Day 163 - Trick Or Treat - 10.31.11

Happy Halloween everyone. Trick or treating was something I saw today.

Day 162 - Stick Pony - 10.30.11

This stick pony was a prop at Nutcracker rehearsals today. It was something I saw today.

Day 161 - Trunk Of Treat - 10.29.11

I went to an event called Trunk or Treat today. People decorate their cars and hand out candy out of back or trunk of their cars. This lady had a black light shining back on her and a fog machine and the effect was pretty cool. It was something I saw today.

Day 160 - Old Couch - 10.28.11

Took a stroll through the neighborhood today and saw this lovely couch sitting on the side of the road waiting for pickup. It has seen better days and it was something I saw today.

Day 159 - Telephone Pole Shadow On A Garage - 10.27.11

It is funny how I find things to shoot sometimes. I was going out to run some errands and I thought I should bring my camera just in case I see something interesting. I opened my garage and this is what I saw, this very cool shadow on the apartment building next door. It is funny that I had never noticed or never been around at this time of day to see this bold shadow before. So before even getting in my car I took a photo and my mission was complete. I knew I had something for which I could write this was something I saw today.

Day 158 - Troy Walker - 10.26.11

What a great evening I had going to Viva Cantina here in Burbank to catch Troy Walker for his Halloween show. I had never seen Troy before, but learned this evening from several of the regulars that Troy is a bit of an institution. He's been performing at Viva Cantina on Wednesdays for about the last year, but he's been performing since the 60's. He puts on a great show. He entertained the room singing hit after hit, interlaced with jokes and banter with the audience. The crowd was great as well. It was made up of folks mostly 50 years and older with many women who would get up and dance when the music called for it.

At one point a fuse of something was blown and part of the stage when dark and some of the instruments went out. However the crowd saw this as a chance to start singing along and get up and dance. A couple women got on the bar and danced along. It was pretty crazy.

I talked to a few people at the show who were regulars and it was interesting to hear their impressions of the show. I apologize for the name dropping in advance. Tom Kenny was there and he's a huge fan. He told me that this was a particularly great show, really wild. But then Jonny Whiteside and Donna Lethal who also are huge fans and regulars told me that Troy was having and off night and that on other nights he has moved them to tears. So I guess I definitely have to go again to compare performances. All I know is I had a great time.

As a side note Jonny has been a huge fan for a long time and he wrote a piece on Troy a while back. Read it here.

One other particularly interesting moment was that before Troy came back for the second half of the show. I should mention that he first came out in in the costume you see above and performed for about an hour. Then he took a break and came back in some sort of Guido mobster outfit and performed another hour. Well, when the band came back for part two they jumped into an quick instrumental of Black Sabbath's Iron Man. That was great, but the interesting part was when the older woman in her 60's and possible 70's began rocking out bobbing her head to the music. Nothing like grandma rocking to Sabbath. Too bad I didn't get a photo of that.

I did catch this nice one of Troy in his first costume. He actually had a turban on when he first came out, but he lost it by this point in the show. This was something I saw today.

Day 157 - Rain Drops - 10.25.11

Rained on and off today. I stepped out of the house and took this photo of rain beading on the windshield of a car in front of my house. It was something I saw today.

Day 156 - Alley Teddy Bear - 10.24.11

This Teddy Bear was in the alley across the street. He has seen better days for sure. He was something I saw today.

Day 155 - Worn Down Dancer's Feet - 10.23.11

These are feet to one of the male dancer's in the Nutcracker. He is really good and you can see that he has done a lot of dancing in those ballet shoes of his. They were something I saw today.

Day 154 - Pumpkins - 10.22.11

Halloween is just around the corner and that means pumpkins. These pumpkins were something I saw today.

Day 153 - Skeleton Decoration - 10.21.11

Halloween is coming and it's hanging outside my front door. This skeleton decoration hangs next to our front door step. It was something I saw today.

Day 152 - Shells in the Window - 10.20.11

It was a nice overcast morning and I caught this view of the soft light coming in through our broken bathroom window. I liked the juxtaposing of the broken window with the tracks propping the window crookedly open against the three smooth decorative sea shells, natural perfection against man made imperfection. It was something I saw today.

Day 151 - Daniel Cuervo Smith Grind - 10.19.11

Met up with an old skate buddy of mine, Ron Vaia. I met him over at the Cove Skatepark in Santa Monica. I went to take photos, but once I was there I was glad I brought a board. I tooled around a bit, nothing special. It felt great to have a board under my feet. I haven't been on my board for a couple years now, which was another reason to take it easy. Even with taking it easy I made the mistake of trying Ron's board which had really tight trucks. I went over a hip and I leaned one way and the board went another and down I went. Slammed my wrist nice and hard. I'll be feeling that for a week at least. Anyways, it was a cool night. Wednesday's it "adult skate" so there were several guys my age and the vibe was very mellow and welcoming. There were some younger kids that were pretty good. Even though it was adult skate there was a young kid named Evan that was like 14 who tore it up. This is a shot of Daniel Cuervo who was blasting huge air. This Smith grind however was hugely stylish and a better photo. I always loved smith grinds, not only for the great feeling when you do one, but they look cool as hell. So this was something I saw today.

