"Desert Shacks, Marana, Arizona" (c) 2008 Stu Jenks
[This image along with the one of the intersection of Orange Grove and Ina Roads was taken from a Cessna last Saturday. My first flight in a small aircraft. Reminded me of piloting a small boat in choppy seas. Was a lot of fun but I can now understand why some folks don't like to fly.]
"Night Train at the 7th Avenue Railroad Crossing, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2007, 2008 Stu Jenks
Tucson Roller Derby: Night Two of the 2008 Season
[The new season begins. FTW won their bout over The Copper Queens and Vice beat the IC. Good play, all around, from all four teams. New format this year: Two bouts each Game Night. All four teams play. It's tiring for the players I suspect but a joy for the fans. Below is a sampling of the action from last Saturday's bouts (plus some portraits of two new refs and one veteran.) Hope you enjoy the images, and I'll see you around the rink.]
Flame Spirals: The Nocturnal Photography of Stu Jenks
Chapter Two: "El Tiradito, Tucson, Arizona"
(c) 1996, 2004, 2008
Michael had a bad motorcycle accident. It was a miracle he survived. The kick stand of a friend’s bike dropped down while Michael was test-driving it at 60 mph on a curvy road north of Oracle, Arizona. The kickstand suddenly embedded itself in the asphalt and he went airborne and corkscrewed himself, head first, into a road bank. Crushed a bunch of vertebrates. A long rehab followed but afterwards, Michael could still walk with a cane.
Now, 23 years later, he’s in a wheelchair due to a slow growing cyst that is squeezing his spinal cord. He meditates to deal with the chronic pain, instead of using drugs. He’s a quiet gentle man with a very dry sense of humor and a deep spiritual side. He’s the best listener I know. He’s one of my best friends.
We have just eaten dinner at El Mineto, a small Mexican restaurant near the Tucson Convention Center. As we leave, we go outside to visit El Tiradito, an old shrine, supposedly the only holy shrine in America dedicated to a sinner.
The shrine sits in a vacant lot next door to the restaurant, consisting of the ruined remains of a house with only the back brick wall still standing. On this night, as on any night, many candles burn, and tokens, photographs, and gifts are laid on and around the back wall. So many candles have burned here over the decades that the old wax has made a large black sticky pad of the ground.
There are many stories regarding how the shrine came to be, but I tend to believe the story a Yaqui Indian I used to work with, told me. Then again, he did have a habit of teaching me Spanish cuss words and then telling me they were polite greetings.
The story goes that in the 1800’s, a young man fell in love with his wife’s mother. His father-in-law found out about the affair and killed him at this house. Since he was a sinner in the eyes of the church, for being in love (and probably having sex) with his mother-in-law, he couldn’t be buried in consecrated ground at the nearby Roman Catholic Church’s cemetery. Legend has it that he was buried under the front porch of this house. The house is mostly gone now as is the porch, but he is supposedly still here, presumably completely covered in melted wax by now. Many women of the community took pity on the young man’s soul, and came and prayed for him. It’s said it was quite a vigil and went on for years and years. (Sometime I wonder if the prayers of those women were simply ‘Please God, don’t have my own son-in-law fall in love with me.’)
Then over time, men and women would come and pray at this site, not for the murdered lover, but for people that had become lost to them. Maybe they didn’t know where a loved one physically was, or that they were lost to an addiction and a darkness of some kind, or just lost because they were lost. No matter. They came and they prayed.
Now, so many years later, people come and pray and bring tall votive candles with the saints printed on them, and small color photographs of those they love, and brightly red, yellow and green plastic flowers, and little tokens like car keys and Christian medals to the shrine. It is said that if you bring a candle and pray for something or someone, your prayer will come true if the candle burns all the way down. A gift that I and others do, is go to El Tiradito when we are in the area and relight the blown out candles. For me, it’s not because I’m a great guy. It’s simply that if I had a candle burning, I would want someone to relight my candle too.
