this beer is a little cold.

help your local public media station - please read - get involved - do it now.

2011-02-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

Soon, Congress will take a critical vote on whether or not to eliminate ALL federal support for public media.

Federal funding helps PBS stations like WFYI, and others across the country, to provide educational programs free from commercial interference. Programs that expand children’s minds, documentaries that open up new worlds, trusted and unbiased news reporting, and regular forays into the worlds of art, music, theater, and dance.

Some say there is no longer a need for federal support of public broadcasting. WFYI believes that it’s a very worthy investment of federal dollars.

WFYI stands to lose almost $1.3 million if the bills pass…

WFYI has already cut $1 million from their annual operating budget in the last 2 years, made drastic cuts in production and personnel, and has been trying to do more with MUCH less.
You can choose to support public broadcasting individually as a citizen. Thats your choice. You can also contact your elected Congressional representative:
We hope you will call your Members of Congress. Contact their offices by calling , email , or writing a letter
Tell them what you think of public broadcasting and the proposed cuts. Congress could take action on these cuts in the next few days, so please act now.
You can also show your support by visiting 170millionamericans.org
Sign the petition, receive updates about the voting, and since the future of WFYI and public broadcasting is at stake, it is important that your elected representatives hear directly from YOU as soon as you can contact them.
Ultimately, the decision rests with you.

2011-02-07T22:34:00.001-08:00

...

Ghostface

2010-11-03T22:19:00.001-07:00

this was sent from my phone.

!

2010-11-03T14:29:00.001-07:00

this was sent from my phone.

from the flat files

2010-07-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

so im moving. i want to get rid of things. im going to be honest and say i like my stuff, but most of the art ive made in the last 3 years, the good stuff, i want to share. and by share i mean $50 for big, $20 for small. im not ascribing numbers like that to say its worth that amount. most of it i would price @ $200 - $325. at the same time i spent a lot of time just making more and more. so now im moving and the flat file is full of things i can part with, sadly.

take a look at the entire album. k?

Just about there...or, i'm here.

2010-06-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

im a paint marker away from finishing my mixed media indiana flag on dome roof painting. i dont know if the show its supposed to be in is even still happening but keep indianapolis beautiful is busy, well, keeping my hometown perty. im more than happy with it since at first i felt like some mark just pushing paint around but i had my vision and now i can say ive really worked on something that was a totally unoriginal idea. i love how the torch turned out, i love how the stars are both bold but decaying, i love that the blue is totally wrong but hell, we voted blue for obama and we dont have palin as a vice president. theres a lot of indiana in this painting.
the base blue i bought from a random box of crap at a woodruff place garage sale ten years ago...its a refill for a printer long gone but its blue. it became a problem a few weeks ago since im using all water based paints: it kicks its way through, looking for air, turning my 9 layers of yellow into green....not a bad move in a progressive/changing state like indiana....im not saying the state is progressive, but its a changin.
the whole thing is fatter than it needs to be, just like our state, and me, and just about everyone i know that eats. its following the cute trend of minimizing and plushificating stuff that need not be touched, like plush star wars characters or Chuthulus.... pointless but entertaining, which i am sure someone could say about our state.

i could rail on and on about this painting but i wont. just buy it and show some pride in where yr from. k?

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

forever ago...

2010-05-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

tonight was pretty rad - seeing a full moon behind a skim of clouds while walking into my apartment from the back entrance. i could smell the indian food two blocks away and see thunder to the north-west. my wife was awake and being intrigued by a new/old series. there was beer in the fridge and work for the day was done.
theres new music to listen to and a resume to update for the act alone.
i hear matt's voice in a remix and feel ok with not playing a show without practicing as a full band, even though i appreciate it when my band rips it raw.
its blood memory.

ok, heres the thing

2010-04-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

...what is the difference between the professional act of managing a group of people, effectively teaching them to convey the importance of their support in order to continue operation of a service compared to my own act of creation of visual art expressing a viewpoint of emotion?

its not so much an existential crisis and more a mater of respect for existing power structures and execution within ones own limitations.

anyone dig on that?

the amassment of space _ art sale

2010-04-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

dig into this site. go two years back. maybe a little over a year...
why?
if you see something you like i will sell it to you for $100. buy more and the discount starts to pile up:

each piece is $100 but each piece after that is $25 less.
2 pieces = $175
3 pieces = $225
4 pieces = $250

then i stop and we start to talk about what the h is going on.

some pink ones

the ones with birds

yes, even the drums and bras

anything pieces that are horizontal, or really just two panels, are $150, but the same $25 applies to consecutive works. if you get a larger piece that one starts the ball rolling.

hit me up any way you choose. lets talk. or just send me a wish list and we'll work on it.

cheers.

2010-02-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

something in between

2010-01-18T20:57:00.001-08:00

twitter makes me edit down my thoughts by 3 or 4 letters, usually killing an important word or two neat the beginning of the thought in order to maintain some sort of legible context.

this blog can easily handle longer sparrings with subjects and the image uploading can handle a lot.

the in between i hinted at a few posts back. behold, a tumblr blog:

untitledrawing.

hope you like it.

Middle West Meals: hiatus broken with amazing soup

2010-01-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

Middle West Meals: hiatus broken with amazing soup

1e punk lighter

2010-01-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

dont vote

i bought this at a german dollar store last year. im out of other cigarette lighters right now so im down to using this little piece of sunshine.

to do list (2010)

2009-12-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

since my phone has nothing interesting to say...

2009-12-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

my brother Andy bought a g3 ibook a few months ago to 'teach himself mac.' needless to say, the g3 isnt the best machine to learn on since its pre-intel and really cant run 80-90% of any contemporary programs - isnt it fun to say contemporary when i am referencing things made only 5 years ago? no. its not. slow down.

ive been wanting to move my main machine down to the basement for recording purposes; the cassette four track i have is toast and i always hated mixing down so far removed from the space i created in. andy doesnt have the time with two kids and an outdated machine to learn programs in order to teach others how to use them for the cheap so i grabbed it (paid him for it) and its on its way. now ive done plenty of research on how to get a solid multitracked signal into really shitty computers, so aside from the mac i will have to purchase (or find in some box somewhere) a simple little mixer and interface. basically i will be doing future recordings direct to the machine while working with two tracks. its classic. its a challenge. its kinda easy. its recording 101. im not a whole band, so i wont have to worry too much about mic placement and the such in a group setting, but i am excited to see what i can do with a solid drum track and all of the ephemeral crap i have collected over the years. building and building and layering and layering.

the last run of any self recording ive done was my ipod plugged directly into my computer, making some fantastically delayed, overdriven, oscillating single tones. its not enough. thats too easy. too minimal for anyone to take seriously, no matter how well the textures translate from low to hi-fi.

ive got to find host for the songs or i'll just start releasing digi-eps until someone tells me to stop. i really really hope that person isnt my wife.

in less creative news i cant bring myself to ruin good paper until i get a good idea. the sketch books are getting dusty and i havent seen anything remotely interesting lately. i need to see some dance, some theater, some action. i want to get back into the figure but who wants to sit and have me make them look ugly? no one. ten years ago this wouldnt have been a problem. i guess thats why some art school kids stay at university for umpteen years: the chicks, maaaaan. whatev.

thin fevers has a new ep out - dont worry, you cant hear the cymbals:
album name
(live) on the Scene
there was an interview that went with it - just us clowning on ourselves and talking about sandwiches. thank god that isnt around. it would have ruined our reputation.

rooms is about to rule the world with a proper press push for our full length. dont seem surprised if you see a crappy write up somewhere. music journalists, and i say this because i knew some in my day and theyre dicks, some music journalists are dicks. they read the one sheet, the copy and paste, they get to track 3 and say they know the sound. thats lazy and not good for music. plus, it makes them dicks.

enough about dicks. i have to practice the ebow now.

challenge for a civilized society (1999)

2009-12-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

Challenge For A Civilized Society - 1999
5"x7"
collograph on ink jet print

done in early '99 as i was trying to get collographs on top of other printed materials. the mix of intaglio and offset press (looking) printing processes really got my blood flowing. then i graduated a month later. this little piece is enough to make me want to PAY for press time. ideas anyone?

