Life has been a little hectic lately and, unfortunately, this project has pushed to the back burner. When I crossed paths with the guys from Bay Area Luv this morning I decided to take a few minutes to just step back, relax and enjoy the music. No time for photos this morning but after shooting the video I tossed a buck into their laundry basket where they were raising money so they can travel to audition for the TV show “The Sing-Off.”
Good day.
We’ve established that Brian Belknap is a talented guy – but what stood out to me was his humility. Brian always thanked folks for dropping change in his tea kettle of a can, took a couple of requests and even sat and talked guitars with a young boy named Arlo who was at the Farmer’s Market with his mother.
Brian, Arlo and Arlo's mother
Arlo mentioned that he had a guitar but that it was smaller and that was “all scratched-up” to which Brian laughed and told him that old scratched-up guitars are the best kind to have. Brian continued to explain how his guitar worked. As the two looked into the inner-workings of his guitar Brian explained, “see how it looks like a speaker inside there? That’s what makes this guitar loud – really loud.”
See how it looks like a speaker in there?
I hope Arlo keeps playing his old scratched-up guitar. Maybe someday he’ll share the workings of his guitar with another aspiring musician.
Thanks for the good day Brian. I hope to get a copy of your CD next time.
I spent a lot of time with Brian, great guy. I ran out of film before he started playing the uke but I will get the photos up soon.
I’ve been meaning to get these photos up for a while now…
I actually didn’t talk to these guys very much. There was a surprisingly strong language barrier for a group of guys from an English speaking country, but they were impressed that I knew where Saint Kitts and Nevis was after they told me their band name – Kittitians Reggae Vibes.
Note: the clown man is not part of the band but he was jamming with them that day.
With the improved weather I decided to go check out the farmers market at the Ferry Building. There were a lot of bands today but the guys of Kittitians Reggae Vibes provided the theme of the day. As their name suggests, they are from Saint Kitts and Nevis. From left to right at the beginning of the video they are Ikie Adams, Bisel Martin and Denzel Adams.
Photos of them to come later in the week, but for now just enjoy the music.
I ran into Zack and Brian in the Montgomery Station on my way to work a while ago and decided to be a little late that morning. Good guys, good music, good times.
I haven’t had much of a chance to shoot lately. Plus I’ve been wanting to get out of BART stations but the weather hasn’t been cooperating. Stay tuned.
Meet one of my favorite new finds, the Jugtown Pirates (From L to R – Mendlesohn, Zack, Tobias and Miss Mae). I bought their CD a couple of weeks ago and it has quickly risen to the top of the playlist – best CD that I’ve purchased in a long time.
Anyway, I finally caught the whole gang together at the Montgomery Station this morning and, as you can see in the video, the party got a little too rowdy and BART officials had to crack the whip.
Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me (out of film again) so there are no photos coming of this session – I’m sure we’ll cross paths again though. However I did catch Zack playing alongside Brian earlier in the week. I’ll get those photos up by the weekend, hopefully.
I asked for his name and he gave me the name of his instrument.
I asked if I could take some photos and he didn’t say a word. He just smiled.
I took that for a yes.
We didn’t exchange words but, as if often the case, his music told a story. The story that I heard wasn’t about a man, it was about a people. A people that are caught between China’s rich history and their modernization. I’m not sure if this is the story that he wanted to tell but it is the one that I heard. Perhaps that was because I have heard this story before.
His music (video at the bottom of this post), took me back to the alleys of rural China. Where, as a teen, I saw this same intersection first hand.
I don’t pretend to know the solution but the music coming from his Gao Hu brought me back to watching people washing their vegetables 15 feet from someone doing their laundry in the same trickle of water. It brought me back to watching a man stringing hundreds of badminton racquets for what I assume was a criminally low wage – ironically I was a racquet stringer myself at the time so my heart always went out to the man in the photo above.
I think others were hearing the same story.
Now, Union Square during Christmas is far from my favorite place to be. I normally avoid the place but on my last photo trip into the city of 2009 I decided to walk through on my way to Chinatown. On the way in I had told myself that I was not going to end up shooting someone playing Christmas songs amongst the hordes of people fighting for those last minute gifts. So naturally that’s exactly what I wound up doing.
Why? Because they were doing it for a cause.
Accompanied by what I’m assuming were their mothers, Tara and Jo were out there playing their violins raising money for their church’s outreach program to feed hungry families in the Bay Area – and that I fully support.
They drew quite a crowd while they were playing and it seemed as if they raised quite a bit of money. Great work girls, I applaud…
… and so does this little one.
Today I took a hike around the city with the trusty k1000. My main goal of the day – to not end up taking pictures of someone playing/singing holiday songs in Union Square. So naturally I wound up taking an entire roll of two girls playing holiday songs on their violins in Union Square.
Why? Because they were playing to raise funds for Glide and I’m a sap for people doing social good.
I also hung out with a man in Chinatown. I thought he had said that his name was Gao Lo, but after doing a little research I figured out that his instrument is called a Gao-Hu. I think the language barrier got in the way.
Either way, a good day. Photos to come after the holidays.
