animation brilliance

We watched a great 1970's dose of animation a few nights ago.  The Phantom Tollbooth by Chuck Jones.  Chuck Jones is the artist who along with Mel Blanc brought us many smiles and laughs with the creation of the finest rabbit around, Mr. Bugs Bunny, and all of his wonderful friends and enemies. The film follows the adventure of a bored and apathetic boy as he learns the joys of activity, thought, & participation.   The message is actually very apropos.  A good visual pun for the evils of lethargic behavior.

The animation, of course, was great.  I was struck by the richness of the colors,  (of course watching it on a big screen lcd tv helps with that aspect.) and the landscape is quite trippy.  we ended up playing with the camera and the tv and took over 80 pictures of stills.  the four above are in honor of spring, the four seasons, and time.

SXSW 2009 4 days of musical magic & madness

Day 1 wednesday

My SXSW started with me heading to help set up with eco action for the showcase that night. (for those who do not know, i "volunteer" with local recycling center ecology action. they do all the recycling at stubb's a world famous combo venue, part BB-que restaurant, part 2000 capacity outdoor live music venue. i see a lot of great music there.) It was only 2pm but chaos abounded everywhere downtown. After the set up i went to go get my wristband for the fader fort day party (there are a gazillion day parties, mostly free, often free drinks & food) welcome to my first line. after 45 min. in the strong spring texas sun, banded, i vacated down town for a while. i went to the farmer's market for a last glance at the exact opposite austin then the one for which i was headed. I spent the night entirely at the stubb's showcase.

line up-janelle monae, ladyhawke, heartless bastards, the avett brother's & the decemberist's. i really dug janelle monae, super great dance energy. i was so so on ladyhawke. heartless bastards & the avett brothers were both really good. i will investigate them further. the decemberist's played the new album "the hazards of love." i really like the piece but it is getting mixed reviews. they played "i was meant for the stage" as an encore, which made me very happy.

sleep

Day 2 thursday

we started the day at Flatstock, a great show in it's 20th year. screen printing and design goodness abounds. (if you want to check out the strength of the current poster art movement check out gig posters.)

i picked up some of tara mcpherson's work, as usual for me. joel bought a couple of todd slater's recent work from stubb's. (cat power & modest mouse, both shows we were at of course.) we stashed the loot in the car and then went to see a movie, Soul Power. (SXSW actually runs for two weeks. the music part is only four days. the rest is film & interactive) did you see "when we were king's"? well this doc focuses on the concert in zaire that complemented the fight. 1974 james brown goodness!

after a few quick errands and a leisurely dinner, (a treat since eating on the run is normal for sx.) we went to check out the end of the stubb's showcase. andrew bird & ben harper. andrew bird was great of course. we just saw him solo less than a month back and this time he had a band backing him up. ben harper & his new band were good, but i spent most of the time playing scrabble with addie on her iphone. my attention was divided.

sleep

Day 3 friday

the best overall day of the fest. dayparties, hit the fader fort for a few free drinks and then went to the spin party at stubb's to watch echo & the bunnyman. gotta love the goth rockers who wear all black and a coat in the 80 degree texas sun. we then did a quick turn around clean up for ecology action, devoured a yummy mexican dinner at of our fave spots and headed back to stubb's. i have had the privilege to see some really Big stadium filling bands in the intimacy of the texas stars & old stone buildings. beastie boys, NIN, & the pixies rank up there and adding metallica to the list was way more entertaining than i expected. i am not the biggest metal fan (although also not a metal hater) but the energy of the show and the crowd was so joyous, fun & rowdy. perry farrell and his beautiful wife watched the show from the vip balcony. i proceeded to come down from the good dose of loud by dancing my ass off to DJ shadow.

sleep

Day 4 saturday

the least interesting day of the fest for me. spent the morning, and a lot of the day sipping coffee, chillin at the house, and replacing the dead battery in the car. late afternoon we threw the bikes in the wagon and headed back in. after some aimless wandering through the crowds on sixth street we went back to the fader fort. we had heard kanye west was to be a surprise guest and they had free drinks. the rumor was confirmed as true. but after many free drinks and some good local-ish (houston) hip hop by diplo & bun-b, kayne was way behind schedule! (go figure) we got bored and annoyed at the crowd so we bailed and went to stubb's to catch pj harvey in her first texas appearance. definitely the highlight of the day. the rest of the evening kind of fizzled out as no real game plan and long lines promoted a sense of done-ness. after a last bit of people watching around 2am we biked away from the music & tourists back to our car and went home.

sleep.

and so it begins....

Welcome friends, family, and perhaps a few strangers to some small glimpses into my world.  This is my personal blog, which i have started mainly as a preparation & practice tool for my professional blog.  And for sharing & play. (as if all the other social sites do not allow me to share enough.) 

By way of introduction, a brief summary of my life so far,...

I was raised on an 86 acre plot of land in the small new england town of vassalboro, maine.  We, my folks Jack & Jane, and sister Rene had a great 1800's farmhouse, a dilapidated old barn for storage and play, many cats, one mutt dog, one bunny, two mice, and a huge garden.  As a child i worked! I weeded, i sifted rocks, i harvested, i lugged firewood, i raked leaves, i shelled, i canned, i chopped, etc.  The benefit of eating home grown organic food all year round was lost on my child mind.  I only knew i hated the labour.  But i had a playground of great maine farm land, woods, rivers, & coast the rest of the time.  My elementary school was a little red schoolhouse and my high school was very small.  i graduated with 24 students, a member of the last graduating class as the school folded financially. It was a classic institution, a quaker based, castle housed, bastion of education.  I went to college at loyola in baltimore, md. and majored in art. Art being a passion i discovered before the age of five and is one of the main things in my life that i have never questioned.  After college i hung briefly in baltimore and then escaped the city for a reunion with the coast of maine. (another long term love of mine) I lived a summer in camden working at an internship at the now defunct creative imaging center.  It was there i met the gal who would invite me to move to austin.  so when the school closed in the fall, i went south to texas.  Something this misplaced yankee had never considered doing.  So, here i am going on 14 years.  In austin, i have enjoyed the famous fabulous live music scene, fantastic "winter" weather, & learning about all things texan.  I work retail in a locally owned comfort shoe shop to keep a roof over my head and veggies in my belly.  I still actively pursue and enjoy artistic ventures on a daily basis.  My main focus lately has been a series of surface design classes and projects, and bookbinding.  Also drawing designs in pen and ink has been a medium for me since i could hold an implement.  I live with my partner of almost ten years, Joel and our two goofy cats.  

and with that being said, i enter the world of blogging.