Sounds Like Brooklyn

I love Brooklyn and and I love Les Savy Fav, so naturally I am going to see them at BAM this friday night! Vivian Girls will be the opening band for them. It is part of the Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival, a 2 week festival that celebrates Brooklyn-based bands. There will be more than 60 shows at 15 different venues in Brooklyn. Go here to check out the list of bands and shows, and hope to see you at one of these shows!
photo: BAM.org

In Love With Bat For Lashes

I can't stop listening to "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes aka Natasha Khan, it's from her latest album "Two Suns". You can watch the video here. I am also in awe by her beauty, don't we all dream of being an indie rock star like Natasha?! The picture above reminds me of Chantal Goya from Goddard's Masculin Féminin.images: http://www.batforlashes.com

Oh Charlotte

I am a huge fan of Charlotte Gainsbourg's. I love her quirky look, her voice, her acting, and now her music! I can't wait for her new album "IRM" to come out, it's produced by Beck, download the title song here now!
photo: charlottegainsbourg.com

Perfect Friday Music

This Mix Tape by Kitsuné Noir will put you in a good mood, I promise. Go on their blog they have lots and lots of mix tapes for you to download for free, I love this new one called Nothing You Can Touch, a Mixtape inspired by John Huges movies from the 80’s… but with a modern slant. I am deeply madly in love with The National's cover of Pretty in Pink, it's nothing like the original but still so beautiful and so sweet. Now go download this mix tape and dance like you're in the Breakfast Club!
images: kitsunenoir.com

I Just Had an OMG Moment...

... when I saw the Sound Burger here. I had red one when I was a bratty tween, OMG!!! I have completely forgotten about it and have never heard anyone ever mentioning a thing about it until now! It was totally a toy because the sound quality wasn't good and although it's portable you really can't walk with it while the record is playing. I loved it regardless because it's so darn cute!
photos: unplggd.com, retrothing.com

OC Tokyo- A Report from A Guest Blogger

Hi, it's Chad, Christine asked me to write a quick report for her about the Tokyo Opening Ceremony store. I used my new Digital Harinezumi camera so excuse the "vintage-ness" of the pics.

The store is an astounding 8 floors, it's in between Seibu and Parco if you are familiar with Shubiya, it's a great space. They did an incredible job with the store design, both on the layout and even down to the fixture level. The 3rd floor features all the fixtures cut in half, it is very interesting, I loved the table cut in half (above).

Each floor had some kind of glass case built into an animal, ostrich, bears, even bird dogs. Here is the bear one...
There was even an Other Music outpost, very cool.
This floor was probably my favorite, the "ruins" of the brick walls, the lamb fixture unit, and this great stool/chair merger, very nicely built.
The after party included my favorite dj's Lindsey and Miles (the Hump) who played a nice Bass set, including my boo, and KP and Envyi, woot. A live performance by Julian Casablancas from The Strokes and his new project, Brooklyn up and coming band Growing, and more dj fun from Andrew Kuo, and Leo Fitzpatrick.JC

The Growing

The flyer
OC official pics here...

story/photos: Chad

I'll Be There

(I know the header is cheesy but I can't help myself!)
Spike Lee, whose film production company is located in Fort Greene (actually right next to my old apartment), is planning a block party to celebrate Michel Jackson's 51 birthday next Saturday, August 29, at Fort Greene Park. DJ Spinna will DJ for the event, as a proud Fort Greene resident and a sometimes MJ fan, I will surely be there. But the whole reason why I want to blog about this is because of the flyer, I love how the silhouette of his hair is text! Drop me a note if you are going to the block party and we can all sing "ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa" together!
images: Huffington Post

Limited Run Opening

We went up to Beacon for the annual print print that I'm in, and my new friend Kendall brought her band Mascott to play that night, it was so great that Kalene of Open Space Gallery put my poster close to the "stage" (in case you don't know, I did a poster for one of Mascott's songs on her new CD. The show was so inspiring, and it features some of my favorite artists like Wayne Pate, Amy Ruppel, Caroline Hwang. One new discovery is this little art star called Bryce Edwards, he did these limited edition of 3 stencil artworks, watch out, this little guy is going to rule the art world in a few years! We bought the black owl print by Wayne, Chad got a zine, and a very interesting print which I will write about later. Beacon is a quiet little town that I've grown to really love, thanks to Dia and Open Space Gallery for the cool art scene, it is very worth a trip if you have the chance. I wish that I went up there for Andy Rementer's first solo art show that ended right before the print show, I'm thinking of getting this shoe print...images: wonting, Open Space