I'm in america at xmas time

2009-12-11T16:31:00.000-08:00

Noblesville, IN

found work

2009-12-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

i honestly cant remember when i would have done these, but lets say in the last two years.
titles are as written on the pieces, but to clarify, hgtv really just stands for home and garden television, a channel that for some reason i was all about until i realized their shows are about ten minutes long with a bajilion commercials. also, my want to punch dick cheney in the face is very 2007 or 2008.
dig.

Going home.

2009-12-04T21:55:00.001-08:00

Ben Jacobs thought about scale and space. That's hard to find in this town.

Srsly?

2009-12-04T17:18:00.001-08:00

Jon domont in skinny jeans? Srsly?

Its not that cold tonight but strangely, the sun is out

2009-12-04T16:17:00.000-08:00

old picture

2009-12-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

i saw that i had this picture taped to the back of my desk. mustve been there for a couple of years.
its treatment on source material for a painting i did as a senior at herron. the professor gave me a D in the class because of attendance because he was never looking for me even though i was there 95% of the time.

the picture also started a relationship with a now dear friend that i wish i would hang out with more often but, well, we all know how we find and lose people in time.

Math Class

2009-12-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

Everyone else is tuning but me.

Thunder Perfect Mind long form description

2009-12-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 4, the music and multi-media performing arts group BASILICA will present "Thunder Perfect Mind: An Exploration of Sound, Light, and Consciousness" at the Murphy Art Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. This vast, interactive multi-media production will include performances and installations by over 20 musicians and artists.

Thunder Perfect Mind will be presented in Suite 2 of the Murphy Art Center, the 5000-square-foot location formerly occupied by Dolphin Papers. The space will be filled with a vast installation of wood, metal, and fabric architecture that will serve as the environment for the lights, sounds, performances, and interactions that comprise Thunder Perfect Mind.

Thunder Perfect Mind focuses on themes of post-dualistic transcendence of the inherited dichotomies between consciousness and non-consciousness, order and chaos, past and future, reality and the ideal, the known and the unknown; and the establishment of a dynamic, harmonic equilibrium between these supposed binary oppositions. The dissolution of these apparent dichotomies will be realized through the spatial and temporal juxtapositions of the performances and other components of this production. This process will be presented in a manner seeking to engage both the material and the spiritual; the mind and the body; the senses as well as the emotions and the intellect.

Thunder Perfect Mind takes its name from a poem of the same title that was discovered among the Gnostic manuscripts found in a sealed clay vessel at Nag Hammadi in southern Egypt in 1945. This production will include the recitation of an interpretation of this ancient text by poet and performance artist Chelsea Parkkila. The recitation of this treatment will continue throughout the entire duration of the evening.

The musicians of BASILICA will provide thundering concretions of consciousness through the performance of compositions by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, Indianapolis native Charlie Olvera, and BASILICA's own Joe Molinaro. The precision and exuberance of these performances will create points of intense focus of psychological and physical intent amid the more nebulous chain of events that will fill the evening.

Thunder Perfect Mind will also feature the premiere of Matthew Andert's Optical Theremin Choir, a system of nearly 20 interactive electronic instruments. Like traditional theremins, these custom-designed-and-built instruments are activated by movement and proximity but instead of being sensitive to electromagnetic fields, these instruments are activated by light and visual motion.

The evening will also include the premiere of a new composition by Joe Molinaro which provides a depiction of the ideas presented in the compelling and controversial book “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by psychologist Julian Jaynes. Molinaro's "Breakdowns of the Bicameral Mind" explores Jaynes's notion of the emergence of human consciousness from the mythological dependencies of the archaic human mind into the modern perceptual and cognitive state of awareness that we now recognize as "consciousness." The composition features primal rhythms and hypnotic repetition and improvisation that will work in conjunction with the Optical Theremin Choir to produce unforgettable sculptures of sound, light, and video interactivity that will fill the entire space inhabited by Thunder Perfect Mind.

The entrances and exits of Thunder Perfect Mind will feature the Unified Fields interactive video display by IUPUI Music and Arts Technology faculty member Jordan Munson. Thunder Perfect Mind will also feature the premiere of Munson’s new audio-video interactivity system that transforms musical and environmental sound into video motion.

Prof. Andrew Bucksbarg will present his social cinema work PASS CAMERA, which will engage the audience in live audio and video reflections and interactivity, and Prof. Margaret Dolinsky's Celestial Reflections will provide breathtaking displays of digital art that will evolve throughout the course of the evening.

Additional music and video interactive improvisations will be held throughout the remainder of the evening.

Thunder Perfect Mind will be held from 8:00 to 11:00 P.M. on Friday, December 4 at the Murphy Art Center at 1043 Virginia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46203. Thunder Perfect Mind is presented in conjunction with the Big Car Gallery and is part of the IDADA First Friday Art Tour which is held in downtown Indianapolis every month. Admission is free, and all ages are welcome to attend. Audience participation will be welcomed and encouraged!

Half full or half empty?

2009-12-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

Saturdays schedule

2009-12-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

Brutal.

Life Lesson

2009-12-01T12:07:00.000-08:00

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Gettin it?

2009-11-30T20:14:00.001-08:00

Its strange to feel like it would be wrong to text co-workers you know are watching the same show as you are. I need some team building!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

2009-11-30T17:34:00.000-08:00

Trust me. My cat really isn't this ugly in real life.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

2009-11-30T16:46:00.001-08:00

This camera has caffine in its circuits.

the sickness

2009-11-18T22:03:00.001-08:00

so it hit me again tonight. how i dont even get pissed off when i find someone has started a blog, written a few posts, then ditched the idea altogether....
they start to actually write something, then stop. i could give examples but that would just double the internet, and we dont need that, now do we?

at the same time i wonder how to get more action on this puppy. for a while i was showing what i was doing in the studio. traffic dropped off. then i started posting info on shows. naturally, no one cares what the hell i am doing musically. i dont want to use this for the same reason people who dont use twitter hate twitter; constant updates of useless information. i get it. i see it. i try to get around it but end up looking back and see the same kind of false self importance those that hate see in any micro blogging. im not using this soap box to eat chips off of it, but i might just do five word reviews of movies. i think thats helpful! or at least funny, i dunno.

so here. i did this for a show that, in the directors own words, will be a shit storm of sound.

