hills in the background and this site was actually up on a hill. It doesn't take much to set up and bring people together for events like these. Bluegrass musicians seem to be as plentiful in the mountains of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina. Of course, many current bluegrass musicians come out of city locations like Washington, DC, Baltimore, Nashville and so on. . . READ MORE

Photo-of-the-Week #82 - An Iconic Sign, Hollywood, California, May 2009

Nothing new here! This is probably one of the most iconic signs in the world. This, of course, is my shot from my "Final Hollywood Tour" trip in May of 2009. I hadn't been to Hollywood in quite a number of years. I've certainly been to Los Angeles, of which Hollywood is a part, but not to Hollywood proper.

I called it my "Final Hollywood Tour" because my main purpose for going to Hollywood was to see what was still left of the recording studio scene that I knew from my days in the early 70's thru early 80's when I spent time there during my early recording industry career. I wanted to visit the old "Temples of Sound" where most of the Hollywood chart topping rock and roll and other pop music were recorded during the 60's and 70's. I shot this photo while I was driving my rental car, so it's not as good as it could have been, but it was difficult to find a place to park along this street and capture the shot.

Sadly, while I did locate a very few of the studios I remember, many, perhaps, most of them were gone. Some were, what appeared to be abandoned buildings. Others the buildings had been repurposed and I couldn't even recognize them. Still others were bulldozed and either new buildings replaced them or they "paved paradise and put up a  parking lot." You may remember that line from Joni Mitchell's famous , "Big Yellow Taxicab" song written and originally released in 1970. I even found the hole in the ground that had been a building where Harry O'Connor, a broadcast pioneer, had his studios based at Hollywood and Vine. I had made an informal arrangement with O'Connor to use his services as my west coast facility for my Washington, DC based production company. My brochures sported our DC address and the Hollywood and Vine address.  

While Hollywood, or Tinsel Town, as it's been called, didn't impress me the first time I went there in 1970 or '71, it hasn't really changed much since then. It was seedy looking to me back then and it was still seedy looking in 2009. But, the real change was that many of the well-known studios of the 60's and 70's were gone forever. I guess what is most unnerving is that this change is a reminder of my own age. Back then in my mid 20's. Today in my mid 60's. Time marches on - too fast.  

Photo-of-the-Week #76 - A Rose and A Thorn - Trinidad, California, November 2005

Okay! It's pretty obvious who the rose is and who the thorn is in this photo of the week. This is the ever lovely Crystal Gale - a rose is a rose is a rose. During my career in live sound and recording, I've had the opportunity to meet and spend varying amounts of time with many celebrity performing artists. In this instance, I was not providing professional services, I was simply a member of the audience.

Crystal Gale is a small woman in stature, but her voice is big, full and beautiful. She is still one of my all time favorite female country artists and I was very pleased to have the opportunity of attending her concert and to meet her and spend a few moments with her at the Indian casino in Trinidad, California, about 30 minutes north of Eureka, California . She is a very gracious woman. I'm really not a big "groupie." I don't fawn all over an artist. But, having worked with many of them over my career, I know how hard they work and what life is like on the road going from one gig to another with little time for a personal life during a tour. So, I like to take a moment, when it seems appropriate, to express my appreciation for their talent and for what they invest in a nomadic lifestyle when they are on tour.

Oh, and the thorn, yes, that's yours truly sporting a short goatee and mustache. Once upon a time, long ago and in a land far, far away, The Professional Nomad had dirty blonde hair and a red beard and mustache. I was "affectionately" called Barbarossa, which means "red beard" in Italian, when I sported a beard in my graduate school days. I choose not to wear a beard and mustache any longer since they are now all white, as is the halo of hair I have left when I let it grow out. Call it vanity if you choose. I just simply don't want to look like my grandfather did at this age, at least not yet.  

Photo-of-the-Week #62 – “Ed in the Morning” on KBHR Radio, Cicely, Alaska

This is a fun photo and it’s brand new, taken on June 30, 2012. Indeed, that’s yours truly and the photo was taken with my camera. And for those of you who have any remembrance of the radio station KBHR, this scene will look familiar. Actually, this was where the “Chris in the Morning” radio show was set in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska in the award winning TV show, “ Northern Exposure” that ran from 1990 through 1995.

Actually, Cicely doesn’t exist and this set is in the store front of what is now the visitors’ center in Roslyn, Washington, a small town of about 800-900 people in the eastern part of the Cascades about 85 miles from Seattle. This is the actual town where most of the exterior shooting for the TV series was done including the famous opening shot of the Roslyn Café with the moose walking past it. I knew the town was in Washington State, but didn’t realize how close to Seattle it was. When I learned it was only 85 miles, there was no way I could pass up this opportunity.

I’ll be doing an entire post about my delightful visit to Roslyn (Cicely) in the near future with lots more photos. But, for me, with a background in recording and broadcasting, there was no way I could pass up this photo op when the charming and informative woman, Deborah, who was manning the visitors’ center the day I was there, offered to take the picture. If you remember the show, a comedy/drama about the quirky people who inhabited the fictitious town of Cicely, Alaska, I hope this photo brings back some fun memories of the show and the character, Chris, the morning DJ who was also the town philosopher and narrator for the show.

Photo-of-the-Week #60 – Jimmie Rodgers Museum, Meridian, Mississippi, September 2003

These are some of the furnishings from the home of Jimmie Rodgers, considered to be “The Father of Country Music.” Like Hank Williams, maybe a better known country singer from the late 40’s and early 50’s, Jimmie Rodgers made a major musical impact during a short lifetime, dying in 1933 at only 35 years old. (Williams died at only 29).

Visiting the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian was almost like a pilgrimage for my buddy, Dave, as we were traveling to New Orleans to meet up with some friends. If you love music, then you know there are these special Mecca’s of music all over the U.S. It hardly seems right to pass up these “hallowed” places and not pay homage to the people who gave voice to our country in song.

What a trip that was. A chance to pay respects to “The Singing Brakeman” and “The Blue Yodeler” as he was also known and then end up in New Orleans where so much great jazz, including Dixieland came from. Add to that more great blues, Cajun and New Orleans style rock and roll. My friend had to fly back to Washington, DC since he was still gainfully employed by the Voice of America. I traveled on to Texas where I spent a little time in Austin. That’s a great place for music, too. It’s Not too far from where the original Gillies Club operated by country music singer Mickey Gillies was located or Willie Nelson’s ranch and recording studio and the long-running Public TV show, Austin City Limits.

What a great country.