Bill Callahan - All Thoughts Are Prey To Some Beast

Great album.

Happy Holidays

I feel kind of bad, letting this blog languish. But I was actually making art so I guess that's good. I'll post pictures this year, I swear. In the meantime, here's this year's Photoshop Xmas cards. The bottom one would be infringing a copyright if I made any money on it. So don't send me money... for that picture. Otherwise, please send money.

Please consider these two attempts at Soviet propaganda style cards as well as my blatant theft of a touching Tim Burton animation moment as my holiday greetings to you.

Bon Iver - Woods

The Universe

Update 12/8/2009: I still don't know what happened but I have been presented with a tedious method for repairing the blog's photos. Please stand by.

My photo links to Flickr appear to have changed. I am attempting to find the original pictures linked so I can re-establish the blog. Otherwise I will keep going on and post some old pictures now and then. How do you rebuild something done so casually over several years? So please bear with me. In the meantime, here's a new picture of a questioning tank:

Infinity

Not an infinity that is just adding more numbers - a higher kind of infinity - the infinity that exists between two numbers.

Some Pictures

Day of the Dead Drawings

These are each 5.5" x 4.25" (I cut them so it's not too horribly precise) and are Sharpie permanent markers, Pilot metallic paint pens, Sharpie Paint Pens (not so much as they're better on less permeable materials and kind of fizzle on paper), and this 12 marker bunch of "Skerple" pens I got for $1.50. I didn't realize they weren't Sharpies until I'd been using them for a couple of hours. I was thinking how crappy the tips were on this batch and how funky the cap colors were and... Oh yeah, that says "Skerple," not "Sharpie." For $1.50 I got a bunch of stinky, permanent water color marker things that look almost exactly like Sharpies.


...and they smell like hell as well.

So anyway, click here to visit the set of my Day of the Dead drawings. Here are a couple of pages for your edification:

Hurdy Gurdy

thanks john

Robo Bat Car

A lovely sunset picture of the car at my brother's farm. The name will change. After a little boy shouted to me as I drove through town, "I like your robo-batcar!" that may, indeed, become the name.

My Favorite Sandwiches

I should have pictures for this but I don't. Sorry.

Here, in no particular order is my list of favorite sandwiches:

1. Onion bagel with cream cheese, spicy sprouts, and slices of fresh, homegrown tomato. (just had that which inspired this post)
2. American Club on wheat. Three slices of wheat bread layered thusly: bottom slice of bread, mayonnaise, turkey, swiss cheese slices, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonaise, middles slice of bread, mayonnaise, ham, American cheese* slices, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonaise, top slice of bread. The mayonnaise should be applied in a thin but substantial layer as this is a major flavor in the combination and it acts as the glue that holds it together. To serve you insert four long toothpicks at the mid point of each side, cut sandwich into quarters corner to corner, and arrange artfully with some potato chips and a couple of dill pickle wedges.
3. Blue cheese and fresh mint leaves on a French sandwich roll with a blue cheese mayonnaise. Key to this is having a fresh blue cheese and newly picked mint. If you don't have time to make the mayonnaise, it's not all that important though it adds a little zing to the flavor and more moistness. Great summer sandwich.
4. The first BLT of the summer.
5. Oyster poboy from Domelisi's [5240 Annunciation St. New Orleans, LA]. If you're in New Orleans and you don't go here (only open for lunch), you are missing a truly old school New Orleans institution, and some of the best food you'll ever put in you mouth. The last time I was there there were four generations of family women making the sandwiches from the pretty young girl taking the orders through to the grandma placing each oyster or shrimp carefully and perfectly so that there was a uniform layer on the bottom piece. The cutting board has a groove in it so deep that it bites into the framing underneath. Shrimp, oyster, or catfish, it will be one of the best sandwiches you'll ever bring to your lips. Smother that puppy in Tabasco, get an ice cold Dixie, and sit and soak in the lively, loose, and openly social noise of New Orleans as it takes a break.
6. Mufelata from Central Grocery in the French Quarter. Actually that should be a half of a mufelata. One of those things can easily feed four people. Here's a recipe:

New Orleanian cook and cookbook author Chiqui Collier was kind enough to share this recipe with me for this site, and says, "It is my pleasure to send you the recipe for the original muffletta sandwich that was created by the grandfather of a lady i worked with 28 years ago." (Presumably that was Signor Salvadore.)

