(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on November 2, 2021)

 

 

On this – the day my father would have celebrated his 100th birthday – I celebrate his lovely bride…………….more specifically, her eye.

Yeah, I’ve already posted pictures of them everywhere, but my parents are not in any of these. She saw these scenes and captured them……..on print film (ugh!). I should mention she’s won a few photo contests – mostly in the Womens’ Club.

The gaudy background in the opening image is from a Capri shoebox that contains – among other photographic items – 273 small prints.

From this lot, I picked out these 86 images:

 

I really didn’t want have to scan 86 separate items, so I created little groups whose commonalities included subject matter and location. That got the load down to a more-reasonable 32 scans, each having 1-6 photos in them.

But because Mom used crappy print film with all kinds of horrible color casts and sharpness issues to overcome, 84 edits were required. That took a lot of time, but it was certainly for a good cause.

I’m presenting them as sequentially as I can (some multi-image scans have different years in them, so I’ll go by the first year listed in those scans) with one exception: the first year shall go last for reasons I’ll explain later.

Click to enlarge (not all of them).

 

Hawaii, 1972 – Pineapple Rainbow (sounds like an ice cream flavor):

 

Spain, 1973 – Everything looked red with this film. I took a lot of it out, but taking any more out would have made them black-and-white. Interesting note with the first photo………….you can bet that she sent them a copy.

Not sure what’s in the second photo’s carts…………fishing nets?

Quick! What’s going on in the third photo?

The answer:

 

1977, ’78 ’79, 81 – No idea where she shot the first one. Small print under “In The Bag” says “quality handbags”……………icebags, maybe.

The ’78 one says, “Smithsonian – eating signs from all nations”. She then identifies the person on the right as her sister Joan, which makes sense since Joan lived in nearby northern Virginia.

No location given on the ’79 one, but it sure looks like NYC, where they need heavy equipment to pick up old Beetles.

The ’81 picture was taken in somewhere in Norway. The Van Halen brothers – by the way – were born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 

1981, ’83 – More reddish film…………I wonder if modest Mom was covering her eyes when she took these. The first four were taken in Oslo, Norway, in 1981. The last one – David by Michelangelo (angle by Eunice) – was taken in Florence, Italy, in 1983:

 

1982 Tennessee, Colorado – The three on the left were taken in Tennessee; the three on the right in Colorado.

Tennessee – Nashville, Knoxville (World’s Fair), Nashville (Sun Records! All right, Mom!)

Colorado – USAF Academy (just north of Colorado Springs), to Pike’s Peak, taken from Pike’s Peak:

 

Before and after……..HAD to get rid of that red sky, but there was no blue/cyan to bring out, so I made the sky B&W. This took a lot of time because the structure has a lot of red in it and I didn’t want to lose that, so there were individual takeouts of red between each peak – pain in the ass, but worth it:

 

1983 – Rome (4):

 

Venice, Rome:

 

1983,4 – Holy Trinity Church, Hackensack, NJ

 

1984 – London shop window 9-12-84, Germany (On the Rhine 9-14-84) and in Paris 9-21-84:

 

Unknown location 10-7-84

 

1984, ’85 , ’95 Waterfalls – ’84 unknown location, ’85 Kyoto, Japan, ’95 New Zealand

 

1985 Far East Itinerary:

 

1985 Hong Kong (3), Macau (1 – St Paul’s Church):

 

1985 Bangkok (4):

 

1986 – California wind farms (3 – from a moving car):

 

1986 – Utah (3), Arizona (1 – Glen Canyon Dam):

 

1986, ’90, ’92 – LOCAL   Disgusting-looking pumpkin, Mom’s neighbors watering lawns at sunset, from MY roof in Hackensack (Holy Trinity Church dome in the background):

 

1988, 1992 – Fire hydrants in Natchez, MS and unknown location:

 

1990 – Four in British Columbia, Canada

 

1993 – Nephews picking Lady Liberty’s nose 4-22-93:

 

1993 – Mom needed a break from caring for Dad, so I took her to a place I knew she’d love: the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY. (think huge sculptures on a big golf course) – a great place!:

 

1993 & 1996 – The Leafe house after a 1996 snow storm, icicles by my old bedroom window in 1993, the back yard in 1996:

 

1994 – No idea where, but it’s dated 4-20-94:

 

1995 – 10-1 & 11-30-95 (No idea where and Denver):

 

Melbourne, Australia, Central Shopping Centre 11-12-95:

 

Melbourne & Sydney 11-12,9,10-95 (Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Luna Park and somewhere else in Sydney):

 

Overlanders Steakhouse, Alice Springs, Australia, bathroom doors 11-13-95:

 

Hackett’s Bungy (that’s how they spell it) Jump, Queenstown, New Zealand 11-26-95:

 

11-29, 27-95 New Zealand looks like a fun place:

 

 

Well, that’s just about all………..but wait, I have a couple of leftover pictures from…………1969? Oh yeah – that first year that’s going last.

The pictures aren’t very good – a distant shot of the George Washington Bridge and an even more distant shot of the Manhattan skyline:

Then I flipped them over:

 

Well, whaddaya know………..it DID sink in when I played this single a bazillion times in my room when I was 15:

 

(short excerpt)

 

 

 

So, yeah – “Part 1” means there’s a “Part 2” because in that same Capri shoebox, I found two Kodak slide boxes and there’s some really good stuff in them. It also means I have a TON of scanning ahead of me – probably more than for this one – so it’s gonna take some time.

Fortunately, what would have been Eunice’s 99th birthday is a week before Christmas, so I WILL get it done by then.

I hope y’all aren’t getting sick of this.

You know I gotta do it, right?

 

 

 

(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on November 5, 2021)

 

The WHAT?

 

 

You get the idea – people drive through the park with their kids in socially-distanced cars and see “not-too-scary” stuff in broad daylight. But to take my time and shoot everything sequentially, I took a Walk-Thru instead.