Wonting X Mascott

They are finally here and I can't thank Chris enough for his great job at silk screening them, the chocolate brown and warm pink just go together so beautifully, I love the opacity of silk screening, I think that is what I'll do after my Gocco supplies run out!

So, what is the poster about? I did it for a music video by Mascott, Kendall- the talented singer/songwriter contacted me to do the video and I thought, why not a poster too?! You can get it at my Etsy shop and my wonting web shop. You can also get Mascott's cd "Art Project" or download songs on her MySpace page. Check out the video at the bottom of this post.

If you live in New York, Mascott will be performing at Union Hall in Park Slope Thursday night (Nov. 13) at 10pm. I'll definitely check it out, and the poster will be available for sale there as well! What a way to plug my poster, right?!

Dream Another Day - by Mascott from Red Panda Records on Vimeo.

Sneak Preview Number Two

Here's a sneak preview of a poster that I did for Mascott, Kendall the lovely lead singer commissioned me to do some illustrations for the video her song "Dream Another Day". I did a poster that narrates the entire song (it's only 1 minute long and soooo catchy!) and we also did an animated version of it for the video. The posters are still in production, they will be screen printed and will be available at the shop, so watch out for them!

Gangpol - Mit

Saw this French graphic/music duo's performance last weekend, the only way to describe their music is 80's arcade game, and you can see how it goes really well with their fun (and sometimes violence, but humorous) graphics. Visual graphic plays a very important role at their concerts and they work very closely to create animations that sync with the music. Check out more of their work here and here. Great news for all of you cool parents out there, they also do music and animations for kids!photos: gangpol.free.fr and guillaumit.free.fr

Weekend

Just wanted to post a few pictures from the Boadrum concert and a view of Jersey from my Staten Island Ferry ride, the clouds were so spectacular!!!

888 Boadrum

If you haven't heard already The Boredoms is having an 88 minute performance with 88 drummers (featuring the Gang Gang Dance) on 8.8.08 at 8pm! This free concert will be held at Williamsburg Waterfront at East River State Park. Get your free tickets at Other Music and Sound Fix Records. I went to the one last year in Dumbo (7.7.07 with 77 drummers) and it was such a powerful performance with the beautiful Manhattan skyline as the backdrop. This year may be a little different since it is sponsored by Nike, perhaps it will have even more turn outs and a big fancy stage?

(8.6.08 Note: The Boredoms are NOT performing in New York but in LA, they will be playing simultaneously with Gang Gang Dance who will be playing in New York)
photo: NYTimes

Happiest Day of the Year!

Today is the first day of summer, the day of Summer Solstice and people call it the happiest day of the year! A perfect day to hear this song, there are many different versions of "Oh Happy Day" but I really love Spiritualized's version of it. Here is a You Tube video of a live performance in Madrid.

Top Five Morrissey Songs- Late Entries

I wasn't going to post any more Top Five Morrissey Songs but the people that submitted them are very special to me so I have to share them with you.

John Richards- Host of the Morning Show on KEXP, Seattle
1. How Soon is Now?- Its their best song, every other song is just trying to be this song
2. Every Day is Like Sunday- The BEST song about the end of the world ever.
3. Girlfriend in a Coma- The Best song about your girlfriend being in a coma ever
4. Panic- Hang the DJ
5. Suedehead- Last great Morrissey song if you ask me...and your asking. (Wonting: I told John that I agree with him on this 100%)

Little Friends of Printmaking (lfop)- Milwaukee
We had to dig out old cassettes.
1. Bigmouth Strikes Again
2. Hand in Glove
3. Panic
4. Well I Wonder
5. November Spawned a Monster

Faiyaz Jafri- Illustrator, New York City
1. Big Mouth Strikes Again
2. Kill the DJ (wonting: I think he means Panic)
3. Suedehead
4. How Soon Is Now
5. Shoplifters of the World Unite

photo: it's morrissey world

More Moz!

