woke to my phone ringing at - surpise, 10am - when di called to say hi.
got in the shower, everyone else got up. we walked about a mile to hi-fi coffee shop, got sandwiches and coffee. walked back to tom's, and sat in the yard, discussing the day.
now 2:45, we're going to see if we can catch peter kursel's painting show here in town, try to stop at ben's cycles, and then go to see darjeeling limited at 4:45, before heading to madison.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
friday night
flew from minot to minneapolis, uneventful. attempted to read a gideon's new testament i found, since i've never read the bible at all, and i want to know exactly how ridiculous it is.
as soon as we landed, i called dan ibarra who had previously been 'angry' with me for not calling when i was in minneapolis a few days ago (for 19 minutes between flights). of course, i got his voicemail.
on the plane to milwaikee, i got seated next to a guy about my age named josh, who lives in milwaukee. we pretty much hit it off and it was the single most pleasant flight i've ever had next to someone i didn' know. we talked without stopping for the whole flight, about an hour.
landed, tom stack met me at baggage to take me to the cactus club for the show. got there in time to have a sandwich next door with the dudes, then back to the bar to play.
bottomless pit were great. super loud and solid. great to see each of them on stage. andy, as usual, made playing amazing guitar look so easy that he almost looked bored. tim's 'electrical guitar' baritones were pretty hot - i got to play the aluminum one for a bit just before they went on.
todd "braid" bell, and half the EA forum guys showed up. fun crowd.
we played pretty well - i had a couple flubs, but nothing major. didn't make too much of a fool of myself talking between songs.
adam franklin was the headliner. he used to be in swervedriver. beautiful swirling guitars, good vocal melodies. nice folks.
we headed back to tom's house around 2am, and i slept on the couch.
as soon as we landed, i called dan ibarra who had previously been 'angry' with me for not calling when i was in minneapolis a few days ago (for 19 minutes between flights). of course, i got his voicemail.
on the plane to milwaikee, i got seated next to a guy about my age named josh, who lives in milwaukee. we pretty much hit it off and it was the single most pleasant flight i've ever had next to someone i didn' know. we talked without stopping for the whole flight, about an hour.
landed, tom stack met me at baggage to take me to the cactus club for the show. got there in time to have a sandwich next door with the dudes, then back to the bar to play.
bottomless pit were great. super loud and solid. great to see each of them on stage. andy, as usual, made playing amazing guitar look so easy that he almost looked bored. tim's 'electrical guitar' baritones were pretty hot - i got to play the aluminum one for a bit just before they went on.
todd "braid" bell, and half the EA forum guys showed up. fun crowd.
we played pretty well - i had a couple flubs, but nothing major. didn't make too much of a fool of myself talking between songs.
adam franklin was the headliner. he used to be in swervedriver. beautiful swirling guitars, good vocal melodies. nice folks.
we headed back to tom's house around 2am, and i slept on the couch.
friday day
friday morning i woke at 8. laurie was coming to pick me up at 10, so i fell into the tub for a while to try to relax the kinks out of my back. packed and met her downstairs at 10.
we went to 'homesteaders' restaurant for breakfast. two eggs sort of over easy, shuffled into two pancakes, dry. orange juice. breakfast for two: $10.65. i left a 50% tip.
then, of course, we had to go to starbucks. oops, no soy available today, so i *had* to have a frappuccino. darn.
back to the school to curate and sign the print demo prints. i copied a bunch of lauries music onto a mac in the graphics lab, then onto a jump drive, then onto my laptop. the radio department, wilco, spoon, iron & wine, neil young, band of horses.
said goodbye to folks, and headed out to see a bit more of minot with laurie and ben. we went to '62 doors', a gallery / workspace co-op in downtown minot. i should mention that after three days of heavy grey clouds and rain, today is PERFECT. clear sky, fall sun, mid-fifties.