 

The entrance:

 

The warning:

 

Along the way, you’ll see the occasional sign, but rather than post the 5 separate images, I put them together as one (click to enlarge, hit back button to return):

 

Cobwebs to the left, cobwebs to the right and an evil figure in the background cackling (no – not the tall one!):

 

It was a wicked witch (in blue?) who was brandishing a twig at me while laughing in a jarring, high-pitched voice (she must have had a sore throat after 3 hours of that). She also had to hang on to her hat, as it was quite breezy:

 

While I was there, she cackled at a carful of people who enjoyed her antics:

 

Next to where she was located, the wind suddenly knocked over an inflatable that was dedicated – I’m guessing – to hand-eye coordination. She came running over to lend a hand to stabilize it while the hand kept its eye on her:

(Note: rumor has it that the witch may have been Rose Frontignano, Interim Superintendent of the Hackensack Recreation Department………….wait – she helped put this whole thing together and then tries to scare people away?)

 

Next up was this self-explanatory display (it better be – I got nothin’):

 

I’ve always liked candy corn, but a lot of people are not fans of it, so it was nice to see that Hackensack created a bleacherful of what are literally candy corn fans (click to enlarge):

 

Here are the next half-dozen sites (check out the names on the tombstones………..most are readable………click graveyard and trolley to enlarge):

 

This guy was guarding my car:

 

Coming into the home stretch (click to enlarge):

 

I’m not sure, but I think I walked in on something I wasn’t supposed to see (left):

 

Finally, the station that puts a smile on every kid’s face: friendly young ladies in gender-reveal (not theirs – already established) colors giving out free candy:

 

What better way could there be to end the festive Halloween trip through Foschini Park?

 

 

 

                               (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on November 19, 2021)

 

 

Yeah, I know…………I just posted two months ago about Springsteen’s No Nukes performance at Madison Square Garden on September 22, 1979 and I included three pix I took that evening that have become associated with me – including part of the above – and added two others that hadn’t been seen before.

But I have more than two dozen other ones that I’ve never shown before and since someone wondered last time why I waited so long to finally show the cake one, I can’t think of a better time than today to do this…….on the same day as when Bruce was kind enough to release his flick of two complete No Nukes performances in support of this post (and if you believe that, I’ve got a dud of a machine to sell you that’s stuck in the mud in a swamp somewhere near me in Hackensack, New Jersey).

All kidding aside, the files show that I shot two rolls of B&W film and maybe a half-roll of color slides from my loge seat of Bruce’s 9-22-79 performance, from which I’ve just scanned 18 B&W and 10 color images. I doubled up two pair to wind up with 26 total images.

In an effort to present them chronologically, I’ve divided them into two categories: jacket on and jacket off (12 on, 14 off). I depended on the B&W contact sheets and the slide numbers to put them in some sort of order. If they’re out of sequence, I’m sure someone who’s seen the new flick will let me know.

All the color ones are jacket-on, so they show up early. I shot more B&W than color because I was too far away to use a flash for slow color slide film, so I relied more on faster, flashless B&W (which seemed to work out well for me for this show).

The above image is the full shot of the cropped one on the front covers of the various video versions that came out in the ‘80s.

 

So, with a few interruptions, here we go:

 

The next image is the picture I took immediately before the cake shot, but I don’t see a cake in it. Maybe the person who gave him the cake is visible, but I have no idea who that might be. And there do appear to be enough video cameras around to have captured the cake toss:

 

Last jacket shot and the first without. Look at the stare from half of Bruce’s face into Clarence’s………..serious stuff!

 

The end of the E-Street-only segment:

 

Math time: the Petty-Browne-Butler addition and the Goldsmith subtraction:

 

Wrapping up the show:

Hungry heart?

 

(As much as this one looks like it should follow the one that’s two images above it, the sequence is correct.)

 

As I wrote on my site:

See the movie? Then you remember Bruce doing this real fast as he left the stage.

 

That’s it!

I don’t know if any of these “new” pictures were worth waiting 42 years to see, but if you have any questions or comments, let me know below.

If anyone needs to email me, click the red WHOWHATWHY link at the top of the page to get to the main page. The email link is in that page’s writeup.

 

 

                    (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on November 25, 2021)

 

(click to enlarge and do that on ALL panoramic images)

 

I’m a little late with this……………it took quite a while to put together.

I don’t shoot this every year, but when I do, Veterans Day is the best time for it because it’s not too hot or cold out, the Palisades are magnificent in their Fall colors and the largest hanging US flag is unfurled on the New Jersey tower of the George Washington Bridge.

I like to start out at (Hudson) river level – just north of the bridge where the park known as Ross Dock is located (technically, it’s the Ross Dock Picnic Area, but I’ve yet to see any picnics going on there on weekday mornings in November).

The way I get there, I get to drive under the bridge and that’s always a great way to start because of the GWB view from a unique angle (and there’s still a good chunk of elevation to lose to get to river level):

On the way (and back) to/from the park.

 

Another bonus: parking is free at Ross Dock from October through April.

I park on the south end of the park, closest to the bridge. Before I even get out of my car (and being perpendicular to the bridge), I can see if the wind is sufficient enough to blow the flag into view. It IS, as you can see in the first shot and this zoomed-in one:

 

That means it’ll be more fun to shoot the flag when I get ON the bridge (and under it).

The “under” part is the first order of business. It’s a little bit of a hike to get there, but the views make you forget about that.

I begin right at the southern edge of the park with another panoramic shot. In the distance behind the Jersey tower, you can see some of the tall buildings in Midtown Manhattan:

 

I get a little closer………..

 

…………and closer:

 

Almost there…….. this panoramic shot is SO wide (more than 180 degrees) that the road I’ve been walking on can be seen in both the far right and far left edges. And if you look at the Palisades on the left as they slope downward, that little spit of low-level, yellowish land sticking out into the river is Ross Dock – my starting point:

 

There!

