The TRANSMETROPOLITAN ART BOOK

Several months back, I heard from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, asking if I'd like to contribute an original piece of art for a book they were producing for charity based upon the Vertigo Comics series, TRANSMETROPOLITAN, by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. I quickly jumped at the chance, even though I was ashamed to say I had never read the book. Yes, I was a huge fan of the creators from their other projects, but somehow the long running Vertigo series slipped by me. Hey, I read a ton of comics and I can't read everything, right? Right? True, but sometimes the really good stuff slips by, like TRANSMET.

I saw the list of contributors, (see list of heavy-hitters below) and knew I'd have to do something special to earn my place among them. I'm not a "comics artist" per se, I'm a photographer, so I needed to play to my strengths. I decided I'd do a Photocomic, like what I do with my CulturePOP series. But, what would be the narrative? Step one, was read at least one of the books and get a feel for the characters and story.

I quickly devoured the first collection of 6 issues and found myself hooked. How did I miss this series initially? Reminder: One can't read everything. Right. Within two weeks I read 6 volumes and decided my homage to this brilliant series shouldn't be a recreation but some sort of commentary.

The lead character, Spider Jerusalem is a Hunter S. Thompson-esq journalist in a future world rank with corruption. Ellis's commentary felt as fresh to me now as I'm sure it was when the books were first released. Spider, a champion of the truth, could be a prophet for the disenfranchised. People would want to be like Spider. I would do a piece on a guy becoming Spider.

A quick call to my bald buddy, musician and Bald Freak Music label owner Ron "Q*Ball" Scalzo, and a plan was in motion.

I ordered a pair of Spider's signature glasses from etsy.com and seeing Ron in them, it was amazing how much he resembled Spider. A wig was used for panel 1, since Ron's already bald, and thanks to Kenny at Kings County Tattoo for standing in on panel 4. The background in the final two panels come from some photos I had from last years New York Comic-Con at the Jacob Javits Center.

I should be getting my copy in the mail any day now, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's contribution and seeing how mine fits.

From the CBLDF site - It has been nearly ten years since the release of the final issue of TRANSMETROPOLITAN, the Eisner-nominated comics series from writer Warren Ellis and artist Darick Robertson. This art book features all new illustrations from the top talents in Comics, with the original co-creators participating, donating a brand new cover and a foreword for the book!

TRANSMETROPOLITAN combines black humor, political scandal, and moral ambiguity to look into the gonzo mind of an outlaw journalist and The City he inhabits. Aided by his embattled Editor and his two Assistants, the protagonist blazes a path through a futuristic world of skyscrapers and technological wonders, dark alleys and unspeakable depravity.

The TRANSMETROPOLITAN Art Book is a lovingly crafted and designed tribute to a seminal work. Contributors include:

Aaron Alexovich, Stephanie Buscema, Jim Calafiore, Stefano Caselli, Cliff Chiang, Richard C. Clark, Kevin Colden,Katie Cooke, Molly Crabapple, Farel Dalrmple, Camilla d'Errico, Gary Erskine, Richard Friend, Dan Goldman, Cully Hamner, Lea Hernandez, Phil Hester, Rantz Hoseley, Matt Howarth, Seth Kushner, Jonathan Luna, Milo Manara, John McCrea, Moritat, Dean Motter, Eduardo Risso, Darick Robertson, Jimmie Robinson, Stuart Sayger, Tim Seeley, Fiona Staples, Bryan Talbot, and many, many others.

The book is available for order now.

The Head Set

A couple of months back I spent a Saturday night bouncing around the LES with my old buddy, Ron "Q*Ball" Scalzo, of the aptly named Bald Freak Music, taking shots of his newly signed band, The Head Set.

The concept for the photos was simply to follow the guys on a night out and capture the vibe of the city and avoid a stiff "band shot". I did a lot of blurred motion type night shots, with the one above being the most successful.

The band's energetic new album is out now and you can get it at their online shop.

LEAPING TALL BUILDINGS - Jeffrey Brown

As can be seen from the photos above, I didn't go very conceptual with Jeffrey, and didn't need to. His work is mainly personal autobio, so it made the most sense to simply photograph him in his life, at work, in his home.

For more about Jeffrey and his work, check out the GRAPHIC NYC profile on him we just posted-
Jeffrey Brown: The Incredible Changing Artist!

