WELCOME
This is where Jaco Justice can be found.
News:
February, 2009
The store is now open to buy Ts and prints direct.
November, 2009
We're very close to announcing another go reborn pop-up in Edinburgh!
July, 2009
Major project about to be announced for the festival month of August in Edinburgh! go reborn
February, 2009
Currently I'm based in Orlando, Florida, collaborating with the mighty Q-burns. The projects are based around the music labels' Eighth
Dimension and Eight Tracks, including graphics and press material for the schedule of releases. It's also a mighty opportunity to experience the delights of Florida (without Jeb Bush) and the United States (with President Obama),
all while my most recent place of livelihood, Aberdeen, makes some massive decisions about its cultural future. I hope to return after my time here.
While I'm in the US I'll be continuing my role as Aberdeen Editor of The Skinny.
Check the blog + Twitter for updates.
DESIGN
Recently..
Publication work:
layout/design/art direction/photography/editorial/illustrations
Doodling
Print + illustrative
ID
Interior
T-SHIRTS
February, 2010
Hit the store for Ts and prints.
November, 2009
Two new designs will be available from here and the new go reborn pop-up by the end of the month. Preview of 'Berg' above. Also check out the flame-disturbing Qburns rocking the MAC T for the hallows.
March, 2009
I have a couple of designs currently stocked in godiva boutique in Edinburgh and boarderline in Aberdeen. I've started using bamboo shirts that are ultra soft, and while they have a slightly trimmer fit they losen off once you get them on after a wash.
First up, 'The Mac Who Sold the World'. A design I've had layed down for too long to remember. Bowie and Ronald get together.
Then we've got a wee tribute to Joan Collins. I, like all of you, was properly devastated when Concorde went out of action. Not only had I not gone supersonic yet but the likes of Joan, Grace, Freddie and Frost would be mingling about dull departure lounges for evermore. Shame they never let Branson take it on.. but then he's got us going stratosonic pretty soon. The story of James Hunt pissing on Esther Ranson 'back in the day' is what I live for.
Shirt details to follow... a flattering model would be handy. If you want to purchase one then drop me an email. They are going for 20 bucks/pounds/euros.
All products feature our motto print, somewhere.
T-SHIRTS (2005)
WRITINGS
TRACKING JUSTICE
June 27, 2010
Catch Rolando around the globe in his touring Aware Injustice T-shirts.
May 15, 2010
Go Reborn is switching platform to printed form. The magazine is ongoing throughout the summer and always looking for collaboration.
January 27, 2010
Full T-shirt range now stocked in Totty Rocks on Victoria St, Edinburgh. Photos courtesy of DN Anderson.
December 16, 2009
Ever so busy with the new pop-up store go reborn. My Tees are selling well, with two new designs in this week. Also check out DN Anderson's recent pics of the space. Apart from my days in there I've been attempting to revitalise my favourite wee esterie with art plus hanging in the haar down at the new local Le Tourmalet on Iona St.
November 23, 2009
East Lothian's Sam Burns supplied quality rummaging for pop-up items needed - namely some jewelry presentation cases - but it was other random sightings that clinched the dreich Saturday drive enjoyment. The weather had hit Cockenzie at a certain angle it seemed and as for the Lotus, well it was the reward for not being able to find the huge stash of weathered bricks supposedly shaped to smooth perfection nearby on the shore. Meanwhile Sunday's trip to Perth provided much overdue silverware for the dark blues.
November 17, 2009
All systems go with the next go reborn project. Incredible amount to do over coming weeks!
November 16, 2009
Despite planning all week to attend Central Station's launch activities in Glasgow, a truly marvelous day in Edinburgh led to strolling the Botanics. To be fair after the excursions up to Fife and Dundee earlier in the weekend I needed to sit tight and appreciate homesoil. The colours around the gardens were spectacular. From pinkified birch(?), complimentary lime/scarlet leaves and the sun glinting off the glasshouses everywhere was a visual treat. And the seasonal smells for that matter. The current exhibition in Inverleith House from Karla Black continues a series of successful sculptural curations in there this year. The John Hope Gateway, depsite a few fiddly and pointless design details, is a fantastically ambitious addition and housed the Wych Elm Project to a constant flow of Autumnal visitors.