 

But what’s that noise overhead? (click to enlarge)

That happened a few times while I was there, but I couldn’t identify whose choppers they were (or maybe it was the same one going back-and-forth).

 

The south side of the GWB from ground level:

 

Panoramic iPhone photos have a curvature issue when the subject is above you. And look what it did to the cables on the top right side:

 

Works pretty well in the middle, though:

 

I really should have knelt down when I took that shot because the beam connecting the Jersey tower’s “feet” blocked something important. Fortunately, I had taken this shot just prior that included that important thing – the Little Red Lighthouse on the New York side:

For all you locals, it also includes the ramp to the Henry Hudson Parkway/West Side Highway and shows half of the angled roof of the GWB Bus Station.

 

As I started to head back to Ross Dock, I heard voices behind me. I turned around and saw these men push-pulling something up a ramp into the southern “foot” of the Jersey tower, where a third man awaited them behind the fencing:

 

On the way back, I passed something I had taken a picture of (on the right – when the sun was shining) on my way TO the bridge, but didn’t notice the sign. I did on the way back when it was cloudy.

The Palisades Interstate Park has many hiking trails in its long system along the Palisades and Carpenter’s Trail is one of them. It’s a series of old stone steps that go up the Palisades.

I recall reading something someone wrote about how when he was a kid, he and a lot of other Fort Lee kids used to use those steps as a shortcut to get down to the river.

Here are my two views of the steps at the bottom (click to enlarge):

 

When I reached Ross Dock, I turned around and took this picture of the bridge, Midtown and the now-cloudy sky (similar to the opening image):

 

In Ross Dock’s southern perimeter of large stones, I thought I saw a questionable object on one of them………….but it’s not an object at all (though some may call it object-tionable). It’s empty space that’s been carved out of the stone and might NOT have been sanctioned by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission…………..but – of course – I could be wrong:

 

Continuing my walk around the park’s perimeter – this time on the eastern (river) side – I saw something colorful in the water upriver and zoomed in:

 

While the colors seem to indicate that it’s one unit, the name on it (“Reinauer Twins”) indicates (after Googling) that it’s a tug boat moving a larger vessel (photo from tugster.com):

 

Turning the northeast corner of the park, I look back to the GWB and see that the flag’s still billowing and that the geese don’t care:

 

The last river-level picture (click to enlarge) faces west and shows the park’s kiddie area below the mighty Palisades:

I have to tell you that the Palisades are LEVEL and do NOT look mountain-shaped (just enter “new jersey palisades” in Google Images). This is strictly due to the limitations of the iPhone’s panoramic setting. Whatever’s near the top will be curved, arc-like.

 

The best example I can give is this photo I took last month:

The beams – of course – are all straight, but in this panoramic shot, the one nearest the top has a much more-pronounced curve than the one below it. Sometimes, the effect is advantageous, but that’s not the case with the previous shot of the Palisades.

 

Time to go upstairs to the bridge.

 

To do that, I have to leave the park and drive up to a Fort Lee road (Hudson Terrace) that’s closest to the GWB and goes under a bridge approach. I can usually find a metered space immediately north of the bridge.

Walking south, these are the first two views I see just before and just after I walk under the bridge approach:

I walk up the entrance (right pic).

 

One of the first things I see before actually getting on the bridge is a tribute to Port Authority police officer Bruce Reynolds, who was assigned to the GWB and was the only PA/GWB police officer to die at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when he was trying to rescue people:

At the WTC, he was last seen assisting a woman who had been seriously burned by blazing jet fuel. The road that I just walked up to get to that spot is now called Bruce Reynolds Boulevard.

 

Approaching and almost under the flag (click to enlarge):

 

Under it:

 

From both sides of the tower (click to enlarge):

 

When you use the panoramic setting, you have to pan the phone from left to right. So when trying to shoot a panoramic of a GWB tower, it seems logical that you have to turn it sideways and pan it from bottom to top.

However, when I tried that initially, it took part of a picture and then took another part of a picture – both of which had to be deleted. I don’t know what I changed – maybe I used a smoother, quicker motion – but I finally got two passable shots (although some of the nearest cars in the first one are only half there and the second one seems to show the further half of the tower slightly bending outwardly while the nearer half looks ramrod straight). NOTE: For these 2 vertical PANO images, you have to scroll a bit to see the whole shot. If you click them, the image will shrink to fit the screen.

BTW – the second one also shows fairly-level Palisades in the distance.

 

From the bridge, I thought this dark view of Manhattan was one worth taking – especially with some large vessel in the Hudson – but then I noticed what I thought was the antenna atop the World Trade Center (just slightly more to the right than the vessel)…………….but the WTC itself was initially blocked from view by another building.

The simple solution was to take a few steps to the left until the WTC was visible. However, the WTC – at least 10 miles away – was considerably further away from the building that was blocking it and, at that distance, I had to walk about a third of the way across the bridge before the WTC was (almost) fully-visible:

How’s that for dedication to your shot?

The bottom half shows a zoomed-in version of that vessel…………or should I say vessels? They look just like the vessel/tug pair I shot earlier from Ross Dock, which I thought was heading north.

 

While walking around the laterally-protruding part of the Jersey tower, I noticed a lot of work going on in the bridge’s lower level. No idea what that’s about………

 

I also noticed some unusual signs on the bridge:

Suicide Prevention (not unusual on a bridge, but a bit unusual because it was put up after the additional, impenetrable netting/fencing was installed):

 

Rules for bicyclists and pedestrians partially-obscured by stickers put there by bicyclists and pedestrians:

 

And this one seemed the oddest. It’s right next to the roadway, some strange-looking apparatus looks poised to shoot gunk all over a sign that says: “Father of all mankind. First Sunday in August. Mr. William Gaetano Carriello JR.”, while a New Jersey Transit bus whizzes by:

 

You think that’s odd? Wait’ll you see what’s next!