I'll post the other Chicago subjects and more soon.

ICONS OF FANDOM

Concluding my latest additions to this series, here's a varied collection of "Icons."

Gary Busey has appeared in over 120 films, including; Lethal Weapon (1987), Point Break (1991), The Firm (1993) and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1978 for his role inThe Buddy Holly Story. He has also made regular television appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage.

Michael Gross is an actor whose most notable roles are father Steven Keaton from Family Ties and the Graboid hunter Burt Gummer from the Tremors franchise.

Robert Knepper is an actor best known for starring as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox network's drama series, Prison Break, for which he was nominated for a Satellite Award. He has also appeared in the films Hitman (2007) and Transporter 3 (2008), and joined the cast of Heroes for its fourth season and recently Stargate Universe.

Peter Ostrum is a former child actor whose only film role was Charlie Bucket in the 1971 motion picture Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

Michael Bollner is a German former child actor who played Augustus Gloop in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Lloyd Kaufman is a film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. With producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their feature films, including The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet.

Dean Stockwell is an actor of film and television, active for over 60 years. He played Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in the NBC television series Quantum Leap and in the Sci Fi Channel revival of Battlestar Galactica as Brother Cavil. He is also known for To Live and Die in L.A., Blue Velvet and Married to the Mob.

CulturePOP Photocomix

Seth Kushner's CulturePOP:

"Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters"

on ACT-I-VATE.com, FREE

All 24 episodes available free:

Elyssa Loveless: Performance

Clark Gayton: My Sousaphone

Caits Meissner: Dear Roger

Carlos 'Mare 139' Rodriguez: The Full Circle

Melisa Winitzky: Rooftop Yoga

The Super Sucklord: Culture Jamming

John D'Aponte: The Family 'Stache

Jennie Fiske: Ukulele Dreams

Olga Karmansky: Rightside-Up

Jonny Wilson: Eclectic Imagery

Jen Ferguson: Bridge Work

Douglas Rushkoff: Taking Back The World

Baron Ambrosia: Flavor of the Bronx

Lisa Natoli: The Aerialist

Dean Haspiel: The Angel

Rachel Kramer Bussel: Bound

Matthew O'Brien: Underworld

Reggie Watts: Just Riffin'

Tim Hall: Exile

Dave Franzese: Life In The Dark Igloo

Jihae: Fig Leaf

Akim Funk Buddha: Urban Tea Ceremony

Nancy Schwartzman: Drawing The Line

Cynthia Von Buhler: Royal Blood

Seth Kushner loves comics and loves taking photos of interesting people. Over the past year, Seth began combining the two passions, in the form of photocomix, AKA fumetti, first popularized in the U.S. with Harvey Kurtzman's Help and later in Robert Crumb's Weirdo. In those cases the experiment was played for laughs, but Seth's doing something different: fusing photojournalism, personality profile, and comix. His first photocomix profile was of the late, great Harvey Pekar, for GRAPHIC NYC, the comics journalism site he co-edits. CulturePOP is his new ongoing series of photocomix profiles on ACT-I-VATE.com.

"What Seth achieved with that initial Pekar interview-cum-comic was a triumph," said Jeff Newelt, Harvey's editor on The Pekar Project. "He took key moments of an interview, matched the words with photos he took, and sequentially arranged the results so as to read as smoothly as an American Splendor comic."

In CulturePOP Season 1, Seth's shined his flash on the lives of subjects including poet Caits Meissner, sousaphonist/producer Clark Gayton, singer/songwriter Elyssa Loveless, designerJohn D'Aponte, graffiti artist/sculptor Carlos "Mare 139" Rodriguez, yoga instructor Melisa Winitzsky, former US champion rhythmic gymnast Olga Karmansky, toy designer Super Sucklord, author Douglas Rushkoff, VJ Jonny Wilson of Eclectic Method, burlesque performerJennie Fiske and artist Jen Ferguson.

"Seth Kushner's omniscient lens distills NYC's brave and bold into graphic time capsules," says Dean Haspiel, creator of Billy Dogma, & The Alcoholic.

CulturePOP Season 2 launched Tuesday 10/5 with a photocomix profile on Bronx Flavor TV host Baron Ambrosia. Other Season2 scintillating subjects: writer / erotic editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, cartoonist Dean Haspiel, illustrator / designer Dave Franzese of Dark Igloo, aerialist Lisa Natoli, hip hop performer Akim The Funk Buddha, comedian/musician Reggie Watts and more (full list above).