we walked up and down the street a bit, shot some photos, and they just dropped me back at the airport, where i sit now, typing about ten feet from where all these dudes with rifles are checking their guns in with some guys with badges. shit would be way more stressful in chicago.
we went to 'homesteaders' restaurant for breakfast. two eggs sort of over easy, shuffled into two pancakes, dry. orange juice. breakfast for two: $10.65. i left a 50% tip.
then, of course, we had to go to starbucks. oops, no soy available today, so i *had* to have a frappuccino. darn.
back to the school to curate and sign the print demo prints. i copied a bunch of lauries music onto a mac in the graphics lab, then onto a jump drive, then onto my laptop. the radio department, wilco, spoon, iron & wine, neil young, band of horses.
said goodbye to folks, and headed out to see a bit more of minot with laurie and ben. we went to '62 doors', a gallery / workspace co-op in downtown minot. i should mention that after three days of heavy grey clouds and rain, today is PERFECT. clear sky, fall sun, mid-fifties.
we walked up and down the street a bit, shot some photos, and they just dropped me back at the airport, where i sit now, typing about ten feet from where all these dudes with rifles are checking their guns in with some guys with badges. shit would be way more stressful in chicago.
thursday
last night i fell asleep in the tub. woke after about an hour, and a disturbingly realistic dream about rear-ending a truck at a high speed in my civic. no sound in the dream, which struck me as odd.
thursday morning i woke at 7:30, had to be downstairs at 8 to meet laurie. we ran to the school to coat the screen for the keyplate, then went to the beaver dam (the student lounge) to set up for a long day of printing. nothing quite like setting up to print with ten or so people standing around waiting to help. its sort of a one or maybe two person job, and everyone was anxious to help, but there simply wasn't that much to do.
i got a mocha (hot, medium, soy) and got printing around 10am, maybe, and had a steady crowd of folks helping, printing, watching, stacking prints, all day. four screens, 200 pieces, we printed these demo prints right up to about 7pm. got interviewed by TWO tv stations, and was told that i was in the paper this morning.
the president of the university came by, and a busload of highschool students were brought in from montana. another interview with the local paper, including photos. the print set-up was at the front of the room, on three layers of plastic tarps on top of carpet. very hazardous to walk upon. "the floor was drunk", we decided. i ate a veggie wrap thingie from the sandwich shop in the room.
at 7pm we finished, and cleaned up quickly. i ran upstairs to hook up my computer to the projector, and to change my shirt. i talked for a surprisingly long hour and a half. folks seemed to be into it, and i didn't make too many blunders.
afterwards we went downstairs to a reception, and i played with 10-month old named logan (doing "the swing"), and caught a bit of music by acoustic guitar and upright bass duo "potential coffins". i think i have their name wrong. they sounded awesomely like the best parts of the pogues.
laurie dropped me at the hotel and i spent a couple hours watching police-chase footage shows on TV.
thursday morning i woke at 7:30, had to be downstairs at 8 to meet laurie. we ran to the school to coat the screen for the keyplate, then went to the beaver dam (the student lounge) to set up for a long day of printing. nothing quite like setting up to print with ten or so people standing around waiting to help. its sort of a one or maybe two person job, and everyone was anxious to help, but there simply wasn't that much to do.
i got a mocha (hot, medium, soy) and got printing around 10am, maybe, and had a steady crowd of folks helping, printing, watching, stacking prints, all day. four screens, 200 pieces, we printed these demo prints right up to about 7pm. got interviewed by TWO tv stations, and was told that i was in the paper this morning.
the president of the university came by, and a busload of highschool students were brought in from montana. another interview with the local paper, including photos. the print set-up was at the front of the room, on three layers of plastic tarps on top of carpet. very hazardous to walk upon. "the floor was drunk", we decided. i ate a veggie wrap thingie from the sandwich shop in the room.