Michael and I were taking in El Tiradito, the wax, the candles, the blackened back wall, the little objects, when I brought up my upcoming plans to go back to art school and my doubts about doing it. I was working at the time as a substance abuse counselor at a prison, and to go to photography school would require that I give up my three day weekend (poor baby) and go to school on Saturday. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to do both well, for the prison took a lot out of me, but then again, I really wanted to learn how to print black and white film onto black and white paper. (Up to that point I was shooting only color transparencies). I was hemming and hawing when Michael suddenly said,
“It will change your life.”
“Pardon me?” I said
“It will change your life” Michael said again. The same five words.
“It will change my life going and learning how to print?”
“Yep.”
“Wow, you usually aren’t that demonstrative, Michael.”
“I know, but it will change your life.”
I laughed.
Michael and I have laughed often about that night in 1996. Prior to that night, an image of mine of El Tiradito had won a Blue Ribbon at the Pima County Fair, and I had been in a show or two. That’s about it since graduating from art school in 1979. Now, I have a great art representative; I had a one man show in the Spring, and I just got back from Atlanta, where they flew me out to do an art installation of alfalfa, Christmas lights, music and images for a conference on mythology. Taking that black and white photo printing class at Pima Community College in 1997 has, well, changed my life.
"Blue Man Group In Tucson" (c) 2007 BMG & Stu Jenks
[Images: "Blue Man Begins", "Up To The Roof", & "Floppie The Banjo Clown"]
The first time I saw Blue Man Group, I cried. Halfway through the Vegas show, it hit me that hundred of people were paying a hundred dollars a head, to see really good Conceptual Art. (I told a joke back in my Art School days, about my weird-ass performance pieces. That Conceptual Art is Stand-Up Comedy that isn’t funny. Not true for BMG.) It moved me to tears, watching the funny and poignant Blue Men, silently comment on Art, Consumerism, Relationships and many other things, in a comic and beautiful way. At $100 a pop.
A few years ago, I saw them again in Phoenix, when they were touring their Complex Rock tour, a parody of the Rock Concert experience. The drumming was great, the band was hot, the Blue Men were very funny but the crowd sucked. When asked to stand up and participate by the Men, Annie and I were the only ones out of hundreds in the audience to get up and rock out. Fucking Phoenicians. They sat there like they were watching television. Venus Hum and Tracy Bonham performed too, alone and with the Blue Men. Overall, it was a really fun night.
Last week, out of the blue, I got a free ticket to Blue Man, to see the 'How-to-be-a-Megastar-tour' as it came through town. I saw that they were coming months ago but I couldn't afford the 100 bucks, not with all the credit card debt I was carrying. Except for the addition of Floppie the Banjo Clown and the hiring of studio musicians to replace Venus Hum and Tracy Bonham, it appeared, from looking online, that it was basically the same show I saw three years ago. Noticing that Blue Man had fan-taken photos on their website, I talked myself and my camera into the Tucson Convention Center. (The ticket taker didn’t want to let me in but when I said “They are encouraging people to take pictures on their website" he relented. What I didn't tell him was ‘Every image on the Blue Man website, submitted by fans, was taken with a piece-of-shit cell phone camera, and I have a Canon 30D in my bag.' I left out that little bit of information.) I went to my seat but it was next to a couple in their sixties, who looked very out of place. An American 21st Century phenomenon: The Retired Rich, bored, looking for something, anything to do, go and experience Culture. For them, it's like looking at monkeys in the zoo. We talked a bit, and I was nice enough, but the guy keeps reaching for his Blackberry, checking the score of the Packers’ game. The Arena was only half full so I went up and moved more toward backstage and found a great seat. And since I’d seen the show before, and it was basically the same, I focused as much on the band as I did on the Blue Men. I got to tell you, having professional studio musicians, rocking out, is a beautiful thing. The band consisted of two guitarists, two keyboard players, a bassist, two vocalists and three drummers. Counting the Blue Men, that's six percussionists playing at some points in the show. Personal favorite moments were the song “Up To The Roof” and the banging of the big drum during the opening number. “I Feel Love” wasn’t a bad performance, but it was nothing like the electric singing of Venus Hum a few years back. All in all, I had a good time.
Then yesterday, a bit of the shine came off of the apple of Blue Man Group, when I dug a little deeper online.
