Best of 2008: Beards, Beards, Beards!

I had forgotten about doing one of these, but Kathy's list got me thinking about how I would award this years music. Well here is the most anticipated top 24 songs of 2008. Yes there are only 24 instead a nice tidy 25 because 2 songs tied for #1. I couldn't decide which band I am in love with more, Bon Iver or Fleet Foxes. So I awarded the top spot to both and it's not just one song, it's the whole album that I am completely in love with. If you haven't heard these, go buy them right now. BUT, you must see or hear them live (even if they are just recordings). There is a great SXSW live set and interview with Bon Iver here NPR SXSW Bon Iver. Then after that go here...NPR FLEET FOXES. You won't be sorry.

1. Fleet Foxes - Mykonos or Winter Hymnal & Bon Iver - Flume
2. Pinpack - Good To Sea You
3. Blind Pilot - Go On, Say It
4. Helio Sequence - Hallelujah
5. Human Highway - The Sound
6. Mates of State - My Only Offer
7. TV on the Radio - Halfway Home
8. Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
9. Sigur Ros - Inni mer syngur vitleysingur
10. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
11. Lykke Li - Tonight
12. Bell - Housefire
13. Ten Kens - Bear Fight
14. Ra Ra Riot - Dying is Fine
15. Dr. Dog - The Old Days
16. Elliot Brood - Write it All Down
17. Michael Franti and Spearhead - Say Hey (I Love You)
18. CSS - Rat Is Dead
19. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Kiss Me Again
20. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
21. Ray LaMontagne - You Are the Best Thing
22. DeVotchKa - The Clockwise Whitness
23. Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Bag of Hammers
24. Say Hi - Northwestern Girls

Baby Shower

On Saturday, Missy and I are going to my favorite cousin Laura's (pictured on the far left of the photo) baby shower. My father and her mother are brother and sister. Our birthdays are 1 month apart. This was taken at a family picnic in Bellingham when we were 7 or so? Not sure. I'm right next to Laura (of course) then Missy is next and Sarah is on the end. It so funny. Our poses are so typical of our personalities, even as adults. Even Sarah's pose is so like her. She has this child like quality, even now.

Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz, originally uploaded by rrgelder0129.

Missy and I are very excited about seeing Annie Leibovitz speak tonight at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. We're going to Wild Ginger for our favorite duck in town before the lecture.

Fleet Foxes Moore Theater Oct. 19, 2008

Working Sunday

Well, it's rainy and overcast here in Seattle today. I'm working on website layouts. This is my first experience working in a coffee shop. I rather like it. It's nice to get out of the house and I feel better able to focus without distractions.

I'm currently listening to Fleet Foxes. I didn't blog about this concert yet. Maybe because it was one of my top 5 most amazing concert experiences ever and I wasn't sure where to begin. Saul bought tickets months before he came to visit. He was able to get us 3rd row seats. I had listened to them before the concert. I wouldn't have said I was a huge fan though. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know they were from Seattle.

Well I can say I am a HUGE fan now. This band is one of those groups that you HAVE to see live to really appreciate them. The music demands your full attention through the whole concert. I'm glad it was a seated concert for that reason. Between each song there was brief clapping but while they played, you could hear a pin drop. Did I mention it was a sold out show? Do yourself a favor and listen to their new cd, it's my favorite CD of the year. I'm going to try to find you tube footage of the show. I'll post it hear if I find it.

Isabella

Corie is the Business Development person over here at RocketDog. She brings her French Bulldog Isabella in on Mondays. Today on a walk, Corie bought a rain jacket for Isabella in preparation for the rainy winter. She didn't like it much.

Fall

I like to walk the hard way to the bus stop every morning. It's up hill all the way. There is a large leaf maple on the walk that has shed all its leaves. Leaving the steps up this hill covered :)

1000 Songs

Do yourself a favor and listen to this podcast and buy this book. I was listening to it this morning on the bus to work. It's all great music but the one that stopped me in my tracks was Reinbert de Leeuw version of Satie's Gnossiennes No. 2. I am a HUGE fan of Satie and I love to hear him get exposure, even though he wrote this in the late 1800s.

