Life through the viewfinder.
Jimmy and Lou
Wunderle's words:
"It was the height of the punk rock/new wave craze. The beer cans strewn about the stage floor were thrown at the band at the urging of Wunderle and Lou. Someone, somehow, completely destroyed a toilet that evening. Holly Coffman got hit on the head with a chair and had to get stitches. Fools Face opened and The Symptoms closed. In this photo, left to right: D. Clinton Thompson/guitar and vocals; Ron 'Rongo' Gremp/drums; Jim Wunderle/vocals; Lou Whitney/bass & vocals. Not pictured: Maralie Whitney/keyboards & vocals.
Thompson and Whitney formed The Skeletons and The Morells after the Symptoms. They've also been in bands backing national acts Dave Alvin, Robbie Fulks, Steve Forbert and Syd Straw. Gremp is playing with The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. The Skeletons re-formed in 2011 adding Wunderle.
I found these stocks in the basement of the Legion Hall. I had no idea what the Legionnaires might possibly have used them for. I figured it was some sort of secret ritual. All I knew was I was gonna sing in them.An opportunity like that only comes along once in a lifetime.
It was and remains the craziest gig I've ever played."
– Jim Wunderle
Mind's Eye
For the second year I am very proud to have worked with the Missouri State Univeristy Office of Publications staff to produce the Mind's Eye publication highlighting research and scholarly activities. The publication staff is a talented group of journalists and designers and the University faculty members are an interesting and dedicated group. From RNA sequencing and nanotechnology to identifying developmental delays in babies by eye-tracking to volcanic activity at the South Pole, the research activities at MSU have been fascinating. I've even learned stuff...
Ghost of the Sierra Nevada
Nothing says the American west like a ghost town and there is probably none better than the old gold mining town of Bodie, California.
Charlie Haden
Oswald's View
In the summer of 1984 I was part of a team of photographers covering the National Republican Convention in Dallas, Texas. Mid-week during the slow part of the day I walked over from the Convention Center to Dealey Plaza and the former Texas Schoolbook Depository, scene of the Kennedy Assassination. At the time there was a small museum on the first floor of the building and I browsed through it. Somehow out of the blue a security guard there asked if I wanted to go to the sixth floor. It took a minute for me to realize if I heard him correctly. "Sure," I said, and so myself and a couple of others who were standing nearby were transported back in time to the nearly empty 6th floor where Oswald fired down on the President. Today there is an exhibit there with the corner of the 6th floor behind glass but at that time the single dusty big room was mostly a few boxes and the old "Texas Schoolbook Depository" sign… and the window. The guard lifted the window open and there before the viewer was the perfect perch to see the gentle curving street below. I just don't know how to describe it except chilling.
