March 15, 2010
Posted at 12:25 PM
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Still battling some kind of cold. On the menu for today: A stuffed up head, with cloudy this and that. Awesome. But hey, the mouse hand is at 100 percent, and shit's getting done. Oh yeah, and Cory Grove. That fuck is in the shop today using our internet for whatever dastardly deed he's humping these days. He's got one hell of a profile, and when I look over at him, I just want to throw a brick or something. Hey, what's for lunch? - - - - EVERYTHING WACKY: Wacky Packages, people. The whole kit and caboodle. Real wacky shit. (Thanks, Ken!) - - - - THE KIND OF LINK THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER: Check out this guy's "Ham Cave!" Holy shit. What a way to start the week, eh? Just get a look at that wall of equipment? All those nameplates and buttons and modulators and doohickies. Transmitting 1 billion watts of motherfuckery to the whole word! Adopt me, Mr. Ulm. I'll sit at those tanker desks talking to Ryno and Dale and George and maybe even Marty in Italy. Just makes me want to live forever, cuz a whole lifetime wouldn't be enough for that kind of set up.(Sent in by the one and only Orville Esoy. Yes!) - - - - GROWING AND GROWING: Letterheady. Get in there. - - - - SERIOUS PROOF, PEOPLE: William McCanless writes an ode to, well, me. Our first. That's the kind of service you get when you transact with the DDC. Be it buying a piece of merch, hiring us to make a logo or tearing down old tall tale video footage. Thank you, man. That story will come out when the time is right. Mark those words. - - - - SHAME ON YOU, NORTH CAROLINA: A big, stiff typographic middle goes out to whoever "updated" this sign at their day job in North Carolina, inside whatever state-run office of horribleness. Congratulations. You've stripped the backwoods of North Carolina of that much more magic. Sad. Fuckers. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Vulture Whale - Bamboo You
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Still sick. Just a big, stuffed-up, coughing, cloudy-headed, stinking, vitamin-C popping, water drinking pile of fuck. I'm at about 98 percent. Fuck.
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I'm sick, and it's awesome. There you go. Slather me down in some Vick's or punch me in the face. Yer choice. Whatever, at this point.
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GET 'EM BEFORE THEY ARE GONE: Our latest installment from the Field Notes "COLORS" subscription service: "Packet of Sunshine!" Get in there and get some sun on that face. Here's what's going on this spring: "This cheerful edition contains three sunny, yellow memo books, each printed with a different vibrant ink. They're packed in a string-tied, top-loading, kraft envelope that is inspired by vintage American seed packaging. Marigold seeds and planting instructions included, as well!" Going fast, memo book users. Get some rays in yer life with our "Packets of Sunshine." - - - - GREAT AMERICAN AXES: James from 10Engines dropped this one on me some time back, and man, it's time it goes up on this site. Like a hatched wound to the head, we bring you Yesteryear Tool's ax page. Just look at that pile of labels underneath the axes! Incredible. Drooling, here. But I can't tell if those are all rebuilt from the old ones, which seems to be the case on the site. "Facsimiles" as they say. Nevertheless, I love the spirit and the gusto on all the rebuilt stuff. They're preserving this stuff, and we're always down with that. - - - - YEAH, THAT'S ME: Aaron Scamihorn illustrates my medicine ball head, and puts me next to Dwight from the Office. That's all kinds of awesome. This guy! Thanks, man! - - - - BIG PINK, BIG ORANGE: Matt Stevens gets a wild hair and takes on Dunkin' Donuts, rebranding-wise. Some cool results in there. I especially dig that van. Here's what Matt had to say, word for word: "I like donuts, I like design. A little rebrand I did for fun." Simple enough. Sometimes it's cool to just go for it. We dig. - - - - YES!: Finally, a reason to leave the fucking house. The Evening Rig are on tour! Wait, no Portland show? Take a big left at South Dakota and come to Portland! You guys need a roadie? - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Juno & The Dismemberment Plan - Split Ep
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DALE, YOU FUCK, YOU FIND ALL THE COOL SHIT: "You are looking at a state of Michigan-shaped potato chip. Slightly burnt area could be Traverse City. Found in my Kroger-brand bag of chips. Chip will be boxed and shipped via priority mail to avoid damage or local pickup available. Thank you for looking!!" Dale had this to say about this one: "If I was in Michigan, I'd buy it and show up with some french onion dip and eat it." There you go, people. - - - - ALWAYS GOOD TO VISIT THIS ONE: LesterBeall.com. American designer. Made this all-time logo. I wrote a paper on him in college, and learned many, many lesson. Incredible guy, incredible body of work. (Spotted on Coudal.com, on their main page!) - - - - I HAVE BEEN ON A QUEST IN THIS REALM FOR SOME TIME: "Zeroing out" my fucking inbox! DigiDave in Boulder first tipped me off to this term, as I sat in front of him crying my eyes out about my ongoing email woes. I do my absolute best to answer every email. And, I have a hell of a time letting emails die, or, just deleting them. Someone took the time to write, and there's old-fashioned sense in me that feels disrespectful to ignore it, miss it, forget, whatever. So I've been on a quest to zero out my inbox. I'm down to right around 40 emails left in the box each day. I was right around 100 for about six months, which was mind melting. I don't know what my daily incoming averages are, but man, it's always a battle. Chipping away, daily. And when I am done, I can get myself a Nerd Merit Badge for "Zero Emails." For my sash. Wow. All these words for that. Bit of a swindle. - - - - BEEN OVER A DECADE SINCE WE'VE LISTENED TO THIS: Deerheart's "Queen, Worker, Drone." Burly shit. - - - - WE UPDATED OUR "PROUD CUSTOMER" GALLERY: And you can see all kinds of wicked folks repping DDC gear by clicking right here. Get in there. Get fired up. Buy some DDC Merch. You need this stuff. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. The Mono Men - 10 Cool Ones
