Last weekend, I drove to Milford, Pennsylvania to see my longtime friend, photographer Chris Makos. I first showed Makos’ photographs at Govinda Gallery in May of 1981, in an exhibition simply titled Christopher Makos, Photographs. I went on to organize eight more exhibitions of Makos’ work at Govinda Gallery in Georgetown, as well as in the […]
Today, May 10th, is the ‘Sunshine Superman’ Donovan’s birthday. Just two days ago, May 8th, and 35 years earlier, was Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson’s birthday. I was thinking of these two extraordinary songwriters and musical artists when these remarkable photographs came to my mind. I put the two images together here in honor of […]
Greg Gorman has just had published his latest book, It’s Not About Me: A Retrospective. I have all of Greg’s books of his photographs, and this retrospective of his decades long career is remarkable, and perhaps his best book. Among the almost 400 stunning portraits in the book are David Bowie, Dustin Hoffman, Glenn Close, Isaac Hayes, […]
Mick Rock is not only one of the finest photographers to exhibit at Govinda Gallery, he is also a terrific friend for over 30 years. So it was a great pleasure to see he created the photo art for the cover of Miley Cyrus’s new album, Plastic Hearts. That recording is a Rock & Roll […]
This past Saturday The New York Times published a terrific story on soul-jazz organist Dr. Lonnie Smith’s new album Breathe on Blue Note Records. The ‘punk frontman’ Iggy Pop covered two songs on the album including Donovan’s #1 hit song “Sunshine Superman.” What a strong groove it is. The NY Times called the album “joyous […]
A friend asked me the other day what I had been reading. I told him the best book I have read this year is a collection of essays by my favorite biographer, Peter Guralnick. Guralnick’s biographies of Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, and Sam Phillips are masterworks. Adventures In Music & Writing is the subtitle of […]
Today would be photographer extraordinaire Barry Feinstein’s 90th birthday. I have much to celebrate regarding Barry, especially his new book of George Harrison photographs that was my great pleasure to write the text for and edit. George Harrison: Be Here Now has just been published by Rizzoli, and has been received by the public with […]
Govinda Gallery first exhibited this photo of Hank Aaron in the great sports photographer Walter Iooss’ exhibition Classic Baseball in April of 2003. This terrific photograph captures the spontaneous joy of Hank Aaron upon seeing the legendary Satchel Paige enter the locker room to see Hank after a game in Montreal. I also exhibited Iooss’ photo […]
Today is photographer Ted Russell’s birthday. Born in England in 1930, Ted Russell went on to become one of the great photographers at LIFE magazine, the ‘gold standard’ for photo journalism. Russell came to New York City in 1952 “with four cameras and $200.” In 1961 Russell took the very first professional photographs of Bob […]
It was New Years Eve 2013 when I saw Dr. John perform at Hamilton Live in D.C. Wanda Jackson also was on the bill. They brought in 2014 with style. What a great set of songs he delivered! Happy New Year!