TRIPPING PART 1: LAS VEGAS

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Rob and I went to Las Vegas and The Nevada desert for a quick three day adventure. I met Rob in college, and we've talked about going since then, but it never really came together until now. Why Vegas? We both have a love for carnival-esque ridiculousness and humourous excess! As you can see above, with this thematic hotel slash casino slash mall slash roller coaster slash trinket depository - the ridiculousness was in full effect.

A representation of what all my slot machine pulls looked like. I did not come home a rich person, but you can see how casino's make all that cash. Desperation and hope are a dangerous combination. I probably spent $25 over the course of 3 days in random penny/quarter slot machines, and every time I pulled I thought what if....

Fremont Street has a digital canopy (outside) that projects images. It goes on for 4 blocks! There was a Queen presentation going on while we were there, and Bohemian Rhapsody sounded/looked pretty excellent. My highlight (besides this awesome cowboy sign) was Carl "Safe Sax" Ferris playing sax standing in the back of a pick up truck. Cool nickname, man. There were also some very weird celebrity impersonators in this zone, people zip lining overhead, a less polished overall vibe than the strip, and some pretty impressive cover bands.

At Circus Circus we watched a lady do swing tricks with a bunch of families, tall cans in hand. You can drink everywhere in Vegas. Even at this kid friendly midway show! There was a live keyboard player and drummer accompanying this performance, and they played the best dark synth metal/casino rock.

NEON EVERYTHING.

Roseanne happened to be performing in Vegas while we were there. We found out a couple days before we left and got tickets! In a weird twist of fate, Roseanne re-runs were being played on the plane (until the TV stopped working and we both reluctantly watched the last half of Life of Pie). It was a super intimate show, and hearing Roseanne laugh IRL was pretty amazing.

"If I was a stripper, my show stopper would be the Roseanne theme. Think about it." - Rob.

Oh yeah, we slept in a GIANT PYRAMID. Cross that one off the bucket list! It smelled like coconut all the time (gross), and you could buy a slushie booze drink at any hour of the day (gross), but it was a pyramid (yes!). Did we sing a lot of Frank Ocean? We did.

I wish I could have brought home some fireworks from this roadside store. 

They had quite an exciting selection.

The Bellagio had a pretty neat conservatory and botanical garden area. Huge mushrooms! Giant swans! Windmills! We walked through it around midnight with some beers. While the price of food stuff is inflated in Vegas (a coffee at Starbucks ran me $3.50), you can walk around all day looking at weird stuff for free.

A Bellagio swan & our pyramid shaped hotel room number.

There are over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers on the ceiling at The Bellagio.

The hotel beside ours was shaped like a castle. No biggie.

Even McDonald's has a fancy neon sign.

There are people in costumes all over the strip looking for donations from tourists to get their pictures taken with them. I gave this unofficial Mickey and Minnie team 2 of my dollars. There were basketball players, superheros, the cookie monster, a weird guy in a bad hot dog costume, a really amazing batman and joker duo, etc.

It was all definitely something to see. Good times!

BLACK AND WHITE AND GREY ALL OVER.

Here are some black and white (and grey all over) illustrations I recently did for my oldest pal, Jason Hudson. Jason is a talented photographer, a gifted word arranger, and all around pro company. The drawing on top is based on Hot Knife by Fiona Apple (a song from one of his blog mixes). Good song. In 1996 Jason and I were definitely singing along to Tidal together. I bet it sounded great, and not melodramatic at all. The other drawings come from a set of 30 Rules For Your 30's. The boy tells it as he sees it/knows things. Recommended reading!

Jason and I became friends in grade 9 when I sat next to him in music class. We both played the alto sax (and would continue to play the alto sax until we graduated). We ate french fries together, obsessed about The X-Files together, babysat together, drank too many ill advised sugary alcoholic beverages at our first parties together, killed time in London together, eventually moved to Toronto together, and so on. Now that I've destroyed any illusion of childhood cool, it should also be noted that nobody has more embarrassing photos of me going through every questionable fashion phase than Jason. But the opposite is also true - I definitely have evidence that Jason went through a blonde hair phase in high school. I tried to go through a blond hair phase too, but my attempt to dye my hair blonde in Jason's bathroom resulted in my hair falling out. What a nightmare (damn you, Blondissima!). I subsequently went to my high school prom with a wig on.

It's a real treat to have an old friend like that in your life, someone who really knows what you were about when you were a kid. And to end up in a place where you can contribute to their work in a complimentary way? Fun stuff.

Here are some alternate ideas/versions too (below). From my endless folders of second options. I kinda love looking at the alternates. The guys that didn't quite hit it in the right spot, or the guys there wasn't room for, but that where all part of the process/journey to the finish line. Big ups to poster_01_version3, IDEA_02, drawing_black-and-white.jpeg, etc (my file management skills could definitely use some work).

                                            

                                            

ZINE DREAM: ARTIFACTS.

Behold! A couple artifacts from Zine Dream...

Screen printed stickers and a poster from the happiest girl in the room, Eunice Luk. Mischievous raspberry? Yes please. Check out her blog and Fantasy Camp for more.

And I spent the day beside a champion of black and white image manipulation, Raymond Biesenger. Who also plays music in the band The Famines. His pamphlet How To Book A Maybe Successful Tour For A Band That Hasn't Received Hype on Pitchfork, etc is a useful read for bands that want to book their own tours, and an entertaining read with good reminders for any band that has planned their own tour. Lots of good looking art stuff worthy of peeping in his shop too.

