It looks like this blog will reach the 15K hits mark soon. As of this posting the blog hit count is at 14,999! Who will be the lucky one to help me reach this milestone?
Thanks to all of my Followers! In five short years you have inspired me to keep Bluestar2012 going!!

Update: As I hit ‘publish’ for this posting the count reached the 15K mark!! WOW!

Friday I found out that the photo display I was planning on doing from May 1st to June 15th has been moved up a couple of weeks. Apparently the artist slated to show ahead of me cancelled so I was offered all of their time. I decided to split the extra time with the current photographer showing so now I will be putting up my photos on April 13th. Since this is a two month run I may, depending on circumstances, swap out some of the work after a few weeks.

The address of the salon is: 514 East Republican, on Capitol Hill, in Seattle. I know I have one or two followers locally so just thought I should put out an update,  in the event someone was planning on stopping by to look.

Recently I opened an account on 500px.com that will allow sales of prints of my work. I currently have only about 75 images uploaded to date, but will continue to bring more to the site. I think doing a ‘search’ on the site using my name ( Fred King) will probably get you to my work and from there it should be easy to browse, etc.
Thanks for your support over the past 4 years!

This blog reached a milestone today. There are now 100 followers! I can remember the day when my ‘followers’ were in the single digits, so thanks to all for subscribing!!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 6 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

This morning I visited the NY Public Library on 42nd St. with the intention of visiting the Berg Collection on the third floor. I had made no appointment and thought I might be able to ‘talk’ my way in. The Berg Collection is the finest collection of Jack Kerouac works and personal stuff. I knew I might be in trouble when I saw the sign that said: “ring buzzer for entry”. I pushed the button and from behind a large desk in the back of the room a person emerged, looking ever so scholarly, in a rumpled sort of way. He opened the door just enough for me to start a conversation regarding the Kerouac Collection. He then, in a very quiet and polite voice told me the collection could only be viewed by appointment and only for scholarly reasons approved by the curator. Since my interest was of a personal nature he told me it would not qualify as “scholarly”, even though, at times in my life, I have felt a weakness for things of a scholarly nature. My second strategy was in the form of a plea: I am from Seattle, which is a long ways from New York, and could an exception be made?” Apparently my only recourse would be to email the Curator and plead my case with him/her. I politely thanked the young fellow for his time and patience and walked away thinking-how ironic? The one writer in post modern America that was summarily lambasted by the scholars and academicians for decades and never found acceptance in life or death, whose work now is only viewable by the scholarly set of today. Scholars and critics, the bane of Kerouacs professional life.
I am reminded of a quote from Henry Miller:’Who cares what the jackals think once the lion has made his kill’?
I would hope Jack Kerouac is getting a laugh over the idea that his original works and effects are only available to those whose scorn he endured while living.

I seem to have left the sunny climes of Seattle for the gray and wet weather in NY. Making due as best I can. Too bad Nikon DSLR’s are not a little more weather resistant.