I Like the Night Life, Baby

Artwork for the Cars' second album, Candy-O, by Alberto Vargas, the Peruvian-born artist who painted classic pin-up girls for Esquire and Playboy from the '40s through the '70s.

I'm breaking our no-weekend-posting rule because a song by The Cars is stuck in my head right now (I have no idea why) and I feel compelled to share:


The Cars "Let's Go" from Candy-O (1979, Elektra)

One time I was in Montreal on a press-check for the magazine I was working for at the time (that's where you go to the printer and look at proofs, and basically watch the magazine start to go through the press to make sure the color comes out right).

[+] Ink and gigantic spools of blank paper

[+] Magazine pages transferred into film; printed pages going through the press

I was there for a couple days and then stayed for the weekend so I could cruise around and buy records. Montreal is always good for records – there's a whole store there that only sells French vinyl (sadly, no Cortex or Sun Palace – two French records that have been on my list forever – but I got a bunch of other stuff I was happy with). Anyway while I was driving around I heard an extended interview on the CBC about the recording of The Cars' first album (self-titled, 1978) and it kind of cemented in my mind that they were a band with great beginnings. They got sucky later and I hated those half-animated videos, but the early stuff is solid.

Anyway, now The Cars remind me of Montreal.

Image of the Day

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Dr. Kyo Koike: Called a Home, ca. 1925 (Gelatin silver bromide print, 7 x 9 7/8 inches), from Shadows of a Fleeting World: Pictorial Photography and the Seattle Camera Club – opening tonight with a party at the Henry Art Gallery.

In the early years of the 20th century a group of talented Japanese immigrants in Seattle took up the practice of pictorial photography. During that time, Japanese-American pictorial photographers were so numerous on the West Coast that they formed large camera clubs, particularly in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. They produced work that was published widely and exhibited in national and international competitions. The Seattle Camera Club was founded in 1924. Shadows of a Fleeting World presents over 100 works by Seattle Camera Club photographers and others in the Seattle area who worked in the pictorial style during the movement’s heyday.

More images and info at henryart.org.

(Image from University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, UW2904IZ, via Columns)

Informed Nihilism

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Tyler the Creator "Yonkers" from Goblin. I don't always get what the youngsters are up to these days but for whatever reason Odd Future makes me think all hope is not lost.

[see also]

[video via Larry Mizell Jr.]

Leisure Time

.Flexions
Secret Colors
M.Women
Tonight
The Rendezvous
2322 2nd Ave
Seattle Washington

Best Foot Forward

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The hills in this town sometimes force me to rethink my general aversion to flats for most in-city activities (other than walking long distances). It's disconcerting!

Chloe suede and leather ankle boots, $750 at net-a-porter.

But - hills aside - how amazing would these look on? ... Unbelievably amazing, guaranteed.

Christian Louboutin patent pointed-toe pump,
$695 at Bergdorf Goodman.

Guest Cat

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Gus. More Gus here and here.

Outdoor Indoor

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sanso-xtro: "Hello Night Crow" from Fountain Fountain Joyous Mountain (2011, Digitalis). Video directed by Fergal Brennan. More info on Australian artist sanso-xtro (Melissa Agate) at sanso-xtro.com.

In the Studio

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New Series. So many cool people come through our studio and I've decided I'm going to start taking their pictures.
First up:

Lily and Aoife. Lily is one of our favorite people in the world, and coincidentally Aoife is the coolest baby in the world (sorry, other babies). Among many other things Lily designs Yellow Is Gold by Sunshine & Shadow.

Image of the Day

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Philip-Lorca deCorcia, W, September 2000, #6
From the show ELEVEN, an exhibition of W editorials photographed by DiCorcia
between 1997 and 2008. The show, which opens tomorrow at David Zwirner,
was organized by W 's former creative director Dennis Freedman
(recently appointed to replace Simon Doonan as creative director at Barneys).
More info here.

Vampyros

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Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2011

New York fashion week starts later this week but before we get to that, here are pics from another pre-Fall collection that caught my eye – the boldness of the clothes but more than that, the unusual art direction of the photos.

There's something about them that seems like war-ravaged '60s/'70s Eastern Block – living in a government-built apartment, the promise of modernism but crumbling infrastructure – wallpapering over the wall to hide the water damage – looking to traditional patterns and motifs for comfort. And also because you can't afford new clothes. (In the Northwest the German Shepherd sweater might be an old Oly sweater.)

I'm sure that just sounds like nonsense, I don't think I can explain what I'm thinking.

It's kind of like Let the Right One In, early garage music, hand-me-down warm coat from your sister, vodka and pills....
Or maybe it's more like besieged Hungarian aristocracy or something.
I don't know.

Here, watch this:




More pre-Fall stuff in Emily's original pre-Fall round-up.

...
Update: duh, she already posted some Balenciaga pics. Damn, I gotta get my head back in the game. Oh well.

So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away

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The Curve of Forgotten Things, the second short film by Todd Cole for Rodarte, featuring music by Deerhunter, and actress Elle Fanning in Rodarte's Spring/Summer 2011 collection. Via nowness.com:

The Somewhere star pirouettes through the empty rooms of the historic Baldwin House (which sits on an oil field in LA's Baldwin Hills), her outfits magically changing from one room to the next. Shot on a RED camera using Cooke lenses from the 70s, the short's dusty focus references seminal movies of that era, such as Terrence Malick’s Badlands, while Georgia-based indie rockers Deerhunter provide the dreamy soundtrack. As for the title, Cole explains: “It's the title of a Richard Brautigan poem. The poem and the film are about forgotten things – circles and the curve of time.”

More info and behind-the-scenes shots here.

A Signal Or A Sound

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TV on the Radio "Satellite"
from TV on the Radio (2003, Touch and Go)

Pitchfork announced yesterday that a new TV on the Radio album, Nine Types of Light, is due this Spring. I realize that a lot of people have become cynical about them (I myself was disappointed in their last album) but the fact remains that a 2006 Kyp Malone solo show at North Six remains in my top 5 shows of all time, and I'm pretty sure that as a group they still have a ton of interesting ideas to explore.

(photo: early morning, North Seattle, December 2010)

Still Shining

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J.Dilla: Still Shining from B.Kyle on Vimeo.

[tip of the hat to the #1 person in the world who needs to start a blog: Suspence]