Long and short of it, Blue Man Group (BMG) has a history of being union busters. They hired non-union labor in Toronto in 2005 when the big permanent show went there. That ain’t great. But the real travesty is when they moved their Vegas show in 2006 from the Luxor to the Venetian, they opted then to go non-union, leaving their crew that came from the Luxor, who were union, without health insurance and pensions. The workers organized and became members of Local 720 of the IATSE, but BMG refused to talk with the workers and they have been fighting in the courts ever since. I’m a Union man myself. I don’t like every Union but I believe in the principle and the need for the worker to be protected from The Man. My Dad once said, “If Management is doing their job, there is no need for Unions.” But as his son now adds, “Management, these days mostly, ain’t doing their job to help and care for their workers. We are back to being cogs again. So Unions are necessary.” And specifically what I have against Blue Man Group is that the three guys who started it, and their investors, have been making money hand over fist, since 1991. Share the wealth, pals. Don’t be a dick. As I've said often of the greedy, "Just how much money do you need? I won't buy you Love or Happiness. Comfort, yes, and a good blowjob, but not Love. Not Happiness!"
I still love what Blue Man Group produces, but I won’t be giving them anymore of my money, via tickets or CDs or DVDs, until they recognize Local 720 in Vegas. But I'd be dishonest to say I’m unhappy that I got a free ticket to Blue Man Group last week. I had a pretty good time. Now, Floppie and Blue Boys? Do the right thing and pay your crew union wages and give them health care too! You've got the coin.
"All Souls' Through The Eyes Of Others" (c) 2007 Stu Jenks , Tom Willett, Jeff Smith, Cathy Spann, Leigh Anne DelRay, Karen A. Dombrowski-Sobel and Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli.
[More images from the All Souls' Procession. Photos by great photographers I know and love here in Tucson. I'll give line credit as we go. The top image is one of mine of the Balloon Girl rehearsing at dusk. Remember: Click on the images and they become much bigger.]
[The above two images were taken by the great local photographer Jeff Smith, i.e Jefe]
[This shot from the 6th Avenue underpass was taken by man-about-town Tom Willett]
[The next two images of Stu with the Pipers, and of an elderly woman with Death, were taken by the ever-fetching Karen A. Dombrowski-Sobel]
[These images of Hoops and Poi come from the passionate and big hearted Leigh Anne DelRay]
[These amazing images were taken by the polite man with the kind face, Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli]
[The photos of the Beasts of Burden, the Procession of the Urn, and of the Healthy War Man were made by the lovely and talented woman with the infectious laugh, Cathy Spann]
[And last but not least, a few more images by yours truly]
"Tumamoc Vision, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2007 Stu Jenks
"The Christ in Barrio Viejo, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2007 Stu Jenks
[Taken at a shrine in a vacant lot in this Barrio just south of Downtown Tucson. Barrio Viejo is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tucson. Used to be much larger until 'Urban Renewal' destroyed much of it in the 1960's, to build the ugly Tucson Convention Center and some other forgetable buildings. Many of the original Latino families have moved or have been moved elsewhere, but some still live in The Old Neighborhood. Mostly now it's occupied by middle class whites, some working poor people, the elderly, and a few artists and musicians. It's a checkerboard of $400,000 gentrified courtyard homes, modest family adobes and simple working-class row houses. But the spirit of Barrio Viejo still lives. As a longtime resident said, "The barrio will never disappear. It has gone through a lot of changes, even urban renewal, but it's the families that made the barrio no matter how many times the city tried to move them. They can't get rid of us." This image is for Charles DeLint, Ari Berk and James Graham.]
"Miss Piggy at Tumamoc Hill, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2007 Stu Jenks
[Taken at a shrine at the base of Tumamoc Hill, just west of Downtown Tucson. This image is for Cathy Spann.]
