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Kotak Kedua (2008)

Di album ini, Kotak juga bermain lewat lirik yang lebih to the point, tapi menusuk hati.

Sejak awal kemunculan mereka sebagai juara sebuah kompetisi, power adalah modal utama mereka. Berlanjut ke album mereka, mereka membuat kita yakin mereka tahu apa yang disebut musik rock. Dan sekarang, mereka kembali dengan kekuatan yang lebih besar dan satu jurus lagi yang akan membuat kita jatuh hati. Lewat album yang mereka beri judul Kotak Kedua, Tantri (vokal), Cella (gitar), Chua (bass) dan Posan (drum) membuat lagu-lagu yang lebih sarat dengan muatan emosional. Penumpahan emosi mereka langsung terasa lewat sebuah lagu yang menggambarkan kecintaan mereka untuk menghibur pecinta rock. Sebuah lagu yang menghadirkan banyak unsur modern rock. Kotak membangun ambience lagu bukan hanya lewat dentuman bas, raungan gitar dan gemuruh gebukan drum. Tapi juga lewat programming dan sampling yang menghiasi aransemen musiknya. Lagu yang diberi judul Beraksi ini dijamin bakal langsung membawa imaginasi pendengar ke depan panggung besar. Dan Kotak sedang beraksi di sana.

Di album ini, Kotak juga bermain lewat lirik yang lebih to the point, tapi menusuk hati. Ini akan sangat terasa lewat sebuah lagu yang berjudul Kosong Toejuh. Vokalis cewek membuat lagu ini jadi terasa makin nakal. Tapi ini adalah potret kehidupan remaja sekarang ini, yang tidak lagi membedakan gender laki-laki dan perempuan dalam urusan cinta. Lagu ini dibungkus dalam modern rock yang menghentak. Dibumbui dengan gaya bernyanyi yang mengembangkan lagi gaya rock tahun 90-an. Mengembangkan, lho! Yang berarti mereka juga masih memberi ruang pada musik rock modern. Karena seiring dengan perkembangan tekhnologi, insrument di dunia musik juga tidak terbatas pada instrument standar. Tapi banyak element lain yang bisa menghiasi musik. Seperti permainan ambience lewat looping dan sampling.

Berikutnya, Kotak akan menghanyutkan lagi perasaan kita lewat lagu berjudul Masih Cinta. Dibalut musik yang sedikit lebih ringan, tapi tetap tidak kehilangan karakter rock yang kuat. Lewat distorsi gitar dan legkingan vokal. Vokal Pare memang memberi warna yang kuat dalam lagu Kotak. Karakter suaranya makin terbangun setelah beberapa tahun perjalanan karir musiknya. Di setiap lagu, Pare mencoba memberi gaya yang berbeda. Tapi tetap dengan benang merah Indonesian 90s Rock. Khusus di lagu Masih Cinta ini, kita akan menikmati nuansa yang sedikit berbeda. Ini terjadi karena sentuhan seorang penulis lagu yang rajin melempar hits sukses. Dia adalah Dewiq. Tapi bukan sepenuhnya ini jadi karya Dewiq. Proses yang terjadi adalah, mereka menulis dan meng-arrange lagu ini bersamaan.

Sedangkan dalam hal pengolahan lirik, Kotak makin kreatif mengeksplorasi dunia cinta. Mulai dari nantangin pacar main ke rumah, mengungkapkan perasaan cinta yang masih kuat, ngajak balikan sampai menyuruh pergi orang yang sebelumya kita cintai.  Terlihat kok dari judul judul lagu yang makin variatif. Seperti Kembali Untukmu, Tinggalkan Saja dan Mencinta Ku dan Dia.

Dari semua perkembangan yang terjadi dalam tubuh yang pasti gairah musik rock tak akan pernah hilang. Karena dari jalur itulah mereka lahir, tumbuh dan besar. Oleh, karena itu dari hati yang paling dalam, mereka menciptakan sebuah lagu yang berjudul Rock Never Dies. Yang menggambarkan bagaimana kesiapan mereka untuk mengguncang panggung. Kesiapan mereka untuk mengibarkan bendera musik rock asli Indonesia. Dan kesiapan mereka untuk menghanyutkan perasaan kita. Tinggal kita bertanya pada diri kita sendiri. Sudah siapkah kita menerima kedatangan gelegar musik rock dari Kotak. Are You Ready?

Kotak Band, Still Rocking With ‘Pelan–Pelan Saja’

February 4th, 2010 | Author: wiwikadiarti

Kotak is Rock. Kata itu sepertinya tak berlebihan bila menilik raupan prestasi band yang diawaki Tantri (vokal), Cella (gitar), Posan (drum), dan Chua (bass) di tahun 2009 ini. Lewat album KOTAK KEDUA mereka berhasil menyabet trofi Grup Rock Terbaik dan Album Rock Terbaik AMI 2009. Selain itu mereka juga diganjar sebagai Grup Pendatang Baru terbaik versi Anugerah Planet Musik 2009 dan dinobatkan sebagai Most Favourite Breakhtrought Artist 2009 dari MTV Indonesia Awards.

Prestasi itu juga tak lepas dengan meroketnya penjualan album KOTAK KEDUA yang konon Ring Back Tone alias RBT-nya berhasil menembus sampai angka enam digit. Tercatat single hits Beraksi dan Masih Cinta punya andil besar dalam mendongkrak popularitas Kotak. Uniknya dua single hits tersebut mempunyai karakter saling berbalik. Beraksi ngerock habis, Masih Cinta slow. Disebut–sebut lagu Masih Cinta merupakan prototype model lagu ballad Kotak. Walhasil, Kotak gahar di panggung dan tak termehek–mehek untuk lagu patah hati.

Kalau mencatut pernyataan Tantri, album KOTAK KEDUA pada dasarnya mempunyai dua porsi besar yang terbagi lagu untuk panggung dan lagu untuk pasar. “Dan ini bisa kita bedakan pada saat mendengarkannya,” tutur pengidola Armand Maulana ini. Hal ini juga tak lepas dari filosofis nama Kotak itu sendiri, yang berarti 4 sisi dan 4 sudut yang bersatu menjadi bidang kotak yang menggambarkan 4 orang yang berbeda karakter namun menjadi 1 dalam musik.

Sejatinya, formasi Kotak saat ini merupakan formasi jilid kedua sejak terbentuk pada tahun 2004 silam. Berawal dari ajang DREAM BAND, Kotak yang saat ini dinaungi Warner Music dulunya diawaki Cella (gitar), Ices (bass), Posan (drum), dan Pare (vokal). Mereka melahirkan satu album debut berjudul KOTAK.

Di tahun 2007, Ices dan Pare undur diri. Posisi keduanya digantikan Chua dan Tantri. Kegamangan pun sempat menyergap Tantri sebagai vokalis pengganti. “Karena vokal Pare yang sudah lekat di Kotak,” tutur Tantri. Sempat ia berpikir untuk meneruskan karakter vokal Pare, sebelum akhirnya memilih karakter vokalnya sendiri. Tak dinyana vokal renyah Tantri membawa hoki tersendiri dan klop untuk lagu–lagu ballad khas Kotak. Sebagai band penganut aliran modern rock yang sedikit dark efek dari pengaruh warna Evanessence terdengar gahar menampilkan sound distorsi ala nu metal dengan teknik solo gitar Cella yang keren.

Pun begitu Cella, sebagai salah satu pioner Kotak tidak berani menyebut formasi saat ini sebagai yang tersolid. “Kalau dibilang solid tidak tahu. Menilik di album pertama kita bilang solid nyatanya ganti. Kami menyikapi pergantian personil secara profesional kerja saja. Kita berusaha melakukannya secara maksimal,” kata Cella di Akmani Hotel, Rabu (09/12).

Dan ini coba mereka buktikan saat pengerjaan single kotak terbaru bertitel Pelan–Pelan Saja. Lagu ini disebut–sebut sebagai jembatan Kotak menuju album ketiganya. Praktis lagu Pelan–Pelan Saja mereka dapat dalam tempo 4 jam. Berawal dari jamming dengan Pay di Palu Studio selama dua jam, Dewiq berhasil mengembangkan lirik dalam tempo dua jam berikutnya. “Di sini semua berjalan secara mengalir saja,” tukas Tantri.

Hebatnya lagi, Tantri secara cepat dapat menjiwai lagu tersebut. “Gampang mendalaminya karena aku mengalaminya,” celoteh Tantri. Lagu Pelan–Pelan Saja bertutur tentang soal cara melupakan mantan dan hampir semua orang pernah mengalaminya. “Ini bagian dari kisah nyata,” ujar vokalis yang sejak SMP sudah ngeband ini.

Untuk mendapatkan greget yang lebih, vokal Tantri di-direct Dadang dan Dewiq. “Di sini aku latihan vokal dari range yang rendah sampai tinggi, sampai harus menemukan desahan,” sambung Tantri lagi.

Di dalam lagu bertempo medium ini, menjadi sentuhan langsung pertama bass Chua. “Kalau yang dulu aku masuk pas lagu sudah jadi, hanya tinggal nerusin saja. Akhirnya kerja beneran deh,” seloroh pemilik nama komplit Swasti Sabda Tantri ini.

Dus, ini bukan akhir dari perjalanan mereka. Pencapaian Kotak saat ini tak lain merupakan satu bagian klimaks dari senggama panjang mereka dengan musik rock. Dan Pelan–Pelan Saja merupakan awal dari bersetubuh Kotak dengan musik rock untuk album berikutnya. Artinya Kotak still rocking with Pelan–Pelan Saja.

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Nah siapa yang kagak tau KotaK??
Band yang sudah menancapkan pondasinya di belantika musik tanah air dan bersiap untuk melambung lebih tinggi. Yap, band hasil audisi Dreamband yang sudah bongkar pasang personel ini memang menyuguhkan sesuatu karakter musik yang beda di kalangan penikmat musik Indonesia. Band yang sekarang dihuni sama Tantri, Cella, Chua dan Posan in sudah kebanjiran fans yang rata-rata jenuh sama musik yang kebanyakan monoton dan itu-itu saja, cengeng dan mendayu-dayu. Tapi disini saya tidak menyalahkan musik seperti itu karena jika mood saya mengijinkan saya juga menikmati irama seperti itu.
Sekarang saya mau membahas tentang Tantri Kotak.

Tantri beraksi

Nama Asli : Tantri Syalindri Ichlasari
Tempat, Tanggal Lahir : Tangerang, 9 Agustus 1989
Tantri mengawali karir sebagai vocalist band Ares dari Jakarta. Salah satu finalist dari ajang The Dream Band 2005

Saya memang lebih menyukai suara vokal cewek daripada vokalis cowok, tapi bukan berarti saya menutup telinga terhadap suara vokalis cowok ye. Dan suatu ketika saya mendengarkan suara tantri kotak yang gahar dan lain, ga ada lembut-lembutnya di lagu beraksi, otak saya mengisyaratkan untuk mendengarkan lagu-lagu yang dibawakannya sampai-sampai saya memulung dari internet. Setelah sekali, duakali dan berkali-kali saya mendengarkan suara itu, saya semakin tertarik, suatu karakter vokal yang dahsyat dan full power.

Yang pertama saya tentu dengerin lagu beraksi. Lagu inilah yang mengenalkan saya dengan suara Tantri. Di lagu ini suara seraknya benar-benar keliatan, mantap sekali dan pas dengan lagunya yang bisa bikin orang semangat beraktivitas, jiaelah….

Yang kedua sebelum single ini keluar, saya sudah tertarik sama lagu ini, judulnya tinggalkan saja dan Tantri masih dengan karakter yang hampir sama di lagu beraksi. Dan terbukti ternyata ini dijadiin single kedua. Kayak Peramal ya??
Lalu saya mendengarkan lagu bayang abadi karena pengen denger Tantri nyanyi agak melow, tapi seperti kita tahu walaupun melow tapi tetep Rock. Dan saya semakin suka dengan suara itu. melownya tetap menginspirasi saya, dengan gaya vokal seperti itu feel di lagu melow pun kagak hilang, malah semakin “ngena”.

Lalu semua saya dengarkan, kosong tujuh, rock never dies dan lain-lainnya semakin membuat saya kepincut sama suaranya. Dan akhirnya tibalah pada saat yang berbahagia selamat sentosa mengantarkan rakyat Indonesia kedepan pintu gerbang kemerdekaan Indonesia ketika kotak menelorkan lagu Pelan-Pelan Saja. Lagu ini emang bukan murni kreasi dari anak-anak Kotak tapi dibantu sama Pay dan DewiQ, keliatan banget campur tangan si DewiQ ya sederhana banget liriknya. Eiiitsss, tapi liat dulu sapa vokalnya?? feel itu lagu dapat banget sob walaupun aransemen musik juga menentukan sih, tapi suara khas Tantri beserta desahan-desahan mautnya juga ikut andil kan? sederhana tapi mewakili perasaan sebagian orang.

Nih Kayak gini nih liriknya…

Pelan-Pelan Saja – Kotak
ku tahu kamu pasti rasa
apa yang ku rasa
ku tahu cepat atau lambat
kamu kan mengerti

hati bila dipaksakan
pasti takkan baik
pantasnya kamu mencintai
yang juga cintai dirimu
cuma kamu

reff:
lepaskanlah ikatanmu dengan aku
biar kamu senang
bila berat melupakan aku
pelan-pelan saja

tak ada niat menyakiti
inilah hatiku
pantasnya kamu mencintai
yang juga cintai dirimu
cuma kamu

repeat reff

pelan-pelan saja

repeat reff

pelan-pelan saja
(lepaskan aku, lepaskan aku, lepaskan aku)
pelan-pelan saja

Yap sampai saat ini, suara tantri kotak masih memenuhi ruangan saya dan dan memori komputer saya. Semoga Tantri dan kawan-kawan masih tetap eksis terus di dunia musik Indonesia. Dan jangan sampai tantri makan kawat, pecahan piring, baut atau benda keras lain agar suaranya kagak rusak ya…

Liputan6.com, Kendal: Konser musik grup band Kotak di Stadion Madya, Kendal, Jawa Tengah, Sabtu (31/10) malam berakhir ricuh. Kericuhan terjadi akibat beberapa penonton terlibat perkelahian. Lantaran khawatir terjadi hal yang tak diinginkan, polisi akhirnya menghentikan konser.

Pertunjukan grup band Kotak di Stadion Madya Kendal disaksikan ribuan penonton. Beberapa saat sebelum pertunjukan dimulai karcis sudah habis terjual. Untuk menghindari kerusuhan, sebagian pintu masuk dibuka dan penoton dibebaskan masuk ke dalam stadion

www.christinacrago.com/

CHRISTINA CRAGO

Copyright 2008-2009. Christina Crago. All rights reserved.

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12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists

In celebration of It Might Get Loud, a riff on some of our favorite women to pick up an ax

“You can caress [a guitar] like a woman,” says Jimmy Page in the opening of It Might Get Loud, a new documentary by Davis Guggenheim that invites electric-guitar virtuosos Page, U2’s The Edge, and Jack White to meet on an L.A. soundstage, tell their guitar stories, and do a little impromptu jamming. In theaters now, it’s the kind of gripping music doc that could inspire girls and boys everywhere to ditch Guitar Hero for a real Stratocaster. And yet, as good as it is, we couldn’t help but think, Why no female guitarist in the bunch? Could be that since the electric guitar’s popularity blossomed in the mid-twentieth century, collective wisdom has suggested that great female guitarists simply don’t exist. Take Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Only two women, Joni Mitchell and Joan Jett, were honored. In a Washington Post article written in response to Rolling Stone’s list, the writer suggests that as interest in electric guitar was revving up in the ’60s, women weren’t encouraged to step out of their ladylike gender roles, leaving them with an impossible game of catch-up to Jimi Hendrix and Page. Maybe. But Kelley Deal, lead guitarist of the Breeders, doesn’t buy it. “I think we do exist,” she says, “but in a different capacity. Guys really like to hear themselves talk. Women guitarists seem more song-oriented. What they choose to play contributes to making the song better, not just riffing all over it. It’s a deeper relationship.” And it’s a relationship that could helm its own documentary (cough, cough, Mr. Guggenheim). In the meantime, ELLE presents 12 of the greatest female electric guitar players to ever pick up the instrument.

Joan Jett

A no-nonsense player who in only a few strums can get an entire barroom howling her 1982 hit, “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll.” That kind of power, often amplified by painted-on leather pants, sets the bar high for Twilight’s Kristen Stewart, who’s playing Jett in an upcoming Runaways biopic.

Lita Ford

After jamming with Jett as lead guitarist in the Runaways, Lita Ford took her pop-metal shedder sound solo and hired fellow rocker chick Sharon Osbourne as her manager. In 1988, she released Lita, a sexy riff-filled album that not only pleased rockers with its head-banging tunes but also got mainstreamers in the pit, especially with “Close My Eyes Forever,” her duet with the prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne.

Nancy Wilson

Only a few seconds into the riff of Heart’s “Barracuda” and you know that only Nancy Wilson could knock you over with solos that beg to be air-guitared. Which makes us even more excited to hear that Nancy and sister Ann are preparing a new album slated for next summer.

Jennifer Batten

Jennifer Batten’s shredding is just as outrageous as her platinum-spiked locks, both of which must have caught the attention of Michael Jackson, who called on her to play Eddie Van Halen’s “Beat It” guitar solo on his Bad, Dangerous, and HIStory tours. Must-watch video here.

Donita Sparks

Donita Sparks, the woman behind ’80s girl group L7’s guitar-heavy riffs, gave birth to boozy garage grunge (download “Pretend We’re Dead,” or play your own version on Rock Band 2), as well as her own group, Donita Sparks + the Stellar Moments, whose 2008 Transmiticate proves she hasn’t lost her hard-rock edge.

Kelley Deal

Kelley Deal didn’t pick up the guitar until she was 30, but that’s the reason her disheveled playing for the Breeders (and later the Kelley Deal 6000) moves us. It’s untrained, uncalculated, and completely unreal.

Carrie Brownstein

Sleater-Kinney could have fallen into obscurity like some of their ’90s indie-rock classmates (what ever happened to Joan Osborne?) but not with Carrie Brownstein’s riotous wailing, especially Page-like in the group’s 2002 record, One Beat. And lately, she’s taken to blogging for NPR. Photo: Courtesy of Retna

Poison Ivy

The Cramps were playing envelope-pushing ’80s psychobilly before it became mainstream in the ’90s and influenced bands like the Black Lips, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine. With Poison Ivy on the ax (and late husband Lux Interior on vocals), her garage-punk attitude, though totally hard-core, seemed to come from a place of love. Creepy, fetish-filled love.

Ruyter Suys

When her band Nashville Pussy plays live, lead guitarist Ruyter Suys whips her fiery red mane back and forth and lies on the stage floor (sometimes in only her underwear), all while creating the high-pitch electric screams that frame their “good old-fashioned, humping-in-the-back-seat-of-a-car rock ’n’ roll,” as Suys describes it to Rolling Stone. Photo: Courtesy of Retna

The Great Kat

Of all the shredders on our list, Juilliard-trained violinist the Great Kat (aka Katherine Thomas) is the most mind-bogglingly fast. Watch her fingers do the talking in the Beethoven Mush video here. (Or just imagine the composer’s electrical symphony on amphetamines.)

Marnie Stern

Marnie Stern’s twitchy rhythms and face-melting licks take what we love about Eddie Van Halen’s fast-paced playing and paints it with a rock-girl feel. On her second record, This Is It… (2008), Stern is a virtuosic badass.

Orianthi

At 24, Australian newcomer Orianthi’s melodic wailing has already been endorsed by Carlos Santana (“If I was going to pass the baton to someone, she would be my first choice,” he told the Aussie Today show) and Michael Jackson handpicked her for what would have been his comeback tour.

The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time, A–G Issue #35 Issue #35

By Venus Zine Staff
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 12:25pm
Jennifer batten

JENNIFER BATTEN
Father knows best: Born in upstate New York and raised in California, Jennifer Batten got hold of her first electric guitar at age 8. The motivation to learn at such a young age, Batten says, was initially because she was jealous that her sister already had an instrument and she didn’t. After starting lessons, Batten loved and was inspired by songs on the radio, including the Beatles. “My father was a jazz lover and always had records playing,” she says in an e-mail interview. “He played guitar also and had deep respect for musicians.”

A little help from the King of Pop: In 1987, Batten got her big break when she was picked from more than 100 guitarists to join Michael Jackson’s touring band. Thanks to Jacko, she got to tour the world several times and play Super Bowl XXVII. Despite what sounds like a whirlwind ride, Batten describes the experience as a “paid vacation” and acknowledges it for playing a large role in kicking her career into high gear. “The gig immediately lifted me into the spotlight, and I became very high-profile,” she says. “[Michael Jackson] wanted me to stand out, so he created the look with the giant white hair. It allowed me to get a lot of equipment endorsements and other gigs.”

Signature styles: It was while attending the then Guitar Institute of Technology (now the Musicians Institute) that Batten learned and ultimately perfected the two-handed tapping style that other guitar gods like Eddie Van Halen made popular. Batten says she also uses the Digitech whammy pedal, which creates a sliding kind of sound that she can control with her foot. She also uses big intervallic jumps that she learned from Joe Diorio and his book on modern intervallic designs.

Additionally, Batten is a big fan of guitar string dampers, which help create a cleaner sound and control feedback when playing clean or with distortion. Batten says she couldn’t find a reliable source for them and decided to manufacture them herself, coining the Batten String Damper.

A little bit of everything: At one point, Batten was a member of six bands, playing various genres, which included rock, metal, fusion, and funk. But, Batten says, she doesn’t limit herself to any one form.

“The style I like best is the one that comes out of me, which doesn’t really fit any particular category,” she says. “It’s somewhere between electronica, jazz, fusion, rock, experimental, and world beat.” The results of this can be heard throughout her first two solo albums, Above, Below, and Beyond and Momentum.

Her latest album, Whatever, was released in September 2007 in Japan and will be available in the U.S. soon. Batten says her latest influences make her third album “very different in every way” from her first two. “I was turned onto a lot of electronica from my time with Jeff Beck,” she says. “I got into using the guitar synth to access any sound I wanted and I used a lot of vocal samples. All the tracks have very different textures from each other.”

On women in rock today: “The music industry, as with most arts, is extremely difficult. As far as instrumentalists, I think it's become more acceptable due to people like Michael Jackson, Prince, White Zombie, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, and Don Henley having an open mind about hiring female band members,” Batten says. “Once enough people see and hear it, it becomes more common and acceptable for other bands to hire us.” — Daniela Garcia
YouTube video of Jennifer Batten playing "Flight of the Bumblebee"


Christina billotteCHRISTINA BILLOTTE
Punk cred: Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter-guitarist Christina Billotte got her start in the math rock pioneer band Autoclave before starting the all-female punk trio Slant 6 in 1992. Five years later, she co-founded Quix*o*tic with her sister Mira Billotte (now of White Magic) and toured with Sonic Youth and Fugazi among others. Known in some circles as the queen of post-D.C. hardcore, Billotte later sang and played guitar in the Casual Dots, a sort-of indie-punk super group featuring Bikini Kill’s Kathi Wilcox and Deep Lust’s Steve Dore. The band released a self-titled album on Kill Rock Stars in 2004. — A.S.
Slant 6’s “I Love You A Lot” video


Kat bjellandKAT BJELLAND
Babes in Rocknroll Land: Babes in Toyland — featuring Kat Bjelland on lead vocals and guitar, Lori Barbero on drums, and Michelle Leon on bass — formed in Minneapolis in the late '80s and eventually released the last of their five albums in 1995.

Popular with fans of other grungy, noisy bands like L7, Jack off Jill, and 7 Year Bitch, the Babes were largely pigeonholed as a "kinderwhore" band, a media term for the babydoll-dress fashion popularized by Bjelland and Courtney Love. To simply listen to their music, Babes in Toyland and Courtney Love's Hole sounded like grunge, but because they were ladies, the "kinderwhore" term was used to differentiate them.

In 1992, the Babes released the critically acclaimed "Fontanelle" LP on Reprise Records, and went on to release two more in '93 and '95. Their successes in the early '90s included a coveted spot on the '93 Lollapalooza tour, magazine covers, bit parts on TV's "Roseanne," "Absolutely Fabulous," and the inclusion of their "Bruise Violet" video on the much-loved MTV cartoon "Beavis and Butthead."

Noise is a necessity: Babes in Toyland anticipated many of the rocknroll advances that would occur over the end of the century; Bjelland & Co. were eschewing traditional rock structures and embracing discordant noise right around the same time as the far-more-often–quoted Sonic Youth and Nirvana. Although never involved directly, Bjelland and Babes are widely reported as being an influence on riot grrrl bands such as Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill. "Kat Bjelland was a major influence on guitar players in the mid-’90s," notes Carla DeSantis, former editor of ROCKRGRL magazine. "She may be known for her banshee-screaming vocals, but she came up with some amazing chords as well."

Kat-as-trophy Wife: Bjelland has continued her musical career with Katastrophy Wife, another Minneapolis-based band. On their second full-length release as of early 2008, All Kneel on Rish Records, the band has enjoyed success with international touring and airplay on outlets like MTV2 and BBC Radio 1. Given the loyal following built up by Babes in Toyland, we hopefully won't hear the last from Kat Bjelland for a long time coming. — Dana Stewart
Babes in Toyland "Bruise Violet"
Babes in Toyland "Pain in My Heart" live
streaming BiT audio available on fuzz.com


Rory blockRORY BLOCK
Training ground: Aurora “Rory” Block was born in 1949 to two young parents with artistic hearts. “I grew up in a family where, on a good day, music, art, and poetry were the most important things in life,” Block recounts in Life Story, a memoir-like entry on roryblock.com. As a teenager, the New York–raised guitarist participated in Washington Park jam sessions and encountered blues greats such as Reverend Gary Davis and Skip James. At the age of 15, Block left home and traveled west.

