With A Cape And A Cord I Skip The Song From The Singers Lips

Went to Lenny's to check out The Liverhearts last night, but found that I was more engrossed with Michael Columbia... they where just plain great! Here's what their website has to say about them... I couldn't describe them any better than this.
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With Michael Columbia’s “These are Colored Bars” a fresh new episode of music is delivered on Galapagos4’s Alabaster series. Veterans of the experimental indi rock triangle of Chicago, Philly and Athens, the duo of David McDonnell, of Bablicon (Misra Records), Olivia Tremor Control (Elephant 6) and Need New Body (file 13), and Dylan Ryan, of Icey Demons (Cloud Recordings) and Orso (Perishable) came together to experiment with a new combination of sounds and beats. Through the filtered bass tones weaving in and around, synths, saxophone, clarinet, violin and delay, synthetic ambient vocals sinuously drone over pressurized machine crushing beats. Sonic payoffs build up, floating in and out of Michael Columbia’s heavy low end foundations and orchestral textures. Imagine you’re in Lee Perry’s studio with a robot clone of Don Henley who’s been raised on Kraftwerk, that almost sums up MC’s sound. “These are Colored Bars” gets to the core of electronic rock through heavy seductive drumming topped off with spacedout vocal hand horn textures Michael Columbia takes you from the streets of Chicago into the far reaches of space. One minute you're in the soundtrack to Bladerunner, the next you're driving underneath tracks racing trains, keeping pace with some classic power rock. Only a city like this could spawn such a moody, humorous and danceable album...
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Needless to say, I made a point of purchasing their album and telling David that I really enjoyed their set... I even got a pin from him (it's just a pin filled month it seems — a 1.5"). Anyways we walked into Lenny's right when MC started their set and almost immediatly I knew I was listening to something really special. I grab 3 tall PBR's for my peoples and moved to the front of the establishment to checkout the band. Here's some video with bad audio again—

So after the MC wrapped up we headed to the back of the bar to play a little pinball. Unfortunatly for us... the machine was functioning without any lights on the deck... ohh well. It was the first South Park pinball machine from SEGA... played it many times before. It's a great machine... when it's in working order.


We hung around and had another beer... waiting for The Liverhearts to start.


I had never been to Lenny's before, but like most rock clubs in the ATL it lacks one important thing — ventalation. The smoke was so thick in the place you could cut it with a knife... I'm still trying to recover this morning. Feel like I have smokers cough or a lung infection or cancer.... HACK!!


Another band hit the stage as we mingled around the pinball machine and by the time they were into their third song I realized it was The Liverhearts... I guess seeing the simplicity of the Michael Columbia just thru off my attention... there were 5 bands their last night and all of them sounded similar except for MC... ohh well. I made my way toward the front of the club yet again, but this time was met by a wall of people. So this is The Liverhearts last night —


I sauntered back to the other side of the bar where we finished our beers. Kanka commented that he bought 3 beers for $10 and paid with a $20 — but recieved $15 back... interesting math there. We headed to the door and I stopped and talked to David, bought a CD and we split in the middle of Livers set... ohh well... it was too smokey anyways and already almost 1 in the morning at this time. Some of us do have jobs you know.
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Check out Michael Columbia at their site... there are 3 tracks off their album available for download there.

Michael Columbia

MAILING TRANSFERRAL
NOVEMBER 11, 2005
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BARKER - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
BLACKMON - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
BURNS - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
BUTTREY - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
DROZD - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
GIBB - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
JANSSEN - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
KANKA - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
KANKOVA - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
KUTZBACH - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
LINTON - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
LUDWIG - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
MOODY - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
NEWMAN - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
NEWTON & GEIER - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
NOBLE - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
PEARSON - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
SEARCY - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
STATTS - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
STOUT - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
SYLVESTER - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
VICTORE - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
VINSON - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
WEISS - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)
YORK - Wasted Youth (postcard/pin)

What's Revealed Was Never Fully Concealed

NOW WE CAN MAKE MILLIONS THANKS TO EXPANKO!

