Autumn

is coming and life is passing by... all in a single photo

One

for all Slovene art lovers. Already before I took this photo I was reminded of this 1888 painting
Once I saw that, the rest was easy...

Not Goldfrapp

As you will probably notice. The concert was cancelled (or postponed to the indefinite future). As I rejected an invitation to the theatre (duh, silly me!)probably less than an hour before I learnt that the concert was no longer on the cards, I went to see the launch of audiopedia and a sort of presentation of some musical gadgets (yey! gadgets! musical gadgets even better!... I guess as far as gadgets go, these are the best kind...). We heard no Goldfrapp, but we certainly noticed the irritating high tones from the CDs (even though they were also carefully selected from the best jazz publishing houses) and the nice and soft tones of the gramophone and the reel-to-reel...

So bias

I cannot believe myself. I've seen this band twice now, and both times the singer completely caught my attention, placed it in a small box, locked it up with chains, put it in a tad larger box, locked it with a padlock, put this in a slightly bigger box, wrapped it all in chains, put it a rather normal sized box, wrapped duct (or duck if you are the pre-WWII type of guy) tape around it... (I guess you see where this is going)... anyroad, I know there is a band, and you have the frontman(or woman as is the case here) and that the frontwoman is supposed to sort of grab the audience's attention, but sometimes they have something a bit more then that (which I know, is not good for the band) and they take over the stage... So it could be that she has that all mighty presence... but then again it could also be that I just fancy her and have developed an almost schoolboy like crush on her :)... Oh well, we will never know ;)

Love is the drug for me

I thought I would see you sitting there
all pretty in your summer dress
with that little frown on your face
because you were the first to arrive
and I was running late
'cos I had to save a beggar's life on the way
for he stopped me and said he didn't have any money
to buy a sandwich and some milk...

I took him to a sandwich shop
and bought him the biggest one we found
and a big carton of milk to go with
he looked at me as if I was crazy
because he thought I would give him a quid or two
and he could put it on his drug pile
and inject it all at the end of the day

but you were not there
the chair was cold
the streets were empty
the rain was falling slowly through the still air
and I realised you never even came.

Volunteering

Whatever the reason behind their act, volunteers seem to come from a different world than most. In this cash (and much too often survival) ridden world there are still some people who care enough to do something and not just watch TV or drink beer with their friends. And no, it does not mean you have to dedicate your life to this. You can just do your bit. I would love to make all these people healthy again, but it is not in my power. As much as I dreamed I would be a mad scientist when I was young and find the cure for more or less all illnesses (except for maybe I-don't-feel-like-going-to-school-today-initis) as well as make some other really important discoveries in physics, chemistry and who knows what else, I am not even close to that today. I would also like to entertain them, but I guess I had to let Robbie do that, as he did ask so nicely (even though this is not one of his best songs) or, as in this case, Pižama. They are much better at entertaining people. So I do my bit, a bit I actually enjoy. Yes, even on a rainy day, when I come there soaking wet. I take photos. And even if this will not make them healthy, when they see them they can stop thinking about their illness for a second and hopefully it also encourages other entertainers to come...
And yes, taking the risk of sounding old-fashioned and old, I will paraphrase an old English saying: A good deed a day, keeps the misery away. (It does make you feel a bit better about yourself and the world you live in, and it certainly makes the person you helped feel better...)
Ok... I better stop now!

Interviews

But don't worry it was not all that serious... we also had a laugh or two and relaxed a bit.

If they can play

with gadgets so can I :). I think this photo (and the similar series I made) is the best depiction of the music they played. Quirky to say the least. I am trying to pass on some music through the photo (it is just to easy to record a video).

Kisha

It was excellent to see the singer enjoying herself, acting like an overjoyed child on a huge sugar rush who has just got a new bike and a new playstation, and it is not even X-mas... it certainly made the concert...

Steady hand (not cam)

A photo taken at midnight, close to where I live. But the part I was excited about is that it is taken from hand, at 0.8s (almost a whole second), and it still looks quite clear and still (well except for the light, but that was the effect I was going for). I definetly decided I have a steady hand.

This photo

has the feeling that fits a series of photographs that I am working upon for an exhibition (not this one coming up now, one sometime in the future), so just to keep the thought close I decided to post it...

Groove Jazz

One of those concerts where there were moments I thought: 'They can NOT be serious!' in a good way - as in how do they come up with this?
But then there were moments I thought: 'They can NOT be serious' in the sense that they can surely not expect us to listen to this... so a roller coaster ride for me...
I suppose if you set the bar high with the good stuff, then anything average just seems out of place...

Hey kids!

If I were a father, this would be my fatherly advice of the day for you. Do not (I repeat) do not eat these. In the best possible scenario you end up puking your guts out (so I am told) or have your stomach pumped at the casualty ward. Haven't tried it, but it doesn't seem fun to me.

Rest day

Monday is the new Sunday. Well, no it is not really. But after the weekend I had and the Monday (finishing off a text) I had no energy left. My brain was on a blank. Even comming up with a photo opportuity was a bit too much...
So today... I leave this wall empty for all of you to write my blog... just use the comments below...

