Mayer Hawthorne show ect...

"Jacob in the fog", Phippsburg, Maine. 2009.

Stonington, Maine. 2009.

'Fire', Arches National Park, Utah, 2009.

"Mount Siyeh", Glacier National Park, Montana, 2008.

"Colors", 2004.

"Rhodochrosite", Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum, 2007.

"Luna Moth", Stonington, Maine, 2009.

"Maine in the Rain", Phippsburg, Maine, 2009.

So just thought I'd break it down with a little recap of recent events....

Mayer Hawthorne show in Denver was super dope. Can't wait to cop his new album "a Strange Arrangement" on vinyl. They were selling his first single, "Just ain't gonna work out" at the show, it's a red heart-shaped 45, so awesome, wish I had some dollas at the time. I do have to admit with all the slightly cheeky/tacky references to lonely hearts, the ladies, love ect..., Mayer left me feeling a little lonely after going all the way down to the Larimer Lounge by myself to see the show. There were some cool characters there for sure, mostly locals I assume, and a handful of heads and backpackers there mainly for underground hip hop guru 'Buff1der''s show which opened for Mayer [great performance, his DJ, local Denver talent DJ A-What, spun some classy Dilla-esque beat's over Buff's rhymes; good stuff.] Mayer [real name, Dave Cohen; his stage name was derived in classic nom-de-porn fashion from the street he grew up on and his middle name] played a LONG set, almost 2 hours(!!) which I was SO stoked on, this is why I love catching these kind of artists on their first tour, BEFORE they get big and every bro and teeny-bopper are clamboring for tickets.... yes I know I sound like an elitist ass, but I'm just showing my appreciation for a real 'heart and soul' performance, something that seems increasingly rare these days.

Unrelated note:

Here are my predictions for emerging trends in 09/10' men's fashion, through what I've been seeing on the street here in Denver/Boulder [generally pretty fashion forward] as well as through leading blog's such at The Sartorialist:

1.) Classic straight-leg slim fitting jeans are going to eclipse super-skinny jeans: ok ok, so maybe a small faction of hardcore hipsters and "cool bro's" will hold onto their super skinny's, but the rest of us will come to our senses and realize that besides being damn uncomfortable, these hipster jeans only look good on about, say 1% of people wearing them. The classic slim fit has been the prevailing style for the past 100+ years in the U.S, and will continue to be in the future.

2.) slim-fitting solid color pastel t-shirts and bold, colorful horizontal stripes. Ok, so this already is a pretty big trend in Europe, band to a lesser extent the U.S, but I'd love to see a continuation of the trend away from these awful gaudy logo's/graphics and faux-crests on t-shirts and back to a simple aesthetic that focuses attention of body lines and masculine form and not some rip-off of the 17th century French Royal Family's coat de arms.

3.) Cowboy Boots. Yes, I said it. I think with the right style/size [and that does NOT mean calf-high Marlboro-man boots on everyone] these can look great on just about anybody, and I just love the the rugged, western frontier aesthetic you get with them.

4.) Lens-less square-frame glasses frames with metal or horn rims. Ok, so this is a purely ironic and satirical style, but I love this look with a nice, well-fitting vest or sweater, some plaid or corduroy pants, and maybe a bowtie. Can you say nerd haute-couture?

5.) Loafer or Sperry-style dock shoes: ok, so this is slightly indulgent of my preppy New England Yacht club fantasies/taste, but I do think these can look rather classy for being such a casual fit and available in so many styles and colors..... pastel and bold colored dock shoes can go great with colored cord's or even well-fitting khaki's [none of those awful baggy-fitting dockers!!].

OK, that's all for now more [imaginary?] insights into the future to come.

Photozzzzzz...... That I like!!

New Poetry

A few recent pieces:

  

~'Whatever'~

Exhaling the pained staleness of the moment,

lift the dull edges of reality from which we build the sharp

brick wall of understanding, of acceptance and proportional constants

which unwittingly hold together the fabricated lie of zen.

zen is chaos, zen is the primal animal scream which builds and rises,

looming on the fading white horizon, before crashing into the meaningless 

wastes of society, that from which we forge our identities

out of a handful of norms and expectations

the soul a collector of all the myriad eccentricities 

that make life worthwhile.

the reason I greet the glowing dawn with wise regret, 

for nothing and everything, a languidly attentive smile which See's

the sweeping injustice hidden under the dark enchantment of the masses,

and reaches into our collective consciousness, to mediate only what is now,

what is here, what is shaped for the extravagant momentum of tomorrow.

~"Ski Vermont"~

Stubborn place that seems to have fixed itself into my memory, I caught a note of your return

on the gentle north wind blowing cold, starry sky down from Canada, 

they said it would rain tomorrow and the crunch-crunch-crunching under my toes as I trod 

down a weary rural path tell me it's been warm, but I know, my friend, it's going to snow, 

oh it's going to snow, and when it does I'll be slicing through great silent mounds of drifted 

fluff, caught in the lovely nether regions of consciousness, a traveller along no road or path, 

just a crooked line, adrift in the sterile, windswept beauty of this place.

But for this, don't you know, I'm just a wandering soul watching out for my next ride,

my captive audience a stand of bushy spruce and rickety alders, frozen shadows they cast

onto snowy pillows below, once the journey starts, we're all organic, aren't we?

Winter is coming.

~'Homeless Lady'~   [True story!]

"And I, a wayward stranger slouched against a cold metal gas station pump, rigid bastion of society, black blood pumped into the veins of necessity, I lazily watched the numbers madly climb, a murder segued upon my credit card.  

And you, on foot approaching, asked if you might bum a ride, in terms befitting your disheveled elegance, of course, you whom I eyed with wary contempt and shameful apathy at first, but then, remembering we're all bound to be human after all, I trusted you quite suddenly, out from under my better judgement, and headed down the dark ,weary corridors of South Golden Road, against the rising, ebbing tide of whitewashed conformity, an act of completely irrational compassion; twenty dollars, sure what the hell, oh, my address you inquire, might you have it so as to repay me at your earliest?  Why certainly, and as to your whereabouts, where the wind and fortune might take your weary soul, you say your a Christian, praying for a miracle,

I say I don't believe in god or miracles, but I believe in kindness, I trust we are all drawn down the same path of consciousness, all bound by fate to live and react and never leave the present moment.  And so we parted ways on a strip of asphalt on West Colfax, and I, alone with my thoughts as usual, turned and flashed a lovely twenty-dollar smile,

as the evening exploded into a million shiny little pieces.