{"id":1772,"date":"2007-12-19T22:56:52","date_gmt":"2007-12-20T05:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=1772"},"modified":"2007-12-20T15:24:44","modified_gmt":"2007-12-20T22:12:44","slug":"camera-of-death-vs-wednesday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=1772","title":{"rendered":"Camera Of Death Vs. Cruelty &#038; Indifference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>And now ladies and gentleman, another little letter from the lonely hearts club. Tune in. Maybe you&#8217;ll find the one you lost too on our little ol&#8217; radio show.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the first letter:<\/p>\n<p>I sent off three RSVPs Sunday to three events Wednesday, including the  Asada Collection and Toys For Tots &quot;Holiday Celebrity Gifting Mixer&quot; at the grand opening of My Signature at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.merchantcircle.com\/business\/R.And.D.323-651-1461\">7578 Melrose Ave<\/a>., Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>Celebrities expected included Hill Harper [CSI], April Scott [Dukes of Hazzard], Bai Ling [Star Wars 2], B2K, Fonzwroth Bentley, Claudia Jordan [Deal Or No Deal] and many others.<\/p>\n<p>Tia Jackson (events@<a href=\"http:\/\/www.avidexposure.com\/\">avidexposure.com<\/a>) replied Dec. 16: &quot;Hi Luke,  We apologize for the inconvenience but unfortunately, we are at capacity and the Media List is now CLOSED. We can forward a our post release to you afterwards and pictures will be available on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wireimage.com\/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====298500&amp;nbc1=1\">wireImage.com<\/a> for future uses.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Tia, my African queen, my Ebony dream<br \/>\nI know the DNA&#8217;s come back<br \/>\nAnd I know you don&#8217;t want money,<br \/>\nI just want to be a daddy to Kareem<\/p>\n<p>Someone found a letter you wrote me, on the radio<br \/>\nAnd they told the world just how you felt<br \/>\nIt must have fallen out of a hole in your old brown overcoat<br \/>\nThey never said your name<br \/>\nBut I knew just who they meant.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, I was so surprised and shocked, and I wondered too<br \/>\nIf by chance you heard it for yourself<br \/>\nI never told a soul just how I&#8217;ve been feeling about you<br \/>\nBut they said it really loud<br \/>\nThey said it on the air<br \/>\nOn the radio whoa oh oh<\/p>\n<p>Tia, don&#8217;t it kinda strike you sad when you hear <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D7-qMrJ0Kn8\">our song<\/a><br \/>\nThings are not the same since we broke up last June<br \/>\nThe only thing that I wanna hear is that you love me still<br \/>\nAnd that you think you&#8217;ll be comin&#8217; home real soon<br \/>\nWhoa oh yeah yeah<br \/>\nAnd it made me feel proud when I heard you say<br \/>\nYou couldn&#8217;t find the words to say it yourself<br \/>\nThat I was welcome to this party<br \/>\nAnd I&#8217;d get a big shiny press pass<\/p>\n<p>And now in my heart I know I can say what I really feel<br \/>\n&#8217;cause they said it really loud<br \/>\nThey said it on the air<br \/>\nOn the radio whoa oh oh<br \/>\nOn the radio whoa oh oh<br \/>\nOn the radio whoa oh oh<br \/>\nOn the radio<\/p>\n<p>I leave at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday. It&#8217;s my first time out of the hovel since it started raining 30 hours ago.<\/p>\n<p>I arrive at 7700 Melrose at 7:30 p.m. It&#8217;s taken me 45 minutes to drive four miles.<\/p>\n<p>I walk up to the store. There&#8217;s no press. Just one photographer in-house.<\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t wait to use my freshly constituted Nikon SB 800 speedlight. I&#8217;d just sent it back to the company for the second time. It wasn&#8217;t firing (it worked for a month after the last repair).<\/p>\n<p>I try it out. It won&#8217;t fire.<\/p>\n<p>I just paid $121 for the second time in three months to fix the thing.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m truly more suited to heavenly rather than worldly concerns.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m much more of a spiritual being than a physical one.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m like an angel &#8212; an angel who&#8217;s stuck with his Nikon D200&#8217;s internal flash.<\/p>\n<p>Three black men walk towards me.<\/p>\n<p>When they don&#8217;t mug me, I decide to commemorate my good fortune by taking their picture. I will show it to anyone who ever says anything to me about the putatively criminal proclivities of the urban crowd.