Blog – Page 31 – Cheryl Spelts

February 9, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Rock Star: Season Three

Got some lovely news yesterday! Rock Star III is still a very real possibility! In an interview with thedeadbolt.com, Mark Burnett said…

“Yes, it’s funny… you look at these online studies and one of the most requested shows to come back, from anything I’ve done, is Rock Star. And yes, I’m in discussions with various bands. But there is one flaw as a business in that you have to find a suitable rock band that actually wants to find a new lead singer. So you’ve got a barrier to entry, but yes, we are in discussions and people do want to see that series again.”

He’s looking for a band? He’s in discussions? Such GREAT news!

Mr. Burnett, this is a direct plea to you! Please listen to those who are telling you they want the show back! And don’t worry if you can’t get a band – we WANT you to find a band, but if you can’t find one that’s no reason to discard the show… Just do like we did with All-Stars and let the public decide. We had a lot of fun, and had a GREAT ending with All-Stars, and I firmly believe you don’t need a band for this show. And if you feel you need the star power, invite Tommy Lee and Tim Farriss back to join Dave Navarro as judges, and give them a say in the decision, but make the “prize” for the winner, a record contract and solo tour with the House Band. It could work…

And to anyone who loved the show as much as me, this is a direct plea to YOU! More letters! More letters! More letters! If Mark Burnett is considering it, let’s give him even more reasons to go for it!

Join our Big Letter Writing Campaign at RBL! It’s clear that the public is being heard, so I’ve decided to split my letters between CBS and Mark Burnett Productions. In the past it seemed smarter to concentrate on CBS, but since Mark Burnett is the one talking about the show right now, and he has serious clout, I wanted to throw half my letters directly to his company.

Ghen Maynard
Executive Vice President
CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group
7800 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Conrad Riggs
Mark Burnett Productions
640 North Sepulveda Boulevard
2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Just do it. Just write a letter or two. When your favorite show comes back it’ll feel really good to know you were a part of the reason it’s on!

February 6, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Downtown Fallbrook

So I took a little walk downtown on Main Street today, and did a little documenting…

Diva’s always has the best window displays. Right now they’re featuring dresses made out of tissue paper and these really pretty lamps. It’s very creative – and their windows always are – and they have a lot of windows! My grandparents used to own shoe stores and my Grandma did beautiful displays – it’s definitely an art form.

I love the way the street and the traffic lights are reflected in the window. And you can see through the window, back out to the other side of the street, as well as into the shop. It’s just a really interesting shot with lots of levels.

A view of another window, with yet another lamp and more reflections.

For years Fallbrook didn’t have a place to buy fabric, but it looks like we do again. These bolts of a plastic-y fabric for outdoor use, were sitting outside, and inside there were people happily shopping.

It’s not unusual to see a vintage car like this parked on the street. I think there are more classic cars in the area than anywhere else in California, and the owners like to show them off!

On Main Street some of the buildings are really old, and some are made to look that way, and it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference – which is a good thing.

I love this sign! The Mission Theatre runs a dance school across the street, so their students are often seen darting across. In this case, “Dancer Xing” is accurate.

The Mission Theatre was built in 1948, and the inside still has some great original details. They do mostly children’s theatre now, but in the past they did adult productions, and before that it was all movies.

As I’ve mentioned before, the building my studio is in, Elder House, was a school until only recently – and the traffic signs haven’t been removed yet.

I love to watch leaves fluttering in the breeze. I shot nearly thirty frames of these leaves as they blew wildly, and considered putting together an animation. Maybe…

And of course there are some pretty little plants along Main Street…

These trees are just now blooming – so pretty!

And my favorite shot of the day! Who knew some leaves and stems could be so yummy?

