Gathered a few images of this fisherman just upstream of the Diestlehorst Pedestrian Bridge yesterday. The fish got away, but not completely. Not from my lens.
Gone. That’s how it goes. Still, not such a bad way to spend a February Saturday afternoon in Downtown Redding.
Compatriot fish looks on, directly below the Diestlehorst. Free Winter entertainment for everyone Downtown. That’s Really Redding.
When DEVO came to Redding in December 1982
Wow, was it thirty years ago? Looking through an old box in the closet, I ran across these photographs I took at the Redding Civic when DEVO came to town in 1982.
Are we not men? We are DEVO!
Sure, it looks like the singer is wearing a flower pot hat, but DEVO fans know them as “Energy Domes.” I was a fan back then, but not enough to have bought a ticket. A friend gave me the ticket. Her 15 year old daughter won the seats from a radio promotion, and mom really didn’t want to go. Front row! Hence, the good shots. The show was much better than I expected.
This was the era of the “It’s a Beautiful World” single, which was a show highlight.
It’s a beautiful world we live in,
A sweet romantic place,
Beautiful people everywhere,
The way they show they care
Makes me want to say,It’s a wonderful time to be here,
It’s nice to be alive,
Wonderful people everywhere,
The way they comb their hair(Chorus)
It’s a beautiful world (three times)
For you (three times)
Everything I’d heard by DEVO was sort-of deliberately sterile sounding, I think. Art music. Almost a parody of itself. Certainly a sarcastic reflection of pop culture.
The funny thing about pop culture is that even self-parody acknowledgement of its own banality becomes more pop culture, perhaps even the best of it.
What I wouldn’t have guessed was how hard they rocked. Obviously, having risen through the punk clubscene, they’d learned to move an audience. This wasn’t studio music played live. They engaged the crowd, playing it hard with abandon. Up front, and hearing mostly the stage monitors, I was impressed. A tight rock band.
Devo singer Mark Mothersbaugh has gone on to become an accomplished artist in both film scores and visual arts. An extremely impressive list of accomplishments by any measure.
They still play as a band too. The DEVO webiste had recent video from a SF show at the Fillmore.
Amazing.
I like the final image in my series. You can tell this was taken some time ago. Outstretched arms aren’t holding up cell phones recording the moment. They were just in the moment.
All photos by Skip Murphy, 1982. Below, I wanted to post one of their many online videos, but it was so hard to pick one. This one was recorded just few days ago, 1-13-12 @The Fillmore. Impressive longevity for any band!
Poetic wild bird eggs
How curious is the nest: no other bird
Uses such loose materials or weaves
Its dwelling in such spots – dead oaken leaves
Are placed without and velvet moss within
And little scraps of grass and, scant and spare,
What scarcely seem materials, down and hair.
Snug lie her curious eggs in number five
Of deadened green or rather olive-brown,
And the old prickly thorn-bush guards them well.
So here we’ll leave them, still unknown to wrong,
As the old woodland’s legacy of song.
John Clare 1822
Images by Skip, Really Redding.
Spectacular view of Redding from Space
Okay, it’s the whole hemisphere, but Redding is there. Image courtesy of NASA. Thanks, NASA.
Taken on January 4th 2012, so this year’s early light snowpack is well evident. A wonderful and thought provoking image.
All the real estate there is, until we get to Mars.
You can find this full 64MP image of Earth in large format glory at the link. Well worth the the view. It’s Really Redding.
Stunning time lapse of Yosemite
Just about anything having to do with Yosemite is stunning. This qualifies. Good time lapse photography is harder than it looks, making this effort all the more admirable. Best viewed full screen.
Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.
Lovely work, and I can imagine how much work it really was. Although nothing compares to Yosemite in grandeur, I would put our local Trinity Alps near Redding on a level similar. The granite, the sky, the solitude. Some time lapse imagery of Morris Meadow and Emerald Lake would be excellent.
Stop and smell the roses
Or in the case of yesterday, drop whatever you are doing and seek a place that has a stellar view of our newly snow dusted mountains, like this breathtaking viewpoint on the way to Shasta Dam. Northern California in all its glory on a sunny day after a cool Winter storm.
Images by Skip Murphy, its Really Redding. Coincidentally, the LA Times has run a report about the mystical features often rumored to exist around Mt Shasta.
An architect’s view of the Redding School of the Arts
Last week at the Shasta Association of Realtors, we had a talk by James Theimer of Trilogy Architecture about the design that went into the recently completed new campus of the Redding School of the Arts.
I only had a scant amount of knowledge about the campus and the design. I knew in building it, they had kept Green practices at forefront. It certainly is a fabulous looking facility as you drive by the campus at Inspiration Way where it meets the Shasta View roundabout across from Lema Ranch.