"The recipe for the olive salad is the exact way it was given to me. It makes over a gallon, but since your comments indicate that you love it, i'm sure you won't want to cut it down. It stores very well in the refrigerator for many months and makes great gifts along with the recipe for the sandwich. It does appear in my cookbook, "Cookery N'Orleans Style"

• For the olive salad:
• 1 gallon large pimento stuffed green olives, slightly crushed and well drained
• 1 quart jar pickled cauliflower, drained and sliced
• 2 small jars capers, drained
• 1 whole stalk celery, sliced diagonally
• 4 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced diagonally
• 1 small jar celery seeds
• 1 small jar oregano
• 1 large head fresh garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 jar pepperoncini, drained (small salad peppers) left whole
• 1 pound large Greek black olives
• 1 jar cocktail onions, drained

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or pot and mix well. Place in a large jar and cover with 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 Crisco oil. Store tightly covered in refrigerator. Allow to marinate for at least 24 hours before using.

• For the sandwich:
• 1 round loaf italian bread
• 1/4 pound mortadella, thinly sliced
• 1/4 pound ham, thinly sliced
• 1/4 pound hard Genoa salami, thinly sliced
• 1/4 pound Mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 1/4 pound Provolone cheese,sliced
• 1 cup olive salad with oil

Split a muffuletta loaf or a loaf of Italian bread horizontally. Spread each half with equal parts of olive salad and oil. Place meats and cheeses evenly on bottom half and cover with top half of bread. Cut in quarters. Enjoy!

Serves four timid dieters, two hearty New Orleanians or one incredible maiale.

*provolone is a good substitute.

Sleeping in the Back Seat

via

The Morph Begins

Richie Havens

I did sound for Richie Havens once. Meaning I set up a p.a. with two mics for him in a record store. But I met him before and was there at the mixer through the set. He was amazing. So kind, just glowing from within... he is one of those people that you can see is special and that you feel is looking into you when he speaks to you.

Anyway, a girl who worked at the store part time also taught second grade in the French Quarter and had brought her class to see Richie Havens play. He played his whole show directly to the children, only occasionally glancing at the adults with a smile. It was utterly magical to watch this man hold these children spellbound for an entire set. His set had nothing to do with his last album or what he had rehearsed with a band, he was simply making those children dance and watch him and loving it and them and everything.

Color Blind

I can't tell the difference between these two pictures, can you? Click on the picture for more examples. I can only tell a very subtle difference in three of the pictures.

Fins

The passenger side fin on the Technocar is approaching its final shape. A gallon of Bondo has gone on this one fin. I just got two more gallons to hopefully finish both with. This is going much more slowly than I hoped. Working on the center sides of these is tough. I'm considering bringing in some scaffolding so I can sit level with the roof but not sit on the roof. To do that I will need to empty out and re-arrange my entire shop. Joy.

Banjo Yawns

Another animated .gif.

A Nice Little Zombie Movie

via

Found Image

This is a photograph of two men in a boat on an algae choked lake in China.

Thanks to Uncertain Times, a great place for sounds, videos, and images from around the multiverse.

A Neat Art Installation I Found Online

The Hallway from The Hallway on Vimeo.

"A 125 foot hallway - English in one direction / Japanese in the other.
From the Yokohama Triennale 2008.
(courtesy of Hara Museum)" via

Update and New Music

My deepest apologies for going so long without an update or at least an interesting picture or something.


Since the last post Boo came to visit and we completed a Psychotronic Jug Band song we started on the internet. I've since fleshed it out a bit and I'm waiting for some tracks from Rick before I call it finished. It is called "Glass" and here is the latest mix of it. This is not meant for release so please delete after listening, and burn your computer just to make sure. Thanks.


I have this fascination with graffiti. I've earned a living at one point with an air brush and t-shirts and I currently use spray paint in my art. But what these guys do, building from a base up to the finished product, that shit can be amazing.


The technocar is growing fins. I've done the initial fiberglass layer on the passenger side fin. I'm going to do a second layer of fiberglass to really stiffen it up before I begin shaping it with Bondo.

Birds

Below are some bird pictures. The mourning doves were on the fence in my back yard. The turkey vulture, Harris's hawk, and American kestrels were at Bernheim Forest with representatives of Raptor Rehab of Kentucky.

Pair of mourning doves.


Turkey vulture.


Harris's hawk.


American kestrels (male on left, female on right).

