Archive for September, 2013

In Berkeley: to Shoot or Not

Posted in The Berkeley Scene on September 28th, 2013 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 27, 2013
Berkeley, Ca

ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE BUST TOLLS or SHOOTING CAN PUT YOU AWAY

A shot can be a bullet or a photo.

I had my shoulder camera with me at meet-up recently with BPD Chief Michael K. Meehan and dropped the word — shoot.

The chief was concerned. Even the word shoot caused him to re-coil. I cradled the camera and said, “Don’t worry, Chief, I can’t shoot you with this.”

Later, I e-mailed chief the probable decade of coinage for this shoot-use — 1920’s. Our top cop is interested in words. He laughed heartily when I told him a story about a BPD cop whom, in 1970, accused me of being “obstreperous.”

DOESN’T MY FRIENDSHIP WITH CHIEF MEEHAN PROTECT ME FROM OTHER COPS?

As I tell my friends, I could have had the chief of the FBI with me and I would still be subject to police commands. I have no illusions of being not subject to arrest, even though — especially though, I’m a press photographer and often in the way.

The shot that almost got me busted, Thursday. Photo by Ted Friedman.

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A Pill “Bigger Than Life”

Posted in Film Reviews, The Berkeley Scene on September 25th, 2013 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 22, 2013
Berkeley, Ca

DIALOGUE WITH A POSSIBLY DEAD ART-HOUSE CINEMA FOUNDER

“Bigger Than Life,” ’56, Dir. by Nicholas Ray was as shocking as any of his films and an unheeded warning about prescription drugs.

Two hours ago, I just popped three of the same pills which caused school-teacher James Mason’s life to “spin out of control” in Ray’s cautionary tale.

Coming back from Sunday church service, he roars, “God was wrong” and is not stricken dead.

I’m waiting for my life to go blooey so I can tell you about it.

I also popped some antibiotics for the same reason as the cortisone—a potentially dangerous ear-infection.

my doctor said I would be “horny” whatever that is, and warned me to avoid using the drug at bedtime because my heart will race.
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How to Start a Pubic-Hair War

Posted in The Berkeley Scene on September 17th, 2013 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 16, 2013
Berkeley, Ca

CLARENCE THOMAS AND HIS PUBIC COKE CAN TURN-OVER IN ITS MEDIA GRAVE

Shooting the final week of Berkeley’s 14-Week Telegraph Sundays’ street fair, I aimed high but wound up low when I published a shot of a U.C. Berkeley cheerleader, hoisted high above me.

I shot from ground level as the acrobatic cheerleader hit the top of her stack.

Clarence Thomas’ senate-confirmation hearings, two decades ago, was far from my mind. Thomas was, then, accused of seeing pubic hairs on a coke can but was confirmed to a seat on the supreme court bench, where he might imagine to his heart’s content. He has hardly been heard from since, since being swallowed by his own robe.

Low-down. Photo by Ted Friedman.

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Berkeley’s Irish South Side Invasion of 2013

Posted in The Berkeley Scene on September 9th, 2013 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 9, 2013
Berkeley, Ca

DRUNK AND RIDICULOUS IN BERKELEY

“We have a reputation for being, like completely drunk and ridiculous,” an Irish summer student told Daily Cal recently.

Fraternities won’t rent to them, admitted an Irish summer student, but some new partners in a South Side building’s ownership decided the revenue from otherwise vacant units was worth any risks. They had been warned by the building manager.

According to the manager, one such unit has been “trashed” beyond the security deposit’s ability to recover.

There have been a string of complaints (even from across the street) to Berkeley Police.
Building security has been breached.

One hapless resident was willing to put up with late night/early morning noise, which echoed through its courtyard and the drunken party or two, but that was before the piss fall.
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Up-Date: More About – About Berkeley Reporter

Posted in The Berkeley Scene on September 7th, 2013 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 4, 2013
Berkeley, Ca

NO ONE EVER READS AN “ABOUT”

Articles on the workings of media are often crowded out by hard news.

It’s hard enough to regularly read anything — unless it bleeds.

Read this as trivia or hearsay — my kind of say.

WOW YOUR FRIENDS WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING AT BERKELEY’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE, AND MAJOR SOURCE OF BERKELEY DISH

Berkeley Reporter will have more time to dish now that he spends most of his time photographing for a local publication, and developing his series, South Side Tales — a casserole dish — for Berkeley Times.

My career as a reporter, such as it was, is in shambles now that the Berkeley Daily Planet [ted friedman] has admitted it is “no longer a newspaper.” The Planet recently cancelled deadlines, the mainstay of “when” in who, what, where, when — the pied piper of journalism.

My photo-journalism continues, but not my reportage.

Deadlines were already slack at Berkeley Daily Planet (I had a two day lead-time with all but the fast-breaking story), as my Planet editor and I conspired to flout rules we considered foolish while observing rules we admired.

Only this week, something I put a great deal of reporting into ran on the Planet as “Public Comment.” It was the definitive background piece on Berkeley’s post-office protest.

I was lucky to get it published there, especially with the paragraph revealing my cynicism and other lapses.

I’ll figure out how to contribute to the new Planet; maybe public comments.

Berkeley Reporter contributes short, but regular, news-like squibs on Berkeley, Ca. Patch, a community bulletin board along with cat and dog announcements.

Another Wild and Bumpy Berkeley Week

Posted in The Berkeley Scene on September 1st, 2013 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
Aug. 29, 2013
Berkeley, Ca

DRUNK EXPOSES HIMSELF AS CAL RETURNS, PARENTS SNUGGLE, POST-OFFICE DEMO FIZZLES,TELEGRAPH FAIR THRIVES, CAMP TUOLAMNE PARENTS CELEBRATE THEIR YOSEMITE FIRE BURNED-OUT CAMP, AND MARIO SAVIO RETURNS TO SPROUL PLAZA

Whew!

Here goes.

A drunk did drop his pants outside Peet’s on the eve of Cal move-in weekend with Cal parents on-scene. Parents did nuzzle with their kids. “We know he’s leaving our nest,” said a Cal alum, scarfing a Top Dog (a Berkeley tradition). Berkeley’s Save Our Post-Office is about to perish, and, yes, Mario Savio of 60s Free Speech fame did do a cameo from the steps of Sproul Plaza where his spirit (and plaque) immortalize him.

Berkeley Reporter was there—ike CBS media giants Charles Daly, Don Hollenbeck, and Richard C. Hottelet.

Why is Berkeley so good to me?

Because I am a born-again drop-out?

Savio (d.'96) Speaks at Sproul, 50 years later. Photo by Ted Friedman.

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