Sleevage Breaks Down Years Of Refusal Cover Art

Sleevage is an awesome blog devoted to album cover art that I read very often. Recently they broke down the newly iconic Years of Refusal cover by Morrissey. Great stuff. Take a look here.

Hammerpress Rocks The Press

Hammerpress is a really good letterpress out of St. Louis, MO. Take a look at their great stuff here.

He Who Fights Monsters Now Open At Bang Salon

He Who Fights Monsters, a new exhibition of charcoal based-work on various surfaces - cardboard, antique book pages, watercolour paper - is now hanging at Bang. Bang is a great place filled with cool people, and is located at 1 Wade Hampton Blvd., Greenville, SC 29609. Take a look anytime during business hours.

There will be a closing reception, but that date has not been finalized as of yet. I will update this when I do.

RIP: Kodak Kills Kodachrome

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Yep, it's true - Kodak has killed Kodachrome. Sorry Paul Simon, it's over...another sad day.

New Noah and the Whale Is Beautiful, Moving

The First Days of Spring Official Trailer from charlie fink on Vimeo.

The First Days of Spring, the new album by Noah and the Whale is beautiful and moving. The song arrangements and production is absolutely perfect, sparkling and alive. Here is a "trailer" for the album, which is awesome too. Take a look.

The 100 Show Opens Next Friday At The Art Bomb

Next Friday night - it is a First Friday event night - the 100 Show will open at the Art Bomb. Lots and lots of work for sale, everything under one hundred dollars. So stop into 1320 Pendleton St. on Friday night, December 4th and support some local artists. And maybe buy some Christmas presents too.

My Favorite Films of All Time: Dead Man

Back in the wild and wooly pre-internet days of the mid-nineties, I fell in love with Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. Dead Man is a bizarre, existentialist Western (yes, you heard that right) shot in spectacular black and white. Johnny Depp stars a William Blake, an accountant from Cleveland whom is mistaken for the poet/painter William Blake. There are many, many significant cameos in the like of Robert Mitchum (in his last screen performance), William Hurt, Gabriel Byrne, Iggy Pop (so funny), Michael Wincott, Crispin Glover, Billy Bob Thornton (hysterically funny), Jared Harris, and Alfred Molina to only name some of them. The film also features a haunting score provided by Neil Young.

The pacing is slow and deliberate, but hypnotic. My friend Seth and I watched the film over and over, taking apart all of the subtle nuances. This repeated viewing actually caused my friend Noack to walk home from my house once.

From The AV Club:

What gives Dead Man special resonance—and plenty of rewatch value—is that it can be appreciated on several different levels at once: for the stark surface wonders of Robby Müller's black-and-white cinematography and Neil Young's rumbling guitar score; for its philosophically loaded journey from life to death; for its boldly de-romanticized portrait of the American West in transition, as it's reshaped by the pitiless forces of violence and industry; and, finally, for its unusually sensitive and detailed acknowledgement of Native American culture, which goes far beyond what even sympathetic Westerns in the past had been able to muster. Jarmusch has never been the sort of director with an "epic" vision, and he goes out of his way to avoid gargantuan gestures here, but Dead Man is as close to a grand statement as he's made to date, and one that offers endless food for thought on poetry, philosophy, violence, cinema, and how the West was really won.

With the recent release on Blu-Ray, now is a great time to take a chance on a brilliant film. Give it a shot - you won't be sorry.

PS - More great information about the film to be found here.

Instax Shots from Atlanta and the Twin Cities

Recently I went to Minneapolis/St. Paul for a wedding, and took my new Fuji Instax Instant Camera. Over on my Flickr page I have posted some of those shots.

Enjoy.

New Paintings Hot Off the Press

Sorry for the lack of posts of late, but there has been a flurry of shows for me last/this/next months. This Saturday my show He Who Fights Monsters goes up at Bang (stay tuned for details of the closing reception), so I've been working like a madman towards it. Additionally, The 100 Show opens next Friday night, December 4th at Art Bomb - and I need to do a bunch of work for that too. So I've pretty much been living in the studio. Here is a taste of some new stuff - lots more to come as soon as I shoot it.

Music Video of the Week: Radiohead

Radiohead - Reckoner - by Clement Picon

radiohead | MySpace Music Videos

This video of the week is from the magnificent Radiohead. Reckoner comes from their best album in years, In Rainbows. Enjoy.

Goodbye To Nothing Is Nothing

Today my piece Nothing Is Nothing shipped off to NYC. I always feel a tinge of sadness when a piece sells and goes off into the world. It sounds cliche, but it really does feel like part of me going away. Enjoy it Digitas, enjoy.

Basquiat Interview: Another Tale of Wasted Youth

Too bad Jean-Michel, you were a bright star who burned out too soon...

Johnny Marr Talks About The Smiths

Johnny Marr, guitarist and co-songwriter with one of the greatest bands of all time - The Smiths - recently sat down with the BBC to talk about his guitar inspirations. Wow, it is so amazing to have the opportunity to hear Johnny not only talk about, but to show how to play some of the biggest Smiths songs of all time.

What a treat - this is just awesome.

Wes Anderson's Top Ten Musical Moments Is Timely

With the new Wes Anderson film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox just around the corner, Spinner has compiled their Top Ten Wes Anderson Musical Moments. Awesome. Below I've included my favorite (from Rushmore, my favorite Wes Anderson film). The She Smiled Sweetly/Goodbye Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones sequence in The Royal Tenenbaums is also one of my favorites.

What is yours? Let me know in the comments...

Silent Giants Poster Are Amazing

Wow, these posters for the amazing Dead Weather by the amazing Silent Giants are amazing. Buy them here.