the photography:
when i say st. patrick's day, what's the first food that comes to your head? 95% of americans will answer corned beef and cabbage. and when i say corned beef, 95% of chicagoans will immediately start salivating and thinking of Manny's deli.

one of the oldest deli's in the midwest, Manny's Deli is a staple for most of the chicago food community. family owned and operated since just after World War II, Manny's has been a foodie must-have for anyone looking for the best corned beef and pastrami sandwiches West of the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel (and i, among others, would argue that they are just as good if not better than the sandwiches East of those landmarks).

but i'm not here to bore you with historical facts and mouthwatering tidbits. this place is just plain famous for being itself. everyone from US President Barrack Obama, to Chicago Mayor Daley make a point of stopping by and eating at Manny's when they are in the neighborhood. you just can't walk by and smell the food without heading in the door. when i was asked to take some products shots of their mouthwatering food, how could i pass up the chance?

so, in honor of st. patrick, and in honor of chicago's most legendary eatery, i bring to you, deli sandwich photography pornography.

before you ask any questions, the sandwich in the fourth photo is in fact, a breakfast rueben. you read that correctly... a breakfast rueben. oh dear lord it's as good as it sounds. photos are with the 5DMKII and the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. everything was shot on location with natural light.

the music:
Chin Up Chin Up were one of those bands that succeeded in the face of adversity. even with something as profound and hard hitting as the death of their founding bass player overshadowing the recording of their first record, this band trudged on and made a career out of jangling some indie-rock guitars together and producing some great tunes. i had a chance to see them live a handful of times and with each performance, they crafted indie pop perfection with a groove all their own.

in 2009 and with only two full length records and re-released self titled EP as their mark on the industry, Chin Up Chin Up called it a day and broke up. their presence in the chicago independent music scene will sorely be missed. reunion show? too soon...

the photography:
SIDE NOTE FROM THE LAST POST: so i have one clarification to make about the music from the last post. my wife noted last night that if it were not for her, i would not have listened to that stellastarr* song so much. this statement could not be more true. i love my wife and during our early days of courting, i would play whatever music that she liked so i could keep her attention on the music and not on the fact that the floor of the passenger seat of my subaru was covered in empty dunkin donuts extra large coffee cups. oh... and i tried to hide the fact that i'm a steering wheel drummer. that didn't go so swell...

here is more of our china trip revisited. images are from our stay in beijing. we spent much of our time walking along the enormous (and i mean really large) streets near the forbidden city as well as taking some side trips out to see the great wall and some of the larger temples outside of beijing proper. the forbidden city and the waterways that surround it are some of the most interesting places on earth to people watch. fishermen, peddlers, tourists, students, you name, they're here.

amazingly the only thing that bothered me about beijing (besides the fact that it reminded me of not only LA but also of the couple miles of Western Avenue in Chicago north of North Ave and south of Howard) was the air pollution. not only was it everywhere but it was dense and thick and awful. i have had asthma since i was in 5th grade and i have never been in a tougher situation than walking the streets of beijing. it was like breathing through an exhaust pipe on a car without a catalytic converter while smoking three cigarettes. ok... maybe it wasn't that bad... but it was pretty awful. looking back on it, i didn't even worry about the air while i was there because everything else was so amazing and new and intriguing that i didn't let it bother me until after the fact.

mmmmmmmm. street food. stinky tofu has a scent all it's own. it's the closest thing to ipecac that i have had the pleasure of smelling.

sigh... it was a gorgeous city to say the least. this group of images is part 1 of 3. the photos were with the 5D and my EF24-105mm f/4.0L USM. did i mention earlier (in fact i did...) that for this entire trip i was wearing either flip flops or my blue dock-siders. true story.

the music:
volatile is probably too kind a word for the history of this band. as far as descriptives terms used for their live shows, i would pick "bombastic", "thrilling", "loud", and "build it up so you can break down and/or blow it up". don cab has been through more lineup changes than the smashing pumpkins yet the center of attention is always on their founding member and drummer, Damon Che. that dude slays.