November 14, 2009
Just enough time pre-match to throw in a couple of snaps from a rather impressively imposing expo at DCA. If ever there was a case for Aberdeen (via Peacock Visual Arts) to be able to grant the people of the north east with a splendid, and thoroughly ambitious, contemporary art space then this is (yet another) fine example of why you would. Think big y'all! Oh, and sign up to the petition... much more seriusly valuable information on why you should (WILL!) here.
November 11, 2009
Working to NYC timezone as posting this at 5am. Listening live to some real tear-jerkers on Tim Sweeney's tribute to the late Jerry Fuchs... inspired the late session for a poster commission below.
November 5, 2009
Really need to Remember Remember to keep on this blog. Anyway now is definitely the perfect time to get scribing here again (and not just on the twitters!) as I have my own exhibition coming up (sneaky peak below) as well as embarking on another go reborn mission for the run-up to X-mas. The new space is owned by David Murray - the jury still being currently out on that one.
May 10 (contd), 2009
Needed background textures plus general inspiration for this week's projects. Easy enough on the East Neuk.
May 10, 2009
Nowt to report other than I'm fucking busy, it's May and even though there ain't a RSS feed on this blog I may as well keep some chat going - maybe it's best just letting folk drop on in this way, anyway. This week will be the mother of all work tests - the autobiography will simply have to be shelved, dear. So much to catch up on though so best just ask me face to face. I'll be in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Albatrotter or fucking what.
April 29, 2009
The mother of all grey-blanketed haars all week then it breaks through, kindly. Was a pleasure to hear Mike Gibb insight on his play-writing techniques last night, including his extemely hard-to-measure handle on the Piper Alpha Disaster.
April 27, 2009
Fair bit of driving over the weekend there. From Fife up to the ever-impressively picturesque Pitlochry for a quick hello with some pals then up and over Glenshee to Aberdeen (around the 1000m altitude mark). Nice drive, lots of fun - don't tell Mum. Arrived literally as the gang were sitting down with Mr Credit for a munch (that included my second helping of black pudding that day - good to be home, eh!) before his gig. Thankfully Man United had taken head of Fergie's half-time natter so it kept the skip in Red Devil Greg's stride for the Snafu show, which was most rewarding on all counts. Nipped into an opening on Sunday night and will be on the ABZ scene all this week. Well, when I say scene...
April 22, 2009
Amazing scenes on my run this morning. This was also the scene of some post Homegame activity last Friday but it's all a bit hazey.
Heading to Glasgow Art Fair and meetings in Edinburgh from East Neuk base today... was hard to come in from the suntrapped terrace though, but being able to view mac screen is a bonus for design works.
HOMEGAME, Anstruther, Fife.
EAST NEUK 17-20 April, 2009
The bikes faired well down the Saint Monace, Pittenweem and Ainster run in for day three of Homegame. Kindly sunshine baked our spirits for the warm up as Ziggy Campbell hissed and hounded in sight of the harbour's afternoon walls basking in the startlingly bonnie day. Overall the East Neuk became magically serene for three nights and days while the hospitality was undeniably a credit to the folk of the Kingdom. Check my Facebook page for the complete photo log. Bumping into Joe and Stephen (and his lovely wife Clare plus Kit and Iain) for the first time since we lost a dear friend last year put an extra fine jolly-on into the affair. All the town hall locations were most welcoming and we'll be hard pushed to ever forget the eerie stalking consistency of the fine baker-van of Crail's Fisher and Donaldson with their spinach and ricotta pastries - wonderful. A speical mention also for the 'Lemmy' (Motorhead) barman at the Shore Inn. Unfortunately photographic proof of his 'Stars in Your Eyes' potential (plus the paradoxing Ministry of Sound aged T he was sporting) may well have proved cheekily fatal so our recollections will just have to live on until next time, real soon.
Coming home from such positive times in Florida it's been a special feeling to have the work and social engagements fully restoring, over-riding any past mis-firing faiths. Littlest hobo knows best. I must be up for some kind of record for the range of couches, beds + things horizontal that I've layed my head over the past year but it makes for lovely changeling - not in an Obama way though, likes.
TAME THE GATOR, Orlando, FL.
April 17, 2009
Tame the Gator is complete, for now.
