Jim Carroll, author of the Basketball Diaries, which was made into a 1995 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has died of a heart attack at the age of 60.  I last saw Jim in 2007, when he posed for me at the Brooklyn Book Festival in a photo that was instantly unpopular with his fans, as his emaciated appearance started rumors that something was terribly wrong with the iconic poet raconteur.

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The photo above was the best out of a series of three that I took at the 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival (the 2009 festival ironically occurred just yesterday).  Carroll was fascinating. He had a wide variety of notes and things he had written that he wanted to talk about, but he was part of a panel and he ran out of time, never really having given much of a presentation.

As he fumbled through a complicated series of notes and papers, he refused to give up the microphone.  After begging him to give it up, the festival cut Carroll’s mic, which upset him immensely.   I will never forget fellow panelist Joe Meno staring, sitting next to a towering Halloween Jack of a Carroll, gesturing wildly, as he protested for more time (photo below).  The whole thing had been a wash.

On September 20, 2007, I wrote the following on Wikinews:

One of the featured panels on “soon-to-be-published works of groundbreaking authors” that included Jim Carroll, The Women of Brewster Place author Gloria Naylor and playwright and music journalist Joe Meno, ran into problems. The panel was the final program and started half an hour late. Naylor failed to show, reportedly due to a death in the family. In the middle of Carroll’s presentation he was asked to stop speaking so they could close the courtroom where the event was held in the Borough Hall. Carroll was visibly upset. He asked the audience if they wanted to hear one song, to which they enthusiastically cheered until the festival organizers cut off his microphone to keep to a schedule that required they vacate the premises by a certain time.

Jim Carroll in 2005 - the image that replaced the 2007 one above, out of fan request.

Here is an accurate, detailed re-telling of that day.

I approached Jim in the atrium of Brooklyn Borough Hall and asked if I could take a few shots of him for Wikipedia, and he was happy to do so.  Unfortunately, his appearance and expressions were not flattering, despite a few polite suggestions.  It was as if he was fine with my photographing, but not present for the activity.

This image was instantly unpopular with Carroll’s fans. I received e-mails through MySpace and Gmail begging me to take it off his Wikipedia page because his fans were concerned that he looked terrible. The photo above started rumors that Carroll was again using drugs; whereas his fans protested that he had just been sick the week before, which was why he looked so gaunt.

At their request, I removed it from his Wikipedia article after the 2005 image to the right was made available on December 3, 2007.  The New York Times obituary is here.

UPDATE:  According to Ron Silliman’s blog, the 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival was Carroll’s second-to-last public appearance, the last being the 2008 Poetry Project New Year’s Marathon.

Here’s reader mail -

Dear Mr. Shankbone,
I saw a photo that you posted on Wikipedia of a man in an A shirt (tank top):
Man in A Shirt at Brooklyn Book Festival
I wanted to respond that he might be the most attractive man i have ever seen; perhaps he and i should marry (in a state or country where that’s legal).
I don’t know if you have his contact information or if he’s even interested in men (or more specifically me), but if you could possibly forward him my contact information, i’d be most appreciative. If we do get married, I will be sure to invite you.
Thank you so much for your time. keep up the good work.

Response:  Unfortunately, I don’t know who that person is and whether he’d marry another man, but I understand how you feel.

There are only three entities that I feel justified in thanking on behalf of the international Wikimedia community.  I previously thanked the Brooklyn Book Festival, which gives us literally unfettered access to photograph authors who are without doubt some of the most celebrated writing today.  For example, Joan Didion.  She is regarded as one of America’s greatest prose writers, and she rarely makes public appearances.  It was a real coup for the BBF, which has become one of the most important literary events in the country.  And because of the festival, the Wikimedia community (and everyone else) owns a rarity:  a current and flattering portrait of Didion.