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/2.htm\">L-R: Everett Ev&#8217;Body Marshall, David Mims, Damian Earl Matthias<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/3.htm\">L-R: Everett Ev&#8217;Body Marshall, David Mims, Damian Earl Matthias<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/4.htm\">Claudia Grajeda, Michal Mallvany, Ron Tanenbaum<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/1.htm\">David Mims, from Detroit to LA<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/5.htm\">Edith Martinez, Claudia Grajeda, Michal Mallvany, Ron Tanenbaum<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/6.htm\">Edith Martinez, Claudia Grajeda, Michal Mallvany, Ron Tanenbaum<\/a>  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/8.htm\">Kat Kramer<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/9.htm\">Edith Martinez, Claudia Grajeda, Michal Mallvany, Ron Tanenbaum<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/10.htm\">Kat Kramer<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/11.htm\">Kat Kramer<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/12.htm\">A. Michaels &#8211; Beverly Hills singer and hair stylist (The View)<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/Images\/photos4\/071219\/13.htm\">A. Michaels<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.revver.com\/video\/578169\/\">Video of Everett Ev&#8217;Body Marshall, David Mims, Damian Earl Matthias<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.katharinekramer.com\">KatharineKramer.com<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/myspace.com\/katharinekramer\">Katharine Kramer&#8217;s MySpace<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/revver.com\/watch\/578107\">Here&#8217;s my video interview with Kat Kramer (daughter of Stanley Kramer and goddaughter of Katharine Hepburn)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#8217;m launching my own web series,&quot; says Kat. &quot;It&#8217;s going to have three webisodes at the beginning. It&#8217;s going to continue until my goal is accomplished. It&#8217;s called &#8216;My Duet With Mick.&#8217; I&#8217;m trying to sing a duet with Mick Jagger for charity. I recorded an album singing his obscure love songs. The album&#8217;s coming out between February and April. It&#8217;s already out in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#8217;m following in the footsteps of &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mydatewithdrew.com\/\">My Date With Drew<\/a>.&#8217;&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Luke: &quot;What&#8217;s the blessing and what&#8217;s the curse of having famous parents?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Kat: &quot;The blessing is having the knowledge&#8230; Not having any lies told to me, knowing how hard it is to make it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The downside is having a lot of people assuming I got some place because of my parents.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>After the publicist (Tia, could that be you? I never got to tell you how I really feel) takes my card and checks me out, then the burly black bouncer waves me over (by name!) and tells me I can&#8217;t stand on the public sidewalk outside the store and take pictures. I&#8217;m not credentialed.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;This is a public sidewalk,&quot; I respond. &quot;I can stand anywhere I want.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>We argue the matter and then I ignore him and do my job.<\/p>\n<p>No other photographers show up but they&#8217;re at capacity when it comes to this white boy.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m tired of being discriminated against for being a shmuck.<\/p>\n<p>I leave at 8:15 p.m. I can&#8217;t take the hatin&#8217; anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t hate. Congratulate.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t hate the playa. Hate the game.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m money, baby, and I don&#8217;t even know it.<\/p>\n<p>God loves me (even if nobody else does).<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t bother me with orthodox legalism. I&#8217;m saved by grace. I don&#8217;t have to do a bunch of minute commandments to feel close to God.<\/p>\n<p>I just have to look at pictures of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/profiles\/profiles\/christina_derosa.htm\">Christina DeRosa<\/a> to know He exists and that He loves me and that He has a plan for my life that includes a penetrating interview with this young singer-actress.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s an 8:30 p.m. press check-in for rapper Nick Cannon&#8217;s party at 1714 Las Palmas in Hollywood. I sent in an email but didn&#8217;t hear back.