LANDFILLHARMONIC

 If you appreciate music like I do, and want to see an exercise in human ingenuity and accomplishment, you should watch the attached video.

CLICK HERE.

JARED LETO-THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS

In just two short days, I've become a Jared Leto fan.  In my small encapsulated life I had never heard of him until I watched him play the lead role in the movie,"Prefontaine" yesterday.  It was a great movie and even though I knew who Steve Prefontaine was and was aware of the movie about his life, I was surprised that it had taken me 15 years before I watched it!

As an actor, Mr. Leto is very gifted. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, a docudrama of Prefontaine's rise to fame as a 1970's cross-country champion runner for the University of Oregon and his quest to win the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.  Steve Prefontaine's story was certainly meant to be made into a movie.

But today, I was watching an unrelated video and saw Jared Leto's name associated with Thirty Seconds to Mars and the fact that he is the lead singer for this three-man group.  Naturally, I had to hear this group in performance so I watched one of the available videos.  I now know just how multi-talented this man is.  Now 41, with rock star long hair, I'm very much  impressed with his singing as well!  The other band members are his brother, Shannon Leto the drummer and guitarist Tomo Milicevic.

I'm sure many of you discovered Jared Leto long ago and have enjoyed his performances in the TV show, "My So-Called Life" and  more than a dozen movies including "Girl, Interrupted". 

I could go on, but I'll let you watch a video of Jared Leto chatting with August Brown, music writer for the Los Angeles Times, about his career and what the future holds HERE.  After watching the interview, you can watch Thirty Seconds to Mars perform "The Kill (Bury Me)" HERE.

NOT YOUR ORDINARY AUTUMN GALLERY

Well, I decided to follow and photograph Shook's Run creek at the Middle Shook's Run Park close to where I live.  Every Fall the creek's water reflects the golden leaves of the shoreline trees and this makes for some interesting photos.

On this project, however, I decided not to omit the other sights found along the way.  For instance, this is a popular area for temporary camping of the homeless.  Normally, you won't ever see anyone there during the day, but you will see where they've been and sometimes even their belongings.  Sometimes they leave it there and never come back.

 

 

 

 

Why did I photograph this stuff?  I guess I wanted to document the reality of how sometimes beauty converges with stark, ugly reality.  To temper the effect of humans on this landscape created by the area's homeless, I also photographed some awesome artwork they left behind.

Some of my best friends were once homeless and I know they never wanted or expected to find themselves in that situation.  As they say, "S..t happens".  One could argue that some bad decisions were made along the path of their lives, but now-a-days, I think the economy can take some of the blame as well.

Regardless, I felt it was photo-worthy.  (The artwork of the person in a wheelchair, the Italian restaurant with spaghetti, and the purple mountains were created by volunteers from various community-wide groups.  The others have unknown origins)

ON GETTING OLDER

Indulge me while I reflect on the last 40 minutes.  I just returned home from my regular 30-40 minute fast walk through my neighborhood.  I've been doing this for years, even when I was still working.  I retired a couple weeks ago and although today is Sunday, I know I'll be walking again tomorrow. (nice to know)

My path from home is usually on a wide sidewalk route through the Middle Shook's Run Park nearby.  I saw him up ahead of me again.  He's a tall, elderly gentleman who uses a walker and carries an oxygen tank with him.  When I saw him before he would take a few steps and then stop to rest before he  took a few more.  As I passed  him, he had a painful expression and I walked on by without comment.

Today, when I saw him again I thought, " I must at least greet him, since acknowledgement is the least I can do".  As I got closer to him, he turned around and saw I was coming and immediately turned his back to me.  When I reached him, I had to turn around to look at him and I said, "How's it going?" He replied with a smile, "Pretty good, how about you?"  "Good!", I replied.

I chuckled to myself as a passed him, realizing that even though this man looked like he was grumpy and anti-social, he obviously liked being outdoors and enjoyed the warm sun and the scent of the falling leaves. His reply told me you can't judge a book by its cover.

You know, even though I'm still young(ish) and strong now, someday I may be in his shoes and I hope I can still get outside into the warm sun and enjoy life like he does.

P.S.  I must add this note. The above note was posted in 2013.  It is now 2017. Tom and I eventually became good friends. I found out that we had a love of photography in common. He always carried a small camera with him and told me he was a "figure photographer". This meant he specialized in taking nude photos of female models. Not porn, but the kind of poses you would find in an art magazine or book in black and white format.  He told me also that he used to own a gallery in town and through that and his photography, became familiar with many local photographers, and he in turn, became familiar to them. 

My friendship with Tom lasted three years. He passed away last year (2016). He had a serious heart disease, and that's why he always had to carry an oxygen tank everywhere he went. He was living in a care center across the street from the park where I met him (pictured above).  I always think of him every time I walk through the park. I miss him.