Catching a night game | Scene Through the Lens

Over the weekend I made a quick sunset visit to a drive-in custard stand (July 20th is National Ice Cream Day and I’m working on an appreciation/photo essay on that sweetest part of summer).

Driving home afterward I passed a youth baseball game underway, so I pulled over. After parking (far enough away to avoid foul balls - not my first rodeo) I made the photo above, then took a seat in the bleachers to watch a few innings, and even got to see a stand-up, inside-the-park home run (three passed balls).

Photographing ice cream drive-ins around South Jersey yesterday, I listened most of the day to public radio station WXPN’s special Live Aid 40th anniversary show, as Robert Drake and Bruce Warren played recordings - in chronological order - along with highlights and interviews with performers and others who were there.

For 16 hours on July 13, 1985, the world was a global village, as 1.9 billion people in over 100 countries watched on TV as the music world rallied for famine relief in Ethiopia by staging the Live Aid benefit concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium and at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

The Philly show drew 90,000 fans, and featured among others, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner, Madonna, Run-DMC, Patti LaBelle, Teddy Pendergrass, Hall & Oates, and the Hooters.

The Inquirer tag-team covered the event, and I photographed the morning activity and all the fans arriving. Then I was in front of the stage as Joan Baez greeted the crowd, saying, “Children of the ’80s, this is your Woodstock, and it’s long overdue.”

I stayed for the local band the Hooters, then left for downtown to process my film. My colleagues covered the rest of the concert, and after turning in my B&W prints, I went home to watch it on TV. (I remember being disappointed that neither Bruce Springsteen nor Prince was there.)

Enjoy your own summer memories, ice cream, and watching tomorrow’s MLB All-Star Game (with Kyle Schwarber the lone Phillies representative).

Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color: