Gas Water Nothing

View from 'sNice

2008-11-16T19:26:45Z

The view from ‘sNice, one of my favorite cafés. What do you think of my lazy computer coloring job? Nice? Tacky? I’m not sure.

Philadelphia Dusk

2008-11-14T18:35:46Z

I went to Philadelphia last weekend and only got this one sketch done, at Bainbridge and South Seventh Street.

Whitehall Street, Lunch Break, Rain

2008-11-14T04:38:50Z

Yes, it was lunch time. Yes it was dark out.

I'm On Urban Sketchers

2008-11-05T23:25:32Z

I’m participating in a new group blog, Urban Sketchers. There are a lot of astoundingly wonderful people contributing, and I’m flattered to be among them. Urban Sketchers was founded by Gabi Campanario; I’m so glad he thought of it and put all the work into setting up the site and organizing the group. Thanks, Gabi!!

I expect I’ll crosspost whatever I post on Urban Sketchers here on Gas Water Nothing, but there will probably be a few differences to account for the different contexts and audiences. Check out my posts there, but also be sure to look at the great work everyone else is posting.

The piece below was my first contribution. I drew this a few months ago (thus the greenery), but it took a while to get the colors right, and I never got around to sharing it online til now. Also check out this wintertime view from the same window.

(Thank-you to Hungarian tourists Kiti and Stephanie for taking that photo of me at work.)

Brushes with Dutchesses

2008-10-25T00:16:27Z

I went to the Music Hall of Williamsburg last night and saw Mission of Burma, King Khan and the Barbecue Show, and the Dutchess and the Duke (I got there too late to see Jay Reatard). I took advantage of D&D’s low energy to sketch them on my iPhone, using the Brushes application. It’s a challenge drawing skinny lines with a fingertip! I think it came out pretty good, though. Brushes is the best art app for the iPhone that I’ve discovered. Please let me know if there’s another you like.

Portland Snapshots Part 3

2008-10-12T01:37:16Z

I have no idea why it took me three months to put these sketches online. I think they were mostly all finished back then, too, except for maybe a few tiny color touch-ups. (There’s some other Portland pieces that really, genuinely aren’t finished yet, which is a whole other pile of excuses). Prior Portland sketches are here and also here. Remarkably, this time around, none of these are directly related to a place I was eating.

Anyway. Better get these up before I completely forget everything about them!

On July 12, Professor Becky invited me to bicycle up to Sauvie Island with some frisbee people for berry picking and beaching. It was very nice!

On July 13, Paula, Stone, and Sage bought some gelato at a Museum of Contemporary Craft festival.

My main bicycle “commute” was along the section of the Springwater Corridor Trail between Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge and Division Street. On my last day in town I made time to draw a few views from there.

Portland has great public waterworks (also see the PDF linked from here). In addition to the Benson Bubblers, there are several immense and imaginative fountains designed to welcome and encourage play and relaxation. (Perhaps the best known one is Salmon Street Springs; I didn’t have a chance to draw it, but Seattle Sketcher Gabi Campanario was in town around the same time and did a great job drawing it!) Below are my sketches of Ira’s Fountain and Jamison Square.

Jamison Square is great for smaller kids. The water level rises and falls as the waterfalls start and stop—lots of fun!

One of my absolute favorite places in Portland is Ira’s Fountain. It’s hard to even believe this place is legal in the USA, and that no one has died on it (it’s actually cleverly engineered to be safer than it looks; it would be hard to fall too far or too fast). It’s the best possible thing a city could have on a hot summer’s day!

Catching Up With the Glass Bees

2008-10-06T15:23:34Z

Sufficiently faithful readers will be aware that I perform and record music with a group called the Glass Bees. We have a performance this Friday at Monkeytown (58 N. 3rd St in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) collaborating with video artist Guillaume Clave. If you’re in the New York City area, it would be great to see you at the show!

In other Glass Bees news, we have released a full-length CD Tops Crops Snaps Hots. You can order a copy via e-mail or buy one from us at the show.

Filmmaker Nerina Penzorn has used our music in soundtracks for two short documentaries about artists: an episode of “Caught in the Act” about Chico MacMurtrie, and a profile of Mary Lynch, entitled “Saint Jude”.

The Glass Bees have released about eleven new tracks since I last mentioned us on this site. Artwork (all by me) and links below. Somewhere in there, Chris and I were officially joined by third member Andrea Williams.

Trackwork, Breakwork

Captains of Industry

Another Year With Nothing to Do

Getaways in New Jersey

Take Advantage of the Setting Sun

Welterweight

Copper Canyon Can-Can

Family Disaster Plan

Roland’s Big Day Out

Roland’s Song (This track was also remixed with added vocals by Meth Jive as Wht God Ntended)

And What Will She Do With Thursday's Rags When Monday Comes Around?

