BetterPhoto July Contest

 So, it's the last day of August, sp BetterPhoto has announced their July contest winners!

I only had 9 entries for July, but got some recognition for each:  4x Editors' Pick, 1x Stall Favorite, 3x Finalist and 1x Second Place.  

Here ya go:

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Check out my BP Gallery to see the rest:

Larry Lawhead's Classic Photo Gallery

Dog Days

Late August...  Hot humid, thick.

Fallen tree, Ellis Island, West Alton, MO. Ellis Island is actually a peninsula between the Mississippi River and a large backwater area that is part of the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary Wide angle, focal length is 14.5mm, or 22mm equivalent (at 35mm).

Critics Revisited - The Rolling Stones

Stones...

Along the Spokane River, just outside Spokane, WA, October 2003

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I think it is interesting to look at what critics said in the past, about music that has gone on to be iconic.  One key source for me is a book I bought in the early 80's:  "The Rolling Stone Record Guide".  My nearly 40 year old copy is quite battered, missing the front and back covers, and a few pages in between.  But its still around.

Let's take the occasion of Charlie Watts passing to see what they were saying about the Rolling Stones back then.  Comparing the early 80's viewpoint with the Rolling Stone Magazine list of Top 500 Albums of all time from 20 years later (and nearly 20 years ago!)

The stones placed 10 albums on the 2003 list, here's the top 5, with selected commentary from the 1983 book:

• Exile On Main Street (ranked #7 of 500 in 2003):  4 Stars out of 5 in 1983.  Despite giving Exile 4 stars, they state "it was an attempt to break past the limits maturity imposed, and about half the time it succeeds".  But "too much of Exile is simply forgettable".   
• Let It Bleed (ranked #32 of 500 in 2003):  4 Stars out of 5 in 1983.  They state "some of the most frightening and beautiful music the Stones have made is here".  But, "the record is erratic".  They laud the keys songs, but declare Monkey Man to be "silly", and "some of the rest is just OK"
• Beggars Banquet (ranked #57 of 500 in 2003):  5 Stars out of 5 in 1983  "its theme is dissolution and from its opening song...to the final number... it is terrifying"  and "As usual, the Stones were more correct, if also more faithless, philosophers than any of their peers"
• Sticky Fingers (ranked #63 of 500 in 2003):  4 Stars out of 5 in 1983.  There's remarkably little in the book.  They note that "apart from Brown Sugar and Bitch it is the most subdued Rolling Stones record ever made."  Wild Horses is "not so much wistful as bitter" and "the rest is a restless rush in search of a self-assurance that never comes"
• Aftermath (ranked #108 of 500 in 2003):  5 Stars out of 5 in 1983. They start with "Aftermath has everything"  But they also state "The album's one flaw is its tendency to pander to the Stones' audience's flagellant tendencies"...  which seems a little harsh, and a bit insulting to listeners.

I don't know if there's a "so what" here, but it is interesting.

My take on the Stones?  They were one of the truly iconic bands of the 60's and 70's, who have an impressive list of really outstanding songs.  Really REALLY outstanding songs.  That said, while their peaks are very, very high, they have a LOT of valleys.  I have a lot of favorite Rolling Stones SONGS, but no favorite Rolling Stones ALBUMS.  No Revolver, no Who's Next, no Pet Sounds, no Blood On The Tracks.  But all that's OK. 
And while they deserve :props" for longevity, and for continuing to make new music, I'm simply not a fan of anything since 1978's Some Girls.  And, I've never seen a live performance that I thought was all that outstanding (yes, I know that's blasphemy).  I guess I agree with the comments above:  "erratic", "The rest is just OK".  But don't get me wrong, those peaks are awesome, and there are a LOT of them.

RIP Charlie Watts

 Charlie Watts, drummer for The Rolling Stones, died today.  The Stones are probably second only to the Beatles in term of stature un the world of Rock and Roll, and gave us numerous iconic songs. And Charle Watts was their drummer since 1963.  He was 80.  RIP for him, condolences to his family and band mates.

We’ve lost some big names in the past few weeks:  Dusty Hill (ZZ Top - 7/28), Don Everly (Everly Brothers - 8/21) and now Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones - 8/24).  I suppose it is one of the inevitable parts of life.  As we get older, our childhood heroes get older still.  I was listening to Everly Brothers yesterday, switched over to the Stones today.

What’re YOUR favorite Stones songs?

August 1971

 Here's for the next in my ongoing series of reviewing the Top 40 songs from 50 years ago.  I've been doing this version of the review for over a year now, plan to continue indefinitely.  

  So what was August 1971 like?

There were 4 weeks of August '71, and there were 55 songs that spent time in the Top 40. As usual, lots of great stuff.  1971 was a pretty outstanding year!

One one song topped the charts over August's 4 weeks:  The Bee Gee's "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart".  It was #1 for 4 weeks, spanning the whole month.

