"YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AS DAZZLING AS YOUR SUBJECTS"

Saturday, December 25, 2010

IN HONOR OF CHRISTMAS

MOTHER & CHRIST CHILD
IN HONOR OF CHRISTMAS


CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF
ST. JOHN THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST
LIMA, PERU

Friday, December 24, 2010

TARJA HALONEN b. December 24, 1943

TARJA HALONEN
b. December 24, 1943


FINNISH PRESIDENT TARJA HALONEN
AND HER HUSBAND PENTTI Arajärvi
WALKING TO DINNER
AT THE PETERHOF PALACE,
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA,
AT THE TIME OF
THE 2006 G-8 SUMMIT

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

HU JINTAO, b. December 21, 1942

HU JINTAO
b. December 21, 1942


PRESIDENT,
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
GENERAL SECRETARY,
CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

Shown here at the unveiling of the
Politburo Standing Committee
17th Party Congress, Beijing, October 2007

Due to pass on the torch at the 18th Party Congress in Autumn 2012


Stay Tuned

More Hu

Friday, December 17, 2010

ARTHUR FIEDLER, b. December 17, 1894

ARTHUR FIEDLER 
December 17, 1894-July 10, 1979 


THE BOSTON POPS MAESTRO 
IN HIS SYMPHONY HALL OFFICE 
BOSTON, MASSASCHUSETTS 

Arthur Fiedler was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 17, 1894, and died at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, next door to Boston, on July 10, 1979. 

These bare facts conceal a far more peripatetic and complicated existence, and so does the quick summary of his accomplishments.   For over half a century he led the Boston Pops Orchestra, with enormous success and acclaim.   But -- like a beauty who wishes to be known for his/her brains? -- apparently he hungered for more:   acknowledgment of his musicianship and his gravitas. 

His daughter, Johanna Fiedler, wrote of his story (and hers) in ARTHUR FIEDLER: Papa, the Pops and Me (1994).   The New York Times in its obituary called Arthur Fiedler "grandfatherly," and said that he "projected a jolly, unsnobbish image."   Perhaps so, but that there was more to him was clear already from the time I spent photographing him. 

Thursday, December 9, 2010

BICENTENNIAL "TIP": THOMAS P. O'NEILL, JR., b. December 9, 1912

THOMAS P. O'NEILL, JR.
December 9, 1912-January 5, 1994


TIP O'NEILL

Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
1977-1987

PHOTOGRAPHED ON HIS
BELOVED CAPE COD
JULY 4, 1976

more TIP here
and here
and here

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

LIEN CHAN WINS CONFUCIUS PEACE PRIZE! (SAY WHAT?)

THE CONFUCIUS
PEACE PRIZE
PICKS ITS FIRST WINNER


LIEN CHAN

FORMER TAIWAN VICE PRESIDENT
&
F.O.C.

More of China's Soft Power on Display?

Confucius Peace Prize: $15,000
Nobel Peace Prize: $1,500,000

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

LAWRENCE SUMMERS IS FIFTY-SIX

LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS 
b. November 30, 1954 

LARRY SUMMERS 

THE DEPARTING DIRECTOR 
OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S  
NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL 

for more, see here  

Monday, November 29, 2010

LIGACHEV MAKES NINETY

YEGOR KUZMICH LIGACHEV
b. November 29, 1920


YEGOR LIGACHEV MEETS THE PRESS AFTER BORIS YELTSIN WALKS OUT OF THE 28TH CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION (CPSU), THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW, JULY 12, 1990

For more, see "Pivot," Chapter One of
RUSSIA REDUX

Sunday, November 14, 2010

CONDOLEEZZA RICE b. November 14, 1954

CONDOLEEZZA RICE,

b. November 14, 1954,

HAS A BIRTHDAY AND A BOOK

CONDOLEEZZA RICE AT THE PUTIN-BUSH PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE 2006 G-8 SUMMIT, ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Condoleezza Rice has written a personal memoir first, before tackling the hard issues of her time and performance as President George W. Bush's National Security Adviser and Secretary of State.

Rice, an erstwhile Soviet scholar, is shown above at the first, and so far only, G-8 summit to be held in Russia, talking to her counterpart, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. To her far right is Igor Ivanov, Secretary of the Russian Security Council (national security adviser); to her immediate right is Stephen Hadley, Rice's successor as U.S. National Security Adviser. Counselor to the President Dan Bartlett sits behind the Secretary of State.


