DiMaggio’s photo selected as one of the 10 Greatest Indianapolis 500 Moments. His photo was selected number three. With a little bit of practice, maybe number one!
10 Greatest Indy 500 Moments
Cisco
June 6, 1944
 |
| Joyce and Jess |
67 years ago, one of my closest friends and one of the bravest men I’ve ever met in my life, Jess Weiss, hit the beaches at Normandy along with 10,000 of his brothers. Many of those men never made it off the beach. During the invasion, Jess lost many dear friends and in 1961, his friend, Private J. Mello, body was finally retrieved and sent to Boston. Memorial Day may have just come and gone, but we should never ever forget the sacrifice that these men made for their country. Their sacrifice allows me and you to live in the greatest country in the world. Free. To do what we want to do and when we want to do it. For the record, Jess won 7 or 8 medals, purple hearts, and the silver star. Thank you, Jess.
___________________________________________________
Posted on Fri, Jun. 03, 2011 02:13 PM
A new World War II documentary honors a long day’s dying at Omaha Beach
By GLENN GARVIN
McClatchy Newspapers
They remember because the young medic was just a kid, a 15-year-old who used his brother’s driver’s license to fake his way into the Army. And they remember because how could you ever forget seeing a human being instantly reduced to a cloud of red mist when a Nazi shell explodes and releases a 7,000-mile-an-hour tornado of red-hot shrapnel?
Sixty-seven years later, the memory of the boy’s death on a Normandy beach – he was crouched over a wounded man when the shell hit, administering bandages and sulfa drugs, just as he’d been taught – still reduces the old soldiers to tears.
“That’s a rough thing to talk about,” apologizes one.
There are so many deaths to talk about in “Surviving D-Day,” the Discovery Channel’s captivating, infuriating, terrifying and heartbreaking documentary on the 1944 Allied invasion of France that opened the final chapter of World War II. Men were ripped in half by German machine guns that fired 25 bullets a second, and they were blown to bits by 17,000 German landmines buried on the beach.
They drowned when they parachuted into open fields that American intelligence didn’t know were flooded, and they were shot point-blank in the face in a suicide attack up a sheer cliff to destroy artillery that American intelligence didn’t know had moved.
They died in little pieces, like the boy on the beach, and they died without a mark on their bodies, their internal organs mangled by concussion waves of super-compressed air pushed outward at thousands of feet a second by the explosion of artillery rounds. They died in such incomprehensible numbers that survival was even more incomprehensible.
“I had severe guilt for surviving,” recalls one Normandy vet who recounts crawling through stacks of corpses and mounds of severed limbs. “I kept saying, ‘Why me?'”
The answer, as “Surviving D-Day” shows over and over again, is almost certainly mere chance.
Airing two days before the invasion’s anniversary, the documentary does not purport to be a comprehensive account of the Normandy operation. It concentrates almost exclusively on the bloodiest and most snafu-ridden of the invasion’s five beachheads, the one code named Omaha. And it dwells on the quirky, random nature of mortality in war.
A horrifying number of men died because of what they ate for breakfast that morning on the ships carrying them to France. Navy cooks, hoping to build morale, laid out a sumptuous spread of steak, eggs and ice cream, which morphed into crippling seasickness on the landing craft lurching toward the beach through rough seas at H-Hour.
Crouched on their knees, puking their guts out, the soldiers were easy prey for German machine guns when the landing ramps dropped. Others tried to escape the lethal hail of lead by jumping over the sides of the landing craft, only to drown when their 100-pound loads of equipment dragged them to the bottom in 10 feet of water.
(The men who somehow managed to shed their packs and flak jackets in the water stood a much better chance of making it to the beach. In one of several fascinating forensic tests staged for “Surviving D-Day,” even bullets traveling several thousand feet a second slow to a halt after traveling through less than a yard of water.)
