BINGO!

I will always remember those words. My Mom used to be a Bingo nut. Playing at five different places each week, including the Elks Club that was across the street from our home in Pompton Lakes, NJ. These old ladies can be a rough crowd, especially when cheap drinks are involved. "Shake up your balls!" they'd yell at the old guy running the machine. Then, he'd stand up and slowly gyrate his pelvis – as best a senior citizen could do without putting himself in the hospital.

Anyway, growing up in the 1970s, once in a while, especially during the summer months when nothing was going on in "Mayberry", as my late mother-in-law called it, I would accompany my mother across the street on a Wednesday night. I can still smell the cigarettes!

After I moved to Arizona and met Randy Efros, I found this Bingo Hall a few blocks from his home in Phoenix. I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to photograph it. A few weeks ago I finally found the time on one of my Sunday morning surgical photo strikes. I started out with the 8x10" camera in black & white, then switched to the 4x5" camera and shot both color and black & white. I still have to develop the BW negatives, but I have the color.

As it is Mother's Day soon, these are for Mom!