These Things Tend To Work Out, With The Right Spirit

1959.Just recieved a note from the Hall Of Records folks, and it was so excellent that I can’t help but share it:

We’re so sorry about the photo. Obviously our graphic designer didn’t do due diligence on the image used. Lesson learned for next time. But thank you for being so cool about it.  You’re right, we are small fish just starting out. In the essence of turning every negative into a positive, we’d love to buy you a beer and maybe even use you to do some graphic design for us some day.

I’ve always thought that where we can we must be excellent to each other.

May fortune smile on thier enterprise, and good instant karma all around. It sounds pretty cool.

And if you can, go to their party and have a beer and a slice for me, will you? I’ll be drudging away somewhere dreary, but I’ll feel a little better about things if you do this for me.

Technorati Tags: Samuel John Klein, Hall of Records, flyers, photographs, copyright issues, bonhomie

Hey! How’d My Photo Get On That Cool Poster!

1958.Check out this poster I found via Dave:

Now, look at the piccy I took back in March of ‘05:

I’m flattered, to say the least. I adore that type. The funky vibe is represented. I fully approve of the poster and my photo’s use in it.

Just one thing, though. I check my sitemeter logs regularly; this must be one of the most hit parts of the blog, this picture. It’s probably been round the world once or twice. One of the risks you take with putting your creative work on the web is that people tend to help themselves to it.

And I understand that. Hell, a couple of posties ago, I ripped off a photo from the PMerc. But it was satire, and they were credited.

But this photo is particularly dear to me. It was taken by me, foolishly, with my camera in one hand and the steering wheel of my ‘72 VW in the other, at speed, hurtling over the Marquam Bridge on cold spring morning after one of my evenings at work. I’m in love with my cityscape, and I’m in love with tthis photo of it.

So, if you want to use it, that’s cool. But don’t assume that I have put it in the public domain; I have not. Write me and ask. You might be surprised. I could very well just say yes, and if you’re a little fish just starting out like the Hall Of Records is, the only price I might ask is that you credit me for it.

Thanks. And hey, since I’m too poor to go and work nights and weekends anyway, go on over to the Hall Of Records party for me. Have a brew and a slice in my name. I’ll catch the spirit.

(Update: Checked the metadata for the photo. I actually took it in 2004 on Sept 16th, at about 11 AM.)

Technorati Tags: Portland, Portland Photos, My Photos in the Wild, Copyright Issues, Portland From Marquam Bridge by Samuel John Klein, Samuel John Klein

Street Blade Gallery, Mardi Gras NOLA Streetlife Edition

1957.For the newest addition to the Gallery, let’s go down to the streets of the Vieux Carré, from which Portland’s (and this blogger’s) favorite formerly-of-NOLA-but-now-back-in-NOLA mystery writer, Kevin Allman, checks in with this lovely shot:

You really can’t include a picture of a bona fide French Quarter street blade without including some of the street life around it. New Orleans has that charming reputation for a reason, yo.

Kevin tells me there are many variations of street blades in NOLA, an I’m presuming it’s because the city has a singularly-colorful history. The one you’re most likely and remember as tourist and as illustration are the blades in the French Quarter, I’d wager.

And, as information design, they aren’t ideal-ideal. They don’t have a directional; they don’t say whether the way is a Street or an Avenue; they don’t use FHWA-approved typeface one. But they work nonetheless and they please me mightily, visually. Why, for a person who’s obsessed about a street blade that will help you navigate am I so down with this design?

It’s an extension of the art and effective atmosphere and attitude that draw so many there for the annual celebration and contribute in a note-perfect way to the attitude of the area. The most charming part of the sign is the box in the upper center that contains the historic name of the street expressed in French.

A technical point worth noting is the bracketing used to mount the signs. Three rivets through attach the sign to  right-angled support which has an angle at the corner which is, itself attached to the post; this puts the blade up front-and-center as the star of the show (which is actually a very designerly thing to do) while leaving the blade unencumbered by hardware which requires gripping one side or the other of the sign itself. The design can come right up to the edge of the blade.

