January 28, 2012

Scenes From America I: The Kurt Cobain Tour

Well, I'm back after 11 weeks in the United States and here is my first themed photo megapost, and it really has nothing to do with illustration or design – rather, it's about Nirvana, and Kurt Cobain. As a huge fan of Kurt as a songwriter and musician, it was a unique experience to visit the city of Seattle where he lived, and the small town of Aberdeen where he grew up – not to mention the amazing Nirvana exhibition at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. So, here are some Kurt-related things I was able to see on my trip.

(Thanks to Joe Cooper for taking me to Bellevue and Aberdeen. The EMP's Nirvana exhibit was curated by Jacob McMurray; no copyright infringement is intended!)

When you enter Aberdeen from the eastern side you are greeted by this Welcome sign. To commemorate Kurt, a smaller sign was later added bearing a Nirvana song title which has since become Aberdeen's unofficial motto.


This is 1210 East 1st Street, Kurt's early childhood home in Aberdeen. His family moved here in 1968, the year after he was born.


When Kurt visited his aunt, Mari Earl, who was herself a musician, he would play this guitar, which is now on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle.


This star has been set into the footpath outside Rosevear's Music Store in Aberdeen where Kurt got his first guitar (or took his first lesson; I forget which). The store has since moved a short distance away since Kurt's time.


And right outside that same store I found this cool decorative mural on a tree railing.


Kurt's mythmaking Young Street Bridge, immortalized in the Nirvana song "Something In The Way". Some say he lived under this bridge when he was homeless, or at the very least spent the odd night here. The sign says "In Memoriam – From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah", and yes, they are indeed muddy. It's like slippery clay under the bridge. Watch your step!


In Riverfront Park, a small patch of green next to the Young Street Bridge, is this sign featuring a drawing of Kurt and the lyrics to "Something In The Way". The other side (facing the road) gives a description of Kurt's history with this location.


And just below the sign is this plaque in the ground, featuring some of Kurt's quotes.


This is cool – a guitar statue entitled "As You Were", mounted on a platform. The curved metal strip bears the words "Just one more special message to go, and then I'm done, and I can go home", a line from the Nirvana song "On A Plain". You can see the bridge in the background. The whole small park is well kept and is definitely a place true Nirvana fans must see; it made me think Aberdeen has done more to commemorate Kurt than Seattle has, but at least there's the Experience Music Project.
Speaking of which...


If you're a Nirvana fan and plan to go to Seattle, go and see this. It costs $18, and $15 if you get one of those tourist brochures with coupons. My hostel got me in for $11. Worth every cent (and there are plenty of other great exhibits as well). There's plenty of time, it'll run until April next year. I'm not going to post photos of everything there, there isn't enough space. And Jacob McMurray wouldn't be too happy.


But here's something I really liked – a photo of Nirvana with Shonen Knife, in the early '90s. Two of my favourite bands in the same room together. Awesome.


This was my favourite item on display: Kurt's T-shirt he wore in the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video. I don't know how much thought Kurt put into what he was going to wear in that video, but this unassuming brown and green long-sleeved T-shirt he chose unwittingly became an iconic piece of clothing. It's still in great condition too (unlike Kurt's canned meat)!


Kurt's final residence (seen from the side) on Lake Washington Boulevard East in Bellevue, just outside Seattle – apparently the sixth-most expensive street in the United States. Kurt was found dead here in 1994; fans still come to the tiny park next door. Its name is Viretta Park, but the name sign was missing.


Viretta Park has two wooden benches covered with messages from fans...


...and the second time I went there, I added my own. Nothing profound came to mind, so I kept it simple.


And finally – the nearby city of Tacoma paraphrased a certain song title on one of their souvenir postcards.

January 5, 2012

Geeks In Space #40

I'm heading off to New York tonight, and will arrive early tomorrow! Pretty exciting. I won't have any sleep tonight though. This will be the last post until I return on the 14th, so enjoy 'Pointless Desires'!

January 1, 2012

New Year At The Space Needle

I spent the New Year watching the fireworks at the Space Needle in Seattle. It was a great show, and the fact that Saturday (12/31) and Sunday (1/1) were probably the sunniest days since I've been here was an added bonus. When I saw the festivities in Times Square in New York on Sunday evening, I was glad I stayed in Seattle. I mean, Times Square looks great on TV, but there are no fireworks and it's all over so soon. Seattle, meanwhile, really turned it on and lit up the purplish night sky. Afterwards I jumped in the International Fountain with a couple of others and touched the central dome.

