..and the walls come tumblin' down...
I just took a tour of the once great Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. It is under deconstruction for tear-down. It was quite an experience- this is how it looks right now on a cold, October 21, 2008 morning.
Click here to see thirteen of my snapshots- Bleed For The Blue and Gold.
The last days of the AUD, October 22, 2008.
Highway to the Sun aka
Lessons Learned From Rocky 1-3
As the fam' and I prepare to hit the road for a weekend in our state's capitol, I had to repack the CD sleeve for the road. It has been raining everyday since last Sunday, and after playing ambassador to the Queen City all last week, it will be good to get the F out of dodge for a few days.
For anyone that is interested, and I know someone out there in internet land is, these are the CDs I just packed into the sleeve for the car ride.... a little sumptin' for everyone!
Today as I reach another age milestone, I am thinking about the past more than usual. I am always musing about days gone by, especially apparent with the Slack magazines I have been resurrecting as of late. But on my B-day, a little more than usual.....
This day, my birthday, May 28th was always was a signal that Summer was fast approaching. After the Memorial Day festivities have past and the promise of June was right around the corner, all I could think of when I was a kid was Summer! All I did all summer in 1973, when I was 8, was camp and swim (the year of the accompanying photo).
Top Things I Am Going To Do On My B-day Today:
As I crammed for a 'tomorrow meeting' I listened on the radio as the Sabres last gasped and missed the playoffs... 
owwwwww.... It is time to end this 11 hour workday, just about 10 hours too long if you ask me- it had highs, it had lows..
The Infamous Top 5
For Thursday (April 3, 2008):
5. Corner store (Lex General Store aka Mike's Place aka The Newspaper Store Where They Have The Ice Cream- as my one daughter calls it) and The Place still closed as Spring arrives.
4. Should have had the burger, not the chicken.
3. Nice weather = Johnny Liquor sightings in the neighborhood are on the rise.
2. Speeding Ticket handed out by the OPP.
1. Sabres bowing out of the race.
I couldn't resist talking more grainy office photos with this here laptop. The images all have a security camera aesthetic that is irresistible at 11:35 PM. This is how my eyes are seeing now! So without further adieu, more OW office shots (click for larger).
Only 6 months or so until hockey training camp.
The coffee corner (the OW water cooler).
More LPs (and 12"s) than your average design corporation!
Blue Monday: My Peter Hook autograph.
The hockey game listening radio (for music too).
It has been snowing since Yesterday morning- over 24 hours!
We shovel and shovel and an hour later, it has piled up again. It not so bad- it is Buffalo- and we expect a lot of snow, even in March and sometimes even April. It makes everything look clean and white again and it slows down the day to a crawl.
It is Saturday, so I think there is going to be a lot of stay-at-home-watching-movies going on in this town today. The Sabres play tonight in sunny Carolina, so it is good night to hunker down. But..... there is something about snowstorms that brings out the adventurer in me. I want to go out and 4-wheel drive around town, and there isn't an official driving ban-- so lets bundle up and explore!
In the past J. and I have:
VALUE 10 COMICS
A live Wilco webcast, as I write this (Wednesday, Feb 20 11:12PM), has kept me in the office later that I wanted to be here tonight. They are playing the 
Riviera Theatre in their hometown Chicago, Illinois. After playing a bunch of cool rock songs like "Heavy Metal Drummer" and J.'s favorite song from the new LP- they are playing music, by what I can only guess, is from outerspace with violins over spooky sounds, audience cheers and a light static crackle. It has left me a little hypnotized after too much typing at the monitor....
As I was spacing myself out here, this bazooka joe comic caught my eye. It is bazooka joe and Picasso hanging out. Since I have had this little comic laying around for many, many years, is kinda worn away. Picasso is saying to bazooka joe, "I paint and paint and yet my works seems to get worse." Well.... I won't ruin the joke for ya.
