And I'm not dreaming.
Let's start from the beginning. Last Thursday, I headed to an opening of Ryan McGinley's photography in Soho, innocently with my good friend Spyro.
Some background: Ryan McGinley is an ingenue- his photos both gritty and ethereal. This show- was dosed in blissed out sunshine- of celestial beings- afloat in liquid, suspended in air- battling with gravity- lost in fields.
He was the youngest photog to be displayed at the Whitney Museum ever (at 24 yrs old)(back when the Whitney used to astound the mind..) And his work is spectacular.
My favorite photo from the night- a Marilyn Dietrich look alike gazing at a silhouette suspended in azure liquid. **
Anyway, the place was packed to sardines with the cringingly-hipster young chaps-the mohawked and the mod- like Brooklyn's Studio B had a mad exodus to Soho. Then I turn around. And am. face to face. with Michael Stipe. who is looking intensively at a piece.
I think I squealed. And then said hola and asked if he remembered the little indiepixie chick who interviewed him at SXSW. And remarkably? He too smiled warmly hello- and said he's loving the clips we have done. We chatted briefly- and parted ways in the sea of ppl. (sigh).
The rest of the exhibit was astounding. I snapped a few but mostly just perused and gawked....wishing the place was empty so I could study each shot. I also reveled how in a sea of 700 hipsters, I could end up head-to-head with Stipe. What's the luck.
And then? I get a post on MOG. From Michael Stipe via REM HQ's David. You can check out for yourself in my Mog Post below. It says: (Per David from REM HQ)
hi there Indie Pixie,
I do R.E.M's web content (we posted this tonight: http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=735)....Michael wanted me to pass on the following message to you. thanks
“hi faith-ann/indiepixie, supercool to see you last night at the ryan opening I hope it gets a lot of press I thought the pictures were stunning I hope you run some of the ones you shot... Anyway, very cool to see you outside of sxsw and work...x michael stipe”
um. so I would like to think this is rather mog-olutionary. I think I swallowed my tongue when I first saw the post. So random. so sweet. only made possible bc of Mog.
So per Michael's request...here's the photos I took from the show. Because indeed, McGinley's photos are stunning. Um. And I title this post (contrary to the last one) "Happy Utopia."
Nuf said :)
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Very nicely said. Mr Stipe sure seems like a personable, down-to-earth kind of guy. You seem to have chosen the perfect username. Your style reflects an effervescent little......pixie. Very cool. The Photos are awesome, but I'm so easy in that regard.
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I.would've.DIED. You know that scene in _The Breakfast Club_ where Ally Sheedy's character lets out nothing more than a squeak and then retreats into her hoodie..... that would have been me, if I turned around and saw that Michael Stipe was standing there. Sounds like a good time. The photos are fab...
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Thats so cool.... I would have been so stoked
those photos are excellent too
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fantastic post miss faith-ann!
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Fabulous photos, post, news. Really enjoyed this read.
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amazing post! that is just sooooooooo cool!
it was really very thoughtful and kind of him to get someone to post that, and i think any of us would have squeaked if faced with the same situation, i consider that a very composed reaction.
your luck just keeps on growing!
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too cool! the photography ... running into Mr. Stipe ... just too freaking cool! :)
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this is too unreal.... What a cool run in! I want to live in NYC so bad sometimes!
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Awesome for you!
Just bought tix to see them at the Mann in Philly in June and am utterly jazzed for it; praying for good weather since I didn't get seats under the canopy.
You likely know this,,,the photos on New Adventures in Hi-Fi were shot by Mr Stipe; and I believe I remember reading how he traveled with Patti Smith when she was touring with Bob Dylan a few years back, and the two of them did some sorta photo documentary of it all. (That was an excellent show too.)
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Awesome. His photos. Your photos. Running into Stipe. Stipe's message to you via MOG. Too cool.
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HA! Sounds like a pretty damn hip place to be. I wonder if they'd even let me into a joint like that ;)
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the photos look...odd, that's not an insult though, far from it, when i can't describe something i just like it even more, anyway, such an encounter, seems like the kind of thing you just tell every single person you ever meet about, it justs...begs it, anyway, just wanted to say hello, i never really been a big R.E.M fan, don't know why, no time I guess, anyway, be cool, be bad, be you....
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Michael needs to sign up!!!
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Suuuuuper sweeeeet indiepixie...pic's are very cool and so is Michael Stipe for being so down to earth and sincere. Rock on girl with ya bad self girl! ; )
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That is a perfect night in NYC. You definitely made a good impression as an interviewer! (indiepixie asks the questions other journalist's brains can't reach.) And I really like the second photo from the end, of the floating figure, with the ghostly images of the people looking at it. It fits perfectly with McGinley's work.
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Agree with Jonh... fits perfectly. Actually, interesting enough that it already looks like it could have been a collaboration.
Stipe sounds way cool... and of course, we already knew that about you. :)
Cheers, Van
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wow Michael Stipe! That is soooo awesome. Definitely a great benefit of MOG. To think I gave music to a girl that talked to Michael Stipe enough for him to go out of his way to leave her a posting lol, nice. :-)