Speaking of New York, I'll be arriving there on the morning of January 5, on a red-eye flight. I've been thinking of using the Airbury characters in a 4-panel strip format, which will run semi-regularly on this blog. If you regularly drop in here, you will probably already be familiar with the characters (I've been drawing them since late 2006 now) so I won't need to bother with any exposition or character introductions in the first few strips. Straight in, bang. Let me know what you think.

Also, I need to come up with a title for the strip. So far Airbury Academy Minis and Airbury Academy: 1001 Nights are the only ones that come to mind, so if anyone can think of something better, let me know. As I was looking around Barnes & Noble in Seattle on New Year's Day, my original idea was to do one every day for the whole of 2012! Needless to say, this idea was swiftly canned by the time I got home.

So that forthcoming strip, my America sketches, and a bunch of themed photography posts are what's coming up on this blog. I look forward to your company in 2012!

China 5's Top 10 of 2011

Happy new year all, and sorry for the delay. Pete had to send me his comments, so here are both our top albums for 2011 combined in one top ten! The rankings 'average out' between our own personal likings of each album. Otherwise you'd be reading two top ten lists that would be mostly similar. And that would mean resizing and uploading 20 JPEGs. And I can't be stuffed doing that. Enjoy!10. Cage The Elephant
Thank You Happy Birthday

Pete: They're from Kentucky. I saw them live almost a month ago, and their singer Matt stage-dived three times! Rock.
Lychee: Crazy vocals!



9. Gang Gang Dance
Eye Contact

Lychee: Trippy shit, man. It seems to go on forever. And it does!
Pete: I like the drumming!


8. Bond
Play

Lychee: Don't do an online search for this artist and title, you mind find some twisted shit. But, uh, they all look different! And the hottest chick is wearing a see-through dress on the cover, which I like.
Pete: "Diablo" is a nice song and one of the members sings on it, which they didn't previously do.



7. Regurgitator
SuperHappyFunTimesFriends


Lychee: Game over dude! The band never sounded better than they do now. I have their first album and all, which still kicks, but they just sound better, louder and more rockin'.
Pete: I'm a big Regurgitator fan but I don't have this yet! Shame on me!



6. Nirvana
Nevermind (20th Anniversary Edition)

Pete: Let's be clear that this ranking only constitutes those songs which saw their first official release in 2011, which are the demo tracks here. It just so happens that one of said tracks, the 1990 Smart Studios demo version of "Sappy", is one of my favourite Nirvana songs, and this version is my favourite recording of the track. I prefer it to the 1990 and 1993 studio versions, and this version was the first time I heard it. Richard Kingsmill played it off some dodgy bootleg on Triple J in 1995. Good stuff.
Lychee: The boombox recording of "Old Age" is cool.



5. Who The Bitch
Toys

Lychee: Liking the Where's Waldo-esque cover art!
Pete: Second album by this Japanese punk-pop band. Not as good as their first couple of EPs but still melodic and sweet!



4. Foo Fighters
Wasting Light


Lychee: I like the fact you get a little piece of the master tape with the CD. Well, you do if you live in Australia. Otherwise, sucked in!
Pete: I dunno about the whole 'analogue' recording thing, but the riffage sounds great, especially "Bridge Burning".


3. Foster The People
Torches

Lychee: A great, upbeat pop album, sure to cheer you up and create the kind of mood to make you bounce around.
Pete: I also saw them live, and they sure know how to entertain. Their crazy live double-drumming is a must-see. "Pumped Up Kicks" isn't the only great track here, there's plenty to sing along to.



2. Weird Al Yankovic
Alpocalypse

Lychee: Ha, I know where Pete's gonna rank this. Weird Al's 13th album. It comes with a DVD of animated music videos which are pretty well done and offbeat.
Pete: "Perform This Way" must be one of Al's best videos. Strangely enough, all 12 tracks on this album have music videos made for them! Could your fave pull that one off? Didn't think so!



1. They Might Be Giants
Join Us

Pete: Whoa, new albums by Weird Al and TMBG in the same year? And a Nirvana deluxe reissue? Obviously the stars aligned for someone with my musical taste in 2011! Anyway, there are some songs here that are right up there with the best of TMBG's canon, especially the final track "You Don't Like Me". Which I can relate to.
Lychee: I did some research. Both Weird Al and TMBG's albums this year got them their highest ever ranking on the US Billboard Album charts; TMBG got to number 32 and Weird Al got to number 9. The fans have spoken!