The 100 Day Project #56

Face the Music

Tucson, AZ, 2009

The 100 Day Project, Day 56

On Day 1 of this project I shared Wave Longing — a photograph made on a trip to Los Angeles with my friends Lisa and Mel. What I didn't mention then is how we three came to be such close friends in the first place. The answer, in large part, is Plush.

Plush was a music venue in Tucson. If a bar could be sexy, Plush was. A beautiful interior with velvet damask wallpaper, gorgeous portraits hanging on the walls, elegant chaise lounges. For several years it was essentially my living room — two, sometimes three nights a week, Lisa and Mel and I would show up to support whatever touring musician had stopped through on their way between Austin and Los Angeles. Tucson sits roughly halfway between the two cities on I-10, which made it a natural stopping point for bands working the southwest circuit. On any given night you might catch someone extraordinary in an intimate room for the price of a drink.

I made this photograph from inside Plush, looking out through the window onto 4th Avenue — silhouettes of people on both sides of the glass, the boundary between inside and outside softened into something almost cinematic.

I was in Tucson two weeks ago and have a fab time catching up with Lisa at the Tiki bar not too far from her house. The building where Plush once stood is now an apartment complex. This is the way of things, and I understand it. Change is a constant companion in my life. But some spaces hold so much life in them that their absence leaves a specific kind of gap. Plush was one of those places for me.

About the 100 Day Project: A global creative challenge where thousands of artists share a piece of their practice every single day for 100 days. I'm joining creatives around the world, and I'm excited to bring you along. Each day I'll be sharing one of my photos — some recent, some old, and some from my current project — along with the story behind it: where I was, who I was with, and why I love it.