thunder perfect mind

ben jacobs, the director of the Basilica project, seemed to enjoy some of my tweets and facebook links to some past drum work i had done. match that with my not-so-secret-but-hardly-public musical experimentation and well, im playing drums in a post-graduate tech-metal drum circle.... how very post-modern!

quick aside: folks need to stop using the word modern when they mean contemporary. this goes for visual Art, Design, Music. and well, anything that is post-anything really. i bugs the crap out of me to hear someone refer to a "modern design" that is clearly based on source material from 1970 +. that time line means "Contemporary."
the internet isnt a modern thing. it is now. it is contemporary. the latest fuck buttons record isnt modern in its use of instruments. its contemporary. hal hartley films arent about modern film ideals. theyre contempoaray.

ok. sorry.
ok. not really.

but you get it.
i hope.

so dont think i will stop hitting this page a few times every once in a while to just tell you whats up. thats what its for. hell. the beer isnt always that cold. not even a little.

and dont mind the tags for this post; im just trying to drum up some traffic.

double drum duty OR i cant remember the last time i played two shows with two bands at the same club the same night

2009-11-09T22:29:00.001-08:00

11.19.09

i think maybe it was Incest Fest (13 bands, all connected, all at one show) about 5 years ago, when fevers played then a few bands later didache played... but that was at my house and well... its not the same.

Rooms was tagged to play this a while ago, but in needing an opener for a show always brings up the question, "why dont we get your other band to play too?" well, because no one ever thinks i can play two blazing sets in one night. well thats just horse hockey. i can have sex and then play a show, so how hard could doing two sets be? it wont be.

both bands are super fun to play in and as long as i can keep my head clear and my muscles warm it shouldnt be a problem. the show is free, there will be some good beer there (locals always has something delicious on tap), and you get to see how many beats i jack from each band im in.

Rooms show + my Art = good month ahead

2009-11-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

for the stationary odessy cd release show!
@ the mel and only $6, one of those free cds with admission jobbies.
should be a pretty sweet show.

thanks goes to karl and joyful noise who we will hopefully be doing more work with soonish.

ALSO, i was asked to contribute a piece of Art for the 8th annual Tonic Ball, an event that this year is raising money for the awesomeness that is Second Helpings. the caliber of work has wained and wandered throughout the years but is back to top form, obviously if they asked me, right?

the piece, Marmoset Set (1998), is in fact, a marmoset set list. its been given the treatment of time with liquids and moves and placements and tapings and relocations galore. its more than a set list obviously, but my newer-ish artist statement breaks it down as such:

my work deals with the recreation of new memories through the amassment, assemblage, and treatment of items connected to former ordeals. mix tapes, set lists, aged paint, ten year old digital photos; these things that find their way around my mind, into a drawer, out of a stack.

opening night to see the work along with the others donated this year will be on November 6th at the totally pro shop A V Framing in fountain square. bidding for the pieces is in $100 increments and well, i really hope my piece brings in some dough for second helpings.

the big draw of just giving a piece away for free (aside from getting my name in some heads that have never heard it) is that %100 of the money raised goes to the org. not to me, not to the gallery, not to the organizers. thats how it should be done considering the hits NFPs take these days from corps that cant even play their own game well.

hope to see you thursday or friday.... either way... my shits busy these days!

a wall of death if you havent seen one before.

2009-10-31T08:52:00.001-07:00

the dudes in caliban do a lil webcast from time to time. here is an episode from a concert in poland where at 10 am there were already 200,000 people there.

its strange to see for me because only a few weeks ago these guys were at the Emerson theater here in indy. Andy the singer is an old friend of Andrea's and we were lucky enough to kidnap him for a few hours and just hang out ar our place. we talked about "pit justice" and kids having fun and where our lives were and etc and etc.... but heres this video of him, at work, doing what he does best in front of 200,000 + people. wowl

skip to the 4:50 mark to check out the biggest WALL OF DEATH i have ever seen on film. i had seen others get started, but never the actual collision. easily 500 kids slamming into one another = awesome.

Caliban TV - EPISODE 7 - Woodstock Festival, Poland

Caliban [ON BEASTFEST TOUR!] | MySpace Video

a little throw back to now.

2009-10-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

a mention of the President.

2009-10-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

when German in-laws call you to say they are happy with the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to your president the same day their daughter was in a car accident, you know you voted the right way.

links to pics of my work as seen on facebook

2009-09-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

youve seen a lot of them on here already, but now they dimensions and prices have been updated.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17039&id=774418753&l=f95c156c0e

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34782&id=774418753&l=70766da091

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22133&id=774418753&l=faab5efd2f

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18709&id=774418753&l=b83ab534b8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17651&id=774418753&l=5d96fd3253

its like im in the MATRIX!!!

2009-09-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

so i went up to look at some cars today and found a used toyota matrix that looks pretty snazzy. the catch is that its an '06, which in my head means that in two months it will be a four year old car. yeep!

anywho, while on my recent car quest ive found online video reviews that are both compelling and totally suck shit. the one below is a bit of each. for one i LOVE the way this dude says "carolla" but at the same time am annoyed by his circling of the car.... the car i want to buy, but gray. they look a lot bigger in person, which im sure this dude would attest to, in one form or another.

oh yea... buy my paintings for cheap so i can afford this thing.

hello future....

2009-09-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

oh wait, i play drums! this is totally unpractical for me!

yet still cool.

its totally still summer on the floor

2009-08-04T19:08:00.001-07:00

i swear it was just sitting there.

ROOMS s/t cd release show!!!

2009-07-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

this has already proven to be a great show. how do i know? because im on the damn cd!

100th post... this shit is getting old

2009-07-05T21:23:00.001-07:00

so i downloaded the brushes app for my ipod. its pretty amazing.

i like that i can make lines like bic pens.
gotta try to get the drips down, though.

ongoing projects

2009-06-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

as my energies have recently been steered towards the musical end of my spectrum, i can write about some pretty awesome things coming up in the near future.

first, my long time crew Thin Fevers is getting hair cuts and doing tons of ab crunches to get ready for a photo shoot at the end of the month. none of the band knows where the hell this shoot will take place or what kind of release forms will needed to be signed, but hey, we're pretty, so it'll make us feel good.

Fevers will also be playing a pretty damn sexy summer show with soon to be friends the the Jai-Alai Savant & the Che Arthur Three at the Vollrath (or more lovingly referred to as the "Voltron" by the coolest of kids) on June 27th.

here, look at this....

The other band im in, ROOMS is preparing for some cool shows coming up, the most important being our full length recording's release show on August 7th at the Historic Melody Inn. word on the street is that this cd is going to blow up pretty huge, so get one at this show since we probably wont want to do a reissue. some of the songs are a little older and we have close to an entire follow up already written, so get on that shit, NOW.

