'Who Shot Rock & Roll'

The family tried to escape the heat by heading down to Los Angeles Saturday for a bit of sightseeing. 

First stop was to see an excellent multimedia program titled "Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present." 

The focus of the show at The Annenberg Space for Photography is on 166 prints capturing a wide variety of bands, genres and moments. The lineup of more than 100 contributing photographers is stunning and the Annenberg has given their work the royal treatment.

Many of the photos have taken on iconic status. But many are lesser-known but equally deserving of attention,

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Wonderful gallery of board track photos

 

Famed racer Jimmy Murphy won a 1920 race at the Fresno board track.A Photobucket user who goes by the handle carl44s has posted a wonderful gallery of photos documenting the board racetracks that popped up throughout the United States in the early 1900s.

If you've never heard of board tracks, they were just that: racetracks constructed entirely of wood. The picture above shows how the tracks were constructed, and others at the carl44s gallery show steep banking (such as this one from Beverly Hills and this one at Atlantic City). Some were more than one mile long. Just think of the wood involved in the construction.

Check out the steep banking on the board track at Charlotte that opened in 1924.High maintanenance costs and fire were the big reasons these super-fast tracks didn't last very long. I recall seeing some footage in which a carpenter was trying to repair a section of track during a race, sticking his head above the track, then ducking back underneath as cars passed.

If you have a bit of money, I highly recommend Dick Wallen's book "Board Track Guts Gold & Glory." It's now out of print, so used copies cost more than the original price but it's the best racing book I've ever read, and on a subject most people know little or nothing about.

Photos That Changed the World

One of my dreams in life is to be able to attend a TED conference, where the brightest -- and often the least known -- minds in the world gather to share ideas that make the world a better place.

TED.com is a treasure trove of short video presentations from previous conferences, and one released this month is titled "Photos That Changed the World." Jonathan Klein of Getty Images discusses some iconic photographs as well as some I had never seen before that remind you quickly how much power superb photographs contain.

Some of these images aren't for the faint of heart, but neither are some of the world's challenges.