how's it hangin'?

I’m not sure of the first concert poster I bought – I think it might have been from a Pearl Jam show in New Orleans at Tad Gormley Stadium in 1995. I thought it was so cool to have a groovy piece of art that is specific to a show I attended – with the even the date, location and opening band. Since that first one, I’ve purchased all the “gig posters” I could find whenever I actually attended the show.

In addition to Pearl Jam, I have posters from Beck, The Decemberists, The Raveonettes, Ambulance LTD, Bright Eyes, Interpol, Wilco and Cat Power.

Brad and I went to a really cool art show earlier this summer at the House of Blues, and it totally reignited my passion for these posters. Brad even bought me The Art of Modern Rock, an awesome coffeetable book that celebrates this art form that is kicking and scratching its way into the spotlight of being labeled the “It” thing this year.

OK, so Brad and I have all these cool posters, but we’re perplexed about how to hang them. Framing them would cost us about the gross national product of Guam, and we need to save our money for important things like mortgages, car payments and Coachella.

I was clicking around the net yesterday and came upon a blog wherein the author described he was struggling with this very same issue, and he asked his readers to offer up some suggestions. They did. Here are a few of their ideas – some of which are better than others:

postertack – the sticky, gummy stuff you can hang posters with. “It'll stick to your poster and stick to the wall. Then you don't have to put holes in your beautiful posters.”

I used to use this stuff, and it literally took the paint off my wall.

“you could try laminating things..__I have this pretty oddly shaped strokes poster that I didn't want to mess up, and I ended up finding this plastic slip cover thing that fit perfectly.”

Laminate a whole poster? I’ve never seen a lamination machine that big!

“framing it yourself is pretty cheap. (go to a craft store and find a frame for cheap.)

Maybe, but I think it’s probably still too expensive. Plus, it’s not a Monet or Gaugin; it should be more fun and DIY-ish.

“You can use adhesive corners - http://www.lineco.com/item.cfm?itemnum=L533-0020. They don't adhere to your posters in any way, just your wall - you just slot your posters into them and voila! The only tricky bit is making sure that when you put the adhesive corners on a wall (presuming you do this (measuring and sticking) and then put the poster in later), the corners are aligned with each other correctly, or you might slightly bend some of your poster (in particular the corners) getting it to fit in the slots. If you're careful though, this can be avoided fairly easily :D"

Fairly easily? That sounds like it would take me all day and a lot of expletives.

“Get those cheap clip frames. They are simple and can look sharp. http://www.eldridgeacrylics.com/clipframe.htm. Any good frame store will have them.

“I had the same problem for a while. I love my screenprints. I use what I like to call "magic clothespins"Take some of these 3m things and cut them in half. stick it to the back of a wooden clothespin (not plastic because those are too rough) making sure the little "pull to remove" tab is sticking out the bottom or something. stick it to the wall and clip up your print. I use one on each corner for big prints. or just one in the middle for smaller ones. Hope that helps."

Interesting!!

“I've got some rare trade ads that I frame with those really cheap frames, I think someone mentioned them above. They're like 3 bucks a frame, and Wal-Mart has em.”

Stop. You lost me at Wal-Mart.

“I suggest BINDER CLIPS - big or small depending the popster size. you use your choice of tacks to hold the binder clips to the wall and then clip the poster. minimal and effective."

Now we’re talking. This could be cool.

“you should mat it. you can either have it done professionally (and relatively cheaply) or do it yourself. you take a piece of nice black matboard and cut out a section 1/2 inch smaller than the actual poster. you center the picture and cut out a sturdy piece of something (say, cardboard) the same size as the poster to be the backing. then you tape the cardboard over the back of that, this sort of makes a little container/recess for the poster to set in. i did it all the time for my art class. it's like a sandwich. matboard, picture, backing.”

Sounds cool, but I’m not sure if I can trust a lunatic who thinks matting is cheap. I paid almost $50 just for matting for one of my frames to showcase my photos from Paris. (I really like saying “my photos from Paris.)

Hmmm, that whole clothespin notion is intriguing to me. I’ll have to think more about his. I’ll let you know.

Orenda at Park Ave CDs

Posted today on the Saddle Creek Records Web site ...

10.19
Orenda Fink has a free in store appearance at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando, FL on Thursday, October 27th at 5PM.

Whoa! The kids move into the new store, and already, they are hosting hot indie artists??!! I love Orlando!

"Did you bring or buy?"