Death by Computer

A couple of days ago I was working on mixing a song when my computer froze. This is an extremely rare occurrence (compared with my old Windows 98 machine) and I have always been able to recover my work when I get the computer restarted. This time things did not go well. When I got the computer back up and running I started the program I use for music, Ableton Live, and it was as if I had just installed it for the first time. It didn't know where the music libarary was, where the VST's were stored, and worst of all, when I tried to open the session I was working on when the system crashed, it was "corrupted." Several days of careful drum programming, tweaking of levels, measure by measure work of leveling out the three vocal parts, all the guitar effects, volume, panning, reverb sends, etc. that were contained in the session file are gone. If I were to sit down and repeat all the work I did on this song it would take me several full days. The question I have to ask myself is, "Will I?"

New Psychotronic Jug Band Mixes

Much mixing and recording has gone on over the last few days. You can hear completely revamped mixes of "Devil's Box" and "Isolated" as well as new mixes of "Could Be Heaven" and "Unchanged" with all new organ tracks.
www.psychicreform.com/music2

Visualization

A friend directed me to this video of Ansel Adams speaking about the art of photography. "The whole key lies very specifically in seeing it in the mind's eye, which we call visualization."


The Key to a Photograph from Ansel Adams from SilberStudios.Tv on Vimeo.

Song Preview (Prelisten?)

Untitled 090424-090425

http://www.psychicreform.com/music2/

[edited 4-26-2009 to update link]

Cowbirds Courting

These two cowbirds were doing the dance on the wire outside my back window.

Animation

Life List

Watch closely the first time. This page starts off in a hurry.

Spring

Though it has been a decade since I left New Orleans Spring never ceases to surprise and delight me. Last year was the first year that the onset of Autumn didn't tell me the trees were dying. The speed and vigor of the spring bloom here in Kentucky seems so sudden after the long dreariness of winter.

Cinematic Dream

I had a very strange, movie-like dream this morning that I'll try to describe.

The opening shot is of a guy on a rock ledge squatting down by a pool of water in a depression in the rock. He has a shaved head and has just ducked his head in the pool. He stands and lets out a joyous shout, the camera pulls back and up, turning to the right as the man walks to the edge. As the camera pulls back the view opens to a shot straight down a nearly vertical, snow covered slope with a bay and the ocean far below and more mountains marching away to the left. The camera then plunges over the edge as a writhing mass of people come sliding by, kicking up a huge cloud of snow. There is some kind of organization to this and there's some kind of sail boat (dark blue and green with the sails furled and the masts fastened down to the deck) in their midst. There's a lot of shouting and they're obviously trying to go as fast as possible and control the boat and themselves. The camera is right in the middle of this chaos but it is moving a little slower than the people so it backs out of the flashing snow, arms, legs, and flash of the boat cloud of blinding snow and shouting people. It becomes apparent that they're all roped together and as the camera drops behind the mass of people the thick rope comes to a single person at the rear with an oversized climbing axe who is obviously controlling their speed by digging in. He is fighting to keep them under control, huge rainbows of snow spewing from the tip of the axe. Along the route are turbine heaters and at one point the brakeman gets too close to one and the thick rope is badly singed, part of the outer sheath melts. There is a new sense of danger though the rope appears to be holding.

There is a sudden shift and we're in an empty room with dark green walls and ceiling. Through an open, vaulted door (from a green hallway) comes a black woman with a little bit of gray hair holding a plaque (around 12" x 16") of some sort in her hand. She's talking about how this is the 99th time her team has won and how she needs room to hang all of them as she gestures around the empty room. A red couch and a large oak desk are brought in as she bitches about her husband's mobiles* that are being hung in the corner and along the left had wall. He explains them to a man (vaguely resembles my uncle, Dan) who has flopped down on the couch and a girl (possibly my girlfriend Tari) who stands nearby. The mobiles are specially made to tune contact with another world, place, or dimension. While this is going on the plaques are being hung on the wall.

There is a brief glimpse of the boat being carried to the water over jagged rocks and large gravel by the team that has made it safely to the bottom despite the bad rope. All the people appear to be badly beaten up and the brakeman is lying still at the edge of the snow above them.

Back in the room which now has three or four mobiles hanging and the walls covered with plaques we can hear the sounds of conflicts coming from a spot in the middle of the left wall up where it meets the ceiling. The sound is clear yet removed and the black man says this is from another place. It sounds as if a group of men has forced entry into a room and a child's voice is warning them they'd better leave. There is sound of violence from the men, obviously hurting the child and then suddenly the men begin to scream. There are more sounds of violence but now extreme like cracking bones and ripping flesh, the bodies of big men being slammed against walls. Suddenly it ends and the child's voice says, "I warned you." The black man then explains that they gave the child power just by listening and that it is important they continue.

Unfortunately I woke up at this point and don't know if the team won their bizarre sport, giving the woman her hundredth plaque, or if the powers concentrated by the mobiles become understood. It sure was entertaining in my head, though.

I had this sense the movie intentionally would not resolve any of the stories, leaving the viewer with more questions than answers.

*the suspended pieces of the mobile appear to be stitched leather pockets or pillows that are various muted dark colors, maroons, browns, greens, with metallic blues and grays almost as if they were metallic that was painted but then the paint was wiped or worn away around the stitches. He explains that they are painted foil to best focus the waves.

Mid-March Update

Today is Friday the 13th of March and it is also a full moon. That might explain why I just spent several hours in a parking lot swapping out starters for my van.

Earlier in the day I moved the Technocar over to my shop in Smoketown and put it up on rollers so I could move it around the garage. Despite the 1000 pound limit for each of the four dollies I sat it on (car weighs 1600lbs and the dollies should be able to support 4000 pounds), moving it is nowhere near as easy as I hoped. The casters just were not meant to roll and rotate under anywhere close to that much weight. But it can be rolled around if I can get my feet planted against and it sits a little higher, making working on the sides that much easier. The plan here is for the car to begin sprouting various and sundry fins constructed with fiberglass over a wooden frame. The poor car

Los Po-Boy-Citols

Some close friends of mine in New Orleans discovered a blend of latin and funk called boogaloo and decided to form a band to play it. In typical New Orleans fashion they incorporated the sound of the Crescent City into their relatively faithful readings of the classic originals they cover as well as rendering New Orleans classics into the boogaloo style.

Their debut album New Orleans Latin Soul has got to be one of my favorite albums of 2008 and they are definitely one of the best live acts I've seen in years. The band grooves along as comfortably as your best dancing shoes, feeling at once tight and precise and easy and loose. You can hear the band's smiles in every note and sitting still is not an option. Live the band transmits an air of relaxed joy that infects an audience. This music is the kind that makes the ladies dance and the men folks boogie. It is fun. Do not miss them if you get a chance to see them live. They're that good.

Los Po-Boy-Citos' MySpace page features lots of free streaming music but you should just go ahead and buy the album here (and help out a great N.O. record store as well). It will be the best $13 you'll spend this year.

Web Site Rebuild

The IFPR website is being torn down and rebuilt. We apologize for any weirdness of any kind. Sorry.

RPM Challenge 2009 IFPR Ice Mine

RPM Challenge

Two albums in one month. I'm pretty sure there's a medal for that.

www.psychicreform.com/rpm09
www.psychicreform.com/psychotronic

RPM Challenge

I was just about to stretch this one out but decided it was nice at this length.


As I upload songs, a version of each song for the challenge will be here.

I am going to upload the various songs for the IFPR album to the IFPR website and I'll post links as individual posts in this blog. Please leave me feedback and be aware that as each song is re-worked during the month it will be deleted from the internets and the links here will no longer work. If you download the mp3's to listen to, please save them in a separate folder that you can later delete. When the album is complete a free, high quality mp3 will be available at psychicreform.com.

RPM Challenge

Another song finished tonight. I'm really enjoying recording this year's album for the challenge.

I'm up to five songs and around 32 minutes of music. I'd like to get two more pieces recorded before the end of the month.

As I upload songs, a version of each song for the challenge will be here.

I am going to upload the various songs for the IFPR album to the IFPR website and I'll post links as individual posts in this blog. Please leave me feedback and be aware that as each song is re-worked during the month it will be deleted from the internets and the links here will no longer work. If you download the mp3's to listen to, please save them in a separate folder that you can later delete. When the album is complete a free, high quality mp3 will be available at psychicreform.com.

RPM Challenge

After recording the basic tracks for the Psychotronic Jug Band album last weekend here is another piece in the IFPR puzzle.

As I upload songs, a version of each song for the challenge will be here.

I am going to upload the various songs for the IFPR album to the IFPR website and I'll post links as individual posts in this blog. Please leave me feedback and be aware that as each song is re-worked during the month it will be deleted from the internets and the links here will no longer work. If you download the mp3's to listen to, please save them in a separate folder that you can later delete. When the album is complete a free, high quality mp3 will be available at psychicreform.com.

