Influences

As always, click to enlarge.

From above: 1. William Christenberry, 2. Edward Hopper, 3. Walker Evans, 4. The Weakerthans, 5. Alfred Hitchcock, 6. Mark Rothko, 7. Ed Ruscha, 8. Stephen Shore, 9. Robert Frank and 10. Woody Guthrie.

Meme borrowed from Jeph Jacques, creator of one of my favorite web comics.

Concert For Equality

"She said that musicians sound silly when they talk about politics. I'm certain that Woody Guthrie wasn't a silly man." - David Rawlings

In a past life, I spent quite a bit of time writing about music and politics on a couple of websites that I'm sure most have forgotten. Since the demise of the last site, somedaynever, I've maybe attended one live show a year and haven't spent near as much time spouting off political opinions. It would appear that politics have become even more polarizing over the last decade, but I'm sure the more things seem like they change, the more they stay the same.

Tonight was the Concert For Equality in the downtown Benson, one of the many neighborhoods that have been absorbed into Omaha over the last century. The show was a bit of a throwback to seven or eight years ago, back when Saddle Creek was just beginning to reach a wider audience and the label's roster played shows together on a regular basis. All proceeds from the concert went to the ACLU to aid in their lawsuit to prevent the city of Fremont from enforcing controversial immigration laws similar to what the state of Arizona is attempting to do. Counter-protesters promised to gather just outside the concert gates, but none were to be found when I arrived around 7 pm.

I was most impressed by the performance of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, pictured above with Conor Oberst and members of Bright Eyes on stage for their finale. Rawlings played a song of his own which wandered into a fiery rendition of some of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," and was easily the highlight of the show. Bright Eyes sounded great, as did Cursive, and seeing Desaparecidos on stage for the first time in eight years felt good, if a bit like traveling back in time.

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of everyone at Nebraska Appleseed. They tirelessly work to make Nebraska a better place for all of us who don't have the patience to deal with the frustration of making change happen in a stubborn world. I am incredibly grateful that such dedicated people exist.

Another Joseph Vavak

There haven't been very many Joseph Vavaks in the world. At the moment, there might be a handful of us here in the United States. Not many more. Interestingly, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has six paintings by another Joseph Vavak.

Joseph Vavak was, as far as I know, unrelated to myself. Born in Austria in 1899, raised in Chicago and eventually passing away in Stotebury, Missouri in 1969. Most of the work I have found is from his time as a Works Projects Administration artist in Chicago during the 30's and 40's. Along with the Smithsonian, there are also paintings in the collections of the Illinois State Museum and the University of Kentucky Art Museum.

I plan on researching this Joseph Vavak more. It's fascinating to me that someone with the same (admittedly unusual) name as myself was such a wonderful artist.

Some things I enjoy (and an update)

Jamie Burmeister's Vermin are slowly taking over the earth, one clay limb at a time. Check out vermin.me for more sightings.

And come down to Hot Shops to see Metro Photo Club's latest exhibition, Just After, on display through April 24th.

Hot Shops' spring open house is set for Saturday and Sunday, May 1st and 2nd. I'm readying thirty-six images from ninety-three to go along with everything else they've got going on that weekend. For more information, visit the Spring open house webpage.

Three weeks!

John Vachon

"Omaha looked swell this morning out the train window," wrote John Vachon. "Very unspectacular, and ordinary looking, but definitely camera-challenging.

John Vachon wasn't from Nebraska, but he extensively photographed Omaha and Nebraska for the Farm Security Administration in late 1938. There are quite a few (sadly low quality) images of Nebraska available here on the Library Of Congress website.

The always excellent Shorpy has quite a few high resolution images by Vachon here.

Five: Influences (As Of Right Now)

William Christenberry
I am drawn to Christenberry's unique approach to visual history. His photographs of the same structure over many years depict the changes, both deterioration and rebirth, of unique landmarks throughout the southern United States.



William Eggleston
Eggleston gave us color photography, or so history will ultimately read. It's hard to be a color photographer without mentioning his influence. I do struggle a bit with the haphazard look of some of his compositions, but, when everything comes together, few can match his genius.



Robert Frank
My first photo book was Robert Frank's The Americans. I received the book as a gift after randomly listing it on a Christmas list. It didn't take long for me to get hooked on the idea of traveling the country, photographing everything along the way.



David Plowden
David Plowden has photographed many subjects over the course of his life, everything from trains to steel workers. But what resonates most with me is his work in small town America, especially his A Sense Of Place monograph. Plowden's photography of rural Iowa and other states has a sort of quiet, dignified quality to it that I hope to be able to approach some day.



Ed Ruscha
Although more famous as a painter, photography is what Ed Ruscha uses as a sort of visual sketchbook to gather ideas from. His photography is often mundane; a collection of buildings along a single street or a series of gas stations. But his use strong use of typography translates this work into iconic imagery.