RIP, Dannon Crews

I woke up this morning to find out that one of the very first guys who volunteered to pose for me passed away in his sleep. This photo is years old and I was still very new to art photography; Dannon is the one wearing the necklace.

For a long time, Dannon was best known as the host of Tuesday night karaoke at Metro. By its nature, I don’t enjoy karaoke. But I’ll never forget that when Dannon was running a show, it didn’t matter how fantastic, underwhelming, or terrible a performer was, he always had a smile and encouraging words and he made damn sure the audience applauded and stayed respectful. He wanted everyone to have a good time.

He’ll be missed, very much.

Ninth Grade

Sometimes, Miss Plotkin had long blond hair, and other days she had medium length curly dark hair. I think both hairdos were wigs. Whichever her hair color, she always had lipstick on her teeth and wore a skirt, pantyhose, and open toed sandals. Her toes usually cascaded over the front edge of her shoes and appeared to touch the floor when she walked.

Miss Plotkin liked to assign book reports, and she liked to ask us to deconstruct sentences. Once, she wrote the following on the blackboard: “Miss Plotkin kissed her handsome date, the rock star.” She asked me to pick the direct object.

A short, disheveled blond boy named Greg sat next to me in class. Greg wore a lot of flannel, and rumor had it that he had a pet boa constrictor. One day, as Miss Plotkin was teaching us about dangling participles, Greg turned in my direction and sang a Diana Ross song to me.

Dane, in Drifters

I took this photo a couple of months ago, it just didn’t show up in the series until recently because it took Dane and me a few weeks to figure out which one(s) to post. This was shot in Chicago, on a Saturday night under the El tracks at a place Dane led me to that I’m definitely going to remember.

You can see the set (the second photo is not safe for work) on my website.

Precious

One day this month, I had to go to Micheal’s craft store with Jay over our lunch hour. Immediately upon walking in the door, I saw a “build your own volcano” activity set. First, I thought of Peter Brady (who wouldn’t?) . . .

. . . but then I thought of my friend Jodi in New York. I took a photo of the volcano and texted it to her, suggesting she should immediately fly to Indiana so we could build a volcano together.

Jodi wrote back, and said she guffawed.

In reality, I should have looked at the package to see how the volcano was constructed. Clay would be fine, but I can’t do papier-mâché. Yuck. When I was in grade school, papier-mâché nauseated me. It was too messy, and the smell of newspaper combined with glue could only be topped by the smell that followed my dad taking newspaper into the bathroom.

I moved on.

Jay can spend a long time in craft stores, so I searched out new ways to occupy myself. I wandered into an aisle with various glass baubles and rocks and found this.

It’s roughly the size of my palm and diamond cut, with a pointy backside and flat, smooth front. It’s usually the color of sapphire and amber, but depending on the light that hits it, it could be ruby, green, purple, aqua, magenta, or yellow. I felt overwhelmingly compelled to buy it. I could look at it all day.

I suppose I will use it as a paper weight, but it is heavy (and pointy) enough to be a weapon, so in the meantime I have been carrying it in my pocket, instead. In case I get mugged.

Jay and Jared Make Christmas Cookies

How to Pet the Kitty

I can’t believe I’ve been reduced to posting cute things about “kitties,” but Jodi put this on Facebook a few days ago and I thought it was hilarious.

Mel, Continued

My newest model, Melvin, was back in the studio for a second shoot a few weeks ago.

More new images are on my website at the bottom of the Models: Men gallery.

My Christmas Wish List

Jay and I are both at points in life where we want less clutter and personal possessions, in general. The exceptions for me might be photography supplies, novels, photo/art books, and movies (I would put useful kitchen gadgets on there but I really think Jay and I have all the cooking supplies we need). So it’s interesting but not surprising to me that only about a third of the things I “want” for this holiday season (and next year) are actual possessions — the rest relate to people, or things I need to make materialize on my own.

1. A coffee date with Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet
2. A two hour photo shoot with Channing Tatum, Chris Pine or Kellan Lutz
3. More mashed potatoes
4. A houseboy who does laundry, dishes, and likes to put things away
5. Legs that are accustomed to a LOT more walking
6. Long underwear
7. More models
8. The destruction of all dad jeans and solid-white tennis shoes, everywhere
9. More comfortable (but still cute) shoes for myself 
10. Jean Paul Gautier Le Male cologne
11. A trip to San Fransisco
12. A buyer for our house in Indiana
13. A cute apartment within walking distance to the Belmont, Sheridan, or Argyle Red Line stops in Chicago
14. A person to enter my life that could actually get me to enjoy going to the gym
15. More blowjobs
16. More great music
17. Copies of the following books: Giovanni’s Room (J. Baldwin); The Book of Revelation (R. Thomson); Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals (C. Payne); or Mean Little Deaf Queer (T. Galloway)
18. Even more passion for photography and art
19. More wine and cheese, shared with good friends

Jay’s holiday wish list also included this: “For Figbash the cat to lose some weight so he can stop washing himself with a rag on a stick.” Of course, that’s too good not to want. And I suppose I would consider accepting precious metals (gold, silver, platinum) or gemstones, too — if someone were inclined.

Jay’s Right Arm

For the first time in our 10 year history as a couple, as of Saturday Jay is more tattooed than I am. I can wait to see this one when he gets the color.

Lucy Looking at Me