alrighty… the funniest thing i read today would have to be matt nathanson talking about drummer matt chamberlain, who played on nathanson’s new deal. for the uninitiated, chamberlain has also lent (sold, actually) his freakishly good percussive skills to edie brickell (whose new album is awesome), old school pearl jam, fiona apple, keith urban, teitur, john mayer, etc. he’s really good. so, back to the original point (there was a point?), nathanson says”

the man owns the pocket and just rents it out to every other drummer

if you don’t know what pocket he’s referring too… just give me a courtesy laugh and move on. nothing to see here.

tonight, my friend nick has organized the first EPIPHANY LOUNGE™. 12 artists/creative types getting together for a three course dinner and some fun Q & A about the arts (and faith.) i’m excited, though the invitation says “smart attire.” i’m wondering if most of my wardrobe is a little on the dumb side. hmm. i suppose ironing will have to occur prior to me leaving the house. how rare.

many thanks to all the folks who came out for some quality family bonding time at the g’ville show last night. i love playing at the cellar b/c it is almost impossible to refrain from interacting with the crowd… since you are basically sitting in their lap while you play. fun venue, great people. (but kids, seriously… welcome to the info age… now, get a website)

in other news: 3 days ago i was wearing flops, 2 days ago it snowed, today i am wearing flops.

whatde?

ok, i’m off to greenville to woo the hometown crowd with songs of love and longing. that is, if the trooper wants to start. it’s always a gamble these days. but hey, it makes the monotony a little less… monotonous.

but before i go, this is one of the more interesting design projects i’ve come across recently. wired magazine asked a few artists to re-interpret google. so what if two of the re-designs are stupid, we get the pleasure of shepard fairey and joshua davis, both of whom are amazing. i really dig shepard’s take. i visit the almighty google 10 times (or more) a day… and it sure would be nice if it actually looked as great as it works.

THESE ARE THE FUNNIEST NON-COMMERCIAL COMMERCIALS EVER.

if nutrigrain and starbuck’s movie don’t make you laugh… you should probably never come here again, because we simply cannot be friends. it’s just that simple.

yep… it snowed. and all of the upstate rejoiced. when it snows and i go walking and hear that sound… i’m an 8 year old kid all over again. so… i’m sure you’re thinking, “where’s my OUTRAGEOUS THURSDAY™ recap, sucka?” easy, killer… all things in good time.

first things first… if anyone is feeling generous, and i know you are, you should probably buy me one of samsung’s new SPH i330 cell phone/pda’s. you know you want to. pretty please?

moving on, the original plan for this week’s OUTRAGEOUS THURSDAY™ was a little waterfall watching with mcd, however, since most of the upstate was walking in a winter wonderland when we stepped outside yesterday morning, road tripping to the mountains was not a viable option. so, what’s better than waterfalling it on the day off? sleeping in, silly. alas, no matter how hard i try to sleep in lately, i have apparently become too much of a “grown up” (note the quotes) and my body won’t let me sleep in often. i was up by 9:00. so much for that plan.

most of OUTRAGEOUS THURSDAY™ was spent taking pictures outside with lanna. a few things always seem to happen when we go “a-picture-taking”:

1. we get kicked off someone’s land (last time) or accosted by the police (this time).
2. we make good, frequent use of the three-point turn.
3. we end up getting semi-lost.
4. we take good pictures. (back off… we do. we’re awesome)

i wrapped OUTRAGEOUS THURSDAY™ up by watching the passion of the Christ with about 170 people from church. words really can’t describe. you just need to go see it. it’s still a bit too fresh in my mind (and heart) to figure out what i think of it. i’m still processing. but for now? wow.

it’s still snowing outside my office window right now… and everything is melting. and everything is right with my world today. the only possible exception would be that my faithful ’89 isuzu trooper is old and tired… and will probably die sometime soon. we’ve decided if he does kick the bucket, we’ll definately have to blow it up, film the explosion, and use it as some sort of video illustration on a sunday morning at new spring. oh, how i love my job.

also, yesterday, i saw a license plate that said “JOVIFAN“…

oh yeah… i’ve seen a million faces… and i’ve rocked them all.

LET IT SNOW™
LET IT SNOW™
LET IT SNOW™
LET IT SNOW™
LET IT SNOW™
LET IT SNOW™
LET IT SNOW™

a’ight, booski… all i really have to offer you in the way of words this morning is a nice walk down my child-of-the-80′s memory lane. i give you li’l gn’r. you should probably watch the audition video.

“WE’RE NEVER GONNA FIND IZZY… WE’RE NEVER GONNA FIND IZZY.” so very funny.

i just want to play the garden…

dave barnes… a man who no one has apprently told that skinny white boy usually doesn’t go with soulful… good thing for us he doesn’t listen. last night was a great show. very fun. much laughter, much appreciation of songs and words (and when did dave learn to play the guitar? shocking). i’ve opened for lots of people i like, but this was the first time i got to open for someone i love. he’s definately one of my favorite songwriters.

if you get a chance to see him play anytime soon, make him tell you the story about the dog… and the crossbow. too bizarre. there was also much after hours convo on the unfortunate way that we are a generation without wit…sad times. barnes submitted that you don’t get the ability to spout off witty quips until you’re somewhere in the 50-60 bracket. it’s like you clock half a century, and you’re in…you get the book full of the wit and wisdom of country folk near and wide. we’re working hard to change that. youngens who can hold their own with the best of ‘em. a’ight now? we also came away from the “adult” convo with some fun stories from randy (aka booski), jammin java’s booking agent, about his 100% polish father hanging out with so many italian friends in upper state new york that he started using phrases like “gumbahs.” whatde? polish… gombah… whatde? so confusing. and hysterical. and confusingly hysterical.

by the way kids, not to be too repetitive… but barnes’ new stuff is MMM MMM GOOD. just go buy his new album so i’ll shut up about it.

i also got some nice pics of one of downtown columbia’s newest installations… a 30′ tall fire hydrant. yep, it’s hideous. in the words of the always wit-filled jon mcd, “columbia’s nothing but concrete and body odor.” …and, apparently thanks to taxpayer dollars, 30′ hydrants. i mean, i saw the thing and i immediately had to pee soooooo bad. ew… did i really just say that? at least we’ll never have to worry about downtown cola going up in flames. big shout out (halla, etc) to lee mcd, lb, and lanna for making the trek for the show. it’s always nice to feel some hometown love when i’m away from the hometown… especially when playing in the city of concrete and b.o. …yo. (or something like that.)

wow… great photos from brian ulrich at not if but when. go to projects, then photography. my favorites? under copia… #27 (i heart this picture) and #24 kicks my butt.

spent yesterday afternoon and night hanging out with the mcd brothers and mississippi’s own josh byrd, who’s currently scamming some couch at my house. (and wireless internet… courtesy of my neighbor? i’ve lived there for 18 months and i didn’t know i had wireless access… who does this guy think he is? too bad i’m moving in a week, eh? countdown: 7 days.) we ordered the same thing at schlotzsky’s (funny name, serious sandwhich… and killa pizzas) which was slightly brothers-from-another-mother strange. very, very cool guy… i got to tell him how much he needed to snag the new jonny lang album long time coming… he, of course, agreed. we also checked out a little youth group “action” at church and got the “pleasure” of showing up the night they were talking about SEEEEEX. fun times… especially hearing the phrases sucking the coating off her tonsels and cleaning the plaque off her teeth in reference to making out. holy crap… so very funny. and then… we watched stomp… which is just too cool. i keep catching myself tapping on my desk today. it’s like an unstoppable urge to make percussion noise. i should just learn to beatbox. yo.

in other news… there’s some awesome graf and stencils over at keep drafting. you should probably check it out. guaranteed to make you more creative throughout today. promise.

