prestige...
Before I let any more time lapse, I must state that the free pass I was given to attend the Spindrift/Vietnam/Black Angels concert earlier this month was NOT the first time I was given a photographer's pass to a concert. The first time was last November when Robin Slick gave me free admission to the Adrian Belew Power Trio's concert in Santa Cruz. Robin is who credit goes to for my entry this arena of being able to develop this latent skill of creatively photographing live music performances. She has been a great encourager to me in the development of both my writing and photography endeavors and I'm very grateful to her for also being a friend. Robin is who got me my involved with the LitPark crowd too. So today, I whole-heartedly give a big shout out and astral hug to purveyor of the arts, Robin Slick! She is a great writer by the way...!
So, my photos are getting some exposure. The Mutants, who played at Dirk Fest on Friday night have put one of my photographs on their homepage! I've given permission to the other bands to use the photos too as they like. Currently, I'm trying to schedule some up coming concert shoots by writing to the bands and requesting free passes in exchange for photographs. I'm hoping that band managers will actually look at my samples and think, "hey, this guy is good!" and write back telling me that my name will be on their guest lists.
Upcoming shows (June & July) I am hoping to get access/admission to include Skinny Puppy, The Melvins, The Polyphonic Spree, The Paul Green School of Rock West Coast All-Stars w/Jon Anderson & Nick Cave.
Well, since I'm in such a good writing mood today, I guess I'll keep talking. Many of you that know me personally realize that I don't have a job, and that I haven't had a job in a very long time. My sole source of income is a monthly social security check that I receive because I am officially considered to be disabled and unable to work. Believe me, this is the truth. There are days/weeks when I hit a pretty good mania and get all kinds of positive ideas and feelings about going out and getting a job. There is that used bookstore right down the street that I think I'd have a great time working at. The thing though is that I suffer flip sides to the mania when I become unable to get out of bed/or leave the house/or answer the phone/or reply to emails/or blog/or eat properly/or care about showering and wearing clean clothes, and when I just physically feel unable to stand on my feet 4 hours a day.
This is all tied in to my inability to obtain/afford proper psychiatric care of a professional that could help me trust the use of medications to develop an ongoing, positive attitude towards living my life, becoming reliable enough to show up for a job, etc... I am going to see a new psychiatrist on Friday through the county mental health offices. Please pray for this to be a good experience for me.
Anyway, a little more about my financial mess. I get $941 a month from SSI. This month $750 went to paying bills. Basically to credit card bills that are overdue, and have late fees mounting. Two of the companies have offered me options to get caught up before they abandon my cases to law firms that will try to make final settlements with me. But I can't even do this properly. Bankruptcy a couple of years ago (before they changed the laws) would have been a good idea but now I can't consider this option. They say my credit rating is pretty good (considering) because I've been good about making minimum monthly payments for years now, but I can't really understand why this is important. I'll never be able to afford to rent a place to live. And this comes back to why I live with my wonderful mother. She doesn't charge me rent and keeps food in the house, as well as gas in the car. But when she passes on, which won't be for another 20 years please god, I'll be walking away to enjoy a life on the road.
Wow, lucidity! Really don't know how or why I am writing this all out today. I guess what I was trying to get to say was, if anyone feels like buying me tickets to any of these shows listed above, this is the story of why I cannot afford to buy the tickets myself. I added that PayPal button to my sidebar awhile ago. It works. I cannot promise that I'd ever be able to make financial recompense to anyone that contributes to my cause, but you know that I am good at expressing my gratitude and loyalty in friendship.
So be it...
So, my photos are getting some exposure. The Mutants, who played at Dirk Fest on Friday night have put one of my photographs on their homepage! I've given permission to the other bands to use the photos too as they like. Currently, I'm trying to schedule some up coming concert shoots by writing to the bands and requesting free passes in exchange for photographs. I'm hoping that band managers will actually look at my samples and think, "hey, this guy is good!" and write back telling me that my name will be on their guest lists.
Upcoming shows (June & July) I am hoping to get access/admission to include Skinny Puppy, The Melvins, The Polyphonic Spree, The Paul Green School of Rock West Coast All-Stars w/Jon Anderson & Nick Cave.
Well, since I'm in such a good writing mood today, I guess I'll keep talking. Many of you that know me personally realize that I don't have a job, and that I haven't had a job in a very long time. My sole source of income is a monthly social security check that I receive because I am officially considered to be disabled and unable to work. Believe me, this is the truth. There are days/weeks when I hit a pretty good mania and get all kinds of positive ideas and feelings about going out and getting a job. There is that used bookstore right down the street that I think I'd have a great time working at. The thing though is that I suffer flip sides to the mania when I become unable to get out of bed/or leave the house/or answer the phone/or reply to emails/or blog/or eat properly/or care about showering and wearing clean clothes, and when I just physically feel unable to stand on my feet 4 hours a day.
This is all tied in to my inability to obtain/afford proper psychiatric care of a professional that could help me trust the use of medications to develop an ongoing, positive attitude towards living my life, becoming reliable enough to show up for a job, etc... I am going to see a new psychiatrist on Friday through the county mental health offices. Please pray for this to be a good experience for me.
Anyway, a little more about my financial mess. I get $941 a month from SSI. This month $750 went to paying bills. Basically to credit card bills that are overdue, and have late fees mounting. Two of the companies have offered me options to get caught up before they abandon my cases to law firms that will try to make final settlements with me. But I can't even do this properly. Bankruptcy a couple of years ago (before they changed the laws) would have been a good idea but now I can't consider this option. They say my credit rating is pretty good (considering) because I've been good about making minimum monthly payments for years now, but I can't really understand why this is important. I'll never be able to afford to rent a place to live. And this comes back to why I live with my wonderful mother. She doesn't charge me rent and keeps food in the house, as well as gas in the car. But when she passes on, which won't be for another 20 years please god, I'll be walking away to enjoy a life on the road.
Wow, lucidity! Really don't know how or why I am writing this all out today. I guess what I was trying to get to say was, if anyone feels like buying me tickets to any of these shows listed above, this is the story of why I cannot afford to buy the tickets myself. I added that PayPal button to my sidebar awhile ago. It works. I cannot promise that I'd ever be able to make financial recompense to anyone that contributes to my cause, but you know that I am good at expressing my gratitude and loyalty in friendship.
So be it...
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