Chalk 2 +

Some more photos from Chalk It Up! 2010:

A guy in my camera club met this guy in a bar that night and drank beer with him for hours.













The stolen chair project continues:
That's the largest wooden roller coaster in Texas back there, so obviously I was parked behing Neiman Marcus.



When did my visitor counter pass 50,000?
Last time I looked it was at half that, and I'm pretty sure that it only passed 20K less than two years ago.

Work = Play

I got called onstage to play with Bliss again tonight, and it's always a fun surprise.
Glad I have a friend who knew where my camera was hidden and also knew that I would like a shot of this.

I have great affection for Rikk's Ibanez bass.

More Marathon

The people on the far side of the metal barricade are about to finish the half-marathon. The guy with wheels on this side just rolled for over 26 miles!

A familiar face in the crowd. Yay, Meredith!

I was a little surprised that Sylvia spotted me in the crowd, but we've been together for so long that our ESP is synched-up very well.
We even finish each other's sandwiches.
Sentences.
Whatever.

We're all very proud of Sylvia, but a bunch of fake Elvii make for a more interesting picture than one of Selma trying to get her to eat a banana and some chips at the same time.



The medal is much nicer this year, if you can overlook the font size error.

Syl's recovery was much better this year--a short nap and we made it to the concert, unlike last year.
Always wanted to see Grand Funk Railroad, and even without Mark Farner they were solid and fun. Drummer Don Brewer was amazing--I guess all the years he's played with Bob Seger haven't turned him into a pussy.
Bruce Kulik, who usually wears Ace Frehley's makeup in KISS these days, played lead guitar.
Mel Shacher was as cool as could be on bass.

Los Lonely Boys were terrific until they started taking long jams with some random harmonica player, then trotted out cover tunes.
The best moment of the show was during a long intro to their 3rd song.
The drummer turned to the local crew's monitor mixer and asked for some bass guitar--his request was clearly audible out front.
I guess he didn't get any bass, because 20 seconds later we all heard "You ever done this before?!?!"
Hilarious!

I feel bad for monitor mixers because it's the hardest job in rock.
They get a lot of abuse, including beer bottles thrown at them by weak lead singers.
(Cough cough Don Dokken cough!)
Whenever I've been on a big show I always play dumb and "confess" to having no clue how to run a monitor board, which bumps me up to the main house mix.
It works out for the best, since I usually have the best ears on the crew.

Sylvia is a running machine!
13.1 miles would kill me.
And so would the dirty looks from the other runners when I stopped for a smoke break.

SA R&R Marathon '09

Sylvia did the half-marathon again this year.
Running 13.1 miles through downtown San Antonio seems insane to me, let alone the full 26.2 of the full marathon.
Before training to do such a thing, I would want to know where I'm running to, or what I'm running from.
A million dollars?
Opera singers are behind me?

It was an overcast morning, with mild temps.
Humid, but better than running in the summer.

Many of the signs people held up were clever and funny.
Some were dorky.
Made the day more interesting.

I finally found a spot along the barricades at the final turn before the finish line. Practiced shooting some of the more interesting faces.

This is a copy of a shot from last year, only that little girl was crying.
I like how this one is so serene and comfy on papa's shoulder.

The weird stuff some runners wear is amusing and also functional.
At the Nike Human Race in Austin (Aug. '08) nearly all of the runners wore the same red shirt and I was only able to recognize and locate the girls with kitty ears and Lance Armstrong's yellow shirt.
There were twice as many people in this marathon--30 thousand or so--so a purple wig makes it easy for friends and family to spot you.

Lessons learned last year went a long way towards making this event easier for all concerned. I appreciated that, having worked late the night before.
2 hours of sleep is better than nothing, I guess.

More Views Coming Soon

Chalk It Up As Finished

Mas Chalk

Event staff put the red stickers on everyone they can catch. It's an easy way to get an approximate headcount at a free event where people (and dogs) wander in from every direction.

Chalk It Up! 2009

This is the 4th year in a row that we've gone to Chalk It Up!, the downtown art fair put on by Art Pace.














Check my archives (October 2006/7/8) for more photos.

I Was Speechless...

...but I got over it.
Let me tell you, it's one thing to be told that your photo is going to hang in an art museum--sure you get excited and can appreciate how cool it is--but it's a whole other animal to walk into the gallery and actually see it.
An incredible feeling washed over me, and it lasted for the whole reception.
People immediately started talking to me but I don't remember what was said.

Turned out to be wine and snacks instead of champagne and caviar--the bacon jalapeno things were good and I also liked the pigs in a blanket.

This is my friend Jim getting his picture taken by our museum contact, Cassandra.
Jim is a funny guy, and Cassandra couldn't have been sweeter. When I helped her fix a camera problem she called me a genius, so she must be very perceptive, too.

Proof that I'm an artist.
If an art museum says so, it must be true!

It was great seeing my other camera club friends Susan, Mark and Ken.
We were among the first members after Jim started the group, and I got lucky that they are all kind, sweet, and hilarious. I've been so busy with my bands that well over a year has gone by since I've seen them yet we fell right back into cracking each other up.
Didn't realize how much I missed them.

Our photos were printed beautifully, and the framing was superb.
Of course, it was done by serious professionals.

It won't be the last time.
I want more of this.
The people at the San Antonio Museum of Art had better get used to seeing me.

Triathlon Continued

After riding 13.8 miles Sylvia navigates the transition area before starting the 3 mile run. (The swim was 500 meters).

No idea why a man would have a Barbie™ in his pocket, unless he knew I was there looking for weirdness. So...thanks?

While at least three women are wasting time high-fiving spectators, Sylvia pulls around the pack and pours it on.
She passed them all and got to "break" the tape.
(It's actually a heavy vinyl banner that race crew members raise again and again when there's a break in traffic).

It was great that some family members attended this event--it meant a lot to Sylvia.
We're all very proud of her!

Skeese Greets Women's Trialthlon

Sylvia's 2nd triathlon, May 3, 2009.

Goggles on.

Swim!

In transition.

Cruz selling his good lemonade.

I think this was the youngest competitor.

Sylvia at the end of 11 miles.

I was shooting everyone in a blue Texas Tri-Dogs jersey.

Sylvia about to finish.

Meredith's not far behind.





Tri-Dog trainer Mel (left) finishes third in her age group.

Most of the group.

Time to go...

Syl beat her time from last year by 5 minutes or so.
I'm very proud of her.