so many time changes, so little time.
so many hammer-ons, so few fingers.

the photography:
there was a small break in the gorgeous spring weather here in chicago. yesterday and on into this morning, fog blanketed the north side of the city making for some awesome pictures and some wonky traffic jams. only in chicago would drivers be distracted by low lying clouds.

to set the tone of just how creepy it was outside, i also took some indoor shots of our back stairs and of our kitchen. my wife and i love to watch the CTA workers do their nightly rounds which include walking down the tracks past our house. once they hit a specific spot, they turn around and walk back up to the platform in an awkward single file line. we always joke that it's the 'Others' from the the TV show Lost. last night, we were so entrenched in the cinematic quality of the weather that we actually got spooked by the whole ordeal. thus no photos of people walking on the train tracks in the fog. we were too busy hugging each other and laughing... oh well...

with the baby on it's way any day now (holy crap i don't know if i can wait any longer!!!!!) my blog posts have slowed to a trickle. i will make sure to post as much as i possibly can... when fog like this rolls in, i can't help myself. i also have a good 6 blog posts (or so) containing my-trip-to-china photos waiting to be published... photos are with the 5D and the 28mm f1.8. no tripods were used. everything here is handheld. i'm still like that. enjoy.

the music:
stellastarr* channel not only the great 80's rock gods, flock of seagulls, duran duran, but also the 70's new wave bands that bred them, blondie, the cars, the knack, etc..

this ode to the nose candy is one of the best radio hits that never made it on to anything but college radio. it should be a dance club favorite, it should be on everyone's ipod, it should be the cornerstone for post 80's revival that's been brewing and overflowing for the last 10 years but alas... this band just never got high enough off the ground. me thinks they tried to be too much like rainer maria and not enough like the ting tings. sigh.

the photography:
the fourth installment from my trip to hong kong is centered around the waterfront of the city and a small little day trip we took to Lamma (think Llama) island. Lamma island is most famous for it's fishing villages and quaint seafood markets/restaurants but it's also an enclave for hippy ex-pats. perfect. out of all of the places to hang out in southeast asia and i find the one that's most like my home state of vermont. sweeeeet.

it was a really rad experience. Lamma island does not have any cars or traditional roads per se. everyone gets around by foot, bicycle, or by these little narrow work trucks that look like cushman's sliced in half the long way. we hopped off the ferry and walked the entire island in a less than a couple of hours. the only drawback? it was 85 degrees with about 85 percent humidity. wow. i haven't sweat through t-shirts that fast since my days playing 'sauna football' (which is, in fact, a made up game where you can assume one sweats a lot because of the heat, humidity, and the weight of the football pads). this is what shows up in google if you type in the words 'sauna football'. too hot...

my favorite images from Lamma are from the dragon boat (i think that's what they called the boat with the red flags flying ferry) which brings tourists to the island for what i can only assume is the chinese equivalent of the hawaiian luau. check the roast pig. tasty. also? the baywatch photo. you know which one i'm talking about. the entire beach on the backside (southeast) of Lamma island had a shark fence. yeah... i'm gonna go swimming... sure.

photos again were with the 5D and my EF24-105mm f/4.0L USM. in retrospect, if this were a photo-centric excursion, i probably would have brought my entire lens arsenal. but since we were meeting my sister-in-law and checking two duffel bags of her stuff back to the US, luggage room was at a bare minimum. this combo worked out great. versatility versus size/weight.

the music:
hella is one of those bands that makes music on a level that is all their own. 'traditional pop songs' is a phrase that doesn't even come close to enter my brain when thinking about hella. the music is a combination of the incredibly talented Zach Hill on drums and the 'also as incredibly talented' yet weird bending guitar stylings of Spencer Seim. it's an acquired taste of metal/indie/rock rhythms mixed with blips, cracks, circuit bending, and straight ahead strumming all with nasty time changes and what can only be best described as 'time loses'.

sometimes it's as if my bloody valentine made love with the black keys and mr. bungle jumped in right before conception. but most of the time hella's music is closer to that of trans am