category: Personal




The New Invaders Rocked Me! They Play 60′s And 70′s Music But are Not An Oldies Band. Oldies Bands Are Hokey, Predictable And Boring. Not The New Invaders! Every Song Ripped Like It Was Brand New! All Six Members are GREAT Singers, Many Play Multiple Instruments, Many Of The Songs They Played You Will NEVER Hear Played Live! The Hollies, Look Through Any Window Had Me Floating About 3 Feet Off The Floor!  I had Last Heard Jim Herter At The White Elephant Or A Bar On Western Avenue Playing With High School Buddies In The Wooden Planet. Off They All Went Mid 70′s To LA To Make Music. What A Treat It Was To Listen To This Band. As A Guitar Player And Former Band Member I know How Much Is Put Into The New Invaders Performances. Vintage Instruments, Learning Difficult Music, Singing With 6 People Can Be A Challenge, But These Guys, And Gal, Pulled It Off Magnificently. The New Invaders Cover 80 Bands. 80! Every Great Band Needs 2 Leed Guitar Players And A Girl Singer. Wow Can She Sing!

If You Get A Chance, See These Guys. They Have A Web Page. Google Them!

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Sharing A Microphone Ala Paul McCartney And George Harrison. Lefty Bass Player, Jim Playing a REAL Gretch Country Gentleman. George Harrison’s Favorite Guitar In The 60′s.

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The Talented Jim Herter Also Plays Sax And Harmonica

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Seat Sounding Les Paul Deluxe! I Had The Humbucker Version, 1972. This One Has PAFs! Very Nice!

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Arizona 2010

I Had A Travel Voucher To Use So We Went To Scottsdale In April Just Before It Got Hot There. We Had A Great Time! Enjoy A Few Favorites!

Lynne Arrives In Arizona. She Had To Haul The Bags Because I Was Taking Photos

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There Were Plants And Birds And Rocks And Things

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We Rented A Really Cool Car!

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Lynne Made Me Bring “The Big Camera” Only Condition, No Complaining. Always Bring, The Big Camera

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Tim

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The Incredible View From The Lounge At The Four Seasons Shot At 6400 ISO on The Fabulous Nikon D700

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Lynne Shot This While I Was Golfing

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On The Grounds Of The Four Seasons Scottsdale

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Golfed Troon Monument Course. Was Paired With 3 Nice Guys Who Insisted On Playing From The Tips. Yikes! This Is A Typical CLimb To A Tee Box! Shot 102

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Long Par 3. Loved Playing Here! We Were The First Foursome Of The Day. Smooth Sailing

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Shopping Mall Fake Indian Building

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Mandatory Shopping Included Photo Window Shopping

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We Stayed In A Second Floor Casita So There Was Absolutely No Chance Of Snakes Coming Into Our Room

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The View From Our Patio

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Our Casita In The Background

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This Car Was Built To Transport 3 Presidents, Hoover, Roosevelt and Truman. When I Worked At Pullman In Chicago I Photographed Thousands Of Rail Cars. This Brought Me Back.

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Lynne Shoots The Mountains Through The Windshield On The Way To Sedona

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This Is In A Church In Sedona On Top Of A Hill That Lynne Insisted On Going To. There is A Funny Story Here. Anyway, You Have To Pay To Light A Candle So I Shot Them All For Free!

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This Guy Followed Us Everywhere

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My New Car! Yes We Bought It With Money We Won At A Casino! And I Am Entering NASCAR Next Season. Look For Number 3

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See The USA In A Chevrolet

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The Best Steakhouse Ever! They Are Coming To Chicago This Summer!

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Continuing The Restaurant Tour: This Place Is Fabulous! Best Italian Egg Drop Spinach Soup Since Uncle Rocky

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Did A Prince Appear? Ribbit, I Mean Yes!

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The Pool Was Cool

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Rachel Visits!

Rachel Visited For Christmas And Got Into The Spirit! We Had A Great Time!

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Rachel And A Few Friends

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I Wanna Rock N Roll!

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Christmas Moment

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Cookie Model

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Too Cool!

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Roses and Leaves

Last Butterfly Of The Year

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Boston Ivy On The “Wrigley” Side Of The House

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Rain Drops

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Fall Roses In The Rain

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The Leaves That Are Green Turn To Brown

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Le Blue Mailbox and Gate

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Paris!