The whole street-scene picture provided me by Kevin is too cool not to share in toto, so get a good look at this:

You can’t have a picture of New Orleans without some of its people really. Kevin really has an eye for the moment, does he not? The fellow in the hoodie up from, distracted by something; the punky girl with the pink wig, hot miniskirt and legs, and amazing boots on the left; the two youths just hangin’ under the post, and the kid climbing up it for who-knows-what.

It’s a warm photo. Invites you in.

Technorati Tags: Street Blade Gallery, New Orleans, Kevin Allman, Mardi Gras, NOLA, French Quater, Bourbon Street

Unicorns In The City Council Chamber

1956.Portland being built over an ancient unicorn burial ground explains so very much, if you let silly things like logic go by the board.

For instance, over at PMerc, there’s a photo of Councilor Fritz and Mayor Sam at the hearing for the increasingly-brobdingangian Columbia River Crossing thingy. View the article and the image here.

I found myself, though, in a Kolchak: The Night Stalker*/X-Files/Fringe** sort of way, wondering if there was a deeper story to the unsanity that has been Portland City Council of late. So, I nicked the photo from Blogtown and put it into Photoshop, applying the Unicorn Filter (of which I own the only one), found that there was indeed, something deeper to say about it:

What is the unicorn doing? Whispering some sage policy advice in Sam’s ear? Protecting Amanda from a psychic barrage leading to cynicsm? Simply observing? We know not, and will never know, for unicorns keep their own council.

We could find a gentle virgin to tame the unicorn and perhaps find out, but, hey … this is Portland, yes?

A note on the Photoshop Unicorn Filter: I’ve been allowed its use only if I keep the developers an absolute secret. I have further been told to say that if I tell you all who did it, the developers would kill themselves, which I ’splained to them was kind of backwards, but they said that’s what they meant, and boarded the TriMet 33 so they could get out to Jim & Patty’s coffee before it closed.

You don’t argue with geniuses. You all know what I mean.

* The Darren McGavin version, not that lame-o Stuart Copeland version that deservedly died, screaming.
** Not the X-Files, no matter what anyone says.

Technorati Tags: Portand city council, unicorns, ancient unicorn burial ground, amanda fritz, sam adams

The Street Blades They Grow In Cupertino

1955.Cupertino is a California city that needs little introduction to some who might be inclined to read a blog; it’s part of the legendary technological heartland known “Silicon Valley”; it’s a city of about 50,000 that covers about 10 square miles; and, according to my valued friend Sharon, who sent along the pics you’re about to see, it is one of California’s most expensive cities.

It also has given its name to the so-called “Cupertino effect“, which is the vernacular name for what happens when a spellchecker suggests unappropriate subistituions for misspelt words or words you haven’t put in its dictionary. I am indebted, for example, to people like Sharon for giving me her complete Cupertino in helping my build my Street Blade Gallery.

Anyway, here’s the pic (by way of explanation, somewhat low-res):

The things I find interesting here is the obviously-non-FWHA font which, at low-res, it’s hard to say exactly what it is, though something like Souvenir is hardly out of th question here. The sheer height of the placement is interesting: that would seem particularly driver-unfriendly. The staggering-apart of the street blades themselves is also interesting–of the photos I’ve so far seen, I’d not seen them spaced that far apart. The blue color is striking but a little dark for me somehow. I don’t find that blue makes a very good background color, but that is certainly my opinion.

Thanks very much, Sharon, for sharing your photos with me and my street-blade-obsessed readers.

Quick–Which One Of These Is An Actual Product?

1954.Go ahead … tell me which one is the actual product you’ll find in the freezer case:

Time’s up!

Well, to be honest, it’s probably not all that hard. The one on the left, of course, is the one I did.

