:: LIE DOWN IN THE LIGHT ::

Post by: Bryan

It's been too nice lately to get any work done. I alternate between feelings of sunny satisfaction and inexcusable laziness.

:: WITH A LITTLE BIT OF THE STINK-EYE ::

Posted by Sucka Pants

(a partially-completed Alice sits quietly on the Slovenian coast)

Raft building in Slovenia:

- Being stopped trying to carry-on small silk screens on to the plane, "You could hit someone with them."
- Long ride in an overloaded hot-wired van with many pee stops.
- Hanging out with "Pusher" cooking shark and sardines over a fire drum.
- Power tools in the rain.
- Red pepper & ? "muck" sauce is popular.
- Who knew ginger in fruit salad could taste so good?
- Some great finds from the local flea market.
- Shipping containers make great workshops/sheds, but are kind of cold to sleep in.
- Clogging/breaking the squat-style toilet at the marina. Not even the professional plumber in the crew could fix it.
- Graduating down to a shit-bucket, even before we are on the water.
- A lot of locals wandering by to see what we are up to.
- The new raft, "Old Hickory," is kind of huge.
- The scrapping crew running into a lady calling the cops on them, accusing them of trying to steal the scrap wood in her garbage. Conrad explains the project to her as best he can (language barrier) and shows her photos of the rafts. After questioning their sanity, she sends them on with "You are good boys. You go."
- Learn some Slovenian:
Hello = "Dobradon"
Thank you (very much) = "Hvalla (liepa)"
Hello, I think I love you = "Pozdravljeni, mislim, da te ljubim"

MP3:

- Moby - Sailin' On

A band's place in myspace.

:: LIVE LIKE THERE ARE NO WRONG TURNS ::

Posted by: Sucka Pants

(photos from the abandoned beach town, full gallery of our adventures here)

Well that's it folks. I'm off to join the Swimming Cities of Serenissima in Slovenia. I will try to post updates and photos if I can, but without a computer your guess is as good as mine if/when that will happen.

Ever wonder what Matt & Kim look like naked? Well now you know (and in Times Square, no less). So awesome.

Lessons Learned

MP3:

- We March - Ethnic Electric

A band's place in myspace.

:: HERE COMES HOME ::

Posted by: Bryan

A quick visit to North Carolina in springtime when the tulips are blooming, cardinals are singing and everything is a little bit better.

Nancy Parton, Dolly's cousin, performs a Kris Kristofferson song at karaoke night in Tryon, NC. Watch it in HD for maximum effect.

:: SLIPPIN' AWAY AGAIN ::

Posted by: Sucka Pants

(photos from IRT: A Tragedy In Three Stations, a play that took place in the NYC Subway this past Spring, full documentation here)

Just more of why you love living in the city.

MP3:

- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons (Acoustic Version)

A band's place in myspace.

:: WHEN THE DAYS GO SLOW ::

Posted by: Bryan

In Colombia, down by the river.

:: NOT SO SERIOUS ::

Posted by: Sucka Pants

(promo photo shot for Matt & Kim's new album Grand, logo designed by Erik Kowalski)

I leave in less than a week for the Swimming Cities of Serenissima, to traverse the Adriatic Sea from Slovenia to Venice on three junk rafts. After two months there, I head to Indonesia and Japan to travel by bicycle with a couple friends for another two months (only catch is that so far I don't really have a bike for the trip yet). So updates around here might go from sporadic to sparse, but I'll try to do my best.

In conjunction with the above-mentioned junk raft trip, Ad Hoc is hosting another fundraiser art show for us that opens this Thursday (tomorrow!). Please do drop by, there's some handsome art on the walls at great prices.

:::

SWIMMING CITIES OF SERENISSIMA ART SHOW FUNDRAISER
Opening this THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 7-10PM at Ad Hoc Art: 49 Bogart St. Brooklyn NY

See several brand new works by SWOON as well as an abundance of other visionary comrades' artistic marvels as we raise funds for their latest naval plan, SWIMMING CITIES OF SERENISSIMA, which has already begun! The list of work is deep, and there are many gems in the mix.

