Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate

I was out in lovely Southern California for a few days last week, and one of the highlights of my time there was the opening of the Dennis Hopper retrospective at the Geffen MOCA in Los Angeles. This show was important for several reason: It was the first show under new Director Jeffrey Deitch (jeffrey, and his gallery in NYC were responsible for putting on just about every important artist in the past 15 years). The show was curated by famed artist and director Julian Schnabel. Hopper himself was involved in the process of putting the show together until he passed away back in May, and it is the first time a vast majority of his work is on display in the same place.

I knew that Hopper was an artist, and that he surrounded himself with other famous artist of the time, but man, i had no idea. His photographs act as the centerpiece – 9 huge walls filled with them, all hung salon style. Out from there, in the surrounding space, are his painting, combines, more photos, sculptures and some films. A truly incredible show, and one you should all go out and see if you are in the LA area.

Some iPhotos i snapped while having my mind blown:

online, looking into the lobby space. there was a second pop style sculpture on the other side of the lobby

all sorts of information

overview of some of the photo walls. place was packed!

from a series of images shot in the south

Rauschenberg-inspired combine. photograph with found objects(tissue boxes)

this is a mellow 20 foot tall canvas, based on one of his photos

another wall of photos, mostly artist and gallery folks

2 shots of Warhol at the Factory

Warhol and his 'workers' at the factory

3 shots of artist Robert Rauschenberg getting his tongue stamped for reasons unknown

this film was playing in one of the rooms. It was a 45 second loop of a guy sitting in a lawn chair and getting blown up. Photos left and right are before and after images, and the film projector itself was pretty cool looking

Little did i know that the Geffen has a really solid permanent collection. It was a nice surprise after checking out the show. Few snaps of what i saw below.

Christopher Wool painting. This was done in the 50's kids...

Allen Ruppersberg collage piece. wow.

and finally, a personal favorite of mine, Jean-Michel Basquiat. just amazing

A couple weeks ago, my wife and I went to Gloucester, MA with her parents, brother, etc, for an epic week hanging on the beach, reading some good books, freezing my balls off in the water, and eating some of the best sea creatures i’ve ever had. If you appreciate eating the finer things from the sea, i highly recommend a trip out there.

Here is a photo journal of the trip. Some of the photo quality falls in the ‘questionable’ department, but, ya know, like, deal with it.

The view from the second floor. Not bad.

Pasta with lump crab meat, peas, cream, hot pepper

Grilled, sausage stuffed calamari

Woodmans - creator of the fried clam. Simply amazing

Steamed lobster. The claws were larger than my fist

oysters, horseradish. Again, fist sized

Steamer clams, drawn butter. New England classic

Proper lobster roll, grilled split top bun, amazing

Kobe carpachio, preserved lemon, garlic aioli

Fenway Park, $7.25 beer, section 30 grandstands, Wakefield's 11th win

cant get enough. Blue Point oysters, horseradish

Came back to my office from lunch and this greeted me:

Nice typo!

Man, did the sight of that free poster tube get me excited. Inside, rested the latest offering from one Mr. Aaron Draplin at the DDC out in Portland – a fairly large, career-spanning poster with everything he’s done. Holy crap! Over 1,000 (1,112 to be exact) bits and pieces. 

I pulled the poster out, and got it up on the wall STAT. If you notice, it’s hanging on a piece of black foam core i’ve been using to block the window into my office. Orange – 1, Black – 0.

You can get into the real filth of my office if you like, here:

Sorry for the blurred out spots. That stuff is the future, you see, and it would really mess you up bad if you saw it now.

Here’s it up close and fishy:

Thank Gary indeed.

With a light rain falling outside, and the season at Stowe about 24 hours from being over, i’ve been flipping channels aggressively this afternoon. I came across a re-broadcast of the Glastonbury Music festival from 2008, and it reminded me of one of the best disses in music history, and quite possibly all time. 

When Jay-Z was announced as a headliner to the all-rock festival, Oasis frontman, and half of the volatile sibling duo that makes the band so awesome, Noel Gallagher lashed out on Jay, claiming there was no room for hip-hop at Glastonbury. The following video is Jay opening his set, and lashing back at Gallagher. Prop guitar, way off-key vocals and a huge shit-eating grin. One of Brooklyn’s finest indeed.

We interrupt this Wednesday’s With Bill. Murray. to bring you the greatest import from Sweden. Ever. This product (literally) shit’s all over your hip Ikea bed frame.

And this is NOT a joke. Head on over to Think Geek to pick up your very own tube of this revolutionary product. 

You’re welcome.

My birthday is this Saturday. No big deal really. 31 – who cares about me turning 31? Apparently, the crew down at American Icon does. Rog, Andy and Rob sent me a nice box of custom shirts today, and man, they are a thing of beauty. This gets filed under ‘smart design’ for sure.

Never has one word said so much