Category Archives: People

Sin City

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Las Vegas is like a tacky pleasure for people who don’t live there. We go there occasionally and do things we don’t normally do. You can stay in a plush resort, take a monorail to another plush resort. Eat amazing food at unbelievably high prices or graze on a cheap buffet and risk salmonella. You can gamble, drink, shop and dine without ever leaving the air conditioning of the hotels along the monorail.

However if you take off your blinders and walk around the strip you will see the other side. Expensive legal pot, illegal drugs, drunk and homeless people ,heroin addicts, prostitutes, run down buildings, hustlers and the hustled. Best to stay inside in the comfort of the one armed bandits.

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Sin City

Sin City

Sin City

Venice Beach California

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The first time I visited Venice Beach was in 1967. It was a funky hippie community by a beautiful beach. Jim Morrison lived in Venice Beach. Muscle Beach was more informal and weed was available but not legal. People lived on the beach they were hippies or vagabonds, the class homeless had not yet been invented.

Time changes everything. Sure there are still the panhandlers and beach people. The area is now upscale and expensive, Dominated by million dollar and luxury hotels, a small area of panhandlers and souvenir peddlers still exists and of course a lot of pot stores doing a brisk business.

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Venice Beach

Venice Beach

Corned Beef Hash–Pittsburgh Style

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When I was a kid, corned beef hash came from a can. It was all I knew so it was ok but when I became an adult it was not. Then I would order corned beef hash at diners. Sometimes it was great and some times it was awful and usually it was greasy.

Over the years I found a couple of breakfast places that made it well. In Pittsburgh acceptable corned beef hash can be found at Pamela’s (tell them well done.) The Square Cafe is very good and very expensive. The best we have found is Kelly O’s in the Strip District

Then one day my wife finally tried it and liked it and we began to make it ourselves. We use kosher extra lean corn beef, red potatoes and onions. Its never greasy and kind of pretty to look at too.

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Corned Beef Hash

Pittsburgh Signs–Beckert Seed Company

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Continuing with the Pittsburgh Signs and Murals project, I give you the remnants of the Bekhert Seed and Bulb Company formerly on Liberty Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh. This faded sign is all that is left and can be seen from Market Square.

Many major cities had seed and bulb companies in the early 1900’s. Centralization and mass production in places like Holland Michigan made it difficult for small operations to survive.

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Beckhert Seed and Bulb Company

Stanley Plays The Stanley–Pittsburgh 1976

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I am glad they still have rock shows at The Benedum Center in Pittsburgh. We saw Mark Knoplfer play there a coupld of years ago and it really took me back to some of the great shows they had there a long time ago.

This is from the Stanley Clarke School Days Tour in 1976. He made a great entrance on to the stage and then wowed the audience along with guitarist Ray Gomez Billy Cobham and George Duke.

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Stanley Plays The Stanley

Grateful Dead–Civic Arena September 23 1973

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On September 23 1973 I saw the Grateful Dead perform for the first time. They played at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. You can hear the concert here if you attended the show or are just interested.

They were for a long time one of my favorite bands and I have seen them play a number of times in a variety of venues. This first show was special though not only because of the band but because of the venue.

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Grateful Dead Pittsburgh Civic Arena

Ray Gomez–Stanley Theater 1976

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By 1976 Stanley Clarke had began to branch out from Return for Ever and perform as a solo act. School Days is regarded as one of his best albums and was recorded in a studio with a large ensemble. The guitarist on the tour was Ray Gomez and he was electrifying in the concert.

This image was taken at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, PA in 1976. The theater is now known as The Benedum Center.

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Ray Gomez 1976

http://raygomez.com/

The Thunderbolt Kennywood Park 1977

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The classic wooden roller coaster was built in 1968 at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin Pennsylvania outside Pittsburgh. It was and still is a fantastic roller coaster. I took my photography classes from The Ivy School of Professional Art on field trips to Kennywood. It was and still is a great tableau in which the view the human circus.

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The Thunderbolt

Missing Frank Zappa-Syria Mosque 1974

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I only saw Zappa play once. It was at the Syria Mosque in 1974 with Sal Valquez, Jean Luc Ponty and the Tower of Power Horns. Truly one of the best shows I ever saw. I miss Zappa and still listen to his music and that of his son.

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© Richard Burke 1973-2012

Zappa Jams Pittsburgh