The heavy shipboard meal, a well-intentioned gesture that turned into a murderous screw-up, was the rule rather than the exception at D-Day. The orderly way in which battles unfold in war movies has so warped our perception that when we’re confronted with the chaos of real-life combat – the friendly-fire death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, for example – we suspect conspiracy. “Surviving D-Day” demonstrates that the expression “fog of war” is not merely some butt-covering euphemism but a palpable reality.
The mortar-fired grappling hooks that Army Rangers tried to use to storm a Normandy cliff mostly didn’t work because they’d only been tested with dry ropes, not heavy ones soaked in seawater that slopped over the sides of the landing craft. Parachutes turned into burial shrouds for soldiers unexpectedly dropped into water because their buckles were not designed for quick release. The 29 amphibious tanks that were to lead the Army’s charge up the beach against heavily fortified German pillboxes never arrived; 27 sank in the unexpectedly choppy sea.
What ultimately worked on Omaha Beach were the men. Their courage in the face of indescribable horror is practically beyond human conception, perhaps even their own. But when Norman Cota, a tubby, cigar-chewing general who at 51 could have been the grandfather of some of his men, shouted to them, “Gentlemen, we are being killed on the beaches! Let us go inland and be killed!” they followed him up the beach into the withering German fire.
Almost seven decades later, most of those who lived through the attack are no longer with us. And “Surviving D-Day” is part of a goodbye that hasn’t been near long enough.
SURVIVING D-DAY
9-11 p.m. EDT Saturday
Discovery Channel.
A Good Day- No, a Great Day!
Somebody once said, bad things happen in Threes. Yesterday was the exact opposite. It started out very good, went to great, and became fantastic. Both JoAnne and I had a shoot at the Paul Taylor Dance Company with two world class modern dancers. The shoot was primarily JoAnne’s but I tagged along to help with logistics, security, and shot a short video of her technique. The dancers Cisco Graciano and Michelle Fleet were two wonderfully easy going and talented people.The space was awesome. It doesn’t get better then that. At the end of the shoot, we followed up with a short but great meeting with our publisher Paul Laddin. Our dear friend Monica Cipnic was kind enough to invite us to the Grand Opening Party at Adorama Professional. I’ve been to a lot of parties and this one was over the top. The inspiration and execution fell on the shoulders of Anne Cahill and suffice to say, she did a magnificent job and a good time was had by all. Last but not least, I had an opportunity to catch up with some old friends and made some new ones. It was great to see Bill Eppridge along with his wife Adrienne, there is no doubt Bill is definitively one of the finest photographers in our day and also happens to be a world class gentlemen. As I mentioned to Anne, they don’t make them like this anymore. After all these years, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mendlowitz. There’s an old Italian word to describe him – Mensch.
Approximately 10 years ago, a bright, creative young lady was kind enough to drive Jazz great, musician Hugh Brodie to our studio for a Photo Shoot. She then assisted me on a very intense shoot of Mr. Brodie. The young lady was Marisa Scheinfeld & she had a voracious appetite for photography. Over the years, she’s come back to me many times for advice, asking my opinion on what direction to go in, where photography is going in the future, what equipment to procure and so on. Like all other interns and assistants both JoAnne and I have an open door policy because we truly enjoy seeing them succeed. It now appears Marisa is well on her way to not only a productive career but a rewarding one as well. Please see the following link. There is an old Italian word we use for this – Mazel tov Marisa!
