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May 18 - 25, 2002 - Havana, Cuba
- I went with my wife Elizabeth to Cuba to attend the opening
of a photo exhibition titled "The Revolution of Rock &
Roll". The show was at the Fototeca De Cuba Gallery and was
organized by Chris Murray of the Govinda Gallery in Washington,
DC. We had a great time in Cuba, the opening was a good party and
I gave a slide talk at the gallery on Rock & Roll photography.
I've been invited to come back in December to show my photos of
John Lennon, who is well known and very respected in Cuba.
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The John Lennon sculpture in
Havana is impressive. It was made by Cuban Artist José Villa.
Fidel Castro and Ricardo Alarcon, President of the
Cuban Parliament were part of the unveiling ceremony held
in December 2000. "This place will always be a testimonial
to struggle, a summoning to humanism. It will also be a
permanent homage to a generation that wanted to transform
the world, and to the rebellious spirit, innovative, of
the artist who helped forge that generation and at the same
time is one of its most authentic symbols", said Alarcon
at the ceremony
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The sculpture is so natural looking
and is in such a normal, peaceful neighborhood park that it
feels very comfortable to sit and have a chat with the spirit
of John Lennon. People come from all over Cuba, and all over
the world, to visit with John and have a photo taken there.
As you can see above, I couldn't resist the urge to sit down
with him. It was very strange to see a bronze image of my
friend, but also strangely very moving.
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Havana is a beautiful, if somewhat
decaying, city on the ocean. Many of the buildings are large
Spanish style places with cool leafy courtyards, but they
haven't been painted in years.
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As you can see
in this shot, some buildings are restored and very elegant,
while others are just empty shells awaiting renovation.
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Some of the buildings are held
up by braces, and there are lots of old '50's cars on the
streets.
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Baseball is very popular in
Cuba, and you see people tossing a ball around everywhere.
Check out the Edsel stationwagon in this shot. This car
was rare in the US even when it first came out.
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This typical
street scene shows the bicycle/taxi that is so popular and
common in Havana. It's a nice quiet way to get around and
the drivers are friendly and seem to enjoy the job.
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We went to the
Partagas cigar factory where I watched the woman above roll
cigars. I just recently learned that my grandmother had this
job in New York in the early 1900's so it was especially interesting
to see how it is done.
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Chris Murray and
Elizabeth in the Plaza Vieja. The Fototeca De Cuba Gallery
is the blue building behind them. Also on the square are
an elementary school, (the kids play in the square every
day) and another art gallery and a cafe.
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We stopped in to
meet the folks who run the gallery. Elizabeth took this
photo as Chris introduced me to gallery assistant Emilio,
Fototeca De Cuba director Lordes Socarras and the manager
Nelson R. De Arellano.
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Chris Murray had
some photo collectors joining him in Havana and we planned
a drive out to the countryside. Above you see Chris with Gaynor
Bourgeois, Christine Nassikas, Chris' assistant Carol Huh,
Elizabeth and me and Joey Filosa.
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We rented this
big old Oldsmobile and took off on a beautiful day for a look
at the country.
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The first stop was at a botanical
gardens where they also do research on the growing of orchids.
It was a very nice place and we got fresh coconuts with
rum after the visit.
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Then we went for a long walk
into the woods to see this waterfall. I just had to jump
in.
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The only problem was that it
started to rain on the way back, and the car had no top
or windshield wipers. We made the best of it with large
garbage bags.
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The crowd arrives for the opening
and starts to come in. We had a large turnout, and people
seemed impressed with the exhibition. The show had more
than 50 photos by 28 photographers, including Baron Wolman,
Anton Corbijn, Astrid Kirchherr, Mark Seliger, Mick Rock,
Claude Gassian and Gered Mankowitz,and many others
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This is a bit blurry,
but you get the idea of the people checking out the exhibition.
The photos showed Rock & Roll from Elvis to Tupac Shakur.
There were some great early Bob Dylan shots by Daniel Kramer
and Bob Marley by Kate Simon. My photos of John
Lennon in his NYCity shirt and the Ramones
in front of CBGB were included in the show
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Author of several
books on the Beatles, Ernesto Juan Castellanos, was at the
opening with the very popular Radio Progresso host Guillermo
Vilar. Ernesto's wife is next to Guillermo and between her
and me is British photographer Jill Furmanovsky who also
came to see her shots in the exhibit. Jill and I appeared
on Guillermo's show, and I played the Clash & the Ramones
for the first time ever in Cuba!
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Nelson and his wife Lieudmilla
showed some of their photos on the ground floor of the gallery.
They have a series of images created with photos of the
Revolution Monument in Havana with other scenes superimposed
on them. Nelson said they work so well together that sometimes
they don't know who took which photo.
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Elizabeth and I say hi at the
opening to Abel de la Soto and his wife. Abel got in touch
with me thru the officialramones.com
website and showed us around Havana, and he and his wife
took us to a fabulous dinner in a house that belonged to
a Cuban president in the 1930's.
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Chris had gone around town inviting
everyone who looked like they would like a Rock & Roll
party, and managed to invite most of the Rastas in Havana.
They had a ball and were happy to pose for a photo with
me.
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On Friday I gave a slide talk
at the gallery. The subject was Rock & Roll photography.
Nelson translated so well for me that I was able to
get some laughs, so I know they understood me. The talk
was about an hour long and then everyone stayed and asked
questions for another 45 minutes. I enjoyed it very much.
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After my talk we had a celebration
drink of rum with the staff and friends of the gallery.
The feeling of the people was very warm and friendly and
I'm looking forward to going back to present an exhibition
of my John Lennon photos in December.
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