Robert "Bob" Hayn

Robert "Bob" Hayn

December 24, 1941

~

April 27, 2015

                  1960's
         photographer unknown

February, 1974

photo by Styrous®

September 21, 2003

photo by Styrous®

October 23, 2004

photo by Styrous®

July 15, 2005

photo by Styrous®

March, 23, 2006

photo by Styrous®

May 31, 2006

photo by Styrous®

June 3, 2006 

photo by Styrous®

February 14, 2007

photo by Styrous®

 

June 22, 2008 

 

photos by Styrous®

 August 22, 2008

photos by Styrous®

August 23, 2008

photo by Styrous®

August 17, 2014

photo by Styrous®

August 17, 2014

photo by Tom White

Remembering four decades of friendship.

Styrous® ~ Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2015

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Adiós mis amigos . . .

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Mary Ellen Mark ~ Photographer Extraordinaire

Mary Ellen Mark

March 20, 1940 - May 25, 2015

 March 20, 1940 - May 25, 2015

March 20, 1940 - May 25, 2015

photo by Chris Felver 
Getty Images

March 20, 1940 - May 25, 2015

The brilliant photographer, Mary Ellen Mark, died a couple of days ago on May 25. She was one of my many photographer icons.  

As did Diane Arbus, Mark photographed people who were "away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes".  - Andrew Long, "Brilliant Careers: Mary Ellen Mark", Salon, March 28, 2000.       
    
Mark worked as a still photographer on seven Tim Burton movies, including Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish (maybe my favorite film by Burton) and Alice in Wonderland.     


            

Some of her many gritty images . . . 

Seattle Street Kids ~ 1983 
photo by Mary Ellen Mark

Seattle Street Kids ~ 1983

Friends Rat, 16 (left), and Mike, 17, have this Colt .45 

only for defense against men who try to pick them up or rob them. 

 "I get hassled a lot" says Rat. "Mike's my protection."

They picked Seattle because Mike had once lived there.

photo by Mary Ellen Mark 
Streets of the Lost ~ Life Magazine

July 1983

Text: Cheryl McCall

Two brothers, Tulsi and Basant, 

Great Famous Circus, 

serie Indian Circus, 1989
C print

Girl Sifting through Ashes at the Burning Ghats, 

Benares, India, 1989

Mark once said, "Nowadays shots are created in post-production, on computers. It's not really photography." 

Viewfinder links:          
         
Tim Burton            
     
Net links:  
    
Mary Ellen Mark website   
New York Times obit         
Tim Burton on Time Lightbox       
Mary Ellen Mark images        

"She had a beautiful and creative spirit 
that shone through into her photography.” 
                           ~ Tim Burton.

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, May 27, 2015

20,000 Vinyl LPs 41: Icehouse ~ Man of Colours

Icehouse ~ Man of Colours

cover art work by

Iva Davies & Robert Kretschmer

~ ~ ~
 

I started the Vinyl LPs series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl LP albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. Inquire for information here.   

~ ~ ~

Today is the birthday of Iva Davies. In case you don't know who Iva Davies is, he formed the Australian rock group, Icehouse. The group performed new wave and synthpop music and attained Top 10 single chart success in both Europe and the U.S.  He is a singer-songwriter, record producer, and plays guitar, bass, keyboards and oboe. He utilizes additional musicians as required for each album. 

For the album, Man of Colours, Davies (vocals, guitars, keyboards, Fairlight CMI, Cor Anglais) was joined by Robert Kretschmer (guitars), Andy Qunta (keyboards, piano), Simon Lloyd (reeds, brass, keyboards, programming), Stephen Morgan (bass guitar) and Paul Wheeler (drums, percussion) in recording the album from February 1987. The cover artwork was designed by Davies and Kretschmer.   

Icehouse ~ Man of Colours

art work by

Iva Davies & Robert Kretschmer

 

The name Icehouse, which was adopted in 1981, comes from an old, cold flat Davies lived in and the strange building across the road populated by itinerant people.

Of the many albums Davies produced (discography below), my favorite is, Man of Colours (1987); and, of course, I had a favorite song from it which was the title song, Man of Colours. The minor key melody is exquisite! The peaceful, dreamy song with its determined but moderately slow beat and the soulful oboe played throughout is beautiful.

My second favorite cut is Sunrise which starts with a very quiet and unassuming intro that bursts into a dynamic song with layered synths and great drama punctuated by intervals of quiet; it is stunning, startling at times and brilliant.  