“Working on CulturePOP has been a dream come true,” says Kushner. “It’s the melding of my life-long love of comics and my photography into a new form of profile for me. Working on the first twelve was such a challenging and rewarding experience that I can’t wait for viewers to see some of the new tricks I’ve incorporated into the next twelve.”

CulturePOP is co-curated by Jeff Newelt, and edited by Dean Haspiel.

Seth Kushner's photographic portraits of celebrity-types have appeared in such publications The New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Businessweek, L'Uomo Vogue, The New Yorker and others. Seth's first book, The Brooklynites, (with Anthony LaSala) was published by powerHouse Books in 2007 and was) considered ”a terrific coffee table photo/interview book” by The New York Times. Currently, he's co-editing the comics journalism site Graphic NYC (with Christopher Irving) and working on his next book, Leaping Tall Building: The Origins of American Comic Books. Seth first comics work was Schmuck (with artist Kevin Colden) and can be seen on ACT-I-VATE.

ICONS OF FANDOM

Following up on my earlier Ernest Borgnine post from Monday, here are a few more Icons I photographed this past weekend.

Butch Patrick is a former American child actor and is widely known for his role on the TV show The Munsters (1964–1966) where he played Eddie Munster,

Dana Ashbrook is an actor best known for playing Bobby Briggs on the cult TV series Twin Peaks (1990–1991) and its 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.

Hal Linden is a stage and television actor and television director, best known for his starring role in the television comedy series Barney Miller (1975 - 1982).

Robert Romanus is an actor and is best remembered for his role in the 1982 comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the ticket scalper Mike Damone, and as Natalie Green's boyfriend Snake on The Facts of Life.

SPIDERS EVERYWHERE!!

CulturePOP Photocomix may be done for the moment, but I'm still doing Photocomix. I've collaborated with writer Chris Miskiewicz on his EVERYWHERE Anthology. The piece, SPIDERS EVERYWHERE, is an homage to B-movies of yesterday and features a young woman being terrorized by thousands of creepy, crawly SPIDERS!

SPIDERS EVERYWHERE is Written by Chris Miskiewicz, Photocomix by Seth Kushner, edited by Dean Haspiel and starring Cat Cabral, David Blatt and Gerry Perrer.



See it here - http://activatecomix.com/120-5-1.comic


The premise for, EVERYWHERE created by Chris Miskiewicz, is simple: You wake up to find that millions of animals have appeared EVERYWHERE around the world at the same moment. What happened and what does it mean when the natural world has gone horribly wrong? Every month Chris teams up with a different artist to illustrated his latest tale. Past contributors have included; Andrew Wendel, Rick Parker, Bobby Timony and Nathan Schreiber.

Working on SPIDERS was a unique challenge for me. Aside from shooting it in a style similar to that of a dramatized film, I had to create literally thousands of spiders! Chris proved to be an ideal collaborator by writing a well-paced script, casting actors and providing egg and cheese sandwiches on the day of the shoot.

Comments welcome and appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoy it!

Ernest Borgnine - Icons of Fandom

I spent Saturday at the Chiller Theater out in NJ, continuing my Icons of Fandom series. I'll post more this week, but for now, here's my portraits of Ernest Borgnine, an actor whose career has spanned six decades. He's best know for his role in the 1955 film Marty, for which he won an Oscar, the 1962-66 series McHale's Navy, as well as in The Vikings, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Dirty Dozen, Ice Station Zebra, The Poseidon Adventure , The Black Hole and The Wild Bunch.

Part of the limitations of this series has been the short amount of time I get with each subject and the convention center/hotel environments which have led me to do very close shots with obscure backgrounds. The pulled back shot above gives me some much needed variety, I think and gives the impression of a living room, even though it was actually a hotel ballroom and a line of over 100 people were waiting for autographs just to my left.

ACT-I-VATE on The Webcomic Beacon Podcast

This past weekend, myself and a few fellow ACT-I-VATErs sat down to record a discussion with The Webcomic Beacon. It was all done over Skype, so at least I assume everyone was sitting.
We each spoke about ACT-I-VATE, it's history and how it works, as well as the evolution of our individual projects and future plans. Included in the discussion were:

Troy Wilson of PANELS FOR PRIMATES, Chris Miskiewicz of EVERYWHERE, Seth Kushner of CulturePOP, Dov Torbin of THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED, and James Smith of GANG OF FOOLS.