…we…baptized…111…people…tonight.

what?

i love my job.

this cat‘s got mad skills.

due to my somewhat-beneficial designer ADD, i changed the main banner. it will probably happen every few weeks. i hate everything i design after about ten minutes, so it’s really inevitable. (maybe one day i’ll have them all posted on the ARTWRK™ photo page that i’m working on in the spare time. or maybe not. but hopefully it’ll be a place to post some more-than-occasional pics, some design work, and some etc. mainly some etc.)

this is completely unrelated…then again, after you watch these new quizno’s subs commericals, you’ll realize that nothing is related to these things, and no matter how witty and robustly intelligent i might (or might not) be, no one could really make a concise and merited transition from one topic to these commercials. hysterical, random, weird…all the things memorable commericals should be. i particularly heart “take a buck off.” (by the way, you’ll need flash 6 to watch the clips)

oh, i forgot to mention my new haircut. props to meghan for catering to my late-night boredom wednesday and being my impromptu stylist. she’s the best.

i’m sure you want a recap of OUTRAGEOUS THURSDAY™ (as mcd and i refer to our combined day off.) it’s not going to be pretty….there are definately ups and downs. but let’s get started by saying that in the midst of really crap stuff…we were almost startled by the sunset, that right in the middle of city life and everything around, God still chooses to waste Himself on us through something like the colors in the sky, colors that won’t ever be replicated quite like that again, just so we’ll notice and respond to that initiation by saying “yes, yes you are good.” everyday, He wastes Himself and his creativity on us, and most days, i’m too “busy” to notice. i hate that.

we’ll recap with some nice pro/con. you want the good news or the bad news first?

bad news? ok. here we go.

1. the aforementioned maple street guitars…was a terrible experience. yes, i understand that they are expensive guitars. yes, i understand that you want to take care of them. yes, i even understand that you know a lot about those guitars that you want to take care of. BUT…there is never an excuse for rude salespeople. never. never… nevernevernever. guitar snobs with a little taste of power get on my bad side real quick.

mcd: um, yeah, i’d like to play this taylor right here.

rude dude: (holding the guitar out from mcd, just in case mcd snaps and starts beating the guy over the head with a $3000 guitar?) yeeeeah, can i get you to take your keys out of your pocket.

what? i mean…………what? also, they had a humidifier in the store (for the uninitiated, this is to keep zee acoustics at zee same temperature to prevent warping, etc.) so we’ll think “wooooow… they really are a high-end acoustic guitar store.” um…but there was a freaking DOG walking around the store. a dog. in a guitar store. words can’t describe.

2. (what is it with me and lists all of the sudden?) atlanta is a souless, narcissistic, selfish, angry place. the vibe of that city makes me mad quicker than anywhere in recent memory. people are rude, untrusting and scared. (i know these are generalizations, if you live in atl and you think i’m an idiot, then i’m not talking to you.) no one in this town cares and that…that’s offensive to me.

3. i saw more blatant depravity and disregard for the person of Christ in 6 hours than i’ve seen the past few years. now, i am not a naive person, this does not shock me. people who have no hope and no sense of anything outside their own hurt (which is very real) will act exactly like people who have no hope and no sense of anything outside their own hurt. that doesn’t make it any less offensive to my heart. and little five points, once my fav spot in atl, just seems to get angrier and angrier every year. it’s not like people are beating each other in the streets…it’s the brooding, just under the surface anger of people who want more than they have, who can’t find it, but still feel entitled to it.

4. i forgot to charge my camera before we left for atl…so i only got the one pic of the sunset.

ok…done. over. atl is now officially OUT for future OUTRAGEOUS THURSDAY™ destinations.

the power of positive thinking:

1. lunch with salina was awesome. she makes me smile.

2. we saw a “no parking” sign… you know, the one with the big “P” crossed out… only it was upside down, so it looked like a lower case “d”. we determined this definately stood for “NO DRAMA.” i’d show you a pic, but refer to the aforementioned #4.

3. stefan’s vintage clothing is still the coolest place to buy clothes in the world.

4. temples’ birthday shindig was fun, fun, fun. although, admittedly, the pinball machine selection at dave & buster’s is LEW. loser pinball machines are no fun…even if you do destroy the high score. repeatedly.

overall…a 50/50 day. UNTIL…

5. the moment of beauty for the day, which i really can’t describe to you in words, we’ll just say it involved seeing beauty and humanity stand out massively in the midst of everything… it pushed the pro over the con and made it a great day. (however, i think next week’s OUTRAGEOUS THURSDAY™ will involve the mountains and waterfalls. and a functioning camera.)

let me get some things off my chest:

