On November 3rd, Jeff will be opening the doors at TopatoCo for a little warehouse sale. There will be Ninjas and Questions in attendance, I won’t be there but there will be Creatures merch available at con prices! Fun times Noon to 6pm at the Eastworks building, #247 (Easthampton, MA)

On my way to the Jonathan Levine Gallery in Chelsea to pick up my Jim Houser painting (and see the Chris Mars / Marc Dean Veca show) i ran across this scene. Despite the fact that it is 80 degrees and humid, I must accept the fact that it is Fall and this is the fate of Leaf Men everywhere. At least he died with a smile on his face.

One of the most requested features around here is an rss feed. I finally got a feed set up while we work on a full site refresh over the next few months.

I went to see UNKLE in their first live NYC performance in.. possibly forever. Instead of just James Lavelle hopping around on some turntables it was actually a full live setup with 3+ guitars, drums, keyboards, turntables and vocals. They were playing large parts of the new album, which i suspect was specifically engineered for such a live-touring setup as it is more tailored to being performed live on stage than most of their earlier studio mixed pieces. It still has that distinct UNKLE feel that Lavelle brings to the table no matter whose vocals or strings he’s messing with, but it is just different enough to be interesting. The heavy rock influence of co-producer (and Queens of the Stone Age producer) Chris Goss is pretty obvious. I’m sure some old purists hate the new stuff, I found it pretty refreshing ,and live it was a treat.

They did play a few oldies, including a short clip of my favorite song ever.

The new album artwork is done by 3D of Massive Attack. It fits in well with what is traditionally Futura‘s stomping grounds. Just like the music itself, it’s a nice change that has a familiar feel. That being said, there was still plenty of Futura work on display in the background of the live show. I can’t remember if digging Futura got me into liking UNKLE, or if it was the other way around. Either way, they are both good times.

Also, i bought a new hat, which is also very exciting.

While my friends were partying up in Canada, I decided to take a few days to relax out in Colorado. After missing our first flight courtesy of the NYC MTA and the E train, we eventually made it to Denver about 7 hours later than planned. I’d never been out there before, but it was pretty nice! Every restaurant had surprisingly good coleslaw and I even saw TWO black people!

We started out meeting up with my friend Chris Yates in Boulder for a little hike in the foothills. We met some nice dogs, killer death bugs of death, prayed with a mantis, and then Miss J wrestled a bear for our amusement. Later in the day we swung by a design studio / part time toy shop called Joy Engine. They have some great work up in the back there.

Later that night we headed down to Denver to attend the opening of UPSO’s newest show “I see the future” at Plastic Chapel. It’s a neat shop run by some nice people their new location is very swank. UPSO’s art was fun and colorful, and someone brought a furry faced chihuahua, which Miss J also wrestled.

The next day was spent walking around most of central Denver. Coming from NYC, Denver seemed a bit empty and small, but nice enough. We walked down to the Limited Addiction gallery to catch the last day of a group show featuring Chet Zar (above), Kevin Peterson, Nathan Spoor and Lola.

The following days were filled with driving through mountains, sitting in hot tubs, posing for pictures and wrestling rabid urban mountain lions. Good times.

A few more pics on for those who care.