I have this comic under my work desk blotter which is covered in all sorts of stuff, a collage of the brain, including:
The city is covered in sheets of ice and a slight rain continues to mist the air. This sort of weather, when the trees are covered in sleeves of ice, is scary ever since the October Surprise Storm of '007 (as it has became affectionately known). But I think since most of the trees in town were already damaged beyond recognition last October, most of the branches will remain on the trees this time.
We got 2 MACs on the fritz and I have surrender as the in-house maintenance guy. They are being delivered to the repair shop this morning. A sad computer day at OW headquarters. Well it is probably time that I moved to the all-laptop format anyway.
I always wonder about (and aloud sometimes) if the computer had never made the advancement and the infiltration into our business, where would we all be? The cut and paste of the past has become a ghost, and most kids out of school (within the last 20 years...) have never even wielded an Xacto. They don't know about rubylith and they have never even seen a stat camera. Gone are the days when this business was about craft.
How has the computer made this business easier? Well things get done faster, but are the getting done better...? Sometimes I wonder. Has the elimination of the 'craftsman' hurt this business? Has the onslaught of desktop publishing in the '80s killed the craftsman?
Designing in the rain. A rainy, dreary dark Friday can make you rather unenthusiastic about your work especially in the creative field. Time to pull out some mood changing bright colors and see if we can sweep some life into this morning. Yellow, anyone? A Sabres losing skid at 8 games isn't helping anyone's mood either. The jubilation following a win would be nice on a morning like this. 
Does mood effect your designing, your creativity? Do you design better when you are in a good mood? Is it harder to come up with fresh exciting ideas if you are in a bad mood? Psychology experts will tell you (and there is numerous articles online about this) that good health and good moods go together... so it would seem to reason that a good mood promotes good design. But when your are a design professional (did he say 'professional'?) it is hard to fit your mood into your schedule. Sometime you have to produce whether the weather (or your current mood because it it) promotes creativity.
So how do we change our mood to promote good design? Play some upbeat music? Turn on all the lights? Go for a walk? Call it a day? Peruse some design books and look at some good designs... will that be enough to change the doldrums into exciting and fun design.
While working on some print ads I reminding of something I read on the AIGA website a few months back- "Good design connects with people." It is more than catching someone's eye as they page thorough a newspaper or magazine-- once you caught their attention can you change their behavior? Good design makes the viewer take action. Marketers like that the 'call to action' statement in advertising. Good ads, and good design make people take notice, make them want to buy a product, employ the service or think differently about a thought or idea.
So it would make sense that designing while in a good mood will make the process more successful. What about photographers? Do they take better pictures when they are in good moods? What about illustrators or computer programmers? Does a good mood enhance their code writing skills. Can a good mood promote better problem solving?
I wanted to post this weeks ago, but I forgot all about it until local photog Doug Levere emailed me yesterday about his blog. Doug organizes the Ad Club's Night of 1000 Images every year and I had submitted four photos for the event last month. A bunch of local photogs, graphic artists, etc. submit up to 5 snapshots and the images are projected on a big screen while a party swirls around it. Anyway here is a look at the 4 snapshots I submitted to the event.
Check them out here (click on each photos to advance to the next one- there are 4 total).
These were taken in late November (pre-snow). It was a cold, but sunny morning and I decided to capture some still life images in our backyard. I am no-professional paparazzi, but I can grab a decent snapshot every now and then. I try not to play with the images too much in Photoshop and just let the natural color appear 'as is'. This particular sunny morning, the light did an awesome job of livening up some otherwisz sedate settings. This was a cold day, but the photos do have a certain warmth, don't you think.
Happy new year to all!
Well I got all I wanted for the holiday, plus a bunch of new design books... not to mention a subscription to The Hockey News!!
As Winter starts to really blow in, we have a lot to look forward to in the Winter 'hunker down' months and the "soon-to-be-upon-us" New Year including:
10) Time to read.
I also received the Replacements oral history book "All Over But The Shouting" by Jim Walsh (who's is NOT Brandon and Brenda's dad.. at least I don't think so...). Rock and design research!
09) Sledding.
The kids got a purple, plastic toboggan from Santa. In my world of princesses, baby dolls and ballet-a little thrill ride down the slope is in order.
08) Better mix CDs.
Santa gave me a Sony CD burner to attached to the DJ system for some live to mix vinyl translation. All those old house music records will again see the light of day. Get Busy, Mr. Lee.
07) No more trips to (and then waiting in line at) the post office.
Man, I have been to the post office too many times in the past few weeks to mail out-of-town gifts, to buy stamps, to mail postcards, to drop off T-shirts that were ordered for the holidays...
06) Saturday Night's Hockey Night in Canada.
Nothing says winter in Buffalo better than HNIC, Ron and Don, especially with the upcoming Hockey Day in Canada (mentioned previously). The passing of the first of the year only means the Stanley Cup playoffs are a mere 4 months away!
05) Snow Days.
City closing blizzards that keep everyone cozy at home watching movies and drinking hot chocolate or tea. Of course, having your own business, located conveniently on the same property, means no snow-days off from work!
04) Trip to Florida (perhaps...)
The kids are itching to see their grandparents and friends in the strip mall capitol of the US, the US's own boot, 'shorts-with-parkas' territory- Florida. We'll see about that one.
03) Fresh Snowfall.
I love a fresh snowfall that conveniently covers the dirt and grime of the city overnight. Though the beauty usually only lasts until the plows go by and undercover the filth, but for that brief moment in time when all is white- it is so nice.
02) Silence.
The city fabric comes with its own set of sounds, sometimes disturbing- boomin' car stereos, partying kids across the street in the frat-house apartment, drunken people wandering up and down the street yelling for no good reason at a no good hour. The cold weather makes the crazies retreat indoors and with the windows shut tight- you just can't hear the ones that are still out there. BONUS BEATS- No More 24 hours of xmas tunes!
01) Ice Bowl (Winter Classic)-Hockey Outdoors!!
Pond hockey gone big time- though I will be watching in the comfort of my home and not outside like the some 80,000 maniacs, but with the home team playing outdoors, firends and family over, Sabres on a hot streak (6 wins in a row), all hockey eyes on Bflo... it doesn't get any better that this! Go Sabs! What a way to start the new year!
Thanks to the folks that dropped by for the party this weekend.
Much appreciated.
Santa Conquers the Martians. It has begun to snow (and they say, it's going to keep on snowing for a day or so). Time to buckle down with 10-days to go to the holiday landing at our house. Out-of-town presents to go in the mail and that inevitable trip to the big wine store in Kenmore.
We got the tree up, so we can go on "holiday lights only" mode. The snow gives the holidays the real "holiday" feel. Until you have to try and drive somewhere. I have made many a blizzard road trip for emergency provisions and the not so emergency ones (we once drove out to Niagara Falls Blvd. to pick up a TV- I know, shame us..Blizzard of Dec. 95 I think?). The 4-wheel drive is really a necessity around these parts. J. has to take a early run in the morning to the market for lime juice and Heresey (I meant it that way, ed.) Kisses- the cookie making machine is behind schedule! Snow will not stop her.
We might get snowed in for a day but Sunday's an official hunker down day already... and Sunday's the bigger paper (barely, we might need the NYTimes on a Sunday like this) and we got a new HOW and a new PRINT- we worked pretty hard over the last few days, weeks, months, year.... and j. just wants to make cookies anyways.
There is something about back-to-back Sabres wins and the just started 3rd period (of the second game-- west coast hockey: Canucks vs. Oilers-- on Hockey Night in Canada--not to be confused with Hockey DAY in Canada)...to make it realy feel like winter.
Talk to you on Monday.
Shameless Self Promotion-
Join us for the Where To Roam Holiday Sale & Open House this weekend!
