2010 had a rough start. You may or my not remember that in the end of 2009 I lost my job. This situation created great difficulty in our household. We managed to get by with much cutting back, help from family and a willingness to wear many, many layers. Amy made lots of amazing food to ease the pain (see photos). In February I landed a temp job at the Bank of America and the timing couldn’t have been better. Bills needed to get paid. The next few months were pretty straight forward–get back on track. In June, I noticed an interesting job online and before I knew it I was offered an amazing job in California for Black Box Distribution. This was good news but life is not simple–lots of logistics are involved in moving across the country. We put our house up for sale (in the worst housing market). Amy is doing her best to maintain and I’m doing my best to do good work and balance that with home. I keep hoping that things will change for the better and some sanity will return to our lives.

Guitar is the newest of the mixes and features both electric and acoustic styles. Simple rhythmic guitar hooks and nice sounds. All my favorite guitar wielding bands: The Dead Milkmen, Sex Pistols, R.E.M., ALL and more. Isn’t guitar a strange looking word. I keep thinking it’s spelled wrong.

Listen here or the player below.

The last 9 months have been a roller coaster. I’ve seen a lot of upheaval with good & bad results. With every struggle there is knowledge and wisdom gained. All of this has given me a clearer view of what’s important, what I need and what I want.

The good news is that I’ve landed my boyhood dream job (in the skateboard industry) in California. The logistics are overwhelming and I don’t even know where we are actually going to live yet.

After 13 years of calling Philadelphia home base, it’s time to change it up. Timing is everything and it seems like this is the right move now. There is a lot I will miss. Humidity & frigid cold will not be missed. I’ve done a lot here and I’m proud of my efforts, impact and most importantly the relationships that I’ve had the opportunity to develop. I’ll be posting more on here about the move, traveling and how this transition works, so stay tuned and wish us luck.

Summer is here and time keeps passing. As you get old, and I guess that’s what’s happening to me, you start to look back. I’ve never been a fan of looking back. I’ve always tried to look forward. I am approaching my 20th year away form high school and the fact of the matter is this: I still listen to a lot of the same music. Yes, I mix it up now a days. But my go to stuff, the things I listen to over and over are the gems of my past memory. This mixtape, a double disc, is exactly what I loved in high school – way back in the late 80s and dawn of the 90s. Enjoy.

Listen here or the player below.

In the midst of all the American Idol madness I’d like to pitch my new Mixtape: Cover Bands. This version has a slew of my favorite covers and some new finds as well. It includes the now, way-over covered Leonard Cohen track Hallelujah. I kept the Rufus Wainwright version on here because it’s still the best version and it was on the Shrek soundtrack, which I just think is funny. It doesn’t say that it’s Rufus, but it is. The art here includes images from Flickr once again: Lubitel 2 by Tokenygaard & Fuzzimo’s Vynil Record Texture.

Listen here or the player below.

Mixtape number 3, is themed on music from TV that was once only the domain of select indie music junkies. They have probably written off half of these bands now that they’ve sold their souls to Sony, Nissan, Sprint and the like–but oh well. Sometimes it’s a good thing and introduces you to music you’d never find. Other times, like the Wendy’s spot listed below, it’s just a little creepy. The photo is by Craig A Rodway via Flickr. You can listen with the player below or click through and listen here.

Such Great Heights, The Postal Service – The M&Ms people use a nice acoustic version in this nice little M&Ms spot
Stars, The Weepies – My wife loved this song from this heavily played Old Navy commerical
Souvenirs, Architecture in Helsinki – Sprint used this song in their very cool light streak ads
Sleepy Head, Passion Pit – I kind of hated these Palm ads
Blister in the Sun, Violent Femmes – Wendy’s used the pro-masturbation Femmes song to sell hamburgers. The main character even wipes his dirty mouth in it.
We’re All in This Together, Ben Lee – Kohl’s & Ben Lee… so American
Coming Home, The 88 – Target & Sears introduced me to The 88
Here It Goes Again, OK Go – Nike + Apple = cool ad
Gravity Rides Everything, Modest Mouse – This Nissan mini van ad had hipsters losing their minds
Kodo [Inside the Sun Remix], Yoshida Brothers – This spot for the Nintendo Wii played about 3 billion times.
My Mathematical Mind, Spoon – Acura usually does good ads
All That I Want, The Weepies – JCPenney used another Weepies classic
Island Of The Sun, Weezer – Beaches used this Weezer song to very poor effect.
Heartbeats, Jose Gonzales – Sony has a knack for doing great advertising. This Bravia ad is easily my all time favorite. Be sure and watch it in HD.

Over the last 8 days I’ve been shooting and posting (to my twitter) a picture from the beginning of my day. I’d like to keep this going & I like my results so far. I’m using a variety of iPhone photo apps to augment these including hipstamatic, swankolab, tilt shift generator and more to come.

1. Charles Barkley is a character out of a cartoon world and these “rare” photos from SI show a glimpse into the man they call Chuck. –> Rare photos of Charles Barkey via Sports Illustrated

2. Adobe Photoshop turned 20 recently and it’s been my buddy since late in version 2.5 (no layers…if you can imagine that). Complex magazine did a great piece detailing the 50 greatest moments in Photoshop. –> 50 Favorite Moments in Photoshop History via Complex

3. Josh Cochran created this sweet new print called “Zombies Vs. Unicorns.” It reminds me of Fort Thunder, or more specifically Brian Chippendale stuff–and in a good way. –> Zombies Vs. Unicorns via Kitsune Noir

4. ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series is in full swing and the one I’ve been waiting for is getting out there now. “No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson” directed by Steve James (“Hoops Dreams”). –> No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson via ESPN 30 for 30

3D this and 3D that–people wearing cheap plastic glasses all over your favorite megaplex theater. I’m not a fan at all. Current 3D movies are nothing more than a blatant (and successful) ploy to pull more money from our pockets. In the recent, and very entertaining, Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton I was constantly annoyed by sequences that were nothing more than a technology demo for the 3D effects. Wow, butterflies flying into the screen–how amazing. These effects are limited and even when done well, like in Coraline, they add nothing to the storyline. Some people might argue that they add to the experience of the movie–to that I say boo. The current 3D technology has been is use since 1936. What makes matters worse is watching these movies in good ole’ 2D and having to watch these ridiculous sequences. I’m all for progress in the movies. I like technology. But, I’d go see more movies if the whole experience was better: better food, better projection, nicer seating, more space between people and better overall service. I’d even pay more if it was like that, then we wouldn’t need to wear those awful glasses.

I took some silly, super close-up shots of Punkass & Snoop Dogg while stuck in the house, due to snow. See a few more here. –> John Freeborn’s Flickr