No use for the commercial: In the ’60s Block recorded the instructional album How To Play Blues Guitar (Elektra) but dedicated the latter part of the decade and the early ’70s to starting and building a family. By the mid ’70s, Block did a few recordings that were not quite blues in an attempt to have a more commercial feel. This new sound was soon abandoned as Block became frustrated with trying to gain industry appeal. Her return to blues roots led to a record deal and the critically acclaimed 1981 album, High Heeled Blues.

In due time: After decades of cultivating her craft, the 1990s brought a sea of recognition and praise. She received the most prestigious award in the blues genre, the Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year (1997 and 1998) and for Best Acoustic Blues Album (1996 and 1999). Her 2003 release, Last Fair Deal, left critics in awe of her ability to be both a traditionalist and an innovator in the world of blues. — Niema Jordan
Rory Block covers Robert Johnson's Crossroad Blues
"When You've Got a Good Friend" by Rory Block

Carrie brownsteinCARRIE BROWNSTEIN
Claim to fame: Though she played in early-’90s riot grrrl band Excuse 17, the 33-year-old’s most famous work came in the form of her tireless riffing for Portland’s Sleater-Kinney from 1994 to 2006.

A head start: At 15, Brownstein took a few guitar lessons from Sunny Day Real Estate frontman Jeremy Enigk. Her parents asked her to save up her own money to purchase a guitar, so she did — and kept at it.

Signature moves: During Sleater-Kinney’s energetic live shows, Brownstein sometimes swung her arm around, windmill-style, before hitting a note. Another element of Brownstein’s show — her many high kicks — miraculously never interfered with her playing.

Activist roots: As a band on Kill Rock Stars’ radical roster, Sleater-Kinney injected new energy into feminist rocknroll. Their 1997 release, Dig Me Out, wore its gender-equity agenda proudly and gained mainstream acclaim to boot. Not only did Sleater-Kinney pen songs mocking rock-star swagger and early-2000s jingoism, the trio did so in an urgent and cathartic way that mobilized would-be political apathetics.

The balls-out encore recording: On The Woods, Brownstein and company played songs that spanned their impressive range of musical styles in a seeming nod to their long-term fans — “The Fox” sounds reminiscent of punk-inflected Call the Doctor–era Sleater-Kinney, “Jumpers” like the straight-up rock of Dig Me Out, and “Modern Girl” recalls the sweetness of the closing tracks on All Hands on the Bad One.

Current projects: While Sleater-Kinney still maintains its indefinite hiatus, Brownstein does an Internet comedy show with SNL’s Fred Armisen called Thunderant. She also writes a blog on NPR’s Web site called “Monitor Mix” (npr.org/blogs/monitormix) in which she opines about bands she likes and asks questions of her audience. — Arianna Stern


"Jumpers" by Sleater-Kinney
"Modern Girl" by Sleater-Kinney

Elizabeth cottenELIZABETH COTTEN
The legend: Born in 1895 in Carborro, North Carolina, Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was a traditional folk and blues guitarist. Cotten was self-taught and didn’t use traditional guitar tunings, instead opting for a unique style in which she strummed left-handed and held the guitar upside down. By doing this, Cotten had to pluck the bass with her fingers and strum the melody with her thumb. Her style, as music writer Katy Henriksen notes, "was so inherently and distinctly hers" that it has since been dubbed “Cotten Picking.”

An early start: The youngest of five children to musically inclined parents, Cotten picked up her first banjo — her brother’s — at age 7 and began playing songs by the age of 8. Cotten eventually purchased her own guitar named “Stella” and began writing songs, including the classic “Freight Train” at age 11.

Time off: At 15, she met and married Frank Cotten. Elizabeth took the time to stop playing guitar and focus on the church and her family life after the birth of her daughter, Lillie. Cotten didn’t pick up the guitar again for nearly 25 years, save for the occasional church performance. Once her daughter Lillie married, Cotten divorced and moved in with her daughter and grandchildren.

Career jumpstart: Cotten began working as a maid for the family of a young Peggy Seeger, an American folk singer, while she was in her 60s. It was her time with the Seegers that reignited Cotten’s love of the guitar. Mike Seeger, brother of Peggy and a noted American folk singer and folklorist, helped Cotten in making reel-to-reel recordings in her home in 1957 and 1958. These recordings would later be known as Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar.

A large “freight”: Cotten wrote “Freight Train” when she was 11 years old. Based on her experiences growing up next to railroad tracks, the song was eventually included in Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar. It has since been covered by the likes of Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, and Peter, Paul and Mary.

Later career: Although Cotten’s career took off in the later years of her life, the legend quickly established herself on the folk scene. Cotten began to work within the burgeoning folk music scene of the ’60s with musicians such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. In 1967, Cotten released Shake Sugaree with her grandchildren after the resurgence of interest in her career. Cotten continued to record and play shows throughout her later life. In 1984, she won a Grammy award for “Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording” for her album Elizabeth Cotten Live. She died at the age of 92 in Syracuse, New York.

"Elizabeth Cotten was a true innovator," says Henriksen. To this day, Cotten remains one of the most influential folk and blues guitarists, which she was well aware of when she once said, “You're gonna miss my playin', you're gonna miss my everyday talk. You're gonna say, ‘I wish Elizabeth was here,’ and you're gonna look and I won't be there.” — Brittany Julious
Elizabeth Cotten on the origins of “Freight Train”
Cotten performing in 1969
Cotten performing “Freight Train” with Pete Seeger


Brody dalleBRODY DALLE
An Aussie ex-pat embraces American DIY: Brody Dalle started punk band the Distillers after moving to L.A. from Melbourne, Australia around 2000. As a young 20-something, Dalle and the Distillers grew a fan base with their first, self-titled album for Epitaph Records. The Distillers (with a regularly changing lineup) released 2002's Sing Sing Death House (Hellcat) and 2003's Coral Fang (Sire), whose single "Drain the Blood" made it to No. 23 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts. After touring for Coral Fang, the Distillers took an indefinite hiatus so each member could pursue different projects.

Carrying the punk torch into the new millennium: "The Distillers picked up where Hole left off," says Carla DeSantis, former editor of the now-defunct ROCKRGRL magazine. Media coverage of the Distillers almost always focused on Dalle's personal life, but DeSantis reminds us that "Brody is an accomplished guitarist and punk rock role model," not just the girlfriend of some dude or a girl with a mohawk. In the vein of Green Day, At The Drive-In, or back to bands like X or Social Distortion, the Distillers will go down in history as a true American punk group, fronted by an indisputably fierce frontlady.

No rest for the true rocker: As of early 2008, Dalle is in the studio with fellow musicians Tony Bevilacqua from the Distillers, Jack Irons of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Alain Johannes of Queens of the Stone Age working on a new band, Spinnerette. "Brody had a good groove, and I felt like it was easy to get into it,” says Spinnerette’s Jack Irons, who plays drums.

From Dalle’s scarce interviews and the material available on spinnerettemusic.com, it's obvious that Spinnerette will be more rock and less punk than the Distillers. Although she has dismissed her role as "[M]ainly a rhythm player ... just downstroking, you know," (in a 2004 interview with Guitar Player), her solid punk guitar was the constant force that kept the Distillers going. Regardless of future projects, Dalle's signature growl and intense presence will no doubt bring Distillers fans along for the ride. — Dana Stewart
Conversation between Brody Dalle and Shirley Manson of Garbage
Distillers perform "Drain the Blood" live
Distillers perform "The Hunger" live


Kim dealKIM DEAL
Familiar face: Kimberly Ann Deal’s iconic status solidified as the bassist and occasional singer for the legendary punk-surf-indie rock band Pixies. However, she immersed her guitarist-songwriter talents in many other projects including supergroup the Breeders — with identical twin sister Kelley Deal and Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly — as well as a short-lived stint fronting a rougher sounding quartet the Amps.

Multiple personalities: Deal has flirted with stage-name pseudonyms such as Mrs. John Murphy during the Pixies’ Doolittle and Surfer Rosa years. While with the Amps, she went under the name Tammy Ampersand.

Rebellious nature: Deal has never been a conformist. She's always had problems with authority, often running into conflict as a cheerleader in high school in her home state of Ohio. This continued with her constant clashes with Frank Black in Pixies regarding her input — not wanting to lurk in his creative shadows — eventually leading to the band’s breakup and leaving room for Deal to fully concentrate on the Breeders.

A rock purist: Deal is adamant about using organic methods to compose her music. The Breeders’ latest album, Mountain Battles, was comprised with producer Steve Albini using the “new wave” philosophy to create an all-analog record despite the digital revolution. Deal pushed to do things the lo-fi way regardless of her critics. “I still don't like the ProTools thing, but I guess I'm kind of a dork,” Deal said in a December 2007 interview with Pitchfork Media.

On stage fright: Although Deal is no rookie to the business, she still occasionally gets performance jitters. Speaking of the Pixies’ triumphant reunion tour in 2004, Deal explained her feelings when facing a crowd of 50,000. “Terrified,” she says in an interview with Venus Zine in February 2008. “Yes, that was the emotion. Pixies started off the Coachella 2004 set with a song called ‘Bone Machine.’ I could hear noise, but I couldn't actually follow the drumbeat. I was so scared looking at that sea of people that my ears were ringing. I was so overwhelmed that my senses were incapacitated. Like feeling extreme rage. Anyway, I fucked up ‘Bone Machine,’ and my world went from super big to microscopic in a second. All I could do then was to just play the next note.” — Gina Pantone
Clip from 2002 documentary of the Breeders
Interview with Frank Black of the BBC
"Cannonball" music video

Ani difrancoANI DIFRANCO
The true story of what was: Born in Buffalo, New York in 1970, Ani DiFranco started playing guitar at age 9. With a little bit of money, DiFranco released her first album in 1990 on her own label, Righteous Babe Records. Aside from releasing an album almost every year since, DiFranco has also handpicked several musicians to add to her label's roster, including Andrew Bird and Toshi Reagon. In addition to writing her own lyrics and music, DiFranco has done much of her own production work.

Little folksinger, 'lotta nerve: DiFranco's words, always fusing the personal with the political, have been the soundtrack to many women's lives, including RBR label-mate Anaïs Mitchell, who started listening to DiFranco as a teenager. “I think the most inspiring part of the Ani model is that she didn't wait for anyone else, some record company or whatever, to give her the green light to make her art,” Mitchell says in an e-mail. “She just put out a record and then another and another, and then … she was Ani DiFranco! A lot of great artists got fucked just waiting for their ship to come in.”

Now at 37, DiFranco remains one of today's most fiercely independent musicians. “I'm not sure anyone has had more impact, at least on my generation of women in music,” Mitchell says. “She cut a wide swath, she expanded our sense of what was possible, and certainly she's been a model for the independent music movement. When she started RBR, you didn't just do that, start your own record label.”

Also a committed feminist and activist, DiFranco in 2006 was the first musician to be honored with the National Organization for Women's Woman of Courage Award.

Music reaching millions: Mitchell says she was first moved by the “raw emotion” in DiFranco's music. “First of all, Ani's just a really excellent guitar player,” she says. “She gives the guitar a voice in her songs — it's not just accompaniment. To me, it's like she's got punk rock in her right hand, jazz in her left hand, and folk coming out her mouth.” Leigh Marble, who has been running the largest DiFranco guitar tablature Web site since about 1996, also said his love for DiFranco came from a mix of her words and her sound. “I just connected really strongly early on with the combination of pithy lyrics and the kind of funky music behind it,” Marble says. “It was a connection I was trying to make in my own writing and it just really clicked with me.”

Learning her songs: For fans who want to play DiFranco's songs, they first need to decipher the guitar tunings — Marble's site has 100 guitar tabs with more than 30 different tunings. “I used to listen to some early bootlegs of hers and she'll be retuning almost between every song 'cause that was before she had guitar techs and stuff,” Marble says. “Back then, there was a lot of that 16th-note pumping … a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs, and a lot of 16th-note stuff flying by, so that was one challenge right off the bat, just trying to figure out what all those notes were.”

Just trying to evolve: While most associate DiFranco with her rapid fingerpicking prowess, her sound is ever-changing, which Marble says comes partially from performing with a band. “When she started working with bass players, which was pretty early on, she was able to move into more complex or delicate stuff on the upper range of the guitar, because she wasn't having to hold down the bass line herself all the time,” he says. “So like, there's some stuff on Little Plastic Castle where she's playing a tenor guitar that sounds pretty twangy and is in no way living in the bass sequence. It's all twang and character, so I think that was one of the first steps she made away from her early style.”

Even today DiFranco is still hard to classify: With 20 albums under her belt, she has spanned every imaginable combination of folk, punk, blues, jazz, and beyond — all created by a folksinger and her guitar. — Laura Leebove
Interview with Ani DiFranco
DiFranco performing "32 Flavors"

Tanya donellyTANYA DONELLY
Growing up guitar: Tanya Donelly began playing guitar alongside her stepsister, Kristin Hersh, when she was a teenager traveling between the East and West coasts. Donelly says she grew up listening to the classics of her parents’ generation — the Rolling Stones and the Beatles — and learned to play guitar by strumming with her dad. As late teenager-hood crept up, so did the boundary-breaking punk influence of the Clash and the Ramones on the two sisters. By the ripe age of 15, Donelly and Hersh had formed the front line of Throwing Muses, a popular East Coast alternative band. Throwing Muses took the honor of being the first American band signed to prestigious U.K. label 4AD, which released their self-titled solo debut in 1986.

