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08/17/2010 08:19:46 PM · #1 |
A funny thing happened to me today, after work, on the way to my bus stop.
I'm walking to my bus stop, putting my camera away after taking no good street photos. Most days end like this. I look up, and there's Herbie Hancock with a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand. Struggling to get my camera back out, I'm interrupted when a man approaches me and offers me a roll of 35mm film. Somewhat bewildered, I thank him as I watch Herbie disappear into a building. No photo. Just free film. A few minutes pass...
In a park across the street, they're setting up a stage for a jazz concert they have each week during the summer (which I'm sure does not include Herbie). An old lady is walking toward me, and I recognize her as someone with whom I had an encounter several years ago at one of these concerts. I was there with my family, and she told me I should have left my kid at home (my son was nine or ten at the time and not being at all annoying). I give her a dirty look as she passes. Seconds later, as I'm about to board my bus, she taps me on the shoulder and asks me to help her cross the street. I oblige, of course, as she takes my arm and we cross Penn Avenue together.
I run back across the street now, just in time to catch my bus. I board the bus and sit down, and the lady next to me says, "How sweet, you helped that lady cross the street. I almost took a picture!"
I wonder what it all means (?).
(Totally true story, by the way.)
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08/17/2010 08:26:02 PM · #2 |
| It means you were dreaming about photography again. Too bad you missed the celeb shot. Any idea why a stranger would hand you a roll of film? Maybe he saw who you were trying to shoot a pic of and wanted to help? |
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08/17/2010 08:32:14 PM · #3 |
You're a good guy, Brian.
LOL @ the woman asking you for help after being a snot to you before.
Who's Herbie Hancock?
*off to Google*
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08/17/2010 08:50:36 PM · #4 |
That name brings back such memories. When I was a child, my dad's company had a house in Acapulco, which we visited with some frequency. One afternoon, when my mom, brother, and I returned from the beach, dad was holding court at the house with a bunch of people we didn't know. Turns out they were Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Mann (not Hancock as I thought when I started this story...), and two other jazz greats. Just sitting there shooting the breeze with my dad. He was very charming that way. Just struck up a conversation and invited them over. And they came :-)
As for your story, in my life philosophy, the nasty lady story is about having an opportunity of reframing a negative experience into a positive one, and to be of service, which is a gift. The missed celeb part I think is that you have wonders all around you - opportunities - and perhaps you are too hasty in giving up at the end of the day. I never put my camera "away" when I am out. Only retire it when I get home.
That'll be 5 cents please :-)
edit to add: I have no idea what the free film was about.
Message edited by author 2010-08-17 20:51:47. |
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08/17/2010 08:51:25 PM · #5 |
Sadly, it means you are getting old.
The gentleman offering you the film obviously believed you were a throwback from the olden days where film was the only photographic mechanism available. The woman sadly did not recognize you because you had changed so much over the years, whereas you on the other hand, felt obliged to help, remembering your Boy Scout motto, and because you still harbour a desire to please your mother.
Lastly, the lady on the bus considered taking a picture because she thought that with your advancing age, your memory might not be what it used to be, but she resisted the urge for fear of offending you.
Now you know... :O)
Ray |
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08/17/2010 08:54:52 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by RayEthier:
Sadly, it means you are getting old.
The gentleman offering you the film obviously believed you were a throwback from the olden days where film was the only photographic mechanism available. The woman sadly did not recognize you because you had changed so much over the years, whereas you on the other hand, felt obliged to help, remembering your Boy Scout motto, and because you still harbour a desire to please your mother.
Lastly, the lady on the bus considered taking a picture because she thought that with your advancing age, your memory might not be what it used to be, but she resisted the urge for fear of offending you.
Now you know... :O)
Ray |
LOL...
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08/17/2010 08:54:55 PM · #7 |
Lydia - lol, really? Are you really googling? hehe
Brian - what an interesting story. Sounds like some kind of crazy kismet going on. It would have been great if the woman took your pic lol. |
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08/17/2010 08:56:42 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
Who's Herbie Hancock?
