Louisville, Kentucky
The NO KINGS rally of October 18, 2025, was the largest single protest in American history. What did we demand? Freedom and Liberty.
Here are my pictures from that day in Louisville, Kentucky.
NO KINGS RALLY 10/18/2025
photo essay
Samantha Fish: A Modern Blues Sensation
The Journey and Achievements of a Contemporary Blues Artist
Introduction
Samantha Fish, a name that has become synonymous with modern blues, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who has taken the music world by storm with her electrifying performances and soul-stirring compositions. Born on January 30, 1989, in Kansas City, Missouri, Fish has carved out a niche for herself in the blues genre, blending traditional sounds with a contemporary twist.
Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Fish grew up in a musical family, with her mother playing piano and her father occasionally strumming the guitar. Her passion for music was ignited at a young age, and by the time she was 15, she had started playing the guitar seriously. Inspired by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, and Sheryl Crow, Fish immersed herself in the blues and honed her craft through relentless practice and performances.
Career Breakthrough
Fish’s big break came in 2009 when she recorded her debut album, “Live Bait,” which showcased her raw talent and potential. Her follow-up album, “Runaway,” released in 2011, earned her the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist in 2012. This accolade was a testament to her prowess and marked the beginning of her rise to fame.
Signature Style and Musical Evolution
Fish’s music is characterized by her powerful vocals, intricate guitar work, and a unique blend of blues, rock, and Americana. She is known for her ability to convey deep emotions through her music, whether it’s the heartache of a slow blues ballad or the fierce energy of a rock-infused anthem. Over the years, Fish has continued to evolve her sound, experimenting with different genres and pushing the boundaries of traditional blues.
Notable Albums and Collaborations
Throughout her career, Fish has released several critically acclaimed albums, each showcasing her growth as an artist. Some of her notable works include:
- Black Wind Howlin’ (2013)
- Wild Heart (2015)
- Chills & Fever (2017)
- Belle of the West (2017)
- Kill or Be Kind (2019)
- Faster (2021)
Fish has also collaborated with various artists and bands, further enriching her musical repertoire. Her collaborations include working with Mike Zito, Ruf Records, and Buddy Guy, to name a few.
Live Performances and Tours
One of Fish’s defining aspects is her dynamic live performances. Known for her electrifying stage presence, she has captivated audiences worldwide with her energy and passion. Fish has toured extensively, performing at renowned venues and festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, and the Byron Bay Bluesfest. Her live shows are a testament to her dedication to her craft and her ability to connect with her audience.
Awards and Recognition
Fish’s talent has not gone unnoticed, and she has garnered several awards and recognitions throughout her career. In addition to the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist, she has received nominations and awards for her albums and performances, solidifying her status as a leading figure in the blues genre.
Influence and Legacy
Samantha Fish’s influence extends beyond her music. She has become a role model for aspiring musicians, particularly women in the blues and rock genres. Fish’s determination, creativity, and relentless pursuit of excellence serve as an inspiration to many. Her legacy is one of innovation and passion, and she continues to shape the future of blues music.
Conclusion
Samantha Fish is a modern blues sensation whose journey from a young aspiring musician to a celebrated artist is a testament to her talent and hard work. Her contributions to the blues genre, characterized by her distinctive style and emotional depth, have earned her a special place in the hearts of music lovers. As Fish continues to evolve and create, her impact on the music world remains profound, and her future shines brightly with promise.
All pictures were taken by Benn Bell at the Mercury Ballroom in Louisville, Kentucky May 6, 2025.
Every Picture Tells a Story
The Real Lives Behind the Lens and the Pen
In the quiet corners of everyday life, ordinary people often find themselves immortalized in ways they never imagined—through the viewfinder of a photographer or the ink of a writer’s pen. Whether captured candidly in a photograph or reimagined as a character in a story, these individuals unknowingly lend their lives to art. They become more than just passersby or background figures; they transform into muses, metaphors, and living echoes of human experience.
For photographers, the world is a living gallery of moments waiting to be captured. A weathered man sitting on a park bench, the way light dances across a child’s laughing face, or the tension etched into the shoulders of a woman walking alone—each scene is a potential story. Often, the subject has no idea that they have just stepped into the pages of a visual playbook. Their gestures, expressions, and the energy they radiate become a part of something greater—a reflection of mood, culture, or emotion. The photograph freezes their reality and elevates it into art.
Writers, on the other hand, weave people into narrative form. A conversation overheard on a train, a barista’s nervous smile, or an old friend’s resilience in grief—these fragments of life often become seeds of inspiration. The people we meet or merely observe become the blueprints for characters, sometimes in exact likeness, sometimes stitched together from multiple souls. Writers borrow bits of reality to create fiction that feels true. In doing so, they honor the people who left a mark, however briefly.