Friday, Dec. 14th - noon-8pm
Saturday, Dec 15th - noon-5pm
Music • Shirts • Snacks & Holiday Cheer • Scarves • Conversations About Design & Popular Culture • Hoodies • Christmas Movies & more.....
Come visit the design studio & meet the graphic design (us) team behind the popular W2R clothing line & save 10% on all items. Great gifts for the Buffalo-lovers on your list!
WHERE TO ROAM is located on the 1st floor of the OTHERWISZ CREATIVE CORPORATION BARN behind 252 LEXINGTON AVENUE.
Visit the W2R website for details
Hope to see you here!
mark + jill
Waiting, wait, wait, wait.......
This Friday is a waiting day.
I am waiting for our development team to deliver, so I can present to a client.
I am waiting for a freelancer to finish a project.
I am waiting for some clients to get back to me, so we can move forward on a few jobs.
I am waiting for the drop of the puck for today's 1st Sabres game of the 2007-08 season.
I am waiting to hear color-man Harry Neale call his 1st game as a member of the Sabs broadcast team.
I am waiting to see that 1st Sabres goal of the regular season- who will it be? Any guesses...? (I saw ex-Sab Danny Briere score for his new team- Philly- last night on CBC).
I have been waiting 6 weeks for the tree executioners to come back like they threatened they would- they have not. Are they not coming.......??
I am waiting for design inspiration to strike like a bolt from today's clear blue (and extremely warm for Oct. 5th) sky.
I am waiting for my lost friend 'Uncle Rico' to finally contact me- it has been over a year!
I am waiting for that new client to call back like he said he would.
I am waiting to get paid on SOME PAST DUE invoices (but alas, the mail already came today with no ducats).
I am waiting for it to snow like it did that one October Friday- right about this time, I believe last year (very scary prospect)!
I am waiting for Saturday- I hope the weather is as nice as it is today! I won't have to work and can spend the day with the family.
I am waiting for an email back from a friend.
I am waiting for the song title to pop into my head.. what is that song I keep hearing!?!?! it's got a hip-hop I beat and you can really bug out to it.
I am waiting for a call back (there's the phone now!... false alarm).
I am waiting to have lunch- I think I'll just do that- one less thing to wait for.....
The posts have been far and few in-between as we ran smack right into September. The kids are at school and we have been digging in deep as our design company is busy, busy, busy. On top of all that we have just received some bad news-- the city is going to cut down the huge tree in front of my house!
The tree is the oldest one on my block and it is uncool that is has been marked for execution. Though a few 'experts' have reviewed it and said it is probably not long for this world-- but ya know, it has lasted this long and it is full of GREEN leaves.... It is probably just a causality of the 'October-Storm-tree-chopping' that has run rampant in the Queen City.
So we will bid farewell to an old friend- the tree-killers are planning on coming back Thursday or Friday to execute her and all her majestic beauty. It is gonna leave quite a bare spot on our lawn, the street and in our hearts.
At first it seems kinda strange to be typing on my computer in the middle of a cabin, in the middle of the woods in the middle of a steady rain (while listening a live Pixies cassette). Then I just have to think of Bill Murray portraying Hunter Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam and it seems alright. I haven't see a giant bat, though I am in the woods, so you never know.
When you own your small-medium business, it is hard to truly get away
And although there has been a steady rain since this morning, it has not dampened our camping spirits. We have had a fire cooking in the cabin stove for the last 9 hours, which we cooked dinner in, and I got a beat-up suitcase (labeled the 'Vacationeer') full of old cassette tapes. A lot of them are mix tapes from our first road trip to Graceland some 15 years or so- they are good-fun-travel mixes circa early '90s....
.. so I gotta go back and stoke the fire a bit, the only reason I am writing this is everyone else is sleeping and I gotta charge the laptop. Happy trails to ya!
