Today’s Guest: Gary Leonard
Hello Enthusiasts –
Hope this finds you safe and healthy.
So, this little podcast project is out in the world and, from what I can tell, people seem to be enjoying it. Maybe it’s just gratitude for giving you something to fill an hour or two, but hey – I appreciate the positive feedback, even if you’re just being nice. We’re up to nearly 100 downloads, so keep it coming.
This week, I’ve decided to upload Gary Leonard’s episode. For those of you who know Gary, you’ve probably had your picture taken by him many, many times. For those who don’t, Gary is sort of the official unofficial photographer of Downtown Los Angeles. If you go to nearly any event in Downtown, whether it’s a boring corporate event or a big gala dinner, odds are that Gary will be there to take your picture and capture the event. But beyond that, Gary takes it upon himself to sort of chronicle the city. His pictures of Disney Hall and the Arts District and slices of life are always interesting and engaging.
So, why do I interview a guy who’s known for a visual medium on an audio podcast? Well, I was chatting with Gary one day and I just had this thought – I bet this guy has an interesting story. And boy was I right. I don’t want to give too much away, but suffice it to say that Gary has lived 2 or 3 or 4 lives, including a decade or more where he was official unofficial photographer of LA’s underground punk rock scene. And I interviewed him in his studio, which is a collection of what he calls the “ephemera” of Los Angeles – everything from ticket stubs to backstage passes to Vin Scully bobbleheads. I wish I would have taken a picture, but it’s quite a space, and we talk about that, too.
My goal with this little podcast is to provide interesting content whether you actually know, or know of, the guest or not. And I’m pretty confident that whether or not you know who Gary Leonard is, or if you’ve just had your picture taken by him but never actually chatted much with him, you’ll find his story pretty fascinating.
As always, you can listen to the podcast right on this website by clicking above. Or, if you haven’t yet subscribed on Apple podcasts, you can do so via this link. And you can also listen via iHeart, Spotify, etc.
Happy listening. Let me know how you like it.
PS – Two caveats: I mention in the beginning my intention to post some of these photos, but one of the casualties of both the long gestation and our current … sheltered … situation is that I wasn’t able to deliver on that. But you’ll get what we’re looking at. And second, Gary kind of loops around and jumps up a lot to grab things and whatnot, so you’ll have to roll with the production value a bit. Hey – I’m a one man podcast project here, so I did my best….