P-Blog

Gimme A Punk

2010-12-14T02:36:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful and flattered to share an article/interview about me by the fantastic Kitty Amsbry on her equally fantastic website, Gimme A Wristband. It's a great overview (with images!) on where I'm from, where I'm going and just what I did all those years leading to and influencing the formation of Punk Masters. It's like a more fun version of my bio!

10 in 10, day 10

2010-11-24T02:35:00.000-08:00

GLASS PRINCESS... This one is borrowed from one of my holiday cards and is also my first four color print. Our lovely subject is Princess Cecily (aka "Lil C"), daughter of King Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth (Woodeville) of England. I've heard this image was taken for her Super Sweet 16.

The song of the day to accompany this is "My Girls" by Animal Collective. I like it here as there is something almost majestic sounding about it... as if it could be played in hallowed halls filled with stained glass images of hipsters.... It could also be an ode to his daughter from the king. Speaking of, our model today is of course Lil C's father, Kind Edward IV himself, looking quite proud no doubt.

GLASS PRINCESS now available in the shop in 2 colors and long sleeve.

10 in 10, day 9

2010-11-24T02:32:00.000-08:00

LIES... do you ever get the feeling you're not hearing the whole truth? It's probably because you're not. So much of the overflow of information we receive on a daily basis is framed to suit various agendas. Manipulation, spin, hype... lies... the presentation of which is all in the framing. Seek the truth.

Which brings me to the song of the day, "Liar" by the Sex Pistols. Nuff said!!

LIES now available in the shop in seven colors as well as long sleeve. Our model du jour is Countess Sophia Maria de Voss, and clearly one can tell that she does not have much patience for bullsh*t (see that stick in her hand? She'll use it.)

10 in 10, day 8

2010-11-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK... an ode to an old friend's ultra cool Linn drum machine. This one is all about the groove.

And what better than some deep trance grooves from Massive Attack's "Teardrop", the song of the day. Taken from this Bristol act's '98 album "Mezzanine", which incidentally is one of my all time favorite album cover designs - the image/crop, the type, the placement, the contrast, I love everything about it. Even better, this track features vocals from Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins. I love Massive Attack, and they will forever remind me of my college days as I listened to their early 90's album "Blue Lines" relentlessly while holed up in my dorm room pulling all-nighters working on design projects!

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK now available in the shop in 7 colors as well as long sleeve. Our drummer boy model today is straight out of my "Post Modern Rockers" t-shirt. He may be wearing his drum, but he's open to the technology of the Linn!

10 in 10, day 7

2010-11-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

WILD KNIGHT... another one borrowed from my greeting cards, but this time he has traded his shield for his, well, axe. He is definitely the type to let loose with a Flying V... and to turn it up to 11.

Obviously (or not so obviously) the song of the day here is "Aerodynamic" by the amazing Daft Punk. I can so hear our wild knight playing this riff, so electro/metallic, right up his alley. And if you have ever seen Daft Punk, he actually fits in perfectly with this look.

WILD KNIGHT now available in the shop in 6 colors as well as long sleeve (no armor though.)

10 in 10, day 6

2010-11-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

SKULL BOY... with the apt subtitle, "my only friends are in my head." I think we can all relate... or maybe it's just me! Regardless, whether this young lad has a creepy collection of skulls in his parents' basement or not, he definitely has a great sense of style. I mean just look at that plume in his hat alone! Dude is cool. (And if he looks a little familiar, I've borrowed him from one of my greeting cards.)

Of course, the song of the day to go along with this one is "Skeleton Boy" by Friendly Fires. Yeah, not a hard connection here. Fun, funky song by a band I really dig. Plus, I can almost see our lad listening to something like this while admiring his "collection". (This is starting to play out like an episode of 'Criminal Minds'!)

SKULL BOY now available in the shop in 7 color ways. Our model today... well, I have no idea who he is, but I call him Prince Plume, and he certainly shares a similar taste in fabulous headwear with our t-shirt hero.

10 in 10, day 5

2010-11-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

ECSTASY GARAGE DISCO... Back in 1980 the origins of hip hop were seen in this Bronx club. However, legend has it Ecstasy Garage Disco goes much further back... that night in 1630, that massive rave in an 'underground' cathedral, cherubs tripping on E, and Venus just shredding on the harp... now you can have the t-shirt!

The song of the day here is "Lost In the K-Hole" by The Chemical Brothers. This song actually popped into my head while I was working on this shirt, and I'm sure would have been part of the soundtrack at this hot mess of a rave (and if you listen closely I think you can actually hear Venus.)

ECSTASY GARAGE DISCO now available in the shop in 7 colors. For some reason Napoleon is here modeling this tee (I'm sure he wishes he was there that night, though a bit before his time.)

10 in 10, day 4

2010-11-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

LA REVOLUTION SURREALISTE... melting clocks to melting faces. An ode to Andre Breton, a former Dada-ist who was instrumental in founding and directing the Surrealist movement in Europe.