Tribeca Film Festival Helps Solve Wikipedia’s Image Problem

It’s hard to eclipse the BBF, but one organization does:  the Tribeca Film Festival.  I can’t speak highly enough of their egalitarian vision and how they helped us build the site.  Many editors were upset back in 2006/2007 when strict creative commons requirements caused so many graphics to be taken off the site.  What was left gave Wikipedia a major image problem: most of our photographs were of dreadful quality and color, taken haphazardly, often with low-quality camera phones.  Or they were just way outdated.  To give an example, at right is the former lead photo on “Drew Barrymore“.  In 2007, Wikipedia only had a cropped side-shot photo of Barrymore from 1989 (in which Corey Feldman was cropped out).  (note: that image is by a photographer I admire, Alan Light, and I mean no disrespect).

A nearly 20 year-old photo was the best that we could do, even though Drew had a major comeback.  But because of Tribeca, we got a new lead image on Drew Barrymore (below, left).  It has been used by numerous websites, newspapers, broadcast news organizations and, most importantly, by the creative commons and public news media sites that can’t afford Getty or Wire.  So well-liked was our new Barrymore image that her fan magazine, The Butterfly Net, used it on their Winter 2007 cover.

To be frank, I do not know if I have ever seen Drew Barrymore more beautiful than she was at the premiere of Lucky You.  I mean, look at how amazing her dress, make-up and personality are in that photo.  She is someone for whom I am always happy when I hear good news.  Breath-taking.  That night, she was breath-taking.  I’ve had a few ethereal moments at Tribeca, and that night was one, to be able to behold her in person  how she looked that night, it really did make me feel Lucky.  I had a handful of moments like that throughout the festival.  I think the photograph below captures how I felt very well.  Minimal photoshopping.

Tammie Rosen, Tribeca’s Director of Communications, opened the door to let us in.  It was a risk.  It is difficult for the outside world to discern who they can trust on Web 2.0 sites.  This may come as a surprise to a few on Wikipedia, but many event press coordinators (e.g. the Tony Awards) are either too confused, too old, too myopic, too clueless or too uncertain to let us take part.  Not Tammie.  She clearly “gets” the Internet, “gets” Web 2.0 and “gets” that trying new things is the way to stay at the top of your game.  Tammie and I had a lot of e-mail communication (I was probably a pain, but I was unproven and wanted to induce trust)  She said yes.  And now Tammie Rosen is arguably the reason Wikipedia is a visually more professional and interesting website than it was just a few years ago.  At least in terms of biographies.

Rubenstein Communications Takes Wikipedia Even Further

Tammie isn’t the only one the community should thank.  She opened the door and let us in.  But the real host of the festival is Rubenstein Communications, among New York City’s most elite PR firms.  The Wikimedia community is myopic in its distrust of PR firms, but it’s not the community’s fault.  Most editors of Wikipedia simply have no idea how the media machine operates. Me neither, until I started my photography and interviews.  There is also the false idea that all PR firms are out to do is lie for, whitewash or propagandize their clients.  Simply not true.  And if you think everyone is dying to work with Wikipedia, then keep reading.

Get Lost: The Tony Awards Tell Wikimedia That There is No Room at the Inn

Every awards show, festival, movie premiere and media event is managed by a PR firm.  Who is responsible for the Tony Awards?  If you answered the American Theatre Wing, you would be wrong.  The ATW chooses the Tony Awards, but they are not responsible for the “Tony Awards“, the gala television special.  PR mega-firm PMK/HBH handles the communications and press for it.  And they also shut me out this year, my first attempt to cover the Tony’s red carpet.

No matter how many press articles about my photography; no matter how many links to galleries with my portraits of Madonna, Mariah Carey, President Shimon Peres; and no matter how much I pleaded with PMK and the ATW, I was simply given the pathetic “we don’t have any room” excuse reserved for small-time blogs and stalkers.  Even when I appealed to the ATW, I was told that the Tony Award people had no say:

Dear Mr. Shankbone -

The Wing, nor I, have no control over the press coverage for the Tony Awards.  It is handled through PMK/HBH.  If you have any further concerns you’ll need to take that up with PMK/HBH.  They have the final say on all press coverage for the Tony Awards and I can’t override their decision.

