John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History

Look3, the Festival of the Photograph, 2013: On the Verge of Greatness

Look3, The Festival of the Photograph, has just announced its lineup of participating artists for 2013, and it's a stunner -- Carrie Mae Weems, Susan Meiselas, Gregory Crewdson, Josef Koudelka, Richard Misrach, and more. 

Each of these men and women has had a long and distinguished career, and they've all earned their places among the most admired fine art photographers, photojournalists, and documentary photographers in the world.  (Weems, a truly revolutionary artist who was doing multi-media work long before it was cool, is beyond categories.)  Huge props to guest curators Melissa Harris and Yolanda Cuomo for pulling together such an impressive group.

Look3 runs from 13-15 June 2013, in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Tickets are on sale now.

 

I'm especially happy to see Carrie Mae Weems on the schedule.  After a very slow start -- in terms of inviting photographers of color to participate -- Look3 has changed directions in the last few years.  African American photographers have been on the program in each of the last two years -- LaToya Ruby Frazier, in 2011, and Stanley Greene and Hank Willis Thomas, 2012.  While both are accomplished artists with growing reputations, they're still young.  Greene, on the other hand, is, like Weems, a towering figure in the world of photography.

Last year, as well, Ernesto Bazan became the first Latino photographer to be featured at the festival.

Oops, 15 February 2013:  I can't believe that I didn't mention Camille Seaman, whose talk at last year's festival and exhibit, "The Last Iceberg," blew everyone away.  She's the daughter of a Native American father and African American mother.

All of this is good.  In fact, it makes me very happy.  Look3 is my hometown festival, and its events take place no more than a five-minute walk from my home.  I'm one of a number of people in the Charlottesville community who challenged Look3, during its early years, to open its doors to photographers of color.  At the time, none of the featured photographers -- Masters (a title that seems to have been retired this year), Insight Artists, workshop leaders -- had been of Asian, Latin American, Native American, or African descent.  It's been gratifying to see things change.  (You can read about this here and here.)

But things need to keep changing. 

That's because Look3 wants to become one of the world's great photo festivals.  That can only happen if it actually embraces the world.  Much of the most powerful and creative photography anywhere is being done in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  (In the case of South Africa, this was amply demonstrated last fall, at the International Center of Photography's exhibition, "The Rise and Fall of Apartheid.")  Little of this has been seen at Look3 in the past.  Sadly, the situation won't change very much in 2013.

Look3 is on the verge of greatness.  I'm not saying that it will be easy, but a just couple more steps will get it there.

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John D'earth & the Dave Matthews Band Horns at Miller's

The Dave Matthews Band is in town for a couple of shows, and it was no surprise when the band's sax and trumpet players showed up at Miller's on Thursday night to jam with John D'earth's fine band.

No surprise for a bunch of reasons...  John's gig at Miller's is truly legendary.  He's been there every Thursday night for at least 25 years and probably more.  (Nobody, including John, is exactly sure when it started.)  In any case, he was already on the bandstand when Dave Matthews spent time tending bar at Miller's.  That fact has made the bar a Mecca for fans.  And it means that the place was packed to the rafters last Thursday.  Rashawn Ross, the DMB's trumpet player, and Jeff Coffin the sax player, knew that they'd get the rock star treatment when they showed up.

John D'earth gets things going, 13 December 2012.  That's Pete Spaar, on bass, and Devonne Harris, drums.  [All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2012.  Click on any image to see a larger version.]

I didn't get any photos of Rashawn Ross.  I could have squeezed through the crowd and worked my way into a good shooting position, but it would have meant making a lot of enemies.  On the other hand, I met some wonderful people while I was just hanging out.  (Here's hoping that my new friends from Vancouver, B.C., see this post.)

Things cleared out a bit after the first set, and I spotted some folks that I know sitting at a table up front.  They invited me to join them for the second set.  (Thanks, guys.  And thanks to the happy couple from Nebraska, too.)  By that time, however, Ross had disappeared.

Jeff Coffin, of the Dave Matthews Band, tearing things up on sax.  Victor Haskins is on the left.

Both Ross and Jeff Coffin, playing tenor sax, brought an arena-rock vibe to the jam.  It perfectly suited the occasion, when most people in the audience weren't jazz-savvy.  They both brought down the house with their solos.

Victor Haskins, trumpet.  Pete Spaar in the background.

Victor Haskins plays with a grace and maturity that's far beyond his years.  He regularly gigs throughout Richmond, Virginia/Washington, DC area.

J.C. Kuhl, center, Coffin and D'earth on the sides.

J.C. Kuhl, John's regular sax player at Miller's, is a monster musician.  He's got all the technique in the world, but, more impressively, he's always got something to say when he solos.  Thursday, he was absolutely on fire.