A life on tour: Throughout the ’80s, ’90s, and into the new century, Donelly has been a prolific and popular recording artist. After parting ways with Throwing Muses in 1991, Donelly joined Kim Deal on lead guitar for the Breeders in Boston, filling out the ensemble for the recording and tour of the Breeders' highly influential 1990 album, Pod. After her work with the Breeders, Donelly formed her own group, Belly, which released two full-length albums, including the chart-topping “Feed the Tree” off the band’s 1993 album, Star. Since the late 1990s, Donelly’s focused on solo work, releasing three full-lengths on 4AD and one on North Carolina’s Eleven Thirty Records.

‘Anyone can play guitar’: “[In Throwing Muses,] Kristin and I were always confident in the music, in what we had to say. We weren’t always so sure about our actual playing abilities,” Donelly says. “My advice [to young girls playing guitar] would be first that you actually can play guitar as well as anyone else.”

After years of playing, Donelly has settled on the perfect conduit for her particular voice, a custom-made Campbell American acoustic guitar. She says the guitar is perfect for her, and that whatever it takes, aspiring musicians need to find the instrument that will fit their voice. Donelly takes the same approach to music. “I think women [especially] need to trust in a good melody,” she says. “It’s really fun to play power chords, and that’s totally fine, but it’s important to recognize a good melody and play it up if you hear it.” — Dana Stewart
Tanya Donelly's "The Bright Light" video
The Breeders' "Safari" video

Rosie floresROSIE FLORES
Background: Calling herself the "Rockabilly Filly," the Austin-based singer-songwriter pens catchy country-rock songs and has an innate sense of timing.

Genre bender: On her 2005 Christmas album, Christmasville, Flores plays a Tex-Mex version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” that sounds startlingly familiar despite the unconventional instrumentation. She manages to inject even the Christmas staple “Blue Christmas” with her own rootsy style.

Rockabilly’s Kathleen Hanna: As a tween, Flores asked her audiophile brother to teach her a few chords on the guitar. At 16, the now–57-year-old formed an all-girl psych band called Penelope’s Children and in the ‘80s, a rockabilly band called the Screamers. From there, she developed a solo career that fused her interest in country music with her rocknroll sensibility. “Rosie brought new life to the careers of classic rockabilly icons Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin,” says Bloodshot Records’ Nan Warshaw. “As a lead guitar player Rosie Flores has been grossly underappreciated, perhaps partly because onstage Rosie has fun and makes [playing] look easy.”

Every day should be a holiday: In 2006, Austin City Council declared August 31 Rosie Flores Day.

Radio-friendly unit shifter: In 2004, Flores’ song “Single Rose,” off the LP of the same name, reached number two on XM Satellite Radio. Other songs from the record, “BoxCars” and “Daddy’s Lullabye,” have enjoyed “heavy and medium rotation.” — Arianna Stern
Performing Butch Hancock's "Boxcar's"
Performing "Little Bit More"

Lita fordLITA FORD
Girls rock: The London-born, U.S.-raised legend found stardom in the form of an all-girl group in 1976. At age 17, Ford became a lead guitarist for the Runaways. The band was marketed as “Jailbait Rockers,” but in actuality, the group was not a gimmick as some critics suggested. The female five-piece consisted of talented young women who wrote and played their own songs, a rare concept at the time. The Runaways’ self-titled debut was released on Mercury Records, followed by 1977’s Queen of Noise and Waitin’ For the Night. The band split up in 1979, but the brief time the Runaways were together cemented the girls’ place is rock history.

The solo life: Ascribing more to heavy metal than punk, the ’80s saw a new version of Ford. As a vocalist and guitarist in the heavily male-centered genre, Ford held her own and further solidified her position among rock greats. She got her first Grammy nomination in 1985, and when she switched labels and picked up Sharon Osbourne as a manager, Ford attained some commercial success with tracks like “Close My Eyes Forever.”

Guitar hero: During her solo career, Ford also picked up an endorsement from B.C. Rich guitars, which are known for their unique construction. She often showcased her undeniable skill on one of three models including the Bich double-neck. Ford’s legend continues today as Xbox 360 users strive for the “Joan and Lita Award” on the wildly popular game, Guitar Hero II. — Niema Jordan
"Kiss Me Deadly" music video by Lita Ford
"Close My Eyes Forever" music video by Lita Ford featuring Ozzy Osbourne

Suzi gardnerSUZI GARDNER
Angry, young, and motivated: After sitting through performances by bands like Quiet Riot one too many times as a teen, guitarist-vocalist Suzi Gardner was inspired to take on punk metal herself. In 1986, Gardner took her love of aggressive, raucous guitar parts and banded them together with the styles of Donita Sparks (vocals, guitar), Dee Plakas (drums), and Jennifer Finch (bassist) in the band L7. "I remember getting really drunk and angry at how lame [Quiet Riot] was," she says in a 1993 Spin interview. "If these guys in Spandex could get away with being so lame, I could do it too."

Before L7: Born in Sacramento, California, Gardner moved to Los Angeles for the active music scene. As a teen, Gardner played guitar and sang with the Los Angeles band, the Debbies. At 15, she appeared on the Black Flag single "Slip It In," which featured her moaning and doing vocals.

Suzi meets Donita: Although they frequented the same hangouts, and mutual friends urged them to meet, the friendship of Gardner and Sparks was a work in progress. When they finally met, the chemistry was instantaneous. Their friends said, "Told you so." Gardner and Sparks went on to spend a five-day bender together in 1985, confirming the attraction, and forming L7 the next day.

Provocateurs at heart: For 12 years, Gardner and Sparks' unbridled feminism and tough attitudes spurred tensions with meatheads and Lilith Fair'ers alike. Because of their edgy exterior and heavy, riff-oriented sound, L7 was often mistakenly associated with the riot grrrl movement. While L7 considered themselves feminists, they were not part of the largely Olympia-based movement.

The hit maker: L7’s third album, Bricks Are Heavy, was released in 1992 and produced by Nirvana’s famed Nevermind producer, Butch Vig. By focusing their energy onto songwriting and abstaining from aggressive albeit occasional sloppy force, Bricks came to be considered L7's tightest album.

Talk about feeling your music: While filming a music video for their MTV hit, "Pretend We're Dead," a camera crane fell on Gardner's face, fracturing her cheek bone. Around the same time, another ominous event occurred when the group was involved in an 11-car pile up. Fortunately for L7, the track’s title did not ring true of their wellbeing in the future.

Gardner does Plaster Caster: Cynthia Plaster Caster, famous for her casts of musicians’ penises in the ’70s, bestowed Gardner with the same honor in 2000. Gardner was Plaster Caster’s first set of breasts ever and the start of her “tit wing.” "I'm a lucky gal to have my rack hanging in the same room with those rock cocks," Gardner tells NY Rock. — Katie Heath

"Wargasm" by L7 live

—

The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time, H–M

Stryper Guitarist to Wed Former Hooker
6/5/2009 By Keith Carman

It's safe to assume that with this story you can say “Oh my God” without offending anyone. At least not the subject, one Oz Fox, guitarist for Christian hair metal outfit Stryper. He'd probably like it if you said that.

According to Spinner, the 47-year-old Fox has a thing for ladies of the evening, as it were. But not just on a one-time, cash-and-carry basis. He's set to marry 41-year-old Annie Lobért, a “retired” professional escort. The two met in February of 2008 and were to be united today in Las Vegas.

If you think about it, the two aren't so far removed. Fox has been rocking for Jesus with Stryper since 1983 and Lobért is the founder of Hookers For Jesus, a Las Vegas-based ministry that aims to help victims of sex trafficking.

All jokes aside, Lobért purports to have spent 11 years as a prostitute and dancer in various States across the U.S. until quitting at the insistence of a client around 1998. That said, she boasts a John list that included celebrities and professional athletes. She now spreads her word through interviews, lectures and an upcoming autobiography entitled Hooker for Jesus. Stryper are set to release the album Murder by Pride in July.

Salah Satu Penyemangatku : METALLICA

Salah Satu Penyemangatku : METALLICA







Entah mengapa kali ini ingin menuliskan tentang musik yang aku sukai. Banyak memang yang aku sukai, pokoknya yang enak didengar dan bisa diterima oleh telingaku, tidak fanatik kepada jenis aliran musik tertentu, tetapi seringkali yang aku sukai adalah musik-musik yang berbau rock atau metal, karena tingginya amplitudo yang membuatku lebih bersemangat dalam menjalani hari-hariku, membuat adrenalinku naik dan peredaran darahku sedikit lebih cepat sepertinya. Aku terbakar dibuatnya.


Walaupun kesannya sedikit “urakan”, tetapi yang aku sukai dari grup musik ini adalah komitmen mereka dimana mereka selalu berusaha menjaga kekompakan tim hingga detik ini. Mereka masih eksis hingga kini dan menemani hari-hariku yang seringkali bernuansa “mellow”, dan langsung merubahnya menjadi sedikit bernuansa “panas, terbakar, dan bersemangat”. Kalau dalam perjalanan jauh, di dalam bus umum, musik-musik ciptaan mereka seringkali yang membuatku merasa menjadi orang aneh, karena aku dibuatnya menjadi seorang hiperaktif dan membuat tidak nyaman orang yang duduk di sebelahku sepertinya, tetapi tak apalah, salah sendiri dia duduk di sebelahku.
*kok jahat banget ya?*


aku2


Walaupun efek metal yang terpasang pada gitar dan bass, tetapi sang vokalis tetap bisa membuat suaranya terdengar dengan cukup baik dan berharmoni dengan pengiringnya yang lain, yaitu drum, gitar, dan bass. Sungguh aneh menurutku. Aku, yang terbilang pendiam tetapi bisa menyukai musik-musik seperti ini. Aku bahkan tidak dapat menjelaskan dengan pasti kenapa aku menyukainya. Saat hati berkata “suka”, ya diri ini mengikuti kata hati dan bertindak selayaknya orang yang “suka”. Entahlah, aku bingung untuk masalahku kali ini.


Baiklah, Metallica, yang merupakan salah satu grup musik kesukaanku tadi, maksudku grup musik yang membuatku lebih “hidup” dan memiliki “taste”, yang berbau “keras”, selain System Of Down, dan Avanged Sevenfold yang baru-baru ini juga ikut memenuhi listing playlist di MP3 Player dan komputerku. Karena sedikit penasaran dengan grup musik Metallica ini, pagi ini aku searching di internet tentang keeksistensian mereka. Wow, sungguh mengesankan hasilnya. Tidak salah kalau grup musik ini menjadi ICON di MTV beberapa waktu yang lalu.


Ini yang aku dapatkan. Bagi Anda pengemar Metallica, selamat membaca.


aku2


Metallica didirikan pertama kali di Los Angeles – Amerika Serikat dengan nama The Young of Metal Attack. Beberapa bulan kemudian grup ini berganti nama dengan Metallica yang konon merupakan gabungan kata Metal dan Vodca. Nama Metallica sendiri sebenarnya adalah nama yang diusulkan untuk sebuah majalah musik yang dicuri oleh Lars Ulrich sebelum majalah tersebut mendapat nama tersebut. Formasi pertama Metallica adalah Lars Ulrich (drum), James Hetfield (vokal dan gitar), Lloyd Grant (gitar) dan Ron Mc Govney (bass). Formasi inilah yang kemudian melahirkan lagu pertama berjudul Hit The Light, yang kemudian masuk album kompilasi rock Metal Massacre tahun 1981.


Setelah Metal Massacre beredar, Grant dan Ron mengundurkan diri. Posisi Grant digantikan oleh Dave Mustaine dan posisi Ron digantikan Cliff Burton. Formasi ini kemudian pada Juli 1982 mengeluarkan demo-album No Life Till Leather. Demo inilah yang kemudian mengantarkan Metallica mendapatkan agen dan kemudian hijrah ke New York.


Pada 1983, Metallica berencana akan melakukan tur pendek kebeberapa kota. Sayang Hetfield dan Mustaine malah terlibat perseteruan, hingga akhirnya Mustaine keluar dan kemudian mendirikan Megadeth. Posisi Mustaine digantikan oleh Kirk Hammett , gitaris dari grup Exodus. Formasi ketiga inilah yang kemudian mengeluarkan album Kill ‘Em All pada bulan Mei 1983.


Pada tahun 1984, Metallica semakin besar dengan menerbitkan album Ride the Lightning. Album ini bertahan 50 minggu dalam Billboard Top 200. Demi memperlancar promosi mereka juga mengeluarkan mini album Jump In The Fire. September 1985, Metallica memproduksi album Master Of Puppets. Kembali Metallica masuk Billboard Top 40 selama 72 minggu. Album ini merupakan album yang meraih platinum tanpa single dan video.


Tanggal 27 September 1986, dalam perjalanan tur ke Skandinavia – bus yang mereka tumpangi mengalami kecelakaan dan Cliff Burton (bass) meninggal dunia. Peristiwa ini begitu memukul seluruh anggota band. Bahkan Dave Mustaine yang telah mendirikan Megadeth, mengenang kematian Cliff dalam lagu In My Darkest Hour (album Megadeth: So far.. So Good.. So What!). Oktober 1986, posisi Cliff Burton digantikan oleh Jason Newsted, basis dari grup Floatsam And Jetsam.


