I Can Draw, 2!

Here's some sketches from trip home last weekend.

Some guy in a coffee shop

Waiting for the plane trip back to Chicago.

Storks at the Lincoln Park Zoo and a statue of Ganesha at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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I Can Draw!!!

As I approach the end of my time at String Letter Publishing, designing for Strings and Acoustic Guitar magazines, I'm starting to archive some of my old work. I realized that over the last 20 months, I've done quite a few illustrations for various magazine articles and features. So before they get locked in my vault of an external hard drive, I thought I'd share them here.

My first illustration for Strings magazine. The article was about tips on memorizing music.

The topic was about performance anxiety. I love the "Gong Show" reference and the elaborate limbs of the player.

This is the first time that I've made a hand-drawn font that I'm proud of.

This is one of my submission for the String Letter Publishing 2010 holiday card. Gotta love those treble clef snowflakes.

A technical illustration for all the parts of a cello bow.

A pretty generic illustration for an article about cello and bass pieces.

A little Alice in Wonderland reference for a story about Paganini's 24 Caprices.

It's hard to make bows look interesting. This was for a feature about conterfeit bows.

A quick illustration for a co-worker who wanted an illustration for her blog post about frustration.

Thankfully, brainstorming ideas for the United Airlines holiday card years ago at SGDP paid off when I needed come up with a non-religious holiday card for SLP.

This was for an article about instrument loans.

The contributer for an article didn't have a decent photo of herself, so I took one of her photos an illustrated this. As I recall, I used a cheap BIC pen for the entire thing.

A zen-like illustration about life in the Internet clouds.

I love this how-to illustration for an article about being more of a rock star. I was disappointed to find out that Peter Townsend actually strums his guitar in the opposite direction for his windmills.

A pretty generic illustration for gaining a following on the Internet.

This photo composite was for a feature titled, "The Usual Suspects", but eventually got killed when they changed the headline.

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Love on Lemon Road Book Cover

Because I had a slow work week at String Letter Publishing, I took Wedsnesday off to work on some freelance projects. My main priority was to tackle to the cover Love on Lemon Road: A Lucy Ginger Chronicle by Jordan Reimer.

Now for those of you who keep close tabs on me, you know that a few month ago I was approached to make a website for the book. The interesting part about this project is that the author also recorded an audio soundtrack to the accompany the book (which is about finding love through a common interest in music).

Here was my first go around with the cover mock-ups. The photo of the girl is actually the Jordan Reimer herself, but the rest of the imagery is mine (hooray for Photoshop's liquify filter on the fourth mock-up).

Let me know what you think.

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Holy Shit, that's George Lucas!

So I was enjoying my footlong chicken breast Subway sandwich today in beautiful Marin county when a familiar face walked in the door. Our eyes met, and he did a double take. I'm not sure if he recognized me first, or if I recognized him, but the first thing I thought was, "Holy Shit, that's George Lucas!"

Now I'm an awful person at remembering people. I do this weird thing where I'll see somebody walking down the streets of San Francisco who look like they attended Plainfield High, and I'll immediately start assigning the personality traits of their doppelganger to them. So I was slightly weary at first, but then more facts started to add up. George did a double take with me when he walked in: that means that he was used to getting people coming up to him in public. Doing a double take with me was a "Aw crap, here we go again..." moment for him. As I starred at him like some kind of carny, I decided that his hair, beard, and glasses were very much George Lucas like. He was also wearing a button up shirt, sleeves rolled up, and tucked into plain blue jeans. Also, from talking to employees at my company, I knew that George Lucas' house was within 10 minutes of my workplace. Finally, I looked at the car he drove to Subway. It was a Lexus. That was all the proof I needed.

Immediately, I started to geek out. If Switzerland can forgive Roman Polanski for drugging and sodomizing a 13 year old girl, could I forgive George for the Star Wars prequels? I thought it through in my mind, and I decided I that I had four options.

1.) Kill George Lucas
This would get me nationwide fame and, at least, a few supporters. Maybe the value of my art would go up? Maybe while being arrested, I could spout out lines from Episode I and get the crazy plea bargain?

2.) Harass George Lucas
Put the heat on ol' Georgie a little bit. Let him know what I thought about the prequels. Really tell him how it is for once. The chances of me getting arrested for light harassment are pretty slim. Worst case scenario, I get kicked out of that Subway for life. The upside is, I get to tell everyone for the rest of my life how I told George Lucas what's up! I'd be the envy of my peers

3.) Talk to George Lucas
Casually go up to him, thank him for his inspiration and influence, and part ways. Don't get in his personal space, but just let me know that I'm a fan.

4.) Nerd Out and Take Lots of Pictures
Be too afraid to talk to him, take as many pictures as possible, and then try to convince the Internet how cool I am.

I decided to go with number 4.









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"Back from Mars"—The Greatest Song by Aqua

"Back from Mars" is not so much a song, but a mission statement. On the surface, track 8 off the Aqua's Aquarius album sounds like one's longing for out of space travel to a land of glitter and glitz where everything is happy and pleasant. The lyric, "All the people that I'm meeting, are so friendly and perceiving" justifies this. The narrator has come back from this place and wants to go back. Similar to going on vacation...when one returns home, there is an immediate longing to go back. That is, to continue to experience those feelings that can't be understood on our planet. It is about longing and the human condition.