1. yes, this is a picture of john mayer.
2. no, you’re wrong, he is actually quite awesome. even if his guitar faces are hideous. (turtle-face, what?)
3. yes, that is a wretched pasley tie he’s rocking.
4. no, he’s not flipping you the bird. unless you feel like you deserve it… then maybe he is?
5. yes, that is a flying v he’s rocking.
6. and, yes, the apple sticker on the flying v brings a beautiful smile to my goatee-ed face.

aw…tender.

being the only mac user in an office of 25 people is interesting. and after singing the praises of iTUNES for quite some time…some of the folks are finally leaving the dark side of windows media player and heading for the joy of musical goodness. i networked the various iTUNES libraries yesterday, and now have access to quite a few thousand songs. yaaay for technology. yaaay for other staffers with good taste in music. (and yaaay for john mayer, too. good seats for the 03.10 show in the g’ville. brother, bring the fun…)

it’s a strange phenomenon to me that i have 1500 or so songs on my mac…and yet i want to listen to lee mcd’s 1500 songs instead. we never like our own music. it makes no sense. something about grass… green… another side of some sort. you’re tracking. you follow me. you get the picture. etc.

tomorrow is my day off. the mcd and i will road trip it to atlanta. lunch with salina, much acoustic guitar playing at maple street guitars, and then temples’ birthday shindig at dave & buster’s. mmm…dave & buster’s has pinball machines. MMM…i am addicted to pinball machines. who needs all this fancy video gamery? give me a machine i can hit and actually have some tangible control over. tokens will be spent like dolla bills on dancin girls. er… or… something like that.

i’m listening to the beastie boys right now…. check your head. what a freaking good album. it feels like an episode of starsky & hutch. now, we’re not talking owen wilson/ben stiller-era starsky & hutch, more so the real deal, cochise. yeah, you can’t front on that… so whatcha, whatcha, whatcha want?

by the way, while the mayer photo is quite nice, the beauty award for the day goes to the sunrise this morning.

so, other than anxiously awaiting barnes‘ new album (the crazyboutya clip…so good…so good …SO… GOOD…) my musical tastes have been a little weird lately, lot’s of r&b/electronic stuff going on…good basslines and beats being the order of the day, and jazz too. jamiroquai…miles davis…d’angelo…charlie hunter…zero 7. (speaking of zero 7, this is the best music video ever. no really, ever. i’m serious.) i guess this means all i wanna do (is have some fun) is be relaxed. i can deal with that.

so, one of my favorite albums (we’re talking top 5 here, folks), robbie seay‘s thoughts of you, has been out of print for awhile. but lucky you, they just did a reprint. you can pick one up at here for the value price of 12 bucks. it’s my favorite road-trip-with-windows-down album ever.

i only give you links like this because i love you.

well, the KC motion graphics heroes at MK12 continue to be what’s for awesome. these are some TV spots for AXN, a latin american action network…

women is hysterically weird, and both car chase and toady (yes, toady, not “today”) use scenes from delta force. (chuck norris on your block…tappin you on the shoulder…kicking your butt…defending the american dream…etc.)

these guys are just too brilliant. and fun.

slightly addictive but only for a few minutes. (or 18.633 seconds. i am not good at this) still, nothing has yet to top online duck hunt.

waking up to this would make your morning routine a little bit more interesting. bass for your face, yo.

more later. work now.

so, danielle typically makes me smile when i read. also, she has a killer song playing on her site….usually i want to physically abuse a website that starts playing music…i have great taste in music (what? i do…back off) and i have plenty of musical goodness to go around on my computer, so i hate it when sites have music playing…BUT, i don’t have this song….and it sounds like earthsuit(?)…and it is good, good, good. and it is severely stuck in my head. for now, i will refrain from abuse and simple get my head-bob on.

party people. ARTWRK™ is up and running on its own. i know that means nothing to you, but i’ve been elbow deep in code today making this fella self-sufficient. once again, lorissa‘s help (and bandwidth up until today) was invaluable. i now know enough about html and css to make me accident-prone.

also, i changed out the comment section. i copied and pasted most of your comments, but i might have missed a few. apologies. but at least now you can be greeted by a nicely designed pop-up window when you comment, instead of the ugly blue that was there. aesthetics…they’re important. so, talk back, enjoy, etc.