But listening to James talk I was literally blown away by how deep was the forethought that went into the design, and the visionary parameters that were applied to the overall facility. The school, the buildings, the site itself is designed to teach. It integrates seamlessly into the outdoors, and takes full advantage of the local climate and light. James was kind enough to supply the presentation he showed, and you can view it here:
I’ve also attached a partial recording about 20 minutes in length of his talk as a webcast/podcast, located at the bottom of this post. If you are interested in the Redding School of the Arts, this talk is well worth your time. If you are following along with the presentation, it starts somewhere around page 10.
We are fortunate to have such a fantastic school facility here in Redding. Another example of our commitment to education, and the value we place on the next generation of Reddingites. Thanks James Theimer for your visionary work, and thanks to you McConnell Foundation for leading the way.
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A Short Film About Ice Fishing
You could use a chuckle today. Sometimes even a simple fishing trip can end unexpectedly.
A Short Film About Ice Fishing from Jason Shahinfar on Vimeo.
Our thanks to film maker Jason Shahinfar for lightening the day. Excellent work.
Kodak bankruptcy hits close to home
The sad news that Kodak has declared bankruptcy bears mention here. Below, is the clock I was given for my 20th anniversary with Eastman Kodak (EK).
20 years is a long time in the life of a human. I didn’t spend it all as a direct employee of EK. About half that time I was with a company acquired by Kodak, Bell & Howell. I was a Field Service Manager for both company’s operations.
When I began with EK, the sheer scale of the company was truly astonishing. They were so large in Rochester, the company had its own bus system for the thousands who worked there. Laboring in huge brick factory buildings that seemed literally to stretch for miles. Yellow boxes of film sold everywhere for fabulous profit margins. The company was doing amazing science and research.
Yet even then, in the late nineties, you could tell the glory days were long past. This great American company was on an arc, and the signs of its descent to an inevitable end were already plainly visible, a hundred years in the making. Aside from the obvious fact that its main product was as obsolete to most people as a buggy whip, the decay was as much from the top down, as it was from the bottom up.
A century in Rochester had produced a royal court of management, and generations of entwined managers spoke of having Kodak in their blood. From an outsider’s view, the bloodlines were clearly more important than managerial competence. The atmosphere was at times maddening.
But in the end, perhaps the troubling leadership problems made no difference. The company simply ran its course.
Toward the final days of my career there a decade ago, it seemed I was spending more time working on who to lay-off than getting anything constructive done. I had even developed a sort of routine to handing out the news. An acquired skill of which there is nothing good to be said. Make it fast and unannounced. Be aware of their safety, and of your own. It is a formidable thing, to tell a multi-decade employee who is good at what they do, that they are no longer needed. And then they came for me.
It seems a lifetime ago. The day I was “let go,” my boss arranged for me to lay off 3 of my employees first. These were all longtime people, all more senior than me. Good people. All heartbroken. One gentleman unexpectedly brought his wife with him, and I listened as sympathetically as I could as she cried and threatened to sue me. In the back of my mind, I knew my boss had flown in from Chicago, to lay me off later in the day. But right then, these were my people, and they deserved to hear it from me. They deserved my solemn respect, and the right to look me in the eye as I delivered the bad news.
Kodak was a great American company. They created terrific products. They pioneered many progressive ideas, like employee health insurance. And they fostered scientists who provided them with a multitude of useful patents, which is apparently the bankrupt company’s only equity now. I am sad to hear the news of their demise. Saddened, but not surprised.
I wonder what the bankruptcy process will look like for Kodak. Going bankrupt, whether it is an individual who files for bankruptcy or a business that finds that this may their only option, this situation is never an easy one to go through.
I was talking to a friend in another company who filed for Chapter 11 and they said that they were using a Cary bankruptcy attorney that specializes in this area of law. Apparently, they have a shining recommendation for maintaining core assets based on what my friend said. There was some concern that the bankruptcy filers they were using previously were not credible. Yes, fraudulent insolvency is a real concept that preys upon companies filing for bankruptcy and I hope that doesn’t happen to Kodak.
Kodak’s future is uncertain at this point and I can’t say what will happen. America still manufactures many things. A different Kodak may emerge. But the multitude of jobs won’t be there, not like they once were. Automation, computerization, and other “efficiency” factors have worked to create this jobless recovery. Kodak will be missed by all who worked there, and I think our nation will miss Kodak if it goes for good.
The State is sending low level offenders to Shasta County
But Wes and Sheriff Tom Bosenko have been involved in careful planning to make the best of the situation. In fact, we are told local authorities may very well be better able to reduce recidivism and provide rehabilitation. Of course, the bad news is that the State isn’t providing all that much money to cover the cost of moving their problems from state prisons to county jails. The move is happening no matter what.
We learned that putting inmates to work on the firelines carries more costs and training than you might might imagine. Although all agreed that was a good program, it may simply not be affordable. Also considered was the prospect of many hundreds of inmates trying to re-integrate into an already depressed economy with scarce jobs or opportunity. Of course, they are coming anyway, one way or another.
Thanks very much to everyone at the LWV of Redding for this informative talk, and to staff at Lema Ranch (and the McConnell Foundation) for hosting.