fresh popcorn productions

Morning Carcass

2006-11-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

November 4, 2006

As I stepped through the back door of my house to greet this morning's bright November sun, I turned slightly to the right to face my neighbor's fence. I was stunned to see what appeared to be a dead turkey lying on top of a row of garbage cans. Just the night before, I ran into my neighbor on his way into his back door in full hunting regalia, a gun case slung over his shoulder. I wondered why he did not take his always skittish, always barking and always alone English Setter who is relegated to his small backyard for the majority of most days, but that was hardly the point. Small talk led to his wife exclaiming, with a mixture of an expression of glee and the delivery of a command, "No turkey, no Thanksgiving!" I tried to think up a quick and witty Tofurkey or Giant Eagle joke but was left staring into their blinding motion light with my new Chocolate Lab by my side. My neighbor spent the morning defeathering and "cleaning" his kill, explaining to me while I was out later playing with my dog, that wild turkeys, because they are tough, are best used for soup. And yep, I live in a city.

Springtime Sounds

2006-05-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

Listening endlessly to Terry Melcher and Gene Clark and Lee Hazlewood and John Phillips and Roy Harper on my stereo during these early May days of awakening. Pop sounds, divine spring sun and temperate air mix to convince me to be more and more suspicious of my IPod.

Morning Visitor

2006-04-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

This adorable Easter Creature greeted me out back this morning. Being one of the only dog-less yards on the block, she has become a regular presence this spring, munching away as she pleases. Some days I see her frozen like a rock, her gaze fixed with an impressive alertness, on the English Setter watching, as motionless as she, through the fence next door.

Vegan Burger Mania

2006-04-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

"Build a Better Burger" is how the slogan goes at this cute and cozy Santa Monica joint, The Counter. Located at 2901 Ocean Park Boulevard, the informal establishment hands out mini-clipboards to patrons listing a zillion sublime chocies for burger toppings, buns, sides and condiments. A vegan's paradise! I promise to post some shots of yummy 'Burgh-style vegan burgers soon! Too bad we don't have the ocean breezes...

SAVE THE DORMONT POOL!

2006-04-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Growing up in a neighboring community, I was always envious of swimmers populating the Dormont Pool. Its sloped edges (now considered a safety hazard and outlawed), its giant once-present mushroom fountain, and its proximity to whizzing cars and a horseshoe ring pitch competiton, all captured my imagination from the back seat of my mom's vehicle as a kid. Somehow the water was always a brighter shade of blue, always crisper, always more inviting than the community pool I frequented. Heading to the Dormont pool, for a change of scenery, was a rare but adventurous outing, despite the fact that given my motivation on the right day, I could have headed there on foot any old summer day I liked. Today, as in recent years, this historic, 86-year old pool faces extinction. Today's robust rally drew easily over 200 Dormont residents, most of whom arrived on foot, and local politicians, with kids and families flocking to the site to rustle passing crowds and collect donations in coffee cans. Looks like 30K will get us one more summer, yet close to 3 milion is required for a proper full-scale restoration and future operations. With a myraid of structural issues, including aging deep cracks leaking gallons and gallons of water daily, the pool's fate stands in more severe jeapardy than ever. In 2001, the 1.4 million gallon Dormont Pool was named the region's Best Public Pool in a City Paper poll. Along with Ligonier Beach, the Dormont pool remains as one of the state's oldest and largest. The day's highlight had to be the hand-lettered cardboard sign held by a young boy that read: "Save Dormont Pool Or Else There Would Be An Angry Mop!!!"

Won't you consider helping us save this glorious Pittsburgh attraction and community treasure? Donations are accepted at the National City Branch in Banksville Plaza.

Double Happiness, One Week Later

2006-04-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

One week ago to the hour, thousands of western Pennsylvanians witnessed and captured this sublime glowing occurence in the early evening sky. Magic Hour, Friday, March 31, 2006, dinner time. Neighbors I have never met, whose dogs keep me awake late into night and jolt me from rest early into day, rushed out into the streets of Golden Mountain, tiny digital cameras in hand. Even the P-G printed a shot of this promise in the sky. I snapped views in all directions. The blissful light and temperate air made me giddy, seeping into the just-switched-on steetlights, still puddles in our alley, slamming screendoors and ridges of cobblestone.

