AMP

The new Les Savy Fav album ‘Let’s Be Friends’ is a solid album if I’ve ever heard one. Highly recommended.

Les Savy Fav – Patty Lee (2007)

I love lists. Not only does it satisfy my somewhat-obsessive-compulsive desire for organization, but there is a certain kind of pleasure one receives when you are able to tick something off a list–it’s a simple gesture, but it represents the conquering of a task, the acquisition of something desired, or the reaching of a goal. This list achieves none of those things, but rather sums up my favorite things from the year ‘07.

So without further ado, I bring you the Top Eleven of 2007:

360° room for all colours by Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson @ SFMOMA – I think this is in the ‘top 3 art experiences in a museum setting of all-time’. Sort of a retrospective, but also just a solid art exhibition, this show reminded me that museums are more than just buildings with white walls to hang pictures on. This show also walked the fine line of being part-science exhibit, but I think the aesthetics and framing of our experiences prevents it from being seen/experienced as such.

Stuff I Gotta Remember Not to Forget by Darin Mickey

J&L Books – Several strong releases from the young publisher and a really great guest editorial in Blindspot this year make Jason Fulford’s imprint a new favorite. Regardless of the content, I almost want to buy all their stuff cause I know it will look cool on my bookshelf.

Les Savy Fav Let’s Stay Friends – This is just a solid record, and one that I’ll keep listening to years from now. No super amazing tracks and not a single dud. These guys are insane, too. Well, Tim is.

Chicago – I was lucky enough to go to this city a handful of times over 2007 and I don’t think I could ever get sick of it. Sure, the weather sucks, but I’m from Minneapolis, so whatever–don’t talk to me about shitty weather. Between Quimby’s, Chicagraphers, Earwax, Restless, MOCP, the El, and all the great parks, there is little not to love about this city.

Summer Therapy – This was the summer of excess–Too Much Love, too much drinking, too much skinny-dipping. I’ll never forget it, though. This summer also marked the beginning of the weekly Town Talk pilgrimage. Stop in any Wednesday evening and expect to see myself along with anywhere from 5-15 other dudes saddled up at the bar causing a general ruckus.

photo by Tucker Gerrick

503 1st Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN – My new home. The only place I know of where I can record live drums, skate the miniramp, project some pictures, bake cookies and fall asleep all under one roof. I don’t think I’ll be leaving except to go to work, get food, and make pictures.

Tucker Gerrick – Aside from being the source of 75% of my blog traffic, this guy rocked two solid art shows this year (one of drawings, the other photographs), was a banging travel buddy, ran the biggest/dopest skateshop in the Midwest and was an overall BFF. I’ve known him since 8th grade, and we’re FINALLY living together. Anyway, he’s a cool dude and he blogs a lot. You should probably check him out.

West Coast – I was lucky enough to travel out to both coasts several times over the year, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I like the West Coast better. So, for those of you keeping tabs on my regional rankings, it goes as follows:

#1 – Midwest
#2 – West Coast
#3 – New Jersey
#4 – East Coast
#5 – The South

Not Being a Student – For the first time in my life, I am not a student. When I see students, they now occupy that sphere of ‘otherness’ that I do not belong to. I had no idea it would be so refreshing. I get to go the library and leisurely browse through books that I want to read. What an amazing concept. And it gets better–I can write on things that interest me! Don’t get me wrong–it’s not like I went through school studying things I didn’t care about, it’s just that the other shit always got in the way of my passions. Well, now my passions have become my life, and I can’t think of any better way of living it.

The Professor Brothers by Brad Neely

Brad Neely – This guy has created two of the greatest cartoon series I’ve ever seen. The Professor Brothers is based around two brothers who teach at the same university, and for some reason or another, have not gotten fired for the crazy shit they try to teach their students. Babycakes is a diaristic philosophy of the world through a drunken man-baby. I simply cannot get enough. The best part is that as funny as these cartoons are (and trust me, they’re capable of inducing dirty-pants-syndrome), they actually are capable of communicating tender truths at the same time. Ok, maybe not at the same time, but at least in the same episode. Check him out at Superdeluxe and Creased Comics.

Photo by Daniel Corrigan

Dan Deacon @ The Triple Rock – What a crazy show. It was a Sunday night and there was barely anyone there–Video Hippo opened with a pretty strong set and then Deacon created the aural and visual equivalent of an extremely sloppy and hilarious orgasm over the next hour. Stage presence means nothing to this guy, since he never stepped on the stage. Crowd control is more his steez.

Did I forget something?

Digitalism – Pogo (2007)

My god, I can’t even make it to the computer over the weekend anymore. I love this song, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the video before. I dig Humpty’s style, and I’m pretty sure this is the first song where I purposely memorized all the lyrics. Still, to this day, I can recite this rap to a ‘T’.