April 6, 2009
Went down Bladwin Park (hot day even to cycle) to support Caroline in her first pet art show. Glad to say her pieces went down really well - much more quirkiness and personality than many others on show. A picture may say slightly more than a thousand words in the snaps below. Also, this topical story is worth a peek. Plus the NCAA game was amazing to see on TV. 70,000 folk watching a basketball game... nuts!
April 4, 2009
Cruised about and got some shots during the day... with time running out I really want to make sure all bases were covered. Should have really sessioned the park far more but good to chill out and sketch the transitions.
Luckily caught another excellent opening 'Say When' at Bold Hype before departure. Nice new website I see there too. Really enjoyed Colin Johnson's intricate pieces - patience and tweezer control I could only dream of. Was sorry to see a few heads for the last time but I also hooked up with a whole new wild bunch. Orlando has a Californian hippy thing going on which is perfect off-trade to the NASCAR way of life - I could fit in well here.
April 3, 2009
Good fun down the range courtesy of Mr W. Shot well with the Neos and Glock 45 but most enjoyed the .22 rifle prowess of the silenced GSG-5. A polar opposite to the meditating on Wednesday but it doesn't half cure a hang-over.
ÁClub Queso!, after a wee siesta, was the order of the night. Saw a fair few Miami peeps and as usual Q-Burns did the honours on the musical front. Luch Libre.
April 2, 2009
Cruised about Winter Park in the evening. Technically another town but all joined up to my neighborhood by a massive hospital complex. Rollins College were playing a ball game and managed to secure a foul ball as momento. Winter Park itself is pretty yuppyish. Found out John Travolta is the most famous Scientologist in Florida residence. You'll have heard of his house with the private runway for his Millenium Flacon... fud. Oh, on the well-being vibe I went to a jolly Crystal Bowls meditation session last night. Could get right into that.
March 31, 2009
Black Lips are a cracking live band... serious live music endeavours in America.
March 30, 2009
Alas the dates of the demolition derby we'd been planning for so long were mixed up in all the WMC schedule changes but there was still plenty to enjoy up north in Gainsville, Waldo and Earlton. The Presets and Golden Filter played some intriguing, if not quite top gear, sets to the sozzled college crowds of Gainsville (home to all things Gators), but the most appealing thing about the location had to be the 400% reduction in beer prices from Miami.
Waking up in the lake-house to the fresh morning air of Earlton will go down as a major highlight of the entire Floridian adventure. Our 50 yard jetty crossed the gator-lurking reeds towards swimming safety although I took my time in weighing up how happy the reptiles would be chilling (heating-up) above the foliage and not chumping on European flesh. The sight of playful otters convinced me I would be right but there was no lingering in the calm, warm waters once in... I let my time in the armoured kayak do the in-depth reed patrolling - still relatively scary business with no visibilty under water. Lured a couple of bream with Mrs Donaldson's 3-cheese vegetable lasagne. It proved effective bait, despite master fisherman Mr D's doubts, but whether the fish were merely trying to escape the clutches of one lurking alligator was a possibility for the bulging catch (Ok he was only about 4 feet and distinctly more scared of our splashing than vice-versa but one can only wonder where his mother was).
March 28, 2009
Leaving South Beach was, at first, a relief but later a melancholic affair as one could have played a slightly more relaxed card on the beaches and art galleries had there not been an electronic overload to contend with in the first few days. But fuck it, back to Orlando and an appearance from the ultimate 'mother and daughter on a night out' band in the UK - The Ting Tings. Good therefore to see their stock have a little hipness in America with a sold-out cross-aged crowd at The Social, but still very much a popped-up version of the White Stripes with the usual Debbie Harry tribute stakes on show. To be fair they worked it well in the confined, buzzing venue but don't expect anything ground-breaking from them on the European festival circuit this year - but then you already knew that.