Breton himself was interested in avant-garde art, anarchistic activism, hypnosis, free association, automatic writing and the outpourings of the mentally ill. With that in mind, the song of the day to go along with this is "Human Behavior" by Bjork (even moreso the video!) Not to suggest Bjork is mentally ill (!), I love her, and she is just the right amount of 'out there' (I was almost going to go with the Sugar Cubes as most of their music is rather, well, surreal... but let's go with Bjork!)

LA REVOLUTION SURREALISTE now available in the shop in 7 (count them, 7!) colors as well as long sleeve. And quite an interesting model for this one, a ye olde anarchistic activist.

10 in 10, day 3

2010-11-17T14:52:00.000-08:00

SYNTH & SYNTHABILITY... Jane Austen's favorite lady rocker, this one knows her way around a harpsichord, except this harpsichord is totally tricked out (word has it she taught Brian Eno a thing or two...)

Song of the day to go along with this: "Vision One" by Royksopp. I think if our lady rocker were here today she would be playing (and singing) something like this. Excellent track from this Norwegian band's third album, "Junior".

SYNTH & SYNTHABILITY now available in the shop in 5 colors as well as long sleeve. And thanks to Sir Walter Raleigh for modeling this one (apparently he has a thing for the lady rockers...)

10 in 10, day 2

2010-11-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

Logo number two:
Rispettare La Natura... Respect Nature... so sayeth the King Crow. Words to pay attention to. Oh but wait, global warming is just a myth isn't it? And the Gulf is all cleaned up and just fine (yes, BP, I'm looking at you.) Let's have a little more respect for this place we all occupy before it's too late.

Which brings me to the companion song of the day: "Burial" by Miike Snow. Ha! Not what we want to do to Mother Nature. Such a fantastic song though by an equally fantastic band. Their debut album has been out for over a year now, but it is still on heavy rotation with me, and this song definitely strikes a chord.

KING CROW now available in the shop in 7 different colors as well as a long sleeve version. And how cool to have Queen Elizabeth I modeling this one (a little stiff)... Ms. Antoinette yesterday, who will be in tomorrow's tee?!

10 in 10, day 1

2010-11-15T01:47:00.000-08:00

I'm launching 10 new logos (along with a new layout in the Punk Masters shop), and I've decided to do a logo a day. Also, just for fun I'm accompanying each logo with a song of the day.... something that I was either inspired by while designing or feel it just fits with the design in some sort of way. But it's just a little flavor to add and a mini soundtrack for each tee.

Without further ado...... logo one, now available in the shop:

I call it VELVET BANANA..... pop goes the logo. It's no secret that I love Warhol (obvs)... I also like The Velvet Underground.... and I also like bananas. Winning combination of a rip off... er, tribute. Also, I have some interesting models helping out with the tees this go around, and I'm particularly honored to have Marie here back from the dead especially for this, still looks great!

Song of the day to go along with this: "Pop Life" by Prince (come on, The Velvet Underground would be a little too obvious.) Pop life, pop art, pop culture, pop music..... and this little gem from '85. From the moment this album (Around the World in a Day) came out I have loved, loved, loved this song and just feel it is fitting here.

Enjoy... 9 more to go!

New Logos a Coming!

2010-11-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

5 days, 18 new screens, 10 logos ready to go = new shirts on the way!!

New Tee Logo Preview

2010-11-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

My first 4 color print!

Two New Items

2010-11-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Punk Masters logo mania! Just added to the shop, Punk Masters logo tee in long sleeves (just in time for the winter months) and Punk Masters tote bag:

Local Collection

2010-11-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the folks at Local Collection for the window treatment! Nice little shout out for Art/Punk And Vinyl Pirates. Anyone in the greater LA area should check them out at the Glendale Galleria, lots of cool items from local artists and designers.

Two new color ways

2010-10-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Now available in the shop:

L'Esprit Nouveau in vintage white with a gradation print:

Vinyl Pirates in vintage grey with white print:

Now at Local Collection!

2010-10-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

Punk Masters tees and totes are now available at Local Collection, a great shop in the massive Glendale Galleria that features local artists and designers in LA.

Framed Punk Masters

2010-09-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

I made some 13x19 prints of my favorite PM cards and put them on my wall! I'm thinking about adding them to the store....

Thread Show This Sunday!

2010-08-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, Aug. 22nd, I will be selling at the Thread show in Orange County at the OC Fair and Event Center from 11am - 6pm. There will be lots of cool designers (including Punk Masters... duh), lots of great deals, food and drink, and a few fashion shows! It will be a fun day, come hang and come shop if you're in the area!

RSVP here to get in for $5 (instead of $10!)

Punk Masters at the Free For All Festival

2010-08-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

This Sunday (15th) I will be vending at the Free For All Festival at the Echo/Echoplex in Silverlake (LA). It's a cool music festival and there are no tickets, just donations if you want! It runs from 4 - midnight (though I'll probably be there until 8 or so!)