"75 Simpson Street, Barrio Viejo, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2007 Stu Jenks
"Otero Goddess" (c) Stu Jenks 2007
“The Passion of The Refs: The Semifinals of Tucson Roller Derby” © September 2007 Stu Jenks
Odd
thing being a photographer for TRD. I often have the best seat in the
house, but, at the same time, since I’m working, I don’t know what’s
going on. I don’t know which team is ahead or behind, or what the pack is doing. (I do know who the lead jammers are though and
I do keep an eye on the pivots.) I’m basically a brain/soul/body/spirit connected to an
eyeball, connected to a lens, connected to a little computer. I’m
constantly looking for The Image: The jammer out in front of the pack;
the clash between jammer and pivot and the other blockers; the small
details that others in the crowd can’t see due to their lack of
proximity. The announcers’ play-by-play and banter is just a drone in
the background. I’m basically perpetually looking for The Shot. It’s what
photogs do, I’m afraid. A blessing and a curse. One big eyeball.
Luckily though, last
Saturday, I was able to disengage from my eternal quest for The Shot
and enjoy the bouts between Iron Curtain and The Furious Truckstop Waitresses and between
Vice Squad and The Copper Queens. I mostly attribute this to my plan before I got there, of shifting of
my focus away from the skaters at times, and more toward the refs, the
timers and the scorekeepers. I shot the referees primarily because
I knew I would have close access to them and they all have wonderful faces too.
(Too close to the officials at one point. Sorry again, Johnny Crash,
for getting in the way that one time. I am teachable if nothing else.) Again, I shot the game action like I had at other times, but how
many more shots of Flo or Penny do we really need, leading a jam? So,
on Saturday night, I shot those other hard-working men and women of The Derby, who, if it
weren’t for them, it would just be athletic women in nice clothes,
skating counter-clockwise.
I was particularly struck by
the passion of the refs to get it right. It’s a lot of work to record
the points, to call the minor and major penalties, to keep order in the
structured chaos. Also, the intensity in the eyes of the scorekeepers
was striking as well. I’m guessing the light in their eyes is no
different than those who keep score in Division One College Basketball
or in NFL Football, for the expectation of absolute accuracy is the
same: They need to get it right. Every time.
So all hail to the Refs,
the Scorekeepers, the Merch People, the Timekeepers, The Announcers,
the Security People, the EMTs, the Derby Widowers, and the dozens of other unsung (or less
sung) heroes of The Roller Derby. I know the women really appreciate you all,
as do I and many others.
And maybe next time, I’ll get a better shot
of a dedicated Security Person, rather than a soft-focus image of them in
the background. And hopefully I’ll get an image of an EMT at the ready, one of these days. And more shots of the Derby Widowers.
I did get a nice shot of a big man in a pink boa, though.
Gongala, Gongala. So I got that going for me.
[Addendum:
FTW and Vice advanced to the Finals. FTW beat Iron Curtain 113 to 82
(but it was closer than that), and Vice defeated The Copper Queens, 112
to 92, again, a closer match than the score reflects.]
Other favorite moments from TRD’s Semi-Finals:
1)
Sneaking up on the man with the pink boa, my attempt to be
ninja-like, an invisible grasshopper, getting close enough to capture
a candid image of this man.
2) Cheap Ore slamming into the
Announcers’ Table, in the final seconds of her bout against Vice, and
her then springing to her feet, smile on her face, dusting herself off,
and being hugged by players and fans alike.
3) Chatting with
Ruby Hellcat, at a break about this and that (I won’t tell), but once
again, struck by how much shorter and more vulnerable Roller Derby
Girls are, without their skates on. On go the wheels, and all of these
women seem to become ten feet tall and bulletproof.
4) Noticing for the first time, that the ref, Strictly Bizniz, has a sticker of Mr. Natural on his helmet. I smiled as I took the shot.
5)
And finally, being struck, over and over again, by the high level of
professionalism by everyone involved. And I’m not being pollyanna-ish
here. There is an dark underbelly, conflicts, stresses, sadnesses, disappointments, like with all things. But I just feel
fortunate and grateful to be able to help as I can.
As I was picking up some negs at Photographic Works today, talking about the bouts to the staff there, I said the below, and it ain't the first time I've said it to someone.
"Roller Derby is one of the last pure sports. Played for the love of the game."
Championship is this Saturday. Hope to see you there.