3 Lives to Consider

2006-04-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

I am a documentary film fiend, so I thought I would take a moment to recommend three that chronicle the lives of some very compelling 20th-century figures. For a heavy dose of beauty-meets-gut-wrenching-downer-ville, run to Dreaming Ant immediately to pick up "William Eggleston in the Real World," tracking the perplexing life and stunning imagery of my favorite photographer, and color photography pioneer, and "Be Here to Love Me," a fragmented story of the gifted, neglected and tortured songsmith Townes Van Zandt. Equally haunting films with interesting connections between the souls and ways and circumstances of the two artists, and worth noting that Palm Pictures picked them both up. For a more uplifting and comprehensive view of a second, too often overlooked musical giant, check out "The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack." Though I saw this hybrid of historical and autobiographical filmmaking, made by a friend years ago, when it was first released, I recently returned to the flick for a second, satisfying viewing to revisit the wild and wonderful life of Ramblin' Jack Elliot, the missing link between Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan.

Beats a Hollywood reconstruction of the life of Johnny Cash anyday.

Neon Wedding

2006-04-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Little neon wedding chapels awake and asleep. I first photographed
Mon Bel Ami Wedding Chapel on the Vegas Strip during Thanksgiving of 2005. I was stunned to stumbl upon it lying on its side 18 months later in the city's edgy Neon Graveyard.

Letters at Rest

2006-03-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

Retired Sweetheart Chapel

2006-03-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

No more buzzing, no more Elvis, no more I do's.

Desert Highway Near Barstow

2006-03-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

The Neon Graveyard

2006-03-24T21:19:00.000-08:00

After years of hoping to arrive there, we finally find our way to the site where mighty Vegas neon giants lay to rest, and it is on a day when a photography workshop is renting the entire location! Still, the views we snuck through and above the tattered fences were stunning. After a period of unseasonably cold Vegas weather, today was hot and dusty, with a blinding flattening light, and the seedy surroundings of the Neon "Boneyard" served to amplify the already surreal nature of the place. Witnessing these giant steel and wire and tube structures as they lay silent and faded on the desert ground was every bit as moving as I had hoped.

Baker, California

2006-03-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

Home of the world's largest thermometer. Found this rusted-out, star-topped gem during our drive along the edge of the Mojave Desert this week.

Sticky Goodness

2006-03-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

I Heart Produce Stickers. I started creating this colorful produce sticker collage last summer, after wanting to make art from them for years. I keep my fingers crossed that the recent momentum behind the invention of fruit tattoos loses steam. The shift in this technology would mark the demise of yet another artistic approach to food packaging.

The Impala Family

2006-03-03T16:23:00.000-08:00

Out here in Golden Mountain live my neighbors, The Impala Family. The male species of this kinship group possess five of these circa late 1970s-early 1980s Chevy babies (similar to the orangey-salmon model my dad owned during this same decade), in a rainbow of colors, including white, light blue, brown, and this particular standout, a DIY white-maroon hybrid. When parked on our street, they stretch out to take up almost half the block. Let me repeat: Five Chevy Impalas. During chillier mornings, when we leave for work at about the same time, I observe the ritual of one of the Impala Sons: he'll start up one the five (but how does he choose?), leave the keys in the ignition with the engine humming, and return indoors for an entended period of time. Many car fanatics say that Chevy introduced the first muscle car when it rolled out the early-era, powerfully-endowed Impala model. And nothing beats the classic 1970s Impala cop car--a la Hill Street Blues--a ubiquitous sight throughout the streets of urban America. This conversation is just getting started...Stay tuned for some classic Impala Family bumper sticker messages!

3-4-5

2006-02-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

Painted floor number signs in a downtown Pittsburgh parking garage!

Chocolate Tower

2006-02-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

When photographed up close, an electric fondue fountain resembles a clay form on a potter's wheel.