Punk Masters at Focus Apparel & Accessories Show

2010-08-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've been exhibiting at the Focus Apparel & Accessories show this week, Monday, Tuesday and today at the California Market Center in downtown LA. It's my first trade show. All going well, met some great, interesting people..... will have my tees in a cool boutique in Long Beach soon, details to come! Here's some photos of the PM booth:

Nothing like punking up some expensive fabric (fabric kindly donated to me by a friend!)

If I had a shop it would look a little like this.... working on a rug of some sorts (spray painted/messed up in some way of course!)

Framed t-shirts - instant art!

Experiment

2010-07-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with some gradation printing, a technique that I think I'm going to be using on one or two new designs I have planned for August. Stay tuned!

Punk Masters at Handmade Brigade of OC Show

2010-07-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

Exciting stuff happening this summer.. here's one of them: I will be at the Handmade Brigade of OC's Block Party/Indie Craft Show on Saturday July 10th in downtown Santa Ana at the Fiesta Marketplace from 11am-5pm. If you're in the area stop by, I'll have special prices on tees and will be debuting new Punk Masters linen scarves! Or just come over and say Hi!

Punk Masters Logo Tee

2010-06-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

New Punk Masters logo tee now available! Black distressed 100% cotton t-shirt in all sizes, check it out...
Punk Masters Tee

Vintage

2010-06-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a laugh, a few 'art relics' re-discovered while moving my parents a few weeks back... some more mortifying than others.

From 1978, age 7. I think it was for Mother's Day. Clearly I had proportion issues. (Though I must say my handwriting is much better here than it is now.)

My clay bust from high school... kinda creepy. I wanted to pitch it but my mom said it stayed... in the extra bedroom, that I sleep in when visiting. Nice. Thing is a heavy mutha too.

Slightly better.

A pencil drawing I did when I was around 17 (framed because it was in some art show at the time). I was obsessed with NYC since I first went there in '85. I ended up going every year with my parents and took countless photos, and this was a collage I made with some of the photos and then drew it. I remember going to the top of the World Trade Center, and I'm glad the towers are a part of it here.

Cross Country June 2010 East-West

2010-06-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a couple weeks late on this but whatever! Here are some photos from my cross country trip westward...

St Louis arch from the car... going 60.. with dead bugs

Train yard! Springfield, MO

Me, Samantha and Robby

Not cool.

Converse All-Stans

One half of our driving caravan

On the way to Sedona, AZ

Stan in his lair in the backseat

Closer to Sedona

From a balcony at our hotel in Sedona, AZ.... completely beautiful!

I like how this cactus sort of looks like coral

Arizona desert

What Is Old Is New

2010-06-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

I love this... our family has this piano which is older than I am, and everybody in our family can play a bit. It was stationed in the living room, which was a room that wasn't really occupied everyday, and in later years it was rarely played. When my parents moved last week the piano ended up in the main room where they are everyday, and the other morning my dad actually sat down for the first time in years and began to play, remembering the old stuff he used to play. Awesome. And it seems to have given new life to it.

Cleaning Out the House

2010-05-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

I found this photo amusing, it's part of the "liquor cabinet" we had to clear out in my parent's basement while moving them out. When my dad worked, every Christmas he would get this stuff as gifts from clients, customers and the like. This seemed to be the thing to do back in the 60s/70s/80s. My parents didn't drink a whole lot of it so it would just compile in the "cabinet". My sister and brother joked how they used to steal a bottle now and then when they were in high school, but what a nerd I was... my friend Kim recently pointed out that when we were in high school we would sit in my bedroom and read fashion magazines (contemplating our outfit for the next day) while watching music videos on MTV - it never even occurred to me/us to nick anything out of that cabinet! Never! I would probably have vomited anyway the lightweight that I am... but still...

Though I have to say, after a week and a half of purging, cleaning, moving, etc we all could have cracked open a few of these and gotten a little crunk!

Cross Country, Day 4

2010-05-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

Day 4, a day late! Another drive in the rain, last night, however have not had internet until now. No wireless at the house, which WILL be remedied in my parent's new place! Will probably be on sporadically now until they are all moved in, we'll see how it goes. Started cleaning out some of my old stuff today, namely my old art and design projects from high school and college... wow. Interesting.... and embarrassing! To be continued....

This was around back at my last hotel.. the medieval one. Quite possibly the best photo from the trip!

The road again, in Indiana.. or Ohio..

The Ohio sky, about 30 minutes before it turned black and a torrential downpour started.. it felt like I was driving through a lake!

Cross Country, Day 3

2010-05-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

Day 3 not so good... shitty rain, shitty driving, 9 hours straight. Nebraska and Iowa. The photos say it all! BUT the iPod was working and I made it to where I wanted to be tonight (Coralville, IA), so all is not lost! In fact the place I am staying at is the most hilarious hotel. It is a Best Western, however, it is 'medieval' themed. Yep. The room I am in is, well, like no other I've stayed in. Probably ever. I'm finding it rather funny, if not a little creepy... check photos.

