Urban art + jammy tunes = Foscil @ Blvd Gallery

Tripping with jammy tunes, urban art, and 3-D glasses.

Read more at Three Imaginary Girls.



Demographics:
90% boys, 10% girls. Average age: 27. Attire: mostly nw comfort (it was cold, yo). One lovely chica wore rad two-toned minnie mouse shoes and a russian fur hat. Wish I took a snap of those shoes! They were fab.

Shephard Fairey's street cred

Shephard Fairey a sell out? I don't think so.

Nylon Magazine interviews the man behind the hot-as-shit Obama Change poster and gets him talking about the street.

[NM] You started on a grass roots level, stenciling, screenprinting… Do you think young artists today are focusing too much on commercial galleries and have their eye on fame?

[SF] There is a purity that is punk rock that I love about street art. But what I don’t like about what’s happening is the recent phenomena of street artists wanting to transition into the gallery really quickly. And I think that is catalyzed by the Internet; it is really easy to manipulate perception if you are shrewd about how you present yourself on the Internet. That bums me out because a lot of the time I liked people’s stuff, but I just as much liked their spirit, their tenacity. Like Neck Face—first of all he’s my friend—did a shitload on the street before he made his transition into the gallery in a rapid amount of time. It took me like five-six years before I got a gallery show and 10 years before I was making any money. I’m 38 years old, I have two kids, I run a design business, a magazine, a gallery, a clothing line, and my fine art career…and I still go out on the street more than people who have nothing on their plate at all. The street is important to me.

Read the full interview.

Fairey's street stuff gets around. I spotted an "Andre the Giant has a posse" sticker in the Shimokitazawa neighborhood in Tokyo.

one more pillow fight

Close on the heels of the Ballard and the Cal Anderson Park fights, the Seattle Pillow Fight Club is calling one more fight for the season: this Saturday March 29th, 3:15 pm at Pike Place Market.
I haven't made it to any of the pillow fights, but permission to cut loose and and behave completely kid-like is very appealing! It would be pretty funny to see what the Market tourists make of it, too.

The deets from Brooke of the Seattle Pillow Fight Club:

DATE: Saturday March 29th RAIN OR SHINE. Don't be a wimp ;-)
TIME: 3:15pm
PLACE: Pike Place Market, corner of Pike and Pine.
IN THE STREET, in front of the place that throws the fish.

*NO FEATHER PILLOWS, PLEASE**

THE WAY IT WORKS

TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE FIGHT. Bring as many people as you possibly can. A big fight is a GREAT fight! - CONCEAL YOUR PILLOW! Hide it in a backpack, a shopping bag, under your coat, etc. DO NOT go to the fight location and hang out with a pillow in your hand. Look busy: Pretend to shop, chat on the phone or with a friend, whatever, just don't be obvious. (If you see someone hanging out, with pillow in hand, discreetly suggest that they look busy and try to hide the pillow)

LISTEN FOR THE WHISTLE. I'll have to create a diversion in the street to allow the car to stop for us and give the cars that were in front of it time to move down the street to give us enough room to have the fight. Don't just start fighting because you see me in the street.

After 3 minutes, I'll blow the whistle again to stop the fight. STOP FIGHTING IMMEDIATELY AND WALK AWAY. Just like nothing ever happened ;-)

**AFTERMATH GATHERING
The Whiskey Bar (just in time for happy hour!)
2000 Second Ave. (206) 443-4490
Bring cash if you want to drink, because they don't accept credit cards.

REMEMBER
Bring Friends
Tell people
Conceal Your Pillow
Don't Hit Anyone Without a Pillow (Very important!!!)
Watch Out for Cameras
If you come with a group, it's helpful to spread out before the fight and come running from different directions

photo by agusus99

snow and serendipity

Snow and magic were flying last night. Yep: snow on March 26th. We've had some years with hailstorms in late March, but snow...?



Here's the magic part. Earlier in the day, Flickr peep SlightlyNorth emails me to say one of his Flickr contacts had caught me in a random shot. It wasn't me but I can see why he might think so. Later, I'm having dinner at the bar at Bimbo's Cantina and was chatting up the guy next to me, who was waiting for a friend. The friend shows up. The friend has a cool camera, which I ask him about and we visit for a few minutes. The topic of Flickr comes up, and he gives me his Moo card.

The serendipity: the guy is PD Gibson, who took the shot that SlightyNorth thought was of me. Wow.

Geoff McFetridge at Olympic Sculpture Park

Graphic designer, artist, and director Geoff McFetridge has been kicking it around Seattle the last few days completing the installation of "In a Mind" at the Olympic Sculpture Park pavilion. The installation opens on March 29 and will run through early 2009.



Word on the street was he would be finishing up the installation today between 10am and 3pm, so I took the #8 bus down Denny and arrived around 12:30. Good timing: the installation was still underway. Bad timing: lunch break. We killed some time by wandering around and playing on the eye benches.

Checking back in at the pavilion about 45 minutes later, there was still no activity. So we sat around for a while and took a few pictures; it felt like we were waiting for a play that never started. Finally left around 2 pm. Oh well.

it was a treat to see the nearly complete installation and appreciate it in a quiet setting. Just wish I could have met (or at least seen) Geoff McFetridge.

Maybe the "I'm rocking on your dime" t-shirt I wore scared him off. I'm not a crazy superfan, Geoff. I promise.

what MySpacers really look like...

...at the MySpace-promoted Justice tour, which landed in Seattle last night (Monday). It sure wasn't the usual collection of peeps who go to techno-dance-electronica in town.

Morph: a future geek must-have

OMG. The Nokia Morph animation illustrates the gasp-inducing capabilities of nanotechnology. The Morph concept is the result of a collaboration between Nokia Research Center and Cambridge Nanoscience Center. You can't buy this property-changing device today, but the science behind it is definitely here today.

Nanotechnology possibilities are simultaneously amazing, thrilling, and scary. It's the stuff of sci-fi, made real.



Besides the gee whiz factor, I like this video because it takes complex science and brings it to a real-life level. It is all visual and is consumer-focused: no voice overs, no tooting their own horn (look how smart we engineers are!), and only a couple of sci facts explained in a non-engineer way. I imagine there were likely several meeting room brawls over the lack of sci-talk: the sci guys wanting lots of facts, and the design guys wanting no facts. ("Guys" is used here in the all-gender-encompassing sense.)

Also interesting to me is that the character in this video is female. Clearly an effort to make fresh technology more appealing to women and to grow the male-dominated early adopter crowd. Fashionistas, did you notice the ability to match the pattern of Morph to your outfit?

Venturing further on the bike

I bought a bike about a month ago and am feeling comfortable enough with the gears to venture further than upper Capitol Hill and loops around Lake View Cemetery and Volunteer Park.

It's not the workout that was challenging; rather, it is learning the gear shifts. I've had trouble keeping it straight: on the right side the lower lever will downshift, and on the left side the UPPER lever downshifts. WTF?

After a few rides, I still hesistate briefly when changing gears but at least I am no longer downshifting when I want to up it, or vice versa. (I actually popped the chain on a earlier ride going up a hill when I got the gears confused. Ow!)

Saturday I ventured outside my 'hood and took on 10th, Roanoke, and Lake Union. Nice ride, but bang! that 1oth is a rough road. I cruised the houseboat neighborhoods and wandered down the South Lake Union Park to check out the Maritime Heritage docks. There's five or six historical boats docked there, including this sexy beast fireboat.



The return ride was up (and up!) Eastlake to Olive to Denny, with a stop in Half Price Books. Hopefully I didn't pick out any more stinkers. (My reading cred couldn't take it.)

Under the Cherry Moon

This is my first spring of city living and I'm happy to see spring bursts out almost overnight in the city too. Old prunus species trees form a canopy over the entry to the walkway of my (also) old complex.



The prunus species includes cherry and plum trees. These particular trees have purplish leaves so they are probably the Cherry Plum variety. That's about all I know (and some stuff that I don't know) so you horticulturists feel free to correct me all day long and into next week in the comments.

"...Disclose the long expecting flowers/And wake the purple year!" (Thomas Gray)

Coachella-goers can take a free train ride

Golden Voice has teamed with Amtrak to offer a free Coachella Express train from Los Angeles to Indio, CA for the annual Coachella Music Festival. The Coachella Express departs L.A. on Thursday, April 24th, and returns on Monday, April 28th. Seats are limited to 500 campers.

