An overcast cool winter morning. Just a few minutes before a meeting. Camera in hand I wander. Not expecting much but finding some magic waiting for me among the mundane...
J Dilla - Milk Money RIP-Big Respect!

Pop, pop, pa, pa, pab, pop! The firecrackers had just gone off seconds before on "Kai Gong" the designated auspicious day for business owners to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year for their business.This was happening all along the course I walked that day. When I looked and say the light/smoke layers I knew I had a shot.
gang starr - jazz thing
Never stop loving this song-big respect to Guru and Preemo!

Some images are fairly iconic. Lacking description you either know exactly or fairly well who the subject is or what their significance is. These monks on the Chinese Lunar New Year are the equivalent of the Salvation Army Santa's in the west. Later on he struck up a conversation with me (in Chinese which I speak fluently), asking me about whether the whole world celebrates the Lunar New Year.
Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Over 20 years ago when I first came to Taiwan I was living in the main city Taipei. It was quite a trying time for me and Taipei: I was going through culture shock-moving from the US to an Asian emerging nation and also from a small city-Tucson to a much larger city: Taipei. Taipei was a place with terrible weather-often rainy, cold in the winter and hot in the summer and the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport system) was being built throwing the already crowded place into total gridlock because of tearing up already crowded streets for the much needed MRT.

One day a classmate of mine from college who was also living in Taipei invited me over and started showing me all these neat handicrafts she bought while simultaneously telling me stories of Lukang: this wonderfully traditional cultural treasure of the "Real Taiwan" not like the then culturally confused Taipei-having only tiny pockets of traditional culture with mostly faceless mediocre western style construction. I was getting quite antsy so I scheduled a trip to Lukang and as soon as I got off the bus-I just loved it. So much Ching Dynasty era temples, traditional Taiwanese farmhouses and Japanese Occupation era-downtown. The place just reeked of charm and history with some of the friendliest Taiwanese people I've ever met.

Here we are some 20 odd years later and even though the place has modernized some it still is a magical, charming and culturally rich place. If you ever make it to Taiwan I strongly suggest you add this place to your list of must see destinations.
David Byrne-The Last Emperor

So this year the 2nd New Year holiday rolls around early-got to love the Lunar calendar and it's 24 stages. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. May you all find your muse and rock it!

The Rolling Stones - Moonlight Mile Did you ever notice the lovely Chinese melody and feel of this great song before?

I was feeling the color and edge...a little bit of cold steel...keeping fire held at bay
Jimmy Smith Quartet - The Cat

Walking in the "Land of the Giants." Amazing what crouching can do for your street photo perspective.

Freda Payne - Band Of Gold

There's always only one winner...but many attractive non-contestants...Like R.E.M. said, "Life's Rich Pageant."
Iggy pop-The Idiot-Dum Dum Boys

First there was nothing, then a blur or a concept. It clarified and then dissolved back into the thin air it came from.
Thelonious Monk - Blue Monk

Like that famous starlet from the 40's that you stole a glance of...then vanished. Orson Welles and Hitchock both would have noticed...
Without Your Love - Billie Holiday ft. Lester Young