Month: February 2007

The Texas Chapter of the Recording Academy presented a lifetime achievement award to ZZ Top, seen here acknowledging applause from the crowd. In all my years of shooting music, I’ve never had the chance to photograph these guys performing as ZZ Top. So, here’s the next best thing; a shot of them being honored by their local peers. That’s Billy Bob Thornton on the right, serving as presenter.

This was a very nice moment during a great show. About a year after Stevie died, a talented group of Blues compatriots got together to celebrate his memory at the KLRU studio here in Austin. There was a serious lack of great Blues guitarists everywhere else in the world that evening…. Pictured here are: (l to r) Dr John, Robert Cray, BB King, Jimmie Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and Bonnie Raitt.

I really like the enveloping, encompassing feeling I get from this image. It seems to go on and on, out of frame, like arms reaching to enfold… This is one of “The Big Tree’s” babies. The Big Tree is a Coastal Live Oak, over a thousand years old, with a girth of over 35 feet, the largest circumference of any tree in Texas. Unfortunately, an ugly fence combined with past attempts to “prune” the Big Tree have left it maimed, butchered, and unphotogenic. Luckily the “arborists” left the surrounding beautiful trees, like this one, alone.

I love pure form; especially natural form that reflects underlying forces–like prevailing coastal breezes.

A Force of Nature. The Voice of Free-Thinking Texas. The Spirit of South Austin. A true original, and a great political commentator. Articulate. Intelligent. Really, really funny. The polar opposite of GW Bush in almost every way…. We’re gonna miss her….