Sly, Swan Lake, La Defense and Peeing

We’re in late July so things here in Paris start to really slow down … and will be dead once we get into August. It seems like the majority of Parisians are away somewhere for their summer vacation and many restaurants, boulangeries and small stores are beginning to close – sometimes for an entire month.


I had the honor this week of photographing Sly and the Family Stone, the Hall of Fame funk band that made their mark during Woodstock and in the early 70’s. I was a bit surprised at how many songs of theirs I knew. The band’s leader, Sly Stone, has basically been a recluse for many years now and this tour is only his second in the last twenty years so it felt special to see him.


In stark contrast to Sly, I also got to photograph the English National Ballet performing a special presentation of Swan Lake at the Chateau of Versailles. They performed on a stage set in the middle of small lake in the garden called the Bassin de Neptune. I can’t claim to have much experience with ballets but once I got over the guys running around the stage with skin color tights, I found the show quite beautiful, especially with the surroundings. You can see more images of the performance by clicking HERE.


Earlier this week I woke up before dawn and went to shoot an area just outside Paris (but still reachable by the metro) called La Defense. La Defense is a futuristic, large-scale business district with its main draw being the Grande Arche, a huge open-centered cube that is more than a football field high, wide and deep. The Arche is the end of the famed “Historical Axis” which starts at the pyramids of the Louvre, continues through the Tuileries Gardens to the monolith in the Place de la Concorde, goes up the Champs-Elysees and right through the Arc de Triomphe. If you stand in the right spot, and if the day is clear enough, the alignment of this Axis is so precise that you can actually see all the monuments along this approximately 5-mile alley. You can see a few more images of morning in La Defense by clicking HERE.


And finally, I experienced shock and awe this week in Paris. On my way back from La Defense, while I was reading my newspaper waiting for the metro at Chatelet station, I heard an unusual sound coming from the platform on the other side of the tracks. I looked up and saw something that really shocked me – an older man, drunk and disheveled, with his penis out FACING the tracks and the people (like me) directly across from him, peeing a solid stream of urine down onto the metro tracks. Public peeing is not so uncommon here but the boldness of this man to face everyone, including children, was unprecedented for me. After an initial moment of disbelief, my photographic instinct took over and I got my camera out in time to get a shot of the man; thankfully the photo is not so clear.

A few photos of the week ...

Violin Couple on the Bridge

Monument in the Clouds at Place de la Bastille

Cafe Panis at Night

Hotel de Ville and the Moon

Hotel de Ville at Night

Sur'veil'ance

Man Playing Petanque

Bikes, Johnny’s Place, Paris Plages and a Hot Shower

The big news this week in Paris was the launch of the mayor’s new public bicycle program, called Velib (‘ve’lo = bicycle, ‘lib’erte = freedom). It’s intended to help fundamentally change the city by putting 200,000 cyclists and over 20,000 bicycles on the streets of Paris by the end of the year.

The system allows people to grab a bike at one of what will eventually be 1,450 automatic stations throughout the city and drop it off at any other station. The first 30 minutes of use are free of charge and then each subsequent half-hour gets increasingly more expensive; the system is designed to keep the bikes in frequent circulation. Judging from the first few days it seems that people here are quite excited by the program. I, however, failed in my first attempt to use a bike; the 4, 5 & 6 keys on the first automatic station I went to weren’t functioning (after just 3 days of use!) and when I went to a second station, the system told me that they had a temporary technical problem. Let’s hope it’s just growing pains but I’m not sure.

Had lunch this week at a restaurant called Rue Balzac which is owned by legendary French rocker Johnny Hallyday, not far from the Champs-Elysees. The food was tasty and the place was quite stylish … although I did note quite a few people speaking English. You can check out the restaurant and the menu (although it’s in French) here.

This week also brought the start of the 6th annual Paris Plage (Paris Beach), which this year is actually called Paris Plages (plural) since it’s taking place at 3 different locations around the city. Each year, the city brings in sand, lays out lounge chairs and sets up beach-related activities along the Seine river so that Parisians not able to go to the real beach can still experience something like a beach close to home. It’s pretty packed with locals and tourists but can be a nice place to sit and people-watch.