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BEST THING I'VE SEEN ALL F*%#ING YEAR: (Gotta watch the language around the little ones.) Click this, and scroll down some: My dad, making stuff for his incubating grandson. Check out the Gary, with the extended midsection! Man. The story goes, my dad used made me my first toys "on the job" at Great Lakes Steel in Detroit. Completely on the clock, in their wood shop. Cool tanks and a barge and other stuff I could drool on. Soft edges, natural wood. My dad. For me. I get kinda choked up writing this, and ain't afraid to broadcast that. I remember dad telling me something about "how things were kinda tight when you were born" and he made the toys to save some loot. I saw them when I was home the last time, as he's using them as reference for The Grandson. My dad. - - - - THIS ONE IS BLOWING MY MIND: Here's a cat who's scanning in his Field Notes, and then this software deal called "Evernote" indexes the text, makes it searchable and in the machine. Incredible. What a world. Thank you for using Field Notes, Mr. Dawes. Much appreciated! - - - - DAYWRECKER WARNING: Alert! Streger's got some chops, finding this one. This guy knows how to ferret out some pretty wild links. Go undergound with this one: NYC Subway Historical Maps. From long ago: 1939 System Route Map. From a year before I was born: 1972, New Yorkers! This one is for all my buddies, both flesh and digital, in the city: Cam, Damien, Cooley Bros., McMenamin, Cousin Tom, Lopez, Eric Baker, Paul Safsel, Hush, Billy Fowks, Pieratt, ACL and hell, while we're at it NYC-wise, all the guys from The Hold Steady, whom I wish I was pals with. They just seem like cool fellas. Lookin' forward to that new record. - - - - MY FAVORITE PAVEMENT LYRIC: "A redder shade of neck on a whiter shade of trash." Is that from pop culture? From "Shady Lane." Such a great song. So snarky. I had a buddy describe Malkmus as "Aristocratic." Interesting. I drive by his house all the time and think about him in there, smoking a pipe, dreaming up odd word combinations, wearing some kind of down '80s down jacket vest thing, laughing little laughs, noodling out weird guitar solos, etc. This is where my mind goes. I went to a barbeque here in town one time and Malkmus was there with his family. It took everything in my power to keep my cool and leave him alone. Fan vibes, you know? - - - - NO LINK TO BE FOUND HERE: Sometime you just gotta think: I get one life. How am I going to live it? Been brooding on that one, here and there, in blue sky moments, pitch black moments, under shower water, in the heat of battle, etc. Trying to be cognizant. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Pavement - Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement
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WEIRD SHIT FROM NATURE: Things that probably make sucking sounds and and/or may bite the shit out of you. Weird. Get in real close to this stuff. Beautiful. Nakamoto found this one. Got pretty lucky. - - - - THERE WAS ONCE A MAN FROM NANTUCKET...: And maybe he knew Mike from Cincinnati, Ohio? Anyhoo, Mike came in wayyy hot this morning with a link to an old collection of Nantucket signs. His exact words, published right here for the world to read were: "Not a day-wrecker, but it will destroy some minutes." Man, after a couple clicks I might have to object. Some incredible stuff in there. Dig around. Wasted a good chunk of my day in there. Here, too! Signs, painted by hand. Incredible type. Dangerous curves! (Thanks, Mike! Made my whole day with this one.) BLACK THINGS, SCRUBBING: Just wait until you see our latest piece of DDC merch that came in tot he shop today. Once the ad is done, we are going to shove them right down yer throat. Remember this threat in the days to come. - - - - SOCIAL MEDIA, WITH A KNIFE: If you didn't know, the DDC is on Twitter. You might've heard of it. It's this digital feed thing there where you are limited to 140 characters in each little transmission. You should check it out. Kind of hot shit. - - - - KEVIN FRANKS, WE SALUTE YOU: Wilderness works on Giro stuff. Making ads and websites and icons and logos and stuff. Great group of people. One of the cats we got to work with Kevin Franks, and I'm just here to tell you: He's a real stand up guy. He's got some of the toughest hands I've ever seen. From riding bikes. Ballistic cyclist and family man. There you go. Our two cents. Give 'em hell on the Easton side, man! Oh yeah, he sent in a long, yellow link, and you shouldn't miss it: Good work, Chiquita. Wild bananas. I've been collecting them off bananas for some time, and sure do appreciate the fun design. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Pleasure Forever - Alter