2008-10-01T22:43:00Z

September 19-21 I went to the first ever All Tomorrow’s Parties New York. It was great, and quite unlike any other US rock festivals I can think of. The music was all indoors, there weren’t too many people, the security wasn’t constantly stopping everybody from doing everything, the food and drinks were reasonably priced (plus you could bring your own), it was pretty easy to see acts on both stages, and stuff mostly just worked. Even the tickets and wristbands and guidebooks were fabulously designed.

The festival took place at the fabulously dilapidated Kutsher’s resort in the Catskills, a place that (in its current condition) I can’t imagine working for any group other than a bunch of drunken indie rockers. My friends and I didn’t stay at Kutsher’s (though some attendees did); we stayed at the nearby Days Inn of Liberty. Of which I drew my only picture of the weekend:

Of course the main draw of any festival is the performers. As soon as ATP’s line-up was announced, I knew I would regret missing it. Far two many of my favorite white guys with guitars were there. Even the acts I wasn’t excited about demonstrated reasonable integrity on the part of the curators. As the official literature put it, “no one selected or even wanted Jack Johnson.”

There’s plenty of reviews elsewhere, but below are my quickie reactions to all the performances. As well as the rock, they showed some cool movies and had Q&As with filmmakers, but I would have had to have been pretty injured or sick to bother with that instead of the music or the broken playground (thanks to Jen for snapping the shots!).

Friday, September 19th

STAGE 2
Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, Maria Bamford, Joe Derosa
Haha it’s funny that you think I would ever go to a stand-up comedy show, especially given what was going on in the other room.

STAGE 1 (Don’t Look Back: artists playing their classic albums)

Bardo Pond performing Lapsed: Good. Reminded me of Philly in the mid-90s even though I never went to see them then.

Meat Puppets performing Meat Puppets II: Abysmal. I love this album, but they half-assed it beyond belief. I saw them play a good show only a year ago, so being dried-up old drug casualties isn’t their only excuse.

Tortoise performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die: Meh. And not at all tight, which is the least thing I would have expected from Tortoise! At this point I was pretty worried the weekend would suck.

Thurston Moore performing Psychic Hearts: An odd choice. Even big Thurston fans don’t care much about this album, and I don’t think he does either. Still, a totally great, rocking set. They may have played everything better than on the album, and they did it out of order.

Built To Spill performing Perfect From Now On: I’ve never been able to emotionally connect with BTS, but this was a solid set, very well played.

Saturday, September 20th – Curated By ATP

STAGE 2

Alexander Tucker: I missed this.

Growing: Boring boring boring. Knob twiddling can and should sound better than this.

Wooden Shjips: Too repetitive, and not in a good way. Endless boogie done all wrong.

Harmonia: Missed, though I was curious about ‘em.

Om: Proof my brain just can’t appreciate metal. They actually played it quiet and spare, but it was still metal and I just couldn’t get anything about it.

Low: I love them so. Not the best I’ve ever seen them, but still wonderful.

Thee Silver Mount Zion: Everything that’s wrong with hippies. Reminded me of Devendra Banhart, which is about the worst insult I can hurl.

STAGE 1

Apse: Dressed-in-black angsty kids, long on energy, short on songwriting.

The Drones: Never heard of them before but I really liked them. Angular postpunkiness, plus the singer sometimes sounds like Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil.

Fuck Buttons: Boring, but fun. Does that make sense? I saw them right after Growing, which probably made me like them more; still, I walked out.

Edan with guest Dagha: Never heard of these guys before but they were great. Very skilled, very entertaining.

Polvo: I didn’t see as much of their set as I wanted to, but I wasn’t exactly bowled over by what I did see. I don’t think I’ve ever liked them as much as I’m supposed to.

Les Savy Fav: I’d kind of dismissed them previously, and never seen them live. But this is what performance is all about; even if you hated their music (I don’t) you’d be very entertained.

Shellac: I’ve always wanted to see them and they were just great.

Lighting Bolt: Lotsa fun. I’m glad we decided to jump into the pit.

Sunday, September 21st – Curated By My Bloody Valentine

STAGE 2

Le Volume Courbe: Missed.

Wounded Knees: Missed.

Lilys: Fun, but not amazing. I saw them the week before, so didn’t prioritize their set here.

Gemma Hayes: If she was your friend you’d be quite proud of her. Otherwise, it’s hard to see the point

Spectrum: Only caught a bit, but it was pretty uninspired

Trail Of Dead: Missed.

Bob Mould-Missed entirely, which I regret, I hear he played a lot of Hüsker Dü songs.

