Talk About Journalism and Music

Environmental Photograph Denton Music Venue
Early art in Dan’s Silver Leaf.

I’ve told you about my original interest in music photography – Rolling Stone – Annie Lebowitz and all the seductive allure of the 1980’s music photography scene.

Well, that scene and my hopes for that brass ring, were in no small part fueled by a friendship with NTSU NT Daily classmate, and writer, Lisa Lynette Rollins. She had the “it” thing of writing a BLING lede that put all you wanted right up front – YOU HAD TO READ the rest to see if it backed that fantastic lede. It always did.

So I got on board. She would write and I would photograph … all kinds of musicians in all kinds of places. Tour buses, bars with 8-foot high ceilings … it didn’t matter. Glam or hot country music. It didn’t matter. We pushed for space in the NT Daily, and usually got it.

Fast forward to what seems like yesterday. She was in town for a benefit, her benefit, as she engaged in her final battle with cancer. I can’t believe the first Lisapalooza was five years ago, but then quite a bit has happened to me in the last five years – on the same topic – as well. Yet, it does still seem like yesterday.

Saturday, is the Sixth Lisapalooza at Dan’s Silver Leaf in Denton, Texas. If you read this, and want more information, be sure to contact me. You can find tickets for Lisapalooza at – 2019 Lisapalooza.

Big City Problems Reach Denton

It was a bad night for the Denton Police Department, but the good news is that the officer who was shot is out of surgery. I guess we will find out what happened to the bad guys by the time the evening news cycle rolls around.

This particular shooing happened perhaps a mile from my house, so my photojournalism hackles are up this morning, and still wondering … what ever happened to real photojournalism?

I was never a fan of ambulance chasing for the sake of chasing ambulances, fire trucks and cop cars, but news was news, and I have seen my share of dead bodies, and dying bodies for that matter.

In simpler times we programmed our handheld police scanners, and slept with them, like a techno-teddy-bear, turned down low, but just high enough to hear a fire call. I chased a lot more fires than officer involved anythings.

So I am looking to get back to reality in spite of the Generation-M’s who prefer pablum, and feel-goods where everyone gets a trophy. In this case, that means finding a police – fire scanner that works, and works and works.

M’s need to realize that there was a time when so many photographers were chasing news … we actually had to have credentials backed by our newspapers and issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Those credentials? They were like sacred text to us. You could lose just about anything, but DON’T LOSE that Press Pass!