Digital Underground – Humpty Dance (1989)

Shooting on the campus of Coe College (alma mater, nestled between the Purina plant and a Quaker Oats plant in the lovely city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa–depending on which way the wind blows it may smell like dog food or crunch berries). I’m liking this whole ‘photography’ thing. I’ve been reading a lot about ‘dead-pan’ photography (I don’t care too much for that label–I think ‘The German School’ or something like that is better…) on and off the web. It’s fashionable at the moment, but I think that this approach can be used with depth and purpose–which is what I’m trying to do.

Ventured over to the fine city of Iowa City for a break–tried to hunt down my old haunts like Record Collector & Gabe’s. To my surprise and disbelief, both these establishments have disappeared. I found out later that Record Collector simply moved a few blocks down, and Gabe’s became The Picador. Everything is different, everything is the same. Iowa City still has a great skatepark. I wandered around the campus a bit, got a tad nostalgic, and decided it was best to leave. Let the past stay in the past–don’t stop, keep moving.

After a long day at work I came home to a fantastic package waiting outside my door:

Mount Eerie, Pts. 6 & 7 – BUY IT!

I gave the pretty 10″ picture disc a spin as I flipped through the pages of washed-out, under-exposed, and grainy-as-all-hell landscapes and was overwhelmed with a distorted sense of beauty. I’ve been a fan of the Microphones since their first LP on K, and I find this record/book to pack a punch as sizable as The Glow Pt. 2, which, for those of you in the know, realize that this is a very good thing.

Photographically, these images are nothing special–they’re quite stylized, and the sequencing isn’t the tightest, but the content is genuine and consistent. After visiting the site Phil Elverum put up to accompany the book, the thing that wows me the most about the pictures is how much they blend together, despite being shot all over the world. So, as a photobook alone, this is nothing amazing, but pretty good. However, when the images are combined with the record (which is still great even without the pictures), Phil/Mount Eerie creates a whole new experience for the listener/viewer which transcends most art experiences I get out of any single album or book.

This makes me consider this format (music + pictures) to be extremely exciting and effective. I’m reminded of seeing Nan Goldin’s slideshow ‘Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ and how excellent that combination was. In a world that’s totally saturated with music videos, music pictures are a welcome and exhilarating change.

Also, Human Error is up on my site. Lastly, in an effort to re-kindle my interest in this blog, I’m going to keep more on track with the original thesis of this page and try to keep my postings limited to Art, Music, and Photography. Whoopdy shit.

Best Bartender Ever

My BFF of all-time and hetero-lifemate, Tucker Gerrick, and I just signed a two-year lease on an epic warehouse space in NE MPLS. This could be the biggest mistake of my life or the dawn of a brand new Renaissance age. I guess we’ll find out.

We put the mini-ramp in on Sunday.

Before (give us a month before we post an after picture…)

Tucker signing our lives away.

Here we go, husband.

I’m quite aware that I haven’t been keeping up on the blog as much as I initially wanted to, and even more aware that my blog has joined the billions of other half-assed blogs whose readership consists of close friends and the random heads that ended up here via some strange google image search. So I’m at that fork in the road where I either ditch the blog or fully commit to it and actually spend time writing worthwhile entries that contribute something to the blogosphere and atmosphere.

Fuck it. I’m not doing either. I’ll continue to post videos and pictures and if I have something important to say, I’ll say it–but I’m not going to force it. Since I haven’t been around a computer much, I have lots of videos of other places I’ve been:

Playing Tim Rally Gold shows…

I also started playing in a hardcore punk band, and we practice twice a week. And by practice I mean drink a lot of beer and come up with terrible band names

I’ve been biking a lot since we had a really great fall. For Halloween, Tucker and I dressed up like mummies. That didn’t work so well on a bike. Read more here. Drank a bunch of beer and ended up at some strange after-party. Danced until the sun came up–some random heads took photos–here’s my favorite:

I also had a flurry of openings–Soap Factory, Art Mosh, and a show coming up in December. Openings also consist of consuming a lot of beer.

And when I’m not cloning, printing, or sleeping, I’m out on the town. Which also leads to drinking lots of beer. Hmm…looks like this is a battle of beer vs. blog. Who will win?

Finally saw Gus Van Sant’s ‘Last Days’ this week and came to the conclusion that it’s pretty terrible. I guess there were equal parts of transcendental beauty and garish cliché, but the clichés are what stick with me in the end–did you really have to show the naked guy come out of the dead body, Gus?

Anyway, one of the extra features on the DVD was this video. I’ll give you five dollars if you send me a video of yourself watching it start-to-finish without gouging your eyeballs out.

Pagoda – Happy Song (2005)

And, I’m moving. Get ready for a whole new Renaissance Age.

David Bowie – Changes (1971)

Brady Bunch – Time to Change (1971)