I havent had much time to take proper pics of the solo show from April, but i have to share the bad news that Alchemy, the gallery that so graciously hosted the show, is now dead. the owners still live on, but the space is otherwise not going to be used for its intended purpose. as they never had a proper web site, neither do i, but that will change pretty quickly. get your bookmarks ready, k?

ok off to practice.

the show is over

2009-04-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

thanks to all that were able to make it out to Alchemy to view my first solo exhibition. I wish i could have done some subsequent receptions but time didnt allow for it. a majority of the works are still for sale at soon to be reduced prices so keep you bookmarks open for a better site to view my ongoing developments.

the new site, in my head, will have both the images i make and the sounds that not only influence them but are created concurrently with the work. i was in a bit of a pinch to get this first show together but in the future would like not a "mulit-media", bonk you over the head vibe but one that alludes to some of the deeper meanings of the works through sound and light. some of you already get what im saying, some of you just need a bit more of a push in the right direction. dont worry, its nothing too heavy, ok?

thanks to rob and nikki for sharing their amazing space, all of the amazingly talented stylists that had to look at my shit every time they went to work, thanks to wfyi for the support (development ftw), thanks to all of the women that inspired some of those images, thanks to larry for firing me so i could get some time by myself, and thanks to my wife andrea. without her support and patience while i was getting this show together i wouldnt have finished any of the work she said was either over worked or almost there.

keep an eye out as i try (as half-assedly as i can) to get more work produced and more work out there to see in person.

regards,

ben

your MUST HAVE summer accessory

2009-04-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

now is it me, or does the third verse sound like it was phoned in by the singer of the now defunct Chicago band US Maple?

call my bro. he can help

2009-04-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

but his umbrella is his. git yr own.

2009-04-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Georges Braque's dead soul is going a little nuts right now

theoretical crystal growth on a constant substrate

2009-04-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

via: ffffound.com

so much has yet to be done

2009-04-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

so in the last month:
Database and user interface flip at work.
Greencard interview.
busted master cylinder.
2&1/2 weeks to get an exhibition together which included but was not limited to, piece choices, coordination with gallery, purchase of frames & mats, assemblage of frames & mats, hanging and opening.

now:
radio drive production duties.
1on1 talks with 18 remaining callers.
change bank account.
find a damn doctor.

what you can do:
say nice things and think good thoughts.

preparation makes me a prep? f that.

2009-03-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

a weekend spent half-framing screwed up my back. i say half framing because i assembled. i didnt make anything but the pictures. didnt cut wood or joint any corners or glue anything. just made sandwiches of plexi, paper, board and board. being a good sandwich maker doesnt make you a good cook, or anything close to a chef. kinda like how mixing a good color doesnt make you a good painter, or anything close to a good artist.
[thats why i like black and white, sucka!]

Andrea was outta town at a conference she said was educational and helpful, but i wonder how much of what she workshopped will be usefull in the next few months...she needs another job. you know, for more money, respect, benefits, and a chance to convince her to move downtown. maybe just more money. nonetheless, i had time to work and work and smoked and drank and worked. the two days i had made me wish for a house so badly so i just drove around, thinking about what it would really take to you know, get a house.

my mother dropped by and one of our conversations went into my want of a managed property. i know why at my age i still want someone else to cut the grass, fix the sink, landscape the yard: i got other stuff to do, thats why. i have stuff to make, songs to play, places to go check out. im not going to get older just to ride on a lawmower for 20 minutes a week. that time could be better used sleeping for an extra 20 minutes in the morning. now that is meaningful.

more preparations are being made for Peter Freund Sr. to visit our grand nation via Germany. two + weeks of a father in-law i havent seen for years and not once since being married. he is kinda bad ass if you ask me. he is in the hospital about two months out of the year and still travels six more. last i heard he had to go in because he had broken his belly button. how hard it that?!?! good times will be had.

more preparations for the Rooms cd to come out sometime soon. i have to design the cover, again, after matt called me drunk to yell about monochromatic cover fails and how my text looks too tough guy & punk. fun part was that he did it while i was at work so i yelled at him and my callers just laughed and laughed at my upity art talk and grunts. i'll get to it, next week.

ug. blogging at work. makes me want a laptop.

2009-03-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

nerdiness

2009-03-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

"Think about it, when Gandalf came back, he had new duds, white hair, and a shiney new white staff. I don't seem to recall the Fellowship questioning what Gandalf was or whether or not he was a Cylon."

i can read that and totally understand it. can you?

via galactica site rep

2009-03-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

i wish my dining room couch always looked like this.

truth

2009-03-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Francis Bacon on being asked about the horror of his work-

"Because, if you say something very directly to somebody, they're sometimes offended, although it is a fact. Because people tend to be offended by facts, or what used to be called truth."

from "The Brutality of Fact" Interviews with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester

2009-03-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

before the music dies

2009-03-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

a MUST SEE for musicians and music fans alike. If you've ever felt like there was something wrong with music today,you HAVE to see this. This documentary exposes the problems with the music industry and also explores some solutions. Just watch.

side note: Erykah Badu is giving you "Real Talk" on here. And her performance is awesome too.

via: heavy gun

gaw dam i wunt this

2009-02-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

understandably, andrea has some trouble with Bad Brains' Religion. but damn, i want these shoes. the iconic thunderbolt, destruction of the capital building, and a wearable, sure to be comfortable shoe?.... i want them but cant find a place to order... so i ask you, readers of this thing, find me a link or point me in the right direction!

one of the reasons i play music and make art

2009-02-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

i've got this as a patch .......... somewhere.
when i was a wee emo boy in catholic school i went to a lot of shows at the sitcom at 42nd and College ave. i was a bit of an outsider at shows since i was already smoking reds and never stopped eating meat... teen story aside, i was lucky enough one early summer evening to see Ordination of Aaron play the first show of a summer tour that would bring them back a month later for me to see again. i bought a 7" at the show and the A side was awesome. the B side, let me correct this, EVERY B SIDE had a number of jumps on it. apparently almost every 7" they sold that tour had a number of huge dips, making the second song almost unplayable, let alone ready for repeat listens.... the second time in town that summer someone shouted that their record was broken and sounded like shit (im pretty sure it was tony pontius or ben shine) to which the singer said they were all made that way but only maybe on purpose. two years later, in the scene, he couldve made a joke about kids shelling out bucks for busted shit that would be collectors items one day... thats another story from a time before selling out as an emo band didnt have any-fucking-thing about haircuts or tight jeans.

my point is that this band still to this day very much epitomizes what i think a cathartic show experience should be; guitar and drum parts you could probably play within a few minutes or hours of practice and a vocal part that you can try to sing along to but its really someone else's voice, their insides making the words you hear mean something to both you and them... and thats the big problem with post 90's emo; before it was connection of emotions but for the last 6-8 years its been about pussy and glam, razor blades and hair dye. no part in that thanks. but 15 years ago i saw this band and it kinda changed my life in the most subtle of ways. from the inside out.

thankfully i went to clean up my bookmarks and re-stumbled upon the sound of indie. posted was a song from the full length released that same summer (i had jason mager's copy forever, but he took it back)... its a record i would like to revisit but at the same time im sure the only way i could would be to snag the LP from someone who really loves it. in the mean time i will keep watching this video: OoA live at the sound of indie.

every f from the sopranos

2009-02-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

say what you will about the morals or even the ending to one of the best shows ever produced.... go ahead, say it. SAY IT!!!

this video is a compilation of every curse word ever said on the show that cannot be said on over the air television. it starts cathartic but begins to numb, then turns to glee, then i remember where the story is going and the emotions start going nutty, like the show. this is totally NSFW but worth a watch, but only if you have seen the series. i know these edits are tenths of a second long, but in order they really reveal too much of the story, which is one of the reasons why its so genius.

the sopranos, uncensored. from victor solomon on Vimeo.

let me know what time it is.

