Empty Hands and Tired Eyes.

Last Thursday, February 18, I saw one of my all-time favorite bands - Vanna - at an awesome little venue called the Fubar, here in STL. I seriously love that venue. The staff are all nice guys, and their soundsystem needs work - but if you don't wanna go to Pop's (their lineup this year has sucked so far anyways) or the Pageant (overpriced "national" shows), then this is basically the best option. The Firebird tries, I think, but their soundsystem is absolutely horrible.

tangent: I saw Dance Gavin Dance at the Firebird on Feb. 1st, and about 3/4 of the way through the show the band stopped and was like, "Wtf is that ringing noise?" Apparently a guitar monitor was shrieking (I couldn't hear it, being half-deaf already) and the soundguy failed to notice or fix it. Lazy ass.

Anyways. The Fubar. It's great, check it out if you're in the area. They get tons of good shows, and not just \m/etal stuff either. The Vanna show was fantastic, but small because Veil of Maya played there the night before (they drew a crowd of over 200) and Winds of Plague played the Saturday before that (they drew about 400). Vanna played their hearts out as they always do, regardless of crowd size. I think they'd be just as go

od playing for 10 people as 1,000 people.

I got a hand-editioned, silkscreened poster by Paul Romano from the band and a cool longsleeved shirt.

the poster.

I took pictures at the show for Vanna and an opening act, a local band from STL called "Man Eating Tiger." I could see them playing in a bar, not with Vanna and in front of a bunch of teenaged kids... but whatever. The people who were drinking at the show enjoyed them I guess.Here are a few of the good shots, the rest can be found on my Flickr.

That's about it for now, I'll have images of other projects soon. I hope.

xo

When There's Nothing Left To Burn...

I have deleted my Facebook account.

Yep, I've finally done it. I've been wanting to rid myself of that social burden for the longest time and it seems I've finally worked up the guts to do so. As a result, I've found myself getting online and wondering, "What did I get online for?" Or, just not getting online at all because other than my e-mail - I'v

e got nothing to check up on. No more worrying about the possiblity of parents/relatives finding drunk pictures or questioning my somewhat questionable statuses. No more fac

ebook stalkers.

No more... digital social interaction. I may be forced to co

ntact people over the phone, or face-to-face from now on. Gasp! This may improve my social skills.

Mostly, I find myself with loads of free time. I'm definitely enjoying it. I'll finally have more time for important things like projects and studying. The only bad thing about it, I've been able to get a lot of jobs (modeling, promotion, and art-related) via

Facebook. If things start dying out, I may just bring it

back.... But it'll be smaller. I'll just use it for the essential networking that it's meant for.

As for projects, here's what I've got in the works:

• Valentine's Day cards : probably not gonna happen, I'm one of those jaded Valentine-Haters. But perhaps I'll come up with something.
• Concert Flyers: Portugal. The Man poster! They're playing at The Gargoyle in STL on Feb. 27th and I've got the pleasure of making the flyer. It'll be done soon.
• Hats : I'm taking a hatmaking/millinery class this semester. My first hat is a small black-silk tophat, the kind that's part pinup, part cocktail punk.
• March Weekend Tour: I'll be touring Michigan with a friend's band, SideLined, from southern IL the second weekend in March. I may be making up a flyer for that, too.

Pictures will ensue.

xo

p.s. Here's a sample of some things I've already done. I'm taking a conceptual drawing class and one of our ongoing projects involves small Moleskine journals that we're trading back and forth with a Non-Fiction Writing class. We illustrate in response to a prompt or what they have written.

First page prompt: "... once an action is recounted ... the voice loses its origin, the author enters his own death, writing begins." - Roland Barthes

Illustrations:

Untitled (Enter)

cut paper, tissue paper, glitter

Enter Ghost

pencil, ink, stamped letters, glitter

Concerts to Attend (Winter 2010)

Here are just a few shows coming up around the 314 that I plan on attending and promoting.

St. Louis' lineup isn't looking too bad, for once...

---> Sunday, Jan. 31 @ 7:00 pm - Fight Amp, Canyons,
Everything Went Black, The Disappeared, Feeding Lies. $10 at the Fubar

---> Monday, Feb. 1 @ 7 pm - Dance Gavin Dance with locals Machree and When Clouds Catch Fire. $10 at the Firebird.

---> Tuesday, Feb. 9 @ 8 pm - Polysics with Spelling Bee and Glass Teeth. $10 at the Firebird.

---> Wednesday, Feb. 10 @ 7 pm - A Hero A Fake, The Midnight Life
+ Locals: All Fall Down, Break These Walls, Awake The Ghost, Blood Of Heroes. $12 at the Fubar

---> Saturday, Feb. 13 @ 6 pm - WINDS OF PLAGUE, Despised Icon,
FOR TODAY, Stray From The Path, The World We Knew, and Local Bands. $17 at the Fubar

---> Wednesday, Feb. 17 @ 6 pm - Veil of Maya, Animals as Leaders,
Circle of Contempt, Periphery,Blood of Me, A Dark Orbit. $14 at the Fubar

---> Monday, Feb. 22 @ 6 pm - ABACABB, Molotov Solution,
DR. ACULA, Upon A Burning Body, and 2 locals tba. $14 at the Fubar

---> Tuesday, Feb. 23 @ 7 pm - Otep, Bury Your Dead, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Destrophy + Locals. $20 at the Fubar

---> Wednesday, Feb. 24 @ 7 pm - Alesana, A Skylit Drive,
Of Mice and Men, We Came as Romans, The Word Alive. $13 at The Firebird

---> Sunday, Feb. 28 @ 7 pm - Skeletonwitch, Iron Age, Howl. $10 at the Fubar

---> Wednesday, March 10 @ 6 pm - Flogging Molly, Frank Turner, The Architects.
$27 at the Pageant

---> Monday, March 15 @ 7 pm - The Devil Wears Prada, Killswitch Engage, Dark Tranquility. $30 at the Pageant

---> Monday, March 22 @ 7 pm - Circa Survive at the Firebird.

Here are the venue websites. Please visit them for more information.

• The Firebird
• The Fubar
• The Pageant
• Off Broadway

I am still working with Eleven Productions to promote shows in STL and Columbia. They bring in some pretty huge bands, so check their website often.

xo