Age has nothing to do with it

As long as you have the desire, determination and will (and I think I saw a hint of stubbornness and defience in that face) you can make contemporary dance look gracefully easy even at 70.

Like making love to a beautiful woman

This guy is good. And he is good because somewhere along the line he bumped into the second hand car guy from, you know, whatsitcalled, the BBC sketch show, I forget (maybe the fast show?)... anyway this guy (the car guy) always says (for everything) ......(insert at will) is like making love to a beautiful woman... And this guy sings and acts on stage exactly like that, and it works (the women go crazy)... I mean it works for him at the concert, I have no idea how he makes love to a beautiful woman...

Dynasty returns

and I stay out late. Very late. To the no longer wee morning hours. And I guess this is exactly the sort of photo you take at 5 o'clock in the morning... (Isn't that more like the time I usualy wake up?)

A rose

Not just any rose. My rose.
Quote from Little Prince: "If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that's enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars. He tells himself, 'My flower's up there somewhere...' But if the sheep eats the flower, then for him it's as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. And that isn't important?'"

Red (my name is)

Pamuk. And I am a dog. Or cynic. Or are these two one and the same? Do we live in a cynic eats cynic world? Or are all people just canines? Yup. I got it. We are all just deranged wolves... with very few of the positive wolf characteristics remaining.

The dangers of being an artist

Obviously, one of them is that the evening goes wrong and you end up behind bars. But still, at least they did not take it too badly...

2 shows

I saw 2 shows tonight. Neither of them was a theatre play in the usual meaning of the word. The first was a lecture, rather one-sided, and not the best prepared, which resulted in the audience sending an e-mail to the leaders of the International Monetary Fund that they are guilty. Of ruining the economy, the natural resources and Croatia. Well, hmmmm... Of course they messed up a lot of things, but I think you need to present it a bit better, and decide what you want to expose... It is ironic (as Alanis would say) that someone who is raging against economists in a capitalist system does this according to a checklist performed by a now reformed capitalist who has probably ruined more lives than my blog readers have had hot dinners.
The second performance was a technical one with no actors. A series of slides and special effects and lots of smoke. And a robot. And balloons. And a very small laser show. And noise. It was an anti-war performance (can I call it a performance if nobody is performing?).
The good thing about both performances was that they make the audience think. The first about capitalism as a global system, the second about war. Thinking is good. I am all in favour of thinking. One day, when I inherit the family brain cell, I might even do a bit of it myself.

Underwater

Always look on the bright side... when underwater do what fish do... ride a bicycle.

Saturday night

seems to be jazz night. Pretty standard stuff, but then not every night can be wacky jazz.

Red aesthetics

It was awfully decent of Melodrom to come and play at our opening :).

Poetry

Thursday was a day for poetry. In the middle of my work I suddenly felt I need a poetry break. So I grabbed some Ted Hughes and read (like there was no tomorrow). Hard to go back to work after that, I tell you...
In the evening I popped to see a photo exhibition of a fellow photographer, you know see what he has done, wish him good luck and stuff :) Then I went to a poetry reading that was accompanied by some music... (I would like to do that one day... will somebody do the music for me?)
The only problem with all this poetry is that in the end I felt very cynical... but I guess I was cynical before anyway... Thursdays come and go... and the cynicism stays...

Guinness

It seems I will become a Guinness advertiser. Not necessarily a good one, but still... two days in a row it is featured on my blog... Am I counting on them to buy me a milkfloat and change it into a Guinness float for my great plan... Wait! That's a thought! Hey! Guinness people, I am here! Over here!

A first!

The first time! Evah! This is it! The first time I am hosting a photo from somebody else on my blog... The photo was taken by Tjasa N. And no, it is not because I did not take a photo yesterday, it is because I can. For a change. I gather that following over 200 posts and photos I can have a photo from somebody else now. So, here it is. This is what I do at award ceremonies.

Dance

again :) This time I experienced how it is if there are two photographers and one cameraman on the set during the dress rehearsal... It can get tricky sometimes...

After

lunch walkies with friends... that is what the weekends are all about.

Parov Stelar

A concert I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. Not that I thought I wouldn't enjoy it... I was just surprised at how much I did. I chose this photo because I caught the singer smiling and as the band made me smile, it is only fair that I put this picture up... But I think I took quite a few good ones (which just shows that I enjoyed the concert) so it probably will not be the worse spent five minutes of your life if you check out the rest...

Hey! Teacher!

Leave them kids alone! I have no idea why but he just seemes like a teacher from Pink Floyd's The Wall... It is true I have not seem the actual film since it was shown in the cinema (first dolby stereo in this town) but still... this is how I remember the teacher, so for the time being this is my reality.

Art

as it should be - observed.

