Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Phantoms at the Record Bar

The Phantoms of the Opry guested as the band at the Record Bar this last Tuesday for what will be Country Roulette Second Tuesdays. Cody Wyoming and Paul Andrews played host and shared the stage with us and futures bands. It’s a good time, it’s early, and it’s free.

Slimm Adkins was in attendance and brought his camera. See more photos of us here.

Filed under: music , country music, phantoms of the opry, steel guitar

Ottawa Show

Phantoms of the Opry of which I am a part will be back at the Ottawa Municipal Auditorium on Saturday, January 30. I have tickets to sell if you are interested in the pre-show price of $10.00.

Filed under: music, Uncategorized

We Went to Mexico

Anne and I were in Mexico over Christmas for our honeymoon. We read swam, read books on the beach, and ate ceviche and crickets. See more photos.

Filed under: being married, travel

Does anyone still use blog pages for blogging?

Thus far, my blogging has been almost non-existent. (See my archives.) I’m more likely to post images to Flickr or update my status on Facebook or Twitter. So, I think this blog can work as a portal to those other things. (See links at right.) And maybe I’ll get back to trying to post more often.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Sagmeister

This is self indulgent but I feel it is justified since it’s a follow-up to a topic I wrote about nearly a year ago. Tonight Stefan Sagmeister the graphic designer came to KC for a lecture event on his book tour. A and I went because I’m a big fan. Afterward he signed my book and this happened.

To explain why this happened I need to say that a few friends/co-workers have mentioned in the past that I bare a resemblance to Sagmeister. Two of those people happened to be standing near by. If anything, I think he bares a resemblance to me.

Filed under: design, narcissism , design, graphic, sagmeister, stefan

So Long, No Depression Printed Magazine

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19246307

This was a magazine I loved. It covered the type of music I play and listen to. Then like everything in my life I took it for granted and sort of ended up ignoring it. I guess I’m part of the reason it’s discontinuing it’s printed version. But I will probably always hang on to the copies I have because my bands are featured or blurbed in a few of them. And that bolstered my ego and made me feel good. That attention sort of validated what I was trying to do as a musician even though I wasn’t making any money at it.

Filed under: looking back, music, narcissism, the media , magazine, no depression, print

Happy 50th Lego

http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1707379,00.html

Playing with Legos as a kid taught me how to be creative. Without knowing it at the time, I was learning to be resourceful (I never had all the pieces I wanted so I made work-arounds to get what I wanted.) And I learned how to be in “the zone” of creativity and build for hours by myself. (Years later as a graphic designer I discovered I was doing essentially the same thing only with different tools.) It was always the process of building and not so much the acting out of scenarios that I liked – which is still true today for what I do as a graphic designer and musician.

Filed under: design, looking back, noted observation

“We Brought a Pedal Steel Player with Us”

This past October I toured with the New Amsterdams from Lawrence, Kansas for six days. It’s been a few years since I’ve done anything like that since now I have a jobby job that I like. But since I was a hired gun I for the trip, I was able to take unpaid leave from work. That’s a rare thing.

Because I’m vain, I’m posting a youtube video from that tour (this one’s from a Boston church) by a New Ams fan.

New Amsterdams myspace.

flickr images of the tour.

Filed under: music, narcissism, travel

Christmas Redesign

Studio 360 may be one of the best weekly NPR shows for anyone interested in the creative process. Below is a link to one of my favorite segments and its description from its website.

http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2006/12/22

Studio 360 commissioned Pentagram, one of the country’s leading design firms, to give Christmas a makeover. They came up with a new typeface, color scheme, fir tree surrogate, and a radical proposal to channel the rampant commercialism to good ends. Pentagram partner Michael Bierut presents the plan to Kurt Andersen.

Be sure to check out their visual presentation kit as well!

Side note: I met Michael Bierut (and Kurt Andersen) briefly this last year at an AIGA conference. He is sort of a Wynton Marsalis for the graphic design profession in terms of respect, work, and being an industry spokesman. He’s the media’s goto source for smart commentary for graphic design developments and contributes to magazines like Print and his own shared blog Design Observer.

Filed under: design, noted observation, the media , Christmas, Kurt Andersen, NPR, rebrand, Redesign, Studio 360