Life by Keith Richards
Hardcover, First Edition, 564 pages
Published October 26th 2010 by Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 031603438X ISBN-13:9780316034388

I first saw the Rolling Stones on their Tattoo You Tour in the early 80’s. (October 4, 1981 at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado to be precise). I was just a kid myself at the time, but I remember Mick Jagger dropping roses from a cherry picker onto the crowd and the sound was phenomenal. Keith describes this tour as the last before Mick’s “betrayal” and the last big American tour in their pre-megatour period. In terms of showmanship, it was mostly Mick, with minimal spectacle from Keith, Bill, Charlie or Ron. I’ve seen them since, and I have somewhat similar recollections of later performances even if the overall stage show has become much more of a production. Mick was clearly the circus-master and the part of the act you really watched. But that in no way means that the Stones are just Mick Jagger’s back-up band. Anyone who has seen them play knows that what you hear is a sound defined by Keith’s guitar and Charlie Watts’ drums. Ron Wood is a really talented guitarist who adds a great deal and the bassist (Bill Wyman into the 90’s and Darryl Jones more recently) do their part. As Keith frequently reminds us, it’s a group effort. But lets face it, while Jagger may play a dominant role in the spectacle of their performance, Keith plays a huge part in that amazing sound and energy.

After reading Keith’s book, I realize why I’ve always loved the Stones, and a great deal of it comes down to Keith’s passion for the sound. He’s a guitarist who loves the tonal character of his instrument and has figured out that its quality it can be expanded more by simplifying and restructuring the tuning and playing with heart than by adding gizmos and effects. His 5-string open-G tuning (which he talks about at length in the book) is a great example of this. So too is his love of simple 8-track “room recording” techniques that capture the energy of the performance as well as the sound quality of the instruments. He has a childlike fascination with the guitar that has led him to explore and innovate in amazing ways. He reveals how his appreciation for different musical styles has factored into his own unique style. His early fascination with American Blues as experienced by many in England in the late 50’s and early 60’s — The same Muddy Waters and Big Bill Broonzy sound that inspired Clapton and ton of other young Brits — eventually opened him to Country and Reggae and he absorbed it all into his raw, open-tuned playing style. So, let Jagger be the ballerina in the spotlight, Keith’s going to be there making sure the sound hits the mark.

Keith’s descriptions of the inner politics of the Rolling Stones are at times surprising. Keith is brutal in his portrayal of Mick and others, and he lays out some of the myths and legends once and for all. Often, it’s not pretty. Occasionally you’ll read something that makes you think Keith is a complete nutter, often a total jerk. There are sections of his story where he talks about being a father and a herion-addicted rock-star which are truly uncomfortable. In these sections it’s impossible not to think about how hard the wild life must have been for his children, especially his son Marlon. But this is all part of his honest telling, and by book’s end, it’s impossible not to wish the man well. His life has been a wild, self-destructive and incredibly creative one.

His respect for Mick as a lyricist, for Charlie Watts’ abilities and Brian Jones’ shortcomings are all there to absorb in gory detail. So are some tales of drug consumption that would make Hunter S. Thompson cringe. When Keith dies, his body could be rechristened a pharmaceutical museum.

The book’s focus is clearly on his early life and the heyday years of the Stones (1964 to 1982). The last couple chapters paint the period since 1982 with fairly broad, anecdotal strokes. In this period you sense that Keith was cleaner (but not drug or alcohol free), more interested in books than syringes, and dedicated as much to his family as anything.

In 1989 I drove across the country alone and listened to Talk is Cheap most of the way. It was a gritty sound that I couldn’t get enough of. I still listen to it frequently. I was lucky enough to see him with the X-Pensive Winos and I must say, I have never heard a live performance from any band that could top it. In the book, he talks a great deal about musical influences, inspirations and collaborations. It’s all fascinating. I was amazed at how literate he is (despite his years of hard substance abuse), and was particularly impressed with his mention of Partick O’Brien’s Aubrey/Maturin series, which appears to be a favorite of us both.

