In all the time I’ve hosted the Banter I have not been more distant from the game than I am now. But that doesn’t make it uninteresting to me. I am just busy with other stuff—like unearthing this bitchy 1967 Rex Reed profile of Warren Beatty while he was promoting Bonnie and Clyde. But I hear they are playing games already.
Sounds like fun. What do I need to know?
Picture by Bags
Too tired to put up a real post and not wanting to spoil the tribute post to a recently passed well-known and respected contemporary jazz singer/entertainer, I’m tossing this up for discussions on various things baseball and Yanks related. Among those things:
Nick Swisher retired. Well, at least he didn’t drag it out too long. But he was one of those guys who always seemed to let the kid inside come out and play. I’ll miss that.
Both Tyler Austin and Mason Williams have injuries that, although not career-threatening, will certainly alter their destinations after Spring Training (unless they have super powers).
Front office is sounding quite jerky yet again. I mean, you can be right and correct, but you can also control the impulse to gloat about it, and Randy Levine continues to make the team (and its fanbase by proxy) look like complete [insert favorite expletive here]s. Which, maybe they are, but we don’t seem to want anyone else to say it. What it means down the road is almost obvious though, and it would be really disheartening to lose great talent because the person or people in charge are loose-lipped sociopaths, which is certainly a New York sports-related specialty of late.
Okay, never mind with the vague grinding of axes, let’s get on with the show already!
Rise in Power, Mr. Al Jarreau. Thank you for the excellent adventures.
Sketch by my uncle, the late Fred Garbers (1977)
The Yanks have signed Steve Balboni, no Rob Deer, no Tom Brunansky, no Glenallen Hill, scratch all that—Chris Carter to a one-year deal so that he can wear the pinstripes, hit a few homers and strikeout more than somewhat.
Well, okay, then.
Picture by Bags
So, are we done with football? Got that out of our system have we? Bueno.
Onward. Pitchers and catchers report soon and that can only be a good thing, am I right?
Meanwhile, and completely unrelated, check out this interview I did with Adger Cowans over at The Daily Beast:
Taking pictures on a movie set is such a specialized kind of photography. How were you able to get crucial shots while staying out of everyone’s way?
When a shot is going down, the director is standing there, so you have to think of little games to get your picture. Because the director was always watching me to see where I was standing for a good vantage. And then he’d stand in front of me and I’d duck to the side, which is where I really wanted to shoot in the first place. Little games. Always positioning yourself. Dealing with the camera crew too, not bumping into them. You had to be stealth.
Did you approach the job by staying quiet or being more out-going?
Both. Depended. But it started with how you got along with the people on the set. The director, the camera people, the actors. You had to make friends. You had to put yourself out there in a way that people trusted you.
Which directors did you liked working with most?
Alan Pakula was a hell of a nice man and a very good director. But my models for great directors would be Francis Ford Coppola (The Cotton Club), Sidney Lumet (Night Falls on Manhattan), and Bill Duke (The Cemetery Club). Lumet was the master. He knew what he wanted and never went past three takes. He did two weeks of rehearsals and then shot quickly. Duke and Lumet were so humble with the actors. They never yelled at an actor in front of the crew. They’d pull them aside and talk quietly but confidently to them. It was beautiful to watch.
[Pictures from: Personal Vision by Adger Cowans, copyright © 2017, published by Glitterati Incorporated www.GlitteratiIncorporated.com]