Here's the top 10 songs of the month, ranked by average chart position over the 4 weeks of the month:

• How Can You Mend A Broken Heart - Bee Gees - 1
• Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight - 3.25
• Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver - 3.5
• Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye - 6.75
• You've Got A Friend - James Taylor - 6.75
• Beginnings/Colour My World - Chicago - 8.25
• Draggin' The Line - Tommy James - 8.75
• Signs - Five Man Electrical Band - 9
• Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian) - The Raiders - 9.5
• Sweet Hitch-Hiker - Creedence Clearwater Revival - 11.25

Nineteen (19) songs made their Top 40 debut, a couple of pretty notable songs.  Here they are (listed by entering position):

• Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - Paul & Linda McCartney - 21
• Go Away Little Girl - Donny Osmond - 24
• Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers - 27
• Spanish Harlem - Aretha Franklin - 29
• Bangla-Desh - George Harrison - 31
• The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Joan Baez - 33
• I Woke Up In Love This Morning - The Partridge Family - 35
• Mighty Clouds Of Joy - B.J. Thomas - 36
• Maggie May - Rod Stewart - 36
• I Just Want To Celebrate - Rare Earth - 37
• Go Down Gamblin - Blood, Sweat & Tears - 37
• Stick-Up - The Honey Cone - 38
• I'm Leavin - Elvis Presley - 38
• Saturday Morning Confusion - Bobby Russell - 38
• Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who - 39
• Tired Of Being Alone - Al Green - 39
• Mother Freedom - Bread - 39
• Where You Lead - Barbra Streisand - 40
• Resurrection Shuffle - Ashton, Gardner & Dyke - 40

The Guitar Player

Way back when I was still a novice at photography, I took a photo of a friend playing guitar, sitting on the hood of my father's car.  Probably spring on 1977.  I was trying to do some cool lighting, with the sun reflecting off the guitar.  This would've been my first SLR (Canon-TX), all manual.  Almost certainly Kodak Tri-X film, developed and printed in my basement.  Well, you can see from the scan below, it was all a bit beyond my capabilities at the time.  But not so bad that I didn't keep a print of it.

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Fast forward 44 years or so, and I came across the print while digging through old photos.  I was looking for :throwback" photos for my Instagram account.  I decided to scan it (as seen above), and see what I could do in Photoshop (Elements).  Below is an improved version, mostly just adjusting Layers.  But I did have to do some burning to try and fix the somewhat clunky dodging I did on the print:

Much improved, I think.  I wish I had easy access to the negative, it could be interesting to start over from there and see what I could do.  I probably do have the negative, in a box with every other negative from those days.

I sent a copy of the photo to the guy in the picture.  I haven't seen him since the late 70's, but had a couple of email correspondences earlier this century.  For now, though, he's anonymous here.

World Photography Day (8/19)

 So, apparently yesterday was World Photography Day, or World Photo Day.  I'd like to say I had been eagerly awaiting the event for weeks or months, but I ohnly knew about it from social media posts I saw at lunch.

Anyway, I figured I should get my lazy [rear] moving and take some photos.  So after work I ran up to Watershed Nature Center and had a nice wander.  Here's the keepers from the excursion:

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Instagram, July Look-Back

 Following last month's lead, I decided to do a look back at July's Instagramming.  I figured mid month was good, for thos straggling likes / comments...

Anyway:

I had 23 posts to the LSqrd42 account in July.  Less than the tarhey 1/day average, but better than June's 21.  August is on a better pace, if I can keep it up.  Of those, 21 were in color, 5 were b&w...

Here's my top 5 posts for the month, ranked by "Likes", with "comments" as tie breaker.  Listed  in chronological order (oldest to newest):

Sunset, one day past the Summer solstice

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Grey Headed Coneflower

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You got the right plane, baby, but the wrong airport

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Baby house finch

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C&O Canal hiking trail (Throwback)

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Of these 5, 2 are from my phone, 2 from my Fujifilms, and 1 scanned from an old slide.  By contrast 14 of the 23 posts in July were from the iPhone...  

Our other account, Quilt Shops and Photo Ops remains pretty slow, with only 9 posts there in July.  Way better than June, but still...  Our "intrusive life" issues may be waning, I still hope to get that ramped back up sometime soon-ish.

Throwback Thursday

 I came across this print the other day, digging though some boxes of old photos.  This is from early Fall 1981, when I was shooting for the College newspaper.  I was called along with a reporter to an interview at the college radio station...  not our radio station, but the good one over at UNC:  WXYC.  

My favorite photo from my days as an (unpaid) photojournalist.

RIP Paul Cotton

 

 Rusty Young and Paul Cotton

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I just saw today that we lost Paul Cotton last Sunday (8/1/2021).  Paul was guitarist / singer / songwriter for the band Poco from 1970 through the late '80.  Bummer, bummer, bummer.  And just a few months since Rusty Young passed.  I have 10 Poco albums with Paul Cotton, including 34 songs he wrote.  

I saw Poco with Paul Cotton back in the Summer of 1976...

So, what're my 5 favorite Paul Cotton songs?  Very tough to pick just 5, but here you go, in chronilogical order:

• Blue Water - Crazy Eyes - 1973
• Faith in the Families - A Good Feelin' To Know - 1974
• Western Waterloo - Cantamos - 1974
• Too Many Nights Too Long - Rose Of Cimarron - 1976
• Heart of the Night - Legend - 1978

Beat On The Brat

 August 1989...  I guess you had to be there.  My brother and my daughter.