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It was a busy weekend. Was in here the whole time hammering on a pile of fun stuff. Listening to tunes and the occasional truck grinding gears outside. The highway, too. That's always in the ears. Ambient. Been sending out shit left and right, and enjoying all of it. Thank you, graphic arts. - - - - FORCED EXPOSURE: Get down with Mike Basher, friends! Here's an interview with Mike conducted by Rad Collector. Hands down, one of the best product photography rats I've been lucky to work with. He put the glow into Snowboard Mag these last six seasons with his incredible gear shots. Seriously good stuff. Hire him, readers. Not a mean bone in his body, either. Family man, too. Mike Basher, people. Dig it. - - - - LEIGH DUG THIS ONE UP: "Bizarre Kid's Book Illustrations." Some weird stuff in there. - - - - BEEN SITTING ON THIS ONE FOR SOME TIME: Japanese Industrial Expo Posters. (Thank you for sending in, Janeen!) - - - - YES, I'M WAY LATE IN THE GAME ON THIS ONE: But hell, that's kinda standard policy around here. If you haven't seen it, you should. Here we go: Another look inside Wayne Coyne Manor, Flaming Lips category, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Adopt me, Wayne. I'll cut the grass and clean the backyard dragon thing. You could take me on the road too, selling shirts and taking tickets. Always the coolest shit. (Ryan Werth originally sent this one in, like, forever ago. He's on the ball. We aren't. Thanks, man.) - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. The Sea and Cake - S/T
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It's Saturday and Gary and I are in the shop, hammering on one hell of a list. Nice and quiet around here. Not a soul in the building, or blowing up the phone lines. Silence. Just what we needed to hear.
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It's Friday and we're busy. All kinds of stuff on the radar. Looking forward to what the weekend brings, really. - - - - THE "COLLECTION A DAY, 2010" BLOG IS STILL GOING STRONG!: Check out these incredible eraser tins. Man. - - - - OVER ON FIELDNOTESBRAND.COM: An incredible memo book specimen from The Mean Streets of Rutland, VT. Man, so nice. Would've filled up a 100 of them, if I had the chance. Give me that chance, Vermont. - - - - IT'S FRIDAY, AND HE WHO GOES BY "ORVILLE ESOY" COMES IN HOT WITH THIS ONE: The Prettiest Way To Learn About Satellites. Pretty incredible. Beautifully done. Thanks for sending in, man! - - - - ON THE PLAYER: (STUCK IN THE "N" SECTION..) 01. The Night Marcher - See You In Magic
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I got the full run down from Lovejoy last night. The whole story from my buddy. Catching up on the last couple months of shit. He's a peculiar little fuckerface, and to illustrate this, let me show you his latest purchase for his humble abode: "A cobra locked in mortal combat with a mongoose." How about that shit? He said it smells exotic, whatever that means. Like weird spices, or something. Interesting. Come by the shop soon, Lovejoy. I miss ya. Oh yeah, that amazing squirrel you are seeing up above, well, Lovejoy found it. Great score. - - - - THIS ONE JUST MAKES ME WANT TO LOAD UP THE VAN AND GO: All the state tourism logos in one spot. Hell yes. (Plucked off the Coudal Daily Signals digital feed.) AN OLDIE BUT GOODIE: "The gallery of air fresheners in junker cars." - - - - ANOTHER COOL ONE FROM COUSIN SCOTT: A subway map of our human body. - - - - THE KIND OF STUFF DALE SENDS ME: A new Liars video. Interesting stuff. Good song, too. Watch it all the way through. Just like Dale said. I'm kinda blown away by this one. Pretty interesting thinking going on there. Bravo, you Liars. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Düngen - Ta Det Lugnt
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So get a call from Leigh this afternoon and she's in stranded in a visitor center parking lot at Mount St. Helens. Big S the Passat Wagon blew a back tire. Great. So I get on the horn with the insurance people in the cool triangular building on Sandy. Or so I think. 15 minutes later, on hold, I realize that the advertisement playing over and over on the "on hold" recording is from AllState, not State Farm. Wrong insurance agency. Great. I call my State farm people and they dig up a couple towing services in the greater Castle Rock, Washington area. Great. First guy I talk to, after carefully explaining the situation, pauses for a long time and says in a gruff, ornery tone, "Don't know if I want to do it. Was just about to go home." Great. I call the next place and they can't change a spare, due to insurance problems. Great. Third guy I call is from Longview, some 20 miles down the 5, and they agree to do it. "We've got a guy leaving right now, sir." they say, and I breath a sigh of relief. Kinda great. So then a half hour later, I get a call from Leigh and she says "We can't find the bolt. The lug nut lock thing. Nowhere to be found. Nope." Great. It's gone? Huh? Wha'? But, I made triple sure the guys who changed my last set of tires put the thing back. I swear i did. Great. So I have her scour the rig, and I start backtracking. The last tires I had changed were at the Les Schwab out on Sandy and 120something, and... And I call them, and there's no lug nut lock thing in their junk drawer and I'm one S.O.L. S.O.B. Great. Big S' tires need one of those 10 star lug nut lock thingies, and need it bad, or else. Thanks, Volkswagen. Great. I start calling Volkswagen