<\/p>\n<p>I run into several photographers outside the club. They say we should return at 9:30. They ask me if I&#8217;m on the list? If so, I should go check in.<\/p>\n<p>They wear those fancy laminated badges that real photographers swing when they get credentialed to cool events.<\/p>\n<p>I have &quot;<a href=\"http:\/\/article.nationalreview.com\/?q=ZmE5ZTdjYTMxNTc5ZDkwZDExMjdhNjIxN2I1YmRiNjc=\">The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy&#8217;s Dossier On Hillary Clinton<\/a>&quot; in my Sony tape recorder (yes, a real cassette player, I&#8217;m a traditionalist) but I only have half a tape left to listen to. I didn&#8217;t bring anything else.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not equipped for this cold secular world.<\/p>\n<p>On the radio whoa oh oh<\/p>\n<p>If you think that love isnt found on the radio<br \/>\nWell tune right in, you made find the love you lost<\/p>\n<p>I decide to walk down to 6533 Hollywood Blvd to check out the &quot;Roaring Twenties Holiday Soir&eacute;e, &ldquo;Let The Good &amp; Glamorous Times Roll&rdquo; presented by Jenn Laskey of Redlight Special Events and LA.com, hosted by Niki Shadrow.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>It has a 9 p.m. press check-in. It&#8217;s 8:45 p.m. I see nothing going on. I see only a restaurant at 6533 Hollywood Blvd.<\/p>\n<p>The whole world is shut up against me.<\/p>\n<p>I feel a buzzing itch burn across my forehead.<\/p>\n<p>My eyes, I can&#8217;t get focus, the speedlight in my head&#8217;s not working, I feel cataracts growing over my vision, my right eye&#8217;s been twitching uncontrollably for two weeks now, I try to cry to cleanse away the Hollywood muck&#8230;if only I could be sure you love me still.<\/p>\n<p>I return to the club.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the threat of rain, the red carpet is going to be held inside.<\/p>\n<p>I check-in with the media guy. I&#8217;m not on the list. He says he can&#8217;t get me in. There&#8217;s no room.<\/p>\n<p>I think about standing outside and shooting celebrities as they walk in but my speedlight&#8217;s not working, my mojo&#8217;s limp, and my frustration and anxiety are off the charts.<\/p>\n<p>I walk a mile back to my car, bent over by my life misfiring like my SB 800.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve made $3:15 off Google Adsense today. If I multiply that by ten every day, I&#8217;ll be able to pay my bills. If I multiply that by 30 every day, I&#8217;ll return to therapy.<\/p>\n<p>I yearn for the salty taste of my lithium tabs, but as I pass reflecting glass, I see a fat jowly face staring back at me, it&#8217;s pores swollen prescription.<\/p>\n<p>I have a choice &#8212; I can be fat and happy or slim and miserable.<\/p>\n<p>Just so long as I&#8217;m not racist.<\/p>\n<p>I drive home.<\/p>\n<p>I boot up my computer at 9:30 p.m. I find two invites to Nick Cannon&#8217;s party waiting for me in my email: &quot;Vernon sent you an invite  Vernon and &quot;San&quot;yika otherwise known as &quot;AX\/s Worldwide&quot; Cordially invite you to ***NICK CANNON&#8217;S Xmas Bash*** Benefiting Toys For Tots **TONIGHT** Wednesday, December 19, 2007 @ LAX Nightclub (1714 N. Las Palmas Ave. Hollywood CA, 90028) GREEN CARPET AND PRESS\/MEDIA START @ 9pm SHARP Sponsored by -MIDORI -944 MAGAZINE For complimentary entry before 11:00 pm YOU MUST SHOW THIS EMAIL OR PRINT AND BRING THE ATTACHED FLYER. Happy Holidays from all of us at AX\/s Worldwide!!!&quot;<\/p>\n<p>I consider driving back.<\/p>\n<p>I decide against.<\/p>\n<p>Better to curse the darkness than light a candle.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll have to learn to love myself.<\/p>\n<p>If you think that love isn&#8217;t found on the radio<br \/>\nWell tune right in you may find the love you lost<br \/>\n&#8217;cause now I&#8217;m sitting here&#8230;<br \/>\nIt sounded really loud they said it really loud<br \/>\nOn the radio whoa oh oh<br \/>\nOn the radio whoa oh oh<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wireimage.com\/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====298708&amp;nbc1=1\">Wire Image at Nick Cannon&#8217;s party<\/a> <!--adsense--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And now ladies and gentleman, another little letter from the lonely hearts club. Tune in. Maybe you&#8217;ll find the one you lost too on our little ol&#8217; radio show. Here&#8217;s the first letter: I sent off three RSVPs Sunday to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=1772\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-camera-of-death"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}