jamz for polly

another mix of hot jamz - this one went
out to my dear paulette in st.louis, missouri.
check out the track listing below.

1. amy whinehouse - - rehab
2. wolf parade - - i'll believe in anything
3. modest mouse - - the good times are killing me
4. feist - - mushaboom (vv mix)
5. the thompson twins - - hold me now
6. css - - patins
7. the little ones - - lovers who uncover
8. sonic youth - - my friend goo
9. sleater kinney - - oxygen
10. yeah yeah yeahs - - way out
11. feist - - my moon, my man
12. grizzly bear - - easier
13. cocorosie - - werewolf
14. pony up! - - marlon brando's laundromat
15. yo la tengo - - drug test
16. wyclef jean - - gone till november
17. devendra banhart - - little yellow spider
18. martha wainwright - - bloody mother fucking asshole
19. the gossip - - any you know . . .
    
20. css - - artbitch
21. sublime - - smoke two joints

clearly i recycled some jamz from the last mix i made, but only because they're really dope and worth checking out. the yo la tengo "drug test" has been my most favorite lately. for some reason i feel like it describes my life. but then again, so do most of my favorite jamz, in one way or another.

beautiful western massachusetts

i spent the last four years living in the pioneer valley, 2 hours or so west of boston. the valley is one of the most beautiful places i have been and i felt seriously fortunate to have lived there. it's a bit of a treasure trove with tons of obscure hidden routes that, when taken, guide you through some of america's most breathtaking landscapes. in my last few weeks in the valley i went on many a day trip, taking photos and hanging out with my friends. below are some of the best shots of various day drive findingz.

after a tour of the berkshire brewing company in
deerfield, mass my friends and i discovered this
caterpillar nest.

the mohawk trail, just south of north adams,
is home to this "big indian shop", where the
realities of history are forgotten and the novelties
consumed.

on our way to the mohawk trail ruby, ilyssa and i
happened upon an abandoned garage full of old
industrial tools. this press was one amongst many
rusty, forgotten machinez.

the searcherz

john ford's "the searchers" is one of my favorite movies of all time. the cinematography is amazing, the tone unsettling and the overall narrative excitingly complex.
i have added a clip on the right hand side of the blog. click it and you'll see the last scene of the film. it's absolutely gorgeous how ford captures the isolation and defeat of our lonely, lost and left-behind rugged individual. check it out and prepare to be blown away . . .




so long, frontier . . .

roadtripz

there's nothing i love more than driving up and around this beautiful country. i recently drove from massachusetts to georgia. then to chattanooga, then to st.louis and back. soon i'll be heading to south carolina and then to tobermory, ontario. and then my last and most foward moving journey of the summer will be from georgia to colorado where i'll be settling for a year.
traveling is great for artistic inspiration. the immediacy of on the spot documentation is exciting and provides instant nostalgia. i love being on the road. just me, my wheelz, my jamz, my ladiez and my polaroid cameraz. below are some polaroids from my mass - georgia journey with my dear friend and partner in crime, kitty.

kitty & i before leaving smith college.

a rocky stream along the blue ridge parkway.

kitty observing the blue ridge mountainz.
she's got a little captain in her.

coffee & cigarettes

the foto seriez above shows two of my favorite people, patrick & polly enjoying a late night coffee at a st.louis diner. after a couple cigarettes and an order of hashbrownz the three of us hit the upstairs lounge for some hot jamz and smooth dancin. polly is a killer on the dancefloor. and those st.louis kidz really know how to kick it.

fox !!

here's another from the collage journal. i separated a polaroid in two - it's of an abandoned house in western mass, near northampton. unfortunately the bottom layer of the polaroid didn't scan well, so you can't quite see the blown out image. i image that foxy lady living in that house and rockin out. ha. eh.

come on in my kitchen

i made these two collages a couple months ago. they are simple entries in my moleskine collage journal. the first quotes a hot gravy train!!! jam while the second is a reference to robert johnson's sweet blues lamento, "come on in my kitchen".

jamz

i just made a sweet mix for my dear friend stephen. i decided it was so sweet i wanted to share it with the world. check out the track listing below.
if you want me to send you a mix of sweet sweet jamz hit me with your address and i'll put together somethin real nice.

heartz!

