Archive for October, 2010

Jane’s Addiction

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

..October 2009 New York..

13 years ago, I photographed a Jane’s Addiction concert on October 30, 1997 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. I have a large photograph from the concert hanging in my living room. A symbol of the start of my career.

I remember the exact moment when I snapped the photo and the lyric Perry was singing. He put his leg over the monitor leaned towards the crowd. I snapped away.

I was about a foot away in the photo pit. It was the first song. A nervous sweat poured out of me all over my camera. My finger was on the shutter button all concert. The energy from the band and crowd made me feel like I was on a wave.

At the end of the second song Dave leaned down from the stage with a rose sticking in his hair. I heard his soft voice over the anarchic crowd and shreeking teenage girls. “Is everything ok?’ I nodded. I can’t say it was surreal. It was unrealistic.

I drove to Washington, DC the day after. Worrying all night if that shot came out. I picked up my film, immediately looked for that series of shoots. Walking down a cobblestone street in Georgetown and looking at the film simultaneously. I got the shot. I remember the walk like it was yesterday. 23 and the beginning of something. Of what?

Today I sat by the river with 2 friends. I starred at the broken wooden piers disappearing into the dark blue river. I pretended to listen to them speak. Fading in and out of a mindless conversation I’ve heard the past 12 years of my life from dozens of different people.

Their 8 years younger than me. So this conversation is new to them. Seagulls land and perch on top of the broken wooden piers sticking out of the water. From a distance they look like gargoyles a top a cathedral. Behind the bench we’re sitting on, bicycles and joggers zoom by us. Towards the side, two gay men sitting in the grass are kissing.

My friends are babbling away as I nod. The sun is fading underneath the coastline. I wasn’t sure what the future was on October 30, 1997. Twelve years later in some sense, I don’t know what the future will bring.

1aaa

1aaaa


Nasty Canasta

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

Election day….

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

..October 2010.. ..New York..

Politicians are out…must be close to election day.

Jonny Greenwood, Radiohead

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Fragile

Monday, October 25th, 2010

PeeKaBoo Point

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

From Above documentary by Community Media (Nagasaki) about From Above portrait project

Monday, October 18th, 2010

..August 2010.. ..Nagasaki..

A documentary shot by Community Media about my portrait project From Above. The project concentrates on the lives of Hibakusha (atomic bomb Survivors) and Tokyo fire bombing Survivors. It was shown at Gallery EF in Tokyo during March 2009 and at the Nagasaki Peace Museum during July 2010.

From Above By Paule Saviano from paul saviano on Vimeo.

2nd Weekend of October….

Friday, October 15th, 2010

..2nd weekend of October 2010 New York..

The sun surrenders to gray and the leaves fall. My season ended last night now I have nothing to do.

My friend will disappear for six months leaving me empty until the trees turn green again.

I sit and listen every night at 7PM for relief from reality. Now I stare at the cold choppy dark blue sea until the sun dominates the sky in the spring.

Waiting 150 days for my friend to return and occupy my mind seems like walking a long distance in the sand.

1aaa

PeeKaBoo Point

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

I can show you the nicest places in Hell….

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

..February 2006 Williamsburg..

I stood in the corner of a backstage area that resembled the back room of a meat packing plant. The air musky and damp. The floors ice cold with the elegance of an inch of dirt beneath my shoes. Two long legged psycho women wearing pink bob wigs, frilly pink short skirts, and neon green stockings talk squeamishly to themselves. Their kindergarten vocabulary made it a scene out of a nightmarish Alice In Wonderland.

The room filled with a freakish marching band. Men randomly blowing into trumpets and a kazoo with all their might. Some wearing green plaid kilts, a couple of long sloppy haired plaid shirt wearing boys who look like they came from grunge band practice. You name it, every freak in the city had converged into the room like a Las Vegas porn convention. The long legged psycho women rehearsed their act, Five..Six..Seven..Eight.. dancing, jumping out of a fake birthday cake waving pink pomp pomps.

The anarchy hits a crescendo when a bearded man wearing a sparkling bell bottom suit emerges from the stage door. With the flamboyance and charisma of a middle aged Elvis impersonator and used car salesman from Dallas, he scanned the room like it was his playpen. Gesturing to a man with stars and comets tattooed on his face. The tattooed man, Eak, wraps him in a hug. “Paule, this is The Great Ferdini, the fastest knife thrower in the world.” I think I’ve seen this man in a bad dream when I was 5. With a gleam in his eye and smirk on his face, grabs his shiny silver belt buckle with two hands. Looks me in the eye…”no blood on the stage tonight. It was a good night.”

The anarchy, the long legged psycho women, Five..Six..Seven..Eight, and the marching band blowing their trumpets and kazoo. How did I get here? What I am doing with my life, my sweetest friend? I desperately want to do something with my life.

1aaa