Manic Bloom : Birth of a Street Team 2

So wow! Had a terrific week as I saw this long-promised film

see the end of its production. Myfriend Danielle

had dreamed of serving as part of the Street Team

for the amazing Tennessee band Manic Bloom.

However, she was no mere mortal as she also felt a video

would go far in promoting the band in addition to putting

up posters and flyers in our neck of the woods.

We're in the Monterey Bay area which would serve well

in helping the band gain a foothold in California.

With as many major cities we have here

a future tour could be made worthwhile for them.

So the film was done and it was uploaded to 
YouTube for a test run to see if any edits were going to be needed.

Within moments we received word from the band who

immediately took a liking to the video!!

We were over the moon in the way it was received

and totally inspired by the love and goodwill generated.

It was quickly welcomed to the band's

website blog and Facebook page.

I'd like to thank all of our friends who helped in

making and appearing in the film as well as

aiding us in the poster campaign.

Super thanks to Danielle for the inspired idea,

camera work and enthusiasm.

Major thanks to the band for being so supportive

and being so great in the first place!

Hoping you enjoy the film as much as we did in making it!

The song is 'Toynbee' from the band's CD

'In Loving Memory'

Available on the band's website, Amazon and Soundcloud:

http://soundcloud.com/search?q%5Bfulltext%5D=manic+bloom

as well as iTunes :

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-loving-memory/id420970905

More links below!

Direct YouTube link (as this screen may appear chopped some) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0xiyq3G-PU

Manic Bloom website/blog : http://www.manicbloom.com/

Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/manicbloom

Roger O'Donnell Treasure (Soot Sprite Remix)

Let's begin by saying this, I'm awful!

In the sense that five months in to the new year

and I hadn't posted anything new!

The shame is all mine to bare.

However, new and exciting projects have come up and

I'd love to share them with you now!

First up is an epic video called 'Bark To The Future'--

a loving wink to the time travel movie series starring Michael J. Fox.

It's about a time-tripping dog who borrows the family

Delorean to visit the four corners of time.

Backing the film is a soundtrack composed of a remix I did for

Roger O'Donnell's lovely track, "Treasure" taken from his 2006 album,

'The Truth In Me'.

Truth be told, it wasn't the case were the film was in need of

a soundtrack and this piece of music fit the bill.

It was actually the opposite case as I had made the

remix a year earlier and enjoyed it as if it was one of Roger's

own works. Eventually when I sat down to upload the track

to YouTube I figured I would need to cobble a

video together to make it interesting.

Hope you get a kick out of it.

Roger O'Donnell is of course known for having been the Cure's

keyboard player for a number of years.

(In fact, he's set to play with them for a couple of

one-off shows in Europe shortly!)

However, in exploring his career following his

tenure with the band I came to find an artist who had an

incredible talent for producing beautiful works of sonic art.

While the majority of his output has remained loyal to electronics

we have since been treated to an eclectic array of albums

with many different sounds. Some collections

centering around piano and string compositions,

forays into jazz and numerous remixes for artists

who've come calling for his skills.

To read up more on his extraordinary career you may begin here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_O'Donnell

and of course visit his website :

http://www.rogerodonnell.com/

His music can be found on iTunes, Amazon and 7Digital

Au Milieu and the Birth of a Street Team

Held the inspiration to put together a new mix and video
for Manic Bloom's 'Au Milieu' track.

The beautiful piano piece compliments an already outstanding album
and certainly didn't need my kind of aid

Here's hoping they're amused by it as i made a loop out of one of the

track's points, added guitar filtering, a lite rhythym track,
a bass(y) heartbeat, some vintage high school instructional films
and a gorgeous poem by e.e. cummings!

There will be another film shortly as a Monterey CA street team
begins its endeavor to attract the band to this shore
when they next tour.

Already in the planning stages, friends will come

together to let the Bay area know more about the group.
Updates will be posted here.

Their album, "In Loving Memory" is available on iTunes and Amazon

and much more can be found on their website at :
http://www.manicbloom.com/blog.php

It's Only When You Remember...

Had an extraordinary experience in creating a video to compliment a spoken word piece by
electronic music pioneer John Foxx.
The musical portion was a backing track created in December of '09

built to suit John's reading of "Shifting City"
(an extract from his 30+ year exploration of the
Quiet Man concept).


The video itself was culled from 9 short films that ranged from
stop-motion animation, driver safety films
and old clips documenting San Francisco in the '40s and '50s.


Having long admired his work (since 1981!) it was a joy and a challenge to create both
a musical backdrop and video to surround his beautiful spoken piece.

Disco Cool Surprise 2

Wished to share a couple of new things since the last post on

Disco Cool Surprise

(the Soot Sprite produced super band).

The one-off project was well in the works for over a month and executed brilliantly by all of those who had participated. We had a great time and vowed to bring the concept back from time to time.

In this new posting we'll take a look at the elements that gave the group their overall look and attitude. In addition, the actual art happening can now be viewed in the accompanying video.