Here host Fes mangle our names here! http://webcomicbeacon.com/episode-183/

CulturePOP Photocomix - LIVE READING

CulturePOP Photocomix broke the fourth wall last night with a live reading at the KGB Bar, as part of the Tom Hart's Sequential Artists Workshop's Annual Fundraiser Reading & Benefit.

Designer John D'Aponte read my profile on him, The Family 'Stache (http://activatecomix.com/104-4.comic) and Jennie Fiske (AKA-Plucky Charms) read her profile, Ukulele Dreams (http://activatecomix.com/104-10.comic).

There was a tremendous turnout for a rainy Easter Sunday, so much so both the theater and the bar had to be utilized. The night went long, and organizer Tom Hart dashed around like a mad man coordinating, but folks seemed to be in good spirits.

Lots of great cartoonists will be read their work as well, including: Dean Haspiel and Daniel J Kramer, John Kerschbaum, Lizz Hickey, Josh Bayer, Domitille Collardey, Leela Corman, Sam Henderson, Leslie Stein, Martha Keavney, Stephanie Mannheim.

CulturePOP Photocomix - LIVE READING

CulturePOP Photocomix is on hiatus at the moment, but there will be a live reading by two CP subjects reading my profiles of them at KGB Bar this Sunday as part of the Sequential Artists Workshop's Annual Fundraiser Reading & Benefit.

Designer John D'Aponte will be reading The Family 'Stache (http://activatecomix.com/104-4.comic) and Jennie Fiske will be reading Ukulele Dreams (http://activatecomix.com/104-10.comic). The images will be projected on a screen behind the readers. Additionally, lots of great cartoonists will be reading their work, including:

Dean Haspiel and Daniel J Kramer
John Kerschbaum
Lizz Hickey
Josh Bayer
Domitille Collardey
Leela Corman
Seth Kushner and readers
Sam Henderson
Leslie Stein
Martha Keavney
Stephanie Mannheim


Easter Sunday, April 24 · 7:00pm - 9:30pm

KGB Bar Upstairs Theater
85 E. 4th Street
New York, NY

More details here - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144881678910836

Hope to see you!

CulturePOP Photocomix book debuts at MoCCA Arts Fest

Above are the front and back covers to the CulturePOP Photocomix books I've self-published. They are a limited edition of 400, 36-pages, and are full-color. The dimensions are 5.5" x 8.5" horizontal format. The book collects four remastered versions of my profiles on; Sucklord, Baron Ambrosia, Lisa Natoli and Carlos 'Mare 139' Rodriguez.
I'm going to debut it at the MoCCA Arts Fest this coming weekend on April 9 & 10, at the Lexington Avenue Armory. I'll be at the ACT-I-VATE/Undie Press table I1, on the south side of the Armory (the side with EXIT) sitting with Tim Hall, Chris Miskiewicz and Kevin Kobasic.

Please stop by if you plan to be at the show.

CulturePOP Photocomix: Cynthia Von Buhler

This week's new installment of CulturePOP Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters is the 24th and the season-2 finale. To mark the occasion, I present my profile on artist Cynthia Von Buhler.

Cynthia and I started work on the piece last fall. We discussed concepts and she soon sent me a first draft of a script, which is nearly identical to the final version. I read through it and learned about her history and the history of her family and was floored by the scope and with how well she broke down the beats of the story by page and text box. It gave me to perfect map for planning out the profile.

But, how the hell was I going to set scenes taking place during Cynthia's childhood and during the 1920s and 1930s? Cast actors and green screen in virtual sets? No, Cynthia had a far more ambitious idea. She would build miniature dollhouse sets and figurines for me to photograph. Wasn't that going to be difficult to do, I asked. No, she said, my last two books were done that way. If you haven't seen her books, But Who Will Bell The Cat <www.butwhowillbellthecats.com> and The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside, <www.comeinsidekitty.com> you should check them out.

We did our first shoot in December, which comprised of most of the shots of Cynthia herself. I crossed off panels from the script as we worked. Then Cynthia began constructing the sets and our period characters. It took her some time to put together the prohibition speakeasy, a birth scene and a death scene, and her own childhood bedroom, among others. She also had to collect the various prop items; a bathtub still, gun, skunk, coffin, and many, many more. When I arrived at her Connecticut studio last week I was absolutely astounded by all she had wrought. But, don't take my word for it...

