ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!

So for our big bad 1 year anniversary, I added something kitchy to the website (http://www.jessmessin.com/)

My insperato was Tony Manero's subway ride after his pal dips off of the Veranzano Bridge from the movie Saturday Night Fever...

for those who dont know this -the train ride is supposed to represent his transformation from boy into man. 

in the movie the BeeGees song, How Deep Is Your Love, plays in the background while tony decides that hes ready to fall in love with whatsherface....and blah blah blah...

so anywho, disco is dead and is far too prissy for Alfredie so Tragedy let me use their Metal rendition of How Deep Is Your Love...

which frankly, is really the perfect fit.

Band: Tragedy: #1 All Metal tribute to the BeeGees in the Tri-State Area
Song: How Deep Is Your Love
Album: We Rock Sweet Balls and Can Do No Wrong.

thank you! now im going to go get fatter...

Its been a really amazing year of firsts for me, and I thought today was typically fitting to write about them, and acknowledge the things (besides the particular events over the past year) that I am truly thankful for and the people responsible for those things so here we go....this is probably going to be all over the place-

mostly, i am grateful for my family, its very small but loving.  last year i wasnt really even focused on the holidays because my NYC debut was 2 weeks after thanksgiving...so instead of paying attention to how special sharing moments like today are,  i was bugging out about my show.  My gradfather is very old and sick and I am really pumped to spend today with him, and was given the opportunity to get in another thanksgiving hang with him.

and i have these friends, that i seperate into two different groups: the creatives and the corporates, both have been really lovely and supportive of me, and its amazing the advice and perspective that comes from each group of homies.  since my family is so small, i take my friendships very seriously...i am well aware of how high maintenance i am, but mostly its for one reason...and that being, the people whom i let in, really really let in fill that void of not having a big family...and i am just really into treating those close to me how i wish to be treated, and well i have high expectations so....thats the deal there and i take it very seriously.

in this past year, my artsy fartsy friends have really taken time to help me understand how lots of shit goes down, and how to deal with things, both good and bad...listening to their experiences and sharing mine, having them by my side along the way, has made lots of things easier...instead of going into this whole process blinded and uneducated, i have these group of great guys reminding me how it should be done, not to jump the gun, and if i did and got fucked....helped me through that too (which happened.)

collaborations.  i am really grateful for the artists who have joined up with me to make shit.  also, those who have supported the projects by playing at events...mostly, because i have learned a bunch from being around them and watching them work. theyve kinda kept an eye out which has warded away lots of unwanted bullshit...  and after floating around the music scene for 3 years post graduation, getting periodic jobs here and there, thinking i was wasting my time; ultimately prooved that all of that time spent totally had a purpose.

assholes. i am really thankful for the few assholes that have graced my presence over the past year.  the ones who latched on, took advantage, and i dropped once i finally got a clue of their true motives.  you taught me first and fore most, how never to treat people - personally and professionally.  you made me notice that i shouldnt just trust everyone, and to be more careful.  and mostly, when the people close to me offer advice, i will take it, instead of defending what truly isnt. 

baltimore.  i have never been a fan.  i am a new york city girl by heart, and have been since i was little.  coming back here this past year, setting up shop...getting a great job, and making new friends has really changed my perspective on this shithole.  i enjoy being here, concentrating and focusing on my art, and getting shit done, even if a periodic margarita madness hinders the process a little bit....i will always be a city girl first, but for the moment Baltimore has totally embraced me, which has been really fun.

lastly, my mom.  my mom is really a special person who has continued to support and help make my dreams come true.  its been amazing to share this year with her every step of the way, and she has been insanely helpful.  i really lucked out there, for whatever reason, but shes definitely the most remarkable person i know and will ever know...they totally broke the mold when they made my mom, and the love i have for her is just really unmeasurable.


so im gona make some shoutouts and acknowledge those people who really went above and beyond, in my opinion, to do something special for me...help me out...and completely held up their part of the deal.  i am thankful for you.

my mom, and my gradparents, lester bangs, kathleen donnelly, kathleen madigan, brian riccardi, judy kurjan and stephen frank, jay day, matthew wheelwright, wes rizzo, chip gates, the faust family, nicholas fitandis, jen schrader, tim buck, brian friesen and ray tan, the studio at 810, ken schneidmen, renee and rocko, scott metzger, michael weintrob, bobby haight, tommy hamilton, jim hamilton, chris harford, jason kibler, howie schnee, eric mcfadden, eric bolivar, jason crosby, ryan thorton, kevin kendrick, jonathon goldberger, max blackman, jeff gaines, peter costello, victoria vox.


thank you for making 2010 a really wonderful year, ill look back and totally think of you folks.

love, Jess!

Now in Progress

Gen Arts Resurrection Benefit

So I wake up to a late night missed phone call from a mister Michael Weintrob and out of curiosity call him back on my way into work, MW is in Louisiana at the moment shooting rockers in New Orleans...and was asleep...

and in his murmur he informs me that he needs a Ray Charles painted, if I wanted to, to show at the Gen Arts Benefit in 10 days...in New York City to about 900 people...and he will call me later to explain...i hang up, and immediately FREAK.OUT.