Brian Jonestown Massacre: I only caught the end of their set, but safe to say they weren’t operating at the top of their powers.

STAGE 1

Robin Guthrie: Missed.

EPMD: A sad echo of what they used to be. Lost their rhythm and vitality.

Mercury Rev: Completely transcendent, possibly the best thing all weekend. I’ve always liked their records but had no idea they could be this stunning live. Definitely gave me that churchy feeling.

Yo La Tengo: Solid set. They’re always really good and always a little different. And I’ve never seen Ira go quite so ape-shit with his guitar before.

Mogwai: Powerful. I don’t know their music too well, and it’s pretty samey, but they’re very, very good at it.

Dinosaur Jr.: Wow wow wow. I had seen them once before (pre-reunion of the original line-up) and it was terrible. But this was really great. Along with Shellac, restored my faith in the power trio.

My Bloody Valentine: Stunning, lovely, huge. It was great, but also completely not vital nor spontaneous. Colm Ó Cíosóig is one hell of a drummer though, and almost as fun to watch as Todd Trainer from Shellac.

Keeping On

2008-09-09T03:28:12Z

Here’s some not-too-recent pieces for no particular reason. Hope you like ‘em!

Crazy Subway Times With Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors

2008-08-23T17:44:16Z

These are all NYC subway sketches from August 7th, 2008. I seem to be stuck in a two-weeks-ago time-warp (though I think the next stuff I’m posting will be from two months ago). Colored straight-up with Dr. Ph. Martin’s crazy colors; my first time using them. I plan to gain a little more control in time!

At Union Pool

2008-08-15T05:08:51Z

Somehow it took me two weeks to get around to posting these. Funny how the time goes. I added a bit of extra color to them somewhere in there, courtesy my new Dr. Ph. Martin’s Radiant Concentrated Watercolors (more danger in a bottle than overproof rum!) overlaid on the regular watercolors I did onsite.

Anyway, I went to Union Pool to see War on Drugs. I’d describe their sound as Shoegaze Springsteen. If that appeals to you at all, check them out. They’re very good at it. Plus they put on a good live show and are friendly guys.

Before and after the band played, I did some drawings. As you can see, Union Pool is kind of a scene. The live music room is nice, but I don’t recommend going there just to hang out.

Oh, and as I was getting towards leaving, some guy out with his bros asked me to draw his dogs from a photo. I obliged:

Japanese Garden

2008-08-10T05:08:21Z

The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at The Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Whiskey Ward

2008-08-09T07:57:26Z

I went to see Team Genius at Fontana’s (great show!) and then we decamped to Whiskey Ward, where I drew this.

Thursday Evening, Prospect Park

2008-08-08T06:22:24Z

Not That Into August

2008-08-05T02:40:53Z

At the African Guitar Festival

2008-08-04T00:16:58Z

At the African Guitar Festival in Prospect Park today.

(I drew a different angle on the bandshell crowd a couple years ago.)

My Day Underground

2008-08-03T06:54:53Z

Billionaires

2008-08-01T22:59:57Z

This Weekend in Brooklyn

2008-07-29T16:20:15Z

A few scenes from this past weekend, in which I managed to tote my sketchbook around and actually use it.

Do these pictures look garish? I’m trying to improve my scanner’s gamma/color-profile. I haven’t quite solved it yet and these came out overly saturated relative to the originals. But I think the effect kind of works well in these cases.

This first one is in Cobble Hill, outside Sweet Melissa. This guy really said that, cause his buddy was taking too long, too busy staring at the sky or distant buildings:

Saturday night at Commonwealth:

At the Hotel Delmano, Sunday afternoon. I just had a juice, but I’ll have to go back there sometime when I feel like drinking alcohol. It seems they do the cocktails the way I like them:

And finally, the view from a sidewalk table at Greenpoint Coffee House:

Sheep Meadow

2008-07-21T02:47:49Z

I still have a bunch of Portland pictures to unload on you all, but I’m back in New York now and had a lovely afternoon picnicking in Central Park today.

More Portland Snapshots

2008-07-14T07:12:28Z

The view from Papa G’s Vegan Deli:

Lovely people and yummy vegan shakes are to be found at Sip:

Happy Hour at the Someday Lounge is one hell of a deal. I got two good drinks and two hot sandwiches with side salads for $11:

Taqueria Los Gorditos is quite possibly the best thing in Portland:

The Bye and Bye sets the standard for what a vegan bar should be, even if these people look kind of annoying:

Some Portland Snapshots

2008-07-13T07:56:03Z

(I was going to write more words to you, but they’re really not worth further delaying getting these pictures up. Thanks again to Food Fight! for use of their scanner; also, those dogs in the fourth one down are for Emiko.)

