CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

The Art Of Caring

…..The first time I saw Jimmy Binns, he was driving around town in a beautiful Jag. His distinguished features and white head of hair against the backdrop of a deep blue perfectly clean auto immediately got my attention. After a while I started seeing Jimmy all over town. It appeared as though we lived in the same neighborhood. The other thing that I noticed, is that the car always appeared to be clean, even in the most inclimant weather. People who know Jimmy are not surprised. Fastidious, organized, a clear mind…..all the signs of a powerful attorney.

One day, I was a block away from the studio having coffee at my favorite breakfast place when Jimmy walked in. Tall, dressed to the nine’s, a commanding presence as he proceeded to sit down just across from me. It was very clear, that Mr. Binn’s was a man who enjoyed the finer thing’s in life, along with the custom made suits, a fertile glimse at the beautiful twentysomething year old who was serving us breakfast. It seemed as though Jimmy and I shared a similar aesthetic for beautiful women. We both new where to have coffee in the morning.

About a year later, a call came in to the studio for me to produce a portrait of Jimmy to accompany an article to be published about his career and philanthropy. Jimmy and I spoke over the phone to get acquainted before the sitting. I was flattered to learn that he was familiar with my work, especially the erotic work of the 90’s. He had a copy of one of my books on his coffee table at home, small world. We set up a date for the shoot shortly after the call and I decided to photograph him at his home, just around the corner from the studio, where I could pick and choose from an array of 4 digit suits. Jimmy was enormously accommodating and a bit of a ham before the camera. He even played himself in one of the Rocky movies, so I knew I was working with a man who knew how to control his visual image.

During the shoot we talked about a wide variety of subjects. The thing that stuck with me the most was his ability to care deeply about causes that he believed in.

I was most taken by his Hero Cop Program, whereby plaques are placed at locations where police officers died in the line of duty. Philadelphia has had its share of mourning the loss of fallen police officers. Four come’s to mind in recent memory. I was touched deeply one morning of the perils of police work when I stopped by a Dunkin Donuts on North Broad Street. The police tape was just taken down and the makeshift memorial was burgeoning with flowers and personal notes. I thought of Jimmy Binns immediately……

A Personal Remembrance

….Comments have been coming in to the studio about the recent blog about the passing of Lou-Pop. When you’ve lived for 93 years a lot of people are left with memories. Lou-Pop was an artist and a landscaper. One of the employee’s of Louie’s suburban landscaping business learned about his recent passing. In his own word’s Don Brunetti, now a singer songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee share’s intimate stories about the times he spent with Pop.

Lou-Pop

On September 19, twenty years ago, my mother died. The next day, on September 20, Irving Berlin, the great songwriter passed. Now Louie has left us on September 21. I’m guessing, if there really is a place called Heaven, the three of them are maybe listening to Trotter and Utah Phillips picking and singing.

Some people pass and are easily forgotten, while other people leave a “hole in the world” when they pass. Louie filled a lot of holes in my life at a time when I needed it most. He had the wisdom of the street, a kind of “bottom up” view of the world. In 1973, when the gas prices went up to the he horrendous price of 50 cents a gallon, I told Louie we were about to have a depression. “Youse hippies don’t know anything,” was his reply, “In a depression, the money doesn’t go away, it just goes someplace else.”

He sure knew how to follow the money. The following summer, we had our best year yet. Another time, he came back from lunch at the “Fox and Hounds” and started yelling at me from a crack in the window of his air conditioned car. No particular reason, he was not what you might call, “a hippie whisperer”. Finally he said, “Why didn’t you do that?”. I yelled back, “Louie, I was going to do that last”. “Don’t do anything last!”

You couldn’t “one up” him either. Louie would always have the last word. I think my favorite story was the time when Trotter and I were walking up the alley one morning. We were both hung over, at least a half hour late and holding each other up. When we got there, Louie was yelling at Louis and Mark for being late. Marko should have kept his mouth shut, and Louie would have turned his wrath on us, but Mark said, “What about those guys, they’re later than us”. Louie turned around with his big shit-eating grin and said, “Youse guys are Hippies, youse can be late!”

As long as I’m around Louie Pop will live on in these stories. And nobody will believe them. About 30 years ago, I moved down to Corpus Christi because I needed a job and Trotter put me on his landscaping crew. I was working with a guy named William, who had his PHD in chemistry, but who preferred to work outside. William and I were riding around one day and I said, “I wonder what Lou-Pop would think about all this?” William pulled the truck over and said, “There’s no such person as Lou-Pop. That’s a story Trotter made up. Nobody could be like that.” “Sorry William, there is such a person and Trotter’s stories are only scratching the surface.”

When my son turned 30, he was starting to get upset about getting old. I used a “Louie-ism” when I told my son, “Don’t worry, the older you get, the more unique you become.” Lou-Pop was, if nothing else, was the most unique person I ever met, and I’ve met a lot of people. I’m sad for losing probably the best friend I ever had.

Drawings By Lou-Pop

A Tribute To A Father

….. He was seated in his living room when I visited one day with his son, my confidant and good friend Tony Colagreco. Tony had been asking me for some time to meet his father and to see the drawing’s that he was creating in his living room over the years. As Lou-Pop (as he was affectionately called) got older, he wasn’t as mobile as he used to be, so he often occupied his time by making whimsical drawings of things from his fantasies or from found objects around his home. A variety of subject’s and a substantial body of work evolved from time well spent at his living room chair. Lou-Pop proudly displayed his works on the walls of his home and had a story to tell, for any one that would listen, about each and every drawing he created with the passing of time.

An Art Filled Living Room

The first thing I did when I arrived, was to photograph Tony in the living room where his father found his inspiration. This was the place where his best friend spent many days drawing.

Objects Of Inspiration

There were lot’s of figurines around the home, many of which were representative of the embodiment of women. Lou-Pop loved women, in all age’s, shapes and sizes.

Busty Figurine

He also surrounded himself with classical reproduction’s of women as subject’s in paintings and then surrounded those framed works with his own art. The room was transformed in to a multi-dimensional art installation, serving as an altar for the remaining desires of his life.

Woman Painting

Betty Boop was one of Lou-Pop’s favorite subjects…….

Lou-Pops Version Of Betty Boop

R.I.P. Lou-Pop