Since I am pre-writing the posts for this week, I completely OD on Moz now. So let's go straight to peeps' top five Morrissey songs.

Moira- New York City
1. I Won’t Share You
2. A rush and push and the land is ours
3. There’s a light that never goes out
4. Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one
5. Death of disco dancer
I’m a sucker for “strangeways, here we come”

Chad- hubby- New York City
1. how soon is now is actually my 1-5.
so
6. Panic- obviously.
7. Heaven knows i'm miserable now- because really we all are, just to lesser degrees. an no one cares if "i live or die"
8. stop me if you think you've heard this one before
9. last of the famous international playboys- though in high school we use to say "flamers", instead of "famous". LOL. good times.

Wonting- NYC
1. Big Mouth Strikes Again (Dunno why but I used to listen to it everyday when I was a teenager)
2. There's a Light that Never Goes Out (My favorite line is "And if a double decker bus, crashes into us, to die by your side, is such a pleasurable way to die")
3. Reel Around the Fountain (beautiful melody, melancholic words)
4. How Soon is Now? (it's on your list too, right?)
5. Cemetry Gates (BEAUTIFUL!!! I used to be obsessed with the lyrics in this song)
photo: amazon

Happy Morrissey Day!

Happy big 4-9, Moz! If you have missed yesterday's post, I am running a 3 day Morrissey birthday special. I asked my friends what their top five Morrissey songs are, and today's are really fun, the first peep is more analytical, the second peep remembers the good times during the golden age of the Smiths (we were too young when they split up, but sometime in the 80's anyway), and the last one has the same b'day as Moz, whoo hoo!

Hilde Tørdal- Telemark, Norway
1. The Headmaster ritual- Yes, I know it probably a bit obvious choice to pick this one, but when I was 18 and hated school with its inhouse authority, this song pretty much summed up my life.

2. Ask- "Spending warm summer days indoors... If its not love then its the bomb that will bring us together..." An upbeat and positive lovesong.

3. Half A Person- Well, who hasn't been sixteen clumsy and shy once? And what about dreaming to just go off to London and ask for a job, any job, just so long as I can stay? Perfect song for my teenage years.
"And if you have five seconds to spare
Then I'll tell you the story of my life :
Sixteen, clumsy and shy
I went to London and I
I booked myself in at the Y ... W.C.A.
I said : "I like it here - can I stay ? I like it here - can I stay ?
Do you have a vacancy For a Back-scrubber?"

4. Sheila Take A Bow- Another upbeat and optimistic song where Morrissey makes the proposition to lift the head, boot the grime of the world in the crotch, and find someone to love. Is Morrissey a bit out of character on this one?
"Sheila take a, sheila take a bow
Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear
And don´t go home tonight
Come out and find the one that you love and who loves you"

5. Oscillate wildly- Perhaps not a very "Morrissey" song since its an instrumental, but I think the title has enough material to make the mind wander.
Strath of Pacific Standard- Brooklyn
1. What Difference Does It Make? (There was a period of time working at Visionaire when we literally listened to the Smiths all day every day, and by the end this was the only song I still wasn't tired of.)

2. Half a Person (The first time I came to New York, I stayed in the YMCA, so for whatever reason I retroactively feel some kind of connection with this song, even though I certainly never aspired to back-scrubbery).

3. How Soon Is Now (I borrowed this LP from my friend Michelle and never gave it back. Is that stealing? How can you say?)

4. William, It Was Really Nothing (Being from Seattle I feel a weird kind of angsty pride when he sings "the rain falls hard in a hum-drum town/this town has dragged you down.")

5. (3-way tie!) Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before, That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, and What She Said (I think I like these songs for the same reason I enjoyed reading Less Than Zero six times in a row in high school. "I've seen this happen in other people's lives, and now it's happening in mine." There's a sort of salty detachment I identify with for whatever reason. I think a lot of my feelings about Smiths songs would best be described using sentences that end with "for whatever reason.")