Playlist today: Phoenix's "It's Never Been Like That" & "Alphabetical" and every Sade album in existence (I'm obsessed with her right now)!

Nebraska - it looked like this for 4 hours

Actually make that 9 hours. Iowa... notice a theme?!

Wind energy in Iowa

My 'medeival' room

the 'lair' (the ceiling is mirrored FYI... for reals.)

Even Stanley finds it a bit creepy

Cross Country, Day 2

2010-05-10T00:38:00.000-07:00

Day 2 coming to you from Sterling, CO.. and though the day is over I must still give warm Mother's Day greetings to all the amazing moms out there, especially my own.

So today took me through Utah and most of Colorado, including the Rockies. This is always the most beautiful part of this drive, and I'm always amazed at... how the terrain changes so much mile after mile. A few mishaps along the way today, mis-charged iPod (suckage but thankfully I had CDs with me!), Stanley stepped in his water bowl in the car more than once, etc... but still so far so good.

Stan in Utah

Utah

naturally

Stan makes a friend

Utah.. this reminds me of all the backgrounds in Roadrunner cartoons!

Utah - Devil's Canyon

Rocky Mountains, Colorado

Colorado

So, did they just run out of ideas?

I left a piece of me in Colorado...

Cross Country, Day 1

2010-05-09T00:19:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of my cross country trek... LA to Akron (Ohio). Me, my dog and the Mini Cooper! Travelling back for the next month to help my family as my parents are moving house - as in moving out of my childhood home! It's a weird thing. They/we have lived there for 39 years so you can imagine the task at hand (physical and emotional.)

So today: California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah (where I am this eve.) Such a beautiful drive so far, I love the open road! Will do a little photo blog as long as I have internet access...

Mojave Desert, CA... and a very inventive street name.

I found U2's "Bullet The Blue Sky" to be a great song to drive through the California desert to (which actually is very apropos)

Hello Vegas... for a minute

Some crazy beautiful rock formations in Arizona

More beauty in Arizona

Er, nice shot Stanley

New Screen = New Tee

2010-05-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

Coming in mid-June...

New T-shirt & Logo Colors!

2010-05-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the summer, new colors in the PM shop! Limited sizes at the moment, but look for more to be added in mid-June...... also new logo designs coming later this summer...!!

Punk Masters at Unique LA, April 24 + 25

2010-04-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a fun weekend, great vibe, met some nice people... and thanks to all who came out! Major thanks to my friend Kim who has been invaluable help in putting it all together! It was such a great design project just designing the booth space but then also so much fun interacting with customers directly and getting great feedback at the same time. I'm definitely looking forward to the Unique December show - and anything I can find in between!

Here are some photos of the Punk Masters booth:

We custom screen printed our own 'wall paper':

Unique LA Show!

2010-04-21T04:53:00.000-07:00

As mentioned I will be selling at the Unique LA show April 24 & 25 - this weekend! If you are in LA come downtown and check it out! This is my first show so I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm quite excited for it. My booth space is 10' x 10' and I can do what I like with it. I've been working with my friend Kim on making the best space possible that conveys the Punk Masters vibe. I'll be adding photos to this of the final space, but in the meantime here are some of the fun things we've done...

Spray painting various thrift store found props, ornate frames, silk roses... destroying porcelain plates!

Buttons!

Stickers!

The cutest dog in the world

6 Countries, 16 Days.

2010-03-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

Last month my 21 year old niece, Samantha, and I grabbed our backpacks and set off on an adventure that took us to France, England, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The fantastic train system in Europe quickly became our familiar friend. The feeling of just being a nomad with no set schedule, just a basic outline of where we wanted to go and then rolling with it, was incredibly freeing…. and, I must say, amazingly stress-free! And isn't that really the way to enjoy a trip? The point is to get away from the stress, the strife, and completely absorb your new surroundings with a fresh eye and stay in the moment. Further that, three days in to the trip my phone gets cracked in my bag rendering it useless, which oddly (after the 'oh shit' part) was even more liberating! The other key factor here was laughter. Between the two of us, the laughter and joy we shared on this trip was constant. Absolute key. The older I get, the more I realize how important this simple thing is.

So without going in to a philosophical, therapeutic tailspin, let's get into this photo blog. We both took our photography very seriously on this trip. Quite honestly it was hard not to with (to our eyes at least) a photo op every two feet it seemed! That in and of itself was hard though because it was fucking freezing in pretty much every city we went to, which made it challenging to even stand still at times to frame the right shot…. but we suffer for our art!

I'll start here with Paris, where my niece Samantha had just finished up four months of overseas study in industrial design when I arrived. First order of business was crepes from the street vendor (but do we go with the savory eggs and cheese or the sweet Nutella and fruit?!?! These are difficult decisions!)… then of course amazing coffee, baguettes, pain au chocolat, Laduree macaroons… how much bread and pastries can I eat in a day?….. cheese!… jesus, I then begin to realize so much of this trip was about food! But that would have been a tragedy if it wasn't! Food and just good old fashioned exploring.

