A Few of My Favorite Things...

I wrote a collection of my favorite songs from this year over on CHIRP Radio's Blog. You can listen to the station here. And hopefully soon on the airwaves, thanks to the Local Community Radio Act. CHIRP has been a big part of my Chicago experience so far, with DJing, concerts, and in-depth music discussions. Thanks to them for introducing me to many awesome songs and artists, and having a stellar radio broadcast!

I am listening to LCD Soundsystem in this photo.

The CHIRP Record Fair, 2009. Photo by Sarah Gonzalez.

Song:

We Used to Wait - The Arcade Fire (at thewildernessdowntown)

Investigating Film Noir with CHIRP Radio & Mark Khaisman

I love making playlists and curating soundtracks to themes. I'm also intrigued by the mystery & suspense of film noir. I created a film noir list for my radio show on CHIRP Radio (the Chicago Independent Radio Project). It includes everything from danger, secrets, lies, femme fatales, spies, and evening rendezvous. Dramatic stuff, eh?!

I'm inspired by the tape art of Mark Khaisman. Mr. Khaisman uses packing tape & light boxes to create warm, sepia-toned portraits & dramatic scenes, giving a new light (ha) to classic pulp art. I like the process he uses, simply adding more and more tape to create his shadows and lines. His "Tape Noir" series resonates strongly with everything I enjoy, in both mediums & thrilling stories.

Seen on the Streets of Chicago

Songs (All Links to YouTube):
11:56AM Black Bear Combo - Watchyerstep from Game Of Death (Self-Released)
11:50AM Tunng - Don't Look Down Or Back from ...And Then We Saw Land (Thrill Jockey)
11:46AM Hunting Club - Sweet Soprano from Hunting Club (Self-Released)
11:41AM [Request] Jack White and Alicia Keys - Another Way To Die from Quantum of Solace (J)
11:37AM Orgone - Lookout from Cali Fever (Ubiquity)
11:33AM Girls In Trouble - Secrets/You're Always Watching from JDub Presents: Wild Peace (JDUB)
11:29AM The Infesticons - Give 'Em Anthem from Bedford Park (Big Dada)
11:26AM The Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running from Neon Bible (Merge)
11:24AM oRSo - Mavis from Long Time By (Perishable)
11:20AM The Raveonettes - Bang! from In and Out of Control (Fierce Panda/Vice)
11:17AM Spoon - Trouble Comes Running from Transference (Merge)
11:13AM Zs - Masonry from New Slaves (Social Registry)
11:07AM Coldplay - Spies from Parachutes (Capitol/Parlophone)
11:04AM Andrew Bird - Action/Adventure from Weather Systems (Grimsey)
11:00AM Beck - Nausea from The Information (Interscope)
10:56AM The Futureheads - Sun Goes Down from The Chaos (Dovecote)
10:52AM Two Gallants - Las Cruces Jail from What the Toll Tells (Saddle Creek)
10:47AM Suckers - You Can Keep Me Runnin' Around from Wild Smile (Frenchkiss)
10:43AM Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart from Narrow Stairs (Atlantic/Barsuk)
10:36AM Gayngs - No Sweat from Relayted (Jagjaguwar)
10:29AM [Request] The Decemberists - The Bagman's Gambit from Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
10:25AM Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Just War from Dark Night of the Soul (EMI)
10:21AM Roy G and the Biv - Somebody's Watching Me from ROY G and the BIV (Self-Released)
10:17AM Aqueduct - Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights from Pistols At Dawn (Sub Pop)
10:15AM The Apples In Stereo - She's Telling Lies (Bryce's Mix) from Velocity of Sound (SpinART/Elephant 6)
10:12AM [Request] Sleigh Bells - Run the Heart from Treats (Mom+Pop)
10:08AM of Montreal - Disguises from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower (Kindercore)
10:04AM All City Affairs - Flashback to When We Both Were Young from Identity Theft (Lujo)
10:01AM The Velvet Underground - Femme Fatale from The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve)
9:59AM Zapruder Point - Bad Man from Soda & Sympathy (Self-Released)
9:54AM World/Inferno Friendship Society - Peter Lorre's Overture from Addicted to Bad Ideas (Chunksaah)
9:50AM Club 8 - Be Mad, Get Ill, Be Still from The People's Record (Labrador)
9:46AM Quincy Jones - Blues In The Night from Ocean's Eleven Soundtrack (Warner Bros/Wea)
9:41AM The Black Keys - Ten Cent Pistol from Brothers (Nonesuch)
9:35AM Neko Case - Prison Girls from Middle Cyclone (ANTI-)
9:31AM Tame Impala - Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind? from Innerspeaker (Modular)
9:28AM Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices from Silent Alarm (Wichita)
9:24AM [Request] The Budos Band - Up From The South from Daptone Gold (Daptone)
9:20AM Rilo Kiley - Smoke Detector from Under the Blacklight (Warner Bros.)
9:18AM [Request] Crystal Castles - Fainting Spells from Crystal Castles II (Fiction)
9:14AM My Brightest Diamond - Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey from Mojo Presents The White Album Recovered Vol. 2 (Unknown)
9:09AM Deer Tick - Goodbye, Dear Friend from The Black Dirt Sessions (Partisan)
9:06AM Francis and the Lights - Night Watchman from A Modern Promise (Normative)
9:03AM Nancy Sinatra - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) from Kill Bill Vol. 1 (A Band)

I'm Beginning To See The Light

Working like a mad lady in the neon shop this week. Here's what the inside of last week's starfish lamp looks like, some nice, simple shapes. The neon will be held on to the frame with standoff glass toggles.
And onto the next neon starfish. The pieces will be layered, like this, blacked out, and the image of a starfish will be scraped away out of the different glass tubes. It'll be a reddish-pink color. There are 6 tubes here, all with electrodes sealed onto the ends. There's a lot of patterns that can be made, too, checkerboards and waves. Now, to pump them all!
And now presenting, in several installments, a Neon Mix (Vol. 1):

I'm Beginning To See The Light - Ella Fitzgerald

Electricity- The Avalanches

Neon Bible - The Arcade Fire

Danger of the Water

This week's Illustration Friday topic: Breezy.

I like to think of illustrations as stills from a movie. And now, I present the soundtrack:

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

Russian Sailors' Dance - Reinhold Gliere (Youtube)

Sloop John B - The Beach Boys

Ocean of Noise - The Arcade Fire

Danger of the Water- The Futureheads

Stormy Weather - Ella Fitzgerald (Youtube)

Raincoat Song - The Decemberists

The Mariner's Revenge Song - The Decemberists