A bit of Ray Davies brilliance for the season, since we haven't had any Kinks-related content for quite a while. This live version of "Thanksgiving Day" is great--Ray's instincts on acoustic arrangements are always spot-on--but the studio version is even better, if you can believe it. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Drive safely next week!



Previously on Friday Night Videos: Jet Screamer and the Violent Femmes.

Now Playing: Dave Davies Rock Bottom: Live at the Bottom Line

Labels: friday night videos, Ray Davies, Thanksgiving

I had a night shoot with the model Violet Grave tonight. She's done a bunch of goth work, and wanted something more glam for her portfolio. I've been following Dustin Diaz's photo blog, and wanted to try some nighttime strobist-style shots. Violet and I got together right after sundown, along with her son, and trouped about New Braunfels looking for the perfect shots. It's late, and I'm tired, but I think we got at least a few keepers. Here's the last shot we got right before the rains chased us indoors.



Maybe I'll get the hang of this photography thing yet.

Now Playing: The Kinks Kink Kronikles

Labels: night photography

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: If someone suggests that simultaneously being in a wedding, riding herd on three kids and photographing said wedding in an official capacity is a good idea... it isn't. Can't say as I recommend that degree of multitasking. It's Wednesday, and I'm still exhausted.

The wedding itself was very nice. My brother John and his bride Tami were perfect hosts. More importantly, they enjoyed themselves. With all the stress they were under planning this thing in the months leading up to it, there was real concern they'd have a heart attack, mental breakdown or both. But starting Friday with the rehearsal, they were in full-on blissful enjoyment mode. Which is the way it should be. All of our extended families were there (and got along) and friends and acquaintances from all over attended, having themselves a grand old time from what I could tell. I ate and drank and fixed flat tires and chased little ones and on more than one occasion I slipped away from the wedding party to take pictures. Here's one I'm particularly pleased with, of the ceremony inside the new St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fredericksburg.



I also managed to work in a few infrared photographs. No, none of the wedding party--we're not ready for something like that yet--but I got this nifty false-color image of the old St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fredericksburg, significant in the fact that this is where John proposed to Tami.



I'd like to point out that the old church was build in 1861, while the new church was "only" built in 1908. They're both mighty impressive buildings. The entire wedding gallery can be viewed at Lisa On Location.

Now Playing: Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings and Food

Labels: lisa on location, wedding photography

A little retro-future rock to set the mood for this fine Friday: Jet Screamer from The Jetsons doing his all-time classic "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah," a catchy ditty with lyrics penned by Elroy Jetson.



And here's something to wrap your heads around--even though this wasn't a hit until the year 2062, the Violent Femmes actually covered the track in 1995. Give a listen:



Previously on Friday Night Videos... Hall & Oates.

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Does anyone else out there find themselves compulsively correcting their typos, tense, capitalization and punctuation in emails, blog posts and even Facebook/Twitter updates? Even in informal communications where it shouldn't matter?

Dear Lord, I can't even bring myself to "LOL" online with a straight face...

Now Playing: Clandestine The Haunting

So I got a call this evening from a young student working for the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M. I listened to her spiel as she worked up to asking me for money. As soon as the invitation to make a financial gift left her lips, I countered by asking if Texas A&M had re-instituted a journalism degree.

I know what you're thinking: This was an unfair ambush I'd been prepping for years. And yes, it was. But I was nice. We have students just like her at Texas State who have the thankless job of manning phone banks to try and get alumni to give back to the university (and I have to say, the A&M students have a much easier time of it). So I was nice to her. I waited patiently as she checked with highers-up to find out that no, there is currently no journalism degree at A&M, but there are some classes that can be taken. I kindly informed her--pointing out that I had nothing against her personally--that the program had been dismantled in 2004 and until the university re-instituted a meaningful journalism program I would be withholding any direct financial support. She asked if it might have been a state-wide initiative across all universities in Texas. To my credit, I did not laugh (as all you University of Texas, North Texas and Texas State journalism graduates are now doing) but instead gave her a history lesson, how Robert Gates killed off journalism at A&M back in 2004 in an effort to rid himself of an unwanted dean of the College of Liberal Arts. How A&M was made a laughingstock in media far and wide as it was pointed out the school had abandoned the field to the perceived "Burnt Orange conspiracy" in journalism.

