Piper Ferguson

Piper Ferguson (Pre- Shadowscene/The Cobrasnake)

I don’t even know where to begin here. You’ve probably never heard of Piper “Pipe” Ferguson, but she’s famous and to some maybe even a little infamous. Let’s start from beginning. In 1996 Piper launched the Brit Pop/Mod club Café Bleu with her friend Shalyce Benfell who had recently moved to LA from San Francisco. The tiny club evolved into a showcase for bands like The Dandy Warhols, BRMC and Maroon5, to name a few. They now run Club BANG! Southern California’s pre-eminent Indie/pop/mod club which weekly draws upwards of 1200 18+ kids. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves… It wasn’t long before the musicians she met in her clubs began offering her jobs directing music videos. Intrigued by cameras and lighting, Piper sought to supplement her love of directing music videos by learning photography. She bought the Kodak 1970's series on photography at a thrift store, taught herself the basic tricks of the trade, and in that DIY process discovered a new passion. Piper rapidly starting shooting artists like Coldplay, Hot Hot Heat, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Steve Jones, The Rakes, The Cribs, Juliette Lewis, Kasabian, Beck and Joe Strummer. Her editorial clients include Levi's, Diesel, Swindle and Mojo to name a few. Most recently, Lil’ Pipe shot Rufus Wainwright for Mojo Magazine in the UK, scored a sponsorship by Rimmel U cosmetics, UK and is currently putting the final touches on a script about the Mod Scene in SF called "The Making of A Mod." I could rave about Piper’s exciting career for paragraphs, but frankly I’m just jealous. Read Piper’s full bio here. You go girl! PF give props to: Ellen Von Unwerth, Floria Sigismondi, Eggelstein, Terry Richardson, Modest Mouse, The Shins, John Vanderslice, Rufus Wainwright, ChildBallads, Walkmen, Interpol, Paul Weller, Belle and Sebastian, Primal Scream, Cold War kids, Locksley, TV on the Radio & Melee.

I’ve had such a long week already that this week’s “Blog-In” is not even a blog, however after much thought and consideration I’ve concluded that it is most definitely worthy of a mention.  Being from the Midwest, I come from a very large family, you know the type, nearly a dozen aunts and uncles, and they all have over a dozen aunts and uncles.  This generates literally hundreds of cousins and a hell of a lot of “what’s your name again” and “who’s your daddy?” when the family reunion comes around.  Truthfully, I don’t even know who my cousins are anymore. Alas, leave it to the internet to solve this problem!  Geni.com is a flash-based web service that allows you to create and track your family tree, it is also gives you the option to enter email addresses so other members of your extended family can add their families as well.  Their slogan is “Everyone’s Related”, and this can sometime be a very tricky situation (ahem!).  What does all of this mean?  Nothing aside from the fact that your Grandmother Ethel will be happy that you are showing an interest in your family history.  Give it a try.  Hell, if you’re still reading this then you obviously have nothing better to do, aside from your third cousin of course.