Available to campers only. Interesting. Baggage limitations: two "checked" items, up to 50 lbs each, plus one carry-on. The free train ride must be geared to the "light" camper. I can't imagine camping within these parameters -- I like a little comfort with my sleeping bag. Such as a tent I can stand up in.

Oh, hold on...I bet this is geared toward the campers who are taking advantage of the new camping options offered this year: "luxury onsite accomodations." Tent and sleeping props provided. (By that I mean something to sleep on, not someone to sleep with. You're on your own for that.)

More details and reservations on the Coachella Express here.

For those keeping track at home, I am not camping at Coachella.

guilty as charged: abandoning books

I'm a dedicated reader and normally give authors a LOT of latitude. I'll finish a book even if I'm not particularly enjoying it. (Did anyone like Rushdie's Midnight's Children? I mean really? Not just because it was hip?) I can't recall the last time I abandonded a book without finishing it. That is, until the last six months. I've abandoned not one, not two, nor three, but four books!

Maybe I've had a stretch of really poor luck, or I've become more discriminate, or I've lost patience. Or all three. Not sure. Whatever the reason, the following four books have been real stinkers for me to finish.

Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. 98% complete. Not a bad book; I think I just forgot to finish it. I probably only have 10 pages left but I'd have to backtrack and re-read a bunch to pick up the thread again. Nah.

Girl with Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace. (60%) Wallace was recommended to me based on my appreciation for Neal Stephenson. I found this short story collection while looking for Inifinite Jest at Half Price Books (more on that book below). The first four stories are phenomenal. After that, not so much. I still have a bookmark inserted at page 245 but it has been in the same spot for 6 months. It doesn't look good for the home team. Oh well.

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (15%). I really wanted to like this book but I had to keep re-reading the same pages over and over each time I picked it up to remind myself of where I was in the "story." If you could call it that. I confessed my difficulty with this book to a 20-something and she let me in on a secret: NO ONE has ever finished this book. It is a posture prop to demonstrate lit cred. Carry it around and read it in coffee shops when you have need to demonstrate lit hipness. Thank god I never went in public with the damn thing. It is waaaay too wordy, and that is saying something from a reader of Stephenson. How this book made it past a big publishing house editor is a mystery. It would make a good door stop.

Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski. (5%) I liked Danielewski's cult-like House of Leaves for it's brave creativity and bold approach to storytelling (although uneven). So I was looking forward to reading this National Book Award winner. What a shock. Oh my god, it is Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (or perhaps Ulysses) all over again! I hated the stream-of-consciousness bullsh*t years ago, and still don't like it now that I'm all growed up. This book might be ok if you approach it expecting the s-o-c thing mixed in with pretension and lame pseudo poetry in attempt to pander to the critics (which I guess worked). Did anyone ever finish this book, or is it secretly in the same category as Inifinite Jest?

So I've a bunch of stinkers kicked under my bed on my nightstand. I can hardly believe I abandoned so many books in the last six months. More recently than in the whole of my reading years prior. I'm a little sheepish about it, but life is too short to waste discretionary time reading cr*p.

Boys Noize is the sh*tz

Boys Noize!!
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

German DJ Boys Noize (Alexander Ridha) is a rising star in electro dance and has a post-Daft Punk vibe. He stopped into Chop Suey on Friday to play the monthly Broken Disco night after killing it earlier in the week at the I Heart Comix SXSW party in Austin.

Boys Noize brought his "A" game to Seattle and had a swell time raising the noise (sorry) for a full house of sweaty, dancing maniacs. The all-ages dance floor was fully packed for his entire set and the crowd didn't want to leave when the house lights came on. Repeated pleas to exit to the rear were finally honored, amidst discussions of which afterparty to go to.

Boys Noize is confirmed on the lineup of several high-profile festivals later this year, including Coachella in Indio CA and Sonar in Barcelona. Catch him if you get a chance! Your dancing booty will thank you.

Vote for Zombies!