Can't remember this guy's name.  He's a regular at Miller's jams.

It's embarrassing to admit that I can't remember this trumpet player's name.  (If you do, please let me know.)  I've heard him several times at Miller's and other places.  He's good.

D'earth, Coffin, and Haskins.

One of the wonderful things about jazz is that all good musicians know the standards.  That allows them to make seriously good music -- with strangers and without any sort of rehearsal -- anytime they get together.  Thursday was an example.  Stunning music-making from beginning to end.

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I made these photos with a Panasonic GX1 with a 20/1.7 lens.  It's a great little combination, rapidly becoming my favorite, unless I need a long lens or fast frame-rate.  And it fits in a coat pocket.

Second Line: Rebirth Brass Band & Jefferson School African American Heritage Center

The fine and funky Rebirth Brass Band -- a truly great representative of the New Orleans musical tradition -- was in town last weekend to play a benefit concert for the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

The band was an absolutely appropriate choice.  The center is a brand new enterprise, with a mission to preserve and promote the black heritage and legacy of the Charlottesville, Virginia, region.  It's housed in the Jefferson School City Center, which was built in 1926 to serve as a segregated, all-black high school and is now being reborn as a community center for all of the city's residents.

 

The Rebirth Brass Band leading the way from the West Haven neighborhood to downtown Charlottesville, 1 September 2012.  [Click on any image to see a larger version.  All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2012.]

Andrea Douglas, the heritage center's director, had the brilliant idea of having Rebirth lead a parade from one Charlottesville's historically black neighborhoods to the downtown pedestrian mall, where the band would play its evening concert.  To put it another way, Andrea wanted Charlottesvillians to form a second line.

The Rebirth Brass Band leads the second line, 1 September 2012.

A second line is an old New Orleans tradition.  It's about having a party in the streets.  The first line is the band, leading an impromptu parade.  The second line is made up of people dancing and strutting to the music, having a good time.

A member of the second line, 1 September 2012.

A second line isn't the kind of thing you see every day in Charlottesville.  In fact, it's the kind of thing I've never seen in Charlottesville, and I've lived here close to 20 years.

 

Members of the Rebirth Brass Band, heading down Main Street, 1 September 2012.

But Charlottesville sure enough got into it.

 

The second line on its way to the Downtown Mall, 1 September 2012.

Not all of Charlottesville, of course.  But the turnout -- on a day when dark gray skies constantly threatened to rain -- was pretty darn good.

 

Ok.  So some of the spectators were a bit skeptical.  1 September 2012.

I was having fun, by the way, with a Panasonic Lumix GX1, a small, mirrorless camera that's part of the micro four thirds system.  I was using for it street photography for the first time, and I like it.  It's quick, responsive, and feels good in my hand.  Because it has a much larger sensor than most small digital cameras and has a superb 14mm prime lens (equivalent to a 28mm lens on a 35mm camera), the image quality is terrific.  There's no viewfinder, but I didn't miss it, since I was mostly shooting from the hip.

 

The Rebirth Brass Band on the downtown mall, outside of the Jefferson Theater, where it played its evening concert, 1 September 2012.

Rebirth nearly blew the roof off of the Jefferson Theater during their concert in the evening.  The audience (including me) loved every minute of it.

The video below will give you a sense of what a second line is all about, as well as a taste of the sound of the band.

 

Rebirth Brass Band playing "A.P. Tureaud," at the Pigeon Town Steppers second line parade, 2009.

Funky Friday with Robert Jospe & Inner Rhythm

I love these guys -- Robert Jospe, Jeff Decker, Bob Hallahan, and Randall Pharr.  Living in Charlottesville, Virginia, I'm lucky enough to be able to hear them on a regular basis.  Robert and Jeff teach in the music department at the University of Virginia.  Bob teaches nearby at James Madison University's School of Music, and Randall lives, gigs, and teaches in Richmond.

Yes, they're all connected to universities, but don't let that worry you.  They're not academic players, and this isn't academic music.  It's all way too funkified for that.

 

 

"Blue Blaze."  Robert Jospe and Inner Rhythm.

Robert Jospe, drums; Jeff Decker, tenor sax; Bob Hallahan, keyboards; Randall Pharr, bass.

The Sullivan Crisis at UVA: A Visual Diary

Just before noon on Sunday, June 10th, Helen Dragas, the University of Virginia's Rector and head of its Board of Visitors, send an email to the university community to say that the president, Teresa Sullivan, had agreed to step down.  In fact, the Board had fired her, and it was a colossal mistake.

The news came out of the blue.  There had been no discussion and debate, no rumors or gossip that would have lead anyone outside of the Board to suspect anything was wrong.  Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the university were stunned.