Second only to the infamous lunchtime poll topic, the most-often asked question in elementary school around lunchtime was always "Did you bring or buy?" Apparently your favorite celebs are bringing it! There are 100 celebrity-designed lunchboxes up for bid at eBay, and lots of cool artists have donated their time and talent to raise money for The Lunchbox Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides lunch to needy children in schools in South Africa.

Here's a cool one ...


Conor? Conor Oberst? Who's that??? :)

Man, I love him. *exhale*

But wait, we're talking about hungry kids here. Go to The Lunchbox Auction to find out more about how you can bid on lunchboxes designed by Anton Corbijn, Jake Gyllenhall (who I cannot wait to see in Brokeback Mountain, Mary Louise Parker & the luscious Justin Theroux, Cameron Crowe, Liv Tyler, Michael Stipe, Bill Clinton, Mike Myers, Jimmy Fallon, Mike D from the Beastie Boys, and the list goes on and on!!!

I wonder if it comes with the Thermos???

I hate Wal-Mart, Reason #37

You can find the full story at progressive.org/mag_mc100405. It truly speaks for itself.

Wal-Mart Turns in Student’s Anti-Bush Photo, Secret Service Investigates Him

By Matthew Rothschild
October 4, 2005

Selina Jarvis, the chair of the social studies department at Currituck County High School in North Carolina, assigned her senior civics and economics class “to take photographs to illustrate their rights in the Bill of Rights,” she says. One student “had taken a photo of George Bush out of a magazine and tacked the picture to a wall with a red thumb tack through his head. Then he made a thumb’s down sign with his own hand next to the President’s picture, and he had a photo taken of that, and he pasted it on a poster.”

According to Jarvis, the student, who remains anonymous, was just doing his assignment, illustrating the right to dissent.

But over at the Kitty Hawk Wal-Mart, where the student took his film to be developed, this right is evidently suspect.
An employee in that Wal-Mart photo department called the Kitty Hawk police on the student. And the Kitty Hawk police turned the matter over to the Secret Service.

On Tuesday, September 20, the Secret Service came to Currituck High.

“At 1:35, the student came to me and told me that the Secret Service had taken his poster,” Jarvis says. “I didn’t believe him at first. But they had come into my room when I wasn’t there and had taken his poster, which was in a stack with all the others.”

She says the student was upset.

“He was nervous, he was scared, and his parents were out of town on business,” says Jarvis. She, too, had to talk to the Secret Service.

“Halfway through my afternoon class, the assistant principal got me out of class and took me to the office conference room,” she says. “Two men from the Secret Service were there. They asked me what I knew about the student. I told them he was a great kid, that he was in the homecoming court, and that he’d never been in any trouble.”

“They asked me, didn’t I think that it was suspicious,” she recalls. “I said no, it was a Bill of Rights project!”

At the end of the meeting, they told her the incident “would be interpreted by the U.S. attorney, who would decide whether the student could be indicted,” she says.

The student was not indicted, and the Secret Service did not pursue the case further.
“I blame Wal-Mart more than anybody,” she says. “I was really disgusted with them. But everyone was using poor judgment, from Wal-Mart up to the Secret Service.”

A person in the photo department at the Wal-Mart in Kitty Hawk said, “You have to call either the home office or the authorities to get any information about that.”

Jonathan Scherry, spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, D.C., said, “We certainly respect artistic freedom, but we also have the responsibility to look into incidents when necessary. In this case, it was brought to our attention from a private citizen, a photo lab employee.”

Jarvis uses one word to describe the whole incident: “ridiculous.”

How rannnnnnndom!

Totally random thoughts ...

“She's the perfect Bush-era heroine, because she's all style and no content.”
-Feminist author Naomi Wolf on Paris Hilton in Vanity Fair

Park Ave CDs has finally moved to its new location, and it's, well, really dusty. But I'm sure it's going to be great. There's lots of room -- so much so that I actually felt a bit claustrophobic when I walked in on Saturday. It was opening day, and I would have never known if it were not for Jamie. He and Rob just bought a great place in Winter Park about five blocks away. He heard it was open and wanted to go.

When I made my purchases (new CDs from Fiona Apple, Wolf Parade and Metric), I asked the very nice woman at the register when they opened. She looked at her watch. "Just about an hour ago." Wow! I felt kind of special, and not just because the sometimes too cool for school employees smiled at me -- perhaps I'm too paranoid, but sometimes, they don't even make eye contact, and it makes me feel like such a poser -- but because I told her how excited I was and that the shop was going to be great. She seemed truly thankful I said so, and that just about made my morning.

Here's a link to what looks like a really cool documentary called I Was a Teenage Feminist: http://trixiefilms.com/teenfem/index.htm.