 

You remember what I said about taking a panoramic shot with the iPhone? You have to pan the phone from left to right.

Early last month, I took a PANO shot of a new building in Hackensack from across a busy street. I had to wait because I didn’t want to get any cars in the shot. However, it was impossible, so I waited until there were as few as possible.

The shot came out OK………….except for one little oddity. There was a truck in the far lane that was moving right-to-left as I was panning left-to-right. I cropped the shot to find an almost-perfectly-condensed truck (click to enlarge……..a bit):

Isn’t it cute (and useless-looking)?

 

I thought of that when I was on the GWB as big tractor-trailers were zooming by – all going left-to-right. I wondered what that would look like if I did a PANO of a big truck, starting well before it got to me and continuing until it was well past me.

(Sounding like Bill Maher) Would you like to see the results? Oh, good. But I have to warn you………….some were a lot less successful that others, starting with these 3 (including a bus). Oh – and if you see a second vehicle that looks identical and is behind it……..it’s the exact same vehicle. And they’re all PANOs, so remember to click to enlarge (and click the third one TWICE):

Well, they can’t ALL be gems…………

 

Click these two TWICE to enlarge.

I wonder if I could interest Shop-Rite in this shot. “Introducing our new Super-Mega-Trucks to keep store shelves full for you during the pandemic!”

We might have to lose the hard-to-read/pronounce lettering on the side.

 

As you may notice in this PANO shot, I’m getting a little bored with this and am almost off the bridge:

 

But I’m determined to try to get at least one right-to-left westbound truck to condense with my left-to-right motion, but there are just too many eastbound vehic-………..oh, wait – an opening……..pan/click!

Not my best work, but I find the whole PANO-panning-with-and-against-moving-objects thing to be really interesting and will be fooling around with it a lot for sure.

 

Meanwhile, I’ve gotta get off this bridge before the parking meter time expires.

But there’s still more to shoot!

 

On the ground:

 

On the Palisades:

 

On a convex mirror:

 

On a wall: “Welcome to Yonkers”? Yonkers is a couple miles upriver on the other side of the bridge in New York!

Oh – it’s a company that enjoys misleading New Jerseyans while doing business here. How clever.

 

Entering the lower level of the bridge:

Anybody remember the old nickname for the lower level? Radio traffic announcers took great joy in referring to it as “Martha” (because it was under George).

 

When I reached Hudson Terrace and was about to make a right to get back to my car, I looked back up Bruce Reynolds Boulevard for one last look at the flag and saw these two guys jogging up onto the bridge and one of them was carrying his own flag:

 

Redundancy aside, I tried to get a better shot of his flag and as much of the slightly larger one as I could:

 

Almost to my car, I took one last PANO shot of the always-closed entrance to the northern GWB walkway:

 

Well……….it WAS open once that I recall in 2017 when they closed the south walkway to install a ton of netting to thwart the suicide festival that had been going on there for a while.

Would you believe I actually postponed major open-heart surgery that year to be able to shoot the flag on Veterans Day from an angle that few people ever get to see?

Such dedication! (the cardio said it might be “dead-ication” if I delayed surgery)

Got another hour to waste on that story and those GWB pix?

https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=5645

 

Anyway, this morning at the GWB ended well: when I got back to my car, the meter still had 8 minutes left on it.

Timing – in 2017 and today – is everything.

 

 

                   (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 10, 2021)

 

NOTE: an April 18, 2022 update has been added at the end.

 

 

                       ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE ©BOB LEAFE

 

If you’re not familiar with the name in the above image, it’s because that’s the original title of a documentary that’s being put together and was scheduled to be released in Spring 2022 (see update at the end – it’s now scheduled for release in the Fall of 2022).

However, many of you are familiar with a couple of the members of this “once-in-a-lifetime” performance band. If you’re from the New Jersey area, you know Uncle Floyd. If you’ve ever watched Conan O’Brien’s show, you know the show’s band, led by musical director and lead guitarist Jimmy Vivino and features his brother Jerry Vivino on sax.

They’re the younger brothers of Uncle Floyd Vivino. As the official photographer of The Uncle Floyd Show back in the day, I’ve known these guys for about 40 years.

This is the original trailer for the documentary. It pretty much explains the premise for this entire venture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MeYLZTt3jY&t=4s

 

You may have noticed this image in the video:

This was the Vivino Brothers Band, who provided the music for the Uncle Floyd live show at the Club Bene in Sayreville, NJ, and I took the picture on January 15, 1983 before the show. You can see Jimmy on guitar and Jerry wailing away on sax. The handsome guy with the drumsticks is Frank Pagano, who you just saw in the video.

I have no idea where that version of the shot came from, so here’s a better version:

 

Floyd has an 8pm Tuesday night show on StageIt.com that I recommend you all check out. In it, he and cast member Scott Gordon show (and comment on) old UFS shows from the late 70s and first half of the 80s that Scott personally preserved.

Some of the bits are absolutely hilarious!

These shows are not repeated nor are they archived, so it’s one showing only and that’s it. Either you see it at 8pm on Tuesday nights or you don’t ever again. It requires a $5 ticket from StageIt and tickets are limited.

If you’re interested, go here:

https://www.stageit.com/uncle_floyd_and_scott_gordon/this_was_the_uncle_floyd_show_44_with_uncle_floyd_and_scott_gordon_live/103253

(This link is ONLY for the 12-14-21 show! After that, go to StageIt.com and find Uncle Floyd)

As I write this, there are 82 tickets left for the 12-14-21 show. (OK, Floyd – there’s your plug)

During one of those shows last month, Floyd mentioned that his brothers were flying in from CA to do a show with him and others on December 2, 2021 in the auditorium of Glen Rock High School.