So if you are unaware of what Gen Arts is, they were a company that was responsible for discovering the likes of Edward Norton, Adrien Grenier, Zac Possen and many many others.  Their focus was launching careers of  up and comers in film and fashion and later branched into the visual arts.  They were a self sufficient company for decades due to private donors and support until the economy fell to shit and their benefactors dwindled.  So, sadly, Gen Arts is now bankrupt and are up for sale, however their motive has not changed and hopefully whomever purchases the company keeps their vision alive...so before the lights go out at Gen Arts they wanted to have one last party to rage out the greatness that was and will always be Gen Arts, a New York City legend...

Agency 2.8 was in charge of curating the event and asked 5 photographers to display one piece each, and MW chose one of our Pop Rock Posters...

So I got to work, and printed a black and white hi rez ray charles and set out on a paint shopping spree dropping 300 bucks on new paints, sprays, wood and glitters.

and then went back to my studyo! and started to build the frame, which did not work out too well until my studyo! mate LaQuann informed me that staple gun was the only way to go...fuck nails and hammers man...impossible!

So I got to painting...with new paints, different than those from the summer...and the turn out was alot different:

Then i made a trip down to Fells Point and went to this crazy vintage record store that's through this locked gate and down this shady fucking alley in the storage shed of some walk up...totally weird, but I got vintage Ray Charles vinyl for 2 bucks each that actually still had the original Paramount record sleeves.

I ripped them apart on an angle and kept the edges rough and framed out ray's body.  I finished off the sleeves with a tri-tone spray paint job, neon pink and orange and a semi gloss red.

...lastly, i sealed the painting with spray glitter and signed and numbered the Ray.

I let it dry, and the next morning attempted to put this 8 foot ray charles in my car, which is a hatch back...that did not happen...so my lovely mom managed to squeeze it into her SUV, and dropped it off at my office...where I boxed it up and over nighted it to Agency 2.8 and Gen Arts in NYC.


and this is when the story gets really good...

The UPS guy was crazy pissed because the box was so large, and my pick up was in the late afternoon...meaning he had no room, so he had to empty the truck and come back, so it really wasn't a big surprised when the guys opened it up in New York and the frame was broken, slitting the canvas and damaging the painting.  But MW is a solid guy and fixed it as best he could, which was really good actually..hes so artsy!

So, I attempt to make my way up to NYC, taking the MegaBus because they were the only form of transportation offering a 4 o'clock take off...what a fucking joke, we didn't leave until 5:30, landing me in New York City at 9:30 thanks to a lovely jackass who didn't exceed 45mph on the NJTP. 

In the pouring rain, I finally arrive at the Hudson Hotel, soaked and exhausted and thirsty as all hell.  There is a line around the block to get into the opening, however i get recognized and escorted into the show...up into VIP to collect myself.  I grabbed a ginger cranberry cocktail and take a load off before taking pictures with the painting in honor of Gen Arts' final hour.  

This was one of the first pictures taken...which i think expresses the day prior to my arrival pretty well....

The party ended at 11, but kept kickin until 12 in VIP...and then I split down to Houston and 1st to catch Spin Doctor Chris Barron play with the Time Bandits.  I walk into National Underground to find John Popper from Blues Traveler ripping the harp and the place to be packed with a bunch of cats whom i just adore!  I stayed for a few cocktails and one song request...then went and crashed.  I was fucking spent.

After all of the crazy bullshit and headaches, the evening ended up being really great and as my buddy says "ya gotta roll with the punches"...it all kinda made it more special and enjoyable in a really fucked up frustrating way...but even in the midst of all the madness i made sure to take time out to look over the balcony of the VIP to watch people over and over again gather in front of our piece of art to take pictures with friends and discuss with each other...which was pretty amazing.  ;)

Please visit Gen Art to learn more and contribute in your own way, what they do for the artist community is really unbelievable, and hopefully their support will continue.

Love, Jess!

TRAGEDY

So in case you haven't heard there is an All Metal Tribute to the BeeGees out there and they are called TRAGEDY!  The band is pretty rad, and by the time you leave one of their shows you are entirely covered in glitter and stage sweat...and maybe some semen, not kidding, shit gets real weird in the awesomest way.

So, when the band announced that they were breaking up, again...it was a sad sad day...so I am sure you can understand my excitement when they decided to reunite and put together a Reunion/Last Show Ever tour this fall/winter. 

Luckily, one of the Brothers Gibb digs my art work so I contacted him about making a poster for the tour...long story short, the poster ended up being a stage back drop and the project that I intended to only be 11"x17" became 8'x9'...here's how that happened.

After throwing around some ideas about how the tour poster would look, i mentioned that...ya know...i could make a stage back drop, and luckily for me, Tragedy left their last one in London and were in need of something new...

So i requested their hi rez images and got to work.