We Went To Paris A Few Years Ago And Had A Great Time. The Experience Changed Our Photography, Inspired Us And Opened A lot Opportunities. We Shot Over 5000 Photos And Wanted To Share A Few. Enjoy The Images!

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Lynne Does Not Like Heights So We Did Not Go Up The Tower. This Opportunity Lead Us To See Some Really Cool Parts Of The Park.

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Shot From Directly Under The Tower. There Were several People Sitting Around The Base Of The Eiffel Eating Lunch And Feeding The Flying Rats, I Mean Pigeons. When I Fired The Camera Hundreds Of Pigeons Flew Away From Me And Into The Lunchers. I Got Cursed Out In Several Languages And We Left The Grounds Quickly.

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Joan Of Arc Statue

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Lynne Bought Rick Steves Book On Paris. I Teased Her About The Many Bookmarks Until She Told Me To Sit On The Left Side Of The Bus For The Night Tour Of Paris. You Get The Best Photos From The Left Side. Stop Teasing Lynne After That.

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Love The Tower!

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Hagen Das After The Night Tour! We Met A Mom And Her Daughters There From Greece. They Were Convinced Lynne Was Greek, So I Took A Family Photo!

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I Watch A Lot Of Old Movies And TV. In The Movie, Is Paris Burning, This Pharmacie Is Seen In Actual Footage Of French Resistance Fighters Saving Paris. We Saw Several Other Parts From The Movie  On Our Tour. I Loved Shooting In The Rain In Paris. Kept Thinking About The Famous Painting Rainy Day In Paris.

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Paris Taxi Drivers Are Much Like Chicago Taxi Drivers And Many Come From The Middle East Making Communication Familiar.

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We Got Lost Walking Back To Our Hotel From The Eiffel Tower On Day One. How Hard Is Paris To Navigate? Very! We Wound Up In A restricted Area Of The French Department Of Defense. When Confronted, I Innocently Explained That I Did Not Know France Had A Department Of Defense.

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Monet’s Home Was On The Top Of Lynne’s List. It Is One Of The Most Inspiring Beautiful Places In The World.

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The Driveway To The Home Is The Subject Of Many Famous Monet Paintings

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Monet Had A Garden That Is 5 or 6 Acres Of Beautiful Flowers. Lilies Grow In The Grass Like Weeds.

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Water Lilies!

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I Love The Color Of Every Day Paris. In Art School I Was Told That You Must Go To Paris To Be A Complete Artist. When Shooting This Photo, I Felt That. It Is True, Going To Paris Changed Me As An Artist.

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What To Eat? This Looked Good But I Did Not Eat It. Sandwiches Are Made And Placed In The Window All Day Long. We Did Eat At Some Cool Places And Promised Ourselves, No McDonalds. We Broke That And Ate At McD’s A Few Times For The Fast Food And Cost. Coca A Cola On The Champs Was 10 Euro At One Of Those Cute Sidewalk Places.

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Notre Dame Cathedral! A Must See. Go Irish!

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Lynne Lit Candles At All The Churches We Visited. 2 Euro Per. Beware Of All The Fake Priests, Nuns And Scams At These Famous Churches.

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Side Chapel At Notre Dame That Cost 12 Euro To See. Relics From Dead Popes, Napoleon’s Church Gown. I was Told No Photos And Do Not Stand Behind The Pulpit.

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Life Size Statues In Notre Dame Cathedral

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Morning Walk On The Rue de Bac Over The Seine. The Orsei In Morning Light

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The Orsei Art Museum Is My Favorite In The World! This Was A Train Station At One Time.

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They Keep The Monet On The 5th Floor And Make Them Hard To Find.

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Cool Wedding Dress

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Another Cool Dress. No Escape From Weddings!

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All The Cool French Designer Stores Could Be Found. We Did Not Buy Any Designer Stuff But We Did Get Some Cool Photos.

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Napoleon Promised To Be Less Ostenagous When He Became Emperor. Then He Built The Opera House.

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Gold Ceiling In The Opera House

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Marc Chagall Painted The Ceiling In The Auditorium Of The Opera House. Very Cool!

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Versailles Was Very Cool. I Had A Hard Time Walking On The Cobblestone.

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The King’s Bed. Marie Antonette’s Bed Is On The Other Side Of The Wall Behind The King’s Bed. There Is  A Passage Door Between Them. The King “Entertained” Here Often After ROugh Days Of Hunting, Eating Drinking, Etc.