I wasn’t aware of the BFGRH documentary, but I hadn’t seen Jimmy and Jerry since last century and thought this might be a good time to get pictures of the three brothers together. Quite frankly, we’re all old – how many other opportunities might there be to do this again?

I have to go to this show.

 

By the time I found out where to buy tickets, they were sold out, so I had to try to do this officially – something I haven’t done in a LONG time.

I still have Floyd’s number, so I called him to see if he knew who handled photo passes. He didn’t.

I called the school and left a message telling them who I was, what I needed and asking whom do I speak with to get this done.

I got a call back the next morning telling me to call someone named Barry Rubinow: “He’s in charge”. I left a message with Barry (who turned out to be the producer of the whole shebang). He called right back and said “No problem”.

And there wasn’t. I told him I’d also like to shoot the rehearsal, where things are a little looser and I could talk to people and get the lay of the land. You don’t want to start doing that 5 minutes before showtime.

“Get there between 3 and 4pm. Parking may be a problem.”

So I called the school again and spoke with another very helpful person, who said, “3 o’clock is the worst time because of parents picking up their kids, but if you come at 3:20, that’s done with and most of the teachers have left. Park right in front near the flagpole”.

She was right.

I was told that security would be VERY tight. I envisioned a phalanx of 7-foot goons with cavemen clubs, but when I walked in, it was empty…………oh wait – there’s a man behind plexiglass in a little booth against the left wall.

“Can I help you?”

Barry told me beforehand to say I’m with the film crew, so I did.

“May I have your license, please?”

After a minute, he handed it back to me, along with this:

 

Oh, great – my horrible license picture is on this and I’m now “Robert”. Guess what I turned backwards for the rest of the night. (Note: After the night was over, I thought about a little photo project I should have done – gone around and asked to shoot everyone’s pass, especially Jimmy’s brothers, Florio and Jerome.)

I found the auditorium and, ultimately, Barry, who was with a small group that included Floyd, who looked at me and said “Bob – you made it!”

“Piece of cake”, I replied.

I then met Barry, who pointed to the stage where the rehearsal was in full swing and said “Go do your thing”. So I did.

 

There were 3 or 4 video guys in front of and on the stage who were moving around, so stage and very close to it were off-limits. I was further limited by my little camera, which had to use a too-long-to-hold-steady exposure, so I wound up taking most of my rehearsal shots from the second or third row of seats. This let me steady my shots on the seatback in front of me.

I also had my iPhone with me, which I like to use for panoramic shots and backstage portraits. Everything comes out nicely without having to fiddle around with settings.

So, I’m going to start off with the 22 passable rehearsal shots I took, in the order I took them, with the little Canon held down tightly on the back of the seat – which was NOT flat – in front of me, beginning with a group performance shot where everyone isn’t visible:

 

Jimmy:

 

Lee Shapiro:

 

Jimmy/camera/Lee:

 

Jerry/Frank/Jimmy:

 

Jerry:

 

Lee/Floyd:

 

Another group shot (missing a few):

 

Jimmy:

 

Floyd’s new instruments and how to get the best sound when you only have one of them:

 

Two shots of a cameraman & the brothers – Jerry/Cymbal Simon/Jimmy:

 

Lee laughs:

 

At the Trumpet Exchange – Jeff Venho, Jimmy, Floyd:

 

Jimmy/Doug Romoff – Either somebody farted or Jimmy doesn’t like my watermark placement:

 

The band plays on and Floyd’s at the snack table:

 

Jerry/Jimmy:

 

Frank (it gets a little grainy zoomed-in that much):

 

Jerry doubling-up (twice):

 

Jimmy:

 

Jimmy/Doug/Jerry:

 

Jimmy:

 

 

I also took 4 iPhone shots during rehearsal.

 

Band/cameramen/snack table:

 

Frank/Jimmy/Doug/Jerry/Lee/Floyd:

 

Last rehearsal shot:

 

The curtain is pulled down until showtime as Floyd directs traffic. I don’t know who the other gentleman is:

This just in………….the producer informs me that the man’s name is Rennie and he’s Jimmy’s guitar tech.

 

 

Almost forgot – I DID take 2 panoramic iPhone shots during rehearsal. CLICK TO ENLARGE BOTH OF THEM.

 

In a rare moment when there were no cameramen in front of the stage, I got to pan the whole stage:

It would have been nice to have done that during the show, but it was not possible right in front of an audience and with cameramen moving around

 

But I DID take a smaller PANO shot from the second or third row:

 

 

ON TO THE BAND ROOM (backstage)

 

Frank/Floyd/Jimmy

 

Pizza/Jimmy/Frank

 

Broadway star Donna Vivino (Jerry’s daughter) and her drum-playing son, Hendrix. Behind them, her Uncle Jimmy completes the Jimmy/Hendrix Rhythm Section:

 

Hendrix thinks about his BIG aspirations (and he’s got the genes to get there):

 

Here’s Donna now:

 

The first time I photographed her, she was FOUR YEARS OLD with her paternal grandparents (Floyd, Jerry and Jimmy’s parents) at the baptism reception for Floyd’s son Christopher in 1982:

 

(From my site – bobleafe.com, if you’re interested) In the same year, here she is on The Uncle Floyd Show – dressed for stardom:

 

You may remember that I wanted to get a nice shot of the Vivino brothers…………this ain’t it, but here they are looking at pictures:

 

Finally – either because I asked them nicely or because they had a dozen boxes of pizza in front of them – I got the shot I wanted:

 

As I walked away, I noticed them still posing and snapped this (Snap it, pal!):

 

A short time later, someone unwrapped a box of…………..CANNOLIS and placed them on the pizza boxes:

 

Guess who was the first to partake:

 

Cannoli in hand, Floyd poses with documentary producer Barry Rubinow:

 

I had been noticing all the interesting-looking instrumentation in the room – most of which I had never photographed before – so a quick walk around the room produced these 6 shots of 7 instruments:

 

The room was starting to thin out as showtime approached, so I took this panoramic shot of the whole room (well, most of it). CLICK TWICE TO FULLY ENLARGE:

 

Some people were already seated (friends and family?):

 

Just before they started letting the crowd in, I went into the lobby to shoot whatever they were selling/displaying:

 

And then the doors opened:

 

SHOWTIME!

