Artist? Annoyance? Star-Maker? Stalker?

He's been called all of those names and much worse. Ron Galella, legendary American paparazzo, has suffered two highly-publicized legal battles with the late Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, a broken jaw at the hands of the late Marlon Brando, Mexican jails and a serious ass-whopping by bodyguards of the late Richard Burton.


Love him or hate him, Galella always gets his shot. He's driven, unflinching and still working after nearly fifty years of a career filled with controversy and amazing image making. His celebrity "photojournalism" has appeared over the years in the pages of Time, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, People, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, New York Times & Life. 


Galella is also a master in the darkroom, producing his own prints in a home lab that have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, London's Tate Modern and the Helmut Newton Foundation to name just a few. With six books to his credit, Ron shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon


Tonight, HBO will air the documentary Smash His Camera at 9pm EST/8Pm Central (check your local listings for exact air times in your area). 


You can find a couple of clips from the film included below.


It was only last month that Galella was the victim of his own pioneering "example" when New York based Photographer/Blogger Andrew Hetherington of What's the Jackanory blog fame was assigned by AARP to turn-the-tables on Ron for a feature profile in their membership magazine. Andrew was sent out to capture paparazzi style photos of the legendary Galella to illustrate the story. You can read about the adventure at WTJ? found here.


Tune in tonight to catch Ron in action and decide for yourself... artist or pariah?. In the meantime, here's a trailer & a clip from the film:

Photography, Rock & Roll, Film

The Maui Film Festival opens tomorrow and runs through June 21st at various venues & theaters around the island, culminating each evening with the top film picks projected in the Celestial Cinema on the golf course in Wailea. A giant screen erected on the grassy course, complete with massive, portable Dolby® sound system, this is an opportunity to bring beach chairs & blankets & beat the heat as you spread out under the stars each evening to view the best of the best of this year's crop on new film offerings from Hollywood and independent studios alike.

Of particular interest to me is a film screening on thursday evening at 8:00pm.

Rock Prophecies documents the 40 year career of music photographer Robert Knight, a former Honolulu resident, who has travelled the world photographing the biggest names in Rock & Roll and discovering the next wave of guitar talent. To find out more about the film and to order tickets online, click here.

Here's a trailer to the film to wet your appetite:

Venus Envy

I had the opportunity to catch the Robyn Hitchcock & Venus 3 documentary Sex, Food, Death... & Insects on the Sundance Channel last night. I'd forgotten just how much I love this stuff even though the fairly recent album "Spooked" has been a regular resident in my CD player for the past couple of years.

Venus 3 is made of Robyn and REM members guitarist Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey on bass and percussionist Bill Rieflin (also former Ministry drummer). The music is just what you would expect from Robyn, no matter what company he keeps... quirky, whimsical, arty, folkie, punky, psychedelic... so if you're not familiar with Robyn's career, you owe it to yourself to check out this film or pick up a disc or two.

Sex, Food, Death... & Insects airs at least four more times during the month of May on Sundance. Check your local listings for dates and time and then set your DVR to record it. You're going to want to watch this one more than once.

In the meantime... here's a little clip of the band captured live at the Fleece in Bristol performing Authority Box.