And finally, victory is mine. The gas in my apartment is back on. After 3 weeks, hours on the phone and a visit to the Gaz de France boutique, a man arrived at my door exactly on time (Miracle #1) on Friday. However, although he had my name and address on his work order, the apartment number was incorrect (Expected Event #1) so he told me that he couldn’t turn my gas on (Expected Event #2) without risking a fine of $15,000 euros. He said that he had to leave (Expected Event #3) and suggested I call the emergency service to get them to come out and turn on the gas. I refused to let him leave and forced him to wait with me while I called the emergency service. The emergency service representative asked me to hand the phone to the service guy so that he could scold him for suggesting I call the emergency service (Miracle #2). This prompted the service guy to make a couple of phone calls and suddenly he announced that everything was fine, opened a panel in the hallway and used a simple tool to open the spigot and turn my gas back on (Miracle #3). It’s been a long time since a hot shower felt so good …

Why wasn’t this group around when I was in university?!? Read more about them here.

A couple photos of the week ...

When pigeons attack ...

Small street on Ile de la Cite

50 Cent, Gas, Bastille Day and Poker

Musically speaking this week began with rapper 50 Cent in concert at the famed Olympia Hall.
He’s pretty much nuts and other than having a guy in his entourage spray water on the crowd (and consequently on the photographers), he put on an entertaining show. My favorite part was seeing all the French pseudo-gangsters in attendance. Comical.

But basically this week was all about gas. For no particular reason, the gas in my apartment was cut off last weekend. Gas heats the water in my apartment, particularly in my shower. After repeated calls to the gas company, I learned that there really isn’t a gas company anymore per se. As of July 1, France “liberalized” their gas market, making the gas company just a distributor of gas. If you need service, the gas company now has to contact another organization to ask for service. But I’m free to choose whichever gas company I’d like to have now. What a ridiculously fraudulent concept – as if people where clamoring for more gas choices. Those of us from the US should remember the whole Enron fiasco where the government said they were doing us a favor by giving a choice of electricity. We know how well that worked out.

So after 7 days without hot water, I went to the gas company boutique in the Marais. I was extremely lucky to find an old-timer who was willing to try and help me. He called the service department and was told someone could come out in 3 weeks to turn on my gas again. Mercifully he found that unacceptable and decided to call an old buddy of his who happened to be the chief of the gas company in Paris. After about an hour of sparring, I got an appointment … for next Friday. Turns out that the day after the July 1 “liberalization” the gas company received 140,000 service complaints and has been receiving about 50,000 per day since. So I guess next Friday is not so bad.

Robin Wright Penn made an appearance in Paris in conjunction with Paris Cinema, a local international film festival where they have screenings in 20 different movie theatres in every arrondissement (district) of Paris, with free access to some showings or a reduced price of 4 € per ticket to others.

After talking about it for about 5 years, I finally organized my first French poker night. There were six of us – two Frenchman, two Italians and two Americans. It was good fun and despite having to teach the rules to a couple of the guys, I managed to lose 10 euros.

And finally, this last weekend was Bastille Day, the closest French of equivalent of our Fourth of July. I managed to get onto the Champs-Elysees to photograph the big military parade. The President of France is always at the head of the parade and just through good fortune, Sarkozy made an unplanned stop to get out of the jeep and shake a few hands … right next to me. So I managed to get a few nice shots of Monsieur Le President.


To see more Bastille Day images, click on this link:

Bastille Day Parade - Favorites

A few photos of the week ...

New rickshaw-style taxis on the streets of Paris

Olives on rue Mouffetard

Concert crowd at Olympia Hall

Rainbow over a factory

Iggy, Smokey, Al, George, Harry & the 4th

This was a week of “legends” concerts in Paris. The list included 60-year old Iggy Pop (more later), 64-year old George Benson (who I would swear is actually George Foreman) together with 67-year old Al Jarreau, and the legendary 67-year old Smokey Robinson. I can only wish that I am as energetic as these performers are when I reach their age. I’ve never particularly been a fan of Al Jarreau or George Benson but after seeing them on stage, I really appreciate what good performers and musicians they are.
Each concert was notable but for me, Iggy Pop was most memorable. I learned why to many he’s known as the Godfather of Punk; he’s out of his damn mind. I witnessed him do 3 fully-airborne stage dives into the crowd … and that was only during the FIRST song.
But the main reason that it was notable for me was that after the conclusion of the 3rd song (photographers normally only get to shoot the first 3 songs of a concert), when I tried to exit, I was led by security INTO the crowd instead of out the back door. There was near chaos in the crowd and I seriously feared for my safety for a few moments when fans started jumping down from the upper levels of the theatre to get down to the floor level (about a 20-foot drop). Security tried to stop these fans (one security guard actually caught a jumping fan by his long ponytail!) but the dam was crumbling. I eventually got out of there by climbing over a metal fence with all my photo gear in tow. It was just a little bit different than last week’s Streisand concert. ;-)