Flooring Concept for studio space —
EXPANK — Reztec Rubber Flooring



Detail Color: Billy
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8:59pm
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10:08am
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EXCERPT FROM A CONVERSATION WITH MYSELF:
Headed out tonight to Lenny's to see the Liverhearts. — No Lenny's. — NO LENNY'S!! — No, not Denny's to eat liver. I'm going to Lenny's to see The Liverhearts. — Yeah — They're a local band. — Yeah they're good. — What? — Ohh no... I've never seen them live before. — Well I think it'll be a goo show. — Yeah



I was told by this wise girl I know that they have cold PBR there... delicious cold tall PBR... Frank Booths beer of choice!!
Lenny's Bar
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So yesterday I took an evolutionary step forward in my correspondences. For the record, I had done this type of card before for Barker and Kanka, but I'd only created 2 of them and they were hand made. These cards, yesterdays, are part of the mass mail series... they are again generated from images and text taken from the internet based on sometimes important, but most times unimportant and in this cards case totally un-news-worthy stories. What makes these cards different, or a leap forward, is the inclusion and attachment of a limited edition 1" pin on each card. I created 6 different pins based on the theme of this mailing and attached one pin to each card at random. I'm interested to see how many of them actually reach their intended recipient with the pin still attached— especially my 3 correspondents in Europe. The other interesting thing will be to see if I find anybody wearing these things. The subject matter for these pins is always going to be of a nature and subject matter that no one would really care to wear... or perhaps they will wear them for that matter alone. I had been making hand made pins for a while glueing or painting materials onto pins I got from vendors and conferences... but now we have a real machine and all the fixings to make our own — Kanka and myself — and we've made hundreds of them already.
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I'm searching the depths of the RSS news feeds I frequent daily to find another interesting story... hopefully I'll find something totally unworthy to be called news. Those always end up being my favorite mailngs in the mass series. Those pointless human interest stories... if you can call them that... it's just great pop culture fodder.
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Also today I'm adding 4 new people to the mass mail correspondence list.

- James Victore — NYC Designer/Artist
James Victore Inc.

- Tom Moody — NYC Low-Tech Artist
Tom Moody.com

- Brian Gibb — Artist
- Mark Searcy — Artist
Art Prostitute Magazine

Sweat'n Away Those Days And Nights

Went to the Movie Trading Company today. Traded in the last hundred or so of my out-dated video tape collection. What a sad day... To think of all the money I had spent on these and I only can get around a $1 each for them now-a-days. I made sure they gave me a few bucks more for the choice widescreen special editions and for my full Halloween set. I was like - "Look... I'm not brining you a few... this is all of them! That has to be worth something... Come on". They were cool as usual... it was the same guy working the counter that I brought the first few hundred from my collection to... he remebered me from before because I brought in a full set of Friday the 13th and near complete Martian Scorsese set. I used the proceeds from todays transaction to buy even more DVDs — of course. The only cassettes I have at home now is the full Twin Peaks Box set and the Twin Peaks pilot.. ohh and my Gary Colman tapes... gotta keep Gary.

The pile builds as they are scanned in one-by-one
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MAIL IS BACK!!
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MAILING TRANSFERRAL
NOVEMBER 9, 2005
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BARKER - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
BLACKMON - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
BURNS - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)>
BUTTREY - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
DROZD - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
JANSSEN - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
KANKA - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
KANKOVA - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
KUTZBACH - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
LINTON - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
LUDWIG - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
NEWMAN - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
NEWTON & GEIER - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
NOBLE - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
PEARSON - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
STATTS - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
STOUT - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
SYLVESTER - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
VINSON - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
WEISS - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)
YORK - Wanna Have Fun (postcard/pin)

