Salzburg Selections

Soooo... on Monday I got back from five glorious and culturally-rich (OK, caffeine-rich) days of shlepping around beautiful, hot Salzburg and taking (about 80% of) The Sound of Music tour (the tour company forgot to pick us up from the hostel). Salzburg is a typographical geek's heaven with beautiful shop signs even for the most fundamental of shops.

I've uploaded most of these to my Flickr stream but just in case... here they are!

Moving sideways. Sort of like a crab.

Just a short note to say that the Amateur Eye is having a "mid-year" identity crisis -- as if the New Year one wasn't enough.

Basically I'm still struggling to pin down a purpose for Amateur Eye as I do think it's segued a little into musiclove, 101%-justified Richard Marx appreciation, and just generally non-photography subjects of late.

Sooo once again I'm reining in the Eye a little, and shuffling sideways into a new blog I'm calling, well, quirky brunette. Please come and join me as I waffle on about things that aren't photography, recommend films, books, odd songs off Spotify, that crush on Richard Marx, and maybe even post more videos of doe-eyed 60s and 70s female singers.

AE will still run, but will have more focus on photography and photographers, and fewer, "well, strike me roan, maybe my nose isn't so hideous after all" musings -- that's what quirky brunette will be for.

Hopefully see you there!

qb xx

Change of Mood (Board)

Had a small shuffle-round of the images on the inspiration board this evening (the blue pinboard that hangs above my desk as a little reminder of my fads of the week/month/year). Some are transient, some are more permanent!

Current prompts:

1. Business card for Woodtype and Font Shop originally in Brighton where I bought my printers' tray and two woodcut print letters
2. Tag from Girl from Blue City bourbon biscuit necklace (birthday present!)
3. Business card for my website, b seen photography, to remind me to update it now and then...
4. Postcard from amazing stationery shop in Brighton's Sydney Street, Pen to Paper

5. Mini chalkboard-clipboard, true purpose as yet unknown but here reminding me which eras I seem to be obsessed with at the moment... 20s and 60s...

6. Photo-postcard of actress Mona Maris by E. O. Hoppé

via here

7. Mick Jagger by Colin Jones, courtesy of the Guardian and Observer, also on display at the National Portrait Gallery

via here

 8. Photo-postcard of Rebecca West also by Hoppé

via here

9. Postcard of Automat, Edward Hopper, originally featured here

10. Postcard of Le Jugement de Paris, George Barbier, also previously featured here

11. Photo-postcard of The Rolling Stones, by David Bailey

via here

 12.  Photo-postcard of Marianne Faithfull, by Gered Mankowitz

via here

 

13. "A terrier poses for the camera", © Ros Fraser Collection/Mary Evans

via here

14. Photo-postcard of Lily Cole, "Like a painting", by Miles Aldridge

via here

Have decided that the sublime Louise Brooks photo deserves a frame rather than a ladybird pin adhesion...

The Original Glamour

Just a quick post ...
Had the chance to visit the Glamour of the Gods exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery [London] yesterday and it was beaaaaautiful. It featured photos from the John Kobal collection of photographs of Hollywood stars of the 1920s to the 1950s (including some candids) -- and was a real treat for the eyes.

It was startling to gauge how young some actors were when they were discovered, and how many names were changed along the way, notably, it seems, to "mask" ethnicity ... how beautiful/handsome and startlingly photogenic these individuals were (and had to be!), and how creative the photographers were in their framing.

...That said... it was alarming even in the pre-Photoshop years how many photographs were retouched and to what degree... Removing an actress's [I forget who...] expression lines and freckles (removing her expression lines = 1940s photographic Botox...) for instance, eliminated those tiny hints of "imperfection" and made the image of the Hollywood actress even more unattainable...

Anyway, enough of my misguided diatribe.

This was by far my favourite shot:

Louise Brooks, by Eugene Robert Richee // via here

So much is right with this. [Not the best reproduction here but you get the gist!]

Lose your dreams, and you might lose your mind...

More interjections from an Amateur Ear:

(That said, just watching these absolute superstars perform could be classed as an activity for an Amateur Eye, no?)

In a bit of a Sixties/Seventies place today. Peace out and enjoy.

Ruby Tuesday // Melanie

As Tears Go By // Marianne Faithfull

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me // Dusty Springfield

Plus les choses que j'aime

(More) things I currently love:

1. Love Soup series 1 on DVD

Come on, Alice, come on, Gil, get (it) together!

2. Decadent weekend breakfasts

(Coffee + waffles = cwoffles)

3. Typewriter stamp set

Fun and messy type effects from here

4. Being a Brighton Belle

Photo by my friend Jo Halstead; posed ridiculously by me in a very similar outfit to the one thrown together here...! (Trilby out of shot -- was too windy to wear it on the Pier!)

5. Playing DJ

Currently compiling a playlist for a church party next month! Cheesy pop and rock being the order of the day...

6. Seeberger cloche

From Mad Hatters, Brighton. LOVE it.