First, I created a file on my computer, took the color out of the photo, placed the logo and printed it out on satin paper to create a mock up which was requested by the band, this was the first time any work would be created for Tragedy that wasn't their vision or idea....which is a pretty big deal and an insane compliment, i think....

So, I futzed around with some ideas while listening to the band's album We Rock Sweet Balls and Can Do No Wrong and researching photos and interpreted everything into something that i felt would represent the Brothers Gibb into a visual art piece.

Naturally, as a metal band, the drop needed to be glam and sparkle as much as possible, and HAD to have diamonds and glitter...so i started there...and cut up my entire Phish Collection and bought a bedazzler.

And started gluing and painting and building a 36 inch mock...

And sent it off...and was told to go for it...so i enlarged the image and printed it onto canvas on the highest quality the ion offers...it took 6 hours to print....and rolled that shit out on the floor of my studyo! its 8 feet wide by 9 feet long far too wide for my easel...

First, I painted in the TRAGEDY with RED, because red rules...and painted the rocks and skulls with some dayglo paints...and placed the skulls i found when i was out shopping for leather pants one day...

Then I began on the cds...and started gluing them down piece by piece...

...and made glasses...

next, i got to bedazzling...which ended up being me placing and hammering in each rhinestone by hand...like 1100 times...because, if you didn't realize this...bedazzlers aren't large enough for massive projects...just saying, in case...you ever give it a whirl, save yourself the time.

...and chopped all of the skulls in half, so they would lay flat and literally almost cut off my ring finger on my left hand, seriously it is still majorly fucked up.

I then sealed the entire drop with spray glitter, sewed it up the middle, turned it over and hammered the back side to reinstate the rhinestones.

...this is the finished product, minus a few rhinestones...

then i packed it up and delivered it to one of the the greatest bands in the Tri-State Area...

Feel free to view this video and enjoy yourself some TRAGEDY: You Should be Dancing!  and hopefully at the bigger venues you will see the backdrop...US and UK tour information can be found here!

Love, Jess!

PRS Guitar

About six months ago, my studyo! mate, Ryan Dumas (who also was chosen for this project because our studio rules), left some paper work on my desk explaining the details about designing a PRS Art Guitar for a charity called Music4More.org. The guitar would be sold at auction and the proceeds will be donated to provide public schools with instruments. 

I was really excited when I read about this project as I had recently contacted some of my most favorite guitar playing nuts about awesome guitars of the past, the particular models they play and other guitarlike info I should know so i could replicate the guitars on a massive scale.

As I was fooling around with this project, it became very clear that the information I compiled would be used for my Art Guitar and not my replicas...and so the mock ups began...

I printed out all of the pictures and information everyone had sent me, keeping each packet separated by specific rocker and explored who I wanted to include in this guitar, who I felt would physically correlate with each other, and how I would represent their guitar in my model.

I settled on four particular rockers for this project, Scott Metzger, Eric McFadden, Robbie Mangano and Jake Szufnarowski.  Its was a decision based purely on the physicality of their guitars, and what I imagined a conversation would be like if these 4 cats were in a room together.  As it stirred in my mind, I felt hilarity would ensue, and well...nothing is better than that.

So- Scott Metzger, when I met him was playing his Red Les Paul....that was before he became a Red Tele man...and got an SG...so to rep scotty, I used bright red strips of duck tape.

When I met Eric McFadden on a Rocks Off! concert cruise many years ago, he was playing a sawdust shell gibson of some sort, he told me it was a real cheap guitar but he loves the way it sounds...the back side of it is really rough and course, that's why i chose to represent him with Leather.



Jake Szufnarowski has this amazing Swarovski Crystaled Gibson Flying V.  While the guitar itself is awesome, the fact that he, himself, glued those fuckers on there is just impressive.  Naturally, I used rhinestones to represent Jake's guitar.  

And Seahag, plays a super shiny Gibson E335, which is certainly one of my most favorite guitars to watch someone play. To include Seahag in the design, I smashed vintage Bruce Springsteen vinyl.



Many, many guys took time out of their nutty schedules to send me pictures, links and emails in answer to my questions, so while these four were the specific picks, all of the guys are part of this guitar...which I think is really cool, I was super grateful that they did that.  So thanks everyone! A lot, a lot!

So i got to work...this is the day I received the guitar and smashed the first album...

I started with the front, I stenciled the circles onto the guitar and began layering the vinyl pieces.  Then added the rhinestones, moved up the neck of the guitar and added the rhinestoned skull which Jake has on his Flying V and layered record pieces around the skull.  I also included two Red Stars on the nobs which Jake has tattooed on his arms, and is part of the Rocks Off! logo.

Then, I flipped the guitar and covered the entire body with red duck tape, and then stenciled the zebra stripes onto the body, and drew same stripes onto a yard of leather, and cut them out and glued that shiz down.

I finished off the guitar with a thin red strip around the body to connect the sides.

One would probably think, that since I hang around rockers often, I would know how to string a guitar...you couldn't be more wrong, so my buddy Stephan