CITY DAILY PHOTO JULY THEME - FLEA MARKETS

There used to be a wonderful big annual flea market in St. Louis to benefit the symphony called the Gypsy Caravan. I would go shoot every years. Sadly, they had trouble keeping an appropriate venue, it moved to the outer suburbs and gradually withered. You could find all sorts of interesting stuff but I wouldn’t try to restore this violin.

See bric-a-brack found by City Daily Photo members around the world at https://citydailyphoto.org/category/theme-days/                 

ANTHEM

On the Artica main stage, the musician who calls herself Celia entertains the crowd. The festival has a pretty good logo, a graphic representation of Our Lady of Artica, the giant effigy that goes up in flames at the end of the last night.              

Canción Mexicana

A Mexican festival needs Mexican music. I'm a bit amazed by people who play this kind of accordion. A piano keyboard gives a performer reference points to the notes. This instrument just has dots strewn across it. Must take a long time to learn.      

Inside, Where It's Warm...

It

Once past the frigid courtyard at Nathalie's, we stepped into the swanky bar and found that there was entertainment for the evening. Coco Rico (which, I am told, is the French equivalent of cock-a-doodle-doo) is a duo that plays jazz acoustic guitar in the tradition of Django Reinhardt. (If you don't know the name, look and listen on YouTube here.) 

These musicians have an elegant, polished style with runs of great virtuosity. Their fingers do things I couldn't dream of. Locals, definitely worth your time if you have a chance to hear them.                     

Country Music

Lynn Owsley and fellow musicians performed in a rather small, uncrowded conference room at the hotel where the Steel Guitar Conference took place. It was an intimate setting for them, the audience and, happily, your photographer. The singer had a rich, nuanced baritone. Looks like a sad song from his expression. Country music is full of sad songs.

The smiling man in the red shirt is The Reverend Horton Heat, someone even I know and like. He and his sidemen were playing at the Big Muddy Blues festival that night near the river, belting out their style known as psychobilly. 

The bottom shot is another plaque in the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Just really like the name.

TOMORROW: 太鼓. No, I can't read it either but I know it when I hear it.         

Still Life With Stringed Instruments

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From a sale table at the Gypsy Caravan. I've had a go at both of these instruments in my time. I took violin for five or six years when I was a kid. Although classical music was a great love even in childhood, attempts to play the fiddle were a failure: good ears, bad hands.  I could distinguish Heifetz from Stern on recordings but my clumsy fingers couldn't play double-stops or trills to save my life. Later, I picked up a used electric guitar. Never made it past Louie Louie for the same reason. The image brings back memories, though.

An Artist's Hands

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I am amazed at people who can play a musical instrument really well. It takes a degree of physical coordination and accuracy I can't comprehend. Way back when, I studied both violin and piano. Good ear, bad hands. On the piano, I could not make my fingers on the left and right sides do different things at the same time. Then, thank heaven, CDs were invented.

Chris Burchett's hands danced over his guitar strings. It was fascinating to watch them while listening to his music.

It's a nice afternoon on Downtown St. Louis 365.

String Theory

No, not that kind. Some of the entertainment at last weekend's Cinco de Mayo festival was provided by a really good R&B band. Not very Mexican but they had their own brand of hot sauce. I took this picture of the bass player with a 400 mm lens. Only when I looked it at the computer did I see that his instrument had five strings. I used to own both an electric guitar and an electric bass in my wayward youth. (Couldn't play either of them worth a damn.) The bass had four strings, the regular guitar had six strings unless it didn't because it was a twelve-string and, well, that's how it was. Never heard of a five string bass before. Can one of you musicians out there illuminate the subject?

TOMORROW: Mother, son, bunny ears.