I was going to write all kinds of things about Elon Musk and twitter and freedom of speech issues we’re all stumbling over in our bewildered confusion, etc., but that’s all been stuffed way down out of sight. The usurper of my priorities this week is a dear friend of mine whom I don’t see nearly as much as I’d like.
Whenever he’s in town, home from covering some world cataclysm as a photographer for the New York Times, my ears perk up and my calendar parts its pretense of business and I go see Tamir Kalifa.
Tamir wrote and performed original songs in rhythm and sync to the photographical essays he shot. Please click on his name above to see his portfolio.
The photography concert this week included hurricane Harvey rescue, the aftermath of recovery from the El Paso Walmart shooting, the Mexican border crossing, a time of reflection during the pandemic, and the song you see and hear above, about “Going Easy” in Hawaii as a volcano erupts in your backyard.
This performance broke my heart open with an overflow of admiration for the sensitivity, creativity, courage, tenderness, and unmitigated beauty Tamir captured and then recreated live, all about life’s most bittersweet qualities.
Enjoy the one song I was able to record in its entirety (and forgive the sunlight on the bottom third of the projection screen—the sun was starting to shine again after a rumble-tough thunderstorm; a perfect description of what I saw).
Read “San Antonio Strong,” a photo-essay by Tamir about San Antonio’s life-support-system food bank during the lock-down days of the pandemic here.
Should you wish to donate to Tamir on behalf of the humanitarian work he does for us all, here’s his buymeacoffee link:
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