Somewhere in Wyoming, 1981 (4×5 film) — © Brian Rose
First some disappointing news. My application for a grant from the Graham Foundation to photograph the New Religious Landscape, a project focused on Megachurches and their surrounding areas was unsuccessful. At this point, it is just about impossible for me to take on ambitious projects like this without external funding.
I’ve spent the last two days writing an article for a special edition of the Fast Folk magazine dedicated to Jack Hardy, the late songwriter. Scroll down for earlier posts on Hardy. It is basically the story of my relationship with Jack from 1977 to 1984 during which time we hung out in Greenwich Village folk clubs,, traveled across country together and established the Fast Folk, a monthly LP/magazine of the latest songs from our weekly songwriters meetings. I may post the article here later, but I don’t want to preempt the Fast Folk, which will be available online–probably through the Smithsonian Folkways record label. Stay tuned for that.
The photograph above was taken while driving with Hardy through Wyoming in 1981. There are many other pictures from that trip, and none have ever been printed. A slight light leak in my view camera caused streaking on about half of the images making them near impossible to print–the old way in the darkroom. The defect is easily remedied with Photoshop. So, stay tuned for a series of images taken all over the United States in the early ’80s.
Hi Brian,
That’s a beautiful photo. I attended the songwriters meetings in the early 90’s and
on and off through the late 90’s and 2004-2006.
Jack was a real inspiration to me and I can
only hope that people will listen to his
beautiful songs now and in the future. It’s hard
to think of him not being in the world but
he was truly loved and admired by a lot of people
and I know he’ll live on in all of our memorys.
I’ll look forward to reading the article you’re writing about Jack when it comes out. I’m sure he’d apprecitate it.
Sincerely,
Sheila
Thanks for your comment Sheila. I’ve finished the article about Jack. It basically covers the time period of 1977 to 1984 during which the songwriters exchange and the Fast Folk got started. I write about meeting Jack, and a few years later, Suzanne Vega. The heart of the story is a four week trip he and I took driving across the country and back. There’s lots of stuff about Jack that I think will be new to most people, even surprising. I really worked hard on it, and hope that it does justice to an extraordinary individual. I’m tempted to post it now, but I think the Fast Folk tribute will be available fairly soon, and I’d rather have it come out there first.