Go to the link below to listen.

1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die

My new project is to gather all these songs and burn them to a DVD. I might even give them a lucky few as a christmas gift :)

Crashed Car

For the last week or so since I've been working at a firm only 2.5 or so miles down Capitol Hill, I've been walking either to work or home. Depending on if it's raining or not. I try to pick a different route every time. Yesterday on Pine just off 20th I stumbled upon the Girly Man truck. I'm not sure what happened to these vehicles or why they're sitting on a city street. But it was entertainment for me as I walked home...

my future floor

After lunch with my aunt Alice a few days ago I went by the Seattle Public Library to get my new library card and also wait for my sister to come pick me up.

This floor is in the first floor check out area of the library. I thought it was really cool with the letters raised up. There are multiple languages featured but they didn't seem to spell or say anything. It might be something the architect created for the building or maybe it's artwork. Not sure. More investigation may be necessary.

Meanwhile I am legal to check out books from the library. A friend said they have a fabulous collection of music (Seattle, go figure). So that will be the first thing on my list next time I go by.

http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=branch_central_visit_art&branchID=1

Oh! I was right about the artwork. It's by Ann Hamilton. Read about it at the link above...

Stars

Well I am no longer a Seattle concert virgin. Last night my sis and I went to see Stars for my very first Seattle concert ever. It was at a fantastic venue called The Showbox. I don't think it was a sold out show, but there was a TON of people there. We started the night at The Pink Door and had their yummy pappardelle al ragù bolognese and tiramisu. Then we went to The Zig Zag Cafe for a couple drinks before the show. The show was great and we loved the venue. We had alot of fun, maybe too much fun!

Tonight

Tonight I get to go to an actual couture fashion show. The firm I've been freelancing for had me design the event's invitation. The designer is Luly Yang. The event starts at 6 with a pre-party. Then all of us from Rocketdog have runway seats and then we get to go to the afterparty with Luly herself. We even get special Luly Signature gift bags! I'll post photos if I get any with the iPhone. :)

Olympic Fake?

Morning Edition, August 12, 2008 · Millions of people thought they were watching live fireworks as part of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. It turns out, some of those vivid fireworks were computer graphics created by a team of hundreds of Chinese visual-effects specialists who worked nearly a year to pull it off.

NPR Story

I was very disappointed to hear this story. I thought the ceremony was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen on TV.

The Octopus Project, Opolis

Vanessa and I went to OKC on Tuesday after work. We went to dinner at Saturn Grill with Kathy and Layni. Then we went and picked Vanessa's friend Janet up and went over to Opolis to see The Octopus Project.

New BOK Center

This is a photo I took yesterday when David, Holly and I took a tour of the new BOK convention center in downtown Tulsa. Caesar Pelli is the architect on the project. They handed over the keys to the BOK staff today so we got in on the last tour that Manhattan Construction did.

The place is totally amazing. 18,000 seats and state of the art everything. Who cares who is performing, it will be an experience just to go. Even though it doesn't open till after I leave, you can bet that I will be back in March for the College playoffs.

Drive-In

I forgot what a blast the drive-in is. Thom, John, Christie, Nicci and I went the other night when we couldn't get tix to The Dark Night at the IMAX. I finally did see The Dark Night and I highly recommend seeing it in that format. I saw it with Saul and Johnny, who had already seen it twice but thought the IMAX was by far the coolest.

