About loungelistener  

Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time.
~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a common place thing, but burn burn burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.
~ Jack Kerouac, On The Road

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night
~Allen Ginsberg, Howl

Boys from the city. Not yet caught by the whirlwind of Progress. Feed soda pop to the thirsty pigs.
~ Narrator, Beast Of Yucca Flats


I'm a 49yr old Union Stagehand (IATSE Local 38) that lives in the Detroit area. The nickname comes from my strange fondness for 50s & 60s lounge music, production music, exotica (no, NOT "erotica")... all that sort of music stuff our parents listened to in 50s/60s Suburbia. The relics of a gentler, more neighborly time, even though we were all ready to "Duck & Cover" at a moments notice!

Before taking a staff position with a local theater in 1996, I toured all over the world on the crew for various bands. (Bad Company, Ted Nugent, REO Speedwagon, Foghat, Earl Klugh, The Cult, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, etc) It was a lot of fun, but so's working my current job, so touring has gone on the back burner. I still see friends from the road when they're in town though, and that keeps the urge to tour at bay... for now. (laugh)

I own a 1958 Edsel Pacer, a 1959 Edsel Villager station wagon, and a 1953 Cadillac Series 62 sedan. No, I'm not some rich collector. I scrimped to buy them and use them for family vacations & driving enjoyment.

I travel every chance I get, and shoot photos of whatever strikes me at the moment. I love neon, Googie, strange stuff, and... well, I never know what I'll shoot. Digital has made it easy (and cheap!) to just click away, and separate the wheat from the chaff later.

I am not a photographer. I take photographs. Someday I hope to be good enough to feel comfortable being called "photographer". If just once in my life I can take a photograph with 1/64th the power and visual impact of Dorothea Lange, I will be able to die a happy man.

Most of my photos were taken with my trusty Kodak P850 (probably one of the best "point-n-shoot" cameras in it's time), but I've recently felt constrained by a P&S camera, so I bought a Nikon D40 DSLR, and will be getting used to that for a while. :-)



Please respect copyrights. Do not use my photos (or scans) without my express written permission. This includes blogging them. Thank you.

Awards: To those giving "awards". Nice and all, and gee thanks, but please don't post some giant graphic/photo with your "YOU JUST WON MY AWARD" comment. It throws a wrench into the conversations. Do you really need to post a graphic? Wouldn't some nice plain text say/mean as much? If this means no award for me, then that's OK too. I'm not here for "awards" anyway. Same for group invites. Please.. don't use some huge graphic, ok? Just a text invite will do. Thanks for respecting my wishes.

Edsel Dealerships!: I'm trying to document old Edsel Dealership locations, and I'm trying to enlist the help of other Flickrites. If you're interested in helping photograph what's there now, look here.

My Groups:

Motel Postcards
Motel & Hotel Signs
Lost Weekends
Vintage Calendar Art
Civic Pride
Woodmen Of The World (& Tree Grave Markers)
Lustron: The House America's Been Waiting For!
That Old Time Religion (Small Churches)
Old, Rusty, & Corroded!

Groups I help administer:

Roadside America
The National Road
See The Sign
Edsel
Strange & Wonderful Capitals of the World!

I hope you'll check these out, hopefully join, and perhaps add some of your stuff too.
:-)

I'm Male and Taken.