Friday, January 30, 2009

Every Other Day Of The Week Is Fine...



...yeah.

John Phillips was an amazing songwriter. And Michele Phillips was hot as a rocket. Still is. I'd shoot her in a heartbeat. Along with Gena Rowlands, Jacqueline Bisset, and Charlotte Rampling.

Charlotte Rampling...

Anyway, "California Dreamin'" is a masterpiece. One of the most depressing, haunting songs ever written. Curious how that misbegotten state pushes some of our finest writers to express sadness, confusion, longing and isolation - Chandler, Morrison, Eitzel and Phillips. Etc...

End of the week and I just checked out the Batman Blog listed to the right. Some freaks are claiming that they will post a photo from the Batman TV Series every day for a year. 365 Bat photos. Awesome, but man, there a a lot of folks out there with a lot of time on their hands.

I'm too busy for crap like that. Just sent two pieces to Detroit, and even though I'm not attending, seeing them yesterday at Duggal all printed beautifully made my week. I even rejected one and sent it back, which makes me feel like an artist. Or a prick.

My next publisher is coming to Brooklyn tomorrow to take a look through my archives - a daunting task - so that he can help determine what the focus of the monograph should be. At dinner last night, we talked about series', themes, years (Work, 2007) and whatnot. Mostly whatnot. Whatever whatnot is...

Got the medium format film back from the band shoot last weekend and I'm really happy with it. Really happy. There's gonna be a scanning party at my crib this weekend - come on over and bring some beer!

"It's not even closing time and already the stars are falling out of the sky..."
- Mark Eitzel

Cover Star: Renee
Headlining Band: The Mamas And The Papas

www.jamesmgraham.net

Thursday, January 29, 2009

There's So Much She Won't Talk About



Radio silence.

But very loud.

Here.

Frisky, even.

There's a book. Luxxus Press.
There's a show. Detroit.

They're coming...

Cover Star: Mayan
Headlining Band: Tom Verlaine (one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded)

www.jamesmgraham.net

Friday, January 23, 2009

Don't Tell Me Again That Dust Is Gonna Settle Your Nerves...


"My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you're ugly too."
- Rodney Dangerfield

This week:

Two states. Two rivers. Three boroughs. Three and a half days of work. One band. One burnt piece of lasagna. Five overdrafts. One bank wire. Eight Jack and Cokes. One enchilada, one taco. Cigarettes. Two prints. Six rolls of film. One President. Six blog posts. Four different moments of solace. One therapy visit. Countless phone calls. One model release form. Two HBO premiers. One film, completed after three viewings. One bunny scan. Three panic attacks. A bunch of text messages. One thousand twelve hits. Two confessionals. One tragedy starting to happen...

Cover Star: Stella
Headlining Band: elbow

www.jamesmgraham.net

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Question Mark?



Don't get played.

Or Severine will beat your ass.

Word.

Cover Star: Severine
Headlining Band: Poor Dead Elliott

www.jamesmgraham.net

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Let's Hope It's True...


It's a lot to put upon a mere mortal. Shit, even Superman had his problems...

How did Al Gore get so fat? Clearly he's been eating his environment...

I was inspired. I shot with a French model tonight. She was happy about the new President too, although I didn't show her the Superman photo (that I stole off tha Internets), but I think she was also impervious to Kryptonite...

...more of her soon.

My own personal highlight:
Dick in his wheelchair.
What? Sympathy for the devil? Give me a fucking break...

Enough.
Tomorrow, as Scarlet famously said, is another day.

Sleep tight, America. Your Government is in control...

Cover Star: BHO
Headlining Band: REM
He should have played this at his inauguration. Aretha could have covered it. Hell, REM did...

www.jamesmgraham.net

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Birds Swoop Down Upon The Crosses Of Old Grey Churches...



Today.

11:30am, precisely.

A new President.

Thank fucking god.

Cover Star: Kristin, from a long time ago...I really want to shoot her again. Kristin, you up for it?
Headlining Band: David Sylvian

www.jamesmgraham.net

Monday, January 19, 2009

Nothing

After the HBO season premiers of "Big Love" (a little light, but clearly setting up the "Alby" through-line) and "Flight Of The Conchords" (hilarious, but also not one of the best), we switched the channel to the "Inaugural Concert At The Lincoln Memorial" debacle.

Which was a mistake.

Why don't we learn? Who the fuck wants to see James Taylor in a stupid "I'm not bald under here" hat singing some James Taylor shit?

Not me. When will we learn?

It actually got so depressing that I had to call a car service and retreat to the comfort of my Fortress of Solitude, which is where I type from now.

I've heard a lot of shit about "change" mostly from the anti-Obama contingency, but man, if that crap I saw televised tonight was any indication...okay, not about the man himself and his intentions, but The Machine. THE MACHINE is THE MAN.

The machine. Sigh. And I didn't even stick around for U2 (none of the members actually being able to vote in this country) praising him and doing their "MLK" song. Ughhh...

I'm despondant. This is what I got.



Mayan Lee, who I was fortunate to get in front of my lens again late last year, cracks me up. A candid shot...

Oh, and thanks Cari, for having me into your home.

And it still makes me tear up a little when I see Obama. In a good way.

Two more days.

Cover Star: Mayan Lee
Headlining Band: amc

www.jamesmgraham.net

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Well, How Come You Only Want Tomorrow?



"Those midwives to history put on their bloody robes..."

Three days to go...

Cover Star: Anyssa
Headlining Band: db

www.jamesmgraham.net

Friday, January 16, 2009

Oh Please, Let Me Come Into The Storm



I wish I could post the photo of "The Easter Bunny" that I scanned tonight...

Cover Star: Progressive Magnifying Devices
Headlining Band: Leo C.

www.jamesmgraham.net

Monday, January 12, 2009

Smiled Away...



