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This our final day watching Baxter the beagle. Come back soon Mr. B!

Posted with WordPress on iPhone.

We’re watching Baxter the beagle for a few days. He and Wem are best buds.

So here we go. The first post from my 3G iPhone using the WordPress app. Let’s see if I can add a picture.

We happened to be at Peddler’s Village on the absolute perfect day for tulips.

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

You need a new “quotes from the wife.” Didn’t I say anything interesting this week? Or were you just not listening to me…

A year from today, another Philadelphia icon will be a pile of rubble. Two years ago we lost the Vet, and now the beloved Spectrum will follow suit. A bastion of sport, music and cinema reduced to a concrete and steel tomb of memories.

I saw my first major rock concert there. It was RUSH in the winter of 1982 - the Signals tour. That was my first trip to the Spectrum, and as a teenager from a small centeral Pennsylvania town, it was mighty impressive. Dave Nylund and I hopped a bus from nearby Sunbury and ventured out into the world. It was a turning point in our lives. Never before had we seen grown men peeing in sinks.

Yeah, the Spectrum was a metaphor for life. Sometimes impressive, sometimes smelly but almost always memorable.

I have seen every kind of event at the Spectrum - most of them through the eyes of a professional video camera.

I went there to shoot concerts like Billy Joel, Yes, Guns ‘N Roses and Elton John. I shot a ton of basketball from the baseline photographer positions. I remember Kevin McHale of the Celtics taunting Manute Bol of the Sixers just a few feet away from me.

I was at Flyers games during the Eric Lindros era, was nearly crushed while covering a monster truck event and had a great time shooting the circus.

It was just a great place to see anything if you could get past the discomfort of a seat with no legroom. An event at the Wachovia Center is so different and frankly, much less engrossing. The new buildings are gigantic and fresh. The Spectrum was small and gritty. You were on top of the action - in the dirt and sweat - and when the mood was right, the sense of individuals in a crowd drained away and you felt like one massive force. It’s rare to get that from a new building but the Spectrum had it built right in.

My most recent trip to the Spectrum was to shoot a Philadelphia Soul Area Football League game. Having to pull camera cables and crawl around under those lower seats is no picnic. There are stalactites of unidentifiable fluid and I swear I saw Bob Clarke’s teeth.

Four decades of history - blood and guts and Kate Smith and championships and wind damage and great songs and so many personal memories.

I’m glad we’ve still got her for another year.

My nephew Parker looking cute as ever. June 12, 2008. He has the freshest eyes you’ll ever see.

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

Taken at around 8am on 12 July 2008 at the farm stand at 36th and Alton in Washington, DC

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

How often does a gigantic iron bull come charging up your street? A local artist created this monster for a local tapas restaurant and I grabbed this shot as it went by my house!

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

I snapped this pic of my sister and nephew in Washington, DC - spring 2008.

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

During the Phillies/Mets rain delay on Sunday I watched Dan Stephenson’s Tribute to Richie Ashburn. Stephenson has been the Phillies team video producer for decades and he’s a real gem. He isn’t the best cameraman but he is the hardest worker you’ll find and his close relartionship with the team allows him to tell a story like no other producer can. He’s on the inside and he is absolutely intimate with his material.

As an 17-year veteran of sports production in Philadelphia, I can tell you from personal experience that Dan Stephenson is one of the most respected storytellers in all of sports. Ken Burns has nothing on this guy.

If you love a great story -ANY great story - don’t miss Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life

I took this picture in Ashburn Alley at Citizens Bank Park during the opening week of the 2008 baseball season.

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

One of Philadelphia’s great old traditions closed its doors thirty years ago and now it’s in ruins. it would be nice to see the Ortlieb’s complex developed into something useful but I dont hold out much hope for that. This building is about three blocks from my house in Northern Liberties.

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

Taken with my iPhone. No post processing was done. It just turned out cool on its own!

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

Taken on Old Colony Road in Snyder County, PA on July 1, 2008. The sky really made this one work!

more of my pix at my flickr photostream

Another in my series of iron fence pictures. I love the depth of field you get when the light is low and the iris is wide open!

more of my pix at my flickr photostream