About the Man:
If you look at the list of blogs I promote at the right of my page, you may notice one that's always near the top. That means it's updated frequently. I'm referring to the Singer-Saints blog, and Richard is its caretaker. Every day he offers selections from musicians ranging from folk to jazz (instrumental and vocal) to classical and some that are less easily classified. Oh, there are names you will recognize as you scan his blog, and I bet there are some you've never hard of before. Maybe some people would say the selection is "eclectic" or "esoteric." I'm one to think that eclectic and esoteric is purely relative.
Richard also takes the music he loves to Union Square, selling themed mix CDs of his own creation. If you happen to be walking through the park and hear Fats Waller, Raymond Scott, The Coasters, Billie Holiday, João Gilberto, or even Gary Lewis and the Playboys, chances are it's coming from a CD player sitting on top of Richard's table, where he'll be more than glad to impart his knowledge for the asking, and maybe you'll leave a bit wiser and just hopefully with a CD or two that might broaden your horizons, or perhaps just take you on a stroll down memory lane.
About the Picture(s):
After I developed the pictures of Richard, I sent them to my friend who I wrote about earlier (the one who suggested I take the photos of the birch trunks), and asked her opinion as to which one she liked better (she being someone whose opinion on art I trust, much more than my own). She liked the top one better. She felt there was more tension in the shot, and liked that there was a woman walking directly behind him. I thought that while that picture has less headroom than the other, I felt the woman walking right behind him just didn't work for me, and that the other one (despite the increased headroom) would be the one I'd go with. When I sent the pictures to Richard, he felt they were equal in quality and either would suffice. Then I realized, who says I can't put up both pictures?
You tell me. Which one do you think makes the "better" portrait?
Well, what can I say about this guy? I LOVE HIM! I met Richard many many years ago due to a report I read in a magazine here in Brazil about Tower Records... I got in touch asking about stuff of The Monkees and he was the one who replied my message... and we became friends ever since. Although I live in Brazil, I use to travel almost every year to the USA and of course meeting Richard is one of my MUST DO things in the country. Congrats for the article about him, he's a wonderful guy, my soulmate, the only one who can understand me and is besides me all the time even being miles and miles away!
ReplyDeleteI like both pictures being one underneath the other, it gives me that "contact sheet" look, where my eyes wander from one picture to the other.
ReplyDeletehe is a personnal hero. thank you so much! thank you!
ReplyDeletefilipa, from portugal
What happened to Singer Saints?
ReplyDelete