The smarty-pants folks at Common Craft are pleased their "Zombies in Plain English" video will reach a wider audience and could potentially save millions of lives in the event of a zombie attack. The clever video has been nominated in the animation category for the Yahoo! Video Golden Play awards.
Borrowing from a Common Craft catchphrase: Yay!


Six other videos are shortlisted for the Yahoo! animation award; the winner will be determined by internet voting. Check out the choices, then vote for the Zombies. Voting is open through March 21st.

Lee LeFever and Sachi LeFever, the masterminds behind Common Craft, are delighted. "And we were just worried about Zombie education," says Lee.

Common Craft is a Seattle-based company whose "product is explanation." The internet's been abuzz with their lo-fi freebie Common Craft Show segments explaining useful stuff -- such as RSS, photo-sharing, and compact light bulbs -- in 3 minutes or less.

Friday gallery openings: toys, Parskid and birds

Hooray! New shows open on Friday March 14th at the trio of hip galleries on 2nd Avenue in Belltown.

Roq La Rue Gallery is featuring a series from Robert Burdon (San Francisco) titled "Toybox." His inspiration for the series was the discovery of a box of toys he had owned as a child. His paintings are of those toys, or of other toys he very much wanted to own. "These large canvases are covered in baroque-like patterning and gilt framing, and a small box containing the actual toy accompanies each piece (referred to by Robert as a "reliquary" of sorts.)"[#]

BLVD Gallery (next door to the Roq) is featuring the urban contemporary works of Parskid (Seattle) and Chip7 (New Jersey). I am looking forward to checking out what Parskid's been working on. His contribution to The Belmont was quite amusing. (right) This show at the BLVD received early press from Juxtapoz mag online.

And third, the Suite 100 Gallery brings together artists from Seattle and Portland, showing works with a common theme of "Feathered Friends." The Suite 100 Gallery is located a block south of Blvd and the Roq.

Its been three months since I last hit the opening nights for the three galleries. Two galleries took January off and I was out of town for the Feburary openings. (But I did make it down to see Roq's and Blvd's Feb shows a couple of weeks ago.)

I am so looking forward making the rounds on Friday!

Northshore Hawaiian BBQ: Aloha!

Head to Northshore Hawaiian BBQ when you are craving an inexpensive and tasty aloha plate meal. If you've been to an L & L, you have an idea of what to expect. Just don't mention L & L to the guy taking your order: you'll get a dose of friendly sass right back atcha.

The newly opened store is conveniently located about 10 minutes from where I live (5 if I get all green lights). This is a companion location to the original and still-running Greenwood spot. You'll find the new place on that odd triangle-shaped property at the intersection of Boren, Yesler, and 12th (not quite either First Hill or Little Saigon 'hoods). [map]

Most of the menu items are $7 or less and come complete with the island standard fixin’s: two scoops of rice + 1 scoop of macaroni salad. You can substitute salad for the carb-heavy sides, making the grilled Mahi Mahi ($7.99) or Baked Salmon ($8.99) healthy alternatives.

We tried the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken and the Hawaiian BBQ Beef Short Rib plates. Portions are generous: the two split and marinated thigh pieces and three cuts of short rib are each served on a bed of angel hair cabbage. The chicken was moist, sweet and easy to cut with a fork. It is likely the same used for the BBQ Chicken Sandwich ($4.99), which comes with fries or mac salad. The short ribs were tender with only a little bit of fatty bits (surprising for the price!).

Other menu selections include soup, katsu, kaula pork, lau lau, lomi lomi salmon, musubi, fried rice, noodles, and salads. Vegetarian options are limited: veggie fried noodle and stir fried veggies. Additional seafood choices include shrimp and calamari.

The casual interior is done up in bright colors with tiki furniture and surfboard accents. Alcohol is not available, so get takeout if you want a complete island dining experiene with Longboard beer.

Good for: take out, casual meal, sharing, carnivores (and ok for pescatarians).
Not good for: romance, vegetarians.

Shaka!

Northshore Hawaiian BBQ
110 Boren Ave S, Seattle
206.621.1121

War is over if you want it

Indie group Tulsa borrows from John Lennon and Yoko Ono.


The phrase "war is over if you want it" was a billboard event staged in NYC by John and Yoko in December, 1969. Read Yoko's 1998 commentary and a photo illustrating the restaging of the event in 1998.