See it here - http://activatecomix.com/104-24-1.comic

Comments welcome and appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoy it!

CulturePOP will be back in a few months!

CulturePOP Photocomix preview: Cynthia Von Buhler

CulturePOP Updates

Since the CulturePOP Photocomix scheduled to publish today is being delayed (more later) I thought I'd take this time to deliver some quick updates.

I've self-pubished a limited edition of 400 CulturePOP Photocomix books It's a full-color, 36-page, 5.5" x 8.5" horizontal format and it collects four remastered versions of the profiles; Sucklord, Baron Ambrosia, Lisa Natoli and Carlos 'Mare 139' Rodriguez. I'm going to debut it at the MoCCA Arts Fest on April 9 & 10, at the ACT-I-VATE table. Please stop by if you plan to be at the show.

This is somewhat of an experiment for me as I've never self-published anything before, but I figured it was about time I produced a "product." I might do more of these in the future and/or explore the possibility of getting a "proper" book published, but not until after I get some more profiles under my belt.

I plan to release the final profile of season-2 on March 29, two weeks from today. As I said, it's been delayed. The cause of which is a mixture of my recent trip to Chicago (to cover several subjects for my upcoming book, Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics) and because of the ambition going into this final piece. The subject is artist Cynthia Von Buhler and we have been working together on her profile for several months now. The piece will be unique for several reasons, but primarily because it delves into Cynthia's fascinating family history. To visualize the past, Cynthia is building doll house sets and figurines for me to photograph. It's going to be amazing.

Finally, There will be another live CulturePOP reading at Tom Hart's Sequential Artists Workshop Easter Fundraiser at KGB Bar on Easter Sunday, 4/24. I'll announce the details soon.

Thanks for your continued support!

Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey

My photos of DJ QBert and Kid Capri are featured in the new book Hip Hop: A Cultural Odyssey - a 420-page, 16-pound opus, stuffed with hundreds of rare photos and 70 essays that cover 30 aspects of the culture and profile 40 icons. It is available for $300 here - http://aria-me.com/books/

I'm very happy to have my work featured with the likes of fellow photographers; Christian Witkin, Dana Lixenberg, Estevan Oriol, Frank W. Ockenfels 3, Gordon Parks, Janette Beckman, Jonathan Mannion, Martha Cooper, Ricky Powell, Trevor Traynor and many more.

The above photo of DJ Z-Trip was taken at the book launch for "Hip Hop: A Cultural Odyssey" at The GRAMMY Museum on February 8, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. My photo of DJ Q-Bert can be seen in the book. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/WireImage)

GRAPHIC NYC: Dwayne McDuffie

The GNYC Profile: Dwayne McDuffie: A Career of Diversity

Christopher Irving and I had the honor of profiling the late, great Dwayne McDuffie just ten days prior to his death. We were very saddened by the news, but glad to have gotten him for our book.

See the profile here - http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2011/03/dwayne-mcduffie-career-of-diversity.html

The Long and Shortbox Best of the Year 2010

Jon Gorga at www.LongAndShortBox.com posted his 2010 in a Shortbox Best of the Year and one of my CulturePOP Photocomix profiles made the list!
I'm honored to be in such great company as "41" from "Daytripper" #4 by Moon & Ba, "Electric Ant" #1 and #3 by David Mack & Pascal Alixe, "Batman's Last Case" from "Batman" #702 by Grant Morrison & Tony Daniel, "Angel" in OVERFLOW Magazine #6 and on ACT-I-VATE.com, by Dean Haspiel and many more greats.

See the whole list here - http://www.longandshortbox.com/2011/02/2o1o-in-shortbox-best-of-year.html



BEST SHORTS (under 22 pages)

"Culture POP" #14 "The Aerialist" on ACT-I-VATE.com

reportage and photography by Seth Kushner (@sethkushner)

The way Kushner laid-out photographs here to bring the reader through a narrative while maintaining the beauty of the photographs themselves is nothing short of remarkable.

CulturePOP Photocomix: Nancy Schwartzman

Today's new installment of CulturePOP Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters looks at filmmaker/activist Nancy Schwartzman.