Welcome to Boulder City

2006-02-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

This Boulder City main street, a mere few miles from Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, was a peaceful and welcoming sight after a day of descending the dam's depths. No strip malls, no fastfood, no Starbucks, no Wal-Mart, just family-owned motels illuminating the big black sky.

Diner Details

2006-02-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

Why are diner interiors so comforting to me?

Rubber Maid

2006-02-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

One day balmy, the next a blizzard. I collect vintage dishware and Pyrex and had to spend this entire winter afternoon scrubbing off caked-on price tags and wiping layers of settled dust. Dishwashing can be a highly satisfying and theraputic ritual. I like the combination of stainless steel, painted patterns and lemony bubbles.

A Winter Night at the Igloo

2006-02-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

Last night I learned what "3-D is in effect" means.

Pittsburgh Xplosion: 119

Indiana Alley Cats: 131

Be My (ABA) Valentine

2006-02-15T18:08:00.000-08:00

After an extended hiatus of 30+ years, the ABA is back in Pittsburgh in the form of the Xplosion! The Condors called it quits in 1972, while the Pipers are even more ancient. I don't think I've seen the interior of the space-age Civic Arena since Kinks and Grateful Dead concerts of my youth. The seats were uneven, the popcorn was dear, and star player Armon Gilliam, who we went to witness, did not suit up due to an injury suffered at the recent ABA All*Star game, where he was voted
MVP. Coleco Buie led the action on the courts last night. Snapped these mid-air moves in the cold air and articifcal light from the third row. I have always preferred those red, white & blue basketballs. Check out vintage ABA action at Remember the ABA.

XXX Vegas Valentine

2006-02-14T23:37:00.000-08:00

Some provocative neon to brighten your Saint Valentine Day. Our plane landed in Vegas during a heavy rain. We drove up and down the Strip as I snapped pictures from the back seat.

Sahara and the Strip

2006-02-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

Took these shots with my feet planted firmly on the Strip. I felt dizzy looking up. There is still so much of Vegas that Steve Wynn cannot claim. I kept returning to the lure of the lights at Fun City and the Holiday Motel. They look like completely different structures with the neon turned off.

Neon By Day

2006-02-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

On a recent, and my first, trip to Las Vegas, I snapped over 1,000 images of the gorgeous neon that is still hanging on and turned on out there. This series of endangered species features abandoned and underbooked motels along ravaged East Fremont, off the Strip.

As we cased these seedy streets, we even encountered dudes clad in CSI: Las Vegas wear!

You cannot tell from this picture, but the bottom image depicts the Peter Pan Motel.

Weekend in Wicker Park

2006-02-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

According to various sources, Jamaica is a popular drink in Mexico made from calyces of the roselle plant (Hibiscus sabdariffa). Dried hibiscus calyces, known in Mexico as jamaica, have long been available in health food stores in the United States, for use in making a tea high in vitamin C. Calyces are sold in bags typically labeled "Flor de Jamaica." Jamaica is prepared by steeping calyces in boiling water, straining the mixture, pressing the calyces (to squeeze all the juice out), adding sugar, and stirring. The drink is served chilled. Variations on the drink are popular in West Africa. Just a few of the many splendid sights along Chicago's Milwaukee Avenue!

From the Farm to the Feeding Frenzy

2006-02-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

Somewhere near the Michigan-Indiana border, a black mare is crying.

Two Very Creepy Guys

2006-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Not quite sure how these guys are good for business, but this Army Navy Store's window displays sure do make for some seriously startling photographs.

A Day at the Blue Flame

2006-02-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

One of this region's most classic roadside eateries, with a diner decor and neon sign to help extend its legacy for future generations. Once a 24-hour establishment, The Blue Flame opened for business in 1956 (when Route 51 was a two-lane highway), with seating for 25. As a wide-eyed child, I whizzed passed it from the back seat of a car during countless trips traveling from Pittsburgh to Uniontown to visit relatives. The dining area has since been enlarged, and you can order a beer with your eggs anytime!