Please enjoy, I myself had a lot of fun reliving the experience putting this blog together.

Paris, France.

2010-03-26T01:42:00.000-07:00

(click on any photo to view it larger)

First latte of the trip and so beautiful! I mean even look at the spoon for chrissake!

Get used to these shots… we have a shoe obsession (fully admit it, no denial) and tend to take photos of our shoes in many different situations…

Loving the Metro signs, older and newer.

Cold and grey (but beautiful to me!) Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées…

Mmmmm, love.

We all know this one.

Have baguette, will travel.

Freezing night time trip to Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. What a sight up on the hill! And yes, we took the stairs (have to work off those pastries somehow.) We also ended up getting an Irish coffee afterward, and I don't know what they made it with but it was like straight up alcohol. It was coffee colored and hot, which was the only sign of any coffee-like substance being in there, but way too much for me!

Puma and the Louvre.

London, England.

2010-03-26T01:13:00.000-07:00

Quick Eurostar trip over (or under) the river Thames to spend a weekend with my friend Katja. Having been to London many times I actually didn't take any photos. It wasn't a conscious effort, I guess I just enjoyed seeing it through Samantha's eyes who had never been there before. So I ended up nicking a couple of her photos!

(click on any photo to view it larger)

Me in the trains station having just departed the Eurostar. It was late, everyone had already left so it was empty and this part of the station was actually really fucking cool! Then they kicked us out too….

Ben of Big, Big Ben, have seen it many times, but I love this shot Samantha took.

The Albert Bridge heading back to our flat in Battersea. Apparently it is illuminated by 4,000 lightbulbs.

Luzern, Switzerland.

2010-03-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

I think I took the most photos here. It was all just so beautiful and new to me. It also isn't that big of a city so we could walk around and take a lot of it in. We arrived at night (and the first thing I saw was a huge white swan in the river!) so had no idea what was in store for us when we awoke - which was the most beautiful, majestic snow covered mountains surrounding us. We walked everywhere here, just seeing what we could discover and stumble upon next. Again, freezing out, but we did have a little break as one day the sun came out a little (which, aside from London - ironically - was the only time we saw sun on the whole trip!)

(click on any photo to view it larger)

Quick train switch in Basel, before heading to Luzern.

Yep, shoes in Basel.

The most interestingly designed money, the Swiss Franc. I wanted to keep it but…. well, girlfriend gotta eat!

Speaking of… waffeln!

Yes, please!

Our accommodations were a bit…. 'rustic'. (do I need to clarify that this is meant to be a joke?!)

The Lion Monument: Designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen, it commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. (Thanks Wikipedia! Just trying to be a little informative here too..)

Some beautiful stuff.

More bread…

Museum of Art, such a cool building.

Fun with architecture.

Slabs of chocolate, a dream come true!

Making friends with the locals. Actually they were gearing up for the yearly Mardi Gras type carnival which incorporates all of these crazy masks. So many shop windows were decorated - some quite elaborately and creatively.

The bull is real. And it was in a very random place, so much so we actually thought he was fake.. until he turned his head to look at us (there was a fence!)

Where is the fourth finger?

Vintage Mini on a cobblestone street - yes! (I love Minis by the way.)

OK, so we got a little bird obsessed, but they were so much fun to watch and were not afraid of us at all. Cool little dudes! All so beautiful, but I was really loving the little black ducks with the white bill and the little mohawk. We were sort of tripping out at all of the swans too. I was also marveling at the water - crystal clear. Blew me away, but to put in perspective, I grew up just south of Cleveland, Ohio…. the same Cleveland where the Cuyahoga River once caught fire. Yeah. So water in its original, untainted form is (sadly) a marvel to me.

Clear water!

Cologne, Germany.

2010-03-25T23:49:00.000-07:00

We get off the train and the first thing we see is the Dom Cathedral. This structure is almost overwhelming. The detail is insane and it is all over, not a moment's rest! Just incredible…. and on a misty night it was quite eerie and almost foreboding. We (strictly among ourselves) had a running joke of pretending to be asshole American tourists so we kept commenting to one another, "yeah it's OK, but it's a bit… 'busy'." We're fools.

(click on any photo to view it larger)

Love the architecture, love the colors…

When in Rome… er, Cologne.

Me, Nike and the subway.

This brought us at least 5 minutes of juvenile laughter in the grocery store aisle…. did I say we were fools?

OK. Berliners. Can we talk about these things?! They are like a jelly doughnut but beyond. It was love at first sight. I think we ate about 3 or 4 of these per day - and that was practicing moderation on my part! I want one now…

In the train station waiting to leave for Amsterdam… having devoured yet more berliners.

Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2010-03-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

I love this city. Let's start with our accommodations here. We stayed on a houseboat… or 'boatel' as I heard it called. This in and of itself was pretty damn cool. And sort of funny… and surreal. But hey, why not?!? Our cabin was tiny, but we honestly didn't care because it was just fun, different. this is another place where we just walked around and photographed endlessly… and really froze our asses off! The bikes, the people, the dogs, the architecture, and of course the canals… love it all! I love that there are more bikes than cars. I definitely want to come back here in the spring or summer as I think it will be a totally different experience.

(click on any photo to view it larger)

Our 'boatel', the Vita Nova

Our cabin… maybe 6 feet x 6 feet?! (OK maybe a little bigger...)

The view from our boat.

Beautiful looking train station.

When I first saw this building I mistakenly thought the 'G' was a fancy 'C'.

On the escalator at the library. Yes, the library. It was huge and like a hip bookstore in there, 7 levels with a restaurant, live music being played, and some pretty fucking awesome art books (about 20 of which I really wanted to smuggle out.)

Love this. I need to paint that above my front door.

We cold.

Fools.

Chai latte love.

Swans in the red light district. Hooker swans. Swanstitutes.

A tiny cabin, a mirror, a camera and too wired to go to bed!

Brussels, Belgium.

2010-03-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

Chocolate. Belgium waffles. This was going through our heads as we were on our way to Brussels. And as if on cue the moment we stepped off the train the overwhelming smell of cooking waffles hit us. Not even kidding. As if it were piped in as part of some tourism board's bigger plan. But it was for reals. As we walked into the main station, behold - waffle stands! We decided to wait though until we dumped our bags and went into the city. Then we got waffles (with melted chocolate… and whipped cream), frites in a cone, and chocolate. In that order. Ahhhh……

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I still have dreams of this.

Again, architecture obsessed…. at the Grand Place (or the Grote Markt.)

Oh look, our shoes again!

This was next door to where we stayed. It's the factory, not a store! Very appropriate.

The Manneken Pis (or, rather, pissing boy!) statue. We walked around for over 30 minutes in the falling snow trying to find this thing (don't ask), and when we finally did we discovered it was about a foot tall, maybe!

He actually looked like a chunk of chocolate…. which, well…. gifts for home!

The Dog Blog.

2010-03-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

This is a little bit of fun. I'm a big animal lover so naturally I was enjoying all the dogs we kept seeing everywhere we went in Europe - on the train, on the subway, in the pub, in the grocery store (!), everyone had a dog it seemed - and I was down with it! I loved how dog friendly every country was. I started just taking some 'stealthy' snaps every time I would pass a dog, and before I knew it I was compiling a lot of shots…. so I decided to do a dog blog of all these cool little (and not so little) pups.... and a couple cool cats!

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This guy is like a less grey doppelganger of my dog Stan

This kinda rules..

Excellent Swiss design!

The 12 year old in me laughed... (and no I did not do this!)

Dog on a train..

Cat on a train...

And of course this one has the last word...

Signs, graffiti and just cool looking shit

2010-03-25T02:24:00.000-07:00

I touched on this in a previous blog about how I love 'street art.' Below are some shots from my recent trip to Europe of random graffiti, signage and just cool looking shit! So much of it is just about the colors and the textures… and some are just humorous…

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This was probably one of my favorite pieces of graffiti, taken in Brussels.

I think I've been on this team before..

Expect to see this awesomely fierce cat on a future shirt

Say this 10 times really fast

This is how a logo gets made

2009-12-04T00:14:00.000-08:00

Mmmmmm nothing like beating the crap out of vinyl on a Sunday morning. (I know, it felt a little sacrilege, but it makes for a great image.) What record is that you ask? That shall remain a mystery...

Holy Shetbags!

2009-12-03T23:57:00.000-08:00

Check out the new fresh designs in the Punk Masters' shop! You go! Now! Aaaand free worldwide shipping - holy shet indeed!

Andre

2009-11-20T00:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friend Tracey I had the opportunity to meet Andre Agassi last night at a book signing (and thank you for the book too Trace!) I have to say he was an absolute gentleman and just a class act. I look forward to reading his autobiography, "Open". I've already read a bit and it is thoroughly engaging. Even for someone who has never been a big follower (such as myself), it doesn't matter as it is proving to be a great read and is extremely well written. Check it out!

Genius.

2009-11-16T15:00:00.001-08:00

Always know what day of the week it is

2009-11-12T14:21:00.000-08:00

Doing a little cross-promotion here, I wanted to take a moment (or paragraph, rather) and spotlight the new 2010 Duran Duran calendar. It's just been released for pre-order on the band's website via their merchandiser, Crewe Issue. I spent the months of September/October designing it and am particulalry happy with this one. It's a little different than the past ones I've designed in that it incorporates many more photos than ever before. I was so inspired by photographer Kristin Burns' photos she took of the band on their West Coast mini-tour this past summer, I couldn't just pick 12! Kristin has a great eye, and her photos, when seen together, always tell a story. I wanted to bring that vibe to the calendar and make more of a visual documentary of sorts - like a small photo book of their brief tour. I'm pleased with it, it's fun and goes a step further than the past calendars. Check it out!

