Painted Press Photos and Skiffle in Downtown Fillmore

Saturday night was the opening of a small exhibit of painted press photos from the John Nichols Gallery.  The event occurred at Coffeeboy in Fillmore.   My friend Jeremy arranges the exhibits and I was glad to bring nine framed vintage photos for the walls.  I chose newspaper photos that had been cropped and painted on to enhance contrast.  Train wrecks and accidents but no dead bodies.  They were a big hit.

Jeremy looks like he's been sniffing too much solder lately.

Not only was there art on the walls if you can call it that but there was great coffee and food and music. Opening the event was a guitarist and singer from Ventura named Deepak. I bought his CD “Deepakalypse”.

Deepak solo accustic opened.

The crowd was mixed in age and hip and cool.

The awed crowd. ISO too high for a small camera hence the noise.

At the back of Coffeeboy is one wall painted black like a chalk board.  A quotation changes on a regular basis. The quote for the evening was:::

Now comes the part about Skiffle. I’ll leave it to you to Google it and Wiki it and You Tube it.  Skiffle is the Music of the Future.  I’ve only been a fan for about one week.  Something lead me to Lonnie Donnegan .  You might as well click on his name and see and listen to him on You Tube.  I’m hooked.

The main attraction of the evening, musically, was up next.  Taking the stage was the Peculiar Pretzelmen.  Might as well click on their name AFTER you have soaked up Lonnie Donnegan to hear and see them.  I purchased their CD.  I thought their music was something like Captain Beefheart meets Bela Fleck.  Which is to say I loved it.  Correct me if I’m wrong but I think the spirit of Lonnie Donnegan was reincarnated that night in Coffeeboy in Fillmore.  There was a banjo, guitar, vocals accordian and a drum kit with at least a 26 inch kick and a pot for a tom and a skillet for a snare.  Primitive modernism.

The Peculiar Pretzelmen in Fillmore before heading to their next gig in Portland.

The lights dimmed.  I wanted to shoot at ISO 80 on my camera.  I switched to AV and set the shutter speed to 2 seconds. I propped the camera up on the counter and started taking pictures.  Time did not stand still.  The photo seems to me to match the music as the music matched the train wreck and airplane crash photos on the wall.

Check out the banjo. I'll never make another banjo joke again.

Finally the accordian came in. I'll also never make another accordian joke again. You know what they call someone who hangs out with musicians? A drummer.

I moved my camera to a face in the crowd.

Two seconds worth of coffee.

Brianna enjoying the music.

I talked with Brianna (hope I’m spelling it correctly) after the show. She keeps a journal and was writing in it during the evening.  I highly approve of that activity.  When she said she “did a little modeling” I gave her my card.  I’m ready to do more portraits and she wants to build her portfolio.  Might be a good trade.  I won’t use long exposures.