::myundyinghate::: vacation

one beautiful thing about having a "real" job is getting paid vacation. today, i returned to work for the first time in 9 days. people at my job asked me where i was going, to which i simply replied "my couch". but i did a little bit more than just sit on my couch. right in front of my couch is my laptop which i sat on for like 8-10 hours on some days working on some projects.

first of all, i finished up the layout for the new GDP album. it's a double-disc release (cd & dvd) with an 8-panel booklet insert complete with lyrics and a bunch of ill flicks taken inside GDP's house by this dude named tone, and some sick piece of cover art that was hand drawn by one of his boys.

besides that, i finished up artwork for a bunch of t-shirts. four shirts to be exact. they will all be available at division east in the near future. no previews right now. i'm keeping them a mystery. but i will be sure to let everyone know when they are in the shop so you can all go buy them.

besides sitting in front of my computer, i did manage to get out a tiny bit. last saturday, my homegirl mimi was kind enough to hook me up with a ticket to nine inch nails and jane's addiction at the PNC art center. typically, i like shows in dive bars where i can be about 2 feet from the stage and occasionally grab the microphone and get all up in that shit. for the most part, i am totally opposed to large venue shows. they are so impersonal and they attract tons of people who don't know shit about music. not to mention 9 dollar beers, overpriced snacks and other bullshit. like for example, you couldn't bring your own blanket into PNC, but they were selling blankets for 15 bucks. fucking scumbags.

anyway, as much as i'm ranting, i can't take anything away from either one of those bands, regardless of the venue. we got in as nine inch nails was starting and we were pretty far from the stage. i managed to get a couple OK flicks from far away:

the rest all kinda looked like this, although they are pretty cool and i might use them as background textures in some design projects:

photos of jane's addiction weren't too much better:

we even snuck onto the special needs lawn seating, but we got kicked out of there and i still didn't get any good photos:

luckily for me, i'm the fucking man and i randomly ran into my boy by the bathrooms and he hooked me up with a couple of fake VIP laminates for me and my homegirl:

they worked like a charm:

all in all, i have to say those bands put on a good fucking show. obviously, it was much better once we were 5 feet from the stage, but i grew up with both of them and i can't take anything away from them. they had that place roaring and honestly, i didn't see quite as many eyeliner/fishnets/black fingernail freaks as i thought i would at a nine inch nails show.

leaving PNC was a shitshow, but we managed to get back up to clifton in time to see NJDOTS at dingbatz which ruled:

obviously we all got shit hammered and had a blast. sunday we woke up bright and early (5pm) to attend the pig roast at dingo's den and check out for the love of and agents of man at dingbatz:

for the love of was amazing. brought me back to my cassette tape days so badly. i remember driving around in my silver oldsmobile in like 96 listening to those dudes and screaming at my windshield. so fucking good. i even got to grab the mic and scream along with the singer for a song. it fucking ruled. i was real busy enjoying myself, but i did grab a couple flicks:

i was so shitfaced that after those dudes i went outside to smoke a cigarette and wound up at dingos, thinking we had plenty of time to get back for agents of man. i walked back in as they were finishing their set like a fucking asshole and totally missed them. but, i did have the pleasure of seeing my homeboy kevone and bulldoze do a quick, last-minute, 3-song set. so fucking good. kids were so siked on this:

we finished the night off across the street and closed the place out:

the week basically consisted of drinking, sleeping, working on designs and then doing it all over again. early in the week mimi stopped by with this bottle of plum moonshine from switzerland. it wasn't actual moonshine, but christ it really tasted like it:

throughout the week i grabbed some random flicks here and there. i ran into marlene who used to be one of my co-workers when i was bartending full-time at dingos. she rules: