Coldman

Coldman

ink & acrylic on card
from "Take To The Woods" at Analogue, November 2007
(sold)

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Reggae Reggae Sauce

What day is it? Oh it's Thursday. I was hoping it was Monday so I could start a little "Music Monday" feature. Nevermind. This can be a little Thursday-teaser-tester.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been listening to quite a bit of reggae. I don't own very much (my iTunes says I have a mere 63 reggae songs) and I'm pretty clueless as to what's what, but the stuff I've got I really love. It makes me happy. So much so that kicking a broken old amp in my cupboard to make that squishy reverb noise has become a bit of a hobby.

For years my knowledge was limited to a Toots & The Maytals record that I bought for some long forgotten reason, until recently when I grabbed a couple of Trojan compilations and some other odds and ends. I particularly liked reading about how Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead completely immersed himself in the genre, on a mission to listen to something he knew nothing about. The compilation that he put together called "Jonny Greenwood Is The Controller" is really top of the pops:

There is a cloud that hangs over reggae though, more than almost any genre. It's the danger of becoming "a reggae guy". Those crusty, boring, student dudes are such a deterrent to the genre it's not funny. They suck! Don't become one of those guys. Did you know that it's possible to have a little reggae in your life without turning into someone people avoid at parties? Crazy but true!

While blindly clicking about like a silly man, not really knowing what I was looking for, I discovered the video above. It's of Lee "Scratch" Perry working in his Black Ark studio. It's bloody brilliant. Have a watch, and even if you don't give a monkey's about reggae you'll like it. If you don't, I'm afraid you're an idiot. Sorry to be the one to break the bad news.

Bah, this is not the most coherent thing I've ever written. It's really just an excuse to post that wee video, so you'll need to forgive me. I find writing about music a tricky business, because as a reader I ususally don't care what some chump on the internet thinks is wicked-cool.

A Terrible Secret. A Horrible Lie

A Terrible Secret. A Horrible Lie
ink & acrylic on card
from "Tenterhooks" at Analogue, 2007
(sold)


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Knitting & Crochet Bee

Kirsteen MacDonald, the Visual Arts Development Officer for The Changing Room has started a little knitting and crochet club at the Tolbooth in Stirling. I've made a flyer for it in a little envelope that can be used for swapping patterns and stuff. The Bee is on Wednesday nights and is open to all. I try to go myself when I can, despite being useless. I'll post the info here so the search engines pick it up:

Knitting & Crochet Bee
Wednesdays 5.30 - 7pm
Upstairs at the Tolbooth: all welcome
Jail Wynd, Stirling, FK8 1DE
For more info contact Kirsteen MacDonald
Tel: 01786 274005

If you're interested, either ping Kirsteen an email or get in touch with me and I'll tell you what I can. Here's a slightly clearer version with the details, will possibly get a better scan/photo of the other bit soon:


Go along if you fancy it, don't just sit on your bum. Everyone is really nice and there is usually some cakes and tea and stuff. If you would like some flyers to distribute anywhere, contact me.

Walking Hand

Walking Hand
ink on wall
from "Wanderlust" Philadelphia, 2007
(photo by Concetta Barbera)


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Jeremy Beadle Graffiti

This was drawn very large, and very somewhere it shouldn't be by my friend, who I'll call John Locke. I think it's fantastic and probably cheers lots of people up when they see it. John has been upping his game recently with lots of funny drawings, videos and prank phone calls.

When I was younger I remember being slightly disappointed when I discovered Jeremy Beadle wasn't really called "Jeremy Beetle" and I still think that's a better name. Oh well. Also, If we must mention the hand, the funniest thing I have read is someone saying this on a messageboard:

"Years of hard work in entertainment to be remembered for having a fucking ridiculous tiny fucking hand. The only reason I remembered his name is peeps used to do his hand in school photos."

Fairwell Jeremy Beetle. The jokes were inevitable, but it's a shame he died. He seemed alright.

The Handstand

The Handstand
ink & acrylic on card
from "Tenterhooks" at Analogue, 2007
(not for sale)

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Xbox 360

After my Tenterhooks show at Analogue, I treated myself to an Xbox 360. I've always been fairly into my computer games, though I wouldn't dare to call myself "hardcore" (who would?). I tend to buy only a few games which I know either to be fantastic, or that seem really up my street, and play them fairly thoroughly. Joining the current generation, a little late as usual, is still always a wee event.

I'd been toying with a new console for a while, but the tipping point for buying the 360 was Skate by EA. It's already made it to my Top 5 all time games. As a dirty skate-rat, it's a brilliant representation of skateboarding and makes the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series look really tired and just, well, crap. I will perhaps write a little something more about Skate soon, but you can see some of my uploaded videos HERE for now if you like. I'm very good.

Call of Duty 4, Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Rez HD are all amazing as well. As with Skate, I might do a little post about my experiences with them just because it'd be fun to write. If you have an Xbox yourself, I'd recommend all of the above games. I've not been disappointed yet.

But.. the point of writing all this is really just to say that I could do with some more folk on my freinds list. If you would like to add me on Live, my gamertag is Galletly. Oh, here's a little thing I can post:



If it's of any use, I'm a bit crap at COD4, alright at TF2 and the doo's boos (good) at Skate. I'm also lovely.

Misfits Flyer, Edinburgh

Misfits flyer
photoshop / illustrator
client: Cowgate, Edinburgh


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Yellow Trainers

I am not a trainer-guy. Trainer guys are boring geeks that should go away. People should not buy trainers wrapped in plastic or use the phrase "colour-way" ever. I wear the most basic of footwear, mainly Converse and Vans in simple styles and colours. The occasional Emerica or something maybe because I skate and need something that will stand up to my incredible abilities, but on the whole my feet aren't getting too nutty.

The exception to this is when a trainer is yellow. A yellow coloured trainer is a thing I like to buy. It started years ago, when a friend of a friend had a crazy pair of yellow Etnies that I liked the look of. They must've turned on some nerdy yellow radar in my brain because I was suddenly noticing yellow shoes everywhere. Who were these yellow shoed people? Where did they come from? They were happy. They made me happy. Could I be their friend? I wanted to be like them. I splashed out on a pair of yellow Converse. I never wore them.

However, the slip-on boom of the past few years started things off again. Slip-on Vans were everywhere, and available in almost every stupid colour and pattern you could imagine. I reckoned I'd grab a pair of yellow ones. That seemed like it'd be an obvious colour for slip-ons; all bright and summery. No chance. They could not be found anywhere. The more I looked, the more I got addicted to finding a pair. It became a mission. A few close calls on ebay (wrong size) and in the female section of a shoe shop (too pale and girly) almost pushed me over the edge, until finally, after over a year of searching, I found some Emerica yellow slip-ons in a skateshop down south.

Phew! Close enough, and dirt cheap too. I was so relieved. With the pressure of the chase gone, I found a pair of slip-on vans online soon afterwards. All was well and all was holy. They looked like this:

Then I realised, oh my goodness! Oh my God! I was a big trainer nerd! They may not be limited edition Dunks or Adidas but crikey, they're bad enough. Worse! I was a trainer nerd for stupid children's shoes. I was living in Balamory. I stopped buying yellow trainers immediately and rarely wore the ones I owned.

Now to the present day. After being free of the yellow fever for months, I've relapsed. Vans put out some limited-edition, collaborative, Anti-Hero, yellow, nerd-a-thon TNT's and I've bought them up like a chump. It wasn't easy either. These things came out ages ago in the states and buying them here is a nightmare. Through keen searching I found some at Kate's Skates (free next-day delivery, goddamn) and I am once again at peace:

They're not the prettiest things I've ever seen, and certainly not anything you'd call dainty, but they're freakin' bright yellow.