notes from America's Beauty Show 2011' Chicago

Saturday 3pm - Arrived Chicago O'hare, had the usual argument with the cabbie about taking a credit card payment. They always claim something is wrong with the machine or it's out of paper, but they manage to get it fixed when you say it's the only way they will be paid.

4pm - Backstage with Sassoon

Mark Hayes, Traci Sakosits, Stephen Moody, and Don H were cutting beautiful shapes on their models in the form of the new collection called TRIBES. You won't want to miss this. I snapped a few pictures and then off to the Sassoon film.

Getting to the hotel from the convention center proved to be a challenge. The cab stands had a line one hr long so I took a shuttle. Only, it was a bus that was circa 1975'. Suddenly I'm back in elementary school. Drop my bags and back down to get a cab to the theater. Met up with Gordon Nelson in the lobby and we shared a cab.

7pm - Film
I hop out of the cab and see Angus Mitchell. Hugs and we catch up. While we are saying hello, Mark Hayes and Traci Sakosits arrive and they all hug and exchange hellos. We are late and rush in to see the movie. I enjoyed the film very much and loved hearing Vidal's story in his own words. In many ways I feel like it was the most exciting time to live and work as a haircutter and I was a bit too young. Damn! On the way out I grab a few pictures of Robert Cromeans, Takashi Kitamora, Stephani Kocielski, and the rest of my friends at Paul Mitchell.

10pm - Dinner and a beer with Gerard, Nick, James, and Gordan.

12am - SLEEP

Sunday - 7am wake up call came quick with the time change. I'm writing this now and it's time to go! Stay tuned.

Started the day backstage at Sassoon where production was notifying everyone that they had 20 minutes to go. Girls were getting make-up still. Everyone was focused on their work. I made the trek over to the "Runway" and I do mean trek. It felt like a quarter of a mile away with all the gear I have to carry. I ran into Babak on the way and we ended up shooting together all day. It was very difficult to do anything other than the stage as the show was so spread out and the presentations ran back to back.

I am writing this just off the plane and in the door. I just posted the fourth album of pictures from the "Runway". I am headed to bed now but will write more.