Crows and headstones: Goth cliche

There's a rookery in the firs bordering Lake View Cemetery and Volunteer Park.
While riding through the cemetery, the crows looked at me with the old stink-eye -- as if I were wandering through their living room. I guess I sort of was.



I assumed the crows-in-a-graveyard thing was a gothic invention. It's real here. And stranger still...this cemetery is where Brandon Lee ("The Crow") is laid to rest.

Thursday dilemma resolved

For those keeping track at work home, I saw:

flamenco dance (Barrio Flamenco @ 619 Western)



and hip hop (The Physics @ Sole Repair)



and electronica (Truckasauras @ Sole Repair).



p.s. Barrio Flamenco is performing at Faire Gallery Cafe Saturday March 15th at 9:00 pm. No cover.

Thursday Dilemma

Oh, what to do...what to do...
Can I be three places at once? Can I fit all three in?

Here's what's going on Thursday, March 6th in Sea-town:

First Thursday Artwalk (free)
My new favorite activity in town. I love the 619 Western building and seeing what the cutting edge artists are up to each month. I missed February's open house so I really want to make it back this month.

Young Ones Showcase ($5)
Fresh music talent spotlight sponsored by The Stranger; performances at Neumos and Sole Repair. Lineup includes Dyme Def, Throw Me the Statue and Truckasauras.

Opening Reception for ByDesign 08 at Northwest Film Forum. (free)
Write up here.

Perhaps I can manage two out of three if I plan it right.

Gnarls Barkley video won't "Run" on UK MTV for now

Billboard reports the new Gnarls Barkley video "Run" has failed the Harding Test and will not be shown on US UK MTV until modified.

Update (thanks Luna-See!): "Run" will premier on US MTV's TRL on Thursday as originally scheduled. UK airing to follow, after modification to pass the previously-unheard-of-but-now-we're-aware Harding Test.

Gnarls Barkley's Danger Mouse weighs in:
"I don't know exactly what's going on, but we're having issues. I think [the video] is cool. It works for me. But I'm not necessarily that easily seasick," he says with a laugh. "We can't predict how people are going to interpret it."

For now, if you want to see Justin Timberlake geeked out and not taking any sexy back, catch it online. (Be careful, kids.)

Host girls in Japan: my most-viewed pic from trip

host girls: 21st century geishas
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

This quick snap is of two "host girls" in the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo.
Host girls and host boys are frequently seen in the "entertainment" neighborhoods of Tokyo (and other major urban centers) in the late afternoon and early evenings. Girls are hurrying to their clubs jobs and boys are hanging out on street corners drumming up customers. Host boys and host girls earn their money by socializing, flattering, and developing emotional relationships with their regular customers. Modern day geisha.

A documentary on the sub-culture host industry, titled The Great Happiness Space: Tales of an Osaka Love Thief, was produced in 2007 and is available on Netflix. (Which I don't have, so someone get this movie and invite me over, please.)

Free events for creative types this weekend

The annual ByDesign film series offers a couple of free opportunities in Seattle this week to peek at the latest in digital video and audio art trends. Free is good, yes?

ByDesign kicks off this Thursday, March 6th with an opening reception featuring works exploring the synchronization of color, shape and type with sound. Contributing producers/performers at the opening night reception include UK group Semiconductor Films, and digital music artists Son of Rose and Caro. (8:00 pm, free)

If you miss the opening reception, you can catch the Time Out of Place production from Semiconductor on Saturday, March 8th, showing between the hours of 3:00 pm and 7:15 pm. (free)
On Sunday, March 9th you can soak in four works from Graham Wood, of the acclaimed creative group Tomato. These pieces are described as "haunting, kaleidoscopic animated sequences." (Hmmm. Consider enhancing your visual perception beforehand if you are into that sort of thing.) Showing between the hours of 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm. (free)

The series lineup includes a few additional interesting screenings, but these will cost ya: Entrophy: New Shorts and Music Videos; Helvetica; and History of Computer Graphics in Film. (Tron, anyone?) The Helvetica documentary film received good reviews from Time Out London and Chicago Tribune. Check the ByDesign 08 site for deets.