Anyway, we packed some beer in the cooler, blankets and chairs and got there around 8:45. We watched Wall-E but I didn't stay for Hancock. Which I had already seen. I would like to do it again before I leave for Seattle :)

Left Field Project’s RIGHTtoLEFT

Tonight at Artifacts:
Right to Left is an exhibition of multi-media art created by artists that are driving the visual aesthetic of today’s pop culture. The exhibit was conceived and curated by Duane Fernandez of Left Field Project. The tour opened in Carrboro, North Carolina at Wootini gallery on May 9th. The next stop for the show will be Artifacts gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma - Opening reception Friday, June 6th. The show will remain in Tulsa for 2 short weeks before it will make its final trip to the Super7 gallery in San Francisco, California - Opening reception Friday, July 18th.

The show's curator, Duane Fernandez, chose specifically to bring this exhibition to cities that are often left out of the crowd. He says, "Shows like Right to Left are abundant in New York and L.A. There's a huge following of people who appreciate this style in places like, Tulsa, and they rarely get to see these works first-hand."

Contributors include:
Andy Mueller - Andy founded OhioGirl, a small design/photo/film studio.
Morning Breath - Brooklyn based Morning Breath, Inc. was founded by Doug Cunningham and Jason Noto in 2002.
Brian Flynn - Brian founded the San Francisco design studio Hybrid Design and Super7
Andrew Pommier – Andrew is a lad who has always loved painting and drawing.
Ethan Anderson - Ethan is a father, husband, skateboarder, musician, artist and the Vice President / Creative Director of VOLCOM.
Dustin Koop - he is the Art Director for Duane Fernandez - the Creative Director for Left Field Project

Windy Thursday

I left for lunch at noon and ran over to Borders and bought a copy of David Sedaris' new book. He hasn't really come out with anything new since Thom and I saw him speak a few years ago. So I went directly home to my apartment that got power back only yesterday (we had a huge storm on Sunday with 75mph winds) to read. I warmed up a can of soup and got to it. Forty-five minutes later I woke up on the couch with the book on my lap, late for work. It really wasn't boring, I am just still so exhausted from staying at other people's houses while my power was out. I could stay at home during the aftermath of the ice storm because I had heat and hot water, but 75 degree nights without ac is really uncomfortable.

So tonight? I am looking forward to relaxing and reading my book in bed in the comfort of an air conditioned apartment.

Stillwater

I was driving out to my dad's house in Stillwater. The river near the road had just been about a foot over the road for a few days. This was this was the first day it was passable. A strange, small storm had just passed through and as I was passing this farm I saw the rainbow. It was still raining and all I had was my point and shoot camera. But I couldn't get everything in the shot, so I ended up taking 2 similar shots and merging them together. If you look close, you can see the ends of the rainbow.

While I was in Seattle my sis printed a really large version of the image. It looks really cool!

Lola loves nachos

Lola loves nachos, originally uploaded by rrgelder0129.

Price Tower Art Center

Price Tower Art Center, originally uploaded by rrgelder0129.

Graphed judging

Graphed judging, originally uploaded by rrgelder0129.

Its monday!

Its monday!, originally uploaded by rrgelder0129.

HammerPress

HammerPress

This highly renowned little printing company in Kansas City creates “various hand printed ephemera” with a slightly irreverent approach to the traditional craft of letterpress. Their work has appeared in logolounge, Typography 25 and 26, Masters of Poster Design and more. Don’t miss them:

Thursday, February 21
Tulsa Little Theatre
1511 S Delaware Ave
6:30 - 7:30 Social
7:30 - 9:00 Film
Members Free | Students $10 | Non-members $25

more info at artdirectorscluboftulsa.org

Helvetica Film Screening, January 17th

Art Directors Club of Tulsa

The First 50 Attendees Receive a Free Limited-Edition T-Shirt

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. For more information about the film visit www.helveticafilm.com

Join the conversation and see the film with fellow designers and art directors for this special show. Be among the first 50 and receive a limited-edition ADCT-designed Helvetica T-shirt.

Usual day, usual time, different location.

Thursday, January 17th
Location: Circle Cinema
10 South Lewis Avenue (Lewis at Admiral)
Social 6:30 - 7:30 pm
Film 7:30 - 9:00 pm
Members: Free | Students: $10 | Non-Members: $25