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Pan Handler In Front Of The Louvre

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We Stayed At 2 Great Paris Hotels. This One Is Next To The Louvre And WIthin Walking Distance To The Opera House And Many Other Cool Places. We Did Not Steal The Towels. Lynne Would Not Let Me.

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Top Of The Arch de Triumph. Best View Of Paris!

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Climbing To The Top Of The Arch Was Tough. 13 Stories Of Circular Stairs, 2 Stories Of Straight Stairs. Then You Have To Walk Back Down! Worth It.

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This Is The US Cemetery Just Up The Hill On Omaha Beach. France Gave The US This Property. THIS IS US HALLOWED GROUND. Only US Citizens Can Work Here. Both Of Our Fathers Were WWII Veterans, Lynne’s Uncle Was In The D Day Invasion. In The Movie, Saving Private Ryan, There Is  Scene Filmed Here. Nothing Could Have Prepared Us For This Emotional Part Of Our Trip. Lynne Made All The Plans For The Trip. My Only Input Was That We Take The Normandy, D Day Tour. This Fell On Our Wedding Anniversary And Turned Out To Be The Highlight Our Trip, If You Go To France, Take This Tour. Thank A Veteran!

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My Knees Were Shaking By The Time We Left The Cemetery. Reading The Headstones Became Very Personal And Emotional.

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Point Du Hoc. American Rangers Climbed 150 Straight Up This While Being Shot At. Once They Got To The Top They Held This Position For 2 Days Waiting For Reinforcements. Losses Were Heavy. Note The Choppy Sea. Weather Conditions On The Day Of Our Tour Were Identical To D Day. First Time Since June 6, 1944. Almost Impossible To Get On The Beach.

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Me Posing In A Bomb Crater. These Craters Are All Over Normandy And Are A Reminder Of The 40,000 Plus Civilians Who Were Killed In The Days Just Prior To D Day From The Allied Shelling.

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The Beauty Of This Place Is Overwhelming. The Contrast Of The Remains Of The Battle And The Flowers Is Stark But Lends Hope Of Peace.

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Andy With One Of The Paris Gifts

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Happy Birthday Frank

Frank Coughlin Celebrated His First Birthday With His Mom And Dad On July 30, 2009

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First Of Many Birthday Gifts. Frank Enjoys The Wrapping Papar Too

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Frank’s Favorite Toy! A Gift From Our Neighbor And Frank’s Special Friend, Joyce

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Frank Cuddles Under Lynne’s TV Blanket Every Night

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Frank Loves To Sleep On His Back And Snore

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Happy Birthday To Frankie

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They Know I Do Not Eat Cake

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Bailey

Bailey Visited Us With Her New Family. She Is Still A Puppy And Is So Loving And Beautiful

 

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Bailey Can Run!

 

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Who’s The Star?

 

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The Girls Snuggle

 

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Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck Must Have Made A Deal WIth The Devil To Play How He Plays! Go See Him, Often!

 

 

NOBODY, But NOBODY Plays Like Jeff Beck! Most Of The Audience Were Guitar Players Watching In Amazement!

 

 

Tai Looks Like She’s 12 And Plays Like Jaco, Stanley And Every Other Great Bass Player. She Is 23 BTW.

 

 

Jeff Plays Slide, Like All Great Guitar Players Do! 

 

 

Freeway Jam Performed On Bass. Jeff Played The Bass Line, Tai Played the Lead Guitar Part. Awesome!

 





John McLaughlin And Chick Corea

John McLaughlin And Chick Corea Played With Miles Davis 40 Years Ago. 

 

One “C” In Chicago, Three In Chick Corea

 

 

Everyone In This Quintet Is A Vertiuoso Player. “Always Surround Yourself With Better Players Than You. Makes The Playing More Enjoyable.” Miles Davis

 

 

Chick Plays So Beautifully!

 

 

These Guys Played Six Songs In 2 Hours And Transported Me.

 

 

The Beauty Of McLaughlin’s Playing Is Mind Numbing! I Have The Same Guitar Strap John Has On My PRS Santana I.

 





YES

Yes At The Chicago Theatre. Always Wanted To See Yes And This Is A Great Place To See Great Bands. 

 

 

And You And I

 

 

One Of My Favorite Parts Of The Show. Steve Howe Is A Master!