WMC 2009
Miami and more specifically South Beach coud be what awaits for some in Heaven/Hell. There are far more than 7 deadly sins breathing through the city for the religious types to rip up their life-manuals to but unfortunately the best epiphany I could muster was to snap a photo of a church that happened to include Donnatella Versace in the foreground. The hedonism of the resort can either deliver you towards the monster you always dreamed of or turn you guilt-trippingly sick to the stomach. Well maybe I'm thinking too much about it. It ain't no Magalluf but the money and gloating on show is fairly disturbing. The fashion style of some of the locals is breathtakingly bad (perhaps good) at times and the idea of walking past the freakshows on a year round basis was assertively abolished in my mind within minutes of arrival. Some great parties were on show from the house music lables converging there for the annual conference. Managed a fair few with Hipp-E, Sneak, Diz, Halo, Glasgow's Chirs + Dom, King Britt, A-trak, El Burnio, Luke McKeehan, Dana D, Kirby, Sleazy McQueen, Miles Maeda, Jonny Fiasco and Jay West all putting in some good times... plus counteless others along the way between hotel lobbies, patios, rooftops and the actual clubs and bars along Ocean Drive or Collins. Oh and DJ Hell at a cute wee spot at 9am was a naughty one but don't expect the public story of that any time soon. Andy Murray did his best to meet me by publicising his Sony Open appearance on the car roofs of Ocean Drive but I never made the tournament in person - too many folk would have thought me rather strange for attending, I dare say.
March 24, 2009
Thoughts and actions have moved towards the conference in Miami. Accomodation with some old Canadian allies means the trip is exteneded to take in the sounds over three days. Bonus. Will be good to get underneath another US city. Orlando is still producing the goods however. The Winter Park art fair and the Milk Disrict lot party last Sunday made up a grand day of cycling. Time is moving too fast.
March 21, 2009
In the swing at Reunion golfing today, hitting frighteningly too well albeit with no feel for the speedy baize. The pimped golf cart - complete with double ice cooler, GPS LCD scoresaver and ipod dash system - carved an effective path through the hills and sand (more of a beach in parts) of the Legacy course. Although we may have diverted onto the Independent course by accident in transit to the 10th via the hot dog station. Good to see Muzza turn it on again. Will hopefully see a session of his at the Masters in Miami next week but that could be wishful dreaming under the bright deco-lights of WMC.
March 19, 2009
Happy the way this sample came out. Off for a wee art-jam jaunt tonight. Oh yeah, and check out where I'm playing golf on Saturday - it's who you know peeps!
March 18, 2009
Couple of local designings added to folio in ID and print. On the T sample vibe today and tomorrow... canoeing and golf planned for the weekend. Lots of deadlines before then though so might have to re-route office to Dandelion and Stardust over the next few days/nights. Oh, and found a lovely meditation centre, heading for some crystal BOWL sound shenanigans next week before conference. Ying n Yang innit.
March 17, 2009
Golly. St Patrick's day is a rather big thing here. Just as well there's ample Irish bars to cater for the hordes of newly celted revellers - all bathed in green. Nothing else to report other than it looks like a toss-up between Seaworld's Aquatica and The Holy Land Experience (linked further down). With Conference looming the weekend's are nearly all booked-up before return.
March 16, 2009
The weekend to catch up on but there's only one talking point - the launch was pretty darn epic. We'd arrived at the viewpoint in Titusville early on, as did most of the pensioners of Florida, and made camp on the Space Walk of Fame. After some name edits myself, HAL, Ramjet and Space Angel managed to conspire in getting the worst possible initial view of the launch depsite the prompt arrival. But it didn't really matter since the shuttle was soon scorching a path across the sky to the hoots and hollas of the golden oldies. That was special, an American kind of special. It must be nice to have the whole space exploration kudos on your own nation's mantle. Ok it's an international space station Discovery headed to but try telling the Americans it's not theres, in reality. Britain's got Donald Campbell I guess, he was at it. Check my facebook page for the the ignition video.
March 14, 2009
Three weeks here and the first beach visit - says something for the work ethic I'd say! Cocoa beach wasn't quite awash with the Spring breakers as of old, i was informed. Still a pretty good setup within easy reach of the city and with the epic find of an antique warehouse (run by a cockney fellow who's been in these parts some 20yrs) I've all but forgotten the rougeness of my skin - until tomorrow that is. We head back out that way for the delayed shuttle launch at Cape Kennedy tomorrow. They only have a mission window until Tuesday to get this gig fired up to the space station otherwise the Russians will have an orbital gander instead.