1. grizzly bear - - easier
   
2. cat power - - he war
   
3. bob dylan - - don't think twice it's alright
   
4. johnny cash - - god's gonna cut you down
   
5. andrew bird - - a nervous tic motion of the head to the left
6. cocorosie - - werewolf
7. feist - - mushaboom
8. unknown - - roll in my sweet baby's arms
9. neko case - - if you knew
   
10. cat power - - (i can't get no) satisfaction
11. wolf parade - - you are a runner and i am my father's son
12. sleater kinney - - what's mine is yours
13. le tigre - - deceptacon
14. graham nash - - we can change the world (chicago)
15. the strokes - - is this it?
16. css - - music is my hot hot sex
17. clap your hands say yeah! - - the skin of my yellow country teeth
18. sonic youth - - jams run free
19. modest mouse - - baby blue sedan
20. sons & daughters - - awkward duet
21. smashing pumpkins - - bullet with butterfly wings
22. tim fite - - toasted rye
    

truth - justice - the american way

i recently journied out to st.louis, missouri, home of the st.louis arch and museum of westward expansion. on my drive back to atlanta i grabbed an opportunity to experience one of the many "largest ________ in america" tourism spots. in metropolis, illinois i stopped to see the one and only "giant superman statue" in honor of the great american hero who was apparently "born" in metropolis, illinois. i found this monument fascinating as it honors a fictional person with a fictional fame fictionally from a factual place. needless to say, it was amazing. below are some sweet polaroids i took depicting the glorious statue:



the second one is my favorite because of the engraving on the bottom:
TRUTH - JUSTICE - THE AMERICAN WAY

that's what i think of when i watch cartoons. american identity.
fuck the democrats. who's running for the superhero party?

expired film

if you buy your polaroid film on ebay don't be too worried about the expiration date. i recently acquired some expired spectra film and learned that, while unpredictable, expired film can have a cool effect. below are some photos i took of one of my favorite models, paulette.

the greenish spills on the corners and the the yellow blob that looks like a thumb print on the bottom are unpredictable effects when taking a photo with expired film. you don't really know when it's going to appear and where on the image it'll manifest. but that's part of the fun. the dingy tint of the image makes it look like it's been sitting in an attic for years. also, look closely and you'll see a thick purple line going through the middle. i think it looks like the beam of an alien spaceship. especially in the second one, where it appears polly is being beamed up.

album review: feist "the reminder"

feist's new album The Reminder is less than two months old, released in late april/early may. after much anticipation it seems the hype around her latest release has already died down. the single "my moon, my man" was released months before the full album came out, with the intention to get listeners excited about her new endeavor.
i was excited when i first heard "my moon, my man". the opening beat begs for hip jolting dance moves and the energy built up in the beginning escalates as her whispery vocals beg us to "take it slow. take it easy on me". the track is also very cinematic, lending itself to trippy, geometric visuals and blunt on beat edits. in other words, i'd love to make the music video for this catchy, rhythmic jam.
unfortunately, however, the rest of The Reminder does not live up to the preview of "my moon, my man". the full album opens with her apologies on the slow "so sorry". i can't help but wonder if this is an apology to her listeners who are likely to be disappointed by the less than provocative lyrics of this opening slow jam. while her vocals are pretty, as always, the content of the song is unexciting. when listening to an album for the first time i always let the opening song be an indicator of the overall feel of the record. and this was just a poor choice. the second track, "i feel it all" is more upbeat and probably my second favorite song on the record. that would have been a much better choice.
the rest of the album is up and down. her upbeat, catchy jams are just that; fun and easy. the rest, however, are boring and slow moving. initially i thought, "what a disappointment considering the greatness of Let It Die". but then i realized that Let It Die was a similar album. not one i could listen to from beginning to end, but scattered with some choice jams.
overall i'd advize you not to spend your dough on the entire album, but to possibly invest in those few choice jams.

listen to:

• my moon, my man
• i feel it all
• sea lion woman
• past in present
• honey honey

also check out Open Season, her remixes record which features a myriad of artists mixing up the best jams from Let It Die.

the first

here we go. the first of many to come. admittedly, blog is not my favorite werd.and technology is not my favorite thing. but in an effort to organize my thoughts and endeavors this seems like an appropriate avenue.










here's what you can find on the safari press:

• polaroids and other photos i have taken. some just for fun. some with artistic intent. all in all viewing pleasure.
• collages and drawings either completed or in progress (comments are much appreciated).
  
• music reviews and rants. jams both new and old.
• movie reviews. again, new and old.
• responses to things i have read. books, magazines, the information super highway.
• journal entries.
• generic shit shooting.

you won't find much about my personal life; ie the shape of my shits and the dreams in my heart. but you may learn a little about me. and that's cool. i'd like this to be a dialogue; a conversation. so if you've got a response, give it. let's hash it out.