they always forget the duck

weird things about this:

-50,000+ likes

-Men's Humor

-no duck

-i don't even know

original is below, and still available in the fine publication from
Needles & Pens/& Pens Press in SF and LA here:

let us be

let this winding down be the winding up for major mellow moves in the future year

holiday round-up

here's what's been going on the past five days in my life here on earth in indianapolis, indiana, usa:

 taking cover photos for my dog's dark metal solo album

 researching vibes

 investigating "Harley"

 checking out the local conceptual sculpture scene

 getting into norman greenbaum again

making mock-ups for monuments

computer basics

i did a bunch of proposals for a mural and i used the computer to make different colors and mess with the lines of my original drawings. i like the way these look. i ended up doing something totally different for the mural which i will show you one day but not now because it's none of your business. just kidding, it's just not totally done and well-lit yet. it's all of our business. i still would like to do one of these as big as a building one day so hit me up if you have a building or a billboard or something and want to bring me to europe or kentucky or whatever. let's get primitive and light. we'll paint the wall and get lunch and go to bed early. and life will be like that! we can bring our dogs and families and sit around the fire at night because your building that i am going to paint is in the woods somewhere. my friend chris' dream house is a warehouse by a lake. maybe we can do that and then he can move in. i am manifesting all this on my dream board. wishes and big drawings of hands and plants forever!

personal void for looking into

on view/for sale at

& PENS PRESS

8564 Washington, Los Angeles, California 90232

personal void for looking into

portable!

personal!

relaxing!

conversation piece!

cool to hold!

just nice!

welcome to your personal void!

how to use:

1. lean against wall, brick, book or what-have-you about 2-4 inches from the wall

(note flat side down)

2. when the mood strikes, gaze into it's blackness. focus on the absence of anything. watch the surroundings drift out of focus. 

things to think about:

wait, there are ridges. is that wood? what did that tree look like

is this what it's like to look at space

is this what death will look like

birth 

death

old times

what's happening

what's coming up

looks like record sort of. what music comes to mind?

what's that sound?

grandma

what are you doing with your life

dinner plans

dogs

options:

cover it with a scarf or towel (sold seperately) 

keep in a drawer

keep under your pillow

life charts etc

let us document the shapes and what they mean.

let us see new things in old ways.

let us consider the crevice and the crack.

both of these life charts have been made into prints by the pushing of water-based ink through a fine mesh and onto paper and are available for purchase in my online store here.

show me the changes 2014 calendar

calendars are here again! this time in time for the new year so you won't miss a day.

this year's theme is the changes. there's shifts every day, let's choogle on through 'em. 

18x24, 2 color silk screen, edition of 75, 30 bucks plus shipping.

in the store

trans sun

maybe this is just going to turn into  a music blog? hasn't it always been half that? well i think about music a lot and i that's what i feel like. i have been revisiting this album lately. what a record. what a band! i saw them twice on this tour and my face fell off. it was wonderful! it's worth listening to this record again, 16(!) years later. i remember thinking it was like van halen and kraftwerk had a dumb baby. and they did, and it was this.

in finding this video and seeing this record cover again i just realized that i fully ripped off this album cover on accident  last year with this print:

shameless! could it be that these things burrow into my brain and then ooze out years later with no clue as to their origins? i feel like this happens more than i know. sorry trans am! but thank you!

this is radio KARB

i'm no dj, but i put together a little mixtape for lounging around, nibbling on stuff, naps, and board games. i am thankful for us!

vadaat charigim

i some art/design for this pretty great band from israel, put out by my friends at warm ratio.

all the answers are in shapes.

ted etc

this is the official video from the performance i did with time for three at the ted-x conference last month. maybe this is the only video footage i have of any musical performance i've ever done? that seems weird. i hope i find more one day. it's hard to talk about without sounding narcissistic and awful. but this kind of art-making is my favorite to do. maybe because i don't have to try to make money from it. actually definitely because of that. playing music might be one of the best things on earth. the actual playing and singing of it. the act of doing it and existing in that moment that passes by too quickly. kids listen to me: don't do drugs just play music that you like. it might take you 15 years of trying to have that one wonderful 5 minutes but it's worth doing. this was a good afternoon!

nina

are you into nina simone? shouldn't you be? shouldn't we all just really dig into nina simone for a while? maybe this is that week.

what drove me to this is the record "to love somebody" where she does devastating covers of 60s popular songs like the above leonard cohen jam. of course i heard other songs here and there over the years, but her version of "tom thumb's blues" on that album is insane. it literally drives me to insanity for 10 seconds when i hear that song. then i found this mississippi records compilation tape called "fuck you america" that is as heavy as it sounds. so heavy. and then you want to go deeper but oh man there's like 21 other albums? and they are probably all good? this is what we need to occupy ourselves in life: intense and protracted investigation and discovery of past works to enlighten, entertain and confuse.


i now accept nina simone LPs in decent shape (no reissues) as payment for artworks, prints, and jibber-jabber appointments.

john!

 it's my uncle john's birthday! born in 1948, left us in 1996. 

i miss this guy and am inspired by him ever day! 

good feelings! sad feelings but good sad feelings!

on this day in 2013

art alert!
two art shows in america!
new work in each!
this one:

Vans talented stable of artists is coming together at Portland’s Compound Gallery this November for a collaborative show of abstract art blending the styles of some of the most influential artists in skateboarding culture. Join 

Compound for the Vans Off The Wall PDX gallery show this Thursday,

November 7th from 7-10 PM. Works featuring Tim Kerr, Zio Ziegler, Jai Tanju, Neil Blender, Chris Yormick, Russ Pope, Don Pendleton, Nathaniel Russell, Marco Zamora and Rich Jacobs will be on display throughout the month.

