Ojos de Brujo: TecharÃ
Such an exciting album from one of the world's most inventive and progressive bands.
Cesaria Evora: Voz D'Amor
So smooth, so rhythmic, so nice...
Anoushka Shankar: Rise
A beautiful blending of traditional Indian sitar music with contemporary stylings from the daughter of legendary Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar.
Zucchero: Overdose D'Amore (The Ballads)
My all-time favorite album by an Italian artist. Beautiful, dreamlike and even a little haunting. Duets with Sting, Cheryl Crow and Pavarotti.
Alejandro Sanz: El Alma al Aire
The album that got me hooked on Alejandro's music. Still one of his best ever.
Ojos de Brujo: Bari
One of my favorite albums from a radically talented group of musicians from Barcelona. Brilliant fusion of Flamenco with pop, rap, trance and traditional Spanish music.
Alejandro Sanz: Grandes Exitos 91-04
A fantastic 3 disc collection of Sanz' greatest hits, duets and previously unreleased tracks.
The great love of Michelangelo's life was Tommaso dei Cavalieri (c. 1509–1587) who was 23 years old when Michelangelo met him in 1532 at the age of 57. Cavalieri reciprocated the affection: "I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours." They remained devoted to each other until Michelangelo's death at 89.
Duma is 22 and I'm 57
A year in the making, THE UTAH COLLECTION is now in print and available to preview and/or purchase through Blurb.
Here is my greeting card to all of you for the holidays '09. It's been quite a year with a passionate return to doing what I love most. This is an image from my work with Heather & Joe out on the Bonneville Salt Flats near the Utah/Nevada border. My first book, The Utah Collection, will be published soon and will include this image.
A major part of my creative process involves just picking up the camera and getting out of the house. The rest of it happens without a lot of fuss.
Thank you Joe & Heather for being such fun playmates!
And to the rest of you, thank you for your continued interest in my work and for the kind words that lift me up and make me smile.
photo by Gina Van Hoof
Eleven years ago Matthew Shepard was beaten, burned and brutalized and left to die in the cold night air outside of Laramie, Wyoming. He was tied crucifixion style to a fence on a desolate prairie outside of town where he was found unconscious the next morning by a cyclist. His death five days later in a hospital in Ft. Collins sent shockwaves around the world and triggered an avalanche of grief and outrage. His killers, one of whom had been a mormon eagle scout, are each serving 2 consecutive life sentences and will never again be free. Matthew's legacy has become a part of the fabric of my life, as it has the lives of so many others both within and outside the community.
At the time of Matthew's death I was living alone in a little cabin in the Granite Dells outside of Prescott, Arizona. My lover Les had died a little more than a year earlier there in that cabin and I had withdrawn from the world and disappeared into a solitary existence. I don't remember exactly how it all unfolded but I had just purchased an old used computer from a pawn shop, my first ever, and it was online with that old computer that I found out about Matthew's death.
Even though I didn't know Matthew I was so overcome with grief at his death that I sat in front of my monitor sobbing and feeling as though Les had died all over again. Out of that grief came an outpouring of feeling that I typed out in my first computer composed essay that I posted somewhere online amidst other expressions of love and caring for Matthew and his family. As a result of that posting one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco found me and asked if I would come to San Francisco that weekend to read the essay aloud at a candlelight vigil being held in Matthew's honor.
Thought it was time for an update to my pictures so I asked my friend Jason Santti if I could snag some of the pix he did of me at the Labor Day BBQ. Right up there next to my daughter Auri's pictures of me I think these are some of the nicest anyone has ever done. And kids, that's exactly what I look like right now a few weeks before my 56th birthday. No tinkering in photoshop - just Jason and his new camera and me.
I see the aging and I'm fine with it. I know who this guy is. The curls are back and I'm loving them more than ever; I made peace with them almost 40 years ago when I looked like this:
This thing called aging makes me a little sad sometimes but like all of us I have no choice but to surrender. I don't know if true gracefulness with aging is even possible but I'm gonna give it a shot.
Yes, that's the sound of crickets chirping that you hear. Things have been quiet while life is happening. I go through periodic spells of quietness and have learned over the years to allow the quietness rather than feel like every moment of every day has to have some explanation. I used to share everything online and now I don't. I think this is better. I'll be doing some more photography on Saturday and will have more pix to share with you as a result. More alpacas and more people and just some more fun stuff overall.
And here's Happy Birthday to my precious Aurelia who turns 28 on Saturday. She had a rough week - delivered a stillborn. My arms are always around you sweetheart, no matter what.