All the best-
Chris

No wonder the theater is called “irrelevant to most of the population” and Broadway legends like 42nd Street co-writer Mark Bramble call the awards a “boring evening.”  If the show is going to shut out the most influential new media website in the world, that reaches untold millions of young people in virtually every language, then expect the theater crowd to become even more geriatric, and the art form to become even less relevant.  Maybe the ATW should hand the show over to Rubenstein.

Adam Isserlis at Rubenstein

At Rubenstein, a special thanks on behalf of the creative commons community, that extends well beyond Wikipedia, to Adam Isserlis, arguably one of the most visionary PR professionals in the business today.  Adam’s Internet knowledge and savvy, along with an ethical code worthy of emulation, exemplifies the kind of person that keeps Rubenstein Communications at the top of PR.  I don’t know what he offers Mr. Isserlis to stay, but Steve Rubenstein sure is smart for keeping him happy.  We’ve had several lunches where Adam has put my Internet cultural knowledge to shame.  He has never asked me for anything, least of all to edit improperly, but he has offered me and Wikipedia a great deal.  He bends over backwards for us, and he is the reason Wikipedia was elevated to A-List status at the festival, which allowed us a space in the highly, highly coveted private A-List photography room (photo, right).  Only the most influential organizations, perhaps ten to twelve, get access to this room.  It makes a big difference in the photographs.  My 2008 shots were my best ever, but the access Adam gave Wikipedia had a lot to do with it.

It’s not just Adam at Rubenstein.  It’s Kimberly Kress, whose organizational, people, knowledge and management skills make her overqualified to be governor of Alaska.  It’s also people like Cheryl Guevara (now with NYU) and Casey Fitzpatrick (who is now with The Karpel Group), who run individual film premieres as if they are old friends you are meeting up with for Thanksgiving.

Added challenges with the photography

Few, if any, photographers cover the festival the way I do.  There can be over 50 premieres in a single day, each with different celebrities.  The big publications and image agencies send upwards of 10 or 20 photographers who can shoot at a rested and peaceful pace.  I, however, spent the entire day from afternoon to evening running all over New York to capture as many shots for Wikipedia as possible.  Some of the hundreds of professional photographers there are nice, but many are catty, rude, belligerent or condescending.  After the last premiere, I go home, photoshop and upload for hours, until I wake up the next day and do it all over again.  As my friend Adam can attest, I have had a few moments where I lost my cool because I was over-tired.  I almost always reach a point at the festival when I wonder why I even do what I do.  It is a tremendous amount of work, and at the end I am exhausted on every level.  The answer is that it is truly satisfying, afterward, to correspond with people who use my stuff in books, or how they are used on the Internet.  It’s gratifying to be able to create something other people want to use.

Just because Wikimedia has over 250 global websites, and we are the 7th most-visited website in the world, does not mean we have instant status.  Status takes time and is built upon productive relationships.  Unfortunately, many of us have witnessed an arrogance on Wikipedia that is undeserved.  It’s easy to be arrogant from a laptop in your bedroom, but not when you create some of the most difficult-to-obtain content like I do.  Re-read Chris Rovente’s e-mail above.  It didn’t matter we are a huge, influential global website; it didn’t matter I have taken over 500 portraits of the notable in their homes, offices, parties and events; nobody cared that I have sat face-to-face interviewing over forty major cultural and political leaders (including a head of state).

This is why the Wikimedia community owes a big, public thank you to Tribeca FF and Rubenstein Comm.  If you ever wondered why the Tribeca Film Festival is the “face” of Wikipedia–or of many of its most famous biography subjects–you now know.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

2008 Tribeca Film Festival

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

2007 Tribeca Film Festival

Below are some of the latest portraits of authors and writers uploaded to Wikipedia:

Terry McMillan, author of Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back

Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist and author

Eileen Myles, the “the rock star of modern poetry”

Elizabeth Nunez, novelist

Also, this photograph was uploaded to Sleeveless shirt:

A few photos from yesterday’s Brooklyn Book Festival.

Ian MacKaye

Joan Didion

Jonathan Franzen

Naomi Wolf

Thurston Moore

I would like to extend a thank you to the Brooklyn Book Festival on behalf of the Wikimedia community.  That festival has been responsible for almost 200 author portraits, including Basketball Diaries author and musician Jim Carroll (2007 photo, right).

