The holidays and whatnot.

Fact: Santa Claus is, in actuality, a thirteen-foot tall barn owl. Who knew?

Happy holidays and all that jazz. I hope all of your debilitating hunger for material things was left somewhat satiated.

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Corner Tour - The Come On Over

Megaupload - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7LIUO7IS
last.fm tags - folk, blues, americana, jazz

Hey! I didn't know I had this on my computer! It's a Christmas miracle!
It's good music to do a lot of nothing to. I mean look at how god damned brown that album art is.

"Would you kiss me if my lips were numb and bloody?"

Tree of Torsos (14" x 17")

A more finished version of that sketch I did a couple of months back. T'was done with pencil and washes of ink and ground-up charcoal.

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Julian Koster - The Singing Saw at Christmastime

Megaupload - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VMBEDIKD
Not last.fm tags - Christmas as hell

Look, guys. I'm in the spirit. An album that everyone should keep in their library purely for the sake of novelty.

Fin.

Well, I'm trying to make my living space look somewhat decent before I leave for the holiday and with no food in my fridge to distract me while I wait for my clothes to come out of the dryer, I suppose I can update the web log.

I illustrated an Aesop's Fable this past month. The Fox and the Grapes, to be specific:

In short, a fox sees a bunch of grapes hanging from a "lofty branch" (For whatever reason). He leaps for them with all of his might but all of his endeavors come up short. He then begrudgingly

shrugs off his desire and walks off, convincing himself that they were probably sour anyway.

The moral? Some people despise and belittle the things they cannot have.

Wise words.

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Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys - Ready for You

Megaupload - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TD29XYZL
Last.fm tags - jazz, swing, vintage, neo-swing, cabaret

Listen to this album if you would like more proof that:
A. I'd be happier in another decade
B. I'm practically a woman

I like it, though! You should, too!

Edit:

F: I listened to that album you last put up.
A: Yeah? And what'd you think?
F: You're pretty gay.

Crowded Hands.

The Songhua River Mammoth: The largest "elephant" in natural history. Fossils have been excavated that suggest that specimens could reach heights of eighteen feet (Larger than a two story building. Christ!).
This was done with an ink dropper on a stained canvas that measures 3' x 2 1/2'. Oh, and a touch of white acrylic.

An apple for scale!

I got around to documenting some of the work I've done for finals, so I will put them up here in coming days. ...You don't look very pumped. Get pumped.


(I'm updating my blog in the computer lab while there are several people waiting for stations to open up. Hardy har har. I'm a bastard.)

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The Mercy Seat - The Mercy Seat

Megaupload - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PPGV8CML
last.fm tags - gospel-punk

Back in the late 80s, the Violent Femmes broke up for a few years, giving frontman/God nut Gordon Gano the opportunity to find some other God nuts to be God nuts with. And he did. And what they did together was make a "gospel-punk" album that is most certainly worth listening to.
For everyone out there who likes hyphenated punk as much as I do.

New fangled technology.

Well, I have nothing to do in the last day of my Adobe Illustrator class, so why not upload the work I did for it this semester that I didn't completely hate? Yeah, I think it's an alright idea, too.

Originally going to be an ink piece, but I GUESS NOT! I had a final assignment to think of.

The assignment for this was to illustrate a line of text from a book by Murakami.

I have oodles of work that is a little more "me" to throw on here. But the day I do that will be when I work up the effort to get some decent-quality pictures of it. Oh, and when this miserable week of finals is over. Oh, God, when will it be over?

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Bottle Up & Go - These Bones

Download - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J2IH19C3
last.fm tags - blues, indie, funk, alternative

Well, I happen to have this on my thumb drive, and I was thinking of uploading it anyway. It's like blues...but loud! And uhh...ELECTRIC GUITARS!

I've been abusing the Caps Lock today. I'm so sorry.

Dragons and N'Orleans.

Hey.

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Sketches of an Amorous Window - The Palmetto Boudoir

Download - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JXCUYBVH
last.fm tags - murder ballads, old country, early jazz, folk

A kindly, anonymous stranger happened to send this music my way. I'm not excessively confident in the tracklist, but hey! It's music. You love music!
From the same folk who've brought you Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship? Give it a listen! They cover Sally's Song, for those of you who have a soft spot for the Nightmare Before Christmas.

(Also, that ain't the album art. I'm scum, I know.)

------------------------

...

And because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want:

Mailbox love.

Some stuff:

Cougar skull done with ink-soaked thread pressings.

An exercise of motion. Pretend it's 6' x 6'...That's an easy way for this to be appear impressive.

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Beat Circus - Boy From Black Mountain

Download: Removed by artists' request
last.fm tags - dark cabaret, circus, gothic americana, freak folk

Beat Circus' third album that came out back in October. Ugh, so good.



Also, this past weekend, I've been listening to a lot of Tom Waits' new live album, Glitter and Doom (Came out this past week). I'd normally host it here, but I'm far too in love with that man to illegally post any of his music and run the risk of him finding out and hating me. Also, Anti- Records is probably legitimate enough to yell at me for doing so.
Besides, I'm sure that you'd only have to spend a handful of minutes on Google Blog Search to find it. I mean, come on...it's Tom Waits, for crying out loud. Now go download/buy it and listen to the awesome rendition of Shoot the Moon. Awesome omelet-making music, I tell ya.

"You can't eat some place that is also on fire."

More friction.

You're looking at the blog of one terrible blogger.

"I really like greyhounds! They're like little dinosaurs!"

This "bison" follows the "giraffe" in my previous post. I'm kind of going for a lazy "Surrealist Menagerie" series. Or something...