Album …And Justice For All beredar September 1988. Disinilah Metallica mulai mengeluarkan video klip. Video pertama mereka adalah untuk lagu One, video ini mencapai nomor 1 di MTV. Keberhasilan ini kemudian mendorong produksi video klip Cliff ‘Em All sebuah video kenangan untuk Cliff Burton. Akhir 1990 album Metallica direkam. Album ini membuat Metallica mencapai penjualan quadruple platinum dan menjadi album nomor satu di delapan negara Amerika dan Eropa. Serta meraih penghargaan Grammy Award, kategori Penampil Metal Terbaik dua tahun berturut-turut.


Basis jason Newsted mengundurkan diri dari band setelah bersitegang dengan James Hetfield. Perseteruan ini disebabkan Jason Newsted lebih menghabiskan waktu dengan proyek-nya sendiri. Anggota band yang lain menganggap Metallica harus diutamakan, meskipun pada saat itu Metallica sedang vakum.


Grup ini pada saat ini beranggotakan Lars Ulrich (drums), James Hetfield (vokal dan gitar), Kirk Hammett (gitar) dan Rob Trujillo (bass). Mantan anggota lainnya termasuk Ron McGovney (bass), Dave Mustaine (gitar), Cliff Burton (bass) dan Jason Newsted (bass).


aku2

captpunisher








Adnan Buyung Nasution: Siapa Otak Kasus KPK?
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 18:50



Adnan Buyung Nasution: Siapa Otak Kasus KPK?



Ketua Tim 8 Adnan Buyung Nasution meminta publik mewaspadai kemungkinan adanya operasi khusus untuk meruntuhkan Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi.


“Apakah ada semacam opsus di zaman Soeharto?” kata Buyung, di Jakarta, Rabu (11/11), sebagaimana diberitakan Tempo. “Siapa otaknya semua ini?”


Ini karena, kata Buyung, ada operasi khusus yang digelar di era Soeharto untuk menghancurkan orang-orang yang dianggap melawan presiden dan rezim pemerintah saat itu.


Jika operasi besar kali ini benar-benar ada, menurut Buyung, targetnya bukan hanya menyeret para pemimpin KPK ke penjara, tetapi juga “menghabisi” institusi itu sendiri,


Sebab, Buyung menenggarai adanya rekayasa pemidanaan wakil ketua nonaktif KPK, Bibit Samad Rianto dan Chandra M. Hamzah.


“Penetapan keduanya sebagai tersangka tidak didasari bukti-bukti yang kuat!” tandas Buyung.


Menurut Buyung, indikasi adanya skenario besar semakin nyata setelah kesaksian Wiliardi Wizard. Bekas Kepala Kepolisian Resor Jakarta Selatan itu menyatakan, ada upaya petinggi kepolisian untuk menyeret ketua nonaktif KPK, Antasari Azhar, dalam kasus pembunuhan Nasrudin Zulkarnaen.


Oleh sebab itu, Buyung meminta agar Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono segera bertindak.


“Jangan sampai seperti ini terus-menerus, terjadi berlarut-larut,” pinta Buyung. “Saya pikir Presiden harus segera tanpa diminta rakyat. Beliau harus cepat, tanggap, dan menghadapi masalah ini.”


Pada kesempatan yang sama Buyung juga menghimbau agar Komisi Hukum DPR juga mengambil langkah ke depan.


“Jangan berkutat dan berputar-putar di di tempat!” seru Buyung.


Menurut Buyung, Tim 8 telah memberikan tiga opsi untuk penyelesaian kasus Bibit-Chandra: pertama, kasus itu dihentikan oleh kepolisian lewat surat perintah penghentian penyidikan; kedua, Kejaksaan Agung juga bisa mengeluarkan surat keputusan penghentian penuntutan; ketiga, Presiden bisa menggunakan senjata pamungkas dengan meminta agar kasus itu dihentikan demi kepentingan umum.























NASA: Isu Kiamat 2012 Bohong Belaka
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 18:51




NASA: Isu Kiamat 2012 Bohong Belaka



Bagi pecinta film pasti sudah mengetahui bahwa Jumat (13/11) merupakan hari tayang perdana fim “2012”, yang dilatarbelakangi dugaan bahwa pada 21 Desember 2012—sesuai batas akhir penanggalan Bangsa Maya—akan terjadi kiamat.


Seiring dengan isu kiamat pada tahun 2012, Lembaga Antariksa Amerika Serikat (NASA) pun angkat bicara menanggapi isu yang fenomenal tersebut.


Menurut NASA, sebagaimana diberitakan Viva, isu kiamat 2012 tak ubahnya isu yang sama pada tahun 2000: Y2k. Dan, sama halnya ramalan Y2K tak terbukti, begitu pula dengan tahun 2012 mendatang. Berikut cuplikannya:


Adakah ancaman terhadap bumi di tahun 2012? Banyak informasi di internet mengatakan kiamat akan terjadi pada Desember 2012?


Tidak akan ada hal buruk yang terjadi pada Bumi pada 2012. Planet Bumi sudah bertahan selama 4 miliar tahun. Para ilmuwan terpercaya mengetahui bahwa tak ada ancaman untuk bumi yang terkait ‘2012′.


Bagaimana asal-usul ramalan kiamat akan terjadi pada 2012?


Isu kiamat berawal dari perkiraan ada sebuah planet bernama Nibiru, temuan Bangsa Sumeria, yang posisinya berhadap-hadapan dengan bumi. Bencana dahsyat sebenarnya diramalkan terjadi pada 2003, namun tak ada apa-apa yang terjadi sesuai ramalan. Lalu, saat bencana dahsyat menurut ramalan bergeser ke Desember 2012. Dua ramalan itu terkait dengan satu putaran kalender milik Bangsa Maya dan adanya badai matahari (winter soltice) di tahun 2012. Dua hal itu yang melatarbelakangi adanya isu kiamat akan terjadi pada 21 Desember 2012.


Apakah kalender milik Bangsa Maya berakhir pada 2012?


Ya, sama halnya dengan kalender yang Anda pasang di dapur, waktu kan tak akan berhenti sampai tanggal 31 Desember. Kalender Maya, sama, tidak berarti waktu berhenti pada 21 Desember 2012. Memang, tanggal itu adalah akhir dari periode panjang kalender Maya. Tapi seperti halnya kalender Masehi yang dimulai tiap 1 Januari. Periode kalender Maya juga akan dimulai lagi.


Benarkah ada planet bernama Nibiru atau Planet X atau Planet Eris yang kemudian akan mendekat ke bumi dan mengakibatkan kehancuran?


Nibiru atau cerita lain soal planet liar adalah cerita bohong (hoax). Tidak ada dasar ilmiah dan faktual yang jadi dasar klaim tersebut. Jika Nibiru atau planet X itu nyata dan berhadap-hadapan dengan bumi pada 2012, para astronom seharusnya bisa melacak itu sejak lama. Planet itu seharusnya juga bisa kita lihat sekarang dengan mata telanjang. Kenyataannya, tidak. Planet Eris memang nyata, tapi itu adalah planet kerdil, sekecil Pluto yang masih berada di luar sistem tata surya kita. Perkiraan jarak terdekat planet itu dengan bumi adalah 4 miliar mil.


Apa kata Alkitab mengenai kiamat? “Tetapi tentang hari atau saat itu tidak seorang pun yang tahu, malaikat-malaikat di sorga tidak, dan Anak pun tidak, hanya Bapa saja.” (Markus 13:32)


Itulah mengapa “secanggih” apapun ramalan mengenai apa dan bagaimana kiamat yang akan terjadi nanti, sebagai orang Kristen kita tidak boleh meyakini ramalan tersebut lantaran Alkitab dengan gamblang mengatakan bahwa hanya Allah yang mengetahui kapan peradaban manusia akan berakhir.




metalica
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 17:27

Salah Satu Penyemangatku : METALLICA

April 16th, 2009
Goto comments Leave a comment




aku2


Entah mengapa kali ini ingin menuliskan tentang musik yang aku sukai. Banyak memang yang aku sukai, pokoknya yang enak didengar dan bisa diterima oleh telingaku, tidak fanatik kepada jenis aliran musik tertentu, tetapi seringkali yang aku sukai adalah musik-musik yang berbau rock atau metal, karena tingginya amplitudo yang membuatku lebih bersemangat dalam menjalani hari-hariku, membuat adrenalinku naik dan peredaran darahku sedikit lebih cepat sepertinya. Aku terbakar dibuatnya.


Walaupun kesannya sedikit “urakan”, tetapi yang aku sukai dari grup musik ini adalah komitmen mereka dimana mereka selalu berusaha menjaga kekompakan tim hingga detik ini. Mereka masih eksis hingga kini dan menemani hari-hariku yang seringkali bernuansa “mellow”, dan langsung merubahnya menjadi sedikit bernuansa “panas, terbakar, dan bersemangat”. Kalau dalam perjalanan jauh, di dalam bus umum, musik-musik ciptaan mereka seringkali yang membuatku merasa menjadi orang aneh, karena aku dibuatnya menjadi seorang hiperaktif dan membuat tidak nyaman orang yang duduk di sebelahku sepertinya, tetapi tak apalah, salah sendiri dia duduk di sebelahku.
*kok jahat banget ya?*


aku2


Walaupun efek metal yang terpasang pada gitar dan bass, tetapi sang vokalis tetap bisa membuat suaranya terdengar dengan cukup baik dan berharmoni dengan pengiringnya yang lain, yaitu drum, gitar, dan bass. Sungguh aneh menurutku. Aku, yang terbilang pendiam tetapi bisa menyukai musik-musik seperti ini. Aku bahkan tidak dapat menjelaskan dengan pasti kenapa aku menyukainya. Saat hati berkata “suka”, ya diri ini mengikuti kata hati dan bertindak selayaknya orang yang “suka”. Entahlah, aku bingung untuk masalahku kali ini.


Baiklah, Metallica, yang merupakan salah satu grup musik kesukaanku tadi, maksudku grup musik yang membuatku lebih “hidup” dan memiliki “taste”, yang berbau “keras”, selain System Of Down, dan Avanged Sevenfold yang baru-baru ini juga ikut memenuhi listing playlist di MP3 Player dan komputerku. Karena sedikit penasaran dengan grup musik Metallica ini, pagi ini aku searching di internet tentang keeksistensian mereka. Wow, sungguh mengesankan hasilnya. Tidak salah kalau grup musik ini menjadi ICON di MTV beberapa waktu yang lalu.


Ini yang aku dapatkan. Bagi Anda pengemar Metallica, selamat membaca.


aku2


Metallica didirikan pertama kali di Los Angeles – Amerika Serikat dengan nama The Young of Metal Attack. Beberapa bulan kemudian grup ini berganti nama dengan Metallica yang konon merupakan gabungan kata Metal dan Vodca. Nama Metallica sendiri sebenarnya adalah nama yang diusulkan untuk sebuah majalah musik yang dicuri oleh Lars Ulrich sebelum majalah tersebut mendapat nama tersebut. Formasi pertama Metallica adalah Lars Ulrich (drum), James Hetfield (vokal dan gitar), Lloyd Grant (gitar) dan Ron Mc Govney (bass). Formasi inilah yang kemudian melahirkan lagu pertama berjudul Hit The Light, yang kemudian masuk album kompilasi rock Metal Massacre tahun 1981.


Setelah Metal Massacre beredar, Grant dan Ron mengundurkan diri. Posisi Grant digantikan oleh Dave Mustaine dan posisi Ron digantikan Cliff Burton. Formasi ini kemudian pada Juli 1982 mengeluarkan demo-album No Life Till Leather. Demo inilah yang kemudian mengantarkan Metallica mendapatkan agen dan kemudian hijrah ke New York.


Pada 1983, Metallica berencana akan melakukan tur pendek kebeberapa kota. Sayang Hetfield dan Mustaine malah terlibat perseteruan, hingga akhirnya Mustaine keluar dan kemudian mendirikan Megadeth. Posisi Mustaine digantikan oleh Kirk Hammett , gitaris dari grup Exodus. Formasi ketiga inilah yang kemudian mengeluarkan album Kill ‘Em All pada bulan Mei 1983.


Pada tahun 1984, Metallica semakin besar dengan menerbitkan album Ride the Lightning. Album ini bertahan 50 minggu dalam Billboard Top 200. Demi memperlancar promosi mereka juga mengeluarkan mini album Jump In The Fire. September 1985, Metallica memproduksi album Master Of Puppets. Kembali Metallica masuk Billboard Top 40 selama 72 minggu. Album ini merupakan album yang meraih platinum tanpa single dan video.


Tanggal 27 September 1986, dalam perjalanan tur ke Skandinavia – bus yang mereka tumpangi mengalami kecelakaan dan Cliff Burton (bass) meninggal dunia. Peristiwa ini begitu memukul seluruh anggota band. Bahkan Dave Mustaine yang telah mendirikan Megadeth, mengenang kematian Cliff dalam lagu In My Darkest Hour (album Megadeth: So far.. So Good.. So What!). Oktober 1986, posisi Cliff Burton digantikan oleh Jason Newsted, basis dari grup Floatsam And Jetsam.