But this transformation from real life into art raises questions of representation and authenticity. Do we owe something to the people who unknowingly inspire us? Can we ever truly separate observation from invention? Photographers and writers alike walk this fine line, striving to capture truth while also interpreting it through their own lens of feeling and intent.
There is something sacred in this quiet transaction between life and art. Most people will never know they’ve been captured in a fleeting frame or mirrored in a fictional life. But perhaps that is part of the beauty. Their existence, however small in the context of a wider story, becomes part of a legacy—proof that the ordinary is worth remembering. They live on not as anonymous figures, but as meaningful presences in someone else’s vision.
Ultimately, art imitates life not just in grand gestures, but in the subtle details of everyday existence. The people we pass on sidewalks, sit beside in waiting rooms, or share a moment of silence with in elevators—these are the characters of our collective narrative. Photographers and writers are merely the witnesses, the translators. And through their work, these real lives continue to speak.
Hiking the Coral Ridge Trail
Jefferson Memorial Forest
There are a lot of trees down blocking the way
I had to crawl through some of them
This tree snapped creating a perfect triangle
Otherwise it was a nice day in the forest. The temperatures were in the mid-70s and sunny.
The Continuing Saga of Sailor and Lula
I’m going to cross that River to the Jersey side.
The tattoo parlor’s warm, and so I hustle there inside
And the grinding off the buzz-saw, “What you want that thing to say?”
I says, “Just don’t misspell her name, buddy, she’s the one that got away
All photos by the author
Zoltar vs The Buddha
Photo Credit: Benn Bell
El Chameleon
Dive Bar
RON
Lots of cool human lizards slither at the El Chameleon – Best Dive Bar in Ajijic.
CORA
Did we go there? Can’t remember.
RON
Yes, we did. You probably can’t remember because you were in deep conversation with Captain Morgan that night.
CORA
I remember you taking me home. Couldn’t remember the name of that bar. I didn’t think it was a dive. Kinda cute. And that hot little Mexican cutie thought you were cute. Did you ever find her again?
RON
No. It’s a dive. A nice dive. But a dive.
CORA
Now I am embarrassed to show you, my dives. Hahaha. Lol! Why do you call it a dive bar? What kind of bar is it?
RON
It’s the No Chance Saloon. It’s the Bedrock Bar, The End of the Line Cafe, The bottom of the Sea Rathskeller! Although they do try to keep up appearances with all their pipe dreams of yesterdays and tomorrows, as you will see for yourself if you are there very long.
All photographs by the author
Way Down in Mexico
Back in Ajijic Again
I have now made my third foray onto this enchanted isle of beautiful sunsets, gorgeous senioritas, and delicious margaritas. I am talking of course, of the magical town of Ajijic, Mexico located on the shores of Lake Chapala nestled in the shadows of the Sierra Madre mountains.
Ajijic is an Indian name meaning the place where the water flows. In 2021 Ajijic was appointed Pueblo Magicio (Magic Town) by the Secretary of Tourism of Mexico for the work of this town in protecting and preserving its cultural heritage. It is a sight to behold and welcoming place to visit. While we are here we will be looking at property and seriously considering joining the already large expat community that currently lives here.
We already have friends who live here and we are making more every day. Many of our friends and acquaintances make regular pilgrimage here. It is a wonderful place to visit and I hope to live.
Yesterday we went to a musical event at a local hang out called El Bar Co. They had a rooftop band called The Romeos and it was packed. Here included are a few snaps from the event.
Buddha and I go back many years and I love him like a brother. But you know how I feel about my brother. And it’s because of this guy that I started coming down here in the first place.
Buddha brings a little chaos with him everywhere he goes. Like the other night. We went to a dive bar called El Chameleon. On the way there he was on a video call with a friend from Louisville and showing her the way. He was walking 20 paces ahead of me. I asked him where this place was and he said he knew how to find it. Is it past Colon, I asked. I don’t know, he answered. So he took a left on some street and we walked two blocks to a dead end. Oh! This is a dead end he says. Well, why did you turn down this street, I asked. Because I don’t know what I’m doing, he said. Then he took off again retracing his steps and gabbing to the woman in louisville the whole time while I am trailing along behind him and wondering why.
Finally we get to El Chameleon and I call him out on the video call and he tells the lady, I got to go. So we go in and have a couple of drinks and he settles down a bit and we have a nice conversation. Turns out he was in there the previous night with another friend of ours and he meets this beautiful Mexican Chick who tells him to ditch the blonde. That’s why I wanted to come back here tonight to see if she shows up again. The truth comes out.