http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/will-parson/2011/may/19/marisa-scheinfeld-leftover-borscht/
Tabloid City: a New Crime Novel by Pete Hamill
“Hamill (North River) forays into Dominic Dunne society crime territory before veering uncomfortably into a far-fetched terrorist plot. Just as the last ever edition of the New York World is getting put to bed, veteran editor Sam Briscoe stops the presses for a sensational murder: socialite Cynthia Harding and her personal secretary are found stabbed to death in Harding’s Manhattan town house. The story unfolds in time-stamped, you-are-there bursts that follow a large cast, including several journalists; Cynthia’s adopted daughter; a disgraced Madoff-like financier; a media blogger; the murdered secretary’s husband, a police officer assigned to a counterterrorism task force, as well as their son, a convert to radical Islam; and best of all by the weary and worldly Briscoe himself.Hamill is at his best in the Briscoe portions, rich in print anecdotes and mournful for a passing age, but as both the initial murders and the closing of the paper play into a larger plot and the young extremist becomes the driving force of the novel, the quality slides precipitously, and, as if sensing defeat, the book is brought to a too abrupt conclusion with most of the principals gathered for a group of scenes that strain credulity. Hamill nails the dying newsroom, but gets lost on the terrorism beat.” – Publishers Weekly
Most photographers will tell you they have a love-hate relationship with writers. Most writers will tell you they have a hate-hate relationship with photographers. Just joking! Pete Hamill is not only a great editor and writer, but he has the utmost respect for the photograph and for photographers. I had an opportunity to have a short visit with Pete at B.B King’s and there may have been one or two drinks, but I can’t recall. He is a brilliant writer, a great guy, and “Tabloid City”, his new book, is a great read.
Sources:
Milford Theatre
Photo ©JoAnne Kalish
The first time I saw the Milford theater, I thought to myself, “wow, what a great place for summer stock, music, poetry readings, an author talking about their new book, or a place to show other new avant garde short films!” That was 15 years ago. Now that Jerry Beaver has purchased the Milford theater, all of these things are going to come to pass. This is probably one of the most exciting things that has happened in our little town in a long time and I’m looking forward to it. Thanks, Jerry! Can’t wait for the official opening.
PaPA Opening May 28
Ron and Yvonne Parker will be hosting their new gallery, art space, at PaPA, which stands for Parker and Parker Art on Saturday, May 28. With the decades of experience that Ron Parker brings and the beauty and talent of Yvonne Parker, this should be quite an event!
“Ronald Parker has enjoyed a varied career as a psychologist, professor, entrepreneur and artist.Throughout his adult life he enjoyed drawing and sculpting. Over the last 15 years he created an interesting series called “Parker People”, which many have called “off center and on target”. Additionally, he found time to be a nationally syndicated columnist, author of one book and fifteen monographs and a performance artist (“Love Lessons” and “Lies”). As a psychologist and academician he practiced and taught at The Graduate Center of the City University of NY and Florida State University. His entrepreneurial interests included business in America, Europe and Africa. As past President of two NASDAQ companies, he managed dozens of art galleries and was the CEO of several major art publishing companies. Parker’s art includes drawing, painting and assemblages, which he creates from auto parts and found objects. The most enduring theme of his work has been the American flag, which he has included in his work for over 20 years. Over 200 flags have been created on almost every imaginable surface. A collection of his flags were exhibited during the summer of 2010 in a show entitled ‘Old Glory, New Story’ at The Columns Museum in Milford, PA. Other exhibitions include shows at Merrill Chase Gallery in Chicago, Galerie Damien in Paris, The Armory Art Center in Palm Beach and numerous other venues. He is happily married to Yvonne, an artist, with whom he resides in a converted nunnery in PA and maintains a winter residence in FL.
His current major project is developing Parker and Parker Art, ‘PaPA’, housed in a 33,000 sq foot historic building in White Mills, PA. ‘Come to PaPA, since you no doubt have been to MoMA’.”
“Yvonne’s art ranges from individual works to creating total environments for homes. The words artful living express who she is and how she lives her life. Through her art she creates a world of beauty, romance and peace. Her calling is to beautify everything she interacts with. Her work has been exhibited widely, including a recent one-woman show at The Armory Art Center in Palm Beach, Florida and her solo show “Then and Now” at The Columns Museum in Milford, PA.The studio she is working in reflects the art she is creating. In Florida, she focuses on her “Fragmented Beauty” series and in Pennsylvania on her mixed-media two dimensional works and site-specific installations. Born in Europe, where she received her art education, she later studied at the NY School of Interior Design. Antonio Gaudi and Niki de Saint Phalle have served as sources of inspiration for her art and design. Yvonne lives with her husband, Ron, (an artist) in a converted nunnery in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania and maintains a studio/winter residence in West Palm Beach, FL.
