Photo New York

The show goes well but we're reminded that the only thing worse than artists are the snobs who buy art. Mike is good at talking to people (even rich folks) but the rest of us spend most of the weekend in and around the van (behind the blue velvet rope) drinking Jim Beam. I am feeling genuinely hostile towards the oft-condescending crowd of art snobs and millionaires.

It's been several years since I've been in New York. Unfortunately we don't get much time to just hang out in New York and visit friends because we're all busy with the show. The heavy rainstorms makes wandering around the city less appealing as well. Mike signs copies of his book and I'm surprised to find people are interested in some of the quick paintings I hacked out along the road. Some people get photos for free by peeling them directly off the car at night. Soon Photo New York is over and we're eager to haul ass back to California as quick as possible. Everyone's a bit sick of being around each other 24 hours a day and we're all completely broke. But we had a lot of fun. Thanks to all the people who helped us out on our trip.

Charm City

Baltimeore! after the long journey, We spend some time hanging out with Melina's friend, Panda, then it's four days of printing an assembling the installation for the show. We randomly run into John Waters at a photo store and give him some tickets to Photo NY. Where else but "the City that Reads?" Va-voom!

in the hands of the law!

hurricane refugees from N.O.

Ashevillians

Waiting for us in Asheville, North Carolina was our old friend Topper “Top Ramen” Holiday and his ruckus crew of “AsheVillains”. After years of couch surfing at our place, it seemed we would finally have a chance to cash in some Topr Points and eat all his food, sleep in his bed, dump all our shit all over his floor, not do any dishes and spend all day watching crappy movies. Toppers lady and our gracious host, Kelly-Ann, had a fabulous feast awaiting us, and that night we went to the bar where she works and tried our best to show Asheville what photocar was made of. Topper and his Fist Family folks performed on stage and with the exception of a lost jacket and a stolen purse, things went pretty smoothly. The next morning we all agreed Asheville was worth a return visit, and came to the conclusion that any town where we didn’t get beat up, was a friendly town indeed.

The next day delivered two of our most promising photo opportunities yet. An authentic retired Mexican wrestler and his wife, and two backwoods boys showing their true American grit. We left Asheville the same way we left most of the towns we’ve visited, with a desire to stay longer, and then we were off to Baltimore and the final stage of our trip.