Mary Helt of Maryink- Nashville, Tennessee
1. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
2. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
3. The Boy with the Thorn in HIs Side
4. Cemetry Gates
5. Ask
BTW, he and I share the same birthday! (Happy birthday, Mary!)
photos: Morrissey Solo, Amazon

Top Five Morrissey Songs

To celebrate Morrissey's birthday tomorrow (may 22), I ask my friends what their top five Morrissey songs are, and the results are very interesting, do you agree with any of them? I especially love how some of the peeps quote his lyrics like poetry, well to many of us he is the greatest living poet!

Hannah Clarke- New York City
"my choices are definitely plucked from that hazy abyss of highschool...so they are the most delightfully narcissistic/martyr-y of his ouevre!"
1. Unloveable- because "I wear black on the outside, because black is how I feel on the inside..." (!)
2. How Soon is Now?
3. I Don't Mind if You Forget Me
4. Stretch Out and Wait
5. I Won't Share You

Tech- New York City
1. Panic (that's me in 1986 my 1st time in London, Smithin' it up)
2. How Soon is now
3. America is not the world
4. Please plese please let me get what I want
5. The Boy with the thorn in his side
Justin- New York City
1. this Charming Man
2. How soon is Now? ( of course!!)
3. Everyday is Like Sunday
4. William it Was Nothing
5. please, please, please let me get what I want ( so sad )

photos: it's morrissey world, morrissey solo

Five Whats with Mike Davis

Hi ya'll, Chad here (wonting's hubby), I'm introducing this weeks Five Whats. I have known Mike Davis for quite a while now, oddly enough, never in our shared hometown of Nashville. Under his moniker, Mike 2600, he is a super talented dj and graphic designer/artist with his crew Burlesque in Minneapolis. He is also a major record head (one of our continuing friendship builders), a great photographer, and one of the best amateur comedians I know.
Please to enjoy...
What items do you always carry in your bag?
It changes on a regular basis, so let me check for the five most interesting things in there right now...
Laptop computer + cables + emergency startup disk which I've had to use too many times
Digital camera
Map / brochure from the Milwaukee Art Museum
Spa menu from the Standard Hotel in Miami
Terrible rap lyrics I found written on a sheet of paper at a club where I was DJing last weekend
What is your favorite thing that you have ever designed?
Either the "Got to Get it Right" 12" for DJ Day or the Alphabet poster I designed for my niece Hailey.What are your inspirations?
Toys, cartoons, album and magazine artwork, posters, food and product packaging and other commercial graphics from the 1960s-1970s, travel, weird stuff from Japan, good music, art museums.

What were your favorite TV shows growing up?
Thundarr the Barbarian, Spiderman (the 1967 cartoon version (I actually left my own 5 year old birthday party to walk downstairs and watch it)), Saturday Night's Main Event (WWF special that would come on every now and then), Yo! MTV Raps, Rap City, and Out of Control.

I know that you DJ quite a lot at clubs across the country, what kind of music do you spin? What are you listening to these days?
I started off spinning hip hop and then got really interested in the music where hip hop came from - funk, disco, funky rock, soul, etc. Since then I've been expanding off of that idea as well as getting into some of more action-packed electronic and club music coming out lately. Here are some recent things and artists I've listened to...
SebastiAn "Motor" EP, Lil' Wayne & Juelz Santana, DJ Blaqstarr, DJ Guilty Pleasures, Top Billin', White Girl Lust, James Brown, Eddie Kendricks, P.O.S

bonus What: What are you working on right now?
Just finished the label design for a new EP on Melting Pot Music for a group called Circle Research and I'll be doing the 12" jacket artwork probably tomorrow. Today I'm gonna finish wrapping up the cover of issue 51 of Mass Appeal magazine and then continuing to work to promote the giant dance party our crew (Burlesque of North America) is promoting called Do it To it!images: Mike Davis, thanks!

My Favorite Godard Actress

Anna Karina is my most favorite French (she's actually Danish) actress from the 1960's. I love her in all the Godard movies- Une Femme est Une Femme, Pierrot Le Fou, Alphaville, etc. But I also love her voice, she may not be the best singer but she often sang in movies, like this You Tube clip from Pierrot Le Fou is the cutest singing scene of all time. Enjoy it!