Rotary Amps & Boar's Heads

- Ended up taking a lot less time than i expected on the cover for Skallander. And after a brief freak out, got it over to John, who basically lined me up immediately with another cover job. Man i love all those guys over at Type. With the Skallander cover, the colors weren't quite advanced as how i normally would do them...many many less layers of gradients and fades. This was partly due to time restraints, but also aesthetically. Since the whole thing was muted colors and odd shapes, i didn't want to mud it up too much. Still looking at it here, i would prefer if it weren't quite so dark...but they loved it, so whatever.

- I whipped this up in a couple of hours last night for Rachel's ebay auctions. Feel free to take a look at her auctions. Tons of vintage paper goods and labels, enough to make an old-timey print freak like me weep with happiness.

For some reason i have been absolutely loving doing web design. Part of it is because my coding skills has finally caught up with 2001, making everything a lot easier for me. Since deciding to redesign Ghostco, i have done like 4 designs so far....not out of irritation, but more out of "hey wait! i could totally do this too!" which is a huge change in comparison the past nearly 10 years of my designing "career".

On top of all of this i was asked by the guys over at Cheap TRX yesterday to work out a web design for them. This makes me a bit nervous, because other than the thing i did for Rachel last night i haven't designed a website for anyone other than myself in a very very very long time. The last attempt was for Joey Weiser when we were sophomores in high school, which went downhill very quickly. Either way, i am excited to do it...and hell, maybe I'll get some free tattoo work out of it.

Speaking of design work, the work i posted the other day done for TFA was paid for by Claude with a very very nice boar's head mount. If i could be paid through taxidermy alone, i don't know if i would even stop working to sleep. A impala shoulder mount is also on its way to my house as we speak. Rachel and i decided to not move out of our place at the end of the lease (for once in my adult life i am living in a house for more than a year). We have decided to freshen stuff up by painting and redesigning....this of course just means more taxidermy to me.

On Tuesday, Rachel and i went to see Andrew Bird at the Pageant. Now, i have always liked Andrew Bird, but haven't really LOVED him since "Oh! The Grandeur" came out back in 1999. Now, i have never ever enjoyed going to shows...there is just something about them that gets on my nerves. And on top of the fact that i hadn't heard Andrew Bird's new album, i cant say i was looking forward to the show. I was very very quickly proved wrong. To start off with, it was a seated show, and since i am such a fucking fat ass i of course prefer that. Andrew's set started with a guy on a drum set, loop station and synth that i quickly recognized as Martin Dosh who i am a big fan of. The show progressed quickly with amazing whistling, rotary amps, dueling loop stations, ridiculously good violin, singing like the ghost of Jeff Buckley, and songs about great things like chickens and snacks. Needless to say, Andrew Bird has won me back as a fan....and while his latest album doesn't quite compare to his live performance, it is absolutely my favorite in years.

Also at that show we ran into my old friend Pete Schreiner from Bloomington, and his always entertaining girlfriend Amy. Pete is an amazing musician who has played with some of my favorite bands ever like Magnolia Electric Company and Songs: Ohia, not to mention tons of other stuff including his own solo work. He totally reminded me that Magnolia Electric Company is playing with Son Volt here on Saturday, which i will absolutely be there to see. Pete mentioned that he was looking around at labels for some work he is doing, and i of course mentioned Type....so maybe something might come out of that. It is amazing how many connections i have to Secretly Canadian, outside of being raised in Bloomington.