fletcher’s blog

How Weird 2013

The annual San Francisco How Weird Street Faire took place on Sunday, April 28, 2013, a couple of weeks ago. It’s a wonderful event, lots of fun, music, and mostly young people having a good time. It claims to be the longest-running electronic music street festival in North America, showcasing diverse forms of music including Live Electronica, Downtempo, Breaks, Electro, Trance, House, Techno, Dubstep, Drum & Bass, and World Beat. It’s loud; I didn’t remove my ear plugs the whole day. The people are fun to look at, and the beat is constant; a peaceful crowd, lots of grass, lots of good vibes.. I spent the day moving from one stage to another. There are so many stages; only occasionally is the music to my liking, but when it is I start moving along with all the other dancers. Below are a few photographs from this years’ event. To see more of my photographs from that day, please go to my Flickr page.

(Click on images to see larger view)
(Click on images to see larger view)

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Carnaval San Francisco 2012

Carnaval San Francisco is an annual event that takes place the last weekend in May. It’s a lot of fun, people are happy, celebrating the spirit of Carnaval. “San Francisco’s Carnaval blossomed from its inception in Precita Park in the Mission District 33 years ago. Its growth and development is attributable to the passion of its founding members who longed for the traditional Carnaval celebrations of their native homelands.”

Below are a few photographs from this years’ parade and staging. To see more of my photographs from that day, please go to my Flickr page.

(Click on images to see larger view)

(Click on images to see larger view)

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Million Hoody March

It’s hard to understand what the word justice means in our country. We do have more freedom than in many parts of the world, but that doesn’t mean we live in Utopia, or that it isn’t Hell for a whole lot of people. Most people know that Trayvon Martin, a black youth, was gunned down last month. It’s not an uncommon occurrence. At the San Francisco rally and March for Trayvon, on March 21, there were no less than three families represented where their sons and/or nephews had been murdered by the police. Trayvon was murdered by a self styled neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman. When Zimmerman called 911, the police dispatcher had told him not to follow this young man. He apparently did follow him anyway and subsequently shot and killed him. Then the police arrived on the scene and inexplicably released him. They did not take his weapon, they did not do an alcohol level test, basically taking his word that he had killed this boy in self defense. No judge, no jury, no justice.

Below are portraits from the San Francisco Rally and March. I have posted a few more photos from the event on my Flickr page.

(Click on images to see larger view)
(Click on images to see larger view)

Events, Politics, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

510Arts

510Arts.com is the website of The East Bay Culture Corridor, which is a collaboration between the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond. For more information, go to http://510arts.com/

The group of photographs below, that I took of the great Gamelan Sekar Jaya company of musicians and dancers, have been awarded the Best of Richmond award in the 2nd Annual 510Arts.com Intersection: World Culture in the East Bay online arts exhibition. Gamelan Sekar Jaya is a sixty-member company of musicians and dancers, currently based in Berkeley, specializing in the performing arts of Bali. These photographs were taken on Nov 12, 2011, when they appeared in concert to benefit El Cerrito High School Music Education and KECG Radio.

The “People’s Choice” voting period is now open to the public. The jury statement is at http://opencall.510arts.com/exhibition.php and you can go to http://opencall.510arts.com/light/2012.php to launch the entire exhibition.

I hope that you will view my images and vote for them in the competition. They can be accessed directly at: http://opencall.510arts.com/light/artistprofile.php?artist_id=1422

To see the whole set from that evening’s performance, go to my Flickr page.

(Click on images to see larger view)
Dancers preparing for performance
Dancer Performing

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