I saw Henry Rollins' spoken word show at House of Blues last week. It's the third time I've seen him, and I must say, I would have traded the sex jokes for more politics. Overall, Hank, or "The Scary Neck" as a friend of mine called him in college, was great -- funny, honest and like a camel in that he didn't have one sip of water during the 2-and-a-half hour set. But he usually talks about politics more, which I love because he, like my beloved Jon Stewart, just gets it.

He talked about Kanye West's nervous outburst during the televised fundraiser -- you know, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Henry said he doesn't believe that's true. It's more that Dubya doesn't even have the poor people on his radar screen. I think Henry's on to something here. Bush just doesn't even comprehend the depths of poverty in this nation, and it must be somewhat of a genetic blindness, as evidenced by Barbara Bush's comments about the state of the evacuees in the Astrodome. Apparently, they're all fine because they're underprivileged anyway, so these accommodations are fine. No one is claiming the New Orleans projects to be anything but hell; but come one! People are living in cots in rows on the floor of one ginormous room where the lights never go out, the babies never stop crying, and there's no way to escape the sadness of the situation.

I heard on the radio that a lot of the people impacted by Hurricane Katrina are getting loans to get back on their feet. That's l-o-a-n-s, a check to cash that has to be paid back, maybe even with interest. And yet we're going to rebuild Iraq like we've rebuilt Kuwait and countless other countries, and no one is asking any of them to pay us back. Is that fair?

Jamie told me that there were protesters with signs about damnation and abomination at the recent Pride Parade in downtown Orlando. These idiotic protesters actually brought their children with them, and encouraged them to use their megaphones to warn all those in attendance that they were going to Hell. These kids are not even 10 years old, and their parents are teaching them to hate and fear. It's disgusting. I'm going to renew my HRC membership right now! And you should, too! http://Human Rights Committee

Jon Stewart can eat crackers in my bed

Jon Stewart is so sauce. He's hilarious, sexy, smart and he gets it. He understands and sees through all the bullshit. Watching Comedy Central's The Daily Show is incredibly enlightening. I know his show is supposed to be a parody, mere entertainment, if you will. But, come on! This should be required viewing in all high schools! It's actually more real than the real news!

My love for Jon began a long time ago, and I'm grateful that the rest of America and the Emmy voters are finally catching up. Want to see him in action? Below is a link to a video of his appearance in a 2004 edition of CNN's "Crossfire," and it's priceless. He calls Tucker Carlson a dick on live TV, and he pleads with the hosts to be more responsible "newspeople." He also compels viewers to realize their own power. Don't just take what they're feeding you. Question it and resist!!

ifilm.com

Ahhh... we meet again ...

Although you may not have even noticed, countless days have passed since my last entry. I've missed you. I've thought of you often and what I would say the first time we were together again. Would you be upset? Would I kind of clam up and say very little? Would I rattle on and on to try to compensate for my absence? Would you grossly misinterpret my lack of communication as a lack of interest?

I've been a busy bee, hanging out with my parents as they evacuated in anticipation of Hurricane Rita and then spent some time vacationing in the big world that is Disney. Work is crazy as usual, and I'm still trying to learn Sign Language in weekly classes.

And of course, when you have the most to do, you also have the most to say, or write! It was always that way for me in college. Whenever the cloud over my head was especially dark, I wanted to write it all down in my journal, but I'd have some book report to write in French or seven chapters to read of Njal's Saga.

I could talk about a gazillion different things right now, but there's so little time! I promise to catch you up soon. For now, please share my giddy excitement over the following news ...

Bright Eyes to Release Live Album

According to Pitchforkmedia.com, my beloved Conor Oberst will release a new album of live emo splendor on November 15, on his own Team Love Records -- also home to those beautiful toe-tappers Tilly & The Wall. "Motion Sickness," the first official live album of Bright Eyes tunes -- if you don't count my iTunes playlist -- will be sold exclusively in indie stores.

Seriously now, if Conor keeps it up, no other human will ever be good enough for me.

The CD even -- Christy, are you listening? -- features a cover of a gorgeous Elliot Smith song! Here's the track listing:

01 At the Bottom of Everything
02 We Are Nowhere and It's Now
03 Old Soul Song
04 Make War Short
05 Make War
06 Scale
07 Landlocked Blues
08 Method Acting
09 Train Under Water
10 When the President Talks to God
11 Road to Joy
12 Mushaboom (Feist cover)
13 Southern State
14 True Blue
15 The Biggest Lie (Elliot Smith cover)

*Exhale* Ahhh, that felt good. I'll write again soon.
TTFN, BFF
Steph