Jacques-Henri Lartigue's Solange David, Paris, December 1929, from a show up through Saturday the 10th at G. Gibson Gallery in Pioneer Square, Seattle. I wrote previously about the Imogen Cunningham prints they have for sale, but the rest of the show, featuring work by Lartigue and Marion Post Wolcott, is also not be missed. It's a smallish selection, but absolutely captivating – if you work downtown, head over there one day this week on your lunch break and catch it before it's gone. Info here.Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Image of the Day
.
Jacques-Henri Lartigue's Solange David, Paris, December 1929, from a show up through Saturday the 10th at G. Gibson Gallery in Pioneer Square, Seattle. I wrote previously about the Imogen Cunningham prints they have for sale, but the rest of the show, featuring work by Lartigue and Marion Post Wolcott, is also not be missed. It's a smallish selection, but absolutely captivating – if you work downtown, head over there one day this week on your lunch break and catch it before it's gone. Info here.
Jacques-Henri Lartigue's Solange David, Paris, December 1929, from a show up through Saturday the 10th at G. Gibson Gallery in Pioneer Square, Seattle. I wrote previously about the Imogen Cunningham prints they have for sale, but the rest of the show, featuring work by Lartigue and Marion Post Wolcott, is also not be missed. It's a smallish selection, but absolutely captivating – if you work downtown, head over there one day this week on your lunch break and catch it before it's gone. Info here.
Viva Betty Davis
.
Today marks the release of two new CDs I designed for Light in the Attic Records, both by the legendary funk queen Betty Davis: Nasty Gal (which I'll post about later) and Is It Love Or Desire, a previously unreleased album Davis recorded in 1976. Here's some info on Betty excerpted from a review in a recent Other Music update:
When I started working on these CDs, Betty's whole flavor – her personal style, her strength and fierce independence combined with her raw sexuality – reminded me instantly of Viva, "The International Magazine for Women" published between 1973 and 1979 by Bob Guccione (of Penthouse infamy), and edited by his wife, Kathy Keeton. The typography I used on the cover, which is gold and silver foil-stamped, was inspired by Viva's logo.
Viva pushed its sex-meets-sophistication point of view with extremely smart art direction and the use of very high quality photography and styling. Anna Wintour was the magazine's fashion editor, before moving on to Condé Nast.
Click here to read more about Viva magazine in a feature we ran in V magazine a few years ago.
Visit Light in the Attic for more on Betty Davis and to order the new CDs, as well as Betty's first two albums, Betty Davis and They Say I'm Different.
Today marks the release of two new CDs I designed for Light in the Attic Records, both by the legendary funk queen Betty Davis: Nasty Gal (which I'll post about later) and Is It Love Or Desire, a previously unreleased album Davis recorded in 1976. Here's some info on Betty excerpted from a review in a recent Other Music update:As a young fashion model in New York in the mid-'60s, [Betty Davis] ran with the cutting edge of black musicians from Sly Stone to Jimi Hendrix to Miles Davis, whom she married in '68. Miles himself says that Betty played a significant role in the development of his groundbreaking electric sound of the period, but the young fireplug was just too wild for the jazz genius (it's also been said that an affair with Hendrix contributed to the breakup), and Betty moved to London, where she began writing the songs that made it onto her self-titled 1973 debut. Everything that made Davis' music breathtaking and beautiful – her raw, outspoken, often shocking lyrical content, her tough-as-nails funk grooves, and her blistering vocal delivery – also ensured that she would be marginalized in the tame pop market of the time.Here's the cover:
...
Is It Love Or Desire is every bit as intense and soulful as any of Davis' best work, a heavy, grinding, howling album of sex, wine and deep deep worries that fueled this iconoclast from the beginning, that made her spit blood and fire and ultimately marginalized her art for all these years.
When I started working on these CDs, Betty's whole flavor – her personal style, her strength and fierce independence combined with her raw sexuality – reminded me instantly of Viva, "The International Magazine for Women" published between 1973 and 1979 by Bob Guccione (of Penthouse infamy), and edited by his wife, Kathy Keeton. The typography I used on the cover, which is gold and silver foil-stamped, was inspired by Viva's logo.
Viva pushed its sex-meets-sophistication point of view with extremely smart art direction and the use of very high quality photography and styling. Anna Wintour was the magazine's fashion editor, before moving on to Condé Nast.
Click here to read more about Viva magazine in a feature we ran in V magazine a few years ago.
Visit Light in the Attic for more on Betty Davis and to order the new CDs, as well as Betty's first two albums, Betty Davis and They Say I'm Different.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Image of the Day
James B. Wyeth Screen Door to the Sea(1994, oil on panel, 36" x 30")
Jamie Wyeth is Andrew Wyeth's son and an amazing artist in his own right. He was kind enough to sign this postcard for me a couple years ago in Rockland, Maine.
Pacific Standard regrets the error.
.
Back in March I posted the trailer for Away We Go. I didn't have a chance to see it in the theater. It came out on DVD last Tuesday. We watched it last night. It might be the worst movie I've ever seen. It is two hours of contrived, smug, ironic sweetness that I will never get back – two hours in which I experienced the unusual sensation (to me, at least) of hating my generation. There are some great people in Away We Go (Josh Hamilton, Jim Gaffigan, others) but it doesn't matter. The people who wrote this movie are very smart people, I'm told, but it doesn't matter. Away We Go is a colossally dumb movie.
If you saw this movie solely because you saw the trailer here (highly doubtful, but possible), I apologize. You probably feel toward me the way I feel toward Maya Rudolph right now. I don't know what else to say. Can we please just never talk about it again? I will buy you a milkshake or something next time I see you and everything will be normal again.
Back in March I posted the trailer for Away We Go. I didn't have a chance to see it in the theater. It came out on DVD last Tuesday. We watched it last night. It might be the worst movie I've ever seen. It is two hours of contrived, smug, ironic sweetness that I will never get back – two hours in which I experienced the unusual sensation (to me, at least) of hating my generation. There are some great people in Away We Go (Josh Hamilton, Jim Gaffigan, others) but it doesn't matter. The people who wrote this movie are very smart people, I'm told, but it doesn't matter. Away We Go is a colossally dumb movie.
If you saw this movie solely because you saw the trailer here (highly doubtful, but possible), I apologize. You probably feel toward me the way I feel toward Maya Rudolph right now. I don't know what else to say. Can we please just never talk about it again? I will buy you a milkshake or something next time I see you and everything will be normal again.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Image of the Day
The Light Goes On
.
My recent book and record posts made me think of these interviews that my friends of sound Coolhands and Chad did with Steinski (who's that) a couple years ago for a webzine we used to do called Friends of Sound. I've only met Mr. Steinski a couple times but that's enough to know that he's a brilliant and entertaining dude with enough knowledge of obscurities to fill a museum...i.e. his house.
Check these out – if you have any interest in books, records, or collecting things, I think you will enjoy them:
Steinski on his books
Steinski on his records
Much more Steinski at his website.
My recent book and record posts made me think of these interviews that my friends of sound Coolhands and Chad did with Steinski (who's that) a couple years ago for a webzine we used to do called Friends of Sound. I've only met Mr. Steinski a couple times but that's enough to know that he's a brilliant and entertaining dude with enough knowledge of obscurities to fill a museum...i.e. his house. Check these out – if you have any interest in books, records, or collecting things, I think you will enjoy them:
Steinski on his books
Steinski on his records
Much more Steinski at his website.
Extra Special
.
Images from an incredibly cool photo project in Vice Magazine by Miranda July and Roe Ethridge.
Please go to Viceworld right now to see the rest of the series. [Be sure to swing through the Dos and Don'ts while you're there.]
Images from an incredibly cool photo project in Vice Magazine by Miranda July and Roe Ethridge.
Please go to Viceworld right now to see the rest of the series. [Be sure to swing through the Dos and Don'ts while you're there.]
International Salute to Flawless Form
Legendary commercial artist Bernie Fuchs died last month at the age of 76. His iconic artwork from the 1950s, '60s and '70s is instantly recognizable and spawned countless imitators and admirers.
I have always loved Fuchs' work but never knew much about him, so I particularly enjoyed an initial remembrance from the absolutely phenomenal illustration blog Today's Inspiration, as well as subsequent posts there about Fuchs (all of these images are from there, with the scan below courtesy Charlie Allen's Blog, another place I could fall in headlong). 
As always, Steven Heller's obituary at The New York Times is also interesting and informative.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Grand Groove
This is a detail from one of a few posters I designed awhile back for Wheedle's Groove: Seattle's Sacred Soul of the 1960's and '70s, which is showing this Saturday at Northwest Film Forum before heading out on the road for several festival showings around the country. The film is directed by Jennifer Maas, who I have worked with on a number of websites over the past few years. The band in the photo above is Cookin' Bag, one of many legendary Seattle bands featured in Wheedle's Groove. Check out [my former business partner] Supreme's blog for audio samples – the film project came about as a companion to the Light in the Attic compilation of the same name, culled from his vinyl finds over the years.Emily and I were lucky enough to see an early cut of the film, and I don't think we can make it to this Saturday night's screening, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it's progressed next time it rolls through town. If you're free this weekend, I recommend checking it out.
Here's the trailer:
Visit wheedlesgroovemovie.com for more info.
Deep, Dark
.
Lawrimore Project has a new exhibit that I dipped into yesterday as the sky opened up and the reality of Autumn's arrival became apparent: a solo show of Leo Saul Berk's latest drawings and sculptures that will be on display through the end of October.
Berk explores negative space through a variety of media. Although overly technical at times in his execution, there are some interesting ideas and some real gems. A short excerpt from one of the placards at the exhibit reveals an interesting angle to the work presented, describing his computer generated, three-dimensional representation of Naj Tunich, a sacred cave of the Mayas:
Lawrimore Project is located at 831 Airport Way South, in downtown Seattle.
Lawrimore Project has a new exhibit that I dipped into yesterday as the sky opened up and the reality of Autumn's arrival became apparent: a solo show of Leo Saul Berk's latest drawings and sculptures that will be on display through the end of October.
Berk explores negative space through a variety of media. Although overly technical at times in his execution, there are some interesting ideas and some real gems. A short excerpt from one of the placards at the exhibit reveals an interesting angle to the work presented, describing his computer generated, three-dimensional representation of Naj Tunich, a sacred cave of the Mayas:...an information-poor repository of the ancient psychologies therein and a taciturn surrogate for the collective emotions of the contemporary culture...Lawrimore is a great gallery with a great space to match. Of note is the fact that many of the works have been sold, some pieces topping $10,000 or more. Seems that the Seattle art-buying world is still kicking.
Lawrimore Project is located at 831 Airport Way South, in downtown Seattle.
Tripping Around the Town
. 
I haven't bought many records since we moved to Seattle, primarily because I don't have any more room on the shelves – I have a couple boxes I need to trade in before I feel like I can justify digging again. Still, my man Coolhands was in town from Austin the other weekend, and there was no question we would have to hit up a few stores.
I like digging with Coolhands because (1) he knows a ton about records, and (2) we come from totally different backgrounds in terms of what we know. I'm not gonna say it's an even exchange – he has a record store (Friends of Sound), so he is constantly focused – but we put each other up on a lot of different things. These are some highlights of my cheapo finds that afternoon.
Remember Danny O'Keefe? I think this might be his first record, on a local Seattle label.
Regrettably I haven't digitized most of these yet but I will get to it.
You can check this one out though:
ZZ Hill That Ain't The Way You Make Love mp3
I haven't bought many records since we moved to Seattle, primarily because I don't have any more room on the shelves – I have a couple boxes I need to trade in before I feel like I can justify digging again. Still, my man Coolhands was in town from Austin the other weekend, and there was no question we would have to hit up a few stores.
I like digging with Coolhands because (1) he knows a ton about records, and (2) we come from totally different backgrounds in terms of what we know. I'm not gonna say it's an even exchange – he has a record store (Friends of Sound), so he is constantly focused – but we put each other up on a lot of different things. These are some highlights of my cheapo finds that afternoon.
Remember Danny O'Keefe? I think this might be his first record, on a local Seattle label.
Regrettably I haven't digitized most of these yet but I will get to it.
You can check this one out though: ZZ Hill That Ain't The Way You Make Love mp3
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The MF GLK
.
This past Sunday afternoon I took the bus over to Volunteer Park, sat in the grass as the sun slowly went down and watched the Gaslamp Killer play his first DJ set in Seattle for the Decibel Festival. It was damn good.
Gaslamp Killer is part of the Brainfeeder crew out of L.A. which includes among others the talented Flying Lotus. He is know for his high energy DJ sets which swing wildly from Psychedelic to Dilla to DubStep, bridging the similarities and exploiting the differences. With bass as his anchor he played for two hours, often changing songs every minute or so, appearing to be fully electrocuted the entire time, with his wild hair, skinny look and Dr. Frankenstein-as-conductor hand movements.
Recently he has started producing tracks of his own, some of which have been released by Shepard Fairey's Obey Records, with complimentary Obey album art. When in LA, visit the Low End Theory Club where he is a resident DJ most weeks when he is not touring.
Download his mix with BBC radio show host (and killer DJ in her own right) Mary Ann Hobbs here.
This past Sunday afternoon I took the bus over to Volunteer Park, sat in the grass as the sun slowly went down and watched the Gaslamp Killer play his first DJ set in Seattle for the Decibel Festival. It was damn good.
Gaslamp Killer is part of the Brainfeeder crew out of L.A. which includes among others the talented Flying Lotus. He is know for his high energy DJ sets which swing wildly from Psychedelic to Dilla to DubStep, bridging the similarities and exploiting the differences. With bass as his anchor he played for two hours, often changing songs every minute or so, appearing to be fully electrocuted the entire time, with his wild hair, skinny look and Dr. Frankenstein-as-conductor hand movements.Recently he has started producing tracks of his own, some of which have been released by Shepard Fairey's Obey Records, with complimentary Obey album art. When in LA, visit the Low End Theory Club where he is a resident DJ most weeks when he is not touring.
Download his mix with BBC radio show host (and killer DJ in her own right) Mary Ann Hobbs here.
Tailjob, Yeah.
.
Alright, fine, that's it, goddammit, we are getting HBO again.
Luke Burbank is going to interview Jonathan Ames (the creator of "Bored to Death," which incidentally was shot in Fort Greene) in approximately 23 minutes – tune in at TBTL.net, or go there and download the podcast later if you weren't paying attention to me the second I posted this. It's okay. No, seriously, it's fine.
Alright, fine, that's it, goddammit, we are getting HBO again.
Luke Burbank is going to interview Jonathan Ames (the creator of "Bored to Death," which incidentally was shot in Fort Greene) in approximately 23 minutes – tune in at TBTL.net, or go there and download the podcast later if you weren't paying attention to me the second I posted this. It's okay. No, seriously, it's fine.
Image of the Day
.
This is an image of photographer Irving Penn's Studio in Paris, 1950, when Penn was 33 years-old. There, as well as in London and New York, he took a series of photos of working people of all kinds (firefighters, a milkman, dance instructors, seamstresses, etc.). 252 of them are on display through January 10th in a show called Irving Penn: Small Trades at the Getty in Los Angeles. Read a review and see a slideshow at the Los Angeles Times' art blog, and visit the Getty Center for more info.
This is an image of photographer Irving Penn's Studio in Paris, 1950, when Penn was 33 years-old. There, as well as in London and New York, he took a series of photos of working people of all kinds (firefighters, a milkman, dance instructors, seamstresses, etc.). 252 of them are on display through January 10th in a show called Irving Penn: Small Trades at the Getty in Los Angeles. Read a review and see a slideshow at the Los Angeles Times' art blog, and visit the Getty Center for more info.
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