Here's to hoping Oprah wouldn't mind....

A handful of dresses were made and assigned to the 
band and its dancers. 
 Based on smart cocktail dresses they were 
fashioned out of black felt.

The front fields of the dresses served as canvases 
with a number of design elements added to 
distinguish them from one another.

"Where Fireworks Are Born"

We follow rain as it feeds blooming flowers, 
filters through roots, water tables, sedimentary layers, 
fossils and the Earth's core. 
 At the end of the rain's journey is the revelation of 
where fireworks are born

"Cold Case"

A cross-hatch view of an iceberg that has seemingly 
collected a number of odd stowaways over the years. 
At the water line we don't see but a fraction of the iceberg itself. Once underwater we see a UFO, a polar bear, an eskimo, 
a fish and Walt Disney encased in ice!

This will make an excellent time capsule someday.

"Dunkin Donuts Doesn't Exist"

My tribute to the Dukin' Donuts logo -- 

a beautiful marriage between orange and pink.

"A Dress You Can Eat"

Seriously! After a fun night out on the town you could peel off the colored macaroni and boil it for a yummy pasta meal! In one way or another each dress featured craft foam, poms, gems, macaroni and felt.

All dresses inspired by and dedicated to Leslie Hall!

http://www.lesliehall.com/

Another component to the band's look were the musical instruments....

In another life the Disco Cool Surprise synth 
was a box of puppy training pads!

It found a new use as our faux noise machine 
slathered in foam, gems and pipe cleaners.

We have a front and rear view here.

The guitar was made out of plywood, poms, foam, counting chips, yarn, ribbon and scrapbooking elements. We received enthusiastic reactions from the good folks at Music Unlimited in Monterey (who were kind to allow us to photograph the instruments there)

http://425alvarado.shopping.officelive.com/default.htm

The drum was made out of an Ikea trash can, felt, crayons, macaroni, gems and poms.

A special thanks again to the band, Richard for the fab fotos and Peter for letting us use his video camera!

Hope you enjoyed your backstage pass to the wonderful world of Disco Cool Surprise!

Small Wonders

We were pleased to find ourselves at the Alternative Cafe once again in the same week.

Friday the 13th brought us the opening of the 'Small Wonders' exhibition in the Seaside, CA cafe/gallery. We were greeted by a warm reception party and impressive bodies of work by the likes of Anne Faith Nicholls, Patrick Segui and Travis Louie.

It was particularly nice to come across signed copies of Travis Louie's book, "Curiosities".

It was something we were hoping to find once it had made its appearance at this year's ComicCon.

The show runs until December 13 and is worth checking out! For more details please visit the Alternative Cafe's site at : http://www.thealternativecafe.com/index.php

More info on the featured artists can be found at the following links:

Anne Faith Nicholls : http://annefaithnicholls.com/

Patrick Segui : http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/57646-patrick-segui

Travis Louie : http://travislouie.blogspot.com/

Another event attended this week had been the Seaside visit by the Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School. The folks at Baby Tattoo (who host the Los Angeles Sketchy's) had been on a tour of California to cities that do not have a chapter in town.

Having read about these 'Anti Art Schools' for years it was nice to finally get a taste of what the events typically feature. Timed studies of models dressed in lovely costumes that crossed Victorian garb with a dash of Steampunk.

It was well attended and it was good to meet so many good natured people who were serious about their craft. I could definitely see this becoming a staple at the cafe.

Please visit the Baby Tattoo website:

http://www.babytattoo.com/

Pinktopia (A Rumor From Ground Control)

Return with me to Pinktopia for another heaping serving of

my pinky mad-ventures!

These are great exercises in solo Photoshop tennis and for

learning what else is hiding in that crazed piece of software!

"Erin's Assuring Field Office"

Composed of thirteen photographs and one vector

(Erin Esurance takes a deserved break from her adventuring and commercial pitching.

As she contemplates the day from the comfort of her field office it's assuring to see her friends enjoying her company)

"Summer Treat"

Composed of ten photographs

(With the Summer now over it's comforting to revisit a familiar scene involving a dessert item I've never really explored. Beyond chocolate (and its many incarnatons) I've been too loyal to try out other flavors.

I keep meaning to but it's never quite worked out.)

"Ice Cream Kisses"

Composed of thirteen photographs and one vector

(Okay, so another ice cream themed piece was created around the same time....

What can I say? I like ice cream! )

"Queen Kathi's Quaint Quarters"

(Composed of twenty photographs)

(Queen Kathi looking pleased as she's surrounded by the many things she adores and deserves.

The guard that keeps her safe, the maid that does the cleaning and the funny butler who's wise beyond his years.

Throw in ponies, pups, desserts and roses and a happy girl is guaranteed.)

"The Empire Kicks Back"

Composed of fourteen photographs and two vectors

(Looks like we may have entered the wrong bar as the Empire rears its ugly head into the joint.

Having just been paid, off-duty stormtroopers revel in the streets. Whilst Vader contemplates the dark side of an ale.