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Brown Bird - The Devil Dancing

Download - http://www.mediafire.com/?mykm4nomybj
last.fm tags - folk, singer-songwriter, mellow, acid folk

Recommended by/stolen from Maxwell.
Maybe one day, tags on last.fm won't be so silly.

Friction.

As of late, I've been giving my pencils a lot of love.

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The Dutchess and the Duke - Sunset / Sunrise
Megaupload - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IVV0GQS9
Last.fm tags - folk, indie folk, americana

An album that I cared about the release of? Unheard of! I'll throw their first album on here at some point, too. It's also good.

Those punk kids.

"I'm calling you because I had a beautiful day today, and I thought you'd appreciate it..."


Why work on that massive project due tomorrow when I could update my blog?!

One unsettling post.

I am an illustration major, if my subject matter doesn't make it grossly apparent.

This doodle sort of inspired the former.

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Comus - First Utterance

download - http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=ea85ef9c099eb16d4c17ca8801618ef75c6af85c4be57c95ea4ac78345cbe4ce

last.fm tags - progressive rock, psychedelic folk, experimental

The album that sort of inspired the doodle that sort of inspired the former.

I'm a stah, baby. A stah.

Look! I do commissions now. I designed a laptop skin for someone! Yeehaw.

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Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship? - Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship?

http://www.mediafire.com/?xtcmhgwggmm
last.fm tags: new orleans, new weird america, punk brass

I'm lazy and I just went to Liz's blog and stole the album that is missing one track. If I ever work up the effort to track down the complete album, I'll throw it on here. Regardless, this album is quality stuff. Why is it that everything awesome I've been listening to lately comes from New Orleans? Oh, right. Because New Orleans is apparently an awesome sacred haven of hobo punks.

Mhm.

Unsubstantial titles.

Agh, I haven't been keeping up with things, have I? I've been working on a lot of different things...It's just that a lot of those different things haven't been completed yet. ...D-does this mean I'm a real artist now?

But until that happens, here's another flier I put together!

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Blackbird Raum - Swidden

http://www.mediafire.com/?phszm3a3n4c
last.fm tags: gypsy punk, riot folk, anarchist

Practically everyone in my inner circle is in love with this band. And for good reason. They're doing everything I want to be doing with music. This band is in the midst of releasing a new CD, so stay on the lookout for it. I'm more than confident it will kick all varieties of ass.

Meticulous markings.

The Nature Tree During the Great Revelation



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The Inkwell Rhythm Makers - Olla Podrida

mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?ze3lhomtm03
last.fm tags: oregon, folk, folk punk, punk folk

People on last.fm are idiots. This is just good, wacky ragtime blues. I don't know if I prefer it over their first album that I posted earlier; I'm just thrilled that I was able to track this down.

"We don't know where this animal is going."

Here's some things.

I was at SUNY Purchase for a chunk of this weekend. They have some really handsome trees there.

I made this flier for a show going down in Boston. Both current acts are quality stuff so if it's within your ability, you should go! C'mon, it's free music.

The Disappointment

More stuff to come...

Wood Spider has new music!

Wood Spider - The American Cassette

Mediafire - http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fnytynzwjhz
last.fm tags - vaudeville, gypsy, folk, cabaret, gypsy punk, awesome

Download this! It's a cassette-recorded set of new songs Mike and I put together as an online download. Listen to it and bask in all of its poor-quality, clipping goodness!

Viva Wood Spider!

(I did the cover for this, so the integrity of the art blog remains intact!)

The greatest place on Earth...

I love the Museum of Natural History.

(Please take note of my handwriting at its downright worst).

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Hurray for the Riff Raff - It Don't Mean I Don't Love You

Mediafire - http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=ea85ef9c099eb16d4c17ca8801618ef7bbe785ec26483552b16e5c9d3b204475

last.fm tags - folk, hobo revival, country, blues, female vocalists

More of this "hobo revival" crap. This album must be listened to on the floor at eight in the morning, while eating a fruit. If you don't, you're not listening to it correctly.

Heavy feet

Well, I really hate Adobe Illustrator...but my class that revolves around the program is a pretty good time. And I'm glad that I've produced at least one piece in it that I don't absolutely hate. I'm pretty sure that number won't increase that much, though.

I'm workin' on a bunch of stuff. Also, I was considering putting an album up, but there's still some almonds in my teeth.

"Sometimes things get lost in the mail forever. But at least you'll always know where they are."
- G. Ainsworth

Where all music fits...

So I guess I'll put some more work up. Jeez, I'm really producing a lot. I'm just too lazy to scan it. Or take photos. Maybe sometime soon.

The Deer God

Madison Square Park Tree Study
(I think I'm going to fill that sketchbook up with a lot more tree studies)

Ugh, the image upload is taking too long. Rest assured that I got a lot of crap to put up.

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In other news, I've never been so happy with where I am in life. I could go into detail, but eh. Not now. Just rest assured that I love where I live and I love the people that I spend my days with.

Here's a few shots of us gettin' settled.

Nothin' compares to eating 3AM grilled cheeses with good company on the floor while complimenting each other's work to the pluck of a banjo in the corner.

Mighty Django

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The Peculiar Pretzelmen - Uncanny Eyes
mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7d175fdd975ab46fe5c3dee5769931ecd710445db61128bdc95965eaa7bc68bc
last.fm: cabaret, dark cabaret, alternative, new cabaret, avant-garde

Don't know how much those Last.fm tags help, but it's really good. Trust me. If you don't download it, you're lousy.