sparkrobot

I’ve posted a couple of submissions to JPG magazine for the upcoming issue, including an image taken in Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood last summer of the Western State Hospital ruins under the umbrella category “Entropy: Things fall apart.”. Another theme for image submission is “Breakthrough: Discovery, progress, and revolution.” for which I’ve submitted an image taken at the Hotel San Jose in Austin, Texas last summer. The themes are to be included in Issue 10, which closes in 18 days. So this is a call to you—my really-good-very-best-super-awesome friend—to vote for my images. This is a democracy. You don’t want to be responsible for its elementary breakdown. This is about freedom. So go vote.

If you haven’t heard of it, JPG magazine is a new concept magazine / community built around people who love photography. I have a few of the early print-on-demand issues and a purchased a subscription when it became their new offset press publishing model. Unlike most photography magazines, JPG is not one of those magazines with reviews of every new digital camera (gear gear gear) and ads that consume most of the available page real estate. It’s about photography and there are huge spreads of (believe it or not) photographs. There are some ads, but not the variety that are huge bargain price lists that clutter other mags.

The manifesto:

JPG Magazine is for people who love imagemaking without attitude. It’s about the kind of photography you get when you love the moment more than the camera. It’s for photographers who, like us, have found themselves online, sharing their work, and would like to see that work in print.

If you want to see more images of the ruins of the Western State Hospital facility in Lakewood, they’re online on my flickr account. Sorry if you’re reading this twice, WordPress is tripping out on jpgmag’s promo banner javascript…

A couple weeks back I was at Bob’s Java Jive and some bands bands were playing, presumably because it was my birthday. Both Tacoma bands, Waves and Radiation (photos) and Sons of Ivan each played. Waves and Radiation taps the instrumental space rock vein, reminiscent of Duster, but let’s say eating a Mogwai sandwich. (Mmm. Evil fairy sandwich.) Sons of Ivan (photos) had a droney shoegazer 60s pop sound.

The show was also a benefit to keep the Jive alive and there was a raffle between sets with lots of donated goods. Tacoma rock stalwarts Girl Trouble donated a bunch of stuff to the mix. The apex being a signed Estrus 7″ box set that went home with a lucky gal. Good reason to be jealous.

Surprise, I brought a camera and some film. I’ve posted some photos to the gallery.

Josh Bernstein, Piano Tuner
“Until there’s a satellite channel dedicated to a lonely statistician in Tacoma talking about his figurine collection, I’m sticking with ham radio.”

Poor Tacoma. No one even got shot.

According to The News Tribune, World Famous Bob’s Java Jive is reopening tonight at 8PM thanks to the work of volunteers who helped to whip the place into shape and up to code. Most of whom involved in some fashion with The Dockyard Derby Dames. On Saturday, the Dames resume the plans for their Pajama Party and Chris Trashcan‘s new band the Gold Teeth will rock your face. Likely for 18 minutes in a row.

You should hit the Jive tonight to see what you almost missed. It’s going to be wild to see what they’ve done to the place. Hopefully, they’ve got enough beer. Historically, it’s not an insurmountable task to mid-week-drink-the-joint-dry.

Last Sunday Tacoma’s new all-girl, flat-track roller derby team The Dockyard Derby Dames put on their inaugural bout at the Skate-n-Station in Parkland. For the first bout the four league teams (The Trampires, Femme Fianna, Hellbound Homewreckers, Marauding Mollys) divided up into two teams, the “Good” cued up to square off versus the “Evil”. The girls gave it their all for two twenty minute sessions of roller derby action.

I arrived at Skate-n-Station around 6pm after charging up my rechargeable battery all day for the event. When I pulled out the camera to get ready for the event, I realized the battery for the camera I intended to use was still on that charger… AT HOME. Suckage. And that’s why I’m not a professional. I did have a Nikon film body, but a slim selection of film in the bag. I had to shoot Fuji Neopan 1600 black and white film. This will stand as my excuse.

Here is my Dockyard Derby Dames slideshow on Flickr. My photos kind of suck but I’ve posted them anyway. If you want to see some really great shots of the bout, check out Type2B’s photos from the same night.

Though there was some hope for the girls in white, in the end, Evil prevailed over Good by a slim margin 86-72, and I sort of enjoy saying that.

There are more events planned. According to the League’s myspace site for instance one can meet “Tacoma’s most bad-ass women” at the following upcoming events:

Pajama Party at Bob’s Java Jive Saturday, January 27th, 9 PM! Featuring music by the Gold Teeth.

AND if you missed your prom, don’t miss out on our Valentine’s Ball. Scour Goodwill for that perfect 80’s prom dress or tux and come party with us… prom pictures, dancing, food, drink, and all the 80’s hits you can handle! Saturday, February 10th at Varsity Grill.

We went downtown last night to meet some friends for dinner downtown. Their suggestion, the relative newcomer Two Koi Japanese Cuisine on Jefferson around 9 pm. Two Koi opened in September and I’d been looking for an excuse to check it out. When we were pulling up on Jefferson, I got a call from our friends. They were canceling. Fine. Whatever jerks.

The restaurant has a nice open and contemporary atmosphere. There’s a large dining room and a sushi bar to the right on entry. The lighting was moody and featured the entire front features windows looking out directly at the Tacoma Art Museum. Inside there were a few flat screen televisions, one of which featured an aquarium screen saver thereby qualifying as best use of a televison I’ve seen since last Thursday’s airing of The Office. Non traditional music was in the air. As I recall, ol’ Blue Eyes among other loungey classics.

I had read a few comments about Two Koi that suggested the service had not yet worked through the kinks, but this was not our experience at all. Our server was attentive, friendly and “totally adorable” according to my wife. Who am I to argue? From the window seat, we were able watch people stirring about the snow-covered plaza and participate in a favorite pastime; pointing at people and making fun of them. (Oh come on, you know you do it too.)

