This Will Take Some Getting Used To

Okay friends, it's been an excellent weekend, here's what's been happening.

1. Art Fusion 5. Ryan is definitely getting good at this. His collection and curating was at it's finest, in my opinion. His decision to put the regulars (Myself, Pat G, Darryn R, Brian J, and Sam C) in the back worked nicely. I managed to move 9 pieces in total. A huge record breaker for me. Thanks so much for everyone's support.

2. Managed to stop by the pub after for a couple with a solid group and a rendezvous with super support master Brendan, of the Tall Cans, whose song about me was flattering and awesome all in one.

3. Caught a free Sunday afternoon matinee of genius Albert Nerenberg's 'Laughology' at Museum London. Definitely a must see. It's a documentary about laughter without humour, how we all take ourselves way too seriously, and how laughter can be therapeutic, physical exercise, and medicinal. Don't lose your laugh, look this up.

4. After an agreeable steak dinner and some pre drinks, Laura and I made our way to Club Mansion to slide past cover thanks to the super generous hook ups of Laidback Luke and his tour manager Tony Dekker. We managed to get about a hundred dope photos thanks to Tony, who even had Luke pose for a bunch mid-set.

Unfortunately we had several too many drinks and left before our chance to meet Luke. But, Luke played a monstrous set of huge bangers seamlessly mixed for a slightly unappreciative crowd, who although partied their asses of, may have missed some of the subtleties in the mix that made this event so dope.

Laura also managed to get doper photos than I did, maybe cause she's a better photographer than me, maybe cause she's fearless in a crowd of sweaty Jersey Shore extras (not hating, just jokes). Either way, she (and I) had a fuckin blast.

I painted a series of 3, here they are...



Thanks to Laura, Luke and Tony for making that one to remember. Much respect.

5. We woke up hungover as fuck, missed most of our classes, Laura's car broke down. I like to think it was worth it, but we're still yet to see how much the bill is on that one.

6. I also managed to rock out a tribute to everyone's favorite drummer/super producer Quest Love, of the Roots. Here's that.



7. Today I've been working on my Flash Iphone project which I'm about ready to light on fire and throw down the stairs. If anything other than you-know-who makes it tolerable, it's this list of new albums I've run through.

Bonobo-Black Sands
The Bird and The Bee-Interpreting the Master Vol. 1: A Tribute to Hall & Oates
The New Young Pony Club-The Optimist
Jason Collett-Rat a Tat Tat Tat
and
MGMT-Congratulations.

Maybe it's just one of those days where everything sounds awesome, but CHECK THESE OUT. I'm super thankful I got to see Jason turn these out a couple weeks ago, and can't wait to see MGMT at Sasquatch now, and have already emailed Bonobo about his Toronto show. The music of 2010 is gonna be getting better and better.

And anyone who disses the new MGMT needs to get with the times. It's gonna take some getting used to, but I could see myself loving this one WAY more.

Right now I'm on to the new Ellie Goulding. So dope. So dope.

8. Scotty's getting tings together to ride a Greyhound across the continent for Coachella. He's setting up These Lions for you to read, watch and listen to what happens. Stay tuned, this'll probably be Epitome worthy.

9. As Scott prepares for Coachella, the rest of us get ready for Sasquatch, Lollapalooza, Osheaga (maybe), Halifax, and a mission from London to Buffalo to Toronto to Detroit all in one weekend. Get ready for this Summer, gonna be the best one yet.

And James got us rich people camping at Sasquatch! Ha!

10. New hookups from Two Hours Traffic! Some sweet surprises to come! Keep suggestions coming, I'm finally on my career path. Thanks to everyone who helped or stood in the way, you all matter. Some more than others.

The Next One

Lately it's been good day, bad day. For me, and my best friend.

Sometimes it's tough as fuck to remember that seasons are changing, and we just have to let ourselves move one day at a time. Although I've heard it 10 million times, I'd like to thank Mtulazaji of the Freestyle Fellowship for that piece of wisdom, of which he has hundreds of millions.

So I don't know if I can run y'all another ten, but here's a couple.

1. The reason I started this post, was to thank the artists with some weight and status who will still reach out to the up and comers like myself. Arts & Crafts as a record label is how things should be in the music industry, at least as far as how they've dealt with me. They get back to you promptly, respectfully, and they create and appreciate art. And that's what they are about. No wonder so many amazing artists get down with them.

Artists like Sinden and companies like Jeepney that will reach out and help you out when they can. It's beyond dope. Hookup kings. Can't thank them enough.

Of course, conversely, there's people who don't wanna stay grassroots and won't even consider it. People who race to say no. And only tell you why when you keep buggin them. I didn't start this blog to talk shit or be negative, so I won't name names. But keep discouraging people, see how that works out in the long run.

2. Right now, I'm jamming to the Flaming Lips-Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. It makes me wanna skip school and work and find a field of daisies to skip through. Get this album yo! You NEED it!

