Anybody who knows my work knows I’ve published 1200 exotic dancers in three different magazines I also did hundreds I thought their portfolios at my studio and the company studio here’s nine girls that were published 32 years ago almost vintage I have to wait another 20 years
If you follow me on Facebook You know all about these masks something you don’t know about this photo there were originally 110 masks in storage in New York since 2095 when Sal passed away it took me six years to get control of the masks and the estate this is the first day of me rescuing these we unpacked 110 masks that day Took them from New York to New Jersey for the last 20 years I have used many of them in my studio like Sal did in New York Jersey and Key West these mask you’re looking at are over 2 foot tall and have some crazy secret ingredients is in the papier-mâché mix Some of them were made in the mid 30s and some in the 40s and 50s they are possessed Lisa and I have 60 of them at our house here The funny thing as I’m working on my Site here there’s 20 of them looking at me because I am in our famous a mask room talking about a high energy levels plus I think the house is over some secret Indian burial ground
If you go to published articles and stories on this site you will see this five page feature story from American photo that went worldwide it’s a pretty cool story to read
After two years of me promoting my great uncle Sal and his accomplishments I finally land the feature story in American Photo the largest photography magazine In the world Sal was finally discovered not just sell the entire family story we are sitting on some major deals right now definitely a three book deal, Key West The way it was between Sal and myself we have incredible stories and all the imagery and of course the star of the show will be Captain Tony, our other hilarious book is going to be A comedic look at a sexually driven mob family kind of Like disorganized crime
That’s my dad with the hat on and my partner mr. Kerry Martin We are setting up for one of my Key West slideshow parties at CW‘s house that’s one of Sal‘s original projectors with all the portraits he shot above Captain Tony’s in the 60s and 70s back then he did a musical slideshow at the bar why he played the piano I didn’t play the piano But I showed his work I also had another projector from all my published photos in Key West from the 70s and 80s we had three of these parties in Key West I had a lot of fun Explaining which each photo was I was like a photo DJ we hope to be doing more of these very soon
Try to absorb the atmosphere the year 1949, this club the Coral Lounge was one of those famous Mafia bars like in Goodfellas Or The Godfather some very serious card games my grandfather Captain Tony hung out there all the time in the early 40s before he fled the Key West, you see who’s name is it neon on the front sign Sal that’s right he was famous there he even had a nice little photography mask studio in the basement beside the one he had in Manhattan he did a lot of private readings down there and hypnotizing people if you were a young good looking man in the closet He was going to pull you out they’ll be three chapters in the book about this
In 1971 my great uncle Sal was performing at the Strawhat in New York City a famous jetsetters club Sal was doing his hypnotizing piano playing act this is where he met Mr. Donald Trump I think maybe Sal hypnotized him I have some other original negatives that are very intense keep in mind these are large format negatives pretty much the sharpest image you can get at that time Pretty much sharper than any digital camera nowadays
These are two original prints from 1934 of the family I also have the original negatives Sal saved everything on the left on the top of the photo is Captain Tony and my grandmother his first wife The two women on the right that’s my great grandmother Henrietta and my great grandfathers mistress next to her you know it’s a crazy family
Captain Tony’s dance floor 1978 I left my position at the door to freeze the moment I have been a photographer for 2 1/2 weeks now I’m getting the hang of it I wanna be a photographer
That’s my great uncle Joey on the left in the White House with President Johnson and the first lady great uncle Sal took this photo back in the 60s and early 70s uncle Joey was with this great band called your father’s mustache They played all the Yankee games Jackie Gleason Ed Sullivan and right here in the White House