This is really speaking to me right now. Thanks for the link Scott.
Posted on August 28, 2007 at 09:43 AM | Comment (2 comments)
Grace Jones & Richard Burnstein.
This is the inside spread from the Grace Jones album, Muse (1979). As far as the album goes, its probably not one her best, but it does have some good, although somewhat standard disco tracks on it. The artwork by Richard Burnstein (1939–2002) is what really blows me away. This stuff was done with photographs, photocopies, exacto blades, masks, pastels and airbrush. Its not perfect (you can see edges where the masks were cut and so on) and thats exactly what makes it. Maybe its just me, but its 100 more interesting to me than any overly-retouched art you may see today. Designers, myself included, spend so much time these days trying to make their stuff look like this, but no one takes the time to get out the pastels and exacto blades. Great craft, great era. I have it hanging up on the wall in my studio. Definitely inspirational when I feel like throwing my computer out of my window.
Posted on August 28, 2007 at 07:29 AM | Comment (1 comments)
Max Roach, Master of Modern Jazz, Dies at 83.
The New York Times article on Max Roach.
Posted on August 17, 2007 at 10:26 AM | Comment (1 comments)
This box came in the mail the other day. I’ve been searching the earth for one of these in the right size and color for years. If you like aluminum the Italian way, for me, it doesn’t get any better than this. On my last trip to Chicago, I stopped by to see Marcus. Sure enough, he had one, so I decided to get it for my 31st birthday. In my head, this is how the opening of the box went down:
Posted on August 15, 2007 at 06:37 AM | Comment (1 comments)
Pat is one of my favorite skaters in Chicago. Like any other big city in the U.S., Chicago has gone through a lot of changes in the last 10 years. Some for the better and also for the worst, but this photo is a classic. Backside smith at the Fulton meat markets, 2007. Photo by Frank Verges.
Posted on August 14, 2007 at 07:23 PM | Comment (0 comments)
Here are three pretty sweet and sometimes-out-there track and pursuit prototypes from Colnago and Cinelli from the mid-to-late 80’s and early 90’s. The blob-looking Colnago seems like an example of a innovative design idea that just turned out looking pretty fuckin’ hideous. But its cool to see the different ideas that the designers had for making a faster race bike. Plus all the little details. On the Cinelli, check out the stem and how it fits into the head and top tube.
Posted on August 14, 2007 at 06:30 PM | Comment (0 comments)
Even though they aren’t there.
Found this on the street on my ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan the other morning. It was laying in the street under the shattered glass from the cheap frame it was kept in. I guess somebody got tired of being reminded everyday and tossed it. My sister was living right down by Church street on 9-11 and she worked in the Woolworth building right by the towers when she saw the second plane hit. Her apartment building was closed off for two and a half weeks after, when she finally got back, she was talking to her landlord and he said he had found body parts on the rooftop of the building. Its funny how this beat-to-shit 10 dollar poster can mean so many different things to so many different people. Even though they aren’t there, in my head. I think I’ll always see New York with these buildings as part of the skyline.
Posted on August 14, 2007 at 05:46 PM | Comment (0 comments)
A couple of months back I got to shoot my 411 packaging with Robert Ammirati. I’ve worked with him before and he’s just one of those amazing people to me. He’s been shooting product and fashion photography in New York for about 25 year or so. He has owned a studio/apartment in SoHo for about the same time, back when even Crosby Street was not filled with boutique shops and New York was definitely a different place in a lot of ways. Trying to get my update for my own website together, I called him and told him that I didn’t have a lot of money to give him for the shoot, but to let me know if he could give me an afternoon to shoot some stuff. He told me no problem and to stop by later in the week. He skates and surfs with his son and daughter also. I put together a package of 5Boro boards, 411 and Uprise video’s and some t-shirts for his kids. We had Dom’s sandwiches for lunch and shot the shit. I always pick his brain about New York back then and he’s always got good stories for me for days. To me he seems like a guy that carved out a good life for himself with his work, but he also knows when not to work and go surfing. We both love to run our mouths so we get along. We shot this 411 packaging among some other odds and ends. To see all the set up he does to get a good shot is crazy, and he had me help him set up and take everything down. It was a good experience and I’m always interested in seeing people that are good at what they do, doing their thing.
Posted on August 13, 2007 at 12:21 PM | Comment (0 comments)
With so much hypebeast-prescribed “streetwear” out these days and 90% of it being complete garbege, I usually find myself reaching for the old all-over-solid-black-print t-shirt in the morning. Maybe its just me, but its not easy to find a good t-shirt, something that you are really psyched on. So the last time I was in Philly with Shannon, I commissioned this airbrush artist located just off of South Street to do his magic. I had to run to kinko’s and print out my favorite (in all its 80’s-glory) already highly airbrushed photo the one and only Sade to give as reference. The dude’s resume was solid with t-shirts of (RIP) 2pac, Luther Vandross and Aaliyah lining the walls of his musty airbrush/headshop. When I came back to pick up the shirt, I was amazed. There is actually more detail in his version than of the original airbrushed-retouched photo. And the black leather glove just kills it. “You didn’t think I’d do a good job did you?” he mumbled sarcastically. Psyched, I gave him a 10 dollar tip and went to Ishkabibbles to celebrate.
Posted on August 09, 2007 at 05:53 PM | Comment (1 comments)
"I wished I’d have designed this” is what I thought when I saw this repressing of one of my favorite’s at the record store, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Catch a Fire (1973). It was to be the album that introduced Bob Marley and the Wailers to the world (they were already well established in Jamaica). Of course, such a special album needed some special packaging. They nailed it on this one. Brilliantly simple and straight to the point, with great typography and color on the record label. It has real weight and is classic in all the right ways, inviting the listener to “Light me up, sit back and enjoy”. Musically, although is was produced to grab the rocker’s ear as well as the rasta’s ear, its such a sweet and sticky spot in the Wailers amazing catalog, “Kinky Reggae” and the bass line and guitar solo in ”Concrete Jungle”. . . shhh, fuckin’ sick. And if those were the only two songs on the whole album, I’d still listen over and over again. On a good night, you might even be able to light your spliff right off the album art.
Posted on August 06, 2007 at 10:55 PM | Comment (2 comments)