Album …And Justice For All beredar September 1988. Disinilah Metallica mulai mengeluarkan video klip. Video pertama mereka adalah untuk lagu One, video ini mencapai nomor 1 di MTV. Keberhasilan ini kemudian mendorong produksi video klip Cliff ‘Em All sebuah video kenangan untuk Cliff Burton. Akhir 1990 album Metallica direkam. Album ini membuat Metallica mencapai penjualan quadruple platinum dan menjadi album nomor satu di delapan negara Amerika dan Eropa. Serta meraih penghargaan Grammy Award, kategori Penampil Metal Terbaik dua tahun berturut-turut.


Basis jason Newsted mengundurkan diri dari band setelah bersitegang dengan James Hetfield. Perseteruan ini disebabkan Jason Newsted lebih menghabiskan waktu dengan proyek-nya sendiri. Anggota band yang lain menganggap Metallica harus diutamakan, meskipun pada saat itu Metallica sedang vakum.


Grup ini pada saat ini beranggotakan Lars Ulrich (drums), James Hetfield (vokal dan gitar), Kirk Hammett (gitar) dan Rob Trujillo (bass). Mantan anggota lainnya termasuk Ron McGovney (bass), Dave Mustaine (gitar), Cliff Burton (bass) dan Jason Newsted (bass).


aku2

pixel remix

Ann-alog, a Pixel Remix, where Ann Torrence blogs about photographing for a book on U.S. Highway 89, the greatest road trip route in America. Photography tips, locations, trip reports, and real life.
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Highway 89 Project Archives
Fairview Royalty at the Demolition Derby
Fairview Demolition Derby

The attendants carried the flag while the queen sang the national anthem

The Sanpete Messenger ran this image as part of their July 24 festivities report. Maybe next year I can get them to get me a press pass to the derby. Toughest ticket to get in this state; I don't know why. There are plenty of other demolition derbies around, but this one folks camp out overnight for tickets. I waited 6 hours and got nearly the last ones in the arena.
Fairview Demolition Derby

A spectacularly steamy collision

The last seats in the house are the ones facing the sun. We got lucky with lots of cloud cover, and the backlighting made for some dramatic photos in the early heats. I shot through the finals, but the earlier ones are the best.
Fairview Demolition Derby

The finals

The final round was hotly contested, as in one of the other competitor's car was spewing flames from the bottom. The standby firefighters put it out, and amazingly, number 57 kept rolling. But number 208, who apparently invested all his time in engine work and nothing in paint, ultimately won the battle of the rusting American steel. Will we see Hummers vs Escalades twenty years from now?

Posted by AT on August 11, 2009 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Victory! U.S. Highway 89 is off to the printer
US Highway 89 Arizona Utah Idaho Wyoming Montana curve bend in the road mountains green prairie

Background image used in the cover of my book on U.S. 89

After making the last 22 tweaks today, I can finally say this: done. As in finished, burned to a DVD, down payment check written, U.S. Highway 89 has been shipped off to be printed.

The feeling of completion is peculiar. I have lived with this project for over three years as my number one thing to do each day, and now that has changed. There is plenty to do, just not "finish the book." I will keep traveling U.S. 89, to make more photos, visit with friends I've made, maybe even peddle a book or two, but as the person who "has written" rather than "is writing" and it isn't the same at all.

I did an interview taping for some friends with the Utah Heritage Highway 89 last week and the cameraman asked me how this project has changed me. That's what this whole blog has been about, the things I've learned from the doing of the thing. I am bolder: I couldn't afford the luxury of shyness and finish. I am more entrepreneurial, driven to it by necessity when the publishing industry collapsed. I drive better: you would too if the pinnacle of your career was emblazoned on your license plate.

The most important thing I learned, photographically speaking, is that if I say "what the?" then I need to stop the car immediately. There are no second chances. Maybe different chances, with different light, posture, expression, but no rewind button. Too many things that I photographed are gone forever now. To paraphrase a line from elsewhere: if you are thinking about making a photograph, make it and then think about it afterwards.

My acknowledgements section is the longest single paragraph in the book, and it's almost certainly not complete. I'm grateful to my blog readers for the encouragement and gentle (ok, not so gentle) nudges to finish this project and send it out into the world. Thank you.

They tell me that Sagebrush Press will have books in stock in about 10-12 weeks. There are proofs and more proofs and container shipments and customs and lift-gates in my future. But today it is done. I have written a book, the best book I could. Like the time I jumped from a cliff at Elves' Chasm in Grand Canyon National Park, I still getting used to the idea of having actually done it.

Posted by AT on August 10, 2009 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* Montana
* Sagebrush Press

Breakfast for two
horse and cowgirl breakfast

Breakfast after the Sanpitch Cowboy Expo photo clinic

After she spent the early morning riding in the arena for our photo clinic, one of the rodeo royalty got her breakfast from the cook shack. Her horse was apparently hungry too. Here's a direct quote: "My other horse likes biscuits."

Posted by AT on July 28, 2009 10:44 AM | Permalink
Tags:

* horse
* Sanpete County

Cowboy Expo Photo Clinic Wrap-up
barrel racing close-up Mt. Pleasant Utah rodeo arena photography clinic workshop event

Rounding the barrel

About 25 photographers participated in Saturday's Sanpitch Cowboy Expo photo clinic, despite the 7 am start. Friends on the organizing committee arranged for the Mt. Pleasant rodeo royalty and other friends to bring their horses and demonstrate skills for us, while Rich Legg and I gave a modified version of Rich's "10 things to improve your photography" workshop. Mostly Rich talked, while I cued up riders and helped folks as needed. Harley and Nicole lent a hand as well.

Continue reading "Cowboy Expo Photo Clinic Wrap-up" »

Posted by AT on July 27, 2009 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* rodeo
* Sanpete County
* workshop

Another bites the dust-Highway 89 outtake
beaverslide hay haymaking equipment foggy

Haymaking equipment known as a "beaverslide"

For the whole time I have been working on the U.S. Highway 89 book, I have been focused on keeping the final product as affordable as possible. A fancy coffee table book would have been much easier to produce, a nice fat hardbound book that would retail for $75 or more. And ego-gratifying, unless I wanted people to actually buy and enjoy my book. No, my model of success has always been at a much lower price point. I figure that if someone picks up my book on one part of the highway, say in Yellowstone, and decides to go visit another place like Wupatki National Monument because they saw it in my book, I would have accomplished something. Which sort of means people have to be able to buy it. How many people actually buy $75 books?

Since acquiring Sagebrush Press, I have gotten a rapid education on what makes books affordable. Not everything I want can go into the book, which means some hard choices. This one didn't make it to the final round. Others did. 176 images (today, may tweak it tomorrow), but not this one, even though I can think of a thousand reasons why I like it. The story required others.

It's a better position to be in than the alternative, putting in junk to fill out the pages. I am glad to say I have all the images I need. And a few to spare. I also have some spare words, sentences that I cut to fit the copy to the layout. This highway is a big topic, all 1,600 miles of it, and everything I love about it just won't fit between two softcover, 4 color process plus gloss UV coating, perfect-bound covers (that's printer-talk for you) unless the type is really, really small. Hard choices, and I'm glad I'm the one making them. I still wish I could fit this one it though

Posted by AT on June 17, 2009 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* books
* Highway 89

Book progress and a lesson learned
Screen shot of U.S. Highway 89 book Lower Yellowstone Falls rainbow

Screen shot of my U.S. Highway 89 book

Progress, frustratingly slow, but progress nevertheless. I don't dare put a date on when it will go to press, but it is going. Here's a screen shot of the introductory spread for Chapter 8. I am very happy with how it is coming out.

There are 176 images in the book (as of today, may change tomorrow). In selecting images, I was grateful for some good advice I absorbed early on, and wished more times than I can say that I followed it more rigorously early in the project: once I have a cooperative subject and a good composition, to shoot it for a variety of crop formats. The image of Lower Yellowstone Falls, for example, I shot wide, so I could crop at an 8x10 format, and long, so I could use a 2x3. I have some that are horizontal. The rainbow lasts for only a few minutes, so it's important to have a plan to get all the different aspect ratios I might want later on.

I wasn't 100% consistent in shooting for completeness early on, and sometimes things are so fast moving, I only got one shot. Since I'm designing this book myself, I had the luxury of making my images fit to the text, but sometimes it would have been a lot easier to have a vertical image that would crop to the size I needed, rather than fitting the one I had, or settling for a horizontal one and redesigning a spread.

If I can't make a lot of shots, these days I am shooting wider, filling the shorter dimension of the frame, but leaving room for cropping on the long side since the 2x3 format is pretty restrictive. But if I can, I shoot lots of options. I get teased sometimes by other photographers for taking way more shots than others, but I have turned that old advice into hard-won experience, and a few extra electrons isn't going to hurt anyone.

As my friend Bruce Hucko says to me, "Drive on!" Just a few more mileposts to go.

P.S. If you want to get an email when this book is available, please visit my handy email email form to sign up.

Posted by AT on June 15, 2009 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* photography
* Wyoming
* Yellowstone

Another 'reject' - Grand Teton National Park
tGrand Teton capped in clouds, Grand Teton National Park

The Grand Teton, tallest of them all

I counted up the photos in the nearly final layout of the Highway 89 book: 176. But not this one. I didn't do anything with this when I shot it in 2006--two other images from that same trip are in the book, including this one, that it didn't stand out at the time. My Adobe Camera Raw chops are better now too. I made this a much better image than I could have three years ago. Even though it doesn't displace anything in the Wyoming chapter, I still like it.

Posted by AT on June 8, 2009 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* Grand Tetons
* Highway 89
* National Parks

Three Days Old
three day old buckskin foal filly

Three day old foal

Even though I'm about done shooting for Highway 89 project, I can't seem to get away from Sanpete County. We went down to Spring City Heritage Day, and on the way, met up with a new committee member for the Day of the American Cowboy Celebration in Mt. Pleasant (July 25). Adam has a new addition to his ranch: this three-day old filly.

Today, Rich Legg and I were doing some photo editing for the book, and drifted off into esoteric Photoshop actions. This one is supposed to mimic a platinum print. I don't know about that, but I like the effect for this timeless scene.

Posted by AT on May 27, 2009 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* animal
* Highway 89
* horse
* Sanpete County

Day 3: Nankoweap Granaries
Nankoweap granaries nankoweep ruins Grand Canyon National Park

Nankoweap Granaries

One of the reasons we chose to float the Grand Canyon in April with CRATE was the opportunity for more hiking time than a typical 8-day motorized trip. Same river distance in 11 days equates to three more days to explore, and reliably cooler weather in April.

When we rafted (with CRATE) in 1998, we did not get to stop at the Nankoweap granaries. It's a short and steep hike (there are only steep hikes in Grand Canyon), a good warm-up for the days ahead.
nankoweap trail to nankoweap granaries colorado river nankoweep Grand Canyon

Trail to the Nankoweap granaries

While we were on the trail, the shadow line crossed the river from right bank to left, and I could have watched it and worked with it and the granaries all morning. Even with 11 river days, the schedule did not allow for frittering away everyone else's time for photography. Dawdling could mean losing a premium campsite to another party, and then we'd be lined up in our sleeping bags like basking seals on a narrow beach somewhere. I couldn't do that to my shipmates, all friends of friends and kind, considerate people. Instead, I scuttled back to the raft so we could make some river miles before lunch and cookie time.

Posted by AT on May 11, 2009 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* Grand Canyon
* rafting

Mile 50 camp, Grand Canyon National Park
rafting campsite on Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park

Mile 50 from Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River

The guidebooks mark 280 miles from Lee's Ferry to the Lake Mead takeout points. On our 11 day voyage, we made it to mile 50 on the second night, making some early headway so we could devote a couple days to long hikes.

The trip started on an upsetting note, when one of the senior members of our party collapsed at Lee's Ferry. Instead of getting our pre-boarding safety lecture, we did what little we could to help our guides and the park service rangers render aid. Our friend was evacuated by helicopter to Flagstaff; his wife and another couple left the trip to be with him in the hospital. He is home now, doing well. It's the kind of disaster that brings out the "what ifs". What if it had happened a half hour later when we were plunging deep into Marble Canyon? The outcome might not have been so good.

After the chopper left, the rangers left, and the guides restowed their emergency kits, we went on. The first night was subdued.

By the second day, we had toasted our friends and decided to make the most of our trip. At our second camp, I retrieved my tripod from its safe spot deep in the bottom of the raft and carried my gear down to the river. I had to race to get this shot before the light beams moved off the rapids.

Sunset comes early when you are deep in the Grand Canyon. The golden glow is followed by a long twilight hour, time to contemplate while waiting for supper, the bats, the first stars. That night we didn't know if our friend had survived. All we could do was hope, and accept the solace of the red canyon walls.

Posted by AT on May 7, 2009 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* Grand Canyon
* rafting

Lava Falls, Grand Canyon National Park
Lava Falls, Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park

Lava Falls, Grand Canyon National Park

The second half of our rafting party gets the thrill of a lifetime in the Grand Canyon's biggest rapid.