The next day He tells me he has slowed down a lot and is not so much always in a hurry. Yes you are! I say, and I remind him of the events of the previous evening. He says, and I quote, “Fuck you! And for now on, The first thing I’m going to say to you when I see you is fuck you, just to save time.” Maureen is falling out her chair laughing. With that, Buddha gets up and walks over to a beautiful Mexican woman sitting at another table and whispers in her ear. She turns her head to look at him and smiles. Then Buddha exits the restaurant.
All par for the course way down in Mexico.
Blood and Sand
I went to Pamplona to run with the bulls and catch a couple of bullfights. I had never been to a bullfight before and didn’t know what to expect. I had rather a detached and academic approach towards the whole affair but I must admit I was fascinated by what I saw and emotionally moved.
To prepare for my journey I brought with me to read, Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway. I have prepared some quotes from the book to accompany the pictures I took. No on can quite explain the experience of bullfighting like Ernest Hemingway. He is the master.
There are three acts to every bullfight. They are always the same. The first act is where the bull charges the picadors and the matador distracts the bull with his cape. The picador drives the steel of the pic into the neck muscles of the bull to weaken it.
Act two is the banderillas. They are a pair of sticks about three feet long tipped with a harpoon-like shaped steel point at on the end four centimeters long. They are placed two at a time in the humped muscles at the top of the bulls neck as the bull is charging the matador. They are designed to complete the work of slowing the bull down. Four pair are usually put in.
“So, I went to Spain to see bullfights and to try to write about them for myself. I thought they would be simple and barbarous and cruel and that I would not like them, but that I would see certain and definite action which would give me the feeling of life and death that I was working for. I found the definite action, but the bullfight was far from simple and I liked it so much that it was too complicated for my then equipment for writing to deal with, and aside from four very small sketches, I was not able to write anything about it for five years and I wish I would have waited ten.”
-Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
The last act is the sword and the muleta. The muleta is a red cloth folded over a stick. With the muleta the matador masters the bull before going in for the kill. Finally the matador kills the bull by thrusting the sword high between the shoulder blades of the bull.
“The bullfight is not a sport, that is it is not an equal contest or an attempt at an equal contest between a man and a bull. Rather it is a tragedy, the death of the bull, which is played more or less well by the bull and the man involved, and in which there is danger for the man, but certain death for the bull.”
-Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
“So far, about morals, I only know what is moral is what makes you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after and judged by those moral standards, which I do not defend, the bullfight is very moral to me because I feel very fine while it is going on and have a feeling of life and death and mortality and immortality, and after it is over I feel very sad but very fine.”
-Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
All photos by the author except the photos of himself which were taken by his wife, Maureen
Dancing in the Birmingham Jail
Going to Alabama with a banjo on my knee
On a recent trip to Birmingham I visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Across the street from the Institute on the side is the 16ths Street Baptist Church. Directly across the street on the front side is Kelly Ingram Park. This complex is steep in the history of Birmingham and the Civil Rights movement in this country.
The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by white supremacist terrorists on September 15, 1963. Four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted 19 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps on the east side of the church.
There were four girls were killed in the attack: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair, and between 14 and 22 other people were injured.
Martin Luther King Jr. described the bombing as “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes perpetrated against humanity.”
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing marked a turning point in the United States during the civil rights movement and contributed to support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Congress.
In the years leading up to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Birmingham had earned a national reputation as a tense, violent, and racially segregated city, in which racial integration was met with violent resistance. Martin Luther King Jr. described Birmingham as “probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.”
The Four Spirits sculpture was unveiled at Kelly Ingram Park on September 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Church bombing. The sculpture was crafted by Birmingham-born sculptor Elizabeth MacQueen and designed as a memorial to the four girls killed in the bombing. It depicts the four girls in preparation for the church sermon at the 16th Street Baptist Church in the moments immediately before the explosion. The youngest girl killed in the explosion (Carol Denise McNair) is depicted releasing six doves into the air as she stands tiptoed and barefooted upon a bench another barefooted girl (Addie Mae Collins) is depicted kneeling upon the bench, affixing a dress sash to McNair; a third girl (Cynthia Wesley) is depicted sitting upon the bench alongside McNair and Collins with a book in her lap. The book depicts a refrain from William Butler Yeats’ poem, The Stolen Child. The fourth girl (Carole Robertson) is depicted standing and smiling as she motions the other three girls to attend their church sermon. At the base of the sculpture is an inscription of the name of the sermon the four girls were to attend prior to the bombing—”A Love that Forgives.”
My visit was quite a history lesson. It is one I believe everyone should be aware of and, in my opinion should be taught in schools all across America and not covered up. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
References: Wikipedia
All photographs by the author
Ghost Dog 