Yes, five years on, the bitterness is still close to the surface with me. I suggested she pass my screed along to those who take note of such things, pointing out that many A&M journalism graduates from years past may well harbor feelings similar to my own. Once the university does revive a journalism program with an honest-to-goodness bachelor degree--not, I hasten to point out, a minor or "specialization"--then I will once again be happy to lend them my financial support. But not before. It actually was quite a pleasant conversation, and she confessed to not knowing A&M ever produced journalists at all.

For those of you who might be curious about such things, I did not get into the whole Cepheid Variable can of worms. Yes, I'm bitter there as well, but an entire department/degree carries more weight than a student organization, even one that was so influential on me.

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Labels: journalism, texas A and M

Talk about a packed weekend! Friday was a Girl Scout sleepover at the Girl Scout house in town, and I was recruited to give an astronomy presentation. I took the moon and Venus globes along, but more importantly, the Maroon Barsoom telescope. On the downside, seeing conditions were horrible, as there is an unbelievable amount of light pollution in that area. Also, there was little to see in the sky that would interest adolescent girls, as the moon didn't rise until well after we'd packed everything away and it started getting foggy at that point as well. Deep space objects were out because of the light pollution, and aren't that exciting to kids, anyway. Luckily, Jupiter was available with all four Galilean satellites lined up to one side, and this seemed to impress the troop sufficiently. After that, it was home for me and the Bug, who didn't really appreciate being stuck with Daddy for the night, and made it clear he'd trade me in for Mommy in a heartbeat.

The next day, after picking up the women folk, we packed up and headed to Columbus for a photo shoot. It was an extended family group shot, with some break out sessions included. Some of the participants were obviously more into the session than others, but by the time the sun went down The Wife had gotten several hundred good shots and was feeling pretty positive about the keeper-to-delete ratio. We crashed pretty hard that night. Sleep comes easy when you're exhausted.

Sunday we were up bright an early to do a morning bridal shoot. Yeah, we pack a lot into our trips. The shots came out very well, but during the outdoor session I made the mistake of walking away from the light stand just as a gust of wind (it'd been very still all morning) came up and blew it over. Nothing was damaged except for the shooting umbrella (which, fortunately, looks like a straightforward fix) but the lesson was learned--always anchor the light stand when shooting outside, windy or not.

Following the bridal shoot, we gathered the kids and were on the road to the Texas Renaissance Festival by 9 a.m. We arrived shortly after 10:30 and gave each child a limited amount of spending money, all of which was gone within the hour. At this point I realize my camera's batteries were almost dead. I'd forgotten to recharge the night before. Joy. Fairy Girl got a few shots during the parade and mud show for school (she's doing a report on medieval life, which isn't the same as Renaissance life, but her teacher thought it a good starting point) but it finally died just as the joust was getting under way. I did manage to get this one shot of an actress blowing bubbles to the delight of hordes of children and many adults as well. I had to wait almost 20 seconds before I had a clear shot, but sometimes one is all you need:



By the end of the day, it was starting to sprinkle with the promise of heavier rain in store. I found Istanpitta, a medieval music ensemble that I enjoy, and picked up their CD "C'est la fin," a collection of dance music from the middle ages performed on period instruments. After listening to it on the drive home, I'm thinking I like their other album, "Chevrefoil," a tad better, but it's still a fascinating collection of ancient music.

We rolled back into New Braunfels around 8:30 p.m., and The Wife dropped me off to pick up my PT Cruiser, which had been in the shop for the past week (and parked for the prior 6 weeks) because of a bad wheel bearing. They finally had to resort to cutting the old, decrepit bearing away (so mangled it had become) to replace it, but the long and short of it is that I have my car back. Then the family unloaded from out expedition and collapsed into bed. Exhaustion will do that to you.

This morning I figured out that the gas gauge in my brother's Blazer is inaccurate. In that the Blazer was out of gas despite showing an eighth of a tank remained. This is good, because the alternative was a ruined on-board computer, which is much more costly to fix than an empty gas tank--I just wish I'd known this a week ago when the darn thing stranded me on I-35. Ugh. Fingers crossed that this week is somewhat more sedate and restful by comparison.

Now Playing: Istanpitta C'est la fin

Hall & Oates were really, really big by the time I started high school, but with their album "Big Bam Boom" they broke away from the strict blue-eyed soul sound they were known for and rocked a bit more. Their video for "Out of Touch" was (and still is) pretty darn impressive, and it actually gives viewers a bonus song, opening with the instrumental "Dance On Your Knees." Great stuff. Enjoy!



Previously on Friday Night Videos... Ray Parker, Jr..

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Labels: friday night videos, Hall and Oates