Every Thing That You Do And See Which Is Feel And Look Is Alright

Lost...
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I have no desire to do anything today... I've fallen into a state of complete and utter loss... lack of motivation... no faith in myself. I definitely don't want to be at my job... I want to walk away from it. I don't even want to be at home with my work. I woke early fixed a cup of coffee and questioned it all. I sat in the car before igniting the engine and questioned it all. As I sat in traffic I questioned it all.
I feel like I've become too informal with myself... too objectionable and unwelcome in my own thoughts. I need to work... need to paint. I need a project, but don't have the time. I feel like a leper when I'm with myself. I'm very tired with myself... this is not desirable. Need to work... need to paint... need to create something... need to siphon this feeling into something I can look at — reflect upon. I can not continue to internalize this.
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Time is getting quiet... so where is my mind.
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It's the job... It is the 9 to 5 that is destroying me a little everyday. It's breaking me... fragmenting me. I'm tired of giving myself to people and causes I have no control over. Give Give Give... More More More... Pride Pride Pride... Team Team Team... Sucking... Sucking. It's all built to destroy people... turn you into a slave of their own lifestyle, but it's not your lifestyle... it's your job — plain and simple, nothing more. Get confortable because you've fallen into a well and nobody will be rescueing you untill it's to late. Expectations.... Expectations. I feel sick... I feel sicker every day I force myself into these situations. Time to save yourself.
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Time... I want it to be mine to spend with friends and loved ones — not caught up in false salutations with people I'd normally never associate with. Smile and Nod.... never disagree. Handshake and thank you.... never protest. Every morning I wake up and lie to myself... I lie to the people I care about. This is no life... this is a gambit. I might be good at playing it, but I'd rather put my quarter in another pinball machine. I can only get away with tilting this machine for so long before my game is over.
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I'm hurting people.... I'm hurting myself.
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I need a haircut...

The Great Eventual Nothing Of My Mondays Journey

I should have probably stated this for the record before... like weeks ago... but I have no internet access at this time. The only access I have is at work and when I head over to other people houses. So, while I still write entries for my blog every day... (usually in the program Stickey Brain - where I save them to post later)... I'm currently unable to just hop onto the internet and post things at any given time like I have throughout this first year of the blog. As the year comes to a close and this experiment reaches it's first year on December 31st, I'll have to make another decision for the following year — what will be the daily ritual. In 2004 it was the Fluoride Paintings — 2005 Suppositions, Slants & Suspicions — 2006... what will I do.
The idea of a daily ritual comes straight from my study and love of the work by On Kawara. Beside the simple fact that I personally find enjoyment in documenting certain aspects of my daily life, I find the questions that are raised in On's daily work run very close to mine.



Time, as registered in its familiar increments of days, years, centuries, and eons, has preoccupied On since the mid-1960s, when he began his magnum opus, the Today Series. Each of the Date Paintings that constitute this ongoing work is a monochrome field on which is inscribed the date of the day on which the individual painting is executed, in the language and according to the calendrical conventions of the country in which Kawara is present when he begins it. If he does not complete it by midnight he destroys it. Some days he makes more than one; very occasionally, a third is added to that second before the midnight deadline strikes. Most days he makes none.
Certain sets of limitations govern this series, as they do Kawara's other bodies of work. Every painting in the Today Series conforms to one of eight predetermined sizes, all horizontal in orientation, ranging from eight by ten inches to sixty-one by eighty-nine inches. And for every painting the artist mixes the color afresh, so that the chroma of each is unique. Colors and tonalities in the brown-gray and blue-black areas of the spectrum have become prevalent in recent years; earlier, cerulean blues and clear reds were more frequently employed. Four or five coats of acrylic are evenly applied to the surface of the canvas, on the sides as well as the frontal plane, and each layer is sanded down before the next is added, creating a dense matte surface. The whole is self-evidently an object, a three-dimensional entity. Letters, numbers, and punctuation marks are then meticulously built up across the center of the monochrome field. Eschewing stencils in favor of hand-drawn characters, Kawara skillfully renders the script, initially an elongated version of Gill Sans, later a quintessentially modernist Futura. Whatever slight variations and adjustments in the letters may be discerned over the years, they are no more significant than the often minute differences in hue. Nor is the choice of color more expressive or connotative than the measurements that determine the size of an individual work.
Each painting is stored in its own handmade cardboard box, alongside a clipping from a newspaper published in the same city and on the same day that the artist made the painting. History as recorded in daily events, whether global, national, or local, is bound together with the residues of individual activity and memorialized under the rubric of the date. In addition to the title, determined by the day on which the work was executed, a subtitle may be appended. These vary widely from diaristic notes to impersonal records, as the following examples from January 1966 attest: "I thought about memory and sense," "Janine came to my studio," "I am painting this painting," "USA began to bomb North Vietnam again." In counterpoint to the dialectic between order and chance—that is, between the regularity and standardization imposed by calendrical and linguistic conventions and the arbitrarily determined strictures governing size and color — there is a modicum of subjectivity: in the subtle traces of manual execution, clear evidence is offered of the act of making. A constant traveler, Kawara has now created Date Paintings in more than 112 cities worldwide, in a project that will end only with his death.
It's the idea of a recorded history bound together with the residues of individuals activity that really fascinates me with On and I can relate to the idea of capturing the fleeting moments of life through some means other than a photograph. For On it's the 'Date Paintings', his 'I'm Still Alive' postcards and his 'I Went' and 'I Read' series of works. For me it's the same principles, but done with things that matter to me — 'Fluoride Series', 'Events & Artifacts', the 'Adds' and the blog. We record our own lives everyday... most of us don't realize that we do it, but every time you snap that picture, send an email, write a note, or save that concert stub you are preserving a piece of history — be it an individualized piece, it is still an important artifact. The bits and pieces of pottery and coins that archaeologists unearth today will be equal to an unearthed plastic ring you got out of a vending machine when you were 7. These kinds of things may seem unimportant and trivial to most, but in the future they will be precious gems... and to some of us the things we keep are already just that.