Arrive early to the opening reception for drinks by Widmer, food by Lardo and commemorative gifts from Vans.

and this one:

Through years of art business – first as an art supply store, more recently as an art gallery and frame shop – Brian and Genny Gordy have enjoyed the company of dozens of Ball State art students. Both graduates of that program, the Gordys found many student applicants were readily trained to work in their downtown business. Some of these employees graduated to become professional artists, art professors or game developers. For their November art exhibit, the Gordys will feature five of these former co-workers who have continued to collaborate and create, exhibiting from Chicago to New Zealand, Los Angeles to Bologna. Sometimes solo, often in collaboration, these men weave music, live performance, film, installation, and other artisans into their bigger-than-life exhibitions.

chuck n strings

i made this drawing for mr. prophet's upcoming concert with an octet. they will perform "temple beautiful" which i also did artwork for. just look at it.

iceberg rainbow

idea for:
-wallpaper
-trapper keeper
-giant painting
-science project
-tv show
-pants lining
-something to draw forever
-song

you lost me at "proggy workout"

sometimes i read record reviews online. actually i do it almost every day. i like discovering new music i might be into. you never know, today could be the day that you discover the song that will change your life forever or at least get you pumped when you walk the dog. there are days, weeks, months and years that go by when i feel like i can't relate to anything. nothing sounds good and i never get past the opening blurb. after a while, it's funny rather than a bummer.

for a couple weeks i collected some phrases from a popular music website that i thought illustrated the exact moment where i lose interest. is this too negative? let's just concentrate on the funny part.

here you go. you're welcome?

-aching funeral doom to arching classic thrash, from acid-washed electric jazz to acrobatic prog-rock, from ambling stoner rumble to assailant death metal.

-proggy synth-pop record that wants to get treated like a sculpture

 -harp-heavy post-rock

-development of a more nuanced soft side

-a unique take on European funeral doom

-dismantling jazz with the tools that built it

-collects every songs they ever made

-Drum and bass pioneer

-demonstrates a fondness for sparse, repeating figures

-conceptional electro-pop project

-a thematic focus on questions of gender, identity, and power structures

-Prodigy and producer the Alchemist team up

-as raw as you’d expect from an artist just starting to find himself

-If you like cerebral rap music

-document of the band's style-sampling present

-a sound that’s uniquely American in conception but European in execution

-concentrate solely on his murderous bark

-retro-funk bullseye

-a batch of accessible, confident indie rock

-a veteran of many rock sounds

-proggy workout

-lush, warm reverb and palpable bass frequencies.

-teaser

-London dance-pop quartet

-fourth full-length release of 2013

-perfectly situated at the leading edge of rock tastes

-vocal-oriented album from dark ambient pioneer

plans

and this.

jam poem

Trio

months ago i was invited to do a performance at TEDx Indianapolis, an independently organized TED event that happens here in town. lots of emails and a few months later here we are. the theme of this year's talk was "mix it up" and collaboration was encouraged. i did a song that i wrote a couple years ago called 'nitewalker' accompanied by Time For Three, a trio that has been in residence at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the past 5 years. the symphony played, then time for three played with the symphony and then the symphony bailed and TF3 played with me. we had maybe 5 minutes of rehearsal time but these guys are real professionals (as well as being just really nice people). we talked about just playing around an E all the way through and it felt good. you know in the movie Back To The Future when Marty McFLy turns to the band and is like "it's a blues in E, follow me for the changes..." and then lets it rip? it was like that in a very mellow one-chord non-ego kind of way. i felt like we were able to ride the vibe and discover the vibe as we went and i am thankful for that. playing music feels really good lately.  i will say it was trippy seeing a thousand people in front of me and knowing my parents were out there watching, but luckily i forgot about all that in the moment. the TED event was at the circle theater in downtown indianapolis, a place i've been going to since  i was about 8 years old for the occasional symphony concert with my folks. i am very thankful to all involved for being given this incredible experience and to be able to play this song. and i am also happy to display this bootleg video as filmed by the wonderful katie coles. what a thing!

it's alright

still on the mollusk jamboree comedown three weeks out....

dogs, buds, babies: what could be better?

here's hoping your weekend is a mellow fellow

randy cont'd

product toss

cut-out catalog

plywood & paint. 

now in the garden of Service Center, Indianapolis, Indiana. 

let me tell you, there are few things as satisfying as cutting a bunch of things out of heavy wood and painting them and dragging them around. it is like being a shape lumberjack. i want to make a lot more of these until i am dead.