7/20/09

The MGM Grand HAD NOTHING ON THIS


This is for Robert at Live from the Surface of the Moon. I generally don't share personal family photos or anything that I've shot, but this is different. This is part of the human experience 40 years ago. This was a global experience and I haven't seen anything since then that has stopped the rotation of the earth in the same way. 

I was one of those people sitting glued to my tv for days awaiting the arrival of the astronauts on the moon and none of it was a hyped let down. It was all magnificent. I snapped pictures with my 35 mm Mamiya Sekor. I had my little reel to reel tape recorder going. All I have left are vague memories buried deep inside that can really only be conjured by closing my eyes or going outside on an especially beautiful full moon night. The reel to reel recording? In a box. I long ago lost the ability to play it. I'm sure there are thousands of photos like this all over the world in long forgotten boxes.

For those who weren't alive to experience this, I'm sorry. You missed a humdinger!

July 20_1969_step to the moon_tatteredandlost
July 20_1969_live from the surface_tatteredandlost.psd
July 20_1969_live from the moon_tatteredandlost
Click on images to see them larger.

Years later friends dragged me nearly kicking and screaming to the MGM Grand for a show. First off I don't like casinos, secondly I hate casino shows. This was billed as an extravaganza with the high point...a real plane on the stage with half naked woman standing on the wings waving and truly lousy dancers cavorting across the stage as the curtain was pulled back. I gritted my teeth while the people in the audience sat mesmerized and applauding. It was all nonsense and I wondered how they could be excited by this when less than 10 years before we'd seen two men walk on the moon. People forget and they move onto the next shiny object. Not me.

5 comments:

  1. I'm honored! I especially love the shaped TV tube on a dark field, and the one with an inset of Nixon.

    You made my day. Thanks!

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  2. You are welcome! I'm glad it tickled your fancy.

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  3. Fab pictures! I remember this historical event so well. I was exactly three months shy of my
    13th birthday.

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  4. Well I was using the camera I'd used my senior year in high school so you can do the math.

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  5. I was a girl scout camp counselor between freshman and sophomore years in college, it was my weekend off so I stayed in town and watched it. Really exciting.

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