how I made “Fellaheen Guernica”, maybe.

I like to think that I tricked Photoshop into doing something it’s not supposed to do. It was clearly a blend of two or more images. The way they blended was quite a surprise. A print of the picture below was recently accepted at Studio Montclair’s upcoming “Rhythm & Blues” show. I took a look back to find out how the image was made. I recall trying to duplicate the outcome with other images but with not quite the same success. It’s what I get for not stopping to take notes.

The title “Fellaheen Guernica” comes from my first reaction to seeing this crazy mix. With the exploding accordion and a few dive-bombing guitars caught in a swirl of bandstand abstractions, I thought immediately of that famous painting. With apologies to Spain, Pablo and Fellaheen, there is no trivializing of the death and destruction in a small village in northern Spain in 1937. Apologies as well to Elvis Costello, for misremembering the name of the tune that’s sometimes in my head “Accidents Will Happen”. I often misremember or mix up words, sometimes on purpose. May spell-check never get too smart.

The original photographs were captured during a performance of the band Fellaheen at who knows where in the year who knows when.

The members of the band (two not pictured): Bruce Hanson, guitarist-singer/song-writer, a Jersey guy and founding member of his other band Dogpile On The Rabbit; Kalin Nikak, guitarist, Manhattan born and bred; Ben Dumbauld, accordion, Washington Heights, NYC (ex-Pittsburgh); Nick Sullivan, bass, Madrid, España (ex-Park Slope, ex-Wisconsin); Kaveh Haghtalab, drums, Brooklyn (ex-Tehran). 

At this writing, the photographs were stacked, auto-blended with no boxes checked. But the do-over is just not the same.

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