I met Nancy a decade ago when she was the creative director at Heeb Magazine, where she commissioned me to do such wacky culture jamming imagery as a DJ's hands spinning a piece of Motzah on a turntable, for the cover of the first issue. After a while Nancy left Heeb and began concentrating on her film, The Line. I remember asking her about it and learned it was about her personal experience of being raped and about "rape culture." From the film, Nancy started a campaign, WhereIsYourLine.org, about consent, sex, pleasure, and healthy boundaries, which has led to her speaking to young people at schools and college campuses. This piece is about how someone can turn something negative into a positive.

See it here - http://activatecomix.com/104-23-1.comic

Nancy is currently hard at work on her next film, xoxosms, "a documentary about love in the 21st century." Check out the trailer and help support it a Kickstarter-
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/931046546/xoxosms-a-documentary-about-love-in-the-21st-centu

Today's new Photocomix is the penultimate one of season-2. That's right, only one more left and that one will be on artist Cynthia Von Buhler and Cynthia and I have been working on it for months so it should be a doozy. Please check back in two weeks.

Comments welcome and appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoy it!

CulturePOP Season 2 continues Tuesday 3/1

CulturePOP Photocomix: Akim Funk Buddha

Today's new installment of CulturePOP Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters looks at Hip-Hop performer Akim Funk Buddha.

I've been speaking with Akim for months. He had a unique concept in mind. For his CP profile, he wanted to photographically illustrate and explain the origins of a hip-hop theater piece he had dreamed up. He excitedly explained to me something about a time traveling boom box and a way to mix modern and ancient cultures and create understanding. At first, I didn't fully grasp his high-concepts, but I knew they were going to challenge me and force me to up my game.

Eventually, Akim drew up storyboards for his Urban Tea Ceremony idea and it all made sense to me and off we went.


See it here - http://activatecomix.com/104-22-1.comic


I'm particularly proud of this installment because of the challenges it presented me. In the middle portion of the piece I got to play with sequential visual narrative and tell the story through just images and layout and no text. I also had to develop techniques for having the same performer play multiple roles and make it convincing.

Catch Akim at an urban dance/experimental hip-hop event this sunday - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181244615250328

Comments welcome and appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoy it!

CulturePOP Season 2 continues Tuesday 2/15

Today's new installment of CulturePOP Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters looks at NYC indie recording artist Jihae.

Jihae's song, Fig Leaf is the focus of the piece. We delve in to the her process of songwriting, where the concepts came from and then dissect what the lyrics mean.

This profile gave me the opportunity to experiment a bit with a different approach with combing Jihae's handwritten lyrics with the imagery, further melding words and pictures.

See it here - http://activatecomix.com/104-21-1.comic

After reading the profile, please give a listen to the song, Fig Leaf - http://www.facebook.com/Jihaemusic?v=app_19935916616

Comments welcome and appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoy it!

CulturePOP Season 2 continues Tuesday 2/1

Jihae - CulturePOP preview

I spent a rainy day in Tribeca last week with lovely and talented singer/songwriter Jihae. Check her out at Jihae.net and look for my Photocomix profile on her next Tuesday.

Going Home Again With Steve Buscemi

Posting the photo of Steve Buscemi yesterday, I couldn't help but remember the remarkable morning Anthony LaSala and I spent with him when we were profiling him for our book, The Brooklynites.

It wasn't easy getting him, which made the circumstances of the actual session all the more special.


Buscemi was (and is) one of our favorite actors and someone I always wanted to photograph. We attempted to contact him through a variety of different ways, starting with contacting his publicist, who immediately informed us that Steve wouldn’t have time and couldn’t do it. We knew he was obviously very busy, but from everything we’d read about him we also strongly felt he would be into our project if he heard about it directly.

I had an idea. My then 15 year-old cousin went to camp with Steve’s son the year before, and they were still IM buddies. I called my little cousin and she got me Steve’s home address from her friend. Anthony and I debated back and fourth for a while as to whether contacting him this way would be appropriate, and finally I decided to take a shot. I figured, the worst-case scenario would be Steve Buscemi getting a restraining order against us. I wrote him a very polite note and included a bunch of the pictures, so he’d see what the project was all about. We waited, and waited, but we never heard back. It was disappointing, because we really wanted him.

