photography
Sam Abell (l) and Torben Ulrik Nissen (r) in the courtyard near Café Marché. Photo by Erick Hoffman
Friendship, Hardship and Vulnerable Beauty
A Q&A with “Amazonia†photographers Sam Abell and Torben Ulrik Nissen
By Suzi Steffen
Thursday morning, 9:30 am. The sun shows its face for a few hours, and photographers Sam Abell (who flew in from Charlottesville, Virginia) and Torben Ulrik Nissen (who came a bit farther, from Denmark) walk into the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.
Abell, a National Geographic for more than 30 years, and Nissen, an experienced wildlife photographer and guide, met on Abell’s first trip to the headwaters of the great river system.
We talk about Abell’s original plan for the show, what happened when he met Nissen, the dangers of working in the Amazon and the different working philosophies of each photographer.
Read the interview after the jump!
Lil Wayne exploded onto the stage last Thursday night at the Rose Garden (literally). He stepped out to some serious smoke, fire and a giant boom! Obviously his "I Am Music" tour is really feeling the success of Tha Carter III. This show definitely seemed "bigger budget" than most I've seen.
Raphael Saadiq is the real deal. He's caught some negative comments about being gimmicky on his latest album, The Way I See It, a sort of throwback to 50s/60s soul. After seeing his sold out show last Friday, I can say without a doubt that couldn't be more further from the truth. Saadiq and his band gave one of the most solid performances I've seen since Prince's "One Night Alone" tour in 2002. He came out on stage dressed like a young Marvin Gaye and took us through a lot of the new album ("100 Yard Dash", "Let's Take A Walk", "Oh Girl", "Sure Hope You Mean It"), some Lucy Pearl ("Dance Tonight"), his other solo material ("Be Here", "Still Ray"), and even some old school Tony! Toni! Toné! joints ("Anniversary", "(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow"). Every one was on point. Amazing musicianship and always in the pocket ... especially the lady singing backup and sharing the lead on some tracks ("Skyy Can You Feel Me", "Just One Kiss"). Saadiq closed the show with his tribute to New Orleans "Big Easy" which seemed to leave everyone wanting a second encore. I left with the impression that I'll be telling my daughter about this show someday ... about the time when I had the chance to see a certified soul legend do his thing.
Dead Prez killed it last night at the WoW Hall! Rocking some songs completely a cappella. Even covering a bit of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" that lead into ("their version") "They Schools". Like I've said before, I suck at remembering setlists but I do remember them running through "We Need A Revolution", "That's War", "B.i.G. Respect", "Be Healthy", "Hip Hop", "Hell Yeah", & "Politrickkks".
I was able to hang out with the fellas and everyone else in the appropriately titled "green" room for a while before the show and take some photos. Stic.man was doing some warm-up yoga with dready girl ... sorry I forget your name :). There were fruit snacks, beer and lots of enlightenmentainment from my man O SAGE BUFFALO aka BiG BUFFALO aka EVERYWHERE! Boots Riley was in the house!
Stic.man & M-1 told me DP have 2 new projects coming out in 09: Their new mixtape with Green Lantern, Pulse of the People, which will be released on Malcolm X's birthday (Tuesday, May 19th) and their new album, Information Age, will follow later in the year.
They also said that they're about to totally rework their live set to include a lot of the new material. So next time they come thru Eugene (or your town), expect something completely different.
Props to RR&TFB for the incredible instrumental cover of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin"!
Pharrell and the fellas were a lot better than I expected. I've always liked the Neptunes productions but only sorta dug some of N*E*R*D. Live show was tight though ... gotta give it up!
I missed Common but we won't talk about that : (
Atmosphere sold out the McD (again) last night.
I missed Blueprint ... got there already into Ab Rude's set.
Slug's serious face as he ejects a troublesome "blondie" from down front.
Shout out to the friendly folks down front.
Funniest photo pass I've ever been given. Needless to say I stayed off the stage.
