Van Halen Hits New York City

The newly re-formed Van Halen played Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. And Guitar star Eddie Van Halen looks like he's enjoying himself.

The original Van Halen members - except for bassist Micheal Anthony - are together again. Singer David Lee Roth (L) was in strong voice as the band plays New York in the early stages of its nationwide tour. On the drum kit is Alex Van Halen.

One guess - if you know Van Halen's music - as to which song David Lee Roth is acting out. That's right ... JUMP. Roth is 56 and only did this move twice all night. In the 80's and 90's Roth was known to jump like this 15 to 20 times during a concert. It helped to be young!

The clothing change to the yellow leather jacket helped me quite a bit. Trying to focus on dark colors is a challenge. And the red hankie added to the colorful look.

Here's Alex Van Halen taking his drum solo while the other band members took a break. The giant video screen only showed black and white images all night. The blue lights on the drum stand really make Alex pop out from the background.

When longtime bassist/vocalist Micheal Anthony was fired from the band in 2006, Eddie's 16 year-old son Wolfgang (R), was ready to take over. He's has done a very good job replacing a popular player. Wolfgang's mother is the actress, Valerie Bertinelli - the ex wife of Eddie.

New York's refurbished Madison Square Garden was packed with Van Halen fans who were whipped into a party mood by the opening act, the funk band Kool and the Gang.

The trend of having a father-son combo in a rock band seems to be very popular these days. Here Eddie (R) and Wolfgang trade licks. Such rock music big names like Sting, Peter Frampton, Neil Schon and Dick Dale - among others - have their son's playing in their road bands or, in Sting's case, his son's band was the opening act at many of the Police concerts of recent years.

A Day at the Beach

Can't have a collection of beach shots without one with a boat in it. I drained the color from the image to reduce it to its bare elements. A Venice Beach, California lifeguard station and sailboat.

It was a nice, clear day at Venice Beach in southern California and the among first things you need are some brightly colored sunnies (as sunglasses are called in Australia.)

The skateboard park at Venice Beach draws riders of all ages and skill levels. I positioned myself so as to get the shadow of the palm tree in the shot when the kid came flying my way.

Shooting into the sun can yield great results and the birds were flying low late in the afternoon when I made this image.

I call this "Sad Dog" but the fact is, this dog probably looks like this all of the time. I just liked the various textures and colors surrounding his face.

People At Work

The watch repairman and the ice creme lady.

Inspired by a recent article in Photo District News - a major photography industry magazine - about people at work. I've selected two of these environmental portraits.

The top photo is of a watch repairman who has street-side vending stand in downtown Brooklyn. He was so intent on fixing that timepiece that he didn't notice me quietly firing off a few frames.

My camera is always set on "silent" shutter anyway so he didn't hear me pressing the button as I tried to get the perfect shot with the watch face showing.

The ice creme lady photo is from my files - I shot this a few years ago - but, like ice creme, it's a timeless image. I actually bought the delectable cone she's holding.

But I thought it was such a colorful scene that she gladly posed for a picture ... before collecting my money.