March 13, 2009
Friday the 13th lived up to its billing. The Hideaway hosted some fine, pinball induced, times with the music not as bad as advertised. Regular Orlando faces were in abundance, including first-timers to my 'local'. Got a nice T-shirt hook-up to explore too.
March 12, 2009
Really just pictures to add today. One won't mention the butchering I had at the hands of a 90yr old barber. They should have to renew their shears licence every decade like they do with their driving. Noticed there's a Florida Film Festival at the end of the month. So far the Korean entry Grandma and Wrestling and the Florida factual Oviedo Chickens look interesting.
March 11, 2009
The cosmic emotions were well tested today as the flight of SS.Discovery took postponement until the 15th, at least. We had just decided to finish work early and head out to the viewing park (BBQ/binochulars/last of the rays) when we got word from NASA. Disappointing but there's a very good chance it'll happen during my time here. Well as long as it don't jaunt with this month's visit to conference. Planning just nipping in and out for that as things have been super excitable on the creative front. I came here for a number of work reasons and one was to get back feeling the illustrations. Happy to say some very interesting projects have landed in my inbox and I'm in the perfect set-up to get back a deep focus for progress (must be the climate). There's also been an editorial request that leevers on the 'it would be an honour' bracket. Got the juices on a wee orlando tribute project n'all. Nice positive air about the place here, especially being able to hit Stardust for a bit of hot-desking and tea. Bought some eggs from the community market there too, plus en-route home i found a marvellous triumph to humankind - a 20,000sq foot art shop.
March 10, 2009
Tomorrow we head for the evening launch at Cape Canaveral. Space Shuttle Discovery, around since the 80s, is taking seven crew up to the space-station with self-sustaining gadgets including 240ft worth of solar panels and a piss-to-water converter. Excited. Some memorabilia would be sound... like a carton of converted astro-juice to share with other earthlings. Discovery, and indeed all the space shuttles, go out of service from next year.
March 9, 2009
Catching up on the weekend here. Friday was Crooked with my host playing out with Romano and Atnarko - a nice wee vibe by all accounts, and followed by a quick jaunt into a $10 house party. Accepted failure on the Saturday diner-hunt trail when the choice of 20 draught beers in the local tavern tempted it's green tiles out. Had been looking forward to the opening all week and although my city-wheels were falling apart it was grand to mosey around the two galleries with Bold Hype (click for gallery) leading the way but Bryce galliantly showed some great cross-medium pieces next door in Stardust. Exactly the easy-going night I'd been looking for, and I even managed to explain the creative timeline of Dundee having published two massive comic brands - namely Beano and Dandy - and thus subsequently producing global leaders in computer software to a Lemmy from Motorhead lookalike (who had played some tunage at last weeks Altered State). Amazing what some lubrication can achieve - as my bike chain will find out.
Night wound up catching Tokyo Police Club to a full house at Social. Sounded like a heavier Shins/Decemberists to my first time ears - with some instant melodies caught. The band pointed out what a great wee space this is to to play. Spot on for punters too. Capacity around the 350 mark with nice long back bar plus instant photo cabin.
March 6, 2009
Yay a yellow school bus just drove down my street. Still a bit hazey from last night's Tricky concert. To be truthful I hadn't gone there with much expectation of having a musical epiphany of sorts but give the lad, and lasses, their dues.. there was heavy spectator absorbment (bopping and the like) from our crew. Shame Diplo was playing across town because it effected the turnout a little, I suspect. Fuck, Firestone is expensive for drinks. Bumped into some random folk I'd seen about which was cool and also took inspiration from Tricky's tats for my own imminent 'arming'. He was very cool, sitting at the bar speaking to folk before the performance. Had to get a wee lunchtime cycle today to clear the head so popped past Corrine's beauty boutique Alchemy. Cool place - they give you beer while you get the chop. I reckon even when she zips my coupon I could manage a couple of swifies in the short time I take.
March 3, 2009
Not been keeping up with the HIGHs an LOWs ond the blog. Too rigid a format. Cooler air around for the last 48hrs. Head been down but managed to glimpse some mingling at a community market in Stradust's carpark. Zucchini bread was tasty. Liked the addition of the bike repair service - Orlando has hardly a gradient to it, give or take a highway overpass, and therefore most suited to racers... plus the long days of sun mean speed and weight is an issue for pedllers too.