dealers. And each "parts expert" knows what I precisely talking about, but one dealership after another doesn't have my part in stock, and the last guy says, "The computer says the closest one is 167 miles away in Seattle." Nice to hear. Great. So I try one last joint, up in Vancouver. "Yeah, we've got one here, but it isn't for sale." I plead with him, and promise him a long, long life and good health. He offers to let me use it, if I leave Gary for collateral, or a credit card. Great. So it's traffic time in Portland, and I jump in the van and start my way up Sandy (which takes fucking forever at 5:13 PM) and up to 205 North (which is jam-packed with turds heading back to Vancouver) and then across the Columbia River and into Washington (which is the home of singing acts like Mudhoney and Queensryche) and find the world's last Volkswagen dealer, and the guy has the lug nut lock thingamajig waiting for me on the counter. Really great. I jump on the 5 and hump it up to Kelso, find Big S in a Sears parking lot, get the jack, lay down on the cement, it starts to rain, I jack up the car and proceed to change the tire with surgical precision and NASCAR speed. The girls walk up, having just finished a festive meal from the Sears Auto Shop vending machine, and they are good to go. Great. I drive the hour back to Portland and go right to the shop, to pick up where the fuck I left off. Great. All this shit, all five hours of it, adds up to this: Whole day, shot to shit. Great. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. "Fresh Air" on NPR, on the way up.
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What a poster, eh? Yet another incredible image from the Eric Baker morning blast. I was thinkin' of you man, when I landed into JFK a couple nights back. If my flight was to get all messed up, I was gonna come into the city, stay with friends, and come visit you in the morning, completely unannounced. Just like that. Thank you, sir! Be warned. - - - - TALKING TURKEY: Here's a cool sticker James from 10Engines came across. I miss Iowa. It's been awhile since I've been there. Makes me a little sad. - - - - LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WE ARE FLOATING IN SPACE: My buddy George up in Puget Sound found a cool one here showing how the International Space Station came together. That's up above us. Think about that. - - - - ALWAYS HAVE "BAGS" ON THE MIND: Here's a nice bag from The United Kingdom. - - - - GIVE ME LIBERTY, OR GIVE ME A BUTTON WITH IT ON IT: Just like it says, Patriots: "Souvenir and Promotional Pinbacks Featuring the Liberty Bell." You know who found this one? I did. - - - - THERE'S BEEN A STRING OF DDC MERCH ORDERS COMING IN: And we just want to say thanks to you guys. Much appreciated. Orders were shipped yesterday and today, Dale willing. Watch those mailboxes. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Spiritualized - Let It Come Down (RIP, Mr. Fuchs.)
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Back, and settling into a long March. I hope it's long. With all that travel and wildness in February, the month whipped by a little too fast for our liking. Slow it down, March. And hey, Randy Jones, thanks for sending in the cool dachshund burlap sack shown above. Can't go wrong with wiener dogs. King of the breeds, of which all dogs descend from. Long, proud lineage. I'm working on a mountain of stuff, and when I can, I'll show you some of it. Real proud to be rolling up the sleeves for all these guys. - - - - I JUST LOVE SEEING THIS: A nice set of ads for Hewlett-Packard. Great, great stuff, and pulled off so well for such a big advertiser. Gives ya some hope for this business. - - - - SHOPPING FOR A NEW CAR: Go through some of these advertisements, to help narrow yer search. - - - - ALWAYS HAVE "BAGS" ON THE MIND: Here's a nice bag from The United Kingdom. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Maserati - Inventions for the New Season
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Got up early at Cabell's house, Puck came over and we all headed over to Joe's Inn for a hearty breakfast, Richmond style. We chowed down! No waiting! Fast service and fast talk. Awesome. Said goodbye to the ever-inspiring Mr. Harris and headed over to the North American Hand-Made Bicycle Show. My mind is blown. Some beautiful stuff in there! Incredible craftsmanship and this contagious spirit of independence with all of it. People, taking matters into their own hands, and making it work. We dig. Felt a little out of place, but savored the good design. I mean, hell, I live in such a kick-ass bikin' town and I rode my bike like two times or something this last summer. That's dumb. This summer: More time on a bike. Get the ticker pumping some. Puck's a BMXer, so he knew a bunch of cats walking around the show. Portland was representin' too. Vanilla bikes were there, and were the highlight of the show, in my humble, Portlandized opinion. Great, great stuff. My old buddy Jered from Cinco did the type for it years ago, and man, they have such a great, stoic spirit all over their bikes. Impressive. More Portland action. Got a handshake from one Chris Distefano from Chris King Precision components. He reads the site and came up to introduce himself. So cool. Just freaks you out to have a stranger come up and instantly have a connection. Pure awesome. Thanks for the good words, Chris! Even more Portland! Met Slate, too. Hell, I think I've met the guy like 12 times, but you know, we run hot in Portland. Nice cat, with a great bike brand called Rapha. Best design of the show! Tight accessories and clothes for the cycling world. Great photography and type, too! I just love this shit. I have absolutely no connection to the bike world, but appreciated the hell out of the stuff we checked out. The only dick we came across was some tall Euro guy from Brooks seats. He didn't like me looking at their catalog, of which there was a big pile of them sitting there for the taking, and like we care. Nicest seat I've ever saw, hands down. Which got me thinking: I should commission them to make me a big tractor leather seat for my big butt that I can switch out with the seat on my Aeron chair. Hey big tall Euro guy: Stay the fuck out of Portland! There you go. Thanks for taking me, Puck! And then I hopped a flight the fuck out of Richmond, and am transmitting these words from 34,000 feet, high above a sleeping Wisconsin. What a world. - - - - RECOMMENDED BY PUCK: Richmond's Slaughterama! - - - - HEY RICHMOND: Thank you! To Puck for the hospitality, to Cabell for the inspiration, great dinner and bed to crash in, to the good people of the Richmond Ad Club for having me, to Josh Leutz for being all kinds of kick-ass, to Kira the eco-hippie for the rides, to the Commonwealth Suites for such a nice room, to judge Samantha Warren for the web knowledge, to Tyler for the Uncle Tupelo knowledge, to Jeff Fucking Dryer just because and to all the cool folks we chatted with at the bike show.
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A busy one. All day. Just wrapped up our big business of judge action and now we're gonna go eat like kings somewhere here in Richmond. Really.
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February 26, 2010
Posted at 11:48 AM
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I'm broadcasting this transmission from the 11th floor of the Commonwealth Park Suites in downtown Richmond, just a couple blocks from the capital. Got a busy day lined up, but will be thinking about this kind of stuff all day long: 01. That pesky Jefferson Davis and his Confederacy. - - - - EXCITED AS HELL FOR THIS ONE: Jess Gibson has a new film up, and you don't want to miss it. It's called "AFOL A Blocumentary." Get in there and get building. Bravo, man! I helped out with the titles, which was my first foray into the moving pictures world, aside from my little video clip thing that Jess wrecked my life with. Hell yes, Jess! When I get back from Richmond, we have to hit the junkin' circuit around Portland hard. I'm itching for a good estate sale. - - - - SOME DEDICATION TO MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT STUFF: "Man spends 30 years creating model of Herod's Temple." Holy moly. Incredible stuff. (This link is from Schille Enterprises, Chicagoland.) - - - - SOME INCREDIBLE WORK HERE, READERS: Madison, Wisconsin's very own, Swink Inc.! Really nice stuff. Pay special attention to their vectors. Some great logos in there. Midwest! (Sent in by Tom, and we thank him.)
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At precisely 11:55 in the A.M. today, I'll be hopping a big jet plane over to Atlanta, then up to Richmond, Virginia for the weekend. I'm going to the Richmond Ad Club for their annual advertising competition. I'm a judge for the deal, which is fun as hell. I look forward to meeting my fellow judges and hearing their stories. Fun stuff. I'll be bringing my loose credentials and some tall tales. I need to figure out a title for myself. "Grand Supreme Desktop Publisher" or "Coordinator of Dale Services" or "Director of Graphical Artistry" for when I introduce myself. I need something. I'll prob'ly just use the tried and true, "I'm in the graphic arts." Plus, I'm gonna hang with Virginia Gentleman Cabell Harris from Work Labs and a guy called, "Puck." You bet. Might even be able to squeeze a little junkin' in on Sunday, if it's in the cards. I'm a little leary to jump on the plane, after the 14 flights (count 'em) I took over the last three weeks with Denver, ISPO, Berlin, Rome and back and forth and all. Lots of take offs and touchdowns. Nervous DDC. - - - - WAY ORANGE, MAN: A sweet orange Lambo frame thingie. I found this one on the web. - - - - DAMN, I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THIS ONE: I've been waiting to see Crazy Heart for some time now. You know, a little bit of buzz here and there and it sticks to yer ribs and you get excited. The whole "hardened honkytonker who turns his shit around" story is so predictable. But maybe they'd hit on something new with it? A twist. Something memorable? Leigh and I went and saw it late last night on 82nd Avenue, and man, what a trite piece of crap. It just hurts to even write that. I just had such high hopes. How would they handle the "lonesome rambler" cliché? The answer: As predictable as ever. Yawn. And man, fuck Colin Farrell. Painful. They'll hire anybody for this stuff. In all fairness, Mr. Bridges was pretty good overall, as is he is all his movies, but, in my half-ass estimation, a bit confined in the painful caricature of the "aging-countrified-honkytonk-hard-drinking-don't-know-my-kids-kind-of-rambler" thing. Does that shit even exist? Just a cartoon, more or less. There was no twist to this one, and I want my money back. And I swear I heard Chip from the Backslider's voice in a song. I guess it was actually Bridges' voice, which, is pretty impressive. Goddamn "Abe Lincoln." Now there's a song. Ryno, I'll learn it, I'll learn it. I'll be ready for ya. - - - - I'M A DICK FOR WRITING WHAT I WROTE UP ABOVE, SO HERE'S SOMETHING TO TAKE YER MIND OFF ALL THAT VITRIOL: Here's a calm, cool collection that Chicago's very own Derek Schille was nice enough to send in to us: "The Most Beautiful Pulp Magazine Cover Art We've Ever Seen." Just like it says. Leigh, my sweet little honeysuckle rose, you'll dig this one. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Backsliders - Southern Lines
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SOMETHING YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS: "Straight Outta Shermer: The John Hughes Archive." The latest issue of Vanity Fair has an incredible article about John Hughes, and his illustrious film and writing career, and what he did after he hit the big time. Leigh brought the issue over to Germany for me. A great story, and candid look into his private life. You'll notice a little memo book we've got something to do with on page 263 of that article that will ring a bell too. So that slideshow above, it shows some of the fascinating mementos from his estate, and when you get to slide 6, well, you'll recognize the name in the caption. Which leads me to something I haven't really spoken too much about on this blog... John and I were buddies, having met through this site, his love for Field Notes, and the fact I had Uncle Buck at No.09 on my Master List on my "Movies We Dig" page, which, painfully needs to be updated. And when I'm ready, with his son's James and John Jr.'s approval, I'll tell you guys the whole story about how I met the Mr. Hughes. And it's going to make you smile a big ol' toothy grin. You bet. Stay tuned on this one. Now go watch Plains, Trains and Automobiles with someone you love. Shower curtain rings, friends. (The photo of the bronzed Del shoes was shot by the amazing Dan Winters for Vanity Fair, and reproduced here without so much as a shred of official authorization, so we hope no one is bummed on us for our reckless ways.) - - - - ALL THIS TALK ABOUT VANCOUVER ON THE AIRWAVES: Go back in time with this one that Canada's very own Steve St. Pierre dug up. Vintage Vancouver signage. Yowza, eh! Thanks, man. - - - - BREAKING NEWS FROM MADISON, WIS.: Wilco to become honorary Madison citizens. Can't help but think this is cool as hell. Go Midwest! - - - - ON THE PLAYER: On a nasty Swervedriver kick today... 01. Swervedriver - Raise
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Busy as hell, workers. See yesterday's list and cry for us. Whatever it takes, whatever it takes. So much fun stuff to dig into. So little time! - - - - ANOTHER REASON WHY I LOVE COMING HOME: This photo brought a tear my eye. Incredible. In the office of all offices, a little boy touches the President's head, checking in on his haircut. Best thing I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work, Mr. President. I believe in you! - - - - SELL IT TO THE PEOPLE, MR. PRESIDENT: An incredible poster for the Public Option Initiative: Keep America Healthy! (Thanks, Cousin Scott!) - - - - TURN IT UP: A new The Hold Steady record is in the bag, on the way to us May 4th. Heaven is Whenever, people. We dig. - - - - ON THE PLAYER: 01. Midlake - The Courage of Others
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February 22, 2010
Posted at 07:44 AM
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Back, and happy as hell to be home, in a land where you get ice cubes in your fuckin' table water. God Bless America, etc. The whole time I was there, I had my G10 around my neck. That's the way I do it. Tourist style. That's the way I do it all the time, more or less. Here's some Flickr sets from the our Euro Romp. Ready for inspection! 01. "DDC Euro Tour 2010 - Münich, Germany" 02. "DDC Euro Tour 2010 - Berlin, Germany" 03. "DDC Euro Tour 2010 - Rome, Italy" 04. "DDC Euro Tour 2010 - Colico, Italy" And hell, my lady Leigh made one hell of a set too. In lots of ways, way better than the crap I shoot. Good work, girl! Leigh's Euro Flickr set: "Berlin-Rome-Colico." - - - - BUSY AS SHIT, ON ALL KINDS OF COOL STUFF: 01. A dreamy record for the Chuck Prophet Entertainment Enterprise. As well as, 11. High level negotiations with an incredible blue band here in town. ON THE PLAYER: 01. Friends of Dean Martinez - Retrograde
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February 21, 2010
Posted at 10:55 PM
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Just miserable as shit, packed on that big plane. Our flight from Milan to Newark was more or less bearable, all 10 hours of it. We were stocked up with iPhone movies, so shit went fast flying up over that big Atlantic Ocean. Looking down out my window and seeing the water...from 39,000 feet. Man. What a world. The flight went well. They keep you busy with snacks and stuff, so that was cool. - - - - WHAT I WATCHED, WHILE PACKED IN LIKE SARDINES: 01. The Agony and the Ecstacy Landed in the U.S.A. for a five hour layover Newark. Highlight of this part was seeing La Bamba from Conan strolling to his connection. Gave him a fist pump and he pointed and smiled. In the year 2000, man! Then we hopped our flight back to Portland, for another five hour hell ride. Excruciating. I was packed into my window seat. No room for nothing. Large man in a small seat. Leigh next to me, digging her knees into my thighs, elbowing my girth, and looking at me with a "Not my problem, man." look in her eyes. Needed a big shoe horn to pry me out of that fucking contraption, upon landing in Portland. So cramped and messed up. It sure was nice to be home. To see little Gary's little face. Man, worth a million bucks.