The specially-decorated Harry Potter III train greeted some of the cast of the film at Gare de Bercy before the French premiere. It was fairly unexciting. The most amusing part was that I almost didn’t photograph one of the stars of the film because I thought I was waiting for Emily Watson and not Emma Watson. As the French say, I’m “null” knowing who’s who in these films.
No luck finding a BBQ but I celebrated the 4th of July by having breakfast at a place I’ve been avoiding for a number of years. It’s called “Breakfast in America” and is a Johnny Rockets-like diner that seemed like the perfect tourist trap. But it was all decked out with American flags so it seemed appropriate on the 4th of July. It wasn’t half bad but I wouldn’t add it to the list of “musts” in Paris.
I had a really nice, unexpected experience this week at an event I ultimately wasn’t allowed to photograph. A fellow photographer tipped me off to an exclusive private party given by Karl Lagerfield and sponsored by Dom Perignon (they had an open bar with Dom Perignon!) coinciding with Haute Couture Fashion week this week. I wasn’t credentialed to photograph the event but since Claudia Schiffer, Karl Lagerfield and other celebrities were expected to attend, I thought I’d try to talk my way in. My press pass got me past the first level of security and I was well positioned on the red carpet when at the last minute, a hell-bitch event organizer re-checked everyone’s event credential and I was caught. I tried using every tactic I learned from the film “Fletch” (“Mr. Underhill must have forgotten to add me to the list”) but had no luck. As I was packing up to leave, a handful of French photographers left their position on the red carpet and together approached the event organizer and told her that they all knew me and that I was legit. It didn’t help but I was quite touched that they took it upon themselves to try to help me. I knew a few of the photographers but others I had only seen a few times but had never spoken to. It was a special moment in my own personal Franco-American relations.

And finally, I had my first firsthand experience with a French hospital. An elderly friend of mine had cataract surgery and I went to go visit her just after the procedure. I have to say that I was quite impressed with the level of cleanliness and professionalism that I witnessed. You hear many stories of the problems with socialized health care systems but I can tell you that after what I witnessed, I would feel quite comfortable if I never needed their services. My friend however disagreed; the bread roll she was served with her meal must have been more than 4 hours old!

A few photos of the week ...

Need a gargoyle?

Summer green
Ecole Polytechnique

Fountain at Chateau de Versailles

Fireworks at Chateau de Versailles

Fountain at Chateau de Versailles

Wish I took this photo ...

Old Singers, Fashion and Shitty Sand

The active summer season in Paris continued this week. Shot the concerts of a couple of singers who have been around a while … Julio Iglesias and Barbra Streisand. It was Streisand’s first ever performance in France. She told the audience that she was inspired by French actress Sarah Bernhardt; she said she was feeling too tired to come to Europe for a concert at this stage of her career but that if Bernhardt could come to America and act after having a leg amputated, then she figured she could at least find the energy to come to Paris and do a show.

She played in front of a packed house. Those in attendance included the First Lady of France Cecilia Sarkozy and French singing legend Charles Aznavour just to name a few. The day after the concert, Streisand went to the presidential palace and received the French Legion of Honor medal from President Sarkozy. "You are the America that we love," Mr. Sarkozy said.

Men’s Fashion Week started this week. I have to say the men’s fashion doesn’t have near the ambience or excitement (personal or professional!) as the women’s shows. But on the plus side, I receive less bruises since there are fewer large Italian photographers battling for position along the catwalk than during the women’s shows.


One photo I missed this week was of a poster on the metro advertising a family amusement park called “La Mer de Sable” or “The Sea of Sand”. In either an act of marketing genius or complete inanity (I know which I think it is), their website address for the park drops the “La” and is www.merdesable.fr The word “merde” means “shit” in French … so basically their website address translates to www.ShitSand.com. Not since General Motors tried to sell the Chevy Nova in Mexico (No Va means “does not go” in Spanish) without changing the name have I seen such a marketing blunder.

One photo of the week ...

A Fashion Show Attendee