2009-01-28T15:32:00.000-08:00

i think i need this to save the country.

big ups to my aunt kathy simply for writing the words "obama watch." now i really want one.

whats good about painting with wine? you drink it.

2009-01-25T20:52:00.000-08:00

two things out of about ten tonight stood out to me, enough to photograph badly and share (man, i need to get the photo stuff down)...

the first is something ive already written and come to terms with since: they're panties. ok? i know they are, you know they are. my approach isn't dirty but subconscious, and i know what youre thinking when you see the image. i still have some highlight work to do on the shape to provide more the definition of cloth and the sheerness, but im done trying to say its not what it is. im not that good of an artist to bullshit you into thinking youre not looking at what youre looking at. meaning is one thing, image is another. superficiality and the commercial world; they are one in the same.

calvin klein
25 x 19.5"
pencil, wine, gesso, house paint.

i also started with some marks on a sheet that i thought would turn into a logo of some sort. after some coverage and observation i found myself looking at a knee in the foreground and the rest of a thigh and torso in the background. i remembered how much fun it was to do the 'fake musculature' so i layed into the paper with a sharpened watercolor pencil. i have no idea how i will keep this thing from bleeding black after another coat of some background treatment and focused lighting work. a challenge. fine. i will take it.

fake knee
25 x 19.5"
guache, wine, watercolor pencil

these things were broken up by me trying to repair an old cassette tape i found title 17:22. i know its a sound work i did about ten years ago. in the past i would use the Playstation Music Generator to make beats and drones sampled from Fugazi instrumentals... i cant remember the theme of this tape, so i did my best to straighten out the warped/wrapped strip of tape. cassettes are a bitch because you CAN SEE THE PROBLEM through the plastic, so you keep pulling out tape, trying to pinpoint the problem inside the case, but you just keep pulling until something bad happens. i was about 1 cm away from snapping the tape, so i stopped in hopes that one day this year i will amass all of my broken tapes, open up the cases, repair the actual tape, reassemble and enjoy tones from the past. i know i have a problem getting rid of cassettes that may/may not have anything of value on them, but every once in a while i will find some one minute long song (or a ten minute jam) from when i was so concentrated on a theme that i really CAUGHT something, really recorded a moment that may resonate with someone besides myself. in my mind, that is one "truth" of Art and proof that someone IS an artist - the ability to bottle a moment (or a series of times) in a form of choice and have it mean more than just that moment.

man, i didnt have that much wine. wtf.

new (old) tools

2009-01-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

kewl tewls
i just KNEW i had a heat gun stored away in my fathers air force issue foot locker (along with a sunny day real estate and sonny rollins lps)...

i have had two bottles of wine evaporating their last drips of merlot/cabernet goodness on my desk for about a month now. then, last night after going to see phoenix bodies play in a basement (the best way, by the way), me and the wife along with good friends jenny and antonio were smoking waaaaay too many cigarettes in the office when i decided to drop some wine onto a page of a new blank book i made this week. jenny was a little amiss that the line of concentrated, fermented grape juice looked a lot like an earthworm. she had been part of a childhood turf war in Muncie, IN and let me know that she once had a can of worms dumped on her head. no dirt, just worms. awwwww. isnt that cute?!? no. its gross (but kinda cute, right?)
wine on canvas (200?) 9x9

blah x 4. ive done two "real" paintings with wine on primed, white canvases. i love them. i would love to do more, so i bought a couple bottles of crappy wine at aldi (really, not that crappy since i will drink two of them) with the intention of getting some pretty layers of the earthy color that only wine on primed surface can provide. sloppy layers of wine (possibly cooked down for concentration this time around) can be dried with the heat gun in a few minutes. i like showing the process, the layering of color, but really, waiting around to watching wine dry is boring. use the technology you want to to make the image you want.

i wish i had a monotype press. i also happened across a post-card portfolio from 2000. herron and the university of tennessee did a little print exchange. i remember being so happy to get my classmates work and well, more than a little let down with the out of state mailings. maybe if i plug in the ole scanner i can share some goods and bads? you wanna?... my piece was an ink jet color print of a tank firing a big shell with a thick burgundy colored colograph on top. it looks immediate and is named after an Unwound album. yea! undergrad! i should get back to that kind of work. steal an image, crop and re-place on black background, place a violently drawn layer of line over it. simple. effective.

match this with a few (2) started underwear pieces. not as sloppy as the previous bra pieces, but still cool, to me, at least. a little more realistic, but de-sexualized as far as connotation and color choice. i would love to reduce the shapes to just that (a shape) and forget about the anthropological weight of underwear, while still letting the viewer know thats what it is. the challenge to illustrate the triangular shape of a pair of womens underwear, complete with lace trim, and expect viewers to NOT see a fetish-istic element? whatever. really, whatever.

oh, and that IS a managector in the top pic. hello contour!

Hokusai's most famous woodcut on a PSP? yes.

2009-01-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

im not that big into hand held gaming, but this skin for a psp makes me want to ride the bus and play call of duty, just for fun!

neats

via: destructoid!

back to it (the IT being what you want it to be)

2009-01-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

this past weekend andrea asked me to listen to the heat vent. of course she is crazy but i thought i heard something going on too, so i got on my knees and well...

i went to our basement storage area and saw nothing going on in the main room. the back room (my studio space) was a different story; on the left wall there was a hissing sound coming from the ceiling, mist in the air, and a nice stream of hot water falling right atop my prized "Dinosaur" strat copy guitar (best $35 spent ever)... the floor was soaked and everything in sight was moist. luckily there is a drain in the floor, uncovered by carpet remnants or cigarette butts, so most of the over flow was taken care of. some of the things not taken care of were a Bose mounted speaker i used to rock out to whilst painting and drawing (i plugged it in today and it gave me a nasty hum with moments of squeal), a receiver/tape deck/record player which im pretty sure is a goner, a fender sfx II amp which still works, some awesome pencils that decided to expand in hot water (thanks frenchies, your shit breaks).... and carpet... and some other throw aways like, well, nothing much.

the maintenance guy called back within minutes of me leaving a voice mail on some emergency line. he would be over as soon as he got some pants on (thanks dude, me and the lady really appreciate the thought)... they started work at 7:30 saturday morning and were done when i got home from work at 2:30. new pipe and they re-tubed a furnace duct that was all rusted out with, you guessed it, water.

why the hell am i writing about this? because i rearranged my studio, made two blank books out of the paper i use (small series, big sales) and am hyped to get in there and basically do some cool shit. im looking at the better series of the last year - i think i made about 5-6 strong, multiple piece works, but different people (whom i all listen to and respect) like the most disparate and 'not like the other' images...

how the fuck am i supposed to meld the imagery of an eagle with that of a victoria secrets bra? thats not a challenge, thats fucking dumb.

so i have more work cut out for me, maybe too much, but thats better than being a boring sap. trust me, it is.

a depressing song to listen to while contemplating the Israel/Palestine conflict

2009-01-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

even if you cant dig on contemporary dance,
or if you dont like Antony's voice,
or if you think Israel has the right as a sovereign nation to kill for the sake of making a point (crusades anyone?)...

let the video play and think about what so many others must come to terms with; wether it be a sad teenager that cant grow into their feelings, a woman in Gaza seeing her children killed, or yourself on one of those dark days we somehow get through....

strings by Nico Muhly, my new favorite contemporary composer.