Since shooting up front was out of the question, I had to go ALL the way to the back – behind the last row, near/next to the soundboard, which was against the back wall. I would still have the same exposure problems, but no seatback in front of me to steady the camera on.

Fortunately, I thought to bring a tripod, which is usually a no-no at concerts and something I had never used in the 1,100 or so concerts/events I shot during my career. If I didn’t bring the tripod, I would have gotten nothing of the show.

But now there’s another problem – a BIG one.

Even with a tripod, the act of hitting the shutter button when you’re shooting long exposures will – by itself – cause shake and ruin a picture. There’s only ONE option open to me in that situation: using the timer.

I have never had to deal with a situation like this before. The art of shooting concerts is dependent on the photographer’s timing – to anticipate a movement and hit the shutter at the exact moment that the peak of the action occurs and capture a magnificent freeze-frame that magazines and fans will want to buy.

You absolutely can NOT do that when you have to use a 2-second timer that eliminates shake (and your ability to capture the moments you want). How do you anticipate what a performer will be doing when the shutter opens a couple of seconds later?

Well, you do what you can and hope for the best. There’s no other choice.

 

OK, so now that you’re all weeping for me, let MY show begin and see what you think.

I started off with a group shot that I converted to Black & White. I like this one!

 

Floyd cracks up Frank and Jimmy:

 

This little camera has really good zooming ability………remember, I’m as far away as you can be in an auditorium:

 

Floyd’s still cracking Frank up:

 

Floyd does a bit where he starts off as Don Corleone (with wads of cotton stuffed in his cheeks) and finishes it as the Mayor of Munchkinland (not shown). Frank, Jimmy, Doug and violinist Krista Bennion Feeney are enjoying the bit:

 

An even longer exposure shows the audience. I was told before the show that 20 people called to cancel because of concerns about the new COVID variant (omicron), so maybe that explains the empty seats at a sold-out show………………or maybe a bunch of good friends all had to go to the bathroom together:

 

Jerry Vivino, John Feeney (Krista’s husband) and a partially obscured Lee Shapiro:

 

Krista, John and Lee. I had to guess if I would capture a lower, more-visible stroke from John, but the 2-second timer delay……………well, you know:

 

Floyd notices a photographer in the back of the room (trust me – he looked a lot better when I hit the shutter button 2 seconds before):

 

Jimmy welcomes gospel singer and pianist Ouida W. Harding – another GRHS graduate:

 

Talented Jerry doubles up again:

 

Jimmy/Krista/Doug/Jerry/John:

 

Donna Vivino belts one out…………what a voice! In the third shot, she’s sandwiched between her father Jerry on the left and her uncle Jimmy on the right – a family shot I really wanted to get:

 

Two shots of Lee (one is with the band’s original music teacher, Joe Sielski) as Floyd hides behind the curtain:

 

Joe gets flowers, praise and applause from everyone:

 

Joe grabs his sax, solos and then hands it off (via his thumb) to Jerry:

(Capturing that thumb was pure dumb luck when you’re dealing with a 2-second delay.)

 

 

The Triple-J Brass Section (Jeff, Jerry, Joe):

 

Frank and documentary producer Barry Rubinow:

 

Floyd gives old pal Lee a shoulder massage with a trumpet in one hand:

 

Just for the hell of it, I took a picture of the auditorium ceiling because no one else did:

 

There was a raffle of some sort that I know nothing about, but I had to get shots of Floyd calling out the winners (what did they win?):

 

Cameraman zooms in on Lee’s back – look for it in the documentary:

 

One last shot of the crowd…………..and it’s over!

 

I went up to the stage – guys are happy to pose with their teacher, Joe:

 

My last show shots – Floyd and Joe talk to audience members:

 

 

Eventually, I made my way back to the band room to see what everyone was doing. The place was practically empty except for man-of-the-hour/night/event Joe Sielski, who was talking with someone while packing up his sax

I wound up talking to him for a while and then went home.

The next day, while I’m looking through about 300 pictures, I’m trying to come up with one to end the story with, but nothing fits that description.

Then I think back and realize that it was right in front of me in that band room and I didn’t even think of it. What would be a better capper than a shot of Joe, triumphantly raising his sax over his head with both hands and with a huge grin on his face?

He just had the time of his life (I’m guessing) with his highly-accomplished students from 50 years ago in front of a wildly-cheering audience………….a shot of him bursting with pride would have put an huge exclamation point on this entire story.

But the professional music photographer didn’t think of it.

But that professional music photographer DID happen to collect email addresses of some of the participants – including Joe – so I could send them this post.

I IMMEDIATELY emailed Joe, explaining what I wished I had shot and asking if he and his sax would be willing to meet with me so I could take a couple of quick shots.

He called the next day: “Sure! Where and when?”

The band room – my first choice – was unavailable because school was in session and no other location really mattered. At that point, the background was unimportant, so – not wanting to inconvenience him in the least – I said, “Got a blank garage wall?”

And that’s what we did on December 7. I went to his home, met his lovely wife, Carolyn, and we hiked about 20 feet to the side of the garage. I took 8-10 shots of him holding his sax aloft with a big grin on his face and other poses.

Total time there? 17 minutes (and he didn’t have to drive anywhere)………perfect!

 

I went home to edit the photos and started comparing the sax-in-the-air shots. They were good, but I kept finding myself drawn to another shot and ultimately decided that this shot was the best one with which to conclude this long and rambling post.

I hope you agree:

Thank you, Joe!

 

And thank you everyone else if you made it all the way to the end of this post.

