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the motion have been hanging with mike franke working on some new material.

i dropped in around midnight a few weeks ago....got to listen and shoot a few.
mark mckee ( front ) listens to the latest tracks.

chris rafetto ( r ) checks the tempo and how tight the rhythm section sounds.

here mark is conjugating a french verb tense to express his opinion.



chris trancing on a bass track.

chris boyette does guitar work and vocal doo-whops.

mark mckee doing a scratch vocal and keyboard track.



chris is the newest member of this band and fits in like a glove with the vibe.



drummer mike mckee saying a cheerful howdy to the bands growing fan base.

chris beating the snot out of mikes kit.  there was a taped pay-for-view throwdown right after this.



all that sound goes through wire.....

and ends up being filtered through mike frankes great ears and will eventually come out sounding like success.

some new student stuff....here's jennifer polvino.  soccer star right now......



guitar wiz down the road.

another athlete now turned guitar player / singer caroline.

she's going to be performing in the up-coming bamboo music showcase in jan 07.

smart, strong, driven.....great attitude for a good musician.

this is niki cook.  last new years eve she and her mom were in attendance when several bamboo
cats performed in downtown raleigh.  they really liked what they saw and heard so niki joined up..

with brenda.  they've been working for a lot of this past year and i got to hear the goods a few weeks ago.

the kid can really play and sings....i think i see where this is headed.  stay tuned.

we're crankin up the holidays working on recording a few tunes.  lucie branch.......

is working on silent night.....

with her own harmonies.

pauline ro is also singing a fav....

jingle bell rock.

pauline says......stay tuned for some recordings next time.

i'm going to start a photo section here now and then featuring gear.

guitars, amps, drums, studio stuff.  the world is full of gear heads who thrive off a serial number
or a specific type of fret wire or an off brand pedal.

here's an interesting "conversion" project dave moretto had done recently.

check this link for a blow by blow photo romp on the turn around from torres to a tiny tone.

this is my last costa rica blast.  i was leaving the steam and quiet of the jungle....

headed back to civilization.....first stop a full day and night in san jose...the capitol city.

driving into town i was feeling a loss of peace and quiet.



we'd had 5 days with no sound, tv, radio, cars, people everywhere.




and now we had to face the music....we weren't in kansas anymore.

i snapped this traffic cop from my cab window.

we arrived at one terrific small and quaint hotel.

check it out.

my room had a small fountain just outside which helped mask the sounds of the city.



i could tell right away i wasn't really ready to come back to reality.



i wanted to stay in the hotel where i felt comforted and at ease.

at every turn there was a fountain creating that magic sound reverberating all around the halls.

the dining room was very peaceful with classical guitar music playing in the background.



outside there was another fountain and a waterfall.

we ventured out into the big city of san jose that afternoon.

very normally city kinda sounds and smells.

i enjoyed seeing the local music scene through posters and flyers.



we spent time in an old city park.



i couldn't understand the language but i did totally understand what was about to happen here.

ronald mcdonald working a side day job.

in some parts of town the amount of people was almost overwhelming.

this guy asked me to take his picture.....what up dude?!

this guy didn't and i was walking over so many people like this i felt uncomfortable taking a photo.
i saw things i've never seen before as to the human condition.  o i've seen and smelled many a version
of street life before but to see rich people step over a guy like this was a little disturbing.  after not taking
several images i saw this guy ahead of me and lowered my camera and pulled the trigger.  i will remember him.

the city is old and seems in the middle of a revitalization everywhere.



the architecture is grand in some places.



there's a lot of history and these spheres are everywhere from the city to the jungle.

later that night my traveling companions seemed a little shell shocked over our "new" life.

however we had a very quiet dinner.....

which soothed us....

this shot was taken by madison savage.  dinner then a deep sleep.

i was struck by the clash of cultures...

there were the signs of wealth but.....

there was also the signs of decay and old life left alone almost too long.

the citys had new commerce inside and old commerce outside on the streets.















very colorful place.













outside of the gold museum was this sculpture.

i had hoped to take the camera inside but no go.

so...while i was getting more acclimated back to city life....

i dreamed of another place and another time.

brian kirk.....managed to snap and send me some recent travel shots of his own.



the dude has a eye.  expect more photo work by brain kirk.



the fair was in town.  i decided to do a drive by shooting....so to speak.

i wasn't willing to wander around so i timed a drive around sunset to be near the place and shoot from the car.

immediately i realized the folly of the idea...too many cars, people walking, and i was supposed to drive.

but i did get just a few with my arm flung out...eyes straight ahead racking off shot after shot.



hoping a state trooper wouldn't see me acting so stupid.





so i took my camera....decided traffic was too intense and crazy so i headed back home.

several weeks ago i played a gig in raleighs city market with dave dyer and the boys.
these cats were playing the early set and it was cool music and they were cool dudes.





there was an auction for charity and artists had created different "goats" for bidders take home.







it was also raining so i only got to take a few pics..

speaking of spiders...badumbah....this one was waiting for me to walk right into it face first one morning.

and this one was attempting to devour this beautiful damsel during halloween.

i was walking around the neighborhood last week stretching my legs when out of the darkness came a cat.

then a witch walked by and i started to get scared.  she must be a good witch don't you think?

then...i freaked as a bear ran past me.  it was horrible as it was carrying the head of a syracus fan.

the screams and shrieks of all the possessed souls got me jumpy.................

and the smell of sugar and chocolate made my stomach a bit queezy....peter pan even got sick.

but cat woman here told me to relax...it's only a costume....it's only candy...have fun..chill old man.

i hope everyone had a fun filled halloween and got the sweets they wanted.

fall.......all over town.









i took a very short drive and got all these from my car window.



finally.....for your eyes to grow wide.....some recent nasa imagery i checked out.







and mars is being detailed by satilites and the pics are amazing in detail.

add in a little false color for clarity and mars is just as beautiful as fall is here.



happy thanksgiving.