July 23, 2011 Nick and Lacy's Wedding

 Happy life Nick and Lacy,  king and queen of my heart.  This day brought an abundance of amazing people together.  Good people are magnets for good people.

A Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man

Canadian friend, Craig Buckshot Pettman and I are making a cross country venture from Alabama, to Oklahoma, Texas and back.  My purpose, to visit family.  His purpose, inconclusive.  He is taking portraits with his dad's 40 year old 35mm.  He is also dressing like me almost everyday making a regular gas stop in the rural Bible Belt south a whirlwind of stares and curiosities. He is also taking pictures of roadsigns as we pass places named in Townes Van Zandt and Neil Young songs. He is also reading Charles Bukowski out loud during interludes between him playing music that was made in the parts of the country we are passing through.  My gut hurts from laughing and swimming.  These pictures by Brandon.  Craig's work is here.

Billy Joe is in town. He makes ART.buckshot.carbonmade.com

Nick is getting Married.

I love Nick and Lacy.  Best kind of people you will ever meet.  Genuine. Honorable.  They will stop at nothing to take care of their friends (and even some strangers) and will never take advantage or ask anything in return.   I am lucky to call them my friends and I am honored to be a part of their wedding and their lives.  

Service Announcement

The Japanese are very considerate.  So much so that they spend money to have designers make ads (usually found on trains or around train stations) to encourage considerate behavior.  I was astonished by these adds.  Some were bilingual.  More to come.

Hajime's Ride

Pictures by Brandon

Maki's Spare Time.

This is Maki, one of the hardest working people in the Japanese motorcycle community.  You never see him riding his own motorcycle.  I have two theories about this.  1.  Nobody drinks and drives/rides in Japan, ever, and Maki drinks like a fish, or..... 2. He is always photographing the lives of the intriguing people and machines around him.  http://sparetime.jp is his own creation, named so perhaps because it is what he does in his spare time.  His website is an indispensable source of info about Japanese motor culture and an act of love. Hope to see you soon again Maki.  

Just like home

My good friend Joe threw a welcome back BBQ for us.  We are beginning to feel at home again.  

This vixen goes by several names.  Hanayo is the one that stuck in my head.  Hanayo, please correct me if I am wrong.  This picture is mid high five to me hanging out the window of the Vise van.  For curious readers, I have a stock pile of Japan photos that we be laced into these pages.  I live back in Alabama again, but Japan will be an integral part of my understanding of the world from now until I die.  In this way photos of Japan will be an integral part of this blog until it dies.  

I have returned to Alabama.  I couldn't be more happy to see my friends. Photo of Duane by Brandon.