I Believe in Neon

2006-02-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

The restaurant's name and iconic flame design were created because The Blue Flame was one of the first businesses along Route 51 South to use natural gas. The gas company, a precursor to Columbia, even helped finance the sign. This catchy neon roadside advertisement looks stunning day or night. During the 1960s, this neon wonder was damaged by a passing truck. For years the sign announced "Country Fried Steak." Don't miss the animated "mister flame" (not original to the sign) on the side of the building!

Abandoned Chi-Chis

2006-02-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

A Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant reduced to a pile of rubble takes on a deeper meaning here in western Pennsylvania. Strolling the circumference of this "terrain vague," one cannot help but wonder at the remnants of faux tex-mex decor and canned southwestern architecture poking out through the debris, layers of disposable building materials with fabricated cultural flourishes in varying shades of rust, salmon and turquoise. If you stand with your back to this heap, you face the exact spot where, as a child, my mom and her cousins used to watch massive trucks dump slag from the Clarion Coke Works. In her words, it was every bit as exciting as a fireworks display. My brain suddenly creates memories of food smells (manufactured in a New Jersey plant?) from an elementary school birthday dinner held at a different Chi-Chi's location nearby. Scroll down for more visuals from this suburban photographic journey...

Demolished Chi-Chis

2006-02-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

An online publication based near the Cincinnati-Kentucky border reports that "fans of Chi-Chi's restaurants will have to find a new way to get their fajita fix."

Chi-Chi's Signifiers

2006-02-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

Once, I considered creating a website called www.abandonedchichis.com.

Magazine Street Meal

2006-02-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

For comparison, here is a splendid meal we enjoyed in a cozy little Mexican joint along Magazine Street in New Orleans. I wonder if the building still stands. Some grocery stores near my house have aisles labeled "Ethnic." I make it a habit to photograph my meals, at home and out (when I can get away with it), so stay tuned for more yummy pictures.

Project Kiwi Cut

2006-02-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

If your skin is allergic to kiwifruit, you could try wearing a pair of colorful latex gloves like these to cut up this yummy natural treat! Cutting kiwifruit is almost ritualistic. It is unlike cutting any other fruit. The more you remove, the closer you get to revealing a sublime starburst center.

Keep Up.

2006-02-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

When sick during winter, the tiny quiet messages hanging on the ends of the strings holding my Yogi Tea bags help me breathe:

Keep up.
&
We can learn from a tree how to exist in ecstasy.
&
Man is as vast as he acts.
&
We can learn to flow with constant beauty from a brook.

Salt Pile

2006-02-03T03:00:00.000-08:00

We have not needed road salt much this season. This pile changes colors throughout the oscillating weather conditions and time of day, and resembles a lovely miniature landscape in the sun.

"A comprehensive five year scientific assessment by Environment Canada determined that in sufficient concentrations, road salts pose a risk to plants, animals and the aquatic environment." (www.ec.gc.ca/issues/roadsalt_e.htm)

1980

2006-02-01T21:13:00.000-08:00

Stumbled upon these Steelers-centric diary pages from 1980--a look back at my 10-year old mind. To read more tales of this young diarist, visit this diary belongs to.

Thursday, January 17, 1980

Dear Diary,

We had play practice at Doug's. It was good. In music we sung the Steeler song. I got a good book in Library. I got a letter from Kris Brady my friend in N.J.
Goodnight.
A+- day

Sunday, January 20, 1980

Dear Diary,

I went to church with Terry. Champion!! The Steelers won the Super Bowl!! Our 4th trofey. We had a sitter, Heather.
A+ day

No Catchphrase Left Behind

2006-01-31T22:00:00.000-08:00

George W. Bush is in the background, flubbing phrases like "baby boomer," "natural disaster" and "youth initiatives," stumbling over words such as "conscience," "resources" and "judges," and yet his delivery of the words EVIL and CREATOR ring out loud and clear, with an eerie, calm pride.

Roadside signs brought to you by: Pittsburgh, PA; Mt. Hope, PA; Brownsville, PA and Connellsville, PA.