It was a student project, done while still at PCC. I was always satisfied with it, and I always thought it shoulde that I had a decided handle on things like layout, hierarchy, type, and such. I think it hangs together rather magnificently.

The one on the right we consumed the contents out of very recently (we better have had, anyway, yes?). The designs, in my humble opinion, share very common elements–the way the type hierarchy encourages eyeflow towards the product, the way the product anchors the whole design at the bottom, the way both designs depend on blue and white to get the job done. and while my design doesn’t include a shell full of cocktail sauce (which I’d of thought of something like that) the reddish-brown tone of the table surface does kind of the same job–completing the span of dark reddish color.

The point I’m making here isn’t whether my design is better or worse, but I think it could creditably hold its own in the freezer case next to any other frozen product. It certainly looks like it belongs. and it must be pointed out, the thing where line becomes a wave and is followed across the product name … I obviously came up with that one first!

Technorati Tags: design, package design, graphic design, Samuel John Klein, ZehnKatzen Design

Towards A More Postcard-Friendly Unicorn

1953.It has been pointed out to me that “UNICORNS BITCHEZ!!!111!!!” might not play so well amongst the more sophisticated amongst us (which I thought I wuz, but see how I am). So I’ve changed the type. Now available here for the asking, a more modest unicorn graphic with more warm and welcoming message:

Magical, yes?

I expect this to be up in the NYT within the week. It was meant to be.

Expect it in bus shelters soons after. If Travel Portland wants to use it, thaz’ cool, just credit me.

NB: The Portland Photo is CC-SA-BY-2.5 licensed by Eric Baetscher. I got it from here. The unicorn graphic I scraped off my hard drive somewhere; if you recognize it, just shout out, and I’ll credit.

Technorati Tags: Portland, Portland Humor, Unicorn Burial Ground, Portland Built On An Ancient Unicorn Burial Ground, liff, liff in PDX

Zines I’ve Seen

1952.Herewith, a few delights I’ve found along the way. Moar as I find ‘em.

The Multomah County Library is an unexpected place to find zines, but find them you will. Check-outable too. They say that it’s a very personal medium, and zines have been around long enough that the observation is a bit trite, but it’s the truth. This first one is particularly personal, and one of the first I looked at since I decided to stop fearing the zine.

Some|body, by Amaris Summer Hayden, is as personal and witty as it is poignant. So far as I’ve been able to find, two issues have been published; Chapter 1, in July 2006, and Chapter 2, in May 2008. The covers, made to resemble medical file folders (right down to the colored first-three-letters-of-the-last-name labels on the tabs) are created from actual trimmed-down Pendaflex Esselte™ brand folders. The detailing on the cover, consisting of the clip-strip on the top and the big ol’ paper clip on the side, were hand-done. A “Patient Information Sheet” is attached to the inside of each’s cover It makes one pause after reading the story within, thinking that the person to whom all these events happened and, we estimate, are continuing to unfold.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Hypertension is a particularly dreadful disease. You may have heard of it when the “fen-phen” diet medicine controvery broke some years back, when it was called Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. In IPH, constriction of pulmonary arteries (typically with no known cause) cause oxygen-deficient blood to return to the heart from the lungs. This causes the heart to pump harder to compensate, causing enlargement of the right ventricle, overstressing and wearing out the heart at an astounding rate; average survival after diagnosis, via right heart failure, is a mere 2.8-10 years.

Add into this the fact that the author was a mere 27 when diagnosed, and had a 6 year old son when diagnosed, causes the reader to ask themselves questions which were theretofore somewhat corny, such as “what would I do if today were my last day?”.

Hayden will live to see her son’s 17th birthday, unless the dice roll against her before then, and the odds are not in her favor.

The author uses all variety of cut and paste, drawing styles contrasting detailed realism and childlike on the same page, in a very unafraid style. I suppose anything I say up past this point would be a bit maudlin and lachrymose, so I’d just suggest that anyone who wonders about life, mortality, and how short life can be (and how much observation you can pack into an abbreviated lifespan).

