A Super Casual Studio Update
Friends. Hi. Hello. How the hell are you.
Ya boi has been active. The cicadas are making a racket, filling the previously silent air with evidence of life. I suppose I've been doing the same. I'd like to sit down and write you a thoughtful post about creative life, but I'm out of time. Here is a Noisy, Super Casual Studio Check In™️.
Some life.
A cool life update! I've started working a few days a week at Bonfire Bookstore and Yarnery. Bonfire is my local bookstore, but they do so much more than sell books. For starters, they put on the Firestarter Revue, a monthly community variety show and open mic. Come to a Firestarter and you're liable to see belly dancing, sketch comedy, poetry readings, songwriters, song singers, and more. Being here has felt like a real fit for me. It's allowed me to be more social, to practice being a good neighbor, to get more local art in my veins, and to stick it to the man. If you're ever in Woodstock come say hi.
I'm still designing! Don't worry! The idea is that this part-time gig will allow me to be more selective with projects, and to devote myself to the projects I do take on wholeheartedly. If you're working with me right now, thanks, and thanks for your patience as my routine gets rejiggered.
Working at a bookstore has (perhaps unsurprisingly) meant an uptick in book consumption. I've read (actually, I should say listened, as audiobooks are how I typically get down) a biography of James Baldwin (exhaustive, exhausting, romantic) and The Grapes of Wrath (stirring, upsetting, tender). Most recently, I listened to Autumn by Ali Smith. If you're looking for a playful, surreal, time-jumpy meditation on art, language, Brexit (and modernity at large), and unlikely friendships, then I think you'll love this one. I did. It’s also the first in a seasonal quartet. I’m planning on cracking open Winter in a few months.
This past Saturday Emily, my folks, and I went into D.C. We ate and walked and people watched. We also saw How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories. I'm half Filipino, and it was cool to learn a bit more about these young men and women (all very handsome in photos) who left home and traveled to places like Stockton, California, to harvest asparagus or grapes — in the hopes of a better life. I loved seeing the sparkly outfits and dresses that were a part of the local Filipino American civic organizations. They were fun, frivolous, and essential — a form of community building and mutual aid that helped soothe what was otherwise a very hard, lonely, and unjust life. It all reminded me of the Okies in The Grapes of Wrath: tough, resilient, and community-oriented folks. I'm proud to be connected (however tangentially) with these laborers who came together to stick it to the Bezoses of their day, refusing to work for anything less than a fair and decent living.
The title of the exhibition is weird and cool. "How Can You Forget Me" was something a loved one had embroidered on a migrant worker's pillow. It's a phrase that can be heard in a few different ways. Love, pain, guilt, memory.
I've been helping my friends in The Last Bison out with a few things recently. This cover was a fun problem to solve, and one that required some strategery. Our Inheritance is essentially the Taylor's Version of the band's 2013 major-label debut Inheritance. The new release had to feel visually connected to the original, but it also had to stand apart and reflect the band's maturation. Super fun to think about how to do that. Also, the world is wild: the band has recently been on a press tour with Matthew McConaughey. Their song Quill features heavily in his new film. Alright alright alright.
Last thing. I'm rounding third base on the Draw the Back of Cloud album I've been working on. All of these songs have been my favorite song I've ever written at one point or another. It's been recorded remotely and in person with all kinds of folks. I've been bowled over by the talents of my friends. There are sick strings and sick guitar lines and sick vocal harmonies and it's been mixed sickly. I think it's sick. Here's a draft of the zine. Can't wait to share more.
That's all this time! Thanks for reading, and hope to be back with something a bit more put together for y'all next month. See ya ’round.
Recent Work
Some of what has recently flown the coop. To see more, you can always head over to the home page.
Whiskers on kittens
A few of my favorite things.
I don’t consider myself a musical theater person but I loved Hadestown. With this story has that others don’t: more tragedy, more pathos, more of life continuing on.
I love the way ow ∞ looks (it sounds great too). Head to Sylvan Esso’s site to get a taste. Looks like I have Eric Timothy Carlson, Graham Tolbert, and Chad Hagan to thank for the visuals.
I didn’t know about this until Dolly’s passing but god damn. She showed us and shows us still. The question is WWDPD.