at 7pm we finished, and cleaned up quickly. i ran upstairs to hook up my computer to the projector, and to change my shirt. i talked for a surprisingly long hour and a half. folks seemed to be into it, and i didn't make too many blunders.
afterwards we went downstairs to a reception, and i played with 10-month old named logan (doing "the swing"), and caught a bit of music by acoustic guitar and upright bass duo "potential coffins". i think i have their name wrong. they sounded awesomely like the best parts of the pogues.
laurie dropped me at the hotel and i spent a couple hours watching police-chase footage shows on TV.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
wednesday, all day
it's after 9pm, i'm in my hotel room.
you know how i usually wake up pretty early? today i woke in the grey light and lay looking at the bed for a long time, trying to go back to sleep. finally admitted it would not work. rolled over to check the time, and saw that it was 8:35am. crap! i'm supposed to meet laurie in front of the hotel at 9, and i had hoped to shave the week's worth of beard off. called laurie to delay my pick-up.
shaved. bathed. continental breakfast.
laurie took me to the art building and the beaver dam to meet folks and see where i'd be doing the demo on thursday. we hung some of my older prints from the ceiling of the beaver dam, and i got my mocha. saw a bit of the school. it was about 50 and drizzling out. the poor building maintenance guys had to move some drying racks out of the print classroom through a couple doors (tip the racks on their side, weasel through, tip back up) and through the stage set of a play to get them to where i'll be printing. met bill & doug, the two other main professors responsible (aside from laurie) in bringing me here. laurie and i went to lunch.
ben, a student, helped me burn my screens on their exposure unit. i mixed ink, and folks generally got things ready to go for tomorrow.
eventually, we went to a restaurant called 'sevens' for dinner, and i had a great salmon with potatoes. talked to bill and his wife sandy about their three greyhounds. unreasonable chocolate cake for dessert.
back to the hotel, call di, blog, maybe hot tub and sleep.
you know how i usually wake up pretty early? today i woke in the grey light and lay looking at the bed for a long time, trying to go back to sleep. finally admitted it would not work. rolled over to check the time, and saw that it was 8:35am. crap! i'm supposed to meet laurie in front of the hotel at 9, and i had hoped to shave the week's worth of beard off. called laurie to delay my pick-up.
shaved. bathed. continental breakfast.
laurie took me to the art building and the beaver dam to meet folks and see where i'd be doing the demo on thursday. we hung some of my older prints from the ceiling of the beaver dam, and i got my mocha. saw a bit of the school. it was about 50 and drizzling out. the poor building maintenance guys had to move some drying racks out of the print classroom through a couple doors (tip the racks on their side, weasel through, tip back up) and through the stage set of a play to get them to where i'll be printing. met bill & doug, the two other main professors responsible (aside from laurie) in bringing me here. laurie and i went to lunch.
ben, a student, helped me burn my screens on their exposure unit. i mixed ink, and folks generally got things ready to go for tomorrow.
eventually, we went to a restaurant called 'sevens' for dinner, and i had a great salmon with potatoes. talked to bill and his wife sandy about their three greyhounds. unreasonable chocolate cake for dessert.
back to the hotel, call di, blog, maybe hot tub and sleep.
tueday night night
the flight from ohare to minneapolis was delayed a bit, and was uneventful. the guy next to me was reading 'the year of living biblically", and we talked about it a bit. i showed him "the best american comics" book i was reading. he was very large.
the delay meant that i had five minutes to get from my arrival gate to meet my flight to minot. worked out just fine. one hour flight to minot. came in for a landing in dense fog, then the pilot took us up again. five minutes followed of the aviation equivilent of flooring it and slamming on the brakes. came in for a second pass, and this time they found the runway. landed a bit hard with some funny noises, but it worked fine. it was midnight.
the minot airport, located in north dakota, has A gate and A baggage carousel. they are about 40 feet away from each other. in between are the rental car desks. it felt like a tiny tiny part of a much larger airport. it was a serious airport, only in miniature. laurie met me when i passed through security.
the drive from the airport to my hotel gave me the impression that minot largely consists of fuzzy grey lumps in the damp darkness. we stopped at a gas station so i could get a bite to eat, then laurie dropped me at my hotel. the room is great. pretty much the only time i watch TV is in hotel rooms. i didn't go to sleep until 3am.
the delay meant that i had five minutes to get from my arrival gate to meet my flight to minot. worked out just fine. one hour flight to minot. came in for a landing in dense fog, then the pilot took us up again. five minutes followed of the aviation equivilent of flooring it and slamming on the brakes. came in for a second pass, and this time they found the runway. landed a bit hard with some funny noises, but it worked fine. it was midnight.
the minot airport, located in north dakota, has A gate and A baggage carousel. they are about 40 feet away from each other. in between are the rental car desks. it felt like a tiny tiny part of a much larger airport. it was a serious airport, only in miniature. laurie met me when i passed through security.
the drive from the airport to my hotel gave me the impression that minot largely consists of fuzzy grey lumps in the damp darkness. we stopped at a gas station so i could get a bite to eat, then laurie dropped me at my hotel. the room is great. pretty much the only time i watch TV is in hotel rooms. i didn't go to sleep until 3am.
tues night.
i'm typing while sitting at gate E10 at ohare, waiting for my flight to minot, via minneapolis.
a little after 10am, the truck with the trim arrived from the millwork place. i loaded it into the garage. i colored the EP cover which needs to be sent off today, and got the file sent to jason. i ran to kinko's to make the keyplate film for the minot print, and cut the separations for that. ran a couple loads of laundry.
finally, around 2pm, it was time to start moving all the furniture out of the first floor. diana moved a couple things, and i ran up and down the stairs while she took care of some of the more fragile things.
di lay down for a quick nap while i finished all that i could before jumping in the shower, getting dressed, loading di into the car, and driving to TBM.
i picked up a couple drywall supplies for di to have at the house, as well as my portfolio, some prints to sell, and a squeegee, and headed out to ohare, where di dropped me off at 6pm.
i'll land in minot just before midnight.
a little after 10am, the truck with the trim arrived from the millwork place. i loaded it into the garage. i colored the EP cover which needs to be sent off today, and got the file sent to jason. i ran to kinko's to make the keyplate film for the minot print, and cut the separations for that. ran a couple loads of laundry.
finally, around 2pm, it was time to start moving all the furniture out of the first floor. diana moved a couple things, and i ran up and down the stairs while she took care of some of the more fragile things.
di lay down for a quick nap while i finished all that i could before jumping in the shower, getting dressed, loading di into the car, and driving to TBM.
i picked up a couple drywall supplies for di to have at the house, as well as my portfolio, some prints to sell, and a squeegee, and headed out to ohare, where di dropped me off at 6pm.
i'll land in minot just before midnight.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
tuesday morning
woke at 6 again, went to the shop to get the truck. returned the pallet jack, then returned the truck. walked back to TBM, got my car, and drove to meet my dad at the school where my mom works, so i could drive him down to albany park automotive to get his car. stopped at metropolis coffee for a mocha granita, and to collect a deposit for the posters we're about to print. over to albany park. wally always is a good time to hang out with. dad got his car, i drove home. skokie millwork is due to the house any minute to drop off casing for the windows, which paul will start putting up tomorrow. i still have quite a list before i head to the airport later today.
Monday, October 15, 2007
monday night, and all day
just got home at 10:45pm.
woke at 6:15 this morning, was out the door by 6:30. home depot to get tie-downs, large iced mocha, then over to TBM to drop off some of the newly editioned prints. headed around the corner to pick up an 18' box truck with a liftgate. north to a different rental place in skokie to get a pallet jack (not the size i reserved), then down towards screwball to get steve. phone calls to everyone to clarify times etc. pick up steve walking down irving park road, then to sonnenzimmer to collect nick butcher (8:45am). we took western all the way down to 43rd street, then looped around to find marty perez's storage unit near 39th and damen (9:30am). marty had some great old drafting tables and light tables for us, which we slowly loaded down the elevator and into the truck.
from marty's, we drove out to anders nilssen's place in humboldt park, where we met up with mat, and met ander's friend todd. anders is selling a beautiful old 'challenge' paper cutter, which weighs approx 2.5 fuxxin tons. i'll post photos later, when i have them. we rigged a system of haphazard 2x4s and good wishes to get this thing up into the truck, and eventually, after a couple hours, it worked. i'll spare you the details. the chance of disaster was high.
we dove very very carefully up to sonnenzimmer to pick up the other parts of this press, then to screwball to drop off steve's share of the drafting tables.
mat and nick went to hot doug's, while steve and i started the long slow drive north to TBM. we got there, and i backed into our little lot without even spilling the cutter. this was the hugest success of the day - i didn't tip the cutter over. it would have killed anyone underneath it, and would have probably torn a hole in the truck had it fallen while we were driving. steve and i moved some stuff around so the cutter would have a place to sit.
mat and nick arrived with a big bag of hot dogs. i got two chicken sausages with some spinach something, and some great mild cheese.
we were better equiped with more than enough wood, so the unloading of the truck went better than the loading. still very strenuous for my brain.
mat drove steve and nick home (3:30), and i took the truck out to des plaines to pick up that huge paper order from french paper. 900lbs. of paper. the loading dock guys at the shipping company were doing skids around corners in their forklifts.
got the paper, got gas, and drove back to TBM, where unloading wasn't really helped by the pallet jack, and i had to push the six 150lb boxes around barehanded, more or less. when i was done, i didn't have time to go home before dianoga practice, so i left the truck at TBM, walked to the rental place where i left my car, stopped by whole foods for some sushi, and picked jason up.arthur and clive amaze me every visit.
practice.
after practice i drove down to pilsen to meet up with former gallery owner J.L., who sort of disappeared early this year. he called me wanting to return a painting and some posters to me. he is going to brazil on wednesday, where he is getting married. i am a bit confused by this all, but wish him the best.
as i came back north on 90/94, it started to rain.
woke at 6:15 this morning, was out the door by 6:30. home depot to get tie-downs, large iced mocha, then over to TBM to drop off some of the newly editioned prints. headed around the corner to pick up an 18' box truck with a liftgate. north to a different rental place in skokie to get a pallet jack (not the size i reserved), then down towards screwball to get steve. phone calls to everyone to clarify times etc. pick up steve walking down irving park road, then to sonnenzimmer to collect nick butcher (8:45am). we took western all the way down to 43rd street, then looped around to find marty perez's storage unit near 39th and damen (9:30am). marty had some great old drafting tables and light tables for us, which we slowly loaded down the elevator and into the truck.
from marty's, we drove out to anders nilssen's place in humboldt park, where we met up with mat, and met ander's friend todd. anders is selling a beautiful old 'challenge' paper cutter, which weighs approx 2.5 fuxxin tons. i'll post photos later, when i have them. we rigged a system of haphazard 2x4s and good wishes to get this thing up into the truck, and eventually, after a couple hours, it worked. i'll spare you the details. the chance of disaster was high.
we dove very very carefully up to sonnenzimmer to pick up the other parts of this press, then to screwball to drop off steve's share of the drafting tables.
mat and nick went to hot doug's, while steve and i started the long slow drive north to TBM. we got there, and i backed into our little lot without even spilling the cutter. this was the hugest success of the day - i didn't tip the cutter over. it would have killed anyone underneath it, and would have probably torn a hole in the truck had it fallen while we were driving. steve and i moved some stuff around so the cutter would have a place to sit.
mat and nick arrived with a big bag of hot dogs. i got two chicken sausages with some spinach something, and some great mild cheese.
we were better equiped with more than enough wood, so the unloading of the truck went better than the loading. still very strenuous for my brain.
mat drove steve and nick home (3:30), and i took the truck out to des plaines to pick up that huge paper order from french paper. 900lbs. of paper. the loading dock guys at the shipping company were doing skids around corners in their forklifts.
got the paper, got gas, and drove back to TBM, where unloading wasn't really helped by the pallet jack, and i had to push the six 150lb boxes around barehanded, more or less. when i was done, i didn't have time to go home before dianoga practice, so i left the truck at TBM, walked to the rental place where i left my car, stopped by whole foods for some sushi, and picked jason up.arthur and clive amaze me every visit.
practice.
after practice i drove down to pilsen to meet up with former gallery owner J.L., who sort of disappeared early this year. he called me wanting to return a painting and some posters to me. he is going to brazil on wednesday, where he is getting married. i am a bit confused by this all, but wish him the best.
as i came back north on 90/94, it started to rain.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
sunday night.
noon: ok: editioning prints. counting prints. somehow i discovered a number of them have minor printing errors, so i have less than the "editioned" number of 300. hrrrrgh.
grocery store. food, cat litter. clean out fridge. take vegetables to the compost pile. decide it's a great time to move the compost pile. do.
drew some for the EP cover i mentioned on friday. come up with something. like it. shoot it off to band and manager, who are on tour.
i have to say that i'm all for obama, but if gore decides to run, he gets my vote.
finish drawing the linework for the demo print for minot. invent the animal "microwalrus".
diana finds that there's a nature show on grizzly bears on PBS. life goes on hold for an hour. we eat BBQ chicken-flavor frozen pizza and salad.
get email confirmation from band's manager that the drawing has a green light.
make up a schedule for tomorrow, call nick, mat, steve, and marty to give everyone the details. tomorrow will be an early day.
now going to scan the drawing for the record cover and start coloring it in photoshop. has to be done tomorrow.
this is how seth spent his sunday:
grocery store. food, cat litter. clean out fridge. take vegetables to the compost pile. decide it's a great time to move the compost pile. do.
drew some for the EP cover i mentioned on friday. come up with something. like it. shoot it off to band and manager, who are on tour.
i have to say that i'm all for obama, but if gore decides to run, he gets my vote.
finish drawing the linework for the demo print for minot. invent the animal "microwalrus".
diana finds that there's a nature show on grizzly bears on PBS. life goes on hold for an hour. we eat BBQ chicken-flavor frozen pizza and salad.
get email confirmation from band's manager that the drawing has a green light.
make up a schedule for tomorrow, call nick, mat, steve, and marty to give everyone the details. tomorrow will be an early day.
now going to scan the drawing for the record cover and start coloring it in photoshop. has to be done tomorrow.
this is how seth spent his sunday:
noonish, sunday.
woke at 7 to feed the cats, felt like crap. what is it with this week?
we got seth up onto the bed, and i fell asleep again until 9 (!)
despite the rainy look outside, di and i got on our fixed-gear bikes and rode up to wilmette, to get a coffee and pastry. good time, slow morning. it started to rain in earnest while we sat indoors.
the ride home was somewhat colder, but still fine. di has left for the gym, i am getting up the courage to finish editioning the nada surf prints and starting to draw. i think i'll make a fire.
here is a photo of ZZ TOP. i think we all could learn a little something from ZZ TOP.
we got seth up onto the bed, and i fell asleep again until 9 (!)
despite the rainy look outside, di and i got on our fixed-gear bikes and rode up to wilmette, to get a coffee and pastry. good time, slow morning. it started to rain in earnest while we sat indoors.
the ride home was somewhat colder, but still fine. di has left for the gym, i am getting up the courage to finish editioning the nada surf prints and starting to draw. i think i'll make a fire.
here is a photo of ZZ TOP. i think we all could learn a little something from ZZ TOP.
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