February 5, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Provisional Voting

I had an interesting experience at the polls today. When I first registered to vote, at age 18, I registered with one party – but I haven’t always voted for the candidates put forth by that party. I tend to pick my candidate based on who they are as a person, and what they espouse, and less on what party label they wear. So today, I once again was attracted to a candidate for president in the other party, but I realized it was the first time I’ve ever felt that way in a Primary Election – so I explained to the poll worker what I wanted to do, and asked how best to accomplish that – since obviously if they handed me the ballot for my “official” party, my preferred candidate’s name would not appear on it.

The poll worker told me first it wasn’t possible – that I should have changed my party affiliation before the deadline, and now it was impossible. So then I asked how to write-in a candidate’s name, and she said that I could do that, but it probably wouldn’t count. And I told her that was fine, I might still do it anyway! She was completely kind and helpful, but luckily another poll worker nearby heard the exchange and grabbed the policy book and looked it up and discovered that I could indeed vote under another party, using a Provisional Ballot. Yeah!

So I got my special little peach colored envelope and as they explained it to me, the guy in line behind me said he wanted to do the same thing. And we all kind of laughed over it. Here I was the first person all day with that question – and it was really late in the day – and now they had two of us in a row. So I went over to the little cardboard voting booths and filled in the little bubbles with a pen – no electronic voting in Fallbrook! And when I was done, and waiting to hand over the peach envelope with my provisional ballot, I noticed a bunch of people getting peach envelopes. Now they could have been people from other areas, people who have recently moved – there are lots of reasons to use a provisional ballot. But as I left I smiled at the poll worker who had helped me and said, “Wow, there are lots of us all of a sudden!” and she smiled back and said, “Yeah, you really started something!” and she gave me the OK sign.

It made me feel good to realize that I’m not the only one – and also to know that because I asked the question, it opened the door to other voters getting to vote for the candidate they truly believe in, rather than having to stick to their official party’s candidates. I have no idea who they all voted for – but I think it’s VERY cool they got to make the choice they really wanted to make!

February 2, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

De Luz Schoolhouse

There’s a little one-room schoolhouse in De Luz – the only other existing one-room schoolhouse that I know of in this area, is in Anza, and it’s the school my great-grandma attended. She was born in 1904, lived to be 100-years-old, and rode a donkey five miles to get to school. But this post isn’t about her, it’s about the schoolhouse in De Luz – which is situated in the prettiest oak grove. It’s peaceful and quiet, the ground is fertile and rich, and the oak trees are the tallest I’ve ever seen. It’s paradise.

De Luz Elementary was built in 1927 and one teacher taught all eight grades. In 1968 the school was closed, and since then the building has been used as De Luz Ecology Center.

De Luz Post Office
The tiny post office may look like someone’s idea of a little joke, but there really are mailboxes in the side of the building.

I’ve shot in the area many times, but today was different. It was a gray cloudy day, and the light was flat except for a few brief moments when the sun broke through. But flat, subdued light can be be quite beautiful if you have the right subject matter. So this time I didn’t shoot the big soaring trees, or try for majestic landscapes – instead I mostly went after the subtle details that usually get lost in stronger light. And I found some wickedly beautiful details…

De Luz
Leaves on an oak tree.

De Luz

De Luz
Have you ever seen grass this pretty?

De Luz
Where they’ve cut off a limb, the tree oozes sap.

De Luz

Sheep in De Luz
These sheep are very lucky – they live in paradise, have plenty of room to roam, and look healthy and happy.

I was the only human in the area, so I thought they were all watching me, but shortly after I shot this image I saw some coyote footprints, and it occurred to me that this was the kind of day when wildlife is more active – and it’s the exact kind of day I’ve seen bobcats and mountain lions in the past, and here I was all by myself, with no other humans around, and I was concentrating on blades of grass and leaves? I’m usually smarter than that… So I decided to call it a day, and got back to my car, and then watched as a nice-looking healthy coyote trotted across the street. I am not afraid of one lone coyote, but a mountain lion is a different matter.