Why I Stay Away From Airplanes

2008-07-06T07:45:57Z

I’m a bit over halfway through a month-long visit to Portland, Oregon. Short-answer: I like it here.

I’ve been doing some sketching, but I only recently managed to get my hands on a scanner. I am very grateful to Josh Hooten of Herbivore for letting me use his! (Though it looks like it scans blurry, so I may try to replace some images later) (update, June 11) Chad and Emiko from Food Fight! for letting me use their non-blurry scanner! I’ll be parceling the art out to you in installments. Maybe I’ll catch up with realtime by the end of my time here.

We’ll begin with some drawings I made at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Due to an imminent (but really quite small) storm, my flight was canceled. The airline had only one flight a day, and I couldn’t wait a whole extra day to get here, as I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the friend I’m housesitting for before she left town. I had to switch airlines, pay a bunch more money, and get to a different airport several hours earlier than planned. All fine, except the new flight was delayed 5 hours because of that same titchy storm. And it was not a direct flight, so I missed my connection. So I spent the night in the Denver airport. I suppose I could have sprung for a hotel, but I’m a cheapskate, and besides, I’d never spent the night in an airport before. Now I can say I have! (It really sucks. Don’t do it.)

I left security to get some food. The only vegan option was Burger King french fries, which were godawful. And then the TSA confiscated my soap and toothpaste (which somehow had made it through fine at LaGuardia). That little subway tram is fun to joyride between the terminals, though!

Anyways, I made it through to Portland just fine the next morning. I hadn’t flown in over two years (since that time the plane broke a wheel and I spent an extra day in Florida), and I’m not eager to again.

Summer Saturday

2008-06-15T06:03:51Z

I set out today to use up the last few pages in my sketchbook before I skip town for a while (more on that later). I ended up in Prospect Park (big surprise). It was hot and muggy and I was glad to have picked up a giant cup of lemonade at a the Brooklyn Pride street fair. At some point it started thundering, but it took a long, long time for the rain to come. Meanwhile I drew these folks:

Once the rain started for real, I ducked from tree to tree til it stopped. Then I went to get a veggie patty with coco bread from Christie’s. While I was there, the rain started up again big time, so I plunked down on a folding chair under their awning and drew the view across the street:

The rain continued to come and go. Later on I went to see Neptune and Mission of Burma with my fellow Pirate Satelliters, and special guests Linked By Air were there, too. The show was just wonderful. I’m going back tomorrow!

It’s continued to rain off and on. Kind of nice if you manage not to get caught unawares.

This Heat Makes Us Drowsy

2008-06-14T06:25:30Z

Rawstar

2008-06-02T04:15:04Z

The view from Rawstar during their preview today. It didn’t hurt that they were playing Charlie Blass’s tribute to Joel Dorn while I ate … Fathead Newman, Byard Lancaster with Sonny Sharrock, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway …

Mom's House

2008-05-29T21:49:45Z

Boston Common, Memorial Day

2008-05-27T18:22:14Z

I spent a nice long weekend up in Massachusetts visiting family. Coming home, I missed my train (by literally less than a minute; very frustrating!), so I wandered over to the Common to kill a little time til the next one.

Coffee, Tea, and Me

2008-05-19T04:56:49Z

Sunday, I met Olivia and Jessica for brunch at Curly’s (pretty good food, but I really love them for the crayons they keep out on the table) and then we went down to the Veggie Pride thing*, from which I managed to score more than my fair share of Primal Sticks.

Then I bought a couch for more money than I have ever spent on anything and that may not even be delivered for a month or two. I am now an adult. Then we went to Le Pain Quotidien:

The wash on the Curly’s drawing is coffee. The Painquidenc one is colored with Brussels Breakfast tea and a blueberry, and bedazzled with freshly ground salt and pepper. (Some context, from Olivia.)

Saturday, I went canoeing in the Gowanus Canal, which was more exciting than any of that.

*Negative Nelly sez: low turnout, rain, terrible sound, wackjob Dave Warwak the only one who knows how to use a microphone, not much food (and what there was wasn’t very good), too many old people, too many white people, half the attendees (and most of the non-white people) seemed be culty followers of Supreme Master Ching Hai who all wore matching uniforms and seemed uninterested in anyone else who was there, Woodstock’s awesome “meat-eater’s colon” wasn’t in the costume contest, blah blah blah … what do you mean I’m not a team player?

Waiting for the Bus at 2am

2008-05-13T07:12:05Z

Lorimer near Metropolitan, right outside Metropolitan. (This one will do a lot of good to dispel the suspicion that I’m gay, huh?)