Please check out my interview with Patty Rosborough in Friday's Asbury Park Press.

Have a great weekend and please remember to laugh responsibly.

                                                                 
-----Ed Kaz

FALL 2007

I make a pilgrimage to Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris and visit with The Lizard King. 

A mysterious cat stands guard at the grave site...

Filmed in KAZ-O-VISION®
"Dark, Seedy, and Strange."

FALL 2007

A pair of friendly Russians demonstrate the fine art of parallel
parking on the streets of Paris.

Look, listen,
learn.

Filmed in KAZ-O-VISION®
"Dark, Seedy, and International."

Used to be, a great pop culture catch phrase would be the one thing you could depend on.

23 Skidoo lasted about 35 years.

Sock it to Me!  went on for a decade-and-a-half.

Where's the Beef? --four or five at least.

Those were quality catch phrases with an extended shelf life.

And now?

Our collective consciousness is experiencing the law of diminishing returns.  This week's I like Turtles replaced last week's Don't Tase me bro!   There should be speed bumps on the Information Highway, because I can't keep up.

I need a durable catch phrase and I need one NOW.

God, I sound just like Andy Rooney...

                                                                 
-----Ed Kaz

Thank God it's Monday!

Yes I know.  You think I'm nuts.  Monday sucks!  But shhh!  I'm using a little reverse psychology on The Big Guy.

And keep up all the good work!

Right right, I know. Tornadoes, disease, wars.  But, ya know what? If you give some positive encouragement it goes a long way, especially when you're dealing with a Deity.

And like, uh, can I win the lottery today?

OK, so maybe I have a hidden agenda, but I'm being nice about it, right? And hey, a few million bucks isn't much to ask for in the grand scheme of things; I'll probably use most of it for good instead of evil.

Thanks a bunch for listening, God.
You Rule (literally).

Sincerely,
Ed Kaz
(You created me, remember?)

Vested interest.

Doesn't matter if
we lose touch
for a month or
a week or
a day

long as we
keep signed up

in for
the long
run

withstanding
periodic
attention fluctuation

a friendship 401K

               -----Ed Kaz

In my defense.

Huh? what?
I said something wrong?
what? again?
do I have explain?
what would that gain?

the wrong ass was kissed
a certain boat was missed
suggest you make a fist
and join the list
of
people
pissed

               -----Ed Kaz

From a distance.

Meet Eddie Leibovitz:  Less-famous
brother of renowned rock photographer Annie Leibovitz.  While never
as celebrated as his wildly successful older sibling, Eddie has managed to carve out
quite a niche for himself in the field of Nosebleed Photography.

Eddie Leibovitz explains:

Oh sure, big sister Annie has created hundreds of iconic portraits
of folks like Sting and Johnny Cash and John Lennon,
and yeah, Annie gets all the backstage passes to the biggest concerts,
and yeah, you go to Annie's big expensive house and trip over all her
awards that she uses for door stops, and yeah, Annie's always giggling
while she gets instant-messages from Bob Dylan.  But really though, how hard can it be
to get an in-focus shot of
Steven Tyler when you're like three feet away?

For me,
Eddie Leibovitz, the real art emerges while
you're up in the nosebleed seats of Madison Square Garden armed with a Kodak Instamatic and a
box of flashcubes.  In the Blue Section, details tend to
fall away, thus allowing you to ponder the pure existentialism of the
moment. 

 

Here are a few examples of my work:

The Beach Boys / Radio City Music Hall NYC, 1979
Nothing
is more "Fun Fun Fun" than a Beach Boys concert.  That's Mike Love struttin' his stuff
at center stage, but the thing that makes this shot interesting is the guy in the plaid shirt.  You can
almost hear him saying, "When the f*ck are they gonna do "Fun Fun Fun"
already so I can get the f*ck out of here?"

The Rolling Stones / Philadelphia PA, 1981
See
Mick Jagger?  He's right there.  No, look to the right a
little.  Too far.  Go back to the left.  Now
squint!  See him next to that giant guitar?  Yeah, that's him.  Gosh, can you believe those lips? 

That very
same week my sister Annie took
a studio portrait of Jagger that made the cover of Rolling Stone and won her some more awards. 
Big deal.  I think my picture has more depth.

Meatloaf / South Orange NJ, 1977

I managed to get closer than usual for
this one.  It was a terrific concert, as you can tell from this
photo.  Truly, this was "paradise by the flashcube light."

The Who / Monterey California, 1967
OK, so I didn't actually attend the Monterey Pop Festival, but the movie was on TV one night.  Trust me, getting this shot was not that easy.  My stupid roommate wanted to watch Johnny Carson so I had to push him away with one hand and snap the picture with the other.  I bring that tension to the photo.

Coming in June look for the gallery showing entitled From a Distance: The Nosebleed Photography of Eddie Leibovitz at a telescope retailer near you.

                                                                    
----Ed Kaz

On Tuesday, I was having all sorts of Xangaxiety (please note:  Ed Kaz just coined a new word), revolving around my weblog.  All my carefully constructed background designs vanished!

This is what it was supposed to look like...

And this is what it actually looked like...

It was freakin' me out, man. 

I felt helpless and disoriented.  Couldn't breathe properly.  Lost my appetite.

This crisis has made me realize that, without the correct formatting, I am nothing.  I just don't matter.  I'm incomplete, dull and ordinary.

I think I'm gonna quit this stupid Internet and purchase a diary.  Hard copy will never let you down.

                                                                
-----Ed Kaz