Oak Tree
And finally I shot this image on the way out to De Luz. I shot the same tree in December on a pretty sunny day, and the difference today, just two months later was striking. Where the hill was brown before, today it was green. Where the sky was bright blue in December, today it was gray. Very, very different day, and very different image – but still a really beautiful and striking tree.

De Luz
And the freshest little weed…

For more on the De Luz Schoolhouse, go to:
http://www.fallbrook.org/history/de-luz-school.asp

February 1, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Catching up…

Couple of things on mind today! First, it’s been an entire month since I gave up Diet Coke and it feels wonderful to no longer be in the clutches of that monster addiction. Okay, maybe it’s not a monster addiction compared to cigarettes or heroin, but since I’ve never done either of those two things, caffeine was my monster – and it’s official – I’ve slayed it.

So since it’s February first, I figured I was ready for a new goal, but I couldn’t decide which one to go for – so I’m picking two. One is simple, straight-forward and easy to determine if I’m sticking to it or not. The other is a bit more ethereal and harder to define if or when I’ve truly achieved it – but that’s okay, just the attempt is worth doing! So my goals for February are no more junk food unless it’s a special and social occasion. A hot dog at the fair, chips at a party, ice cream at a friends house – all good! Hitting the drive-through window for dinner because I’m so busy? Not so good.

The second, more ethereal goal is to catch more of the opportunities that flutter by… You know, the thought you have and never act on? I want to act on a few more than normal this month. I think as a rule, artists tend to grab more of those slippery little opportunities than the rest of the population – but hey, there’s always more, more, more!

This was in my fortune cookie last night – I’ll take is as a sign I’m on the right track!

On another topic, we named our Ultimate Rock Star at RBL – and the winner is also my personal favorite – Marty Casey. It’s been a fun ride the last few weeks, and the ending was great! David Goffin, executive producer of Rock Star stopped by to let us in some news about his next project – which sounds very cool! And then later, our Ultimate Rock Star himself, Marty Casey, stopped by to give a very funny and yes, heartfelt acceptance speech. Perfect ending to a really fun couple of months!

Edited to Add: Here’s a screenshot of the front of Marty Casey’s official site, with a mention of the win.

January 25, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

RBL Rock Star: All-Stars

Back in July of 2006 I was lucky enough to get to go to the party MSN threw for Rock Star at the Roxy. Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted and Gilby Clarke were all there – and all the singers in the cast. That was the night that Dilana told me she loved ROCKBAND.COM and had been reading the posts before she left for the show, and she mentioned specifics that made me know she really had read it all!

The entertainment for the night was Dave Navarro’s band, The Panic Channel and my favorite band, the Lovehammers.

So the Lovehammers are finally up on stage, and it had been almost five months since I’d last seen them live, so I’m really looking forward to it. And then lead singer and season one contestant, Marty Casey, makes a comment about how he might have been better suited to the current season – which makes sense on the surface since his music is harder than INXS. So maybe he would have been a better fit on the year with the harder rocking band? And the crowd cheered and Tommy Lee nodded in agreement and the singers all clapped enthusiastically. Yeah, I can buy that.

But later I kept thinking about it, and Marty was the top vote-getter in season one. INXS chose JD Fortune to be their new lead singer, but the public made Marty the top vote-getter. You can’t really do better than that! So it got me thinking – what if they did a show with no band, and the winner truly was the popular vote-getter? It’s was an interesting premise. And guess what? The exact same thing happened in season two. Toby Rand was the top vote-getter, but Supernova wanted Lukas Rossi. I am ALL for the band choosing who they like best – no disagreements from me on that process! But it is still interesting to consider what would happen if there was no band.

