Surf! Savage! Sacrifice! H.P. Lovecraft meets the Beach Boys. The tribal idols of The Tiki Kings combine dark rituals and eerie masks with feel-good surf music. Professor T.J. Scottsdale tells their horrid tale, while Queen Ataata, Tō, KuKu, Bi, Matafaga use their powers to make the audience transe dance. Really good fun, even the virgin sacrifice. I was invited to chronicle their latest gig at the Ponyhof in Frankfurt.
Queen Ataata and Tō. The Tiki Kings rock Frankfurt's Ponyhof.
The weather was great – except for yachting. Beaufourt force only just reached 2, so setting sails was more a decorative act than a sporting decision. Still, Lake Constance is beautiful, and the crew were good fun.
Courtesan Imperia towering Constance Harbour, carrying a dwarfed German Emperor and the Pope.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods – in the wake of the sad incidents in Japan, there was a considerable hysteria concerning the “supermoon” of 19 March 2011. I did not have it on my agenda, but when I saw it coming up on the horizon I held my breath: la luna – what a beauty. The image is composed of two shots, one at an exposure of 4 seconds, the other at 1/160 to show the details on the moon’s surface. (I only discovered the fireworks when doing the post-processing.)
"Supermoon" over Frankfurt's skyline (19 March 2011)
Part of my new TV project left me doing a triple job: simultaneously operating two video cameras and taking pictures of Wolf Schubert-K. & The Sacred Blues Band, when they played at the official opening of Performance Studios Frankfurt. They are great folks, and listening to them makes me want to return to Nashville and finally get a pair of decent boots and a hat. The pictures just had to be black & white.
Wolf Schubert-K. & The Sacred Blues Band
Lensbaby is a manufacturer that specialises in very basic yet clever lens constructions. The fascination of their products lies in their simplicity and the negation of the “exact” reproduction ideal other lens makers pursue. Apertures, for example, are created by a flat metal ring that is placed into the lens with a magnetic pin – it really is a very basic construction. The following gallery was created using a Lensbaby Composer, a tilt lens that creates a selective focus.
Lensbaby Gallery
“SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Looking at these images may provide you with explicit impressions of cigar smoke.” I disapprove of smoking where it is an addiction rather than indulgence. Add some meaningful conversation and aged spirits to the latter and it becomes some kind of timeless ritual of exchanging thoughts and sharing dreams. The pictures were taken at Zigarren Herzog in Berlin and later at a soirée with master Saerprecht interpreting Brahms, Chopin, Mussorgsky and their kind. Enjoy.
Smoke & the Piano