Psychotronic Cave Band

Last weekend was the Psychotronic Jug Band reunion sessions. Boo LaCrosse drove up from Atlanta while Rick Sinai braved New Orleans airport security to fly to Louisville. We pretty much recorded from noon until one or two in the morning for three days straight. As the man sitting in the control seat I will just say that it was grueling. A lot of fun but hard work.

We will release these sessions before the end of the month for the RPM Challenge. There are still tracks to be recorded for almost all the songs so I doubt the RPM Challenge album will be "The Album." Either way, as soon as the album is complete, you'll get to hear it.

Life in Four Bottles

via

RPM Challenge

A third piece for this year's album is up. This one is not quite finished, needing some kind of lead part over the top. It will either be a vocal part or a lead instrument, probably trumpet. Regardless, here it is, as it is.

As I upload songs, a version of each song for the challenge will be here.

I am going to upload the various songs for the IFPR album to the IFPR website and I'll post links as individual posts in this blog. Please leave me feedback and be aware that as each song is re-worked during the month it will be deleted from the internets and the links here will no longer work. If you download the mp3's to listen to, please save them in a separate folder that you can later delete. When the album is complete a free, high quality mp3 will be available at psychicreform.com.

RPM Challenge

The second "finished" piece for the RPM Challenge is in the can. Here is a direct link to the mp3.

As I upload songs, a version of each song for the challenge will be here.

a picture

rpm song

This is the first piece for this year's RPM Challenge album that I am going to set aside as "finished." It is slightly possible that sampled spoken voices might be added later but I doubt it. So far this piece is untitled.

www.psychicreform.com/rpm09/090205.mp3

RPM Challenge

Every February Wired magazine runs this thing called the RPM Challenge. This is the third year* that IFPR has taken the challenge which is to write and record an album in 28 days. They define "album" as 35 minutes or ten songs.

This year is no exception for IFPR. We at IFPR Studios are working non-stop to bring you another CD of sonic wonderfulness. What is exceptional is that I will be doing two albums for the RPM Challenge this year.

One will be the IFPR album which it appears will be mostly instrumental this time around which really is a return to IFPR's roots, be they whatever they may be. I am a bit uncomfortable releasing pop sounds under the IFPR moniker as most IFPR material is of a more ambient/IDM/jazz-ish ilk and this album feels like it will be a return to this style.

The other album will be by the band Psychotronic Jug Band which is a reunion of myself with Rick Sinai and Boo LaCrosse. We played together and wrote songs together a lot in New Orleans, performing as Boo LaCrosse and the Psychotronic Jug Band. Our various bands played shows together, we sat in with one another, dominated open mic nights, and like that. Weekend after next my old friends are arriving in Louisville from N.O. and Atlanta to spend four days writing and recording music and I have no idea what to expect the results will be. But some pretty great things will come of it, I'm sure of that.

I am going to upload the various songs for the IFPR album to the IFPR website and I'll post links as individual posts in this blog. Please leave me feedback and be aware that as each song is re-worked during the month it will be deleted from the internets and the links here will no longer work. If you download the mp3's to listen to, please save them in a separate folder that you can later delete. When the album is complete a free, high quality mp3 will be available at psychicreform.com.

*The first two RPM Challenge albums were I Have Electric Head and The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Ice Storm Pictures

The weather hasn't been kind to Louisville the last few months. We had the awful windstorm from Hurricane Ike that destroyed trees and power lines and now we have this amazing ice storm hit us. Conditions here are nowhere near as bad as far western Kentucky where they had nothing but freezing rain for an entire night and day. We had a little freezing rain followed by several inches of snow followed by freezing rain leaving around 3/4 of an inch of ice coating everything while in west KY they had around double that much ice (hard to fathom the weight of it). Trees are snapped, bent, and broken, power, phone, and cable lines fell under their own weight as well as falling limbs, and many streets and most sidewalks are solid ice. Today we are getting a big thaw with the temperatures in the sun approaching 60 degrees but I just wonder how much will be left tonight to re-freeze for tomorrow.

I took a LOT of pictures because it's been absolutely beautiful despite the tragedy of it. Below are a few select pictures.












For more pictures you can check my Flickr page where you will find these sets:
1-27-09
1-28-09
1-29-09
1-30-09
1-31-09