*off to Google* |
oh my god! you OBVIOUSLY were not a break dancer in the 80's.......
for lydia and all the other weirdo's :) <-- aside from a classic song, probably one of the most original/avant garde videos ever made
Message edited by author 2010-08-17 20:59:00. |
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08/17/2010 09:01:25 PM · #9 |
Upon my first reading of your post two questions came to mind:
1. Could you use the gift of the film?
2. Did the (nasty) old lady relieve you of the film (or your wallet) on the way across the street.
Upon reflection.
This could make a fine Charlie Chaplin-like silent movie, with perhaps, a John Adams or Arnold Schoenberg soundtrack.
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08/17/2010 09:01:31 PM · #10 |
| I should add tho that Herbie Hancock could sit next to me on that bus and I would not know that is was him lol |
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08/17/2010 09:41:30 PM · #11 |
You have been whammed by the gods. Either that or you are in Czechoslovakia and your last name begins with a K.
Message edited by author 2010-08-17 22:03:38. |
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08/17/2010 09:48:53 PM · #12 |
You in Pittsburgh?
R.
Message edited by author 2010-08-17 21:49:44.
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08/17/2010 09:59:27 PM · #13 |
I think I can buy Johanna's interpretation. Ray's -- I'm not so sure (though it was much funnier).
Michelle, I recognized him as I saw him in concert a few years back. Also, he is in town performing, and there are posters of him everywhere. I'm a huge fan -- but mostly of his early Blue Note (jazz) stuff.
Yes, I can use the film. If digital weren't so damn convenient, I would shoot only film. What I got though, was a package of drugstore film that looks like it had fallen in the river.
Alice, we should talk music some time. I love Schoenberg. John Adams, not so much, although I did have the opportunity to meet him a few years back. My son performed the Transmigration as part of a children's chorus and under the composer's baton. But I digress. The idea of my daily mishaps being set to a twelve-tone musical theme is somehow fitting. |
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08/17/2010 10:09:46 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by tanguera:
Just struck up a conversation and invited them over. And they came :-)
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Reminds me of Mr. Fred Rogers... A friend of mine's hubby found him walking along the street of our small town (in Florida) where he vacationed every February to write the next year's shows. He asked him to tea at his house. Mr. Rogers accepted graciously for him and for his wife.
Friend's hubby went home, told wife to get the girls ready... that Mr Rogers was coming for tea! She heard "Mr ROBERTS" (the girls' piano teacher) and had them put on dresses and practice their piano. LOL!
She answered the doorbell and was floored! LOL!
They had a wonderful visit... casual and relaxed, with no 'airs' put on by the Rogerses.
The next day, Mr Rogers rang the doorbell again... He'd taken a cab and was delivering photos he'd taken the day before...with a cheery, "Speedy Delivery! Speedy Delivery!"
They visited each year until his death.
Turns out the reason Mr Rogers was walking that day, as he did every day, is that he never wanted to spend the money to rent a car. So walked.
Good stuff. He was a good man. |
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08/17/2010 10:21:24 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by tanguera:
Turns out they were Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Mann (not Hancock as I thought when I started this story...), and two other jazz greats. |
Wow. Cannonball was one of the greats.
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
The next day, Mr Rogers rang the doorbell again... He'd taken a cab and was delivering photos he'd taken the day before...with a cheery, "Speedy Delivery! Speedy Delivery!" |
Mr. Rogers was from Pittsburgh. He's no longer with us, but Mr. McFeely is. And here's a celeb I did catch -- and on film!
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08/17/2010 10:32:48 PM · #16 |
| Brian, what a wonderful post! Thanks for sharing your adventures, and thanks to the others who added their .02-.05 cents' worth. Made for a fine read after a long day. I very much appreciate it! |
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08/17/2010 10:36:14 PM · #17 |
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