2009-01-11T19:14:00.000-08:00

i kinda needed this to get my mind in check. my resolution for this year (that i CAN NOT BREAK is to take bigger steps to achieve what i want to happen in my life. i found this article about sins made in taking those steps. so you should make bigger steps too,but try to not fall down.

thanks shoemoney. you have a dumb name but have inspired me, in a way.

seriously. what the fuck. seriously

2009-01-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

BART officer shoots unarmed man.

riots last night in Oakland.
this happened 2 a.m. New Years Day.

what the fuck.

enough blabbin. look at this.

2008-12-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

these pieces are steeped in nationalism, masculinity, phallic symboligy, and sadness. right now, for reasons i dont want to get into i will just talk a bit about the image itself and the songs that go along with it.

coxcomb)red

songs:ohia has been popping up via the shuffle tendencies of Karamozov, my ipod. i dated a red head for a while. she used to sing the star spangled banner at random.

like)a)man

as much as i would love to spend my hard earned dough on imported beers i am relegated to buying domestic most of the time. i know most imports have been skunked by the time they reach our shores, but the tastes remind me of when i was dating my now wife. the twist is in the fact that a German company now owns the USs' largest domestic brew operation. regardless, american beer makes me feel like rock and roll, but not like the spinning drunk goodness of euro-based beers do. american beer doesnt make me feel like a man.
fugazi once asked that question, of what it is to be a man.... but then ian had to go goofy on a slant six record and make me feel weird about his iconography in the post punkdom that is my enjoyment of music.

first)place

i really love it when a beer has a blurb on its can or bottle label that references some prize they won when my grandfathers (ded) were sneaking beers in between sessions of learning at the hands of Nuns. pabst has no qualms just putting a damn ribbon on the front of everything. go on girl, do it! but still to this day, even with pabst having weathered the storm a few years back .... even with major underwriting on NPR, even with the rise or both ironic hipsters drinking it and actual cool people doing the same... pabst still has that damn logo. its american as all get out.

i have started one more eagle based something or other. the shape is the same.... i should tell you now its just the Anheuser Busch eagle only retared through my hands ability to create shapes that look like the things they are referencing. the latest one is the shape and i have taken an extra step in the workability of the image. first off, in on Rives BFK. i love to beat the hell out of this stuff. so its going to be sanded and rolled and probably yelled at. 90% of what i do is on some 100# offset printing paper, so using a piece of Rives means i am investing at least $3 in the project.
second, the shapes of feathers and leg skin have been meticulously etched on the paper by yours truly. it took almost two hours for the simple shapes to fill the spaces. i could have taken longer, but this layer of work will become a discoverable gem to those that get up close and look at methods of production. i hope it turns out looking the way i want. its the only sheet of paper i am currently working horizontally, so thats one more thing to grip ahold of and shake violently until it shuts up.
theres an abuse joke in there somewhere, but i will leave it alone. its only art.....

....which brings me to warn you. some scribbled prose may make its way to your eyes via me very soon. so look out, ok?

more werkin'....

2008-12-08T23:37:00.000-08:00

forcing myself to grab a few beers, my smokes, the ipod of my choice and some headphones never seemed to be a challenge until i tried to convince myself to do just that last week. well, ive dont just that for two nights in a row. the result? a small series about nationalism, masculinity, and being sad.

dont worry, its not as bad as it sounds, yet.

pics to follow in the next few days. i have to finish this stuff, alright?!

werkin....

2008-12-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

no time in the studio... but some time on other things i hope pan out... and by pan i mean 49er PAN OF GOLD!!!

im looking into grants for myself to develop more clearly and quickly as an Artist. there are some in indy and there are politics involved, but aside from that i need help writing grant proposals. ive got some friends willing to help me out so in the next week or two i hope to get my shit together enough to get some real work done on the back end.

mix this with the strange desire to do a radio show for wfyi's hd station. yea... im thick enough to be spread around like that. theres a joke in there somewhere, but im not going to laugh at it. tentatively called testing the waters, its my chance to play some music i think is cool with all of the ridicule of not being open to new ideas. well, im sure someones going to have a thing or two to say about a thing or two, but trust me, itll be cool. a half hour show on HD, prolly a podcast, maybe once a month, maybe more. its getting my ears working again.

then theres the damage i do to my ears: Rooms has all of one show booked for the next weekend but with a practice from last weekend to stand on. thatll be fine. then on the 18th thin fevers has a toys for tots show at the mel (same as the rooms show) and we are old and rusty. new songs make us stronger though. they make me want to record more, but we are still sitting on a bunch of awesome box sets you neeeeeeeed to buy.

and how do i find time to kiss my wife? you know theres always time for that!

keep in touch, k?

post election high is waining....

2008-11-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

being patriotic is fine, but nationalism is scary.
so of course, i find things like this video and i get the creeps.

god bless you america.

the junekill ward

2008-11-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

this band, the junekill ward, was supposed to be a d-beat 80s cover band at its inception, but when you mix the hippy of jerrys vision, the off kilter fun of the shaloms, and the math of letters in english you get one band that makes little to no sense.

the only lyric i can remember clearly from this song is; if i bring a child 'nto this world/i'll teach 'im how to hate the fist.

well, the guy that wrote that line did in fact bring a child into this world and hes a pretty cool little dude that can totally ride a bike on his first try.

Nolan's first bike ride from Burd Phillips on Vimeo.

i almost wish this band was still around to clear rooms. if anything, we were good at that. brd is busy with making sure people ride bikes in cool ways, and jole is in seattle, programing the robot wars.

guess what, humans lose. they LOSE TO REFUSE!

cutest crap in the world

2008-11-10T11:19:00.001-08:00

pups. damn cute pups.

prayers answered.

2008-11-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

new couch = new playlist

2008-11-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

i am almost afraid of the awesomeness of the couch in my living room right now. i love the color, i love the lines, i love the functionality of it. its pretty rad. as you can see, fin finn iron curtain loves it too. if you dont know fin, he is the younger of our two rad-cats. they get agro on the stupidest stuff but it makes andrea and i laugh for hours, if not minutes.

also, if you will, notice the new playlist jobey i discovered via my sister's blog. its pretty cool. but its a sunday night so i just went with what i knew after a fantastic Colts win over those puss booty Patriots. i guess the Colts are the "un-american" team since we beat such amazing american patriots, complete with late hits and a crappy coach. f'em, i say, in the most democratic way possible.

which brings me to the fear that i may have to stand in line Tuesday. some friends of mine tried to get their vote counted early, but the line was three hours long. they bailed and i dont blame them. hell, it helped get that awesome couch you see at the top of this post in my crappy apartment. so good job citizens. you are really showing the electorate that you care about who runs the nation for the next four to ten years. some people are afraid of Palin in 2012 - i fear 1) the end of the world according to the Aztec calendar & 2) the robot wars. singularity isnt that far off, so keep an eye out on your ipods kids. they will kill you!

in the mean time, go vote. fuckit. go vote twice if you can. that shit doesnt mean shit. show the electorate that you want who you want in office. thats the only way, really. that is unless america wises up and either goes all paper (we still know how to read, right?) or to just putting a finger print on the face of the person we want representing us to the REST OF THE WORLD. dont be a douche bag, vote obabma. everyone will like you no matter were you are from. i know what is cool so just trust me on this one.

yr protest song for the next ten years- shout me out

2008-10-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

one of the tracks that sticks out tv on the radio's new Dear Science album is the song Shout Me Out: its incredibly simple structure wise. its got the same 'not much above the 5th' kind of base that makes for a good song until the dual guitar solos kill you with their ease of rage. here are the lyrics=

Storm, cast me out.
So I can feel it in another way.
won't talk about.
Warm passenger's high.
If I could feed it for another day.
It might run me dry.
I know the season's evolved to a freeze.
Putting hearts in the balance here.
It's up to your knees and it's shifting degrees and it's choking your atmosphere.