My wife is not a huge fan of raw fish, or anything from the sea for that matter, so we started with an order of edamame and some California Rolls. A pretty safe bet no doubt. I ordered Yakisoba Chicken plate and Dionne the Tonkatsu. Both were promptly prefaced by miso soup and house salads with a lemon ginger dressing. My dish arrived sizzling on a skillet. The presentation was well arranged and garnished with seaweed. I might add it was among the best Yakisoba I’ve tasted. A lot of places have a penchant for delivering a ginormous greasy plate o’noodles and calling it Yakisoba. Thankfully, this it not the Two Koi approach. The Tonkatsu plate served with white rice was also well garnished and tasty.

Though we did not have much sushi or sake, Two Koi is open late (2am) on the weekends for late night sushi fix and features 40 varieties of sake for the binge-drinker deep inside you.

With one glass of Pinot Noir and a Sapporo, we dined for $52 sans tip. We’ll definitely be back.

Two Koi Japanese Cuisine – 1552 Jefferson Ave, Tacoma (253) 274-8999

I had to drop off some film yesterday to be developed so I braved the icy roads and headed to Robi’s Camera Center & Labs in Lakewood to drop off a couple of rolls. Robi’s is one of the only photo labs left in the area where one can drop off black and white film by 10am and pick it up by 6pm same day. There are plenty of places that still do C-41 color processing, or that will send out black and white film to a specialty lab, but you can’t get it the next day. It usually takes up to a week.

On arrival, the first thing I saw was a huge clearance table loaded with film. Expired film. My favorite. Generic ASA 100 slide film for 50 cents a roll. Killer. One could expect perfectly unpredictable results from practically any film camera, but especially from the super-contrasty lomo lc-a variety which I’ve been using for couple years. I also found some brand name Fuji Sensia 400, 8 rolls for $18. Slide film is usually expensive, up to $10 a roll, so this was a great find. Considering I usually dunk the film in the wrong chemicals, essentially ruining the film to make it trip out unpredictably… Score.

Everyone’s gone digital. I understand this. Me too. Quite an assessment of the state of film vs. digital over at Photon Detector yesterday.

I began to wonder how long places like this will continue to exist. As photography completes the transition from a specialty goods/services business to a consumer electronics business, it seems more unlikely that these businesses can continue with the traditional models. That sucks. Sure we’ll still be able to cruise to the mega-warehouse-mart of our choice and find a stellar deal on the latest well-stocked gear, but the real loss becomes the guys and gals working behind the counter who have been shooting for 20, 30, even 40 years.

Don’t take my word for it, go into one of these places on a Saturday morning and strike up a conversation with one of these cats sometime. (Better go soon) In contrast, bump on over to the nearest overstuffed (Costco, Best Buy, Circuit City, et al) and ask the 18 year old kid working the counter there questions about photography. They can sell you whatever you want—and an extended warranty of course—but they don’t know shit about it. In the quest to acquire the most stuff for the lowest price few people win, and everyone else loses.

The remnants of Custom Black and White Photographic Lab downtown Tacoma taken in October 2006.

R&K Photo in Auburn was another one of these local shops until recently when they caved after 31 years. I was dropping off some film there a few months back and the sign in the window indicated they were closing “in a couple of days”. Ironically, the owner of the shop was magnanimous while describing to me the reason for the closure of the store. He explained they could not get the inventory because the large retailers who moved more volume of the product had priority. He stated in a modest, almost self-deprecating tone “if Best Buy could sell 100:1, they deserved the business” citing consumer need and a changed marketplace as the fulcrum in the dissolution of what was, presumably, his life’s work. He took it standing up—no small feat—but it was hard not to feel sympathy while overhearing the tale repeated almost verbatim to some of the last regular customers in the store.

Robi’s also has added digital printing kiosks (where the film refrigerators used to be) so digital photos can be printed in the store and they also offer digital photo printing services online and great deals on film, framing and photography services. They’re super-friendly, provide great services and I think most importantly, host a local wealth of knowledge and imaging experience. Tap in.

It’s snowing. Like mad. The weather is pretty incredible out there. The stars are out now, but it snowed nonstop for a few hours. I took a few long exposures out in front of my house. They’re up on Flickr.

I haven’t posted to this part of the blog in a while. I thought perhaps you needed—even deserved—a weather report.

I dropped in on a show Saturday at Bob’s Java Jive. Four bands played, I watched two: Paris Spleen (photos) and The Drug Purse (photos). Both Tacoma bands, Paris Spleen has a dance rock thing going on and The Drug Purse pulled a stony, jangly, psychedelic rock trick from a retro hat. I think I remember reading a while back there would be more regular shows at the Jive at Spew, but there’s no way to search. At any rate, here’s some rock photos.

Let’s say you’re looking for a gift for someone that doesn’t suck. You want to buy it online because let’s face it, it’s 2006 and you’re pretty much entitled to shop in your underwear. But you have reservations because you’re uncertain it will arrive this week.

These folks can help you. I’ve been using this site for a couple of years to buy gifts for friends & family for all occasions. The website is run by a couple of people down in Olympia town and features Northwest artists’ work for sale. They don’t have a physical shop, noting “We don’t have a retail presence, just a nice little warehouse with wall-mounted speakers.” Wall mounted speakers? Radical.

I placed an order yesterday morning and a couple boxes of goods arrived this morning. Nice work once again.

My question is, why are you still reading this? Perhaps you’re still in your underwear. In which case, go snag something from buyolympia.com, because it’s likely you’d be arrested at the mall.

I love the smell of commerce in the morning.