Her last contact address is Mszine@gmail.com.

The Superman Stories, by Mark Russel, is wry and deadpan. In the mode of ironically reinterpreting past icons in a modern light, he recreates Superman as a superhero who doesn’t have an alter ego (who really believed that just a pair of glasses and a suit made Kal-El look like a normal newspaper reporter? And I suppose you were totally fooled by Sandra Bullock’s ‘regular’ garb in Armed and Fablulous?) and is kind of a self-centered, tempremental, misogynist fellow–a real jerk at times.

Through a series of vignettes–fifteen “episodes” and a series of intersitials called “The Lois Lane Dialogues” which make you wonder why she puts up with the jerk–we learn much: why Lex Luthor hates him (turns out Superman’s the reason he’s bald); What Superman’s “Indian” name is; that Superman is constanly pestered by leopards; what interruped Superman when he tried to bowl; why Superdog was a menace to the city’s butcher shops (and how Superman dealt with it) and more. There’s even a “Superman Warnings List” on the back, with such forearmings as:

• 3: Superman does not eat food that has been prepared in a microwave oven. Hot-pockets, pizza rolls and Jolly time popcorn are all unknown to him.
• 7: Superman’s two favorite smells in the world are Bark-o-mulch and taco meat. Number three is Lois’ hair.
• 9: Superman doesn’t enjoy shopping, except for grocery shopping. But he doesn’t like to stick his hand too deeply into the fruit displays, for fear of being bitten by tarantulas. Whenever he mentiones this to Lois, she secretly laughs to herself.

The spare, icon-line graphic treatment of the cover is what drew me to it (especially the 1-2-3 illustrated sequence of Supe taking off which has nothing obvious to do with the text beside it). The dry humor kept me reading it.

Mark Russell is also known as a Portland-based writer and cartoonist who self-published The Penny Dreadful. He also has been published in McSweeney’s, which means we admire and hate him, because we sent them a list once and it was rejected. It was brilliant.

Technorati Tags: print design, graphic design, humor, zines, personal stories, mark russell, amaris summer hayden

This Handy Chart Should Explain Everything:

1951.It’s all so very clear to me now.

Clicky here to embiggen.

Technorati Tags: teh funnay, reddit, digg, 4chan, humor, net_humor, graphic humor

Kelly Groucutt, Electric Light Orchestra Bassist, Dies at 63

1950.Michael William Groucutt, known professionally as Kelly Groucutt, a member of the Electric Light Orchestra during their signature years, died of a heart attack yesterday in the UK. He was 63 years old.

Kelly joined the lineup, replacing original bassist Mike De Albuquerque, with the Face The Music album (1974) the album which gave us the early ELO hits “Evil Woman” and “Strange Magic”. He remained, with his high-pitched backing vocals and intricate bass work helping to craft the classic ELO sound through 1983’s Secret Message, though more than one source makes plain that he at most only performed four songs on it.

In 1983, Kelly split somewhat bitterly from the group, unhappy with royalty payments, a move which culminated in lawsuits against band managment and group leader, Jeff Lynne.

Post-ELO, he remained active in music, recording at least two solo albums and collecting a small core of devoted fans. In 1989, he joined former ELO bandmates Bev Bevan and Mik Kaminski with a few other players to form the ELO-revival group Electric Light Orchestra Part II. In 2000, ELO Part II became The OrKestra. He also had a small session band which did live gigs around the area he lived.

Kelly was my first favorite bassist, and he’s one of the reasons I remain in love with the bass and consider it integral to any real rock band.

As old as some rock dinosaurs get these days, 63 years seems an extremely untimely death.

He will be missed by many.

Technorati Tags: Kelly Groucutt, Rock bassists, passages, Electric Light Orchestra, ELO Part II, The OrKestra, bassist obituaries