[Images from top to bottom: Pink, the New Black; Seven Refs; 1.17 seconds; Octet of Refs; Kali and Doe Pivots; The Doe and Flo Show; Flo on Turn Four; Bolshe and Doe; Ruby's Gaze; Downtown Dave and Che; Kay Boom and the Boy Scorers; The Two Scorers; The Scorekeepers' Eyes; Eeka's Wheels; Great Barrier Ref; Penalty Girl; Johnny Crash; Mr. Natural; Good Sports; Pink and Mista Miner; The Back Stretch; Ferocious, Kay, and Sami; Polly Graf; Polly, Carrie, and Kay Boom; Cheap Ore's Profile; Copper Blur; Penny Again; Cheap Ore in the End; & The Pink Boa. Prints available upon request, at a good price.]
"TTT" (c) 2007 Stu Jenks
[If I hadn't of thrown a belt on the Pathfinder, I won't have stopped at the TTT Truckstop and taken this shot. Bad belt. Good shot.]
"The Saddletramps" (c) 2007 Stu Jenks
These portraits were taken at Trail Dust Town, here in Tucson, Arizona. These are the Saddletramps, Tucson's All-Star Roller Derby Team. They are going to Austin, Texas in a month, to compete in the National Championship. Easily, Tucson is ranked second or third in the country, depending on who you talk to. I didn't included all the portraits I took last Sunday in this blog entry, only because some of the images, due to my lack of creativity and experience, just were kind of average and boring. Believe you me, NONE of these talented women-athletes are average or boring. Just my shooting, sometimes. Wish them well as they travel to Texas to hopefully bring home the championship trophy.
[From top to bottom: Metal Maiden, Saddletramps on the Carousel, Deadlock Doe Holliday, Barbicide, Kali Ishnikov, Liberty Valancezula, Cheap Ore, Flo On The Range, Sassy Sue, and Whiskey Mick.]
"El Tiradito, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 1996, 2007 Stu Jenks
Lot's happened since I took this image in 1996. Too much to say. Went to school, got a job, started my little Art business. Lost money, made money, spend some more. Loved and lost and found love too. Never did digitize El Tiradito though, nor even thought about making a giclee of it, until I got a email the other day, that said my image got selected for inclusion into a book of a friend, whose book is being published by a very prestigious house in New York City. Found an old 8 x 10, scanned, cleaned and color-corrected it, and I just now sent it off, via a file sending service, to the editor of my friend's book. (I'm leaving out the specifics for I don't want to screw up the deal.)
El Tiradito is one of the first images I ever took with the old Rollei I bought from Sterling, for $45. (I talked him up from $25.) My first nocturnal image to get into a show or hung in a gallery. Even won a blue ribbon at the Pima County Fair. Now, it's going to New York City. Think of that.
If you want to read more about the taking of this photo and the legend behind El Tiradito, click on the below link. http://www.stujenks.com/stories/tiradito.html And wish it well on its digital journey to New York.
"A Very Large God" by Stu Jenks
[I've been asked to show my work, this September, in the lobby outside the sanctuary at Unity of Tucson. Right now, they have the work of a nature photographer in that space. A lot of smallish images, around twenty plus photographs. I'm taking another approach. Less is more. A few very large images, five, seven tops. Last night, I looked at the space again, peeking through the windows at dusk, the air thick with humidity after a monsoon storm. Horny toad lizards were literally at my feet, like desert house cats. I said hello to tell in baby talk. They just slowly walked back to the bushes, to sleep under the bougainvilleas near the front doors. Sweet.
Below is a revised vision statement from 2003. A few things have been added but not that much. My artistic worldview and my thoughts on the Sacred hasn't change that much in four years. Only the specifics joys, pains and worries have.
I know that the vast majority of my friends, family, patrons and fans won't be able to visit Unity of Tucson to see the show, but you all can visit it here, virtually, any time you like. If you want to see the show in person, it will be up, at Unity of Tucson, 3617 N. Camino Blanco, Tucson, Arizona, from September 2nd to September 30. The church is
![Laxmii's Flight [Flam Chen]](http://stujenks.typepad.com/photos/circle_stories_vol_1_hoop/./laxmiisflight4-thumb.jpg)