Day 150 - Foggy Morning - 10.18.11

It was a foggy morning in Burbank today. Before it got to bright and before the fog burned off I stepped out front in my bare feet to snap this photo. It's a bit grainy and if I did it again I think I would use a tripod and longer exposure, but it is what it is. The grain and low light levels give it an eerie feeling. You almost expect to see the shape of a werewolf emerging from the fog. As a side note, I recently watched a bunch of the old Universal Pictures Wolfman movies and was blown away by how beautiful the night photography with all the fog and German expressionist sets was. Absolutely gorgeous. If you haven't looked at those in a while, do yourself a favor and watch them. The Wolfman and Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman were stand out. So maybe that is why I'm expecting to see a werewolf in that fog. Whatever the reason it was something I saw today.

Day 149 - Parking Spaces - 10.17.11

There is an apartment building kind of across the street from my house. There are covered parking spaces for the residents and this afternoon they were basically empty. This was something I saw today.

Day 148 - A Dancer's Foot - 10.16.11

Guess where I was again today. That's right. Nutcracker rehearsals. I set the camera all the way onto the ground to capture this image of a dancer's foot. It was something I saw today.

Day 147 - Handy Market Saturday BBQ - 10.15.11

Handy Market is a small independent grocery store in Burbank. It's Saturday BBQ is kind of an icon of Burbank. Maybe icon isn't the right word, but if you live in Burbank, you know about the BBQ. The cooking starts early in the morning and goes all day. The aroma and smoke wafts for many many block. You can be 10 blocks away on Magnolia and you'll smell that tri-tip. Yum. Anyway, I thought it would be a nice subject to photograph. This was a bit later in the day so there are only a few people there. If you drive by around lunch time there is a line 20-30 deep. Another interesting thing to note in this photo is that the sign they had made spells the word chicken incorrectly. Take a close look and you'll see "chickhen". So this was something I saw today.

Day 146 - Scary Mannequin - 10.14.11

Took a long walk around Burbank this morning. Passed this scary mannequin outside an army surplus store. It was something I saw today.

Day 145 - Circus Liquor 2 - 10.13.11

Came across a second Circus liquor the other day. No huge light up sign, but it does have the iconic clown painted on the side. So I decided to go back today and take a few photos. I was lucky enough to also capture this street vendor pushing his cart down the street. It was something I saw today.

Day 144 - Lasko Fan - 10.12.11

Making a second appearance here on the ole photo blog it one of our trusty old Lasko fans. I stress old. You can see that the actual knob is missing on the top. It was something I saw today.

Day 143 - Resting on Point - 10.11.11

This dancer was relaxing before rehearsals and did so on point. Not exactly how I would sit back and wait, but then again I'm not a dancer. It was something I saw today.

142 - Halloween Pee-Wee - 10.10.11

Pee-Wee got some Halloween decorations this last week. He was something I saw today.

Day 141 - Soldier Costume - 10.09.11

Nutcracker! Nutcracker! Nutcracker! I'm living nutcracker. This soldier costume was something I saw today.

Day 140 - Marzipan Mirror - 10.08.11

More Nutcracker rehearsals today. Here are the two leads rehearsing in the mirror. I thought his made for some interesting silhouetted shapes. It was something I saw today.

Day 139 - Big Breakfast - 10.07.11

This breakfast of corned beef hash, eggs and toast filled me up all day. Yum. It was something I saw today.

Day 138 - The Fly - 10.06.11

This fly decoration is on our front porch for Halloween. It was something I saw today.

Day 137 - Serious Marzipan - 10.05.11

The Marzipan leads had rehearsals tonight for Nutcracker. There was some serious concentration going on. It was something I saw today.

Day 136 - Tired Dancer - 10.04.11

More Nutcracker rehearsals this afternoon. The rehearsal was for the dancers in the Chinese portion. This dancer is going to play the dragon. While the girls were learning their parts with umbrellas he took what looked like a needed break. It was something I saw today.

Day 135 - Count Chocula - 10.03.11

Count Chocula Yum! Last year's packaging of Count Chocula. It was something I saw today.

Day 134 - Costume Rack - 10.02.11

Another day at Nutcracker rehearsals. My wife and some of the other moms fitted the kids in their costumes. This is one of the costume racks. It was something I saw today.

Day 133 - Pink Scarf - 10.01.11

Today was the first day of Nutcracker rehearsals and so I was hanging around the dance studio. I saw this scarf tied to this bar. It was something I saw today.