Wednesday, September 23, 2009

"That would be me"

Don't you envy people who use only one name and others know who they are? If I said Cher, you'd know immediate who I meant. In fact, you may not even know her last name is Sarkisian. How about Liberace or the singer Jewel?

When I ran across a blog by Wolynski, that caught my eye. It wasn't Susan Wolynski or Debbie Wolynski, just Wolynski. Next, I found her other blog with really nice photos of Las Vegas. At the end of each piece, she would say "Images by Wolynski" -- again, with the one-name Wolynski thing.

Her web site mentioned that she plays poker, but was a photographer and a comedian (they prefer the term comic) in previous lives. Intrigued, I resorted to help from Mr. Google, and found an article in the NY Times (that quoted a Wolynski extensively) called Waiter, There's a Joke in My Soup. Could this be the same Wolynski? I e-mailed her and asked, and she wrote back, "That would be me."

She now takes her photos with a simple point-and-shoot, and you can see them at Vegas Images. My favorite series is here, but they are all nice and you may prefer one of the others.

On the Wolynski, blog, you can read about poker, such as here or here. You can also read humorous pieces such as In Tongues. You can read social commentary, too, for example: Bob Dylan Went A-Walkin'.

Wolynski was born in Poland, but moved to London at a fairly early age, and thus speaks English with a British accent. So, she uses one name -- I can accept that. She takes better photos than I do, and I can accept that, too. This highfalutin British accent? I'm going to have to think about that one.

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Images shot by Wolynski are peppered across the Internet. This one originally appeared in the book Wild Years: The Music And Myth Of Tom Waits, and is my favorite:


Other well-known people she's shot include: Andy Kaufman, Gilda Radner, Olivia Newton-John, Paul Anka, Tip O'Neill, Stan Getz and many others.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs gave her their award for top female stand-up comic in 1996. See here or see here (then click on past winners, then click on 1996).

Wolynski was described in the NY Times as a "contemporary WC Fields" (see here).

8 comments:

  1. Works for me. Thanks for the heads up.

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  2. very interesting and I checked out some of the photos. Thanks for your comments on my website regarding the slot canyon photos. I am glad you are enjoying them.

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  3. I've seen you linked to those before had already added them :-) Who says I don't pay attention :-P

    Great finds!

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  4. Thank goodness some things are not on the Internet - the drunken police chase, mug shots, time in a penal colony. And the bank heist? Charges dropped, ironclad alibi. Thanks, Mojo.

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  5. Thanks to all who commented.

    @OhCaptain: You get credit and extra credit!

    @Wolynski: I knew about the other stuff, but the bank heist? Ironclad (wink wink) alibi?

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  6. How about Passeportout? I went to the Wolynski blog and thought it was great. Thanks.

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  7. I always enjoy checking out her photos.

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