March 2, 2009
For all those twitterfreaks out there, get following Shaq. He is a b-ball legend (like, take Frank McIvennie and multiply him by Archie Gemmil) but, more importantly, the non-sensical weirdisms he spouts on a daily basis are to be enjoyed by non-sports fans alike. Pictures of his big growling puss in a barber chair or some ridiculously pimped ride he's just commissioned appear daily. Sadly I wanted to see him play tonight in Orlando but the tix £ scupperded that... alas I've got me some angles for a game in March with hopefully Lebron's Cavs or Dwayne's Heat. Keep up at the back there.
February 28/March 1, 2009
Saturday continued with a visit to the exhibition Altered State - held in a big orange cube. A great show that only lasted one-night, which was a real shame as curator's Patty and Joe had put in an amazing effort... I also met a Scotsman from the Disney ranks. The evening continued at the Colonial bowling alley (essentially booze bowling until the early hours - sustained staved thumb/lesson learnt), Dandelion Tea and the fairly riotous haunt that is Whisky Lou's. I'll resist posting any photos from there but they did have Glen Ord whisky which, as my favourite malt, was a grand find. Some freaks in there - will have to go back.
Sunday was Junior's Diner for blueberry and strawberry waffles. This place is excellent and it helped to have a relatively basic menu (when yer heid's up yer arse).
February 28, 2009
Saturday is diner day. Today did not disappoint. Christo's for eggs benedict with some trim-trims. Then onto the bike to explore down Corrine Drive and the edge of Winter Park - technically another city but I just got to a wee crossroads close by to check out the walls of Bold Hype and the quite inspiring coffeehouse/dvd rental/poetry jam/beer palace of Stardust. There's a communtiy market down there midweek plus an opening at the Bold Hype gallery next weekend with local mural king Andrew Spear
February 27, 2009
With the label work and The Skinny deadlines commanding a goodly desked innings I made sure the weekend was exploration detail. Friday was my initiation into Crooked Bayou proper. Chang was playing out some real diamonds, including my favs Aeroplane, and I had a most helpful lady jot down a napkin's worth of Florida must DOs. A demolition derby, beauty pageant and drinking around the countries of Epcot are all on the hit-list. Although I'm not sure my host was too up on the pre-teen beauty thing - albeit it would be a Therouxism to test out. Maybe we'll just stick with the figure-of-8 schoolbus racing at the D-DERBY.
I've decided to document one of America's finest traditions - ridiculous sized cars or indeed, pimped-out hoe wagons. Before I could even find a Hummer I cycled past the finest (and non-american) machine to ever grace the 'phalt. Datsun 280 Z!! Rude colour as well, especially with the pink condos it was parked out front of. Reminded me of my first car - the Nissan Micra Mexico '86 edition complete with 'Mom's Taxi' sticker on the rear window. Cheers Mom.
February 25, 2009
Watching Michael Moore's first documentary from 1989, Roger and Me. It tells of the depressing times of Flint, Michigan, a town ravaged by unemployment, repossesion and crime after General Motors put 30,000 employees out of work by moving its factories to the cheap labour territories of Mexico. The truths (I'm trusting Moore on this one) about what it means to be 'free' in a democratic country (debatableland) are disturbing, especially through the eyes of the cushy few who are in control of so many lives (the banksters of the UK come to mind). Anyway I'm crap on politics, just idealisms and the same old rhetoric from me so... one of the ways the town tried to rejuvinate itself was with tourism efforts, like fun fairs with diving donkeys.
February 24, 2009
Funny old thing soccerball. I'd reluctantly taken seat (2.45pm EST) in a generically designed Irish bar, close to the house, for the European quarter-final ties. With a few minutes gone I was joined
by a shirt branded with one of the televised teams... and we got chatting. He's the pool man. He puts the pools into all those deluxe developments that the ex-pats get their antiquing roost in... and time-share with other grey-follicled lovers of
golf. But here's a man, devil stripes in red, who swings with none other than Jim Mclean out on the Orlandian plains... and he's hooked me up with some local
squads to train with. 1-0.
HIGH The art fair at The Social. The folk down at Culture Mart will be visited.
