Philly Legends: Lee Jones
A few blog posts ago, I wrote about how I am embarking on a new personal project entitled Philly Legends. I will be visiting my hometown throughout the year and creating portraits of the people in my life that made me who I am today. The movers and shakers, the creators and the masterminds that started a nightlife. They are artist, poets, promoters, dancers, musicians, you name it...they are all creative in some way or another, and they are all my friends. Today's blog post is about my friend Lee Jones. A legend for sure in my mind and the minds of many.
Lee and I met actually through King Britt. I met Lee in my early 20's, and he was a fixture in my life pretty much right away. He started DJing all over town, and then I left Philly before he REALLY blew up. He is known as the mastermind behind the party Sundae.
I heard he was throwing a massive all-ages party that started at the beginning of the summer, and it was open to all ages, and I knew it had to be a happening scene. The parties were always amazing when Lee was there. DJ's and musicians would jam together. Everyone and anyone would dance all night, and all day. Then his parties got so popular that he extended to places far and away like Brisbane, Rio, and Miami. And the people came . . . they followed Lee everywhere. He was part of a Red Bull think tank and created parties for young men and women, aka b-boys and b-girls, who love to dance, hear good music, and win prizes through major dance competitions. Check this link to his YouTube site for tons of visual eye candy and see that you are missing out by not being there.
Some of the greats that have spun for Lee's parties are King Britt, Dozia Blakey, Josh Wink, Questlove, Rich Medina, DJ Cosmo, Skeme Richards, DJ Royale, DJ Cash Money, CoolHand Luke, Kevlove, Ursula Rucker, Mr. Sparkle, Hector Romero, DJ Dirty and many, many more. You can listen to just about every mix from every set on Soundcloud here. Your workout will thank me, and so will you.
The shots for this blog post came when I was in Philly in March to shoot a Bat Mitzvah and I realized I needed to see Lee. He invited me over to his house in South Philadelphia, which he so lovingly calls The Death Star. I told him I wanted to take his photo, and he was so not having it at first. He is my papa bear, and the minute I walked in the house, he showered me with love and FOOD! He fed me and basically took care of me for a couple hours after a long day of traveling, since I had arrived early that morning and didn't stop working until I saw him. When we were talking, he finally let me snap a few images of him. I really just wanted to capture him in his true element. He is very private man, with a huge heart. I was so humbled that he did actually let me capture his soul for a few minutes. I'll take what I can get, and I really did enjoy what I got. But Lee . . . I really need to come down to Philly and shoot a Sundae event . . . like really super soon.
If you are ever in Philly, you MUST go to a Sundae party. Don't walk; run. And tell Lee I sent you.