I recommend this book to any looking for an honest and engaging Rock’n'Roll memoir. Whether you love the Stones or not, Life is a fascinating read. Keith Richards is the real thing.

Avatar Movie Poster

I’ll not endeavor to write a full review with spoilers, but I’d like to say that the combination of a good Science Fiction story and Weta Digital’s groundbreaking effects make this one of the most impressive films to see. There has never been a cinema experience like it.

I did go to see it in Digital3D, which I feel significantly changes the experience. I’m generally not a big fan of 3D. The glasses normally give me a headache, and I find myself distracted from the film because I’m busy wondering why this film needed to be in 3D. I would say that this is only the second film I felt benefitted from the Digital3D experience, the other being Henry Selick’s Coraline.

The story of the film is quite good. I thought it was somewhat reminiscent of Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide, but wasn’t derivative.

If you haven’t seen Avatar yet, you have something to look forward to. I’m certain to see it again before it leaves theaters.

Art Library

Flickr is a product of Yahoo, and is similar to Google’s Picasa service. I have tried Picasa but was not as impressed with the interface or the community. Flickr has a free option or a Pro account option. I started with a free account but switched to Pro in a matter of days. The Pro Account costs only $24.99 a year and gives unlimited uploads and storage, stats on images, and much more, so it is most certainly worth the upgrade.

Flower East Maui

Once you have your Flickr account set up and have started uploading, there are a number of good tools that can help you organize and present your images. Images can be gathered into broad collections and more selective sets. Sets are useful for creating a group of images from a specific event, for instance, “Halloween Party 2009″ or “Shanghai Trip June 2008″. Also, Flickr has a robust image tagging feature that lets you add tags to images. Tags can be anything that helps identify the image. You can then browse your existing tags, and look at public images with the same tag. Images can be geotagged which enables you can associate the location the image was taken with the image. A simple drag-and-drop map makes it easy to geotag images, and you can then browser your images on the map by location. The most recent addition to the Flickr tool chest is a People tag, which allows you to identify individuals in images, much the way people can be tagged in Facebook albums.

It is worth mentioning that Flickr provides pretty reliable visibility protections which can be set on an image-by-image basis. This enables you to set the security level for an image’s visibility to family only, friends only, friends and family, or everyone. In your contacts, you establish how people fit into one or more of these categories. In addition to controlling the visibility of images, you have the same control over who can comment on images, and who can tag, People-tag, or add notes to images.

We all have heard and understand the wisdom of not putting sensitive, embarrassing or harmful images on the open Internet, — advice I strongly encourage people to consider. However, I do feel that when used properly, Flickr is a great solution to creating private family photo pools that enable the sharing of photos all over the world without making images of children or individuals public. Just use your better judgment.

Considering all these powerful features, the ability to upload and store unlimited images (with a Pro account) and the privacy features, let’s consider some of the more interesting uses. Here are two things that I recommend people do to get more out of Flickr:

Create groups. Numerous times in recent months, friends and acquaintances have asked me how they can create a single pool of shared photos or video of a single event that involved multiple people. One friend recently went on a group trip to China and wanted to set up a way to share photos with the other members of the tour. The same could be done for birthday parties, picnics, dinner parties or other event. With Flickr, there is nothing easier. If you’re taking a trip, tell the other people on the tour that you have a Flickr group and encourage them to join and share to the group. One person creates the group and sends invitations to others to join. Once members are set, anyone can add their photos to the group pool.

Join an existing public group. If you can take a photograph of it or with it, it has at least one group on Flickr. There are many open groups devoted to cities or other geographical areas, camera types (from the newest Nikon digital to pinhole, press cameras, or other). There are groups about Books, Cemeteries, people, animals, and weather. I am a member of several groups on Lomography, Holga camera users, just to name a few. ,

Shadowy Self-Portrait with hat and skaters

There are images taken from almost every spot on the planet from the last hour as well as photos and images from previous centuries.