So for next year, I'm going to continue the blog and add something new to my everyday tasks. Something that I can collect or record... something meaningful to me and possibly to others in the future — but in the end the things one does as an artist are strictly personal based. One shouldn't expect others to understand or appreciate the things you create. If that is the mission behind you're work then in my opinion you cease to be an artist — you become a kind of used-car dealer or worse, a product.

Hang Things Straight... Hang Things Strong

More pictures from Gogogo Airheart show along with some video clips. now the audio of course sucks on the video clips... I recorded it with my phone... i keep forgetting to bring the damn video camera to events like this. Ohh well — enjoy.

Gogogo Airheart @ The Earl

Kanka and I spent the entire morning waiting around for my buddie Linton to drop by so we could go buy stereo equitment... he eventually showed. The highlight of the early day — having to go all the way back to best buy to return the pioneer reciever I had bought that didn't work... so much for open box discounts. We finally got a salesguy to get us the replacement stereo and after waiting at the return desk for 10 minutes we decided to leave with the new stereo - my old reciept and fill out any of the stupid return paperwork. We weren't about to go and wait another 15 minutes for customer-no-service. the new reciever works and I got it at a discount... or they paid me for my time as Linton put it.
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Went with Steph to see my favorite band play at The Earl tonight. There were 4 bands that played, Steph and I made it for the last three — The Werewolfs - The Joggers - Gogogo Airheart.
The Werewolfs were really boisterous... they jumped around the black-lighted stage with little werewolf hoodies, they even had a full moon prop... I went and grabbed another beer and then I talked to Hash (GGGAH bass player) for a while and complained that they didn't have a vinyl release yet... Hash told me they couldn't afford it and that they were gonna get it pressed in Australia toward the end of their tour and that he'd have copies when they came back to the ATL in Februray.
Finally the Werewolfs finished up and The Joggers came onto the stage. They are touring with the GGGAH. The funniest thing i noticed about them before they started was that they were all playing SG guitars... even the bass was an SG... strange. They were pretty good, but as with most bands I see at the Earl the sound was way too loud and you kinda feel like every bad sounds the same... loud and routy. I grabbed their LP after the show along with GGGAH new record... err CD.
We made a break for the outside before the GGAh came on... the other bad thing about the Earl is the lack of ventalation in the back... smoke err I should say smog hell. We caught our breeth and went back for the show. Rock!! The GGGAH were great. It was a little more rock v. the Gogogo's typical groove I've seen in the past, but part of that is due to the poor sound there as well.

The Joggers


The Gogogo Airheart

No Light... No People... No Speak... No People

Cover My Face As The Animal Dies

The Duchess Brings 50 Dresses

Feeling very low today... skewed and depressed. I hate feeling like this. — Need to do some work.



Most days I wake up and wish I could live just like Ray did... those were different times.

They Pinned The Crime On Him

The photos just keep rolling in... here's some shoots from Kanka. Thanks J — This first shot is awesome

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Another picture from the show.