The Weekend in Pictures

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We decided to be tourists in our own city this weekend. Our sentry, Mr. Littlejeans (aka Fang; Mr. Science), was none too pleased when everyone up and left the house Saturday morning.

First stop was our favorite brunch spot in the city, the Great Jones Café.

After brunch we went to Other Music so I could use up a credit. I love it that most records now come with a code so you can download the MP3s for free—it makes CDs a totally outdated technology. Here's what I got (clockwise from top left: Grand Archives, Gutter Twins, Throw Me the Statue, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks).

Next up we went to the Michel Gondry "Be Kind Rewind" exhibition at Deitch Projects.

There are a bunch of different sets and people can make their own little movies in the gallery.

We also went to the Visionaire Gallery for the Sound exhibition that I've been talking about.

Then I got some more records. I kind of went nuts this weekend because I haven't bought records for awhile. I'll post some MP3s later.

By then it was late afternoon and we decided to go to D.B.A. for a beer, and then to the Cherry Tavern for some more. Tracey took good care of us and they have Straight Outta Compton on the juke so we were quite content.

Next we grabbed a slice at the old East Village standby, Two Boots. It's by no means the city's best pizza (John's wins that battle), but it's unique and delicious nonetheless.

We ended up at Arrow (formerly known as The Rook), where my brother Sky bartends once or twice a week. That's his friend and fellow firefighter Ed on the right.

On Sunday we took a long walk to Newtown Creek, the border between Brooklyn and Queens. It's about five miles from our house in Fort Greene but there's tons of cool things to see on the way.

Kent Avenue, which runs along the East River, is like one big gallery—there's an ever-changing display of a paste-ups, graffiti, and little installations all over the place. This venus fly-trap is painted wood that has been epoxied to the side of a building. More pics from the neighborhood on my Flickr page.

When we got up to Greenpoint we stopped for lunch at this Polish restaurant. Lomzynianka means "girl from Lomza." It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the food is excellent and it's like eating a meal in someone's home.

The Polish are super-amped for Easter. There are great displays in the gift stores and bakeries on Manhattan Avenue.

Our final destination was the Newtown Creek sewage treatment facility—kind of smelly, yes, but architecturally really impressive and worth the trip.

The plant has been there since mid-century, but was remodeled by the Polshek Partnership, which also designed the Rose Center at the AMNH.

After that, we took the G train home, watched The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (beautiful score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, amazing cinematography, a very solid movie all around—though sometimes it seemed like Brad Pitt was channeling Eric Bana in Chopper, and Bana himself would have been better). Then we watched the final episode of The Wire, and it was great.

The End.

Buckets of Rain

There's a flood watch in NYC tonight. Flood warning. Whatever. It's going to pour. Perfect weather for staying in, watching Washington Week, and listening to records.

Terri Rae Raining, It's Raining MP3

Burgerworld

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Last night we went to the Hamburger Eyes opening at Powerhouse. I don't love parties in stores, because you always feel like you're supposed to be browsing or buying something. But the Powerhouse space is really nice and I am not one to turn down free beer (what. just saying). I like how the sound in there bounces off the walls a little—there's something about the DJ being high up above everyone and the slight echo that makes the music sound kind of epic. The photos are really good too. You can see more of them here, and they'll be up at the Powerhouse Arena through April 6th.

Photo by Jai Tanju, courtesy burgerworldchronicles.com
Check out the Hamburger Eyes book here.

Other Sounds

Other Music, in my opinion NYC's best place to find new records, included a good review of Visionaire 53 SOUND in its weekly update. If you don't get their e-mails, sign up—they're knowledgeable, well-written, and a quick way to stay up on new releases that you might otherwise miss.

Various Artists
Visionaire 53 SOUND
(Visionaire)

Since 1991, Visionaire has provided a forum for famous and up-and-coming artists, fashion designers, photographers, and other interesting and well known personas to contribute their own personal take on a specific theme, each edition's beautiful and unique packaging a work of art in and of itself. For their 53rd issue, the concept is sound, and Visionaire takes the form of a sleek acrylic dome that houses five 12" vinyl picture discs, each side designed by artists like Wim Delvoye, Robert Longo, Raymond Pettibon, Peter Saville, Cindy Sherman, and Mario Sorrenti. Even more impressive is the range of people, numbering over a hundred (a large percentage being of interest to the Other Music customer -- although hearing Antony's voice following a Fergie track did make my day), who contribute sound pieces. Obviously too many to mention in these pages, but here's a partial listing: David Byrne, Cat Power, Adrock, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Michael Stipe with Miguel Bose, Yoko Ono, Spank Rock, Dani Siciliano, Vashti Bunyan, Lalo Schifrin, Christian Marclay, Fiery Furnaces, Trevor Jackson, Dntel, Fantastic Plastic Machine, UNKLE, Pet Shop Boys, Fischerspooner, U2, Jose Gonzalez, Dave Eggers, Sunn O))), Gang Gang Dance, DJ Spooky, Christian Fennesz, Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore & Kim Gordon, Courtney Love, Laurie Anderson, Bebel Gilberto, Danger Mouse, Mike Skinner, Miss Kittin, Malcom McLaren, Liars, Dan the Automator, E.A.R., Monolake, the Go! Team, the Knife, Andrew W.K. and Panda Bear, plus fashion icons like Helmut Lang, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen and more.

You'll also find a MINI Clubman "Vinyl Killer" record player housed inside the Visionaire 53 dome -- a pretty cool portable record player, the battery powered car plays the music as it drives along the groove of the LP -- plus a glossy booklet with artist credits and track info, and two CDs with the audio portion of the set (total running time just over two hours). Limited to 4000, this is a great collectible for that special audiophile in your life who has everything. [Gerald Hammill]

Click here for my previous post on the SOUND exhibition currently at Visionaire Gallery.

Visionaire 53 SOUND is available at Other Music, or may be purchased directly from visionaireworld.com

Picture disc artwork above by Peter Saville and Anna Blessmann

Hey Joe, où allez-vous avec ce fusil

The Stranger's Paul Constant posted a good/hilarious cover of "Hey Joe" on Lineout today, and reminded me of this French-Canadian version I found a few years ago in Montreal. Nanette is the Brooklyn-born Nanette Workman, who would go on to sing back up for the Rolling Stones ("Honky Tonk Women"), John Lennon, and Elton John. Tony is some dude who picked her up in New York and took her to the great white North to be a star.

Tony & Nanette Hey Joe MP3

R.I.P. Tony Silver

The director of Style Wars has died at the age of 72. Originally broadcast on PBS in 1983, Silver's documentary (co-produced by Henry Chalfant) brought NYC graffiti and hip-hop culture into the homes of unsuspecting citizens across the country and the world.

More on Silver in today's New York Times.
Get the expanded two-DVD set here (definitely one to own).

Postal Work

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I collected stamps for a few years when I was a kid. A philatelic convention at the Seattle Center cured me of that pretty quickly—I realized I was in way over my head and didn't really have the devotion required for finding the coveted upside-down airplane. Still, I've always thought stamps were cool, both as a concept and as a design icon. Above are some of my favorites (click to enlarge).

Before the www, there were people with whom I traded probably hundreds of letters over the years. So even though I've pretty much given that up for e-mail, it's good to see the USPS stepping it up for 2008 with a couple great stamp designs.

Charles & Ray Eames, out this Summer.

Vintage Mahogany Speedboats, out now.

The USPS offers an exhaustive explanation of how new stamp subjects are chosen here. There's a committee which includes members as diverse as Karl Malden, former second lady Joan Mondale, and Graphis editor Martin Pedersen.

If you want to suggest a stamp design, send them a letter.

Washington Is Our City

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Big day on the political front. I've got WNYC with Brian Lehrer in one ear, and Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and their gang of slightly lesser blow-hards in the other. (Actually, I think a lot of them are okay—only Buchanan seriously lowers the bar. Would anyone notice or care if someone just locked the McLaughlin Group in their studio?) Where is Gwen Ifill when I need her? Gwen?

Anyway, it's looking like Obama took Vermont, Clinton took Rhode Island, and Ohio and Texas are still too close to call. Seems like it's going to come down to Pennsylvania, the super-delegate fight, and the possible (unsportsmanlike) do-overs in Michigan and Florida.

But I digress. I have no intention of making this a political blog, even as obsessed with the race as I am. Back to the pictures and records.

In lieu of any good Obama-related songs surfacing so far, here are my two favorite anti-Bush/anti-war cuts from the past several years.

The Evens Everybody Knows MP3
Get The Evens' records directly from Dischord

TV on the Radio Dry Drunk Emperor MP3 via Touch and Go

Photo above by my friend Mike Sacks. We took a roadtrip to Frederick, MD a few years ago to hang out with Joe Bussard (more on that another time). On the way back we stopped through DC for a few hours and this ladies' man was representing in front of the White House. Click to enlarge.

Also in Chelsea

(click to enlarge)

Mean World Blues

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Emily and I had some rare time to kill after an early party Saturday afternoon, and went to Chelsea to see Andro Wekua's Blue Mirror at Barbara Gladstone. At the same time beautiful and utterly terrifying, the Georgian-born artist's collage, painting, sculpture, and film conveyed to me a sense of underlying, almost gutteral violence in consumer culture, as seen through the eyes of someone remembering their childhood. It's as if the person, represented by several life-size, incredibly life-like female figures, retreats ever inward as incomprehensible and scary things happen around her, and then inescapably replays them all...forever. It was one of the better shows we've seen in the past several months, and there was a palpable emotional reaction from viewers in the gallery.

Blue Mirror runs March 1–29 at Gladstone Gallery, 515 W 24th Street between 10th & 11th. More info and images here.

In the Papers

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Blake Nelson has a good short interview with Gus Van Sant today in the New York Times. Here's an excerpt:

Does the gray climate of Portland affect you in any way? I think of Elliott Smith or Raymond Carver; many artists that come out of that area seem to have a built-in gloom factor.

I think a person’s darkness or lightness factor is their own point of view. I don’t think Elliott Smith thought of his songs as dark. Kurt Cobain, his songs were pretty dark. Angst-ridden. And booming. And loud. Later, while working on the movie [“Last Days”], I realized that their songs really sounded like falling trees and chain saws. I don’t know if it was an accident or what. They lived in a lumber town. They were using a sound that was relevant to them.

More of the interview here. Van Sant's adaptation of Nelson's novel Paranoid Park opens this Friday.

Film still from paranoidpark.co.uk

Hustler's Convention

On this day in 1922 a convention of bootleggers convened in Seattle. Prohibition was in full swing and the Northwest's most notorious rumrunners and smugglers sat down for a week-long meeting to discuss the rules and procedures of their trade. More on this here.

Above, Alfred M. Hubbard, a local inventor who worked with the king of Seattle bootleggers, Roy Olmstead. As a radio operator, he would signal the rumrunning boats over the air. Pretty cool looking dude.

Below, clockwise from top left (click to enlarge): Confiscated stills; King County Sheriff Matt Starwich and women in Scottish gear at a 1925 ceremony to destroy confiscated alcohol (wow, fun party); More confiscated liquor; During prohibition, houseboat speakeasies were common in Seattle; Seattle's Imperial Liquor Co. at start of Prohibition.
Houseboat speakeasies. Someone make this happen now.
Images courtesy the Museum of History & Industry.

Up the Down Staircase

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My brother Sky is in the FDNY (Engine 3, Ladder 12 in Chelsea). This weekend he'll be in Seattle to participate in the Columbia Center Stair Climb, benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you want to sponsor him with a tax deductible donation, go here. If you think of it while you're filling out the form, please designate that your donation is in honor of Sky Shepard / Firefighter Stairclimb / FDNY.

The Columbia Center is the second tallest building west of the Mississippi. It takes 69 flights of stairs, 1,311 steps, and 788 feet of vertical elevation, in full gear, to reach the 73rd floor. I used to work up in that brioche as a file clerk at a law firm (my first job after WWU). The Columbia Center is built to sway 12 feet in either direction when it's windy, and I remember people getting seasick and leaving work early when that would happen. I DJ'd a wedding there a couple years ago when our good buddies Lily and Matthew got married. We marveled at the views from the top floor. It's not a short building but my brother is raw dog and I know he will make it.

Here's a little about the event: The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb supports the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees. In 2007, the event brought in a record $365,000 for blood-cancer research and patient services. Awards are given to the fastest climbers and to the top fundraisers.

Raw dog. Please donate if you can.

Update: here are some photos from the stairclimb (click to enlarge).

Sound and Vision

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An exhibition of images and tracks from Visionaire 53 SOUND is currently on view at Visionaire Gallery in Soho, NYC (11 Mercer Street at Howard, open Monday–Friday noon–7pm and Saturday noon–6pm).

SOUND took over two years to put together and was the last of nine issues I worked on with Visionaire. I'm really happy with the way it came out. The issue was sponsored by Mini Cooper and consists of five picture discs containing one-minute recordings by more than 100 different musicians, artists and fashion designers. It comes with a special edition Mini Clubman vinyl killer—a toy car with a record needle in the bottom that drives around a record, tracking on the grooves and playing the songs through an internal speaker. (You can see some more images at visionaireworld.com.)

I was actually not that involved in the graphic design of this issue, focusing mostly on sourcing the vinyl killer and the picture discs, and getting musical contributors. Lalo Schifrin, Fiery Furnaces, Miranda July, the Go! Team, Liars, Thurston Moore & Kim Gordon, José Gonzalez, Panda Bear, David Byrne, Michael Stipe, Cat Power, Spank Rock, UNKLE, sunn O))), Dan the Automator, Malcolm McClaren, Karen O, and many others each contributed exclusive one-minute tracks.
Raymond Pettibon (above left), Peter Saville, Robert Longo, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Mario Sorrenti, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott (above right), Nick Knight and others contributed visuals for the picture discs.

The issue is available now from Visionaire for $250, or for $675 you can start a three-issue subscription with this issue. Check the website for more info.

Top, photography by Dan Forbes

Putting it on Wax

I am happy to announce that Pacific Standard has been retained as art director for Wax Poetics books and special projects. I've been a fan of the magazine since its first issue and there are tons of great new releases and plans in the works as the empire expands.

Their first two books are pictured below, and can be ordered (along with magazines and other stuff) from waxpoetics.com.

Expressway to Your Skull

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Best album name ever.
R.I.P. Buddy Miles, 1947–2008

Buy it here.

Muscle

This car has been parked at Lafayette and Great Jones the last couple times I've walked by there. You don't really see cars like this in Manhattan so the whole scene seems like an installation or something. I'm sure at some point it will be with gas prices expected to hit $4 a gallon. Regardless of all that, it's a beauty.

More photos of misc on my Flickr page

New Impulse

In recent weeks I've been finishing up the design for Impulse Seattle's upcoming new website. I won't say anything about it at this point, other than that it's going to be a totally new way of shopping online, taking all the things that make the Fremont boutique so good and applying them to the web.

Impulse has been in Fremont since mid-2006, stocking designers such as A.P.C., Acne, Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, Margiela, Mayle, Rachel Comey, and Yohji Yamamoto. Last fall it was named by Lucky magazine as one of the country's top ten visionary boutiques (along with Opening Ceremony, Bird, and others), and by Seattle Citysearch as Best Womens' Boutique 2007.

For more info check out the Impulse blog at impulseseattle.com

Still Nickle Plated but My Mind Obliterated from the Thai

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Nonesuch Records has released a collection of songs featured on HBO's The Wire, including the Sharpshooters/Fourfifths track "Analyze." I mention this because The Wire may certifiably be the best show in the history of television, and because "Analyze" originally appeared on a record released by Conception, the label I used to own with the Sharpshooters (Mr. Supreme and Sureshot). We had no shortage of tension here and there and all went our separate ways—I moved to New York in the summer of 1999—but I want to congratulate those involved, and I wish everyone the very best. It's not a big deal to be on a compilation, but to me it's a big deal to be on The Wire compilation.

I remember being kind of annoyed that after we recorded that song, the acapella on my copy of OC's "Time's Up" 12" pretty much had a hole in front of the word "Analyze"—the part that got scratched for the hook. Now, I wouldn't give it up for...well, let's just say I'm glad to have the damaged copy.

It seems like a million years ago but I remember Sharpshooters were signed to Instinct/Shadow Records at the time, and the label didn't want to release vinyl. We had lunch with one of the label owners at the Five-Spot and worked it out so we could put the vinyl out on our label, Conception. Before the real record came out, we pressed up 200 white label copies to bring to San Francisco for the Gavin. We stayed at Beni B's apartment and Jake, Shane, Danny, Shelli and I all passed out copies at various parties. It was dope to be putting out our first record together and promoting it.

After that we signed to Sub Pop and put out a bunch more records, which I am thankful for, even though it turned out that they were in turmoil and not really in the position to distribute hip-hop records too well at that point. Everyone we worked with there was great, especially Kerri, Lisa, Bob the News Guy, Megan, Jonathan, Eric—and Pat Riley and Kris Chen at ADA. The success we had was also largely due to the promotional efforts of Spyridon Nicon (proprietor of Spin's Barber Shop in Wallingford). I think we maybe put a few too many records out too quickly and could have benefited from retaining our own guerrilla tactics. Still, I look back now and think it was all good. It's all one big learning experience. (As a side note, it's great to see Sub Pop back on top again—it might be the best record label out there right now.)

Most of the Conception tracks have stood the test of time really well. Business-wise, I think each of us would probably have done some things differently, but I learned a ton from the experience, and I have immense respect for my old business partners and the strengths they brought to the table. I can say that every job I've done since then has been informed at least in part by my experience running a record label (yes, even working for Martha). It was an interesting time and I'm glad to have the records and knowledge to show for it.

Sharpshooters f/ Fourfifths Analyze MP3

Fourfifths Questions MP3
Unreleased/unmastered, produced by Jake One

The Wire soundtrack ...and All the Pieces Matter on Nonesuch Records

And the Message was Love

To be honest I can't remember where I found this record. I kind of pride myself on knowing where they all came from, but this one's origins are now totally unavailable to me. Probably a stoop sale or something. Anyway, it's a great old school 12" from the era when disco and hip-hop were sometimes one and the same. Swann does his bidding over a tight live band and there are lots of good echoes and stuff to remind you it's 1981 and we are all living in the future now.

TJ Swann & Company Get Fly MP3

Vainglorious

If you haven't been there lately, go to vmagazine.com and check the new layout, which launches this week. This was my last project with V for now; in the two years I designed and produced the site, the monthly unique users grew by over 2500%, to the point where they needed to bring their design and production in-house. I'm happy with the way it came out—there's a ton of information but I think it makes the site easier to navigate and shows a wider variety of stories on the homepage.

Listen Everybody

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This is one of my better finds in the beautiful, underrated state of Idaho. The panhandle is not exactly a hotbed of soul and jazz records, but this record leads me to believe they have the religious hippie psyche market on lock.

From everything I've been able to find out, the members of The Last Call of Shiloh were part of the back-to-the-land movement of the '60s and '70s, which had hippies from California moving north in droves to farm organically and live in harmony with their adopted natural surroundings. A lot of the people who did this were Christians, and apparently some of them were pretty good at playing bass and hitting their drums real real hard. The band produced 250 copies of the record with this pencil-drawing cover. I have heard that another 250 with no cover were distributed by members of the band in later years.

When I came across it in the Moscow Goodwill there was something about the JC-emblazoned Fender amp on the back that said "buy me, I'm freaky." I shelled out my fifty cents and was not disappointed when I got back to Brooklyn and gave it a listen.

The Last Call of Shiloh Great Day of the Lord MP3

Art, Home Accoutrements, Dead People's Furniture

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Emily and I were out west briefly last October and had the chance to check out the Anne Bonny (1355 Olive b/w Melrose & Bellevue). Emily got a really cool sweater with a horse on the back, and we also snapped up this artwork by proprietor Spencer Moody (better known as front man of the Murder City Devils, Dead Low Tide, and Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death). They are going to hold it for us till we're in Seattle again this fall. I think it's interesting because it captures this icon of weird America but pulls it out of context in both place and material. It reminds me of Richard Prince's outlook that way, as does the Anne Bonny itself.

I highly recommend checking out the shop if you're ever in Seattle (or if you're always in Seattle). On the surface it's not much different than other antique/junk stores, but it sets itself apart with a particularly unique point of view, bolstered by an upstairs gallery showing a steady succession of up-and-coming Northwest artists. The line between curated junk and artwork is totally blurred, and to me that is the best way to look at either of those things.

Check out theannebonny.com for more info.

Photos top and bottom courtesy the Anne B's flickr page

Pistol Grip

I found this on the ground walking through the Walt Whitman Projects in Fort Greene and thought it looked cool. Click to enlarge.

(Those projects are named for him because old Walt lived in this neighborhood for a long time, edited the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and was instrumental in getting the city to set aside land for what would become Fort Greene Park.)

This Is The Way We Cool On Out

Figured it would make sense to set off the MP3 bloggery with the first record I found when we moved to New York from Seattle in 1999.

When Emily and I got here after road-tripping across the country in a rented Oldsmobile Alero, we had to wait two weeks for our movers to show up. All we had was our camping gear and grubby clothes, and a couple hundred bucks to last us till I could find a job (we moved so she could go to law school at Columbia, and there was no way she would be working on anything but that).

After a week we finally got a hold of the movers and they hadn't even left Seattle. So we spent the time walking around the city, cleaning our dirty-ass Hell's Kitchen apartment, and going to air-conditioned $3 movies around the corner. (It was 103º when we got to the city and we had no air. Suddenly watching "Entrapment" twice seemed like a great idea.) A couple times we went out to Coney Island and sat on the boardwalk drinking $2 beers and eating clam strips. I got some job offers there, primarily in the field of construction and demolition, and seriously considered them.There used to be a tent city/makeshift flea market across Ocean Avenue, and we spent a lot of time continuing what we had done on the drive across the country—digging through old stuff looking for clothes, books, and records. It was a fun way to pass the time even though we were running out of money and feeling a little overwhelmed by the city. The first record I found was Afrika Bambaataa's Death Mix. Back then, it had always seemed like one of those unattainable NYC records, and here I had found it for a couple dollars, in perfect condition, at Coney Island.

It felt like a good sign.

DJ Afrika Bambaataa and Friends
Live! Death Mix
(Paul Winley Records)
Recorded live at James Monroe HS, Bronx, NY, 1983
Side 1 MP3
Side 2 MP3