We moved on, and months later, when we worked with Terence Winter, at the time producer on The Soprano’s, (and now creator of HBO's Boardwalk Empire) we asked him if he knew any other interesting Brooklynites to recommend to us. He said, “How about my friend Steve?” We knew immediately who he was referring to. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, obviously. He gave us Steve’s personal assistant’s number and within a few weeks we found ourselves in East New York with Mr. Pink himself. We always ask potential subjects to chose a location to be photographed that means something to them. Steve picked the neighborhood where he grew up. We loved that he thought about our request and picked a pertinent local and that he made the time to go out of his way to do this for us.

It was there, in East New York, where something special happened. Anthony wrote an essay about the experience for the book, which I'll run below, along with my photos.

Words by Anthony LaSala . Pictures by Seth Kushner



On the 3rd floor of 606 Liberty Avenue we have stepped through a wormhole. It is located in the middle of a small apartment sitting above a deli. Steve Buscemi is with us. It’s the morning of October 20th.

I’m not asleep.

A few minutes earlier Buscemi is standing on a street corner, in front of the home and school in which he spent the first eight years of his life. He’s traveled back to the middle of East New York to see us. We are conducting an interview and a photo shoot. It’s early. Sleep still drifts inside his body. But even through this 9AM haze, you can tell this spot is special to him. He’s looking at these corners and slabs of concrete like mislaid photographs found hidden in the pages of an old book.

And then Chance, a well-known personality on the streets of Brooklyn, leans its head out of a top-floor window.

From the apartment above us, the very apartment Buscemi grew up in, a man looks in on our actions.

“I’m Steve, I used to live here as a kid,” says the actor to the face staring down at us. “Do you mind if we come up?”

Soon after, I’m climbing a crooked white staircase dressed in slanted sunlight so dramatic it’s sucker-punching my early morning eyes, making them tear. As I push down on the backbones of the napping, cranky steps, they let out measured bellows. If I was dreaming, this might be my mind imagining some bizarre ascent into heaven side by side with Steve Buscemi.

But I’m not asleep.

I’m following a man named Michael Rosario as he leads us towards a four-room dwelling on top of a deli. He turns to Buscemi as we go up.

“This is strange. I was just watching one of your movies,” he says. “The one where you are flying.”
“I’m not sure which one that is,” says Buscemi.
“You know, the one with the plane,” says Rosario. “It was just on the T.V.”
“Con Air?” asks Buscemi as we near the top.
“Yeaaaah! Con Air! That was a great film!”

Rosario and his family now live in the residence. It’s a typical Brooklyn home, lived in and comfortable. Photographs on walls. Coffee tables and carpets. But as we stand inside the place, after a mere three minutes, we are undoubtedly in Buscemi’s old apartment. It’s the early 1960’s.

“It was actually in this kitchen where I first started performing,” he says. “This is where I got my start. I entertained my parents and my brothers and my relatives right in here.”

The eyes of Steve Buscemi are a gift. On enormous silver screens they are twin focal points - chameleon pools of anything, everything. Two coals stoking the souls of imaginary characters, giving them life, grit, compassion, reality. Today they are a million times more powerful. Today they are revealing genuine tales. Moments stored and stowed for years and clamoring into the air like heat rising through an old Brooklyn radiator.

He criss-crosses slowly through rooms and the stories continue as we followed him through doorways and decades.

The times his father climbed through the top of a hallway closet, below a skylight, to unlatch the front entrance when keys were forgotten.

The day his mother’s apron caught fire in the kitchen. “Mom, you’re on fire,” he calmly told her. Disaster was averted.

The time he was hit by a bus across the street from his home – his padded winter clothes saving him like modern armor. The city’s settlement money later providing him with a way to go to acting school.

How he slept in the same room as his brothers, the same house as his cousins. How his uncle had a chicken coop in the backyard. His family was all here - until they slipped off to other places.

“One by one they all moved to Long Island. We were the holdouts until we left. My grandmother actually lived here for a long time after we were gone. I used to visit her here.”

We were on our way down the crooked stairs soon after that. Back down the white passageway. Back into the streets of East New York and a 2005 morning. As we left Steve Buscemi on the corner of Liberty Avenue he lit up a cigarette. He was still looking up at the buildings above him, still casting those eyes – those compelling eyes – through the air like butterfly nets, searching for his cobwebbed, vanished memories. Smoke filling his lungs. The early 1960’s still drifting inside his body.