However, upon further listens, one begins to understand that this make believe world is superficial. Instead of praising this glamorous place, the narrator is being sarcastic. "This is oh so just fantastic, I will live my life in plastic. Check the hair, and see what I wear." The narrator has been swept up in this imaginary place, and doesn't like it. It's a critique on Hollywood. We praise our movie and pop stars and put them on this plateau. So-much-so that it is almost like they are on a different planet then we are. "And Elvis has said, that I could be just like they are." There is clearly no logic to this place, but everything on the surface looks great...so we go along with it. It is a cautionary tale about how this lifestyle can be perceived as outstanding, but when one becomes part of this lifestyle, we see how shallow it actually is.

I personally feel the song is deeper than that. "Back from Mars" is not about Hollywood. It's about ourselves. It's about epiphanies and resolutions. 'Mars' is not Hollywood...it is our day-to-day lives. The glamor and glitz is our daily agendas. We often go on 'autopilot' with our daily routines, until one day, we realize how silly it. Upon the this realization, we make an effort to go back to become grounded, to return to our roots, to come "Back from Mars".

This is what a good song should sound like:


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"Joygasm"—A Romance Explosion Demo

So I was going through some of my old files on my computer yesterday, and I came across some demos for the yet-to-be-started Romance Explosion album.

The date on the file here says that it was created on October 7, 2008 (man, I've been really lazy at started on this album). Anyways, I remember calling "Joygasm" after I saw somebody use the term "Eargasm" in reference to a YouTube video. Playing drums along with the demo is a real treat. I can't wait until the day when I finally start finishing some of these. Here's "Joygasm":
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5 Favorite Back-to-Back Albums

We all know that the music industry is a tough, heartless, and (insert negative adjective here). Writing a solid album worth of songs is hard to do, and it's even harder to make all those songs enjoyable. There's inevitably going to be a couple tracks that people skip over and say, "crap!" in the process of finding their favorite songs.

There are, however, exceptions to this rule. Some bands not only make one album of 5 star tracks, but two back-to-back albums that are completely stellar. I'm talking about the albums that if you put both of them together on a playlist and hit "shuffle," you wouldn't be able to tell which of the two albums a song came off of...and you wouldn't care, because every song is awesome. Here I count down my top five.

Honorable Mention:
System of a Down—Mezmerize (2005) and Hypnotize (2005)

SOAD receives an honorable mention because this is technically a double album, just released individually 6 months apart. Coming from their previous studio album, "Toxicity" SOAD had a lot to live up to on these albums. Daron Malakian (guitars/vocals) and Serj Tankian (vocals) do just that, perfecting their blend of kooky vs. creepy metal that contains a wide range of musical influences. Malakian takes over more vocal duties than he did on previous SOAD albums, offering an interesting texture of the vocal tracks. Mezmerize/Hypnotize both went #1 on the Billboard charts. Thanks to countless powerful tracks such as "B.Y.O.B," "Violent Pornography," "Lost in Hollywood," "Holly Mountains," and the two part "Soldier Side" Mezmerize/Hypnotize is definitely a musical journey.

5. Breaking Benjamin—Saturate (2002) and We Are Not Alone (2004)

Arising from the ashes of the 90's grunge bands is Breaking Benjamin who received heavy radio rotation with their break-out hit "Polyamorous." After listening to "Saturate" though, it's clear that the band is not just a one hit wonder. Tracks like "Next to Nothing," "No Games," and "Skin" follow your typical alternative themes of heartbreak, freedom, and angst, yet somehow never seem redundant. "Saturate" is nicely complemented by "We Are Not Alone" with key tracks like "Forget It," "Firefly," and "Sooner or Later." Knowing how great these two albums were, it's a shame that Breaking Benjamin changed their style on their third CD "Phobia" by lowering their guitar-tuning which in turned changed their vocal keys.

4. Soil—Scars (2001) and Redefine (2004)

Soil's lead singer, Ryan McCombs, has a voice that could fill an arena. Just the right amount of growl vs. melody, combined with crunching syncopated guitars, and backed by a chugging rhythm section, Scars/Redefine are the very definition of Hard Rock. Unfortunately, critical success didn't seem to completely follow, and Ryan McCombs has since left the band to join Drowning Pool. Tracks like "Understading Me," "Need to Feel," "My Own," "Deny Me," "Say You Will," and "Pride" give these two albums a powerhouse sensibility that never lets up.

3. Aqua—Aquarium (1997) and Aquarius (2000)

Definitely a guilty pleasure. You either like Aqua or you hate them with a burning passion. I'm part of the former crowd who believes that you have to look past the silly lyrics to realize that Aqua is actually singing about some adult issues. Songs like "Bumble Bees," "Roses are Red," "Doctor Jones," and my personal favorite "Back from Mars" are perfect examples of this. Packed with 24 tracks that will either get you dancing or keep you laughing, Aquarium/Aquarius is a definite must for an party mix.

2. Garbage—Garbage (1995) and Version 2.0 (1998)

Shirley Manson (vocals) backed by super-producers Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig offer a blend of industrial pop/alternative music that easily be ignored. Manson's moody and risque lyrics blend perfectly with the wall of guitars, synths, and loops on every track of Garbage/v2.0. "Vow," "Only Happy When It Rains," "Supervixen," "Temptation Waits," "When I Grow Up," "Special"...there's just too many tracks to list that are truly masterpieces. Ten years after their release, Garbage/v2.0 still feel fresh and relevant today.

1. The Offspring—Smash (1994) and Ixnay on the Hombre(1997)

Smash/Ixnay is the very definition of the back-to-back albums. I can't speak highly enough about these CDs. Fast punk beats over power-chord filled tracks are ironed out by lyrics about being young and growing-up...the perfect combination for awesome. "Nitro," "Genocide," "Smash," "The Meaning of Life," "I Choose," "All I Want," "Amazed"...I could list off the entire tracklist. These albums are the epitome of solid music without any filler.
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