Occupy L.A.

* Other than this shot

These photos and videos are the raw files.  No cropping, enhancing, editing etc*.  Typically I at least tend to look over the shots and perhaps crop a bit or color correct.  Not so this time as I used a small camera rather than my cellphone camera.

More below...

One diverse week in October 2011 in pictures

One week this month.  Diverse to say the least.  I had friends in from out of town.  Ludo Pierson from http://www.pierson-amps.com/ stayed over for a few days and made some of his killer steak tartare.  There was cheese, wine and some pretty darn diverse things going on all week.

Mostly my cell shots but there were a few from somebody that knew what they were doing with a camera, and in the kitchen.  Slideshow below of some parts of the week.

Dan Boul over at http://www.65amps.com/ on his weekly noon webcast.  This week was The Producer, the newest model from the folks at 65 Amps.  Rather than explain this new model take a look at the videos as Dan records each webcast (Wednesdays at noon PST generally).  Ignore the 1-26-2011 date on the most recent video as it looks as if the "0" got dropped from 10-26-2011. 

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/london-pro-info

Below:  Some more of the week in a slideshow

And the stupidity continues

In middle September of this year I wrote a piece on the Tea Party debates held in Florida.  It was a pathetic showing on the part of most of the participants.  If this is the best America has to offer you might as well trade in your coins of gold for bullets of lead as the revolution is coming.

My original post can be read at 

http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2011/09/republican-tea-party-debate.html

After seeing the story below I felt that a post that will follow some of the headlines which lead up to the next election was indicated.  The Rick Perry piece below is the first of what may be many as this post is updated in the future.

More below.

The Streets of Los Angeles

IMG_1076a, originally uploaded by myles111us.

Two years ago. September 2009.

Things have not gotten any better and in fact the number of homeless seeking help at http://www.urm.org/ increased 50% in the last year alone. The donations to Union Rescue Mission have decreased 50% over the last year.

Consider giving the folks at URM a hand. Follow the link - http://www.urm.org/ where you can help.

Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles is the largest in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has the highest homeless population in the nation.

Entertainment for the troops

96, originally uploaded by myles111us.

Unlike the movie Apocalypse Now, some of us did not have helicopters land at our base which had Playboy Playmates jump out and dance around on a huge stage.

Downtown Los Angeles - a few hours in photos

Today I spent the afternoon downtown.  As I typically do, I took a few photos with my cellphone.

One reason I was in the area of skid row on this particular day and time was  to count people. Not for some survey or study.  I count people so I can try to wrap my head around what this economy is doing to so many people in our nation.  If the government tells you things are getting better they are not telling the truth, by an even wider margin than one can begin to imagine.

This was the first Friday of a new calendar quarter. I count the people in the same area on the same day (as long as it is not raining which can impact the count) in the same afternoon to early evening time frame.

In 2010 for the last quarter start there were 216 people. In 2011 there were 491. Things are not getting better.

More families, children, young people than ever before.

If you wish to help, and you CAN help in many ways, please go to www.urm.org for more information.

More photos if you select the "read more" link

7th Annual L.A. Ampshow

Mike Franceschini - Tone Wizzard

On October 1st and 2nd the seventh annual Los Angeles Ampshow was held in Van Nuys.  There are details on past shows at www.ampshow.com for folks that want to learn more about the history of the show.

There is a small slide show below of many aspects of the show from my own perspective.  Some camera shots, some cell shots and in every case all snapshots with my typical style that incorporates lack of regard to composition or exposure.  Just get the shot and move on.

There are many photos and the collection of shots will be growing over the week starting 10/3 as more shots are uploaded.