Also, John's shirt on the cover in no way influenced my choice of cover shot. Not at all...

Tape Art

2009-11-10T00:48:00.000-08:00

I'm a huge lover of 'street art' - graffiti, stenciling, etc... and I see a lot of it in LA. The energy, the DIY vibe, the clever pop cultural references (sometimes mixed with political), I love all that. But how about using tape as your medium? What?! I visited LA's Hammer Museum with a friend last week and came upon this installation by Swiss artist Nic Hess who created all of this amazing wall art out of tape - brightly colored masking tape, packing tape, duct tape.... and it sort of blew me away! He combined it with some stenciling too, but it was just so different and so creative. It took over the whole lobby entrance, and what was even cooler, the weekend before they had a bunch of kids work with Hess in covering the entire marble staircase (and railing!) with art made out of that brightly colored masking tape. It was extraordinary to see - and walk all over! (and funny enough, the floor reminded me a lot of Jean-Michel Basquiat, it had that child-like yet manic energy.)

Anyway, I've never heard of him before this, but I'm glad I discovered him. Should he ever exhibit in a museum in your town - go!

Before the floor and stairwell were covered in tape!

Packing tape gorilla on the ceiling corner

The kids cover the floor!

i love promo

2009-11-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

My wonderful friend Lori Majewski has given Punk Masters a great shout out on her new web venture ThisGirl! Check it out: http://this-girl.tumblr.com/post/237078195/sexy-new-t-shirt-line-were-totally-obsessed

Leaving Las Vegas

2009-11-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

Or, rather, not leaving Las Vegas as the case may be!

It actually started out lovely and quite simple. I was going to fly to Vegas for the night to meet my brother as he would be there for a trade show. He wanted me to do some website work for his business and we were going to meet about that and have a fun night out. We then decided to extend the invite to our parents, who enjoy a little trip there now and again. They have been going to Vegas for over 30 years, and we thoguht this trip would be good for them, get them out a little.

All good. We meet there on a Friday, eating, slot machines and the Vegas vibe ensues.... nothing by any means over the top I might add (my parents are 79 and 81!) My mom is quite lucky on the slots I have to say... me, not so much. What I'd like to know is however is, where does one's sense of time go when there?! I've been to Vegas many times and it always seems any sense of time (or reality for that matter) goes out the window! I guess that's the point!

Anyway, there is always some new buildings, hotels, etc going up every time I'm there, and I have to say as we were driven down the Strip to dinner, the coolest building by far caught my eye at a stoplight, so naturally I had to hang my head out the window to capture it. It's part of yet another new high end shopping complex, and the photo really doesn't do it justice, but the new Louis Vuitton store looked amazing, particularly with the evening light hitting the metal (and it had the LV logo embossed into the metal.. I love details like that!) It reminded me a lot of the Disney Concert Hall here in LA actually.

So yes, then an incredible dinner, and then my one club moment when my brother wants me to join him and two of his co-workers to a night of strippers and debauchery. My parents passed. No, seriously, he had an outside table reserved at Club Pure at Caesars, bottle service, VIP area, view of the Strip, seated right by the fire pit (it's cold at night!).. done deal. Now anyone who has been to Vegas knows, in all seriousness, the club scene is very cheesy! Can be fun, yes, but the cheese is there. Not particularly my thing normally, but hanging out with my brother in what was actually a beautiful setting outside, bottle of Patron, pineapple juice, plenty of water, it was very cool. We don't get to hang a lot being 2500 miles apart so it was great.

(me on the left, my brother, John, on the right, with his co-workers Giovanni and Jen)

Alright, back to the hotel 2am, not too bad, just plan to be up early for breakfast with mom and dad! And there's when it started. Sunday there was just something not quite right with my dad, he was pretty out of it actually. We were thinking it was more of a stomach virus perhaps, and just the travel taking a little toll. He was in bed all day and as time went on it just seemed he wasn't getting better. he continued to sleep and we decide to push their 7am flight back to 3pm Monday, thinking dad just needs a good night's sleep and a little time in the morning.

Monday morning, no better and he's even breathing a little harder now. OK, we call the house doctor up now. EMTs show up to the room, then paramedics. They feel he has fluid in his lungs and it would be in our best interest to have him taken in an ambulence over to the hospital asap. Uh, shit! Not expecting that! But you know (and this is not the first time something like this has happened.. though not in Vegas!!) in these situations I find that I just go into autopilot mode and stay calm and do what needs to be done (I think I get that from my mom as she is always calm.) So my mom goes off with dad in the ambulance (and let me just say how weird it is to see your dad being wheeled out in a stretcher to a waiting ambulance in a Vegas hotel, it's a weird surreal experience), and my brother and I talk to the hotel, extend the room, and cab it over to the hospital while beginning to rearrange flights.

