I am of a certain age where the above picture makes sense. Just in case you're under 25 and not into old stuff, that is Andy Warhol holding a Polaroid camera. He's been dead since 1987 but Andy Warhol was a visionary and saw the future of mass media when he said "everybody will have their fifteen minutes of fame". That statement has become the foundation and premise of every reality TV show that pollutes the airwaves as well as hope behind every self produced Youtube video with the expectation of going viral.
Maybe fame has become even more fast, furious and fleeting -maybe all we get is one good tweet.
Back to the Polaroid camera. Invented in 1937 it became an icon of the instant gratification. Yes there were some professional uses for a camera that developed its own photograph in 60 seconds but I'm willing to bet the vast majority of all the pictures taken where of women. The Polaroid was as much a part of the sexual revolution in America as Playboy magazine. They both made sex respectable and easily available to the middle class. Of course now both are laughably quaint.
It's difficult to explain that at one time you had to take your film to the drug store or some other location to get it developed and then have prints made. And up until the mid 1970's it was common policy for a commercial developer to destroy prints and negatives that were "lewd or immoral". If you took those kind of pictures you either needed access to a darkroom or a Polaroid camera.
So much has seem to changed. Film and the cameras as I remember them is almost extinct, something ready for the museum. Only last month I was offered a really nice 35mm camera for free. The owner had it up for sale on Craigslist and Ebay without one single inquiry -and no I didn't want the camera either, film and processing is just too difficult to come by these days.
It is amazing the unprecedented access to images we have today. So many images that I think people might be reaching a saturation point. On the Internet where there are few boundaries of morality and taste I'm noticing a trend away from pornography to old style pin-up photos. Now with all the abundance of skin on-line what catches people's attention is the artful and teasing display of the risque instead of the graphically exposed.
In the Mail Box
Doing this blog is a blast. I have been getting a bunch of emails about past posts
I was chastised for not mentioning Timothy Leary's birthday last Monday. Godfather to the 1960's counter culture and subject of one Moody Blues song, if Timothy Leary wasn't dead he would have been 92. In truth I'm not a fan Timothy Leary, he's one shining example of what's wrong with America -the idea of getting something at little or no cost. He sold a generation on the idea that "expanded consciousness was only a sugar cube away. Well you don't have to be a fan of Pink Floyd to know not every trip had a happy ending. If you have the time The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe is still worth reading.
Expanding consciousnesses is a life long pursuit, which brings me back to the hard working people at Local Sphere in Phoenixville PA. They still have space in a few of their classes. Local Sphere supports local artists including recording artist. Several groups and performers have their CDs on sale at the store and you can sample their music at www.localsphere.org , once on the site go to and click on Artists/musicians. Happy listening.
On my posting about the Day Trip to Hopewell Furnace, one person mentioned how the historic village looked like the movie set to M. Night Shyamalan,s The Village. Not so coincidentally the movie set for The Village was built in Chads Ford PA about 20 miles (32 km) away.
How about a movie pitch? "The Village Revisited", the same village now 20 years later. Elizabeth (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) and Lucius (played by Joaquin Phoenix) now run the village, they both continue to keep the outside world a secret. Then one night a group of college kids break into the preserve just to see what's in there; they are spotted and chased off by the villagers. During the case an I-Phone falls out of the pocket of the escaping college kids. The I-Phone is found by one of the teens in the village and it becomes a portal to the world outside as the batteries slowly run down.
So M. Night Shyamalan if you're reading this -keep me in mind.
Last year we had a freak snowstorm a week before Halloween. Many trees snapped under the weight of the snow that clung on to the leaves. Our electrical power was out for two days but we were lucky, families that live out of town had no power for up to ten days. We're getting prepared for the worse.
As part of my childhood Halloween would not be complete without Zackerle. Like Vampira in LA, Zackerle hosted horror movies on TV but he would also do a Halloween special on WNEW 101.5 FM out of New York. He was the 'cool ghoul" on the radio station that pioneered the FM alternative to the AM Top 40's format.
One last thing to share is Raphael Saadiq's Sure Hope You Mean It.. The big soul sound is still popular even after the loss of Amy Winehouse and Adele going all Hollywood. Can't have a party without good music. Again Happy Listening.
Please feel free to send me your messages, images and suggestions.
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