Her current major project is developing Parker and Parker Art ‘PaPA’,
http://www.parkerandparkerart.com (website to be completed shortly)
Character Project
Sunday I had the pleasure of leading a photo workshop in the West Village. Before we started, I decided to take the class to the Character Project, presented by Sir Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, to see 2 short films. From the reaction of the class, they thought it was a great idea and I was extremely happy that I had an opportunity to experience the short films “Fish” and “The Fickle”. “The Fickle” is a seamless 7 – 8 minute film, done in one shot. Drop-dead great! I take my beret off to the director, Bryan Poyser. 
“Character Project is an ongoing artistic initiative committed to celebrating America’s characters – the interesting, dazzling, and distinctive people, from all walks of life, who make this country extraordinary.
Inspired by USA’s ‘Characters Welcome’ brand, Character Project launched in 2009 with a focus on photography. For its second act, USA has partnered with RSA Films and Ridley and Tony Scott, to once again turn a lens on America’s characters, this time through the medium of the moving image. Together, they commissioned eight talented filmmakers to each explore the theme of character from their own unique perspective. From lost loves to loyal friends, private heroes to public personalities, the subjects of these short films – some real, some fictional – show the courage, connection, humor, and hope that give shape to the American character. After all, characters are what make us USA.”
Visit USA’s “Character Project” webpage by following the link below:
A Day When Everything Went Right
 |
| Manfrotto International Journalists ©2011 Joe DiMaggio |
It seems like nowadays, when you pick up a newspaper, turn on the news, or even meet a friend for a drink there are so many negative stories out there and it kind of drives you crazy. However, every once in a while, you have a totally blown out great day where everything goes right – no negative stuff.That was this past Wednesday. I had the privilege of taking 22 international journalists on a photographic tour in lower Manhattan for Manfrotto. I imparted some of my photographic knowledge and they were gracious enough to bring me up to speed on world issues from many of their respective countries from Italy to China and back again. A great time was had by all. To all of my new friends I met on the walk you have a open invitation anytime to come visit us at the DiMaggio/Kalish Learning Center. Afterwards JoAnne and I were attending Manfrotto’s special event by invitation only – An Evening to Imagine More and what a exciting and motivating evening that was.
My best friend and life partner, JoAnne Kalish, had a day that was equally special. Let me bring you up to speed, JoAnne did one of the finest portraits I’ve ever seen of a world famous artist Will Barnet. I love the portrait so much that I asked her to make me a copy for over my desk so I could always admire it. JoAnne happened to be in Will’s neighborhood on Wednesday and gave him a call to say hello. The two of them spent the afternoon sitting in beautiful Gramercy Park catching up on life, the artworld, his last few shows, recent reviews, her photography and his future retrospective in September at National Academy of Art in NYC. I will end this blog with a quote from Will Barnet – as Will was telling JoAnne that everyone loves the portraits she did of him so much (including him) and that they are being used everywhere from Farnsworth to Naples to the Montclair Museum to the National Academy of Art and for all his catalogs. He told her he had numerous photos taken of him over the years (he will be 100 years old on May 25th) by many great photographers including Arnold Newman but her photograph of him is by far better than even Arnold Newman’s portraits of him. It took JoAnne very much by surprise to hear that, and certainly made her day even more special.
All Photos © Joe DiMaggio (or JoAnne Kalish)
DiMaggio & Violante Placido
JoAnne Kalish with Marcus Samuelsson
JoAnne Kalish with Mia Moretti
Joe DiMaggio 