In 2007 CBS failed to renew Rock Star, so at RBL we started the Big Letter Writing Campaign – and I believe we sent in a pile of mail. But still no more Rock Star. Then at the end of the year with the writer’s strike looming, it seemed like there was perhaps an opening to get Rock Star back into production. Plus I was looking for a little fun… So we cooked up RBL Rock Star: All-Stars! The premise was to pit the nineteen favorite singers from both seasons against each other in a competition that would last fourteen weeks, and with no band and no judges, it would be the people voting who would select the Ultimate Rock Star.

We’ve been watching videos and voting like crazy for fourteen weeks, and we’re now down to the finale week. And it’s been a blast! Our finalists are…

JD Fortune from Canada, winner of season one and lead singer of INXS.

Australia’s Toby Rand, the top vote-getter in season two, and lead singer for Juke Kartel.

And finally, the top vote-getter in season one, and lead singer of the Lovehammers, Marty Casey, from Chicago, Illinois.

If you have time on Sunday and Tuesday, stop by and vote! And write a letter to CBS – I want Rock Star back on my TV!

January 24, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

It’s raining. It must be January.

sign

It’s raining. I guess hanging my sign will have to wait for another day…

January 23, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Marty Casey & Lovehammers

These have never before been seen in public – but they’re fun, so why not share them?! I was going through some old work last night, and found these, and decided to share them in the discussion thread for our RockBandLounge.com Rock Star: All-Stars – more on that later! But for now, just enjoy the Lovehammers, circa 2006…

And if you’re wondering where the inspiration came for these shots, take a look at http://www.harrybenson.com. Harry Benson’s shot of the Beatles in the middle of a pillow fight is one of the most iconic images in rock photography – and a personal favorite!

January 19, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Finding the art in a few blocks…

My favorite fun lens is a Lensbaby 3G. It looks really odd, and the images it creates are not exactly normal – but it’s fun, and if the conditions are right, it can create the most beautiful images! I walked around in downtown Fallbrook today – just headed north from the studio, with just my camera, my keys, and a LensBaby! I have some attachments that make the LensBaby more versatile, but I left them in the studio – I wanted to see what I could get with one lens, walking just a couple of blocks.

While I was shooting in front of the Art & Cultural Center, I looked up and noticed a woman with a camera across the street in the Village Square, and then another one, and another. Because the LensBaby is good for shooting close up, I’d been so focused on the small things directly in front of me, that I hadn’t noticed all the people with cameras across the street. I have a feeling there was a class at the Art Studios this weekend – and I was totally wishing I could sneak in and see what they ended up getting! A few of them started to make their way across the street as I started to walk back, so they were shooting in the exact same area where I shot, just moments later. It would be fun to see what other people would do – so if you’re reading this, and you were there, send me your link so I can check out what you got!

Plant life, abstracted by the lens. There is a large Bird of Paradise in front of the Art and Cultural Center, and these are the stems and leaves. I have a shot of a flower below from this same plant, but this is the shot I prefer. I mean look at those colors!

This looks like a watercolor painting to me – it looks unreal. And look at the egg-shaped circles of confusion. Beautiful!

This was right in front of the Art & Cultural Center – it’s a potted plant and I love the way the leaves blur into nothingness. That is what the Lensbaby is all about!

Another abstracted shot – this is a patch of weeds bordering the sidewalk – but the lens abstracts them so beautifully, it looks like paint on a canvas.

The rest of the images are less abstract, but still fun. This one is the same Bird of Paradise plant as above, from another side, with the window display of the Art and Cultural Center in the background. The window is decorated in a really pretty color palette right now, and this bird fit right in. It still abstract, in that it’s the lines and colors that make the image – rather than the subject matter.

Behind the Art & Cultural Center and Primo’s, there’s an old pepper tree. One hundred years ago there were a lot of pepper trees in Fallbrook, but slowly they seem to be disappearing. This one is not that old, but it is old, and it reminds me of the kind of a tree frequented by elves and fairies and all the little creatures that populated the poems my Great-Grandma wrote to entertain us when I was a child. The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue and beautiful – my Great-Grandma would have loved this tree and this moment!