 

And WHATEVER you all do out there, make sure you find this documentary when it’s released!

 

 

April 18, 2022 UPDATE: Documentary producer Barry Rubinow has informed me that the project has a new name, logo AND a new trailer (which shows the new name/logo in the cover photo), that things are going well and that the premiere should happen sometime this Fall.

I had initially planned to simply switch out the original title, logo and trailer, but then thought it would be more informative to simply add any changes to show the progress as this project evolves:

 

                                                         (Ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 18, 2021)

Mom would have turned 99 today, so this is an appropriate day to make this post.

 

Well, you were warned there’d be a Part 2.

I just finished weeks of on-and-off scanning/editing 68 color slides. I figured I would have edited a bunch of them out, but there were only 3 or 4 slides in the two Kodak boxes that I didn’t scan.

That’s a very good percentage, given the critical photographer who did the editing and didn’t let anything “slide” by just because we’re related. Did I embellish anything? I prefer the word “improved” – exactly what I do when I edit my own photos.

With the exception of 1980, these images cover every year from 1974 through 1990 and at least 17 countries are represented, including the US. Most of the slides had no identification on them, so I had to use her trip notebooks to try to figure out where the photos were taken.

Why the inexact number of countries? Some images were identified as being taken on a Scandinavian trip, but without stating in which of the three countries each one was shot.

The slides that I identify as “Arizona” were taken on a trip to that state and Nevada. Both states have canyons, but when you see canyon-type images, which state do YOU think of? And is Hoover Dam in Nevada or Arizona? (both). And don’t get me started on the Orient trip (I know the itinerary, but not necessarily in which country each photo was taken).

 

As usual, these will be shown sequentially, starting with two photos taken in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1974:

 

Next up is England in 1975. Big on signage, Mom was (and, boy, do I…um… relate!):

 

Acapulco, Mexico in 1976 (with an explanation at the bottom of the first image of what the “CNOP” – shown in the top part – stands for):

 

Russia, 1977:

 

Somewhere in California and inside Hoover Dam, 1978 (very similar shots):

 

Greece, 1979:

 

Scandinavia, 1981:

“Toalett” – in Swedish – means “toilet”. I wonder if Mom thought that might be some sort of toilet in front of the pole (and maybe it IS):

 

All Google translations indicate that the language is Norwegian, but “Lagprisland” doesn’t translate to anything other than “Lagprisland” (however, many non-Google translations say it means “low-cost country”):

 

Björn Borg is Swedish, so we know where this was probably taken:

 

I can only guess what this is supposed to be: Mom’s representation of herself? (The nose and skin color are a little off……):

 

 

This Google translation of the above doesn’t help much:

 

 

This innocent-looking kid has some serious enemies:

 

There’s a town in Scandinavia called Ork? (No – but there IS one in Germany):

 

Tennessee (World’s Fair), Colorado (Air Force Academy & Pike’s Peak railroad tracks), NYC (the Cloisters), 1982:

 

Italy, 1983:

 

Holland, Paris, 1984

What a great shot! I think this is Amsterdam (the Madame Tussaud signs say “In Amsterdam”), but I really like the Wall Drug sign…………who thought of that and who allowed that? (and how much business did they get as a result?):

 

Mom (and the clouds) made a nice shot:

 

Orient, 1985

Hong Kong?

 

Looks like Thailand (and Thailand does follow Hong Kong in the itinerary):

 

I know this is Macau because there’s a very similar shot in Part 1 (print film):

 

San Francisco (1), CA or NV (2), AZ or NV (8, including 1 Hoover Dam), 1986:

Note: By coincidence, I happened to take a similar-subject-matter shot in Manhattan the year before (I guess I was a bad influence on my mother):

 

Spain (1), Portugal (1) in 1987:

 

Vasco de Gama statue in Lisbon, Portugal:

 

Mississippi (first one is in Natchez, MS), 1988:

 

Ireland, 1989:

 

Canada, 1990:

 

That’s it!

 

If family members want any of these images to make a print, let me know and I’ll send you the original file(s).

 

 

And a Happy/Merry Whatever-It-Is-You-Celebrate to everyone!

 

 

When this band’s 1983 Uncle Floyd Show appearance was featured on “This Was The Uncle Floyd Show” on StageIt.com on August 12, 2025, it got a favorable reaction. Their name didn’t ring a bell with me (I was the show’s photographer at the time), so I checked the archive master list – and sure enough – I shot their performance during the October 17, 1983 taping of the show.

I dug up the B&W negatives and contact sheet and picked these three images to scan:

 

But I noticed something else interesting in the contact sheet: some really good images I took during the rest of that day’s taping – images that had never been used, scanned, printed or even SEEN anywhere else before.

The band was not well-known and I had no other reason to revisit this shoot, so the negs sat untouched/unviewed in the file cabinet for over 40 years.

Some of the bits and cast members (and puppets!) shown on that contact sheet are still well-known and beloved today: Mrs. Brillohead (!), Julia StepChild, Jerry Jersino, Ricardo Romantico, his girlfriend Weenie (she wishes) and Looney Skip Rooney.

 

Let’s start with Mrs. B (“ah, look, Buster…”):

 

Julia:

 

Two Weenie bits:

 

Two shots of Jerry:

 

One very cool shot of Ricardo (this is not a posed shot – just a lucky candid):

 

Floyd, Weenie, and an off-(TV)camera Skip, who’s probably the phone voice talking to Floyd:

 

I was very happy to find these shots………..and that got me thinking: these are from ONE roll of B&W film (Roll #110, if you’re interested). I have almost 200 of these rolls, plus at least a thousand color slides. I wonder what else might be in there. These days, I might have the time to go through them all, but then what?

That would be a TON of scanning, but toward what end? I’ve been out of the business for over 30 years, so I’ve lost all my contacts, including book publishers.