Minor detour: Helvetica is all the rage these days. MoMA's exhibit "50 Years of Helvetica" is showing through March 31st and highlights the typeface's history, ubiquity, and influence. I caught it back in October and it was surprisingly interesting. Get the catalog on the MoMA website if you are a font-head.

All events are held at the Northwest Film Forum in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. [map]

sparkly, indie, and imaginary

Excitement has overcome my innate reticence to talk myself up. So...um...here goes...
I've started contributing to Three Imaginary Girls, Seattle's "sparkly indie-pop press."



Three Imaginary Girls were voted "MVP of Seattle Music 2004" by readers of the Seattle Weekly, and were listed in Seattle Magazine's Most Influential People issue. In addition to publishing reviews of new music releases, live shows, film, theater, and books, TIG also publishes a calendar of upcoming live shows (with recommendations), plus books music showcases and contributes to other music publications. I am honored to be in such awesome (and sparkly) company.

Check the review for the live show with Holy Fuck and A Place to Bury Strangers.

HAPPY directs new Gnarls Barkley music video

A new Gnarls Barkley video for the single "Run" (off their upcoming release) has been released for airplay. Directed by HAPPY duo Richard Farmer and Guy Shelmerdine, the 3:27 video plays off an American Bandstand send-up and includes B boys and girls busting out the moves. Infectious, fun, and potentially seizure-inducing.
Speaking of, from the Gnarls Barkley website: "Contrary to rumor, MTV and VH1 censors did not reject the video because of liability issues related to strobe effects and seizures. 'Initially, there were fears the video was going to fail the Harding Test,' says a spokesperson for the band. 'But, for the moment, indications lead us to believe the video passed.'”
Judge for yourself. Best have a spotter, just in case.



Cheers for HAPPY! Good peeps, those.
Disclosure: I’m nearly a relative to HAPPY: my sister to her husband to his cousin = is married to one of the Happy fellas. (Pay attention: it might be on the final.)

Edward Albee plays at Stone Soup Theatre

Stone Soup Theatre in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle is entering the final week of producing two one-act Edward Albee plays: "The Zoo Story" and "Finding the Sun."

I attended the performance on Friday and was pleasantly surprised by the actors, the staging, the use of limited stage space, and the plays themselves. This is probably the right time for me to confess my most frequent and recent theater-going experiences have been of the high-shool-drama-group variety. (Gotta show support to family members, right?) So perhaps my expectations were lower compared to regular, professional, theater-going folks. But still...I do recommend checking this production out.

"The Zoo Story" (1959) and "Finding the Sun" (1983) both have a timeless quality. The issues and the dialog relate to 2008 just as easily as they did when written: parenting too much, living with depression, settling for good enough, meeting cultural and familial expectations that are contrary to own nature, examining sexual attraction and orientation.

One particular phrase of Albee's from "The Zoo Story" felt particularly insightful. Enough so that I was compelled to find the exact quote later:

"What I wanted to get at is the value difference between pornographic playing-cards when you're a kid, and pornographic playing-cards when you're older. It's that when you're a kid you use the cards as a substitute for a real experience, and when you're older you use real experience as a substitute for the fantasy."

In two sentences, Albee poked our communal headspace with a white-hot poker to simultaneously burn and cauterize. In both of these plays, he calls out bold subjects without a blink. Yow. I like.

Stone Soup Theatre seats about 50 patrons total and has been selling out ahead of time on Fridays and Saturdays. If you plan to catch one of the final performances, be sure to get your tickets ahead of time through ticketwindowonline.com.

New Justice video by So Me: DVNO

The electronic French duo Justice released their latest video, for the track DVNO (one of my favs from the "Cross" album). The vid is by So Me, the label art director and fellow DJ on the Ed Banger crew.



The production is an animation ala The Electric Company TV show back in the day. That is, 70s retro look, but brighter, smoother, and sparklier. Bonus too: as one commenter has already stated, we now know what it is they are saying. It isn't "ladies out west" (darn), it is "ladies all waxed."

Justice's previous video, D.A.N.C.E., won the "Video Star" award from European MTV and it was nominated for the MTV best video award in 2007.

Justice are currently on tour in North America through April. Schedule.