LIVE! At the Palladium!
No, sorry, it was just the Buffalo Pizza & Ale House. But Cortney Chyme had to fill in for Derek Mediak of the Derek Mediak Band who was recovering from strep.
Check out these awesome rock renditions of classic alternative rock songs!
Celebrate the Bills 2017 season, and as always, hope springs eternal - 2018 HAS to be THE YEAR!!!!
Enjoy the video, and the song!
If you frequent my blog, or my website here in general, you might notice changes happening right before your eyes.
I'm in the process of rebuilding all of my galleries. This is a huge, time consuming endeavor. I have to sort through literally tens of thousands of photos from over ten years of photography work. The main focus however is event photography. I have been the photographer for Yelp.com events in Buffalo for over five years. I've covered two World's Largest Discos, three Witches Balls, and countless other events, large, and small, for various organizations, performers, and individuals.
I have to build the galleries, make sure all images are right-sized, watermarked, and their cleanest version.
http://buffaloeventphotography.com is now active, and will take you directly to my new Event Photography Page. Other portfolio elements are changing, being cleaned out, and getting a whole new look as well, but it's a living work. It will hopefully never stop growing!
Feel free to peruse the new elements, and let me know what you think!
We worked on this video yesterday on New Year's Day, with wind chills dipping in the -10F range. But it was fun!
The Bills made the playoffs for the first time in 17-years! WOOHOO!
My Facebook Timeline is constantly filled with some of the most ridiculous, and dumbest things that people decided to share.
I only see it because they're my friends on Facebook, so I see what they share.
However, those same friends rarely, if ever, share my creative work, art, photography, or the work I do for others.
So, there's that.... right?
A quick behind the scenes time-lapse of the preparations, and execution of a 24-model, 2-photographer, 1-designer, in 1-studio holiday shoot.
This was fun to create! And it was all for charity. We raised over $700 for the SPCA Wildlife fund!
It's a sad day when I can't even come up with a decent title for a blog entry. No clever word play. No playful word cleverness. Just bland.
I think once things settle from the movie production I'm going to lock myself in my house for about four days, and write. A screenplay. A novel. Something. What are the stories that last throughout the ages? The struggles of a common man against great adversity? An eternal love spun from the horrors of the violence of humanity? Abstract looks at modern life, love, and the challenges represented by coping with our humanity? Cannibals? Ancient Composers? Marathon Runners? Gladiators!
I guess the point I'm trying to make is comedies, and sci-fi never really win best picture, and comparatively sell fewer books. 50 Shades of Gray has sold 125-million copies of four installments, and it is complete crap. Likewise, Twilight has also sold 120-million in five installments. Star Wars, one of the world's most popular franchises, has had over 300 installments, by various authors, and sources, and collectively has sold 150-million. 50 Shades of Grey which is probably on an even par with trashy paper-back Romance novels ("...her breath quickened as Duke Remington thrust his purple-headed solider into her moist, yet trembling apple pie of love.") except less creative, and poorly written, yet out-sells what is now a Disney franchise by a generously conservative 6:1 ratio per installment. Meanwhile, Star Wars also lost out on Best Picture to the story of an amateur boxer given a once-in-a-lifetime shot at the title, and thustly, was pummeled mercilessly.
So where do I start? A half-baked romance involving a billionaire predator trying to get a college student to be his sex slave? A fake documentary about a woman fighting against social injustices highlighting the socio-political, and religious shortcomings of modern society? I certainly can't write a sci-fi about the intergalactic socio-political struggles of a young man following an ancient religion. Or, the story of a stand-up comedian who just isn't funny. Not if I want it to actually work, and be recognized as a good bit of writing.
Ideas?
Suggestions?
We love to play in summer blooms
In fields of green, under a silver moon
With petals so bright
Shinning stars, and sun light
The bluest of skies
Her crystal blue eyes
Warm skin, warm within
A lover’s embrace
Kindness, and grace
But where do you go
When the skies turn to gray
Empty fields where you no longer play
Scattered remains of happier days
Sitting on a flight to Chicago. Flying United is like flying on a school bus…
Waiting for my originating flight in Montreal was a bit odd. There was no non-stop and at every gate CNN feed. Instead they had on a Canadian new feed that was mostly in French. I don’t speak French, at all… yet somehow it was still more informative than CNN.
Someone who will remain nameless… let’s just call him douchebag… asked again tonight if I could meet him in Chicago at 9:00PM when my flight takes off from DC at 9:58PM… logistics are so difficult for him.
It should be an interesting night… and tomorrow. Getting into Chicago late tonight and needing to be up early tomorrow for training. I feel like tomorrow is going to be a day of scrutiny against me… just the way things have been going for me lately. I feel like they’re looking for a reason… any reason, to shove me out the door from this contract. I’m still trying to solve the reason why. I have my suspicions, but I’ll keep them to myself.
Still, I think it’s funny. From the side of the contract I’m on, no one on the team has been doing this longer, or better, in my opinion.
The local sales rep commented, “I can’t believe how quickly and how well this whole project came together this week with no prior IT planning…”
“Well, they sent you the best they had…” was my only response.
And I sincerely believe that. Ok, that might sound a bit conceited, but those that know me know I am anything but. I will be the first person to be disappointed in myself. I have the highest expectations for me and falling anywhere short of those expectations is devastating to me. I have to do better.
But in this case, I am the best they have.
The attitude they’ve taken towards me lately has been more than discouraging in what has already been a very one-sided relationship.
Story of my life, I think.
Now to solve that problem. I don’t know if it will happen tomorrow, or Friday… but it will happen.
I’m set to embark on the next phase.
But the first couple days of this trip were pretty awesome. Montreal, a city I have always wanted to visit but have never done so. I need to make it a more frequent spot to go. Besides Melbourne and Sydney, this was by far the best place I’ve been. I think it’s the European flair and flavor that gets me. The narrow, cobblestone streets. The turn of the century architecture. The language… the people… the fashion… it was all so captivating to me. So much different than the little snow-globe world I grew up and have lived in my whole life in upstate New York.
Now granted growing up only a 15 minute drive from the Canadian boarder, the culture in Buffalo is at least a little more aware of Canada – the differences, the similarities… where it is on a map. Much more aware than the average area in middle-America at least. But the culture in Buffalo is still so much American. Rigid, self-centered, conservative…
Much different than what I have found the places I’ve visited and spent time in further north to be.
And I had a great time with the local rep for the vendor. Someone who actually said, “Hey, your first time in town, let me show you around.” Usually they want little to do with the contractors after the day is done. We went to a restaurant in old Montreal, spoke to beautiful women, watched a Canadiens’ game, had excellent wine. He taught me a little French and I taught him what a Jagerbomb was.
I actually had a really good time.
I was a bit worried about working with the guy after he asked me for the fifth time if I could fly in on Monday night, and I had to answer that Tuesday morning was the best I could offer, yet again. He seemed uptight about the job. I assured him we would be fine with one and a half days to finish what needed to be done. And, of course, we were. He was much more relaxed after the first day when he saw how quickly I could go through what needed to be done.
I’m pushing to get more jobs up there. With more notice and no trip to Chicago right afterwards, it’s a drive, not a flight. I can deal with that.
But I have to sort the issues at hand and get the jobs.
Ahhh… as Joe Walsh has sang, “Lucky I’m sane after all I’ve been through…”
Yeah, for the most part, life’s been good to me so far…
Ironic that I feel I can say that right now… it really is.
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November 20, 2008
I'm putting a lot of work into this one.
Check out my Buffalo Rising article HERE.
Get tickets - yes, get them NOW!
