Record Press

The Los Angeles Times website has a brief article and slideshow on Wax Poetics books (Anthology Volume 1 and Cover Story are already in stores, and there are many more on the way). As I mentioned before, I'm designing a new book for them, and recently they brought me on as senior art director for the magazine (starting with issue 29) along with art directors Josh Dunn and Freddy Anzures. I'll also be managing visuals for the brand as a whole during what promises to be a really busy year. Probably the biggest development will be the launch this summer of a new digital store, wherein you'll be able to download the kinds of music covered in the magazine—kind of an iTunes for crate hounds. Stay tuned to waxpoetics.com for more info as everything unfolds.

Plan, Steal, Drive

This show looks good:
Karin Weiner: Plan B
April 17—May 27, 2008
Opening reception Thursday April 17, 6-8pm

ZieherSmith (click for more info and images)
533 West 25th Street, NYC

Above,
Karin Weiner
With A Deep Attachment To Nature, 2008, mixed media collage, 22 1/2 x 22 1/2 in.
Night Maneuvers, 2008, mixed media collage, 22 x 30 1/8 in.

Put That Record Back On

Here's the trailer for I Need That Record: The Death (or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store, a new documentary that covers...the aforementioned, through interviews with Thurston Moore, Ian Mackaye and other curmudgeons who get it.



More info here.

Grand Archives

The Seattle Municipal Archives started a Flickr page:

Click here for more.

It was bright

I mentioned that we saw the Brendan Fowler show last Disaster/first BARR at Rivington Arms the other day, which consists of both visual artwork and audio in the form of limited edition BARR and Disaster records, some of which are handpainted and might put my kids through college someday. Hey, you never know. You just never know.

Here's his video for "The Song is the Single," which I find oddly mesmerizing and even sort of relaxing. (Quicktime file, opens in a new window.)

Download the song and the video at your leisure courtesy of Kill Rock Stars. The show is up through this Saturday, April 19, if you're in NYC and want to have a look-see.

Misty Mountain Hop

I almost forgot, I also found this really cool postcard at the flea market—in fact this is probably the coolest thing I picked up Sunday, and it was only 25 cents. It's a postcard of Franconia Notch, NH, but the photograph side is a flexi-disc (a very thin record). When you play it on your turntable it tells you about the White Mountains. Or at least I assume that's what it does; it's a 78 and the hole is too small to fit on my turntable. Still, it's cool to look at.

Emily and I camped near Mt. Lafayette a couple years ago and took the tram to the top. New Hampshire is definitely in my top five states.

Mt. Lafayette is the hill where Bode Miller grew up, and there are tons of posters of him around the lodge. Bode just won his second overall FIS World Cup championship and edged out Yakima's Phil Mahre to become the winningest American ski racer of all time.

Lindsay Vonn won the women's overall this year, making this the first year that Americans have won both titles since Mahre and Tamara McKinney did the same in 1983.

Hello Brooklyn

The scene was much quieter for the second Fort Greene flea market this Sunday, even with an extensive and entertaining story on the front page of the Times style section. The lack of competition meant a somewhat righteous haul: Enter the Dragon and Barbarella soundtracks for $1 each (!?), plus The Cincinnati Kid, Buck Rogers, and a slow burning 1977 disco record on De-Lite called Made in U.S.A.

Lalo Schifrin The Human Fly MP3 from Enter the Dragon

We met up with Chad and Christine, who bought a really cool skateboard deck, four wheels, and a sketchpad from Deadly Squire. Afterward we got brunch at Flatbush Farm. I had Toad in the Hole, bacon, a side of hashbrowns, and a pretty great cup of coffee by New York standards. Emily had a pancake with some little cooked fruits. A good and nourishing time was had by all.

I believe Habana Outpost opens again next weekend which means solar-powered Cuban sandwiches, corn on the cob, and Six Point will be on Sunday's post-flea agenda from here until the end of time as I currently know it.

Saturday Looks Good to Me

Littlejeans had his own agenda this weekend. We left him to it and walked across the Manhattan Bridge into the city...

...through Little Italy on our way to the Storefront for Art & Architecture on Kenmare Street.

(Stills from the current show, On Mock-ups, Home Videos and Housekeeping: a video exhibition in 3 parts.)

We had brunch around the corner at Mexican Radio.

Afterward we walked up through Nolita to the East Village. Resurrection is one of the older vintage clothing stores around the city (there's one in LA too). They get really amazing pieces and the prices are kind of insane, but it's fun to see what they put in the windows.

Puch bike no.1 (Mott Street)

I still haven't been to the New Musem. We tried to go once but it was way too crowded.

We stopped by Rivington Arms to see the BARR show. More on that in a future post.

Puch bike no.2 (East 2nd Street)

Tokio7 is a more affordable vintage/consignment store on 7th Street in the East Village. Always worth a look but didn't find anything this time.

We stopped for a beer across the street at the Blue & Gold before heading down to Ludlow Street to meet up with my brother Sky and his friend Juliane at Motor City.

Julie Black was presiding over the bar and took great care of us. Do not miss her band Tall Black Girls at Lit on Saturday May 3rd, 10-11pm.

Motor City is a Detroit-themed bar. That sounds like it could be too kitschy or something but it's actually great—in fact, it's one of the few bars on the LES that I still really like. Even when it gets crowded it tends to be filled with quality individuals. But don't mess with Jenna:

Juliane, Sky, and Emily.

Sunday Driving

I knew of On Any Sunday when I was a kid because it has one of the first appearances of bicycle motocross on film, and as I alluded to in a post below, I was obsessed with BMX racing for several years. Not long after I started somewhat seriously digging for records I found the soundtrack at a record show.

Dominic Frontiere Sunday Drivin' MP3

The graphics are dope too:


The older I get, the more my interests collide.