Love the Neon, Hate the Meat!

2006-01-30T12:24:00.000-08:00

A modern vision in brown, pink, gold and orange! Now dismantled, this towering sign boasts a hypnotic circumference of tiny bulbs and a western-style typeface that together form a glowing "10-gallon hat," a luminous structure that until recently, stood as a lone, neon masterpiece presiding over the sea of comsumeristic mayhem dubbed McFrightmare Road. This variety of Arby's sign is an endangered species of roadside advertising--sadly replaced by the diminutive red and brown plastic, neon-less version (seen dotting similarly nullifying suburban thoroughfares, such as the South Hills' Banksville Road), and I've attempted to capture its flair on film from Scranton to Spokane. A smaller version still stands along Route 51 in Brentwood.

Uses for Duct Tape

2006-01-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

duct tape
noun: a wide silvery adhesive tape intended to seal joints in sheet metal duct work but having many other uses.
(Example: "Duct tape holds the world together")

I love hot pink duct tape! Discovered this chair, one of my favorite models of the classic, durable aluminum office variety, serving as a doorstop inside the stairwell of a downtown parking garage. We have several similar GoodForm chairs at home (sans tape), manufactured by the General Fireproofing Company of Youngstown, Ohio.

Spring in January

2006-01-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today's sunset in Golden Mountain brought this fluffy cardinal to our neighbor's fence and a luminous rainbow over the alley. They appeared suddenly and remained briefly. Magical gifts on a winter afternoon.

Pilgrimage to Jumonville

2006-01-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, we trailed close behind my brother's ailing van. Through grey rain and fog, our own van packed with more family, we left Pittsburgh to quietly honor and celebrate the life of a grandmother and a mother. Our destination: the Jumonville Cross, located on a mountaintop outside of my grandmother's childhood home near Uniontown, PA. My brother and I used to drink from the mountain's many running springs, and hike to the summit with my older cousin, who would hide in the woods from us on the way back down the mountain. On this trek, we passed through spooky Brownsville, stopped to peer into my great-grandparent's old house in Lemont Furnace and drove along windy sections of scenic Route 40. My aunt and I were stunned to see a a pile of rubble in place of Fayette County's most beloved potato chip haunt, Ruse's Roost. For more on this endangered roadside fowl, visit The Pittsburgh Signs Project: http://pittsburghsigns.org/archives/2004/02/ruses_roost.html

Memorial at Jumonville Summit

2006-01-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

The Blue Telephone

2006-01-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

How polite and how elegant an empty roadside telephone booth can be. Reflecting a time, not so long ago at all, when our telephone conversations were ours to carry on and keep close. Played out within boundaries created by cozy booths or partitions, situated within interior and exterior spaces that provided both privacy and civility, our calls and their content were not always the currency of sidewalks, restaurant dining rooms, classrooms, museums, department stores, bakeries, or subway cars. This space-age example lured us from a rural route into the parking lot of the Keystone Inn, somewhere near the border of Armstrong and Indiana Counties.

Cold Wine, Cold Beer

2006-01-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

One of many fond memories I have of my grandmother is, that to her, beer was ALWAYS "cold beer," as in, could you please grab me a cold beer? As for cold wine, let's hope it's white, despite the graphic. Two stellar libation advertisements, one from eastern, the other from western, PA.

Rest, Ye Merry Gentleman

2006-01-29T14:00:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, this sleepy sentry was charged with standing guard over an ornate menagerie of candy-coated gingerbread houses, a display of life-size statues representing the Christmas spirit throughout the ages and around the world, and a miniature holiday village complete with chugging toy train and fake snow.

The Amish Don't Shop Here

2006-01-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

Driving back from New York City across my hometown state, this roadside gem lured us from the Pennsylvania Turnpike through corn fields and along main streets.

By far the most colorful sight along the wintery, desolate streets of downtown Lancaster, PA, this pop-art inspired, multi-tiered plastic appliance company advertisement caught my eye.

Vertically installed, it beckons like a candy bar!