They raided the joint, took everybody down but me.

 Brian Smith.

___________________________

The 32nd annual Chicago Jazz Festival was this past weekend.

Was happy to see and hear:

The Grilly Brothers Sextet

Paul Giallorenzo's GitGo

Cameron Pfiffner's Marco Polo

Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls

Henry Threadgill's Zooid

It was a real treat to listen to the Rebel Souls,

 with the songs they chose and the reasons they chose to play them.

 To close it all out there was a great show at the Velvet Lounge on Sunday night with

Kidd Jordan, Ed Wilkerson, Harrison Bankhead, Henry Grimes, Isaiah Spencer, and more.

The poet G'ra George Hines blew me away when he stepped on stage.

Big thanks to the Jazz Institute of Chicago and to Arno, John, and George.

On top of it all, I attended most of these sets with the most beautiful date of all.

My mother was in town this weekend.

Hot jazzy mama.

LOVE.

Cooling off.

Dress. Marker and pencil on paper. 22" x 28".

Paper is from the Felix Gonzalez-Torres piece, Untitled (The End).

James Brown with the Louie Bellson Orchestra.

It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World.

+ Your Cheatin' Heart + September Song + Every Day I Have the Blues.

AMEBA, part II.

AMEBA.

 __________________________
At the end of July I had the opportunity to be in the audience for Time Flies
by AMEBA Acrobatic & Aerial Dance.
(If you go to the link, please read the mission statement.)
After meeting one of the artists after this concert, I ended up getting the chance to photograph
Time Flies on closing night at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts.
Kip showed me around the house, telling me where I could and could not go and when.
As long as I stayed out of the way of the artists and did not make noise,
I was free to do what I wanted and this was refreshing.
As I shot with a Hasselblad (loud shutter) I could not document during the quiet parts
of the show, which gave me a moment to observe the beauty, efforts, strength, and overall
visual treat that the artists were giving to those present.
Thank you to Karen Fisher-Doyle, Chloe Jensen, Kip Conwell, and Christina Sedlmaier.
Also...to the man who allowed me to measure the light for a specific piece before the show started.
Everyone I met in this company was kind and generous.

Last week I saw a film called Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.
In the beginning you see what happens before, during, and after a performance of
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.
Watching what was happening on the stage...on the screen...was exciting.
Watching artists work on stage/in front of an audience in 'real life' is really something.

.small scans. 

Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70. Water No Get Enemy.

Fini.

Portrait/landscape.

Marker and pencil on paper.

44" x 30".

Handstand.

 Handstand with a spot from Ned Broderick.

Koko Taylor. Trying to Make a Living.
Ella Fitzgerald. The Lady is a Tramp.
(from Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert. + St. Louis Blues.)

Good morning.

 Egie and Mike.

Chicago artists.

Egie's garden flourishes with somewhere around 85 varieties of plants.

When I am lucky enough to be a guest in their home,

I am guarenteed a delicious dinner with the freshest, yummiest salad.

Billie Holiday. Them There Eyes.

Charles Mingus. Haitian Fight Song.