3. My cousin is a marine. He's tough as nails and he's had the hardest times imaginable lately. And this is his Facebook status:

"Standing duty in chucks, just when I thought shit couldn't any gayer, and for some reason, I'm craving a mcgriddle... The mutha fuckin syrup nugget."

Trooper to the fullest. Much respect to that young gentleman.

4. My plans for forthcoming art lately are gonna be pretty close to the chest. But there's gonna be more musicians, more inspirations, way more colours and shapes, and way more fun. This is what I wanna do with my life, so those who support and encourage, I could never explain how much that means to me. Love you.

5. Laura. Do you know this girl? She is a fuckin ass kicker. Know yourself lucky to be around such an entity of greatness and encouragement. If there's a better girlfriend, bestfriend, sister, daughter, and everything else, the world will likely explode. Laura is proof that there is good in this world, no...great, no...exquisite beauty, inside and out.

She's had some tough days lately, and I hope she knows that I've got her back, cause she's got mine. The look in her eyes when I create something new makes it worth doing. Let's be real, everyone else appreciating means the world, but this girl means the universe and the galaxy and at least five or six neighboring galaxies on top of that.

I encourage you to befriend this exceptional force of awesome, you'll be better than you were before. Just look at me.

Thank you Laura. Not a matter of hours goes by that I'm not thankful for you. Head up, we got this. We make the dopest team and I intend to keep it that way.

6. I just broke every rule of writing for web I've ever learned. Tough shit.

7. Have you heard of Youtube? That shit is fuckin hilarious.

8. This time 2012 I will be at SXSW and you will know my name.

9. I had a bad day yesterday, I'm gonna try not to make a habit of it.

10. The weather's nice. Let's go outside. It's all love.

11. Oh, and she ALWAYS looks good.


Braaap! Look what she made me do, look what I made for you!

43. God damn!

So I kind of like the way the last one of these worked out, so maybe I'll continue with the listing of things, cause, hey, it's easier for YOU.

1. So I've had the last week off, had some super tough family times, special lady off in paradise, which in turn means I have time to paint my ass off. (And in a couple of cases drink my ass off). Anyways I managed to finish 22 pieces this past week, which is gonna be my excuse for not updating this blog, if anybody noted my absence. Don't forget to check em out! and if you ever want anything, don't hesitate to ask for it.

2. When I was in Baltimore a couple years ago, I met some nice fellows from El Jefe Design. I bought a Black Lips, a Melvins, and a Wolf Parade. Shit's dope. Highly recommended.

3. The Girls Can Hear Us are at it again, and finally posted a digital EP for you to download for FREE. So go do that, check out their store too. I'm working on something special and limited edition for them. Wait for it....

4. I'm not really DJing anymore, at least in public, and here's why: I can't be a top 40 crowd pleaser all the time, or even half the time. And people are rude. People treat DJs like the enemy, as if the DJ wants you to have less fun if they are trying to be creative with track selection and not just drop obvious hits. I will probably never STOP djing, but at least take a break. Art is my thing right now, and it's better in that, at least if people don't like it they don't tell me to my face.

5. Woodhands at Moon Over Marin were extremely dope. The funny thing was all the skinny jean scenester grumpyfaces who looked miserable to be somewhere they had obviously chosen to be. Hmm, I don't get it. I though this indie hipster style culture was about originality but seriously, these cats all look the same to me.

6. My ladies of music series took an unexpected turn. Karen O and Amanda Blank turned out beautifully. Emily Haines is aight. Erykah Badu still may or may not work out. Unfortunately there will be no Gina Turner piece. But instead some smaller ones, including the beautiful and super talented likes of Annie, Jenny Lewis, Cat Power, and a couple more surprises.

7. Did everyone see Cloud of Skill Methodz on the Oscars? That dude should've won something for that.

8. I did this for my homey and yours Ryan Somers aka Fritz the Cat of OK Cobra.

There might be some collaborative surprises in the future. Big tings big tings. Seriously though, check out his new album Delerium Tremens. It's dope outta this world. Now now now.

9. So since I've started with portraits, shit's been goin off. Here's who I've done so far: 2mex, Aceyalone, ATrak, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Bubbles, Wu Tang Clan, Chali 2na, Myka 9, Miles Davis, Madlib, Lyrics Born, Lateef, Gift of Gab, The Beatles, Zooey Deschanel, Dave Grohl, Abstract Rude, Scarub, Fritz The Cat, Jenny Lewis, Amanda Blank, De La Soul, The Black Keys, Erykah Badu, Annie, Dwight Schrute, Karen O, J Dilla, Walter from Big Lebowski, Yoda, Aesop Rock, Major Lazer, Eligh and Anna Karina. I'm probably missing a couple, but god damn! I'm pumped about this...if you're not you probably should be!

10. The weather is getting nice. That means frisbee, patios, outdoor painting, biking, swimming, walking, running and uh...FESTIVALS. Everybody get your save on. It's time for us to enjoy eachothers company again. I'm ready.

11. I missed Laura and can't wait to see her.


Peace. Be nice to everybody.