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As is often the case in life everything seems to have two sides to it. One side is good, the other side drives you gonzo nuts. This is particularly true for photographers that spend a lot of time alone with that part of your brain that likes to make you crazy. You know, like when it makes you think of something you did that was really embarrassing, so embarrassing that when you think of it you make an involuntary noise out loud, always when there are other people around who look at you like you’re some kind of weirdo. Or in my case besides the thinking of embarrassing stuff, my brain likes to remember one phrase in one song and it starts playing it in my head and won’t stop no matter what I do. For the longest time that song was “The spirit of New Orleans” for me. Once I was reminded of it days could go by and all I could hear was ‘Da Da Da the Spirit of New Orleans” then every so often another fragment of a verse would appear but soon it was gone and it was back to the same five words. Over and over and over.

Just outside of Jackson Hole there is a group of old houses and barns they call Mormon row. The most famous of the buildings there seems to be the barn pictured above. Apparently it was owned by a Farmer named Moulton. Hence it became known as Moulton’s Barn and has appeared on every calendar that has ever been printed anywhere English is spoken. Everybody has to go to Mormon’s row and shoot old Moulton’s barn. Me too. I don’t care if everyone else has taken that picture, I hadn’t so off I went to Moulton’s barn. The mistake I made was leaving too early and getting there while it was still dark. I parked and waited for the sun to come up. I didn’t want to fall asleep so I turned on the radio and the very first song I heard was Dylan singing that song that had “I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more.” in it. Of course being half a sleep what I heard was “I ain’t a gonna shoot ol’ Moulton’s barn no more”. That was probably six years ago, but every time I see this shot I’m stuck for the next 48-96 hours listening to that single phrase repeat itself. Its playing right now as a matter of fact. Fortunately I have a volume control for this and can turn it way down if it gets too crazy making. Back a long time ago when I liked whiskey better I could remove it entirely but the cost of that treatment got too high. So far though I’ve been lucky in that all the songs that have infected me have been cool to start with. Here’s a version to help illustrate the problem.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkvrnNzVTNs  Now don’t blame me if all you hear is Maggie’s farm for the next couple of days. The guy in this clip obviously suffers from the same dilemma, I wonder if he is a photographer too. Can you imagine the torture if this worked with rap. In fact knowing that it doesn’t work with rap just made my whole day brighter. See, good thoughts win out.