Storm, wind me out.
So I can feel it in another way.
They won't talk about worn masochist's sigh.
A distant figure in a photograph.
Another eye.

I know your reason is stalled.
And your freedoms dissolved.
In your passion dear, It's burning your eyes and it's.
Killing your mind.

And it's broken your atmosphere.
But should you find it. Obscene in that grey.
Old dramatics hear a young heart say.

Lord if you've got lungs.
C'mon shout me out.

I know the freeze has unthawed.
And it's putting your love into.
Action dear.
It's off in the breeze and it's shifting degrees.
And it's opened your atmosphere.
So should you decide
it's obscene in that grey.
Old dramatics hear a young heart say.

Lord if you've got lungs.
C'mon shout me out.

_________________________________
and if you have the time, for me, drop an email to one of the people that vote for you and tell them to vote for barack obama on tuesday. i only ask you, the citizen voter, because once again, your vote doesnt mean that much in the greater scheme of things and if you are lucky enough to know an electoral voter you are either cool or dont punch enough people in the gut.

i had to buy it

2008-10-31T20:30:00.000-07:00

i had to check another site for some cool shirts that were maybe on sale. well damn, i found come cool stuff.

this one was $20...
ahhh, my namesake, benjamin.

but this one was only $10
money or man?

this shirt can really be a conversation starter if you wear it around fans of dead prez or the forever uppity dawkins. i personally believe in God and that money is in fact really screwing everything up. i like it a lot, money that is, but as much as man has screwed up religion, it can also screw up how i pay for gum. jerks.

best new tshirts i cant afford

2008-10-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

Print Liberation makes the kind of shirts i would make in my basement.
short, crass, easy to read words.
not quite well cut letterring.
simple colors.
simple, clear message.

print lib t's are pretty cool, but until im cooler and more middle-class i will be picking up a few rags to wear.

holiday shopping made easy.

2008-10-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

i grew up a wee bit before the advent of the internet for everyday use, ie: communications, entertainment, shopping. starting around October of every year my parents' mailbox would start to fill up with catalogs selling some of the most worthless junk, ugliest clothes, and useless toys. through my surfing-while-working i found what is surely the most accurate representation of the kind of waste of paper mailing i used to look at. yes, i understood irony at a very early age, im just not so sure these people do. Harriet Carter! useless!

john mccain speaking at ACORN

2008-10-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

at the two minute mark he almost sounds like he believes.

Rushing (Caroline) demo _ 2008

2008-10-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

a new Rooms song. its the demo. we will be recording at Russian in mid November.

guitar and vocals _ askren
guitar_toole
bass_greenburg
drums_traub

glad i didnt spend money @ gap.online, but i still want those pants.

2008-10-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

trust me

im listening to Ministy's "last sucker" album and the sound of some really cool dudes down on 62nd st showing some hot chicks how loud their cool bikes can be if the just flip their wrist a little bit. i know that sounds like im goth and think motorcycles are gay, but i dont. just superficial.

i am afraid i will ruin a drawing i have been working on and off on for over a year. tomorrow i will hit the studio, maybe record a song or two, then stand in front of a drawing that i know will never be done. black ink. white ink. thats all. i should take a picture of it and see if it even has legs. its one arm with two hands almost hugging a heart. the image came to me while lost in Italy five years ago. maybe its just a t-shirt idea. i dunno.

i need to start on the Rooms cover work, but hell, we havent even recorded proper yet. so that can wait? it cant. it will require a lot of cutting, but not in a shitty, emo kind of way.

this is why i dont have a studio away from home

2008-10-04T20:34:00.001-07:00

fantoche from blu on Vimeo.

2008-10-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

fly159

i took this picture in the studio a few weeks ago. i like it.

stars, bras, drums, dumps.

2008-09-26T15:08:00.001-07:00

theres a new header image. i found an old series of something that is either a drawing or a painting, i dont know. probably the cheapest materials ive ever worked with: copy paper turned black with really crappy ink and these starts cut out of 'stick-on' faux-wood linoleum. theyre cool. really.

Christian McBride is a recent discovery for me. a dude that works with me passed me his latest live cd. i was blown away, repeatedly. i still have to pick up my jaw when i hear Terron Gulley play drums - really simple fusion set, and he WAILS on a nice thin, bright 24" ride cymbal. his bass drum work is insane at times, so i had to make these two hot hot pictures.

ride
bass drum

if you're a facebook friend, you may have cocked your head off slightly to the right when i posted a few days of "im going to draw bras." i only hit two good pieces out of a few odd starts. ink, acrylic, and some 'teener-girl-sleepover' colored sharpies. my wife has good taste, i dont know if that comes out in the work.

cup
style listing

i have a picture of Caroline Kennedy holding 'lil john hanging in my studio. it has collected some splayed ink and some crinks from hitting the floor once or twice. one night i was doing blind contours and that picture hit me as being rather sad; memories, death, black & white. i and waited days in between sessions so that it could all dry - ink, watercolor, acrylics. sad caroline kennedy.

sad

yer chance to see me rock and buy cheap works

2008-09-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

saturday the 20th of september i am playing Oranje. if you dont know its a contemporary music and arts fest that happens once a year in indy. some of the work they pick to show is pretty f'n lame, but some of it is top notch shit, and thats a good thing.

one my bands Rooms is playing on the "side stage" (which could mean many things, but as long as its a small stage, then im cool with it.)

i am making a few 'posters' for the show = some drips works with the word "rooms" on it. they will be cheap ($10?) and look cool. if i have time some t-shirts will be there for yer consumption.

thin fevers is playing a few shows at the end of the month, get this, IN OTHER CITIES!!! so if you want an early week road trip, lemme know. we need someone to work the merch table!

love to all from my literally poor ass.

its funny because its true.