And then they were angry -- angry about the secretive process that lead to Sullivan's dismissal and angry about the weak and misleading statements that justified it.  The result was a rebellion that united the university community as never before and lead to Sullivan's reinstatement on June 26th.

I kept a visual diary of these events, using the sketchpad of our time -- the iPhone.  There's nothing comprehensive or objective about this diary.  It's simply the way that the last two weeks looked to me. 

 

June 17th, Faculty Senate Meeting:

The university's Faculty Senate held an open meeting to confirm its vote of "no confidence" in the Board of Visitors and its call for President Sullivan's reinstatement.

 

[All photos copyright John Edwin Mason.  Click on any image to see a larger version.]

Hundreds of faculty members attended to show their support for the senate's actions.

 

 

June 18th and 19th, Rally and Vigil at the Rotunda:

3,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends (along with members of the local and national media) attended a rally and vigil at the Rotunda that coincided with a special meeting of the Board of Visitors.  They were they to demand President Sullivan's reinstatment.  The Board's meeting lasted until nearly 3:00 am.  Scores of Sullivan supporters maintained the vigil until the end.

 

 

Former University of Virginia President John Casteen attended the rally, having earlier criticized the Board's actions.

 

 

Opposition to the Board's actions united the university community as never before.  Frat boys and hippies, student Democrats and student Republicans, town and gown all joined hands.

 

Julia and James spent part of their honeymoon protesting the Board's decision.  Yes, they'd been married all of one day.

 

The Board's meeting dragged on, while the media waited.

 

Sullivan supports watched and waited.

 

 

As you can see, I stayed to the bitter end.  At about 3:00, after the Board members had slipped away into the night without speaking to the Sullivan supporters, I was interviewed by a Daily Progress reporter.  I can hardly remember what I had so say, but I do know that I wasn't a happy camper.  You can read the article (and my quotes) here.

 

June 20th, Dean Carl Zeithaml, First Press Conference:

During its meeting on the 18th and 19th, the Board decided to appoint an interim president -- the dean of the McIntire School of Commerce, Carl Zeithaml.  (His term would begin when Sullivan officially left office.)  At a press conference on the 20th, Zeithaml called the process that led to Sullivan's ouster "flawed," but said that he felt obliged to serve the university in its time of need.

 

 

June 20th, Witness on the Lawn:

On the same day as Zeithaml's press conference, Sullivan supporters briefly gathered on the Lawn.

 

 

June 22th, Dean Carl Zeithaml, Second Press Conference:

At a second press conference, Dean Zeithaml announced that he was "stepping back" from all activities associated with being interim president-designate.  He had come to realize that he would have no legitimacy as interim as long as there were serious doubts about the dishonorable way that the Board had acted in removing Sullivan.

 

 

June 24th, Rally for Honor:

University students organized a Rally for Honor.  Speakers representing faculty, students, staff, alumni, and elected officials condemned the Board's decision and called for Sullivan's reinstatement.  Perhaps sensing that the momentum had shifted away from the Board and toward Sullivan's supporters, the rally had an almost festive atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

Kenneth Elzinga, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics, calls for Sullivan's reinstatement.

 

Students and alumni who couldn't attend were represented by their photos.

 

My colleague, Peter Onuf, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor of History, calls for Sullivan's reinstatement.

 

The names of people and organizations that supported Sullivan's return.

 

People at the rally were invited to add their names to the banner.

 

 

This sign refers to the probability the the PR firm that Rector Helen Dragas hired wrote a lengthy statement, justifying the Board's decision to fire Sullivan, that was issued under her name.

 

 

Student organizer Suzie McCarthy closed the rally.

 

June 26th, President Teresa Sullivan Reinstated:

Having come under tremendous pressure from students, faculty, alumni, staff, donors, and elected officials, the Board met to reconsider its ouster of President Sullivan.  While the Board met, a large crowd of Sullivan supporters waited to hear its decision.  In the end, it voted unanimously to reinstate her.

 

 

 

 

Rector Dragas' PR firm takes some heat.

 

President Sullivan on the Rotunda's portico, waiting to address the crowd, after her reinstatement.

 

President Teresa Sullivan addresses a joyful crowd..

 

President Sullivan joins members of UVA's University Singers, administrators, faculty members, and staff to sing "The Good Old Song," the university's de facto alma mater.

 

The Daily Progress interviewed me, again, as the jubilant crowd was going home.  You can read the article (which about Sullivan's reinstatement -- I'm quoted) here.

You can find a timeline of the events related to President Sullivan's ouster and reinstatement, here.

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Tech notes:  All photos were shot on an iPhone4, using the ProCamera app.  They were processed and resized with the Photogene2 app.