If anyone's been in an emergency room, then you know they are not fun. Especially not when you end up spending the better part of a day in one. Finally about 4pm they want to admit my dad into the hospital overnight, possibly longer. Now, despite my dad wanting to leave right then and there, we knew the right thing to do, he was in no shape to fly. He has fluid in his lungs and is in what they term, 'congestive heart failure'. Yeah, scary. So he's admitted and we hope he's released the next day. haha! It became a surrender to the phrase "one day at a time". Each day drugs were administered, tests were taken, and still no go. It was an exercise in acceptance and patience.. and to be honest I didn't care how long we were there as long as my dad got better..... despite my dad wanting to leave every hour (and to be fair, I couldn't blame him, he just wanted to be home.) Finally on Thursday he was discharged. Change the flights for the 4th time, get the room for another night, we all breathe!

Looking back on it, it was quite a stressful week, but it's almost as if that hit me afterward. You do what is needed at the moment, stay calm, think about it later!

Now, the one running theme/joke we had the whole time had to do with a recently opened hotel in Vegas. It's called the Palazzo. I don't know why we didn't stay there, but we were asked by anyone who saw our name if we stayed there, if we own it (I hope they were joking), if we know them, etc.... Admittedly we did get a kick out of it.

CORRESPONDENCE/CORRESPONDENCIA

2009-11-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

OK so a little late in the game here, unfortunately life got in the way, but I wanted to make mention of this exhibit many of you may already know about by artist Laureana Toledo. Titled CORRESPONDENCE/CORRESPONDENCIA, the exhibit is a multimedia study/commentary of sorts that Laureana ended up collaborating with John Taylor on.

A tale of two cities, Birmingham, England and Mexico City, an abstract study on how as a global community we really aren't all that different from each other. The exhibit uses film (shot by Laureana in Birmingham and John in Mexico City) as well as sound, conversations between John and Laureana as well as, check this, a loop of just John's bass recorded from a Duran Duran show this past summer. Interesting visual and sonic elements at play.

Another part to it was a newspaper, PROXIMO, that I was asked to create. This was a fun project for me as I had free reign in a way of what I could do. I used the conversation between Laureana and John in the film to comprise the text of the paper, but I took it all out of order and abstrated it a bit. I pulled lines that stood out to me and used them as main headlines, thus creating little 'articles' out of a conversation. I then pulled still images from the film that, to me, fit with the text and added some visual sense and excitement. A completely abstract excercise really, John and Laureana told me to just run with what I felt from it!

So the paper is 8 pages, with one side printed in English, then you flip it over and the other side is in Spanish... printed on the coolest, vintage-looking peachy-pink newsprint paper, which I love. Both sides meet in the middle with a 'centerfold' image of two cities colliding. And it is free to take for those who attend.

Now unfortunately this is only going on for a few more days until November 8th at the Eastside Projects gallery in Birmingham, but for those in the area there is still time to check it out! For the rest of us, perhaps this exhibit will make its way to another gallery in another city one day as well.

For more info: http://www.eastsideprojects.org/

new veg

2009-10-12T16:35:00.001-07:00

So since I mentioned it in the interview, I probably should just share the beauty that is 'signage fail'. By the way I have noticed at this particular grocery store it now does indeed read ASPARAGUS.

First Post!

2009-10-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

What better way to start my blog than with someone else's?! I'm actually posting a link to John Taylor's blog on duranduran.com, which really took the form of an interview he did with me. You might have already seen it, but I'm putting it here anyway!

This past summer as I was working on launching my business, John said that he would interview me to post up on his blog on the DD site, which I thought was really nice of him to suggest. The last time the two of us did any kind of interview together was many years back for John's website, trusttheprocess.com (TTP).

I think we were both looking forward to it as we usually have a lot of fun and laughs doing it. So we sat down a couple of weeks ago, armed with a mug of coffee each, and off we went. It was indeed fun. John also suggested I add a few photographs to go along with some of the things we talked about, you know, add some flava! The hardest part was getting photos of projects I did when I was young.

The holy grail (for me at least) was finding a photo of the clay people I made. There still must be evidence of this! Now, my parents live 2500 miles away in Ohio and they have everything. My mom has thousands of family photos stored in shoe boxes - a dozen shoe boxes. Really that would be cruel and unusual punishment to make her go through all 12 over a weekend... not even knowing if a photo actually even existed. Like Sasquatch. Well, after a few phone calls back and forth, my mom informs me that she found not a photo, but the actual clay people! Holy crap, these things are like 30 years old! She had lovingly packed them away in a box wrapped in tissue paper. There were some casualties of course over the years, heads and various appendages missing on some, odd shaped torsos on others, but there were about 8 or so that held up. I need to see them next time I am back home, I thought they were long gone. For some reason I have such a vivid childhood memory of when I created those little people, I must hold them in my hands!

Anyway, onto the blog..... interview:
http://www.duranduran.com/wordpress/?p=16145