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This is the latest entry in my Common Chords music column.

I met Jim and Charlie through a show at the South By Southeast concert series in Myrtle Beach. Because of Jim’s reluctance to be captured on video, I decided to produce a less intrusive soundslide program about their story.

Their friendship reminds me of my own with longtime buddy and blood Raymond “Bubba” Mabe. 

Here is a link to my other blog Common Chords and the growing lists of musicians I’m gathering. On this blog I publish the story I wrote for the paper and include audio clips from the musicians. 

This one is dedicated to Bubba.

rlh

Kelly Joe Andrews, a rider with East Coast Stunters, performs during the group’s Friday night performance at The Dog House, North during the Crusinin The Coast Spring Rally along the Grand Strand.

The loud Harleys are gone for this year’s “Cruisin The Coast Spring Rally” and next comes the crotch rockets during the Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bikefest. Both rallies are fun to cover but you never know what you’ll see during AB week.

With all the controversy over May’s bike weeks in Myrtle Beach, it will be interesting to see how the MB police handle the Black bikers during the road blocks set for this week. Will my friend Mickey James and the NAACP be watching?

I know I’ll be watching.

rlh  

Joey Stone, a biker from Taylors, S.C., grimaces after getting a kiss from a dog named “Prissy” Thursday at the Broken Spoke Saloon in Garden City Beach. Stone and his friends were enjoying festivities at the Cruisin’ The Coast Spring Rally held this week along the Grand Strand.

Covering the May bike rallies in Myrtle Beach is like taking a class in Testosterone. You see all kinds of politically incorrect maleness everywhere. For that matter there’s plenty of female violations of the PC codes. 

In the past, as a photojournalist shooting just for print, I would look to tone down the rallies with my coverage and look for less edgy moments. I felt a conflict, because this is not the way the rallies are. They are in you face, blunt, sexual and terribly politically incorrect.

With the advent of the Internet and the galleries we produce for thesunnews.com, I’ve been able to not restrict my coverage and tell the truth no matter how blunt it is.

In the end I’ve garnered a more truthful connection with my own maleness. Yes, I can’t help but look at that beautiful woman in the thong bikini.

You know what? I want to look.

Here is a gallery from Suck Bang Blow shot on Wednesday.

Here is a gallery from The Broken Spoke Saloon from Thursday

rlh 

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It’s a strange life when your last two posts are as diverse as mine. However, I live in a crazy area where diversity is still a mixture like oil and water.

Wednesday, I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with professional burnout rider Nick Lee.

He has a hard life on the road but is genuine about his passion to keep biker’s freedoms and carry on traditions.

The night before, during one of his shows, he suffered 2nd degree burns after his bike’s frame reached temperatures of close to 460 degrees. (He has a special tool to measure point temperatures on his bike.)

As far as the video is concerned, I used two camera vantage points to shoot this piece. One of my 5D’s was mounted on a tripod and perched on a balcony on the roof of the bar. The other, fitted with a wide-angle lens is handheld by myself nearby the artist.

If you look again you can see me wearing the green t-shirt and sometimes a little too close for comfort. Other visual journalists (especially TV shooters) tell me I always get in their shots. I now feel their pain. Somehow I got in my own way. But with the action, I don’t think you notice that much.

It took me pretty much the whole night to edit and cut this video because I had a difficult time cutting so much of the cool footage. In the end I kept it under my 3-minute rule.

Sorry, I would write more but I got to get some sleep.

rlh

Sunday was the Buddhist celebration Visakha Puja at Wat Carolina and I was fortunate to be able to attend. With my recent move south, I now have a long drive to my spiritual center.

Visakha Puja commemorates three events in the Buddha’s life that each took place on this full-moon day: his birth, awakening, and death.

The ceremony concludes with Abbot Chao Khun leading the participants around the temple carrying flowers, a candle and burning incense.

Sadly I found out resident monk Phra Theip (pictured below) is going back to Thailand to practice his studies in his home country. It has been great to have his wonderful abilities with the English language and his kind spirit at the temple to translate complex Buddhist philosophies. We will miss him.

rlh