Saturday, November 13, 2010

JOHN HAMMOND b. November 13, 1942


JOHN HAMMOND 
b. November 13, 1942 


JOHN HAMMOND 
HARVARD STADIUM, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 
PRE-CONCERT (1970) 

John Hammond is still singing the blues, after all these years: "For four-plus decades, Hammond has, like many itinerant country-blues artists before him, played acoustic guitar with a fast-fingered finesse that leaves audiences marveling at his technique. Like [Robert] Johnson, Hammond sometimes gives the impression he’s playing two guitars simultaneously – one holding down the bass line, and the other delivering fiery rhythm work and solos." Russell Hall 

More Hammond these days, here and here and here and here and here 

(JANIS JOPLIN at Harvard Stadium, here and here and here and here

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

ANNE SEXTON b. November 9, 1928


ANNE SEXTON 
November 9, 1928- 
October 4, 1974 


Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 1967 
(Live or Die

more 
Anne Sexton 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

MERKEL & MULTIKULTI


MULTICULTURALISM 
HAS 
"UTTERLY FAILED" 

-- THUS SPAKE THE OSSIE -- 


GERMAN CHANCELLOR 
HOLDS HANDS WITH 
GEORGE W. BUSH 
AT THE 2006 G-8 SUMMIT 
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 

A reporter for the Christian Science Monitor wrote of "multikulti" -- the German term for multiculturalism --as a concept in which "people of different backgrounds would live together happily." After more than two decades of German re-unification, is it a given that Wessies (West Germans) and Ossies (East Germans) "live together happily"? But this Ossie, this first Chancellor from East Germany, has something different in mind. 

Monday, October 18, 2010

XI JINPING GETS HIS PROMOTION

XI
GETS
HIS PROMOTION

XI JINPING INTRODUCED
AS HU JINTAO'S SUCCESSOR
17TH CONGRESS OF THE
CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
BEIJING 2007

Today Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping was named vice-chair of the Central Military Commission, solidifying his slotting to become the next General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China.

This is succession planning with Chinese characteristics: Xi Jinping was unveiled as potential top leader-to-be of China in 2007; the changes are not due to take place until late 2012 (on the party side) and early 2013 (on the government side).

If he had not been given this new post, it would have been seen as a sign of weakness, and of uncertainty at the top with signs of ferment in the air.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

JIMMY BRESLIN TURNS EIGHTY

JIMMY BRESLIN
b. October 17, 1930


JIMMY BRESLIN

HARVARD COMMENCEMENT
CLASS DAY SPEAKER, 1971

A columnist and author, in 1986, Jimmy Breslin was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, for "columns which consistently champion ordinary citizens."

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Friday, October 15, 2010

SERGEI SOBYANIN NOMINATED MOSCOW MAYOR

NEW MOSCOW MAYOR
NAMED


A LOOK BACK AT ONE OF THE
HIGHLIGHTS OF FORMER MAYOR
YURY LUZHKOV'S
ADMINISTRATION,
THE CELEBRATION OF THE
850TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOSCOW

Here Mayor Luzhkov is seated on President Boris Yeltsin's right (the Patriarch is on Yeltsin's left). Today his successor was formally nominated by President Dmitry Medvedev: Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Sobyanin, "top aide" to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

AS THE POLITICAL ELITE IN CHINA GATHERS...

AS THE
POLITICAL ELITE
IN CHINA
GATHERS


INTERIOR OF
THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE
BEIJING, CHINA,
WITH BASKETBALL COURT

A quiet photograph of the big venue as the Central Committee meets in Beijing in unquiet times.


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

TWENTY-THREE MOSTLY "FORMERS" SPEAK UP FOR MEDIA FREEDOM IN CHINA


TWENTY-THREE 
MOSTLY "FORMERS" 
("PARTY ELDERS") 
DEMAND 
FREEDOM OF SPEECH 
IN CHINA; 
CRITICIZE PROPAGANDA ORGANS 


LI CHANGCHUN 
POLITBURO STANDING COMMITTEE MEMBER 
responsible for the media, and overseer of the Propaganda Department, described by the letter of the twenty-three as "invisible black hands," censoring even Premier Wen Jiabao

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

THEY LEFT OUT THE COLD WAR


THEY LEFT OUT 
THE COLD WAR 


WARS LISTED ON A GRAVESTONE IN 
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY 

The Washington Post has an article reporting on family members' protests of the inscribing of "propaganda" names for America's recent wars on the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery: "Operation Enduring Freedom"; "Operation Iraqi Freedom"; "Operation New Dawn." Previous names looked like those above: "World War II"; "Korea"; "Vietnam." (No "Cold War," however much it molded and warped so many lives, and deaths.) 

Monday, October 11, 2010

THE CATHEDRALS IN THE KREMLIN, PART II

THE CATHEDRALS
IN THE KREMLIN


REFLECTIONS IN
THE PALACE OF CONGRESSES
THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW, 1990

For more, read this


Sunday, October 10, 2010

ARCHANGEL CATHEDRAL, THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW

IT IS SUNDAY

One of a series
of photographs
of cathedrals and churches


ARCHANGEL CATHEDRAL
Cathedral Square, The Kremlin
Moscow, 1984

Saturday, October 9, 2010

JESSE JACKSON 1988 TAKE II

JESSE JACKSON 1988


JESSE JACKSON DELEGATE TO
THE 1988 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL
CONVENTION, ATLANTA, GEORGIA