From DaVinci to Picasso. I'm driving myself nuts trying to remember the names of some of the artists and the paintings. Kinda creepy, but kinda cool. The morphing is fascinating and really well done.




T

Ok so...I'm determined to do this whole "Charley Parker-esque" retro cool 50s thing for the store visuals for fourth quarter and I am trying to immerse myself in images for inspiration.

Get this...I've got a source for the old aluminum tinsel trees (in the original silver and all kinds of other funky colors) and the color wheels. We'll have that and lots more fun and awesome Christmas stuff in the store and on the website come October. Awwww yeah.

So anyways.....I should be listening to fluffy stuff like Que Sera Sera instead of Miles Davis while I'm doing this "inspiration stuff". The 1950s images I'm finding tonight are random and interesting, but not quite what I am going for.

.
.
From what I can figure out, robots ruled the earth in the 1950s.
.
.



.
.
"None of this New Age Wicca Woo Woo stuff for us, thank you very much...that's for people from New York City and Europe...now drink your Ovaltine."
.
.

.
.
The housing industry was in a boom state. That is unless you were "colored". Then it was more of a housing "thud".
.
.

.
.
There were only like 2 or 3 channels on TV instead of like 300, but somehow it was more creative and interesting to watch...ie I Love Lucy and The Ernie Kovacs Show.
.
.

.
.
On the other hand, it appears that some things were cool.

Sports figures triumphed and were genuine role models...
.
.

.
.
Some people thought for themselves ALOUD...
.
.

.
.
Some people wrote and performed dreamy, innovative music and were really really really really really really good looking...
.
.

.
.
The Beats were at all times serious and intellectual...
.
.

.
.
Modesty and family values were the order of the day...
.
.

.
.
.
Masculinity and "vim and vigour" were celebrated. (As much as the watchful eye of the United States Post Office permitted)...
.
.

.
.
"Why, if I was over there in Korea, I'd show those coolies some dynamic tension, that's for sure" retorts this young man...
.
.

.
.
We can only imagine that this forward thinking gentleman is already theorizing about a solution to the Cuban missile crisis for President Stevenson.
.
.

.
.
.
Apparently, if you expected any form of hot guy-on-guy action in the 1950s, you had to appear in mens' physique magazines, pose in humorous positions, and laden yourself with props like ropes and chains and columns and indian costumes. Sounds like a lot of trouble to go to and too much effort to me. Being queer in the 1950s looks like a lot of work. I would have been too lazy.
.
.

.
.
An impromptu and spontaneous hike by two rugged outdoorsmen in Nevada caught by the camera of a serious student of Ansel Adams.
.
.

.
.
"That's not my hamstring!"...exclaims Geoff.
"And that's not my number 2 pencil"...retorts Biff.
.
.

.
.
"Sooo...uh...Dave, how about them Dodgers? ...uh...dames...can't live with em and ya can't live without em, am I right? uh...is that thong cotton or blend? uh...what SPF do you use? did you catch Judy on Milton Berle last night? do you work out? is it getting hot in here?"
.
.

.
.

T

T

I'm trolling around for visual inspiration these days, and I'm totally obsessed right now with 1950s American illustrators. There is just something dreamy and confident and optimistic and jazzy and modern and stylish and sublime and familiar about their work. My favorite is Charley Harper.







He was extremely prolific in the 50s and early 60s, but is just now getting well deserved accolades. He's most recognized for the awesome stylized nature illustrations he did for Ford Modern magazine in the 50s....these are soooo cool and iconically 50s modern....I freaking love these....







He illustrated the Betty Crocker cookbooks in the 50s as well. These images are the ones that are sorta familiar to me. I think my mom and my aunts had some of these.





I'm totally on a Charley Harper vibe for inspiration for the store visuals for fall and winter.

T

I'm not really a "crier"...so I don't completely understand why I can be in a theater on occasion and be touched so deeply by a performance that I just freaking start crying uncontrollably.

This "live-performance-induced-sobbing" has happened to me four times that I can recall. It's hard to explain.

1) The first time I can remember this happening was when I saw David Bowie sing "Rock and Roll Suicide" during the Sound and Vision Tour in 1978.

2) Then it happened again when I saw Patti Smith sing "Birdland" live sometime in the early 80s.

3) Then again in NYC when the ghost of Colin's mother sang "Come To My Garden" to him in the musical The Secret Garden.

4) Then last night. When Carol Kenyon sang her part of the Roger Waters/Pink Floyd song "The Great Gig in the Sky", I started feeling it first in my toes and then it shot up to my eyeballs, and I started crying like a little girl.

The sleeves of my tee shirt are still wet.

AND...I finally figured out how to send pics from my phone to my email. It took the combined brains of Marc's and mine to figure this out.

This is a pic that I took with my cell phone of the big floating pink pig from the concert last night...



T