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February 20, 2010
Posted at 09:42 PM
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Spent the day on beautiful Lake Como with Martino and Claudio. Breathtaking day. Bluebird skies, snowcapped mountains and happy Italians. An incredible place. Had such a nice day, then took a long, long nap and had a final supper with Martino and family. They were off to Mattissimo that night to snowboard the next morning, so we said our goodbyes. Thank you, Martino! Beautiful house! Beautiful Claudia! Beautiful Giulietta! Ciao, gratzi!
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February 19, 2010
Posted at 11:40 PM
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Got up early and caught a cab to the train station where we hopped a high-speed rail up to Milan. Fast as hell! Smooth sailing. Incredible. In Milan we caught a connector train that took us up to Union buddy Martino's town of Colico. Up Lake Como's eastern shore, all the way up. Matteo from Twinex picked us up at the train station and shuttled us up the mountain to the Martino Fumagalli compound. Little Giulietta was having a birthday party with all the little squirts from her class. 15 little Italian rugrats, running around and screaming, eating cake, going apeshit. So awesome. So loud. Happy Birthday, Giulietta! Seven! We had a nice meal downtown after the party and called it a night, catching up on sleep in Martino's guest house. This little town is something else. So beautiful. Plus, I'm just glad to be back in "the town with the incredible stairs." See above. My favorite part about coming here. Just incredible. Thank you, Colico.
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February 18, 2010
Posted at 04:39 PM
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We had our final day in Rome today. I'll be sad to leave. I don't get to play tourist too much. If I'm on a roadtrip in the states, that's about as close as I get. But hell, more and more those days are about driving all day, and then holing up in some Motel 6 to address client requests. But hell, we've had five good days here in Rome. No riff raff. No sweaty calls. No threats. Just me and the dame, pounding around the city, spending shiny, colorful Euro like they are going out of style. I got myself a new wallet here in Rome. Orange! Imagine that. That's one thing I splurged on. All of 40 Euro. Otherwise, I could give a fuck about the new European styles, shoes or whatever. Yawn. Thank you, Rome. You were incredible.
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February 17, 2010
Posted at 04:38 PM
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Another great day in Rome! Seeing so much stuff. Too much to list.
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February 16, 2010
Posted at 11:09 PM
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My mind is jam-packed while we tour Rome. Thinking about stuff like: - Christians being martyred.
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February 15, 2010
Posted at 11:09 PM
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Up early and on our little tour bus appropriately titled, "Ciao Roma." Let's do this. Me made it across town and got off at the Vatican City. We blasted past the hucksters selling tours and fast-track group guides and jumped in line with the hordes waiting to get in. The line went very fast and before we knew it, we were in and through security, staring down those wild Swiss guards. So good. Lots of purple. We picked between two lines: The first was for St. Peter's Basilica and the second was for the Pope Tombs underneath everything. We headed for the tombs. "Hats off, tourists. Sacred place!" My stinky orange 6-panel DDC action cap was enough to get Vatican security fired up. I mean, the thing smells like an old sock as is, but hey, like I know any better? We walked past tombs of Pope long, long passed on. From centuries ago. And then you walk up on Pope John Paul's tomb, and it hits you. These were people. Religious leaders, sure. Saints, maybe. But Karol Józef Wojtyła was a person. Living, breathing. And here were his remains. It's a lot to take in, and in a short, short time. The Vatican guys shoo you along quickly. "No pictures!" (I snapped a couple off. Our little secret.) Then you walk up to St. Peter's tomb. Now, let's just get a couple things straight here: Whatever yer belief system, you have to honor the history behind the one they call St. Peter. Here's a guy who was right there with Jesus. One of the 12 apostles. Walked on water for a bit, until his faith wavered. Not bad. I was raised in this stuff from my earliest memories. Catechism, sunday mass, communion, a stint in Catholic School and confirmation. And that's where it ended for me. I graduated high school and moved Out West, with the heathens. And it was great. So standing there, you just have to stop for a second and weigh the history before you. One of the 12 apostles, man. Whatever the story, or version of it, or non-version of it, you subscribe to, you have to respect the billion followers of the Catholic church. St. Peter. "The Rock." Right there in front of us. Wow. So then you come out, and you enter into St. Peter's Basilica. I'll spare you my halfwit two cents on it. And on a little deal called "The Sistine Chapel." You might have heard of it? So incredibly powerful and beautiful and historical and magical and... ...and you just have to see it. Whatever you believe, it's hard not to be moved by this stuff. I cobbled together a prayer for my parents, Gary, my passed-on grandparents, sister Sarah, sister Leah, Leah's baby on the way, even Jacob my almost brother-in-law and a couple other yahoos on the master list. This place just makes you think. I haven't thought like that in a long, long time.