Busy

does not even begin to describe it. The whole week is chaos... hectic... havoc (as my dear friend would totally mispronounce it). But Wednesday especially. After doing my first shift translating, I went to my first official session as one of the KS photographers. I had to go and cover a book launch of the translation of George Monbiot's book. He seemed an interesting guy, going to extremes in order to save our planet... but yes, every little thing helps... unfortunately I got my bike stolen on Sunday (and still have not got a new one) so I spent the week driving my car (I felt very strange driving around Ljubljana) or walking...
But anyway, while I was still on the way to the book launch, a dancer friend of mine called and said: ‘It’s the opening night tomorrow. Could you come and photograph our dress rehearsal in half an hour?’ Well, no, because I am just covering a book launch was my reply (at this I must tell you that I love photographing dance performances), but if you can wait for a bit I will rush over there as soon as I finish... So a deal was struck. So drive like a madman (yes, sometimes even reaching speeds of 67 in a 60 km/h zone to the book launch, listen to what George had to say, take a few photos, jump in the car, drive like a madman again, jump out of the car, run through the interior of CD (which is being renovated by the way and has been turned into a maze) take my camera out while running down the stairs and pressing the trigger even before anyone could say: Action!)
After that I rushed home so that I could send a few photos to the designer of the dance company so that she could put them in a video projection which was a part of the show and then whizzed to KS to listen to (and take photographs of course) Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine. I think the best part of it was when I realised that I was hearing California uber alles live.. which was something I thought would never happen (as my twitter readers know already). Not that I am a fan... I never was a true one... my idea of punk remains The Clash... but I know that this song had a sort of cult status when I was in school. And in the middle of the concert I realised that here it is... blasted at me through the speakers... and that it is not some sort of mellow remix by what the late 90s & early naughties called punk (you know all that Green Day nonsense)... but you know almost like the real deal...
And yes... by 1.30 when the concert ended I had about 8 hours of translating behind me and almost 8 hours of photography behind me... what is a man to do? Well, sleep seemed to be the obvious answer for me. Good night California. Good night Brixton. Good night all.

P.S. I didn’t say anything about the photo. It is from the dance performance and I liked it because it has got a dancer (who is disabled) looking at what we perceive as sexy legs (well the male part of the audience at least)... it is like she does not really mind that she cannot use her legs properly... she handles that very well throughout the show, but it seems as if the main desire is focused on the aesthetic part of the body (not the functional) – don’t you just love the superficiality of today’s world?

Tweetianity

In a little known cave in the Slovenian Karst scientists have discovered a series of ink printed tweets... They assume that they were created as early as mid 2009 and are considered to be one of the first Tweets in this part of the world... At the unveilin of the first tweets in Slovenia the tweetologist Jaka Železnikar(on the photo) stated: 'We are very pleased to have found this discovery... It shows that our territories were never more than 700 years behind the rest world ... The discovered tweets reveal the importance of our territories for the evolution of Tweetianity, which has come to dominate and rule the world in recent years...'
Jaka Železnikar ended his speech with the following words: 'Now that we have put ourselves on the map, I hope we will soon find evidence of Slovene tweets on the interweb...Last one to be there is a rotten tomato' and his fingers slowly started stroking the keyboard.

lollobrigida

No, not Gina. A band that seems to have fun on stage... And the fun and joy spreads to bellow the stage... If you get the chance to see them do, but you have to have an open mind to accepting electro-pop-trash (who would know that the world trash can be used in a positive context?) music and knowledge of Croatian certainly helps, as the lyrics play an important part.
A sample of their lyrics (the first song I heard (I think) last year some time):
Volim te
Volim te ko:
Video, DVD, kompjuterske igrice
Sladoled i kokice, casio i šljokice
Ko Konana, Dilana, Alana, ona 2 partizana
LCS, bpm, H&M, sm

Volim te ko:
Kristl i Alexis, domaćica keksiz
Kao Tarzan Chitu, ko Jovanka Titu
Kao lumidole, bombone, trodone, žvakaće i toblerone
Car sex, fast sex, last sex with the ex

Honey pie, honey pie
sakrit ću te u zube kao žvaku
Honey pie, honey pie
nitko te neće pronaći u mraku

Something I rarely do...

Today I am going to do something I rarely do... or maybe I haven't done it at all yet... I don't know... I am going to post a photo for today even before the day is over. I might go to a concert tonight (not quite decided yet), but even if I do I would prefer to have this photo for today's entry. It is from a dance performance that took place today am-ish... The music was Chopin, the dancer was Gregor Kamnikar, the venue was dilapidated (just like my heart and that is why we love these places - ok, ok.. no self-pity)...

Ich bin ein berliner

(Spoken with a German accent) And now listen to me very carefully. In Berlin we have these gadgets... they are called apples... not to be confused with the things you eat... if you want they play music... I like to play with them very much... great... and you even get this little remote with it... see... I press the button and another effect comes through the sound system... I cannot believe it... if only I had one of these when I was a boy...
(even though this blogger is all in favour of evolution, sometimes going back in time is the better option... gimme Einstürzende Neubauten any day)

Knights of the round table

It was only at this point of my life that I realised that the knights of the round table were in fact a self-help group trying to overcome their fears of spiders.

Neil Leyton

does not look like a happy bunny in this photo (or maybe this is what he calls flirting?)... But I think he enjoyed the concert otherwise... I did.

Beauty

There is no way I could show you the true beauty of nature's wonders... But you know what? I'll keep trying...