I have barely had time to scan through the 42 GB of images I amassed with the four cameras I carried on the trip. (Note to photographers, make sure your outfitter is understanding about the amount of gear before you book your trip. Our group was smaller than normal, making extra room for my two backpacks and Pelican case.) The boatman on the raft I was on went first, offering a memorial to a friend who had passed, and we had the cleanest, driest ride through Lava Falls. He then crossed the tail of the rapid to get us into position for spectating and photographing. The second raft party had watched our descent from the scouting spot; as they trundled to their raft, I had time to get out my gear, swap on the 70-200, a new flash card and battery pack for the D700. This is one of 52 images I took in 40 seconds, selectively firing the shutter to keep the buffer from overfilling. Somewhere on that raft are 10 people, most of whom appear to be underwater during this frame.

Posted by AT on May 6, 2009 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags:

* Grand Canyon
* Highway 89
* rafting

Lower Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone NP
lower yellowstone falls

Lower Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone NP

This image needs a home, because there's only room for one Lower Yellowstone Falls image in the U. S. 89 book. This isn't the one, but calling it a reject just ain't right.

So what trumps this picture? I won't say it's better, just that the one I picked works better in the context of the Wyoming chapter. It will be the Highway 89 print of the month for July. I think it's worth waiting for.

Posted by AT on April 14, 2009 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* Yellowstone

Union Pacific Steam Engine Visits Ogden, UT
union pacific steam locomotive 844 train engine ogden utah

Union Pacific's historic engine 844 visited Ogden, Utah this weekend

Yesterday, I had time to read only a dozen Twitter updates. Luckily, Scott Smith's tweet about Union Pacific's steam locomotive 844 arriving in Ogden was one of them. Because of Easter shots I needed for the Cathedral of the Madeleine project, I couldn't go on Sunday, but we met up this morning at the station.

We made a new friend, Jim, who had photographed the train before and knew how the main line tracks intersected all the interesting bridges and crossings on the train's path toward Elko. As it left the station, Jim invited Scott and me to jump in his car to chase the train. We got a few shots, but I liked this one better, with just a hint of old-time industrial Ogden in the background.

Occasionally, I get some grief about spending valuable time on Twitter, but opportunities like this one have sprung up that I would have otherwise completely missed. Even the UP Steam Locomotive 844 has a Twitter stream. Not like the old days, when railways were managed by telegraph orders, grabbed by the crew as their train passed through a station. Named for the onionskin paper they were printed on, "flimsies" were eventually replaced by radios. I talked to a retired front brakeman today who remembered using them in his days on the rails. The gentleman probably doesn't Twitter either, but without it, I never would have had a chance to meet him.

You can find me on Twitter at twitter.com/anntorrence. Fun, free, and occasionally shockingly useful.

Posted by AT on April 13, 2009 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* Ogden
* train
* Twitter
* Utah

Cowboy Bar
Cowboy Bar, Jackson Wyoming vintage neon sign

Cowboy Bar, Jackson Wyoming

I knew in the back of my mind that I had a keeper of this neon, but then I moved on. Today I put some time into readying it for the Highway 89 project.

Posted by AT on January 23, 2009 4:06 PM | Permalink
Tags:

* Highway 89
* Jackon Hole
* neon
* Wyoming

I cannot explain this: zebras in Sanpete County
zebras_0334.jpg

I found some zebras yesterday in a Sanpete County pasture

Sanpete County, about 100 miles from Salt Lake City, is famous for many kinds of animals: Rambouillet sheep breeding in the 1920s, the turkey farms of the 1940s and today, and some fine quarterhorses are being raised there. I know where to find a small-scale pig farmer and someone raising peacocks, but before yesterday, I had no idea anyone had stocked zebras on their land. Another mystery from the Highway 89 project.

Posted by AT on January 18, 2009 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Tags:

* animal
* Highway 89
* Sanpete County
* utah

Utah Utes Parade
Victory parade for 13-0 Utah Utes football team

Victory parade for 13-0 Utah Utes football team

Alternate caption: "Dude, what's with the rat dog?" The player at left is throwing candy to the crowd; the one at right looks none too sure about the fan with dog.

Congratulations to the Utes for a perfect season! If only the BCS were perfect.

Posted by AT on January 17, 2009 9:08 PM | Permalink
Tags:

* Highway 89
* parade
* Salt Lake City
* sports
* Utah
* utes

Best of 2008 on Highway 89

I wasn't going to blog a best-of for 2008, mostly because the end-of-year recap on my 2008 resolutions was already nagging at me. The national implosion of the publishing industry directly impacted my Highway 89 project, and by the end of December, I was glad to see the calendar flip to a new start. But Jim Goldstein hounded me for a contribution to his collection of best-of blog posts, so here is my list.
February: Parry Motel, Kanab UT
parry motel kanab utah neon sign snow red

Neon colored snow

I made the first of the 2008 trips to Arizona in February. A heavy snow blanketed southern Utah the day before I left. I learned that gas doesn't pump so well when the night time temperatures drop below -10F. And I made the first of many neon discoveries on my way south. I haven't blogged this image before.

Continue reading "Best of 2008 on Highway 89" »

Posted by AT on January 11, 2009 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags:

* arizona
* Grand Tetons
* Highway 89
* Kanab
* montana
* National Elk Refuge
* National Parks
* neon
* utah
* Wyoming

Winter in Wupatki NM
wuaptki national monument anasazi ruin lomaki pueblo snow mountains

Lomaki Pueblo at Wupatki NM

A year ago today I was at one of the jewels of the National Parks system, Wupatki NM. Dusted with a little snow, it's one of my favorite places on US Highway 89.

Kurt at National Parks Traveler asked me to contribute an article on Wupatki for his site, which is chock-full of information and stories about most every unit in the NPS's care. My story on Wupatki NM appears today.

Posted by AT on December 24, 2008 8:50 AM | Permalink
Tags:

* Arizona
* National Parks
* National Parks Traveler
* winter
* writing
* Wupatki NM

Striking the decisive moment
welding_8747.jpg

Shaping the handle of my brand

Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about the "decisive moment" when all the elements of a photo come together. This image is from my brand-making session last Friday. Which one better tells the story of Dan at his trade?

Posted by AT on December 9, 2008 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags:

* photography
* Sanpete County
* Utah

Brand-maker
welding welder sparks flame torch brandmaker

Sparks from the welder's flame

I read plenty about the new Internet economy and social media. Plenty of self-styled experts are expounding on the importance of branding my identity, etc., etc., etc. How do they monetize harping and nagging anyway?

So I took their advice, sort of, and drove down Highway 89 to Mt. Pleasant to meet my rancher-friend Reed Thomas's personal brand-consultant, Dan Oldroyd. Dan knows how to make stuff, real stuff, in his shop full of anvils, tongs, furnaces and a personal hobbit-sized train engine he built. He and a buddy are laying track for it on 5 acres in Mt. Pleasant, but we'll save that for another time.

And while I made photos, Dan made me a brand. It's not registered (yet) so I can't show it to you. I deferred to the experts as far as the particulars, and Dan put a nice loop on the end, turning it into a "wall-hanger" since I don't as yet own any cattle needing a brand. Note that "as yet" part. I'm thinking about it.

Apparently, I was quite lucky to get these shots without also getting a corneal burn. So if you go get your own brand fabricated (and Dan of Dan's Machining in Mt. Pleasant, across from the now-defunct winery, will be quite happy to see you. Tell him Ann from the big city sent you), don't look at the welding light.

And if you are a social media maven type, you can follow me (anntorrence) on Twitter too.

Posted by AT on December 8, 2008 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* Sanpete County
* utah

Let it snow-kite - Fairview, Utah
snowkite_AT09181.jpg

Airborne above Skyline Drive

Utah is well-known for its skiing and snowboading, but did you know it also has a world-class snow-kiting venue? Combining wind, snow, and speed, these athletes fly in in all directions. Snow-kiting lets you ski (or board-enthusiasts use both kinds of equipment) uphill. Once there's snow on the ground in the mountains above the Sanpete Valley, the snow-kiting crowd is out there most weekends, and lessons can be organized for newbies.

Utah got an early storm that blanketed the region with snow, but not much since then. There's a chance of some more on Thursday. If the storm comes through, you can give it a try this weekend at the season-opener Snowkite Summit. Even if there's not enough coverage to ride, the manufacturers will be demoing new gear in the town of Fairview. If you go, say hello to Brian and Heather Schenk of Windzup. They helped pioneer the Skyline venue and are having such success with snowkiting in Sanpete County that they moved their company to Mount Pleasant.

For the ultimate in spectator sports, put this on your calendar: the US Open Snowkite Masters competition at Skyline, Utah in Sanpete County will be February 26 - March 1, 2009.

Posted by AT on December 3, 2008 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* Sanpete County
* snow-kites
* Utah

Random thoughts about US89
US89 roadside lake Zion

Sandstone reflections

I spent the last two days editing the Utah chapters of my opus on US Highway 89, which means I have been rifling through my books, notes and photocopies for random facts that need checking. Like these gems

* The forest service has been pleading with people since at least 1926, the year Highway 89 was born, to not shoot up the road signs.
* Utah's first "good roads" was held at Lagoon, ironic since Simon Bamberger built the resort in part to attract ridership to his electric tramway.
* The Dominguez-Escalante expedition of 1776 stopped at some hot springs in Spanish Fork Canyon on their way to Utah Lake. Probably Castilla Hot Springs, which was another resort, until it burned down.
* Piute County only has about 1,350 residents, but it's not the smallest in Utah (Daggett, with under 1,000, wins that contest)
* At its highest level, Lake Bonneville's surface was 650' above Logan's Main Street

Just a reminder: if you want to receive an email reminder when the book is published, please sign up on this secure form. I promise I will not use it for spam or other evil.

Posted by AT on November 18, 2008 10:04 PM | Permalink
Tags:

* Highway 89
* utah

Aspencade
aspens_6561.jpg

My favorite aspens

We probably wouldn't have gone to Jackson this year if I hadn't needed to visit the town library. The scientist has been under extraordinary pressure these last few months, and it's hard to justify the time away from the lab. So we made a short trip, with time for only a few photos. The original mission on the day I shot this landscape of Mt. Moran was simply a record shot of my favorite trees in Grand Teton NP, maybe anywhere. In all the years I have hiked, kayaked and photographed in the park, I had never seen them as glorious as they were this October. One more gift that came from my US 89 project. I will finish the book but the highway goes on forever.

Posted by AT on November 5, 2008 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags:

* autumn
* Grand Tetons
* Highway 89
* Wyoming

Previsualization, photo projects, and plywood
Ovid Idaho LDS ward church abandoned wooden structure

Plywood now covers most of the windows of this former LDS ward building, privately owned, in Ovid, Idaho

The first ever Bear Lake Photo Seminar was a great success, with over 50 people attending and lots of participation. Harley blogged a great wrap-up of the workshop. I was struck by how few gearheads I met; these folks were much more interested in making photos. And I was deeply impressed by the hand-out the organizers distributed, which mapped out a number of interesting photo locations in the Montpelier area. If only I had had such a document when I was starting out on the Highway 89 project. Ross Walker said they are going to make the workshop an annual event, and next year should be even better. The Bear Lake region has been mostly, and undeservedly, a locals-only photography destination. Hopefully the Sharpshooters Camera Club can change that.

In my presentation, I talked about how this project has impacted my photography. One of the points I made was that, to tell the US89 story, sometimes I have had to return to the same location many times to get the image I wanted. I must have stopped at this church dozens of times, but the light was only right once. Even if I didn't make a picture, I was thinking about the image I wanted, learning that essential skill of previsualization that Ansel Adams always went on about.

The flipside of the story is the picture that can't be made anymore. I show a couple of images where the subject has been so dramatically altered, the image can't be made today. One of my (unblogged as yet) grain elevators was dismantled, board by board, five months after I photographed it. The famous haystacks in Jackson, Wyoming, aren't being stacked any more; the ranch has the big balers now. I am so glad I got the Ovid Ward shot when I did, because the back windows have plywood on them today. You can visualize it, can't you? The image won't ever be the same.

Then there are the images I didn't make in time, the particular piece of neon in Ogden, the rusty fuel tank in Piute County, and more I still lament. Either the light wasn't right, or I didn't think I had time to stop, or some other reason that I don't recall. I only remember the previsualized image I won't ever have. That's a harder lesson about working on projects, to do it now, before the bulldozer takes it away.

Posted by AT on October 28, 2008 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* idaho
* photography
* presentation

New Windsor
New Windsor Hotel Phoenix neon motorcycle

New Windsor Neon

This image is all about cool: cool blues, the 1950s jazzy kind of cool, the cool of a late evening. How deceptive images can be: it was 100 degrees in Phoenix that night.

When I went to Arizona in August for the monsoons, I had an extra evening in the schedule and I wanted to go downtown. Now central Phoenix isn't exactly the safest place to wander about after dark, so I contacted Alex, who I knew only through his NSFW blog, Voenix Rising. I knew he was enjoying with a new camera and thought he might be entertained by an ad hoc Photowalk. Despite his laryngitis and the monsoon heat, Alex agreed.