I have photographed there since its inception.

The festival gives Wikimedia and Wikipedia projects unfettered access.  By doing so, Marty Markowitz’s Brooklyn Book Festival has helped spawn one of the largest open copyright repositories of author images ever created by one person, that will be a resource for generations to come.

Thank you Borough President Markowitz and all those who put work into the festival, and are so open about allowing us to photograph the events.

The Brooklyn Book Festival now plays an integral role, and will for a very long time to come, in how the literary community is presented on one of the most influential websites in the world.

(so authors – you may want to look your best)

What is most exciting this year is the festival star.  Last year the Festival Star was Dave Eggers.  This year it is without doubt Joan Didion.  Below are some of the expected panelists and speakers (out of 150 confirmed):

2008 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 10AM – 6PM

BOROUGH HALL PLAZA

209 JORALEMON STREET, BROOKLYN, NY

Joan Didion, Richard Price, Jonathan Lethem, Dorothy Allison, Russell Banks, A.M. Homes, George Pelecanos, Terry McMillan, Jonathan Franzen, Susan Choi, Esmeralda Santiago, Thurston Moore, Paul Beatty, Jacqueline Woodson, Chuck Klosterman, Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill, Nikki Turner, Elizabeth Nunez, Ed Park, Pico Iyer, Gail Carson Levine, Cecily von Ziegesar, Chris Myers, Jane O’Connor, Jon Scieszka, Mo Willems

For a long time now I have received a stream of e-mails from people based upon my photography on Wikipedia.  Sometimes they mistakenly think I am the subject of one of my body illustrations (they are of a model friend); other times it is because they want me to contact a celebrity I have photographed.

These e-mails sometimes creep me out.  Sometimes they are windows into naive hopes that are built out of media illusions.  Take this one I received because I photographed “Reverend Run” of Run DMC, Joseph Simmons, at the Brooklyn Book Festival (right):

Hi my name is [REDACTED],
I have read where you have done a piece on Joseph Simmons of runs house. I am having such a hard time with getting my daughter who is 15 years old heard, and when I say heard I mean:Shes a singer, very blessed by God above. I live in Alabama and have no means of finding her someone to work with her. Everywhere I go people want me to pay them to work with her. I was told that managers work with her and get her ready and when things start happening for her they get paid as well. My financial status is not that good its only enough for us to get by. I no she has what it takes if I can only get someone to give her a real chance, not someone who will rip her off. The reason I picked Mr. Simmons is because he say he’s a Godly man, and I feel he wouldn’t take advantage of her. I really need your help, I’m tired of dead ends. I have been doing this for years and haven’t made it to far. No resources, no help, um growing tired, but this is my child and I’m trying so hard, but all I see i
s the devil trying to stop her from using this gift God has blessed her with. [REDACTED] is her name, and has never had singing lessons. I don’t want the streets to get her, that’s why I’m coming to you to see if you can use your resource to help me. This is no game, pray if you have to on this, follow your heart, just no that your decission to help her or not lay in your hands, until I hear from you God bless.

E-mails like this creep me out for a few reasons.

First, it shows the unrealistic notions people have about how the media works.  I have been asked to give Drew Barrymore messages like, “your new body looks really good” and to contact people to pass along screenplays and manuscripts.  Simply because I have photographed Martin Scorsese or Sam Raimi.  I have been told unsubstantiated gossip about people; read diatribes against their work; and been asked to help people out.  Photographers rarely form relationships with their subjects.  When I am in a private room with people like Madonna and Mariah Carey, nothing but the most canned professional chatter transpires.   No lasting relationships are formed.

Second, it shows the unrealistic expectations people have in what it takes to “make it.”  It does not matter how talented this 15 year old girl is, Joseph Simmons is never going to fly down to Alabama and make this underage kid a star.  Besides her age, he has so many talented people banging on his (and his brother Russell Simmons’s) door.

Lastly, I can’t imagine ever approaching someone I know based upon an e-mail like this.  Nobody hands you success and opportunity.  You have to go out there and create it for yourself.  It has to be chased.  It does not come to you, no matter how good you are.