 

Any good, realistic ideas out there? When (and if) I sell my archive, it’ll be all out of my hands, so I’m putting it out there to loyal Floydians now to see what you guys think is possible while I still have control of everything.

 

Feel free to leave any comments below. If you prefer to keep it private, there’s a contact info link on bobleafe.com.

 

One last thing that I found out while researching the band: Jose Loo, who is listed as Line Drive’s singer (but maybe not when the band was on UFS), had a stroke in June 2023, is in a rehab facility and cannot work.

Sound familiar?

 

(“Send any extra notes – as StageIt calls them – to……………….”)

 

                                         (ignore April 17, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 20, 2021)

 

This one’s a little wilder (compare to 3 months ago):

 

https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=14407

 

Click TWICE to enlarge the first three and get to scrolling on the first two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, it’s these guys….ahem, girls……..and they really are sisters:

They appeared on The Uncle Floyd Show that was taped as the Fourth of July show in 1984. I don’t know them and never heard of them before or since.

And they don’t seem to exist online.

So why have I suddenly decided to post about them?

UFS cast member Scott Gordon has a weekly 8pm Tuesday night show of old UFS clips that’s been running on StageIt.com for well over 200 weeks called “This WAS The Uncle Floyd Show”. On May 6, 2025, he ran that 1984 show (#217, if you’re counting).

The sisters were well-received by the StageIt group and lots of comments were made – mainly about how they were un-Googleable – nobody seemed to know anything about these girls.

As the show’s photographer back then, I seemed to recall shooting them and posted that I’m gonna have to dig those pix up.

The show ended at 8:50pm. Before 9pm, I managed to find a 41-year-old sheet of slides in the archive containing images of the habitless sisters. I scanned most of them by the time I went to bed and finished the rest (plus editing) today. Now I’m writing it up.

I’ll probably post the link in the TWTUFS #218’s chat next Tuesday.

That might be interesting, so if this appeals to you at all, you can get a $5 ticket for the show here: https://www.stageit.com/the_uncle_floyd_show_with_scott_gordon/this_was_the_uncle_floyd_show_218/118947

 

Meanwhile, if you’d like to see the Top Ten shots I took in the studio that night in 1984 (well, you’ve already seen one of them), here you go:

First song (two shots):

 

“July-4-Floyd” is about to interview them as two of the ladies eye me suspiciously:

 

The next song (two shots):

 

Last shot with Floyd:

 

Last silly pose:

 

At this point, the girls had their choice of ANY of the handsome men in the studio. Here is their unanimous choice:

Way to go, Yogi! I hope you survived the night!

 

My parting shot after not getting picked:

 

 

So this is how I make something out of nothing. Yesterday, I knew nothing about these ladies. Last night, I found out that I photographed them 41 years ago and today, I’ve made a post about these non-nuns.

 

Hope you enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

……………………………………….. (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 23, 2021)

 

Why the quotation marks? Because it’s the name of an album produced by Phil Spector that I consider to be the best Christmas album ever. It’s also a Christmas gift for you (without the quotes) because it’s part of this Christmas post – also for you.

The entire Spector album can be found all over the Internet, but most of the YouTube ones make you play “whole albums” by clicking on one song after the other (there are 13 songs if you include Phil’s “Silent Night” blurb at the end).

I selected a couple that supposedly played all the songs in the correct order nonstop, but some were missing a song or two and another started with cut #13.

I finally found one that plays from start to finish, but if gives you any problems, let me know and I’ll dig up another one.

Meanwhile, ENJOY! (and I don’t know why only the first and last vids popped up ready to play, so click the others – most of which, unfortunately, begin with ads).

So that’s Phil’s gift to you.

My gift: I’m adding ten of MY favorite Christmas songs that were released between 1962 and 1995 (with a story or two included). We’ll start (and end) with 1995:

1 – “The 12 Days of Christmas” – Gary Hoey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QqmpLzZ5_A

 

2 – “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” – The Four Seasons (1962):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I1WujBgK64

 

3 – “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7X3uzZv900

This was recorded on December 12, 1975 at the C.W. Post College campus of Long Island University in New York.

I was there with my girlfriend and another couple. The other guy knew the person who was doing the recording of the show in a mobile unit (I think it was the Stones’ mobile unit), which we visited before the show. They were both from the same town in NJ and both in local bands. If you know the name “Thom Panunzio” (he’s quite well-known), that’s who the engineer of that recording was.

Here’s a shot of Bruce from that show (and from my site):

 

4 – “Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You” – Billy Squier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPf2snTB2wo

Recorded at MTV Studios on December 22, 1981 (kinda late to be making a Christmas video, don’tcha think?)

I was at this one too, but I was working. It was MTV’s first Christmas video (MTV had only just come into existence on August 1, 1981).

If you go to https://bobleafe.com/ and go to the MTV listing, the first 3 pictures were taken at this taping. And I’m not so sure about that “I’m in the finished product” story, however.

 

5 – “Christmas In Hollis” – Run-DMC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR07r0ZMFb8

 

6 – “Father Christmas” – The Kinks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPPCPqDINEk

 

7 – “Little St Nick” – Beach Boys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp9rK8FmYog

 

8 – “Run Run Rudolph” – Keith Richards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDMDMLF2j1A

 

9 – “Silent Night” – Dickies

CRANK THIS ONE UP! (This has to be the first time you’ve ever heard someone say that about “Silent Night”!):

 

10 – “God Rest” – Gary Hoey (You should probably keep the volume up on this one too):

 

I hope you enjoyed those (though I’m sure you’re familiar with all/most of them).

If you want to burn a 33:05 CD of all of them (how old-fashioned, Bob) or just add some/all to your MP3 music library, there are lots of free YouTube to MP3 converters online (just Google “YouTube to MP3 converter” and insert the vid’s URL).

This one works pretty well and offers you 5 different MP3 quality levels to choose from: https://320ytmp3.com/en30/

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 

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