Finally, because Flickr is a robust social networking application, it integrates effortlessly with all populat blog systems (thanks to the many eager developers who have written quality plugins for WordPress and other platforms, there are many great tools to chose from for any conceivable task). It integrates with Facebook, MySpace, and other services, and can even be connected by means of the excellent Geotagging features to applications like Google Earth. This means you can take a few simple steps toward connecting the photos on Flickr (yours and everyone else’s) with places you visit virtually. For those of you who are a bit more adventurous, you can even create your own simple Mashups with a little reading and some php.

I highly recommend those interested check out the following resources:

The Flickr Blog
Flickr Video Exploration
Flickr’s Camera Finder
code.Flickr which includes the Flickr API, which is essential reading for those looking to create their own mashups or Flickr aware applications. (PHP coders will find PEAR::Flickr_API and other PHP tools very easy to use and very well documented. I have not used other API’s but I can only assume they are equally good.)

I also recommend iPhone users get the Flickr iPhone App, which is not perfect, but makes it very easy to view your Flickr images on the go, and provides a nice way to upload images taken on the iPhone to Flickr.

In the meantime, get your cameras and scanners warmed up and, if you haven’t already, get yourself a Flickr account.

I had to share this animation. So creative! Enjoy!

Robert Hilferty

Much has been written about Robert’s accomplishments as a writer, an activist and filmmaker, including a succinct article in the New York Times. But because Robert was such a well known voice in the cause of AIDS awareness and Gay Rights, there has been a flood of blogging by his many friends and admirers. I spent some time today reading and was most impressed by David Adler’s portrait, which captures the passion and love of life that characterized Robert.

I first met Robert in June 1987 at a recital of Mahler and Liszt by French pianist Alain Kremski. I recall the small room with blond hardwood floors, folding chairs, and the Steinway Concert Grand; a perfectly suitable Parisian venue for a small public recital somewhere in the shadow of Montmartre. At intermission, I found myself in a courtyard garden with a group of people, among whom was a young New Yorker with brown hair and glasses and an ever-present smile. As happens, being the only two Americans in the gathering, we started talking.

The intervening twenty-two years have clouded my recollection, but Robert and I met again soon after at another event, and the stage was set for a long (but not long enough) friendship. I found in him a fellow seeker, but one who was never unprepared. He had come to Paris to see, hear and explore, and if there was any event happening in Paris in that summer of 1987 that contained even the most exiguous cultural value, Robert knew exactly where and when it was happening. As I had a slightly more go-as-you-please approach to the city of lights, I benefited tremendously from him and credit him with many of the more edifying experiences I had that summer.

Robert once called me up and said, “I found a fruit vendor over near Père-Lachaise who is selling nectarines that are perfectly white, and sweeter than anything you have ever imagined,” and in the period of time it took for us to meet and ride the metro to the seller’s location, the fruit developed a mythic significance. (And for good reason, because Robert was right: they were the finest nectarines I have ever had). In nearly every conversation I’ve had with Robert in the years since, he has included a retelling of our discovery of the world’s best fruit stand and those delectable French nectarines.

There was a fierceness, tenacity and commitment he had to telling stories, be they a light-hearted anecdote or one of mortal consequence. As a freelance journalist, his criticism and analysis of Film, Drama, Dance and Opera serve as an enduring articulation of the importance, and the beauty of the performing arts. Many of his writings are available online, at Bloomberg, The Village Voice, New York Magazine, and elsewhere. His efforts to give voice to the crisis of the AIDS epidemic starting in the later half of the 1980’s were remarkably effective and unquestionably sincere. Robert never raised his voice about things he didn’t feel passionately for, and we are all the better for it.

I, like many others who knew him, have lost someone who truly mattered.