2008-09-04T11:49:00.001-07:00

2008-08-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

just got upstairs from a pretty amazing session in the studio. no, i wasnt laying down the tightest of drum grooves. and no, i wasnt wah chicka wahing my way to deep soulness... i was listening to christian mcbride. one of my underlings at wfyi burned me a live cd, and yea, my mind has been blown. im pretty sure its the live at tonic album (disk 1) and it is outright amazing.

so piece wise, i started off with two pretty mundane washes from friday; kinda transparent yellow green just washed up with a two inch brush. i threw them up, hit them with what was left of the pallet, and let them dry. well, tonight i was wishing i could have played some drums, so one is a cymbal (ride from the vibe i was on) and the other a bass drum with a hammer headed pedal kicking in. a few reds, some orange to freak it out in places, and some illustration black lines for overdone form. finished off with some pink/white wash over the remaining flat space and ive almost got a whole drum kit painting. well, not even close to a whole kit, but im happy with the product seeing as both pieces seem totally plastic ideas of what i was feeling. richard nicholson would be proud.

then i got back to four smaller pieces, again from fridays beginnings. they all deal with memory and how the past cannot be changed through thoughts. one may decide that selective memory can help an individual keep the lessons (not) learned from past mistakes or decisions from haunting them, but there is no use. none. you remember the bad stuff and it stings. your memory, if youre messed up, reminds you of one good thing assigned to that painful memory in hopes of taking the sting away. if youve learned anything the sting is still there, only dulled by time and life and how you work now, but it still stings.
the pieces started as washy profiles of people i remembered from the late 90's ... just the most abstract of sketchy portions of the persons.... i cant even remember who they are now... probably friends from the days i casually did some drugs i cant afford now.... but people in my memory nonetheless. tonight, with the help of some late 90's bands blaring through headphones, i was able to layer on some high and low lights, much like the sing of memory i spoke of before, only with the ups too.
one can say taking the sting of a memory away is just "leaning" while i say its just making the memory more coherent.
yea, a cop came to talk to me while i was at some party, but i really remember how awesome the band he shut down was when it happened. that isnt really learning. thats just reminicense.

so ive got some paintings that deal with memory popping out of me. they still look like right now.

and one more: a twisted body piece like the ones from april, only way smaller and less worked. i still want to layer in some blacks like i had with the larger pieces. but the simplicity of the sketch, almost f. baconey in its approach, really makes me want to return hardcore to the figure.

now if only me and my wife had matching schedules.......

turkish star wars. yeah. um.....

2008-08-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

i know that the great nation of Turkey has a long history of culture and Art.
i also know that from the 1960's on that american pop culture has had an influence on turkish pop culture.
sadly i know that many producers, actors, and companies thought that if they had a copy of an american film that they could write another movie based on what they watched but may not have understood.
or they understood and just wanted to have more fun.

confused? i hope so.
ready to get more confused?

alas! a link!

a turkish movie that may or may not be based off of the first star wars movie.

Wain-Rooms_2008_Word for Word_

2008-08-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

one of my bands, Rooms, played up in Pendleton, IN at Word for Word. its a pretty awesome new and second had bookstore, complete with a few laser disks for sale. i snagged a copy of Chip Chip (an awesome book about chipmunks with AMAZING litho work) and a new copy of brothers karamozov (the last one was lost on a plane)....

it was a good show and the pendleton gazette had a videographer there to catch all of the action. here is us playing a new to you song called Wain. go ahead and let the next video play in the player.....the next song is one by When We Might. i dont know where theyre from or who these dudes are, but the songs were incredible. the video work? meh. but the song is really good.

women be shoppin'! OR andy talks gas prices

2008-08-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

here is my brother, andy traub talking about gas prices being on the rise and how americans are dealing with the money aspect.

he drives a car too, so he knows what hes talking about.

ouch. that shit hurts.

2008-07-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

well, no nice person bought any of the auction pieces, but they did buy some of this crap:

ouch. that shit hurts.
but then again, there were no measurements or paper weight listed on the bidding page. but a fucking COCK PAINTING? a fucking MARTINI PAINTING you can get a TARGET? wtf.

getting back into the studio this friday to sort out some strong stuff for a december or january show that may happen. i was lucky enough to purchase some flat files from craigslist so at least the works on paper wont be all curly cue in the future.

ok, im over it. really.

BID! three works for $100!

2008-07-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

bid on the goods

its for public broadcasting! so if you're a commie or a centrist or a right-wing nut job, put your money into something that benefits all of us, ok?

i took a 're-do'

2008-06-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

went through the pile.
picked one or two or three to dig into.
here you go:

leopard throw
25x19&1/2
mixed media

coward from the sun
25x19&1/2
mixed media

fake musculature
25x19&1/2
mixed media

WFYI online auction selection!

2008-06-03T21:32:00.001-07:00

click this link to read up on a group of my pieces that are part of WFYI's annual online auction: LINK!

and by clicking this sentence you can read more about the auction itself!

me want, bad. pt. 2

2008-06-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

how awesome is this? well, on a scale of cool to coolest this is around michael jackson's BAD album and meeting Bill Hicks (RIP).

"Aural details that have been lost as MP3 files are compressed for storage and transmission, dramatically re-emerge through this 25 watts RMS per channel, all-tube pre-amp system. Rugged steel chassis finished in gloss piano black includes massive power transformer, and 3 multi-plate vacuum tubes protected in a removable, ventilated cage"

wow.

and its only a grand. what a deal!

your WTF friday moment.

2008-05-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

i really dont know where to start, or really, where this could end....ever.

the true post-modernist video game/youth culture/prog rock/pro or possibly anti-religion/drug induced/16 bit graphic/your_brain_is_fucked/epileptic seizure inducing/i want my blank-y/i cant stop watching/please stop this/lets watch again/that guy is genius/who would waste their time/best short film ever HAS been made.

it is called Kings of Power 4 Billion %

careful though. your mind will be blown, and if it is not, you have a problem with your mind.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/193565.html

the clock winds...

2008-05-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

being hella busy getting OTHER things done requires my studio time to be cut by about 2/3. but i figured i would at least open the door for critique of some works in progress:

dark, sliding shapes - a song by Collasamite was the ignition of an untitled piece from february, and a lot of people liked it, so i am doing some more of them.

doing a little bit of dry bush color work always helps the head feel a little less murky. or does it have the opposite effect? combine some black ink and some shapes reminiscent of teeny-tiny graffiti i see around the city.

and then of course there is the early failure of a grey series i started when i was feeling all dumpy and sad. the fact that it is a failure i can see early on makes me feel like ive learned something from those things that make me feel dumpy and sad. too picture within the picture and not enough thought. i may return to these when i want to, but right now they go into the pile.

and then there are these two little cuties i made one night playing around with some artist's pastels. smaller paper, bigger shapes, better music (im pretty sure it was disc 2 of In Rainbows). if i could rock about 20 of these out i think they would look awesome stacked up salon style with 1" black frames. dunno when that'll happen though....

ive got to go look at rings now. oh, did i mention im poor? i mean, i cant even afford a private studio....

2008-05-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

video of Rockets Red Glare, a Canadian band from the late 90's, was always very hard to find. let me clarify; was impossible to find until Gus the drummer started uploading to youtube.

these guys came through indy three times in four years on tour. two of those times they played at 25th and Broadway. the first time i was going out with someone, was in mid conversation with her on the porch, and went inside to see how loud noises from the other side of the glass looked. i was pretty blown away. the second time i saw them i had recently been broken up with, so knowing a few of the songs and knowing where to stand for premium volume levels turned into one of the most cathartic experiences of my early 20's.

they only put out a handful of recordings. a 7" and two full lengths. the first full length was one of those 'theyve been playing the same songs for two or three years so theyre perfect.' the second album was indeed rushed and not as powerful, but still rocks the shit out of 80% of what any three piece band anywhere can do.

Rockets Red Glare. you should like them.

2008-05-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

because i love this country, this song, smashing guitars, and the roots. oh, and colbert, too.