7. Making countless summer music playlists

Because aside from smell, music is one of the best triggers of memory. IMO. And if I ever want to recapture my happiness this summer, the music'll do it. Mostly Glee covers, bit of old disco, that sort of thing.

8. Richard Marx.

Bit in love right now in case my previous post didn't quite capture that. :-) Especially watching YouTube clips of him and Hugh Jackman hanging out together... ooooh...

And now, a segue into a sub-blog I like to call... Amateur Ear.

...A few years ago now, I decided that before I shuffle off this mortal coil (and I'm 32 now and God willing not about to begin that shuffle quite yet) I wanted to see my three favourite singer-songwriters perform live.

In no order of preference, as I love 'em all:

3. Thea Gilmore
Seen her live three or four times now and she rocked out each time, even when she was massively, massively pregnant! She falls into the indie folk-rock category if she falls into a category at all, and her music is intelligent, often barbed and more often than not, just beautiful. Case in point: December in New York.

BIG TICK. DONE.

Mainstream, on TOTP2 in 2003, 

first time I stumbled across Ms Gilmore while awaiting an episode of Buffy no less...

2. Beverley Craven
Saw her live about four years ago at my local theatre. She. Was. Supremely fantastic, talented and very funny too, which was wonderfully surprising.

BIG TICK. DONE.

Promise Me, old footage but timelessly beautiful song!

And then there's:

1. Richard Marx.

...Yep.

Sometimes we set ourselves ambitions, or goals, and in the back of our minds we think we know we'll never achieve them. And sometimes we're proven wrong. Which is a-l-w-a-y-s good.

Not sure how the love got in but somehow this guy's music got right under my skin. Yep. I think it started with 'Right Here Waiting' on a compilation tape and spread out to 'Hazard'. This was in the late 80s, early 90s when, let's be honest, my loyalties were still divided between Kylie, Jason, Craig McLachlan, The Beautiful South and... Big Fun.

Who?

Oh yeah. These guys.

Princes in pastel. (Hey, I was ten, you're allowed to be that musically fickle when you're a child.)

Then... in 1993 there was 'Silent Scream'. And 'Now and Forever'. And Richard Marx came back into people's consciousnesses over here.

I came by a tape of Paid Vacation -- think I bought it a couple of days before a family holiday to 'sunny' Exmoor.

image via Amazon.co.uk

I fell head over heels over head over heels in musiclove. I played the album on a loop for hours days weeks months years and it still rocks my socks nineteen years later. I'm not sure when I decided on my musical ambition but it was some time back, and since then I had convinced myself that seeing Richard Marx live would never happen. These days it's all about Gaga, or Clapton, prominent artists whose shows are sold out in seconds (I'd imagine).

And then … flicking through the Metro one morning on the train into work I happened upon The Ad.

Yep. Richard Marx was coming to play live in London on 31st May*... AND I WAS GOING TO BE THERE, APOCALYPSE OR NONE!!!

The ticket rocked up a few days later, and on 31st May, I tipped up at the Royal Albert Hall for the last leg of Richard Marx's 'Stories to Tell' tour.

It was, without question, one of the best nights of my life. It's always a danger seeing one's idols live as there is always a margin for disappointment. Not so here. My expectations were exceeded -- Mr Marx rocked my socks yet again with a phenomenal setlist of acoustic tracks, some with string accompaniment, and then some with full band, and oh my word it was amazing. AMAZING. He played all the tracks the crowd would expect -- 'Hazard' (acoustic: haunting and beautiful!), 'Endless Summer Nights', 'Should Have Known Better' and, to my utter delight, 'The Way She Loves Me' from Paid Vacation! My teenage self, and my thirty-two year old self, were rocking out in tandem at this point.

I was reminded of why I'd chosen Richard Marx as a music idol all those years ago -- his voice is fantastic, just as strong and lyrical and edgy as it was over twenty years ago. He had fantastic banter with the audience, had some very funny anecdotes and some lovely ones about his family too -- the composite video of his three sons playing and singing the backing track to 'Save Me' was just too clever: a very talented family -- making the night perfect for the die-hard fans. His tribute to his father, through the song 'Through My Veins' actually had me in tears -- it was beautifully orchestrated, starting off with RM on the piano, then with the strings kicking in, then halfway through the full band joining in, and it was just... aaaah. Powerful and extremely moving.

 ...And yep, he finished on 'Right Here Waiting'.

Musical perfection.

I can watch this recording from last week and still have the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, no joshing. 

I was on such a high leaving the venue afterwards -- I had my gig t-shirt and was completely wired... I tweeted manically on the way home about how much I'd loved the gig and also how I was one of the die-hard fans who did own a copy of his album My Own Best Enemy -- there's a completely breathtaking, high-energy track called 'Colder' on the album that propels me along on a power-walk like no other tune can.

...And to add to all of this, RICHARD MARX RETWEETED ME THE NEXT DAY!

It's the little things.

I fell in musiclove all over again. And a little bit of lovelove as well.

BIG BIG BIG TICK. DONE.

* again: somehow I'd missed him playing at Shepherds Bush last year -- how?!?!?! Epic Fan Fail.