Bartolomy’s Diary

Nice bank holiday weekend, Terri and I went into town to have a look at the Skeletons exhibition @ The Wellcome Center , which was pretty good but the way it was displayed was just naff. The skeletons should have stood up instead of lying down. I know standing them up would have been more expensive and tougher to display but! It would have improved the exhibition by a longshot. Still interesting to read about what people did in their lives 2/500 years ago…..Besides that we decided to spend time together with friends and family as I will be away for 10 days from Thursday and in that period I seem to miss a lot, a few gigs by Die! Die! Die!, a show by Stateless @ Metro, a wedding, a shoot (that I could postpone) and a reunion I already had booked. And me girlie of course

I saw The Dark Knight the latest Batman outing and although it’s decently put together, some of the sets look awesome (well for that money you ought to expect a few things….) the plot is swiss cheese and this dark hoarse voice by Christian Bale as Batman starts to piss me off midway the movie as well, Heath Ledger sure he plays a good part but this entire PR excercise to get him an Oscar etc etc is a bit of a joke and the fact that it has outvoted the Godfather on IMDB is laughable. Please don’t come to me and compare that flick with THE TOP 10 movie of all time.

Here’s another old scan all revamped. I lost the name of the model but I do know it was shot in my old flat in Finsbury Park many many moons ago.

When I am back on the 8th/9th I have a few fashion shoots lined up, I think ;D

Last night got the shock of a lifetime, Malene Nielsen a former flatmate from the Milano days, got in contact with me. Someone I had been looking for yonks all of the sudden stood on my cyber (do people actually use that word still???) doorstep. It looks like she is even coming to London in roughly 4 weeks, so after 16 years I am looking forward seeing the Danish Princess, who I had some fun times with back in 1992 and early 1993.

I am leaving for Germany in a week’s time and wont be back until the 8th, hopefully I will bring back some nice travel shots.

Some reworked pix, still worx in progress. Amy Wear who I shot in Finsbury Park in 2000.
Styling: Paula O’Connor, Make-up: Neusa Neves and Hair: Guy Pranzili

Steevie, shot in my room in Milano, Dec. 1992

New York shot from the top of the Empire State Building August 1992.

So off to Essex we went, saw friends & family and it was all very very nice.

I texted Andrew of Die! Die! Die! and he tells me drummer Mikey is outside of London and forgot that they have a gig the same day so they are trying to get him back in time which they manage in the end.
I arrive just before 9 pm and see the band getting ready to go on. It’s a freebie gig but there’s quite a lot of peeps around checking the band out, even 12 or so actually going for it and have a lil’ shuffle, the gig itself is pretty damn good. The instruments sound fine but Andrew’s singing can’t be heard proper it sounds like mush, nor am I able to decipher any of the ramblings in between songs…..
I do a quick band shot afterwards, and ask them to pose as little shits which they happily oblige to…..
I hang with them for about an hour and give them a quick hand with their gear ( punk bands are great when it comes to gear, they hardly have any ).
I have been told that their album comes out in Oct. (UK release of Promises Promises on Cargo) and they are also going on a short European tour next month as well….. Then they are off to NYC and then their homebase but they will be back next year in Feb./March for more shows. I hope to catch them a few times before they bugger off…..

Die! Die! Die! @ 93 Ft. East

Last night I went to the Hoxton Bar & Grille, another place not visisted in a while (I think I saw Apartment there last) to see Doll and the Kicks and the band play great and sound it too. Confident bunch…………….

I take a super quick bandshot outside.

Doll and the Kicks @ Hoxton Bar & Grille

While sitting and having a drink I see this couple and decide to snap one……

I have been photoshopping this week, playing about with old shots just for fun. Furthermore spent time on preparing a fashion shoot and planinning another and then hopefully I will shoot die! die! die! @ 93 Ft East, but first off to da hood (=Essex).
Family and frineds await

Monday eve Doll and the Kicks @ Hoxton Bar & Grille which I have not been to since I saw Apartment there.

Here are some of the worx, they are all still in progress so don’t get your knickers in a twist,…………the remarks I somtimes get…..tsk tsk.

The site is now officially launched, unless there is something super duper gallery wise you wont see me change this site that soon again;)
4 versions it took and a lot of messing about, but this template just works super duper, thank you Anik!!!!

I was supposed to shoot Die! Die! Die! at their rehearsals but….them little shits, Andrew texted me he had the flue, yeah right………….hungover and lazy is more like it.
So prolly I will catch them next weekend at 93 Ft East. They will leave by the end of Oct. and will tour Europe before that as well.
Stateless are coming down soon as well to record their second album, I have heard some tracks and all I can say is STUNNING!!!!!!

YUP YUP
I have a new site in the making and it will go live on Monday (it’s a template from Ultrashock and it runs well smooth, pretty chuffed), I always thought the first gallery site was fault and a bore to navigate thru, this is just the ticket, to me that is and it allows me to edit things easily.
Have a look BARTOLOMY’S NEW WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!!!, there still are some minor adjustments to be done over the next few days, textwise things still need adding on for the descriptions and such, but pic wise it’s all sorted 99.9%.

Here are some of the shots I took while cycling about….quite moody weather and of course exagerated through some filtering, nothing too extreme though.

Die!Die!Die! started promptly at 6 for their single release launch, their album ‘Promises Promises’ is coming out through Cargo on Oct. 2nd btw and sound wise/light wise and vibe wise it was ok, but I wish Rough Trade would put some more effeort in this tho, especially in a place like this,, a few lights a backdrop and a decent sound……..
The band played a new song as well which sounded really great, it fits right in with their album material. Look forward seeing them bash about again.

Gallery with shots of Die! Die! Die! @ Rough Trade East are : HERE

Shortly after the show we see Silke Steidinger of Kaputt, we have a brief chat.

Terri and I went home for a quick bite to eat and from there we made our way to Bardens Boudoir which is not that far down from us so we paid Joana and the Wolf a visit. At first it looked and sounded hella ominous, mullet heads and they kept playing hard rock mand metal tunes from 1982-1984, then they had this 12 bar bluesy rock band on before them called Four Wheel Drive, I mention to Ali, Joana and the Wolf’s guitarist, that they are fitting in real nice with all this and the exchanging looks say enough…..ominous indeed.
But instead of that the crowd laps them up like no other, the band play a great set, sound great and have included another new song (stunner btw).
Shooting in that place is difficult, it gets so tedious and boring that I start to experiement heavilly with long shutterspeeds and flash. Some good ones, and you really need to look at the picture properly………………

JATW shotsHERE

I took this last week when I was covering the Havana Club event.

It was a good show, I enjoyed it. the band went on about half 10 and sounded great, loud and above all confident.

The gallery can be seen HERE I will post some of my faves later on.

I met Michael Czerwinski this morning, yes it did happen altho we did get our places/adresses mixed up so the meet started late. There are some good things coming up for the Design Museum and we basically discussed the book project, with many hurdles added on. It will definately take 2 years to get that out. But something to look forward to do.

Dier! Die! Die! in Shoreditch tomorrow, lets see what these little shits have been up to recently, they are releasing a single so, lil’ gig etc.
Will take a few. Later on perhaps to Bardens Boudoir to see Joana and the Wolf.