My next favorite is the pop hit, Electric Blue. The tune was co-written by Davies and John Oates of the U.S. band Hall & Oates. There is nothing deep or significant about the lyrics but it is a good tune with a great melody that you can dance to, fast or slowly. The song is a throw-back to the synth/pop, new wave, dance music of the early '80's. In it, Lloyd plays a smooth sax (like Marilyn, I have a soft spot for the sax). The song reached number one on the Australian singles chart on 16 November 1987, #7 on the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on 21 May 1988, #10 on the Canadian Singles Chart and #53 on the UK singles charts. 

Iva Davies 

photographer unknown

Icehouse has produced eight Top Ten albums and twenty Top Forty singles in Australia, multiple top ten hits in Europe and North America and album sales of over 28 times Platinum in Australasia. As of 2006, Man of Colours was still the highest selling album in Australia by an Australian band.

Icehouse was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 16 August 2006.

Song list: 

1. "Crazy" (4:48)
2. "Electric Blue" (4:38)
3. "My Obsession" (4:07)
4. "Man Of Colours" (5:09)
5. "Heartbreak Kid" (5:18)
6. "The Kingdom" (4:51)
7. "Nothing Too Serious" (3:25)
8. "Girl In The Moon" (4:00)
9. "Anybody's War" (4:05)
10. "Sunrise" (5:44)

Net links:     

    
Man of Colours on YouTube  

   

Electric Blue on YouTube
  
Icehouse Discography
  
The Icehouse Story   
    

 Happy birthday, Iva!

Styrous® ~ Friday, May 22, 2015

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20,000 Vinyl LPs 40: Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land! - Was Für Männer: (in 3-D)

.                                                      Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

.                                                   3-D (three dimension) cover
.                                               cover photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung

.                                                                 photo of cover by Styrous®  

~ ~ ~
 

I started the Vinyl LPs series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl LP albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. Inquire for information here.   

~ ~ ~

One of the things I have always been intrigued with is the wonderful innovations record producers utilize in the design of record albums. Record album covers are an art unto itself; link to a limited choice of books on the subject of album cover art that only scratches the surface.  

Welch Ein Land! - Was Für Männer: (in 3-D) used a stereogram to set it aside from other albums with excellent effect. I was attracted to the album (which turned out to be mostly punk rock music) because of the 3-D cover. Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics or 3D imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word stereoscopy derives from Greek στερεός (stereos), meaning "firm, solid", and σκοπέω (skopeō), meaning "to look, to see". Any stereoscopic image is called a stereogram (link to more info below). Originally, stereogram referred to a pair of stereo images which could be viewed using a stereoscope.

Of the many techniques to produce a 3-D effect that they had to choose from, they settled on the Color anaglyph system; a double image, one green, one orange (link to more info below). 

(click on any image for larger size)
 

 Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

3-D (three dimension) cover detail
cover photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
detail photo by Styrous®

the back cover is in 3-D as well


Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

3-D (three dimension) back cover
photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung

photo of back cover by Styrous®

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

3-D (three dimension) front cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

3-D (three dimension) back cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous® 

 
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

3-D (three dimension) back cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®

But it was necessary to have a stereoscope to see the 3-D effect, so, one was graciously supplied with the album. It is a cardboard with two "eyes" covered with a tinted film, each a different color, one green, one orange. 

Extrabreit ~Welch Ein Land! stereoscope 

photo by Styrous®

WAY kool! Snaps me back to 3-D movies of the fifties (link to list below), headaches, nausea, disorientation ’n all! Reason: there are two primary effects of 3D film that are unnatural for human vision - crosstalk between the eyes, caused by imperfect image separation, and the mismatch between convergence and accommodation, caused by the difference between an object's perceived position in front of or behind the screen and the real origin of that light on the screen. Anyway, it's great fun.   

INSIDE

The liner notes are on the inner sleeve of the album, printed on a vibrant orange-red that makes your eyes cross, augmenting the visual disorientation of the cover. YIKES!  

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

inner sleeve
photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung

photo of inner sleeve by Styrous®


Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

inner sleeve lyrics
photo of inner sleeve by Styrous®

Extrabreit

Extrabreit is a German band established in Hagen, Germany in 1978. The band was one of the most successful exponents of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement of the 1980s. Their music is not typical of the NDW genre. It was influenced heavily by punk rock music, and their lyrics were often critical of politics and society. The members viewed themselves as punks, whose only association with the NDW was that they appeared at the same time. As testament to that, they wrote on their Homepage (link below): "Ja wir haben den Scheiß eben mitgemacht! (Yeah, we went along with that shit!)." The height of their career was from 1981 until 1983. I discovered them sometime in 1982.   