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Up early and out of the "Berlin Box" and out to the airport. Tegel Flughafen, motherfuckers! Goodbye, Germany, you big beast. All scary and stuff. Man. Heading down to Rome, Italy. Gonna be my first time, and Leigh's first time. Way excited. Pretty glad to be leaving Berlin. A little too much for me up there. World War and Cold War. Heavy history, all around. We got down to Rome on a rather cramped Air Berlin flight, and hopped a shuttle bus into the city. First thing that came to mind: "All roads lead to Rome." I'm thinking on that one a whole lot, as we whip into the city, whizzing by open fields, rolling hills and the occasional palm tree in the distance. We found our sleeping quarters right away, passing up ANCIENT ruins on the side of the road, just sorta "mixed in" with everything else. We got settled and hit the city on foot... ...walking along the Circus Maximus, thinking about Roman Chariots in a race for their lives. ...up and past the Constantinople gate, thinking about conquests, war and peace. ...around the Coliseum, thinking about gladiator battles, mock naval battles and wild beasts being "hunted" and slayed for citizen enjoyment. Oh yeah, and the occasional Christian martyrdom. But the latter is up for debate regarding "what went down in the coliseum." Heads, likely. ...up to Trajan's Column, thinking about this one from Art History class so long ago. ...past the awe-inspiring Vittorio Monument, towering over the city. ...and back to the hotel. All this, in like, a couple miles. Incredible. At a loss for words.
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February 14, 2010
Posted at 11:08 PM
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We signed up for a "hop on/hop off" tour bus deal today, just to get as many stops in as possible. It's one thing to hoof it, but it's another to be dropped off at all the joints you are hoofing it to. We caught the bus thing off Kurfürstendamm, and took the first or second drop off at Potsdamer Platz. Had some chow. Got back on the bus and got dropped off at the Jewish Museum. Heavy. I'm just gonna refrain from trying to describe this joint. Beautifully-designed. Powerful. After the Jewish Museum, we hit the open air Topography of Terror exhibit. It charts the rise of the Third Reich, their systematic expulsion and persecution of all opposing parties, their grabbing of the power, and then how they used it, all the way to the end. 1933-1945. Animals. Heavy, again. This stuff just sinks into you in the oddest ways. It's hard to rebound from this stuff. But I don't think I'm the only one who'd say, "Every single human being should see this stuff." Sorry if that sounds trite, but you walk away feeling pretty down, yet thankful, and scared, and generally awestruck any of it actually took place like it did. For as long as it did. How official it all was. How documented. How America ignored this and that. How citizens turned a blind eye. The fear apparatus. Horrible times, and, not long ago, when you think about it.
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February 13, 2010
Posted at 11:04 PM
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Bob flew back to Santa Clara today, and Leigh flew in. It was great to wake up to my lady knocking on my "Berlin Box" door. Leigh and I hit the city good and early and hit Checkpoint Charlie, then over across the city to the big scary TV tower and then hit the highlight of the day: An "Ost" store. Basically, the store only sold stuff from those good 'ol "East Berlin" days. They had a couple cases of vintage products from the other side of the wall, and man, the simple, utilitarian packaging had me drooling. Incredible, and, scary as hell. So rudimentary and, uh, "state-run" or "state-sanctioned" or whatever. Just, scary. Rather devoid of personality. In all honesty, it makes me take a long, hard look at the spartan design from these eastern bloc countries in a new way. It's one thing to be inspired by the simple, clean, to-the-point designs from the other side of the world, but, to be up close to it, I couldn't help but be completely terrified. I grew up in America. Plenty of this, plenty of that. Freedom, for the most part. One kind of pickles. One kind of hair spray. And so on. I'm probably wrong, but that's the feeling you get standing in front of a pile of that East German stuff. Heavy history in Berlin.
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![Get in real close to this stuff.](newhref="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Haeckel_Ascidiae.jpg"){kind=link}