The beginning:

View from Indian Creek:

View of the Half dome with Mt. Shasta in the background:

This one was in Dowtown Portland. I know I have more coming out of this city but I can’t seem to locate them at the moment. I love the control in these letterforms, especially in the ‘G’ and the ‘O’. I can’t really place it but I guess it sort of resembles Avenir in ways. The color palette is also a favorite of mine – classic vintage.

This building is incredible. Found this guy in Sacramento, sort of between downtown and West Sac. What’s really striking about this is the ‘Stoves & Refrigerators’. If ‘Stoves’ isn’t the true precursor of the ever so popular Candy Script (without the swashes) than I don’t know what is! And then ‘Refrigerators’ has a nice upright stance, resembling the SignPainter typeface. Imagine that.

I wish this sort of thing still brought in business for those who still utilize it. As a realist, I can’t see these store owners resorting to hand-painted lettering because they think it’s cool – more because it’s cheap.  Ah man. And the world turns…

But like I was saying, New York was great. It’s great seeing our buddy Jon in his surprisingly relaxing and comfortable manhattan apartment, the people, the city, museums, and Congressman Anthony Weiner!!!

I’m not the type to get excited about just any weiner. It has to be capitalized and have the word Congressman in front of it. We were able to catch him walking down 5th avenue (i think) during some parade and I got his attention and had the chance to shake his hand. He will forever be one of my favorite political figures, after watching this:

We also woke up at 6am one morning for a jog, starting from 96th st. all the way down to the Financial District! It’s crazy I know. I’ve already been called a stupid tourist when bragging about it to friends, but nonetheless it was pretty epic. It was a great way to get re-acquainted with the city and for the city that never sleeps, it was pretty quiet at 6 in the morning. Seeing Times Square before morning traffic was pretty interesting as well. The jog more of less ended at the site of 9/11 but there wasn’t much to see there. That was around the time when rush hour picked up, and our jogging gear was quickly sucked up by the vortex of peacoats and blazers with their briefcases and starbucks in hand, all bustling to the time clock. It really just felt good that I wasn’t waking up for work myself.

Ahh, but probably the best highlight (for me at least) was the opportunity to see a Robert Crumb exhibition at the infamous Society of Illustrators!!! I’m going to have to talk about this in another post though, haha. Just too much to say!

We got to check out The New Museum’s new building, which was pretty rad:

Then there was the MoMA, which had the most incredible exhibit on German Expressionism, featuring prints and drawings from the likes of Otto Dix to posters from Egon Schiele. Check out the opening graphic:

UHH! Talk about sick! The lettering?! To die for. The texture of those letterforms was so well done . It had this weathered, wet, thinned out paint look to it. I actually dig this exhibition design just as much as the show itself. Also, note how the continuation of the word expressionism from one wall to the next. Thumbs up!

Plus, we’ve always got our eyes peeled for fellow bostons. Especially in other cities. Check out this cutie!

I just got done with this piece for my homie Jimmy and Four2one. Don’t get it twisted, Method Man stole that title from us! Possible album art and etcetera coming soon, but here’s the poster until then.

I love pretty much every bit of this animation, but one of my favorite parts is the awesome color arrangements that are nothing short of genius.

On another note….I’m going to New York City tomorrow!!!! Crazy huh?

This is kinda why I’m sitting here and not packing, as I suspect I won’t be doing too much blogging while I’m gone (the way vacations should be done). Not sure what the agenda is for this upcoming week of blistering coldness, but what I do know is that Melanie wants to take a jog on Broadway, from Battery Park up to Central Park. It’s going to be pretty epic to say the least. Even though I’m out of shape like a mutha’, I’m really looking forward to the sightseeing.

It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since I’ve last been to New York. Man, how time flies.

This illustration commemorates the opening season and my friend’s boyfriend’s birthday (mouthful). He’s a fan of the Giants and I, a fan of large heads. It was love at first sight. We got carried away and mocked up some phony tickets too – which look pretty amazing I must say. Is there a market for this sort of thing? If nothing else, I need an epson already. I’ve already refused to buy cards a long time ago. My poor parent’s just get phone calls or if we’re lucky, skype.

Great show, incredible seating…i need breakfast

I’ll be honest. This is the first compact disc I’ve bought in a very long time. But Granola Funk hits straight to the heart for me, puts me in the right frame of mind. And best believe Strange did it again!!!

I’m on about the 4th rotation of the CD, and it’s really growing on me. At first, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the album in it’s entirety. Track 2 and 3 were jumpin’ straight off the bat, I thought the production was pretty polished and the rhymes strong, but then I thought the rest of the album trailed off a bit.

It took me to get stuck in a traffic jam on 50 to really get where Strange is coming from. And then I was like “I should never have doubted these Ashevillians.” 3AM and Backseat Rockers are some old joints that I remember boppin’ to a while ago, but I’m not sure if they’ve ever made it on an album till now. Product by Medicine is tight too,  reminiscent of those punk jams with Cricket and Chad. Then tracks 11 and 12 are your smoker joints, but they aren’t cliche at all. Smoke with Me has got some sick keys and Foulmouth kills it with lines like,

“To the artichoke heart, you know the hardest [smoked part]
Bogart the weed up till I’m keyed up like Mozart.”

Ah yeah son! I think the most interesting part of this project though was its inception through kickstarter.com. I’ve never heard of this site, but it’s an incredible idea. Artists of all types propose fundraising projects that the community can interact with and donate to. Adam Strange made a compelling video of himself on his organic farm in North Carolina. I’m kind of biased here, but it was cool to see him in his own element.

Good music though, support the movement.

http://adamstrange.bandcamp.com/
http://tinyurl.com/4p7gu42