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

inner sleeve detail
photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung

detail photo by Styrous®

Extrabreit took punk, pop, and German schlager, and mashed them together with tons of attitude. The name Extrabreit (Extra wide) was inspired by a fat permanent marker that was lying around in their rehearsal studio. The band sang in German (the reason the album appealed to me), which was highly unusual at the time and won the band some attention.  

Like a lot of punk bands of the era, Extrabreit chose to adopt stage names, turning Schlasse into "Kai Havaii" and Klein into "Kleinkrieg" (Guerilla Warfare). 

In early 1981, Extrabreit returned to the studio to record, Welch ein Land! -- Was für Männer: (What a Country! What Great Men:). Polizisten immediately turned into the band's first hit, gaining strength when the Bavarian government banned the song for openly insulting the country's police force.   

By 1982, the album was established in Germany's Top Five album chart -- and against all odds Extrabreit had turned into Germany's most successful band of the year.  

Ok, now, about the music!

As with all record albums, I have a favorite cut. Polizisten (Policemen), is it for me on this one; it is  Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave) at its very best.

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

inner sleeve detail
detail photo by Styrous®

Slow, precise and clear, it moves slowly with an intensity that is sinister and purposeful. It tells of "the Police being afraid of terrorists; that if you are eating ice cream or in the line at McDonalds, they are watching you; day and night they will be with you." It also talks about shooting cops. Strange, the lyrics are as pertinent today as it was in 1981.

~

My next favorite song is Der Praesident ist tot which starts out with an electronic, spacey effect that goes into a driving, deliberate, moderately slow march beat for about two minutes until the lyrics begin.

 

The lyrics announce, " . . .  mein Gott, sie haben ihn erwischt. Was ist das für ein Land? Der Präsident ist tot... " (. . . my God, they got him. What is a country? The President is dead . . ."

~

The rest of the music on the album is pretty standard punk rock. 

Extrabreit played their 1000th concert on August 27, 2005, to several thousand fans in Hengsteysee in Hagen, Germany. The band was presented with their first Platinum record for their first major success in 1980.   

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

vinyl LP record
photo by Styrous®

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

vinyl LP record, side 1, label detail
detail photo by Styrous®

Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:

vinyl LP record, side 2, label detail
detail photo by Styrous®

Track Listing: 

Side One:

 
    •    1 - 3-D 2:14
    •    2 - Hol Uns Hier Raus, Mama! 3:43
    •    3 - Wir Leben Im Westen. 3:03
    •    4 - Polizisten. 5:22
    •    5 - Glück & Geld 3:57 

Side Two:


    •    1 - Der Präsident Ist Tot. 6:24
    •    2 - Tanz Mit Mir. 4:17
    •    3 - Der Führer Schenkt Den Klonen Eine Stadt ... 3:03
    •    4 - Salomé 2:34
    •    5 - Allegro Für Annemarie 2:02



Credits:

Arranged By [Strings] - Hunter, Manfred Neuner
Cover - Jörg A. Hoppe, Kai Schlasse
Engineer - Manfred Neuner
Noises [Synthetic] - Thomas Hermann
Performer [Extrabreit] - Gabi Lappen & Die Buscheypfeifen, Hunter, Kai Havaii, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Public, Rolf Möller, Stefan Kleinkrieg, Thomas Hermann
Photography By - Karl-Ludwig Lange
Photography By [Technische Beratung + Realisation] - Robert D. Jänsch
Producer - Extrabreit, Manfred Neuner
Written-By - Wolfgang Jäger (Tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B3)

Identifiers: 

 
Label Code: LC 6782
Rights Society: GEMA
Matrix / RunoutLabel side A: 0704.171 S 1
Matrix / RunoutLabel side B: 0704.171 S 2 

Label: Reflektor Z ‎– 0060.431

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album

Country: Germany

Released: 1981

Genre: Rock

Style: New Wave

Net links: 
Extrabreit website (German)      
Extrabreit  discography
More Extrabreit info on Shazam       

Stereoscopy
Color anaglyph system
1950’s 3-D films   
       

Extrabreit songs on YouTube:        
Polizisten
Der Praesident ist tot  
   
         

Deutsch punk, hurra!