LOW Replying to emails drunk (post Mardi Gras) and committing to jobs that eat into Champion's League viewing.
February 23, 2009
Planning to get to this launch, weather permitting, next week at Cape Canaveral. There's a bay close by where you can park-up and have a wee BBQ. It's a night launch so it'll light up ,like, totally the whole sky, man.
February 22, 2009
Oscars. Good to see it at a respectable time of day for once, and not feel duped by staying up half the night for a lovey-off . Appreciated the ceremony evasion from Day-Lewis with regards to presenting duties: anywhere with Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and Kate Winslet in the same room together is best shunned.
HIGH Going to sleep with the sound of a freight train's horn in the distance.
LOW Living (hypothetically) near the rail track 'cos the driver's trigger-happy tonight.
February 21, 2009
What better way to wake-up at the start of the weekend than a choice of diners to try out. Brian's won the vote. Avoided grits, gumbo and the like and headed for an Agent Cooper inspired blueberry French toast combo with trimmings.
HIGH Rock n Roll heaven. There'll be more on this to come but imagine the ultimate music grotto... vinyl, toys and posters galore all housed in a hidden-away store (5 minutes from the house). The word is that the owner refused to sell a certain Michal Jackson his Beatles' doll collection, for a five-figure sum, because they had sentimental family value. Wee Jacko left in a right strop supposedly.
LOW Being none the wiser 17yrs on what the hell David Lynch was on about in the last Twin Peaks episode.
February 20, 2009
A bit of reconnaissance down in the Milk District. The skate, style and tune outlets are doing a lot party at the end of March. Plus the Bull and Bush British bar is situated next door - complete with a glorious multi-dartboard-match set up - so a good chance itÕll be Champion's League viewing HQ. The 2.45pm kick offs will mean a slightly back to front working day.
HIGH Returning to The Social for Frontiers - a tribute to Journey. My word, epic! Oh, and Tommy at Covert Skate lending me a board.
LOW Havana Rum embargo, boooo.
February 19, 2009
I needed a computer and thankfully we sourced a second-hand beast down in Haines City. It was a half hour drive away through the very heart of Disney, Universal and... the Holy Land Experience. Yes there's a Christian 'world' too - a ride that lets you walk on water was my first guess. I would very much like to go there, although some folk warned I might never leave - I'm not sure if they were talking physically.
I got my first taste of Downtown Orlando. LOW played at The Social. Looking at the schedule I could be there a lot - confirmed by the sight of one of Q-Burns' album covers on the wall.
HIGH A street-walking George Clinton lookalike doing off the cuff raps to the Downtown revellers. When prompted I told him my name was James Bond - he instantly managed to ramble at least four of Ian Fleming's ouevre from out within his boombox ryhmes.
LOW Peach flavoured Swisher Sweets. WTF!
February 18, 2009
Michael, my host, lives in the College Park area of Orlando. As with most American cities the roads are structured on a grid system, but with the city dotted with an incredible amount of lakes (every street horizon seems to reflect and flicker) that strategy goes out the window. Pleasantly this means they don't utilise the rather bland road-number system and instead I'm graced to habit on Musselwhite Avenue, just off Lake Ivanhoe, and dissecting Orlando Street itself.
HIGH Jack Karouac used to live just round the corner. There's a museum in the house there to visit.
LOW Not spotting how warped the front wheel was on my new bike. Albeit, what do you expect from a pawnshop for 30 bucks. A to B still technically works.
February 17, 2009
OK so I arrived in Orlando, Florida. The plane ride was largely uneventful - as you might expect with a cross-pond mission on a stripped-out Fly Globespan aircraft - but the bonus was making an unexpected pit stop in Bangor, Maine. Tucked away in a snow-capped corner of the northeast it allowed our second leg south to hug the coast all the way from the Hamptons to Daytona. Quite a panorama and with two eager Floridians sat adjacent I pretty much had a voice activated Google map service at my disposal. Wish I'd had my camera to document- but guess I can just sit on the other aisle on return.
HIGH No hassles from Immigration Officer Guthrie.
LOW Extra legroom means both legs please - not my left knee crammed against the fire-exit.
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Wednesday October 4th 2005
NEW BLOG ON AWARE INJUSTICE 2.0