"Something to look forward to" is underrated.

When is the last time you looked forward to something?

Really?

I look forward to something. Tomorrow.

Really.

I think that expectation of all things good has lost it's edge. It's about time that we all had something to look forward to, right?

Find the thing that you look forward to: whether it's a new job opporunity, a revalation, or a person that you want to spend time with.

And do it. Make it happen.
It's not hard, but it can happen, no matter what THE MAN tells you.

And when THE MAN is John Cale, go with it.

He was in The Velvet Underground, ya know...

Cover Star: Scar
Headlining Band: John Cale

www.jamesmgraham.net

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Calm



"Remember the weight of the world
It’s a sound that we used to buy
On cassette and 45"

One of my favorite lyric triplets of all time.
Of all time.

This makes me relax. Exhale. And breathe...
Calm.

Just like she does.

Cover Star: Tonight.
Headlining Band: Spoon

www.jamesmgraham.net

Friday, January 09, 2009

We'll Get By, I Suppose

A snippet from my CV:

"James has lectured on "producing and designing digital/interactive media" at NYU Film School, NAB, CES, The European Video Conference, Digital Hollywood, and the Harvard Business School."

Fuck. Did I really do that?

I MUCH prefer doing this:



Jus' sayin'.

Cover Star: Angela Ryan, Model & Anna DeMeo, MUA
Headlining Band: db

www.jamesmgraham.net

My SX-70 Arrived Today



Now...

What to do with it?

Where to get film for it?

How to modify it?

Questions. Questions. Questions.

I have some ideas.

I also know who I'ma gonna shoot with it...

Cover Star: Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera, Time-Zero, AutoFocus, Model 2
Headlining Band: Shockabilly.

Their big radio hit, "Vampire Tiger Girl Strikes Again."

Word.

www.jamesmgraham.net

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Pacific Coast Highway



I wanna go. I wanna go. I wanna go.

RIGHT NOW!

And take my girl...

I need a vacation.

From EVERYTHING.

Cover Star: Angela Ryan
Headlining Band: Da Yout, Live in Paris, April 19, 2006.

www.jamesmgraham.net

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Ron Asheton RIP



(Ron is wearing the red shades...)

Anybody that knows me well knows that "Fun House," when asked, IS my answer to "What's your favorite album of all time?"

The Stooges CHANGED my life. As did their guitarist.

For the BETTER. The Stooges inform EVERY photo I've ever taken, because they are a part of ME. Like a bunch of other stimuli. But The Stooges are WAY up there stimuli-wise.

Sixty years old is too young to go. I've been emailing people all over the world today about Ron passing away and we are all BEFUDDLED. Mostly at the fact that Iggy outlived him...

I am listening to Tom Sharpling's "The Best Show on WFMU" tonight and he opened with "TV Eye" as a tribute and said that Ron had done everything he was supposed to do.

INSPIRED thousands of musicians and music fans.

Nicely put.

I close with a recent version of "TV Eye."

WATCH RON PLAY.

I'm just happy that I got to see him six or seven times...and I will never forget it.

Or him.



www.jamesmgraham.net

Monday, January 05, 2009

C'mon Beautiful, We'll Go Sit On The Front Stoop



Feeling all melancholy-ish today...

And it's not bad.

It.
Just.
Is.

I have not taken a single photograph this year.
Godammit, I need to develop the rest of this film.

Cover Star: Purple Hoodie, my last shoot of 2008.
Headlining Band: Mark Eitzel, Live At The Borderline, January 17, 1991

www.jamesmgraham.net

Blueprint

"I'm not playing with you, yeah you.
It's just a matter of knowing when to say no or yes.
Never mind what's been selling. It's what you're buying.
Not no way to play."



Cover Star: Chantal
Headlining Band: Fugazi

www.jamesmgraham.net

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Cigarette Holes For Every Lost Soul



Sometimes I can hear the dogs barking as I cut through someone else's yard at full speed...

Cover Star: Sarah
Headlining Band: Elbow

www.jamesmgraham.net

Saturday, January 03, 2009

2009

If I could bottle up the last five days and sell them, I'd be wealthy.

Family has been amazing, friends have been awesome and my New Year's whatever was spent with someone I really dig.

Let's hope that this is a trend. Really.

I have 13 rolls of film to develop and scan from 2008:

- 5 rolls of Neopan 1600 that I will develop myself in the kitchen.
- 4 rolls of various and sundry 120 film that I will send to the lab.
- 1 roll of 400 speed that I liberated from a disposable.
- 1 roll of Kodacolor-X that I finished. It was started by my father in 1982.
- 1 roll of Kodacolor II that my father shot prior to 1982.
- 1 roll of Verichrome Pan that my father shot prior to 1982.

Wish me luck. Especially with the Verichrome.

The reason for the "old" film is that I raided my father's camera closet and "liberated" his Argus C3 rangefinder (and the film in it and in the camera case) and my mother's Kodak Duaflex. It takes 620, but you can re-spool 120 for it, which supposedly will work just fine according to that ol' Internets. Both cameras are in pristine shape.



I decided to kick off the new year with another self-portrait. Taken moments after I returned from a screening of "Revolutionary Road" at BAM tonight. After seeing some long-missed friends. While listening to "I Wanna Destroy You."

It's for Chip. And Marty. And Kim and Michael. And everyone else.
And it's supposed to be ridiculous.
What better way to start off the new year?

Levity is what I've experienced in 2009, so far. I know it won't last, but goddamn, it FEELS good.

Working on a shoot in January for an on-line fashion/erotica site. And I'm excited. More soon...

Cover Star: Moi
Headlining Band: Uncle Tupelo covering The Soft Boys

www.jamesmgraham.net