Top 10 Cassette Titles (I have in the suitcase)
Which, Over The Years, Have Become Some Of Our Campin' FAVs:
10. Hillbilly Music
09. NIGHT: Four Songs
08. July 18, 1994ISM's
07. tim, let it be & more mats
06. The Journey Continues VOL. 48
05 Rare Hip b/w DJ Brac vs. Space Ghost
04. SwelterFest '98 b/w Turn Up Dat Heat- FL, USA
03. Let's Pretend We're Married; the Prince collection vol. 1
02. ROAD TRIPPIN' 1993 + BEYOND b/w The Tape that actually has ELVIS Songs
01. MORE ROAD SEX 93'
The Return of the Product.
Scotty and I return to DJ once again!
This being the 10th anniversary year of the birth of déjà blü (gigography here). We started way back spinning records on the left hand corner of the bar at the Kingsnake Lounge on 
Chippewa on a Tuesday night in November 1997. Damn!- see some old photos here.
Back then, there was little to no DJ music being played anywhere in Bflo. on a weeknight that wasn't rock at the Old Pink or some 'boom-chick-a-boom' club thingy. We were playing what was called trip hop, acid jazz, abstrakt hiphop and drum + bass.
This special event is gonna be a real mover- a Saturday nite on the patio of the Pearl Street. The admission (and the sunset)-- free! We are spinning all kinds of good grooves from 8 PM until Midnight.. its an early evening casbah and an excellent way to start your Saturday night on the first weekend of Sept.... Damn, the summer is fast, eh? Whoooosh....
I know I am always going on and on about the similarities between DJing and graphic design- the cut and paste aesthetic that makes it all so unique as we appropriate other ideas into something new. Come on down and witness it in action for yourselves....
The event is titled Concrete Skyline, as we are DJing outdoors in this wonderfully urban setting that is the Pearl Street patio... and if you look really closely, you can still see a sliver of the lake between all the steel and concrete. This is the inaugural event of the new Land of the Lost DJ Sessions (more info to come on this one).
Clcik here for more details and to see the groovy poster.
Some of the rejected names (for your amusement) from the design/development process of the Concrete Skyline poster:
Final Movement 07
Fire in The Kingdom
Aging Rebel DJ Party
Original Sin Saturday
Summer Regrets
Beats + Pieces
Saturday City Lounge
The Happening
Future Bitter Memories
Hope to see you there- September One!
It's a warm summer Sunday night with the rumble of coming rains that are needed but might not ever materialize (and didn't).
On the last minute we decided to sell W2R Tshirts at the Buffalo Old Home Week Brunch this afternoon. Last year we also attended the event and met a lot of great people and sold a few Ts. So we went again this year, since it was moved to Shanghi Reds on the waterfront (one of the OttherWisz team's new favs).
The Buffalo venders area was kind of a bust, light in the way of merchandise sales... BUT we had a great brunch and met a lot of really cool Buffalo folks-- so that was good. Jill and I met a nice artist who used draw Dennis the Menace for Hank Ketchum and I got to talk with the original Buffalo Tee guy Michael Morgulis. The girls and I took a long walk to the lighthouse and up it for a nice view of the lake.
I like selling shirts though. Did I mention, the food was good.
It was a nice cool weekend- perfect for moving all the office equiptment, furniture & tools. We are up and running in the new space, above the old office. The move came out super, and a lot of hard work went into getting up here. Everything isn't up here, but enough to actually work, comfortably. The old office space dowtstairs is another story- but that will be a Phase Two project.
This also will be a good chance to weed through old job files (and files and files and files and files...) and recycle! Less paper- save trees!
I am looking forward to launching into this new office space tomorrow AM. This move will come with a renewed spirit (as most do). It really is bigger, better & mostly brighter. We have Mother Nature's rays coming in and won't have the lights on during the day anymore. Yeah!
Super shout out to Pharaoh for the xtra lifting help Friday & Saturday night & j. the mastermind beghind the whole affair!