Styrous® ~ Monday, May 18, 2015

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Stereogram ~ Sonic & Visual 3D
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20,000 Vinyl LPs 39: B. B. King ~ Indianola Mississippi Seeds

B. B. King ~ Indianola Mississippi Seeds

cover design by Lockart 

cover photo by Ivan Nagy

photo of cover by Styrous®

I woke up this morning to discover that B. B. King died last night, May 14, 2014. King was my favorite blues musician and my favorite album of his was Indianola Mississippi Seeds. The back up on the album is phenomenal! It included Joe Walsh and Hugh McCracken on Guitar, Carole King on Piano, Russ Kunkel on Drums and many others (full credits below).  

it's a gatefold album

B. B. King ~ Indianola Mississippi Seeds

cover design by Lockart 

front & back photos by Ivan Nagy

photo of cover by Styrous®

B. B. King was born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation near the town of Itta Bena, Mississippi, but he considered the nearby city of Indianola, Mississippi to be his true home. 

He sang in the choir and one source says when he was 12 he purchased his first guitar for $15.00.  Another source says he was given his first guitar by Bukka White, his mother's first cousin (King's grandmother and White's mother were sisters).   

In 1949, King began recording songs with RPM Records. His early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. 

Following his first Billboard Rhythm and Blues charts number one, 3 O'Clock Blues (February 1952), B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music in the 1950s, with an impressive list of hits: You Know I Love You, Woke Up This Morning, Please Love Me, When My Heart Beats like a Hammer, Whole Lotta Love, You Upset Me Baby, Every Day I Have the Blues, Sneakin' Around, Ten Long Years, Bad Luck, Sweet Little Angel, On My Word of Honor, and Please Accept My Love. This led to a significant increase in his weekly earnings, from about $85 to $2,500, with appearances at major venues such as the Howard Theater in Washington and the Apollo in New York, as well as touring the entire "Chitlin' circuit".       - From Wikipedia

He was the opening act for the Rolling Stones on the Stones' 1969 American Tour and won a Grammy Award in 1970 for the song, The Thrill Is Gone (my very favorite of all his songs).        

In 1980 Gibson Guitar Corporation launched the B.B. King Lucille model. In 2005 Gibson made a special run of 80 Gibson Lucilles, referred to as the "80th Birthday Lucille", the first prototype of which was given as a birthday gift to King, and which he had used ever since.

B. B. King with his favorite guitar, Lucille

March 12, 2009

photo by F. Antolín Hernandez

King was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and in 1988, he collaborative with the Irish band U2 on the single, When Love Comes to Town, a song on the U2 album, Rattle and Hum.    

On December, 1997, he performed in the Vatican's fifth annual Christmas concert and presented his trademark guitar "Lucille " to Pope John Paul II.  

In 2000, he and Eric Clapton teamed up to record Riding With the King, which won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.

In 2006, King went on a "farewell" world tour, the quotes are apropos. He never stopped working until last night.   

On February 21, 2012, United States President Barack Obama joined King in singing Sweet Home Chicago during the In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues concert for the Black History Month celebration of blues music in the East Room of the White House. 

 

from left: Barack Obama,

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Jeff Beck, 

Derek Trucks, B.B. King, and Gary Clark, Jr.

 photo by Pete Souza

B. B. King was 89 years old. He once said, “But people that would ask me to sing a blues song would always tip me and maybe give me a beer. They always would do something of that kind. Sometimes I’d make 50 or 60 dollars one Saturday afternoon. Now you know why I’m a blues singer.”

B. B. King ~ Indianola Mississippi Seeds

vinyl LP record

photo by Styrous®

Track listing:

All songs written by B. B. King, except where noted.

         Side 1:  

1. "Nobody Loves Me But My Mother" — 1:26
   • B. B. King — piano & vocal
2. "You're Still My Woman" (B. B. King/Dave Clark) — 6:04
   • B. B. King — guitar & vocal
   • Carole King — piano
   • Bryan Garofalo — bass
   • Russ Kunkel — drums
3. "Ask Me No Questions" — 3:08
   • B. B. King — guitar & vocal
   • Leon Russell – piano
   • Joe Walsh – rhythm guitar
   • Bryan Garofalo — bass
   • Russ Kunkel — drums
4. "Until I'm Dead and Cold" — 4:45
   • B. B. King — guitar & vocal
   • Carole King — piano
   • Bryan Garofalo — bass
   • Russ Kunkel — drums
5. "King's Special" — 5:13
   • B. B. King — lead guitar
   • Leon Russell – piano
   • Joe Walsh – rhythm guitar
   • Bryan Garofalo — bass
   • Russ Kunkel — drums
   