WAVELENGTH: FOR POSTERITY AND MORE.

Poster by Derek Ma

It's that time of the year: Wavelength Anniversary time! 5 nights, 5 venues, 22 bands. My band (as well as Dennis' band) help kick off night number 1 this Wednesday at The Boat - details here. Wavelength have some other programming in store too - studio sessions, a speaker series, and their first ever poster show!

Details from the site:

Wavelength: For Posterity
Poster artwork from the Wavelength music series 2000-2010
Music Gallery — Fellowship Room — 197 John St.
Open during concert hours — Feb. 17 to April 3

Wavelength has been an important point of interface between the indie and experimental/new music scenes since its early days, when Michael Snow first screened his 1986 film of the same name alongside a program of local improvisers — music then rarely heard in a club environment. Since 2003, Wavelength has presented one night of its annual, multi-night February anniversary Festivals at the Music Gallery, Toronto’s Centre for Creative Music.

Poster artwork has been a key element in the Wavelength identity, especially around the anniversaries. This exhibition displays some of the most memorable promotional posters of the series’ first decade. Contributing artists include: Seripop, The Complaint Department, Trip Print Press, Deadweight and Derek Ma.

LOVE CITY.

Here is my singular picture from Love & Rummage. You'd almost think I bring my camera around with me just because I like the extra weight. But check out that big smile on The Arthur - so good, right? Thankfully other people actually use their digital (and analog) image capturing devices, so there are more photos here: Karyn from The Workroom, City Of Craft Flickr Group, Celine Kim for Toronto Craft Alert.

The verdict? Sunday was a total hit. This local craft community has been so warm and welcoming - it's all very inspiring and encouraging for this gal. So thanks to everyone that crammed into The Workroom on Sunday. Thanks for picking stuff up from my trunk and having good senses of humour. And thanks to all the people involved for such quality curation, excellent hangs, and inspiring wares.

After the event I went to my friend Tim's annual Superbowl party, ate all of his food, made plenty of jokes at The Black Eyed Peas expense, and nearly fell asleep on his couch. A+ day.

Some artifacts I went home with:

Triangle pouch and notebook by Bookhou, stamp packages by Send More Mail, and a ceramic love medallion by Krystal Speck.

I also managed to pick up the Toronto print I'd been coveting by Fieldguided. Perhaps this will remind me to get to the Island more often? I also adopted one of their tote bags - bold, romantic Kate Bush lyrical references? Yes please.

GO GREEN.

Last night Becky got herself into nocturnal alteration mode, and re-built a website with her website building hands! A midnight makeover seems oddly fitting, don't you think? Check out my stab at City Of Craft's new online identity here: website and blog! Lots of Wicked Witch of The West inspired green going on.

BOOM - THERE GOES YOUR BRAIN.

Photo above by Sweetie Pie Press

I only managed to take a couple photos at City of Craft this past weekend. I'm getting pretty lazy about documenting events lately - what gives, Falconer? Too busy talking to people, eating poutine, drinking coffee, and making faces I guess. Thankfully there's a flickr group you can visit if you want to feel like you were there. You should really check it out, because the place looked fantastic. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by, said hello, or adopted something from my table. Props go out to all the dedicated people who make this event happen. And high fives to all the inspiring, talented makers in the house - Christmas definitely came early this year (photographic evidence of all the loot I scored to follow).

CRAFTS, CHURCHES, COFFEE.

I can't even count the number of times I've brought my camera somewhere, only to find that I've left my memory card in my printer from whenever I last uploaded photos. So, here are 3 random phone photos from A Handmade Holiday this past weekend. That little cupcake from Cora's Kitchen was definitely a strong A+.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out and said hello! The folks at Kid Icarus and Sewing School did a great job making the place look and feel great. I don't know why I always get so nervous about these things - I sat beside some excellent people, and really enjoyed chatting with them all day.

Next up: City Of Craft.

VISUAL DELIGHTS!

HALO HALO EXHIBITION & FUNDRAISER!

URBANSPACE GALLERY | 401 RICHMOND ST. W MARCH 2nd to March 7th, 2009
LAUNCH PARTY MARCH 6 | $5 ADMISSION 6PM to LATE (PERFORMANCES START AT 9PM)

FEATURING ARTISTS . . .

Fiona Smyth | Michael Comeau | Andrew Zukerman | Jacob Horwood | Winston Hacking | Steph Davidson | Jesjit Gill | Randy Gagne | Michael Deforge | Ginette Lapalme | Jan Avendano | Tomas Del Balso | Alexandra Mackenzie | Deadweight! | Team Macho

Tetsunori (Japan) | MIRUKI TUSKO (Belgium) | Urban Inks (New York) | E.T. Press (Baltimore) | Luke Ramsey (Vancouver) | Kilusan Collective (Philippines)

++ Week long installation by Exploding Motor Car
++ Film Fort screening of Keita Kurosaka films
++ Free halo-halo made by Chef Rudy
++ Celebrating the collaborative work from over 60 students in 2008

PERFORMANCES BY . . .

Music Neighbour 3 | Multi | Apt.909 | 663A | Masia One | Ana EQ | Minae Omi | Tower of DJ | Exploding Motor Car

Curated By Jeff Garcia.