We had a good time getting to know each other, but I wasn't having much luck finding an angle on Phoenix that fit into the Highway 89 project. After a couple hours in the grueling heat radiating off the downtown concrete, we packed it in. I was driving Alex back to his car when I saw this blue glow a few blocks down the street. Alex suddenly got to see a new side of my personality; there was no way I was passing this up. Luckily, we were like-minded on the subject, and dragged our tripods out of the car.

Pretty soon, I had several series of images that really made me happy. It was darker than I like, but luckily the building was well-lit and stood out from the black sky. I shot for my usual neon post-processing routine. The owner of the hotel came out. He was very accommodating and told us a little about the restoration work he's done. Alex has been back since, but hasn't seen the motorcycle parked out front again.

So is it persistence, blind-squirrels finding the inevitable nut, or just good fortune when we run into subjects like this? I wonder. I do know that if I hadn't called Alex, if I hadn't put the gear in the truck, if I hadn't been sweltering for hours, if I hadn't parked where I did, I would have missed it. There's been a magic for me out on US 89 that is beyond explanation. I'm going to run (or drive) with it.

Tomorrow, I will be showing this image in my presentation at the Bear Lake Photo Seminar in Montpelier, Idaho. I added a new section to my Moab talk with images made since May in chronological order. It's a different take on the project, since I basically zigzagged border-to-border twice this summer. Glacier NP follows Sunset Crater NM, Nogales, Arizona is next to Yellowstone NP. I will let the audience decide whether I am committed or should be committed. I'm just going to keep driving until it's done.

Posted by AT on October 23, 2008 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags:

* Arizona
* Highway 89
* neon
* Phoenix

Book-building one image at a time: Wilsall MT Grain Elevator
dark clouds thunderstorm storm wilsall grain elevator montana

Grain elevator in Wilsall, Montana

In the process of getting ready to talk about my U.S. 89 project on Saturday, I decided to pull together the images I made since I last gave this talk in May to see which ones to add to the presentation.

One night in my Moab motel room last May, I made a list of the essential images I needed to finish the project, and I left there committed to go get them. Since then, I have driven to both ends of the historic Highway 89 again (that's about 3,200 miles round-trip). I have been to Montana twice, Arizona twice, and five of the seven national parks, all in about five months. Except for the ones I have blogged, the +10,000 RAW files I shot since May have been filed, backed-up and set aside for "when I have time." Basically I came home, repacked, and went back out on the road all summer.

I knew I had worked my way pretty far down my list. But I still didn't have a sense of what I'd accomplished until I started selecting RAW files for processing. I might have said I had a dozen or two to finish, because my original list wasn't that long. After I copied over 200 files into the work folder, let's just say that "when I have time" has now become something of an emergency.

Like this grain elevator, opportunities presented themselves that weren't on my targeted list. When I stopped in Wilsall, I was, in fact, driving between two "must get" locations when a thunderstorm kicked up over the Absarokas to the south of the Shield River Valley. I have already confessed my near-obsession with grain elevators, and I stayed for a very long series of images that pleased me greatly.

Needless to say, I won't be adding 200+ images to my presentation. Since I am talking about "working in project mode," I may add a section at the end of recent images to show how the project has been built image by image. By the way, I spent so much time at Wilsall, I missed sunset at the second "must get" location and I had to stay in Montana another night. I think it was worth it.

Posted by AT on October 22, 2008 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* Montana

A perfect morning at the Oxbow, Grand Teton NP
aspens fall colors aspencade Clouds on Mt. Moran at the Oxbow overlook, Grand Tetons National Park

Clouds on Mt. Moran at the Oxbow overlook, Grand Tetons National Park (panorama of seven images merged in Photoshop

The mountain was completely socked in at dawn. We went back to sleep, ate breakfast. I said, "Even if it is cloudy, I wanted to photograph my favorite aspens in the park." The clouds started to lift.

For fifteen years we have paddled and photographed at the Oxbow. We have seen some awesome sunrises there. This day was different. Humblingly beautiful. All I could (and can) say is "Thank you."

Posted by AT on October 7, 2008 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags:

* autumn
* Grand Tetons
* Highway 89
* National Parks
* Wyoming

Pronghorns on the way to Jackson Hole
Herd of Pronghorn near Bondurant, Wyoming

Herd of Pronghorn near Bondurant, Wyoming

My troops revolted yesterday. Or is it troop, when there's only one member of the corps? Anyway, R insisted that we take the US 189 route to Jackson, through Evanston, Kemmerer, Big Piney and Hoback Canyon. He's driven so many miles of U.S. Highway 89 with me over the years, I conceded, but only for the outbound leg of the trip. Besides, he was driving at the time.

Besides, he was being kind of romantic. See, we moved to Utah in 1993 and visited Jackson for the first time that year. We have been coming here every year at the end of September, and until I started this crazy project,

Continue reading "Pronghorns on the way to Jackson Hole" »

Posted by AT on October 1, 2008 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags:

* Highway 89
* Jackon Hole
* wildlife
* Wyoming

Grand Canyon Lodge at sunset
Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim Grand Canyon National Park sunset

Sunset behind the Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim

Even though the sunset didn't bounce into the Grand Canyon the day I was there, I did make the files I needed to composite this image. I knew in field that I would need at least two images in a series of exposures to expand the dynamic range, and I ended up taking at least four bracketed exposures for each composition. To hold back the sky, I exposed 2 2/3 stops under the base image (4 seconds vs 25 seconds, at ISSSO 100 and f 7.1. When I'm setting up stuff like this, I put the camera in Manual mode and count the clicks in the exposure range that I want.

Back at the ranch, I chose my composition, then used Adobe Camera Raw to open the files. I ended up layering the same file twice, once with the Fill Light and Brightness settings cranked up a little, once unchanged. I opened all the files, renamed the "Background" in each to the file number, and then use "Shift" while dragging to stack them in aligned layers. To each layer I added to the base, I added a mask. My favorite tool for masking is the Gradient tool, in combination with the blending mode in the tool options bar. I might use the Gradient to make a mask from top to bottom to reveal the sky, then re-use the Gradient tool with the blending mode set to Darken or Lighten as needed, to add or subtract to my mask without impacting the part of the mask that's how I want it. Don't forget that you can use selection tools on the mask to limit your changes. Because the masks don't have non-destructive adjustment layers, be careful. (I asked the Adobe engineers for adjustment layers on channels once, and they looked at me in horror. I understand I'm asking for a lot, but I had my reasons: remixes. But I digress.) For those of us who learned Photoshop before there were adjustment layers and the history palette, working with masks brings up a lot of bad memories; for those who picked up Photoshop after 1996, just remember you can find your mask in the channels palette and make a copy of it before you edit it.

I didn't get to stay in the lodge itself that night. I was lucky to score a room at all. I do have my rim-side room request in mind for my next visit with R. Maybe we'll plan a celebratory event when I finish the text for the Highway 89 project, if I get it done before they close for the season. I plan to be done before that, but I'm not in charge of the weather.

Posted by AT on September 9, 2008 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags:

* architecture
* arizona
* Grand Canyon
* Highway 89
* Photoshop
* tips

Kite Festival - Spanish Fork, UT
kites towed by ATV Spanish Fork festival wind power9.jpg

Kites flying over Spanish Fork

Thanks to Mecworks in our PhotowalkingUtah group, I got to get in close to the Berkeley Kite Wranglers' demo at the Sky Spectacular in Spanish Fork. With an ATV, you can make your own wind. The festival celebrated the launching of the monumentally huge wind power generators at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, just east of where US6 and Highway 89 join. Erik joined us, so we declared it an impromptu Photowalk. Spanish Fork plans to make this an annual event, so maybe we'll make it a destination for one of next year's Photowalks.

Posted by AT on September 8, 2008 2:30 PM | Permalink
Tags:

* kites
* Spanish Fork
* Utah

The pictures we want to make - Saguaro National Park
saguaro national park monsoon storm gray clouds cactus sunlit

Monsoon clouds over Saguaro National Park

I came to Arizona with an agenda, a list of essential photos for the U.S. Highway 89 book project. I have a vision for the book, I can see it almost page-by-page. For the last 10 days, I have been knocking out pictures that fit into that overall vision. I can get overly task-oriented, to the point where, if I'm not careful I could miss out on other great pictures.

At Glacier National Park, I was intending to photograph the classic view of Grinnell Point at sunrise. Without any clouds, the scene is pedestrian, and the second morning I went out, the sky was "severe clear" over the lake. To the east, the clouds colored up spectacularly. So I walked over to where I could see the pretty sunrise, without intending to photograph it. Then I saw the reflection of the clouds over the creek and started shooting. The result is one of my favorite photos from the trip. Will it make it into the book? Probably not, but I'm glad to have it, and to have seen it that morning.

Similarly, I was wandering about Saguaro National Park last week in search of sunset location when a thunderstorm kicked up. This photo idea wasn't on the agenda either, but it was the one I wanted to make when I saw it. It might even make the final cut for the book, but I wasn't thinking of that at the time.

The lesson I'm learning out here is that, while the structure of the project helps set the compass for my work, I have to be willing to toss aside maps and checklists and trust my inner direction, if I'm going to make the kind of pictures I really want to make.

Posted by AT on August 25, 2008 12:36 PM | Permalink
Tags:

* arizona
* Highway 89
* saguaro
* Saguaro National Park

Twin bridges over Marble Canyon, Arizona
Navajo Canyon bridge Marble Canyon bridge Colorado River

Twin bridges over Marble Canyon and the Colorado River

Arizona's first state highway, U.S. 89, was mostly complete from Nogales to Flagstaff by 1926. The segment from Flagstaff to the Utah line took much longer. Lee's Ferry over the Colorado River was shut down after a deadly accident in 1928; the bridge over Marble Canyon, 6 miles downstream, replaced the ferry altogether in 1929. The second bridge (the lower one in this photo) was installed in 1995 and the original was opened to foot traffic for visitors to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area center at the left end of the bridge in this photo

Until the bridge over Glen Canyton opened in 1957, all north-south traffic from Phoenix to Salt Lake City used the Navajo Bridge and passed through Jacob's Lake. The Glen Canyon Bridge is also a two-lane bridge, but the route through Page avoids the windy mountain climb and descent to cross the Kaibab Plateau. The original section of U.S. 89 from Bitter Springs to Kanab was renumbered US89A when the road through Page was finished as part of the infrastructure to build the Glen Canyon Dam.

The research for the Highway 89 project has been completely enjoyable, like a huge jigsaw puzzle with pieces scattered in libraries and museums along the highway's 1,600 miles. Winnowing the data into a story that can fit into a book, and making the accompanying images is yet another kind of puzzle. Of my numerous photos of the Navajo Bridges, this aerial I made last weekend with Maria Langer gives the best sense of how fundamental a barrier the Colorado River presented to interstate travel. I am having so much fun assembling the story of this scenic route through the American West.

Posted by AT on August 22, 2008 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags:

* aerial
* Arizona
* Grand Canyon
* Highway 89

New friends, new heights: Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
horseshoe bend colorado river page arizona canyon aerial red rock

Horseshoe Bend near Page Arizona

One of the great things about the blogosphere is the people you might meet. I say "might" because the blog only goes so far. At some point, I have to pick up the phone or email and make the personal contact. I met Maria Langer last February when I was in Wickenburg. Who could not be intrigued by a best selling computer book author who also happens to have a helicopter charter business? And she has horses, chickens and a husband! Maria spent the early summer drying cherries on contract to some Washington orchards, now she's in Page flying for tourists, so I had the chance to stop in on my way from SLC to Phoenix.

There wasn't a room to be had in Page on Friday night - I thought gasoline was expensive, but plenty of people were motoring huge watercraft about the lake this weekend. Maria put me up in her trailer and introduced me to the rest of the pilots camped out in the RV park near the airport. This pilot subculture, like river guides and dude wranglers, has its own language and customs, but hospitality seems to rank high. The next morning, Maria suggested breakfast at Marble Canyon, about 40 miles from Page by car. It's only 10 minutes by helicopter if you go the straight path; we did not. What fun would that be?

Maria put me completely at ease in the air, and on the way back, she took off the door on my side so I could get some shots without the bubble glare. She flew a legal path over the restricted area inside Grand Canyon National Park boundaries, and then circled over the famous Horseshoe Bend at a couple different altitudes. I also got some shots of both the Glen Canyon and Marble Canyon Bridges (2 of the seven land crossings over the Colorado River in 750 miles) and a fascinating look at Antelope Canyon from above.

If I had a sponsor for the flight time, I would do an aerial tour of the entire length of U.S. Highway 89. We have so many locations emblazoned on our memories from a particular location, and I'd love to show some of my favorite places from different perspectives. Most people make a short hike from Highway 89 to the Horseshoe Bend. They see it from the upper right in this image and never get to see the rest of the s-curve. Maria is a photographer herself, and knows how to work with other photographers in the air. She has put together some outstanding aerial tours, including a week-long circle of the highlights of Arizona. If you are looking to fly with someone, I highly recommend Flying M Air (and the breakfast at the Cliff Dwellers Lodge).

Posted by AT on August 18, 2008 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags:

* aerial
* Arizona
* Highway 89

Grinnell Point Sunrise, Glacier National Park