   Side 2:  
   
   
6. "Ain't Gonna Worry My Life Anymore" — 5:18
   • B. B. King — guitar & vocal
   • Carole King — piano & electric piano
   • Bryan Garofalo — bass
   • Russ Kunkel — drums
7. "Chains and Things" (B. B. King & Dave Clark) — 4:53
   • B.B. King — guitar & vocal
   • Carole King — electric piano
   • Bryan Garofalo — bass
   • Russ Kunkel — drums
8. "Go Underground" (B. B. King & Dave Clark) — 4:00
   • B. B. King — lead guitar & vocal
   • Paul Harris — piano
   • Hugh McCracken — rhythm guitar
   • Gerald Jemmott — bass
   • Herb Lovelle — drums
   • Joe Zagarino — Engineer

   The Hit Factory, New York City

9. "Hummingbird" (Leon Russell) — 4:36
   • B. B. King — guitar & vocal
   • Leon Russell — piano & conductor
   • Joe Walsh — rhythm guitar
   • Bryan Garofalo — bass
   • Russ Kunkel — drums
   • Sherlie Matthews, Merry Clayton, Clydie King, Venetta Fields — "Angelic chorus"

Personnel

• B.B. King – Guitar, piano, vocals
• Joe Walsh – Guitar
• Hugh McCracken – Guitar
• Carole King – Piano, electric piano
• Leon Russell – Piano
• Paul Harris – Piano
• Bryan Garofalo– Bass
• Gerald Jemmott – Bass
• Russ Kunkel – Drums
• Herb Lovelle – Drums
• Bill Szymczyk – producer

 

Credits

 

Production:

• Produced by Bill Szymczyk
• Strings and Horns arranged by Jimmie Haskell
• Recorded at The Record Plant, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
  • Engineers — Bill Szymczyk & Gary Kellgren
  • Assistant Engineers — Llyllianne Douma (Lillian Davis Douma), Mike Stone, & John Henning
• Mastering — Bob Macleod — Artisan Sound Recorders

Other:

• Cover design — Lockart
• Photography — Ivan Nagy
• Management — Sidney A. Seidenberg
• Leon Russell appears with love from Shelter Records
• Carole King & Merry Clayton appear through the courtesy of Ode 70 Records
• Congratulations to Albert and Nora on your son Riley, September 16, 1925
  Label: ABC Records ‎– ABCS-713
  Format:
  Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold
  
  Country: US
  Released: 1970
  Genre: Blues
  Style: Chicago Blues

Companies etc.:

• Made By – ABC/Dunhill Records
• Copyright (c) – ABC/Dunhill Records
• Engineered At – The Hit Factory
• Recorded At – Record Plant, Los Angeles
• Mastered At – Artisan Sound Recorders

Credits:

• Arranged By [Strings And Horns] – Jimmie Haskell
• Bass – Bryan Garofalo (tracks: A2 to B2, B4)
• Design [Cover] – Lockart*
• Drums – Russ Kunkel (tracks: A2 to B2, B4)
• Electric Piano – Carole King (tracks: B1, B2)
• Engineer – Bill Szymczyk, Gary Kellgren
• Engineer [Assistant] – John Henning, Llyllianne Douma*, Mike Stone
• Guitar – B.B. King (tracks: A2, A4, B1, B2)
• Lead Guitar – B.B. King (tracks: A3, A5, B3, B4)
• Management – Sidney A. Seidenberg
• Mastered By – Bob MacLeod
• Photography By – Ivan Nagy (2)
• Piano – B.B. King (tracks: A1), Carole King (tracks: A2, A4, B1), Leon Russell (tracks: A3, A5, B4)
• Producer – Bill Szymczyk
• Rhythm Guitar – Joe Walsh (tracks: A3, A5, B4)
• Vocals – B.B. King (tracks: A1 to A4, B1 to B3)
• Written-By – B.B. King (tracks: A1 to B3)

Notes:

B3 engineered at the Hit Factory, New York City

Barcode and Other Identifiers:

• Matrix / Runout (Side A Label): ABCS 713 A
• Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): ABCS 713 B
• Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Etched): ABC S-713-A 1B B
• Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Etched): ABCS-713-B 1C

B. B. King Discography   

 

Links to songs from the Indianola Mississippi Seeds album on YouTube   

The thrill will never go.

Styrous® ~ Friday, May 15, 2015

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