Back with the Flash

Though I spent much of the evening transfixed by my windshield wipers, I did come in from the rain long enough to visit some constituents. Joe Avary was among the many lensers loitering on the camera riser at Kay Hagan's pre-victory bash and when I arrived we engaged in a little photog fellowship. Longtime readers of Viewfinder BLUES will remember Avary as Joey Flash, that quirky nomad who spent a year under our tutelage at El Ocho. It was there he transformed himself from all around cameradude to full-fledged photojournalist. Certainly others assisted in his ascent, but I always felt a special kinship to this exuberant oddfellow - as he too savored the feeling of working solo. These days, Joey Flash is plying his wares in the rarefied air of Asheville - that bohemian mountain hamlet that fits him to a wrinkled, unwashed T. As we're both shameless self-promoters, we happily paused for the above snapshot - after which I castigated him for letting his own blog rot. As fleeting an encounter as it was, it was a personal highlight of an otherwise historic evening. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go fill ninety seconds of TV newscast. I guess some things DON'T change.