Some of the people in the house are:

DAVID ELLIS

DENNIS MCNETT

ELISABETH TIMPONE

ESPO

FAILE

GAIA

IMMINENT DISASTER

JOSH MACPHEE

KRISTINE VIRSIS

LEE QUINONEZ

MARTHA COOPER

MARTIN MAZORRA

MIKE HOUSTON

MONICA CANILAO

RYAN DOYLE

STEVE POWERS

TOD SEELIE

& MANY MORE!

See the work here:
http://adhocart.org/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&Itemid=70&gid=102

* IN THE PROJECT ROOM - TheDirtyFabulous - New Works

TheDirtyFabulous was born in the year of the Dragon and travels the windblown highway of Interstate 40. TDF's work's defy standard human comprehension, as they are from the windblown highways of the interstellar consciousness. Not to be missed!

This body of work actually began in 1997 – in a small, run-down house on some wooded land. The place has since been deserted. Working in that place helped bring into focus the narratives TDF would continue to work with. Over the years, the work has been slowly accumulating. TDF sees this as an ongoing project – a book of fables, with large paper drawings as pages. These drawings have no set sequence of images or reading. The word fable is derived from the Latin word fabula, meaning “story”.

TDF repeatedly explores themes such as myth, psychology, philosophy, apparition of beauty, eroticism, machines of fate, human folly, nostalgia, mortality, history, consumer culture, industrialization, loss and regret. Imagery is used from many sources and typically a work is generated in response to readings or in reference to life experiences. TDF uses nineteenth century mechanical relics, sequences from dreams, vintage pin-ups, scientific historical images, anatomy and nostalgic panoramas as symbolic references. Combined in the work, they allow for commentary, connection, and invention on many topics and ideas.

In short, these works are super divine!

See them here: http://adhocart.org/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&gid=96&Itemid=70

Props of TDF's work in Juxtapoz:
http://www.juxtapoz.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5383
http://www.juxtapoz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5587&Itemid=1

* IN THE ALCOVE - Elisabeth Timpone -"Tails from the North"

After studying communication design at Parson's in NYC, Elisabeth Timpone unexpectedly began an extensive endeavor into a world of fine art. Her whimsically obsessive lines, and delicate but ferocious images capture moments in nature that may otherwise go unseen. Her drawings create a portal to the unscathed forest where animals live to play and fight to survive. Since her start, she has shown at galleries in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Elisabeth is currently working on a letter pressed children’s book called “Baby Bestiary”.

http://adhocart.org/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&gid=97&Itemid=70

Come see amazing art by some of the most fun, positive, and creative people we know!

If you would like to volunteer your expertise and skills to help us in our creative experience, please drop us a line via http://adhocart.org/index.php?option=com_performs&formid=1&Itemid=57

Thanks for all the love and support. We can't do it without you.

Our best to you and yours,

Ad Hoc Art

:::

MP3:

The Whites Stripes? What?

- Band Of Skulls - I Know What I Am

A band's place in myspace.

:: CRUSTY TIMES ARE HERE AGAIN ::

Posted by: Sucka Pants

(photos from the guerilla art installation Overtake in Bushwick, full gallery here)

File this under "no duh."

I almost forgot about this video I shot of patriotic flag burning at Slaughterama 6.

Slaughterama 6: Flag Burning Patriots.

MP3:

Guess who's reuniting and playing a show in NYC? That's right.

- The Mummies - Stronger Than Dirt

A band's place in myspace.

:: WHERE IRONY IS A DIRTY WORD ::

Posted by: Sucka Pants

(photos from Slaughterama 6 hosted by the Cutthroats in Richmond, VA, full gallery here)

The Musebox is offering Sucka Pants readers a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Wesc as part of a promotion for Deadbeat Darling's show at Pianos TONIGHT (Thursday the 9th). For details on how to win, read below.

:::

The New York City based rock group Deadbeat Darling are preparing for the June release of their first full-length album as they feature many of their new songs at a showcase this Thursday April 9th, at Pianos. Attracting fans from bands such as The Cure, U2, The Killers and Bloc Party, Deadbeat Darling has been able to pack out many NYC venues after forming only two short years ago.

Show details are as follows:
4/9 – Deadbeat Darling @ Pianos, NYC
Doors - 8pm, Showtime - 9pm

The winner of the gift certificate will be the first one to email deadbeatdarling@themusebox.net with the title of the first song on Deadbeat Darling’s myspace page.

:::

So there ya go. . .

MP3:

- Mission Of Burma - Wounded World

A band's place in myspace.

:: LUMINESCENT IDOLS ::

Posted by: Bryan

Bogotá wasn't so friendly to me, but I just couldn't stay away. Like all the women I fall for.

:: INUNDATED UNDER ALL THE MOUSTACHES ::

Posted by: Sucka Pants

(photos from the last date on the Newmore Switchblades tour at Danger Danger in Philly, full gallery here)

My friend Nick is doing an interesting project at the ICA this weekend in Boston. He is offering open submission to his magazine, Article, and anything submitted will be distributed. Details below.

:::

This Saturady in Boston is the ICA/AIGA's Design as Social Agent Day. It is a day of events surrounding Shepard Fairey's retrospective show Supply and Demand. There are a lot of amazing designers and artists speaking and some good events.

As part of the day, Article Magazine will be setting up drop boxes around the museum to collect contributions for their next issue. Anything placed in the boxes will be distributed in a single copy of the next issue. Any submissions that catch their eye will be included in the print issue and distributed with all copies. The boxes will be up only for Saturday during the Design as Social Agent Day.

http://www.icaboston.org/programs/talks/design-agent/

DESIGN AS SOCIAL AGENT DAY
Saturday, April 4, 10 am - 5 pm

Through a full day of presentations, interviews, gallery tours, author talks, and more, this program considers the place of Shepard Fairey's work in a powerful design history of civic empowerment and resistance, seeks to understand how images resonate and gain momentum, examines the latest trends in communication and messaging, and discusses the implicit challenges of social agency in design.

Featuring speakers from fields of design, street art, music, and advertising, the programs explore the intersection of visual culture and social transformation, and how our understanding of originality, plagiarism, legality, and the artistic process has been exploded.

:::

MP3:

- Peaches - Search And Destroy

A band's place in myspace.

:: THE BEAUTY OF UNCERTAINTY ::

Posted by: Bryan

"How the hell did I end up here?", I kept asking myself.

After Caracas, I needed a break from the city. I started boarding buses that moved in a westward direction through Venezuela. On one particular five hour ride I woke up and saw beautiful fields nestled between hefty peaks. I decided that this was the place and convinced the confused driver to stop.

I didn't even know what this place was called. I just started cutting across fields looking for a place to lay my head.

I eventually came across a proper town and secured a room in the hotel.

It just happened to be Carnavale and children had taken over the town square.

Second place - potato sack race. Second place - eating contest. But still a champ.

I didn't realize Carnavale was also a time for scary costumes. Maybe its a Venezuelan thing.

The fog rolled in only adding to the mystery of this place.

A princess reigned over the festival.

I was hoping to go unnoticed in the crowd but they could all spot a gringo. A teenage girl came up and asked my name. I told her and she wrote it down.

A few minutes later I was called up over the sound system. They asked me to sit at a small desk with three other adults. Then one by one, these little girls in costumes were paraded across the back of a flatbed truck. I have no idea how it happened by I was suddenly judging a girls 10 and under beauty pageant.

It was cute overload. I didn't know how I was supposed to judge these adorable little girls. They were all great. My co-judges were a little more discerning.

We tallied our scores and awarded Miss Congeniality and Best Smile but in Spanish words that I didn't understand. Another contest started on the side for best costume. El Diablo took first.

Tensions ran high as the results were being announced. I sensed the Carnavale pageant is a really big deal in this town.

As my final duty, I pinned a sash on Senorita Turismo on the far right.

The old princess annoints the new.

The town was called Chachopo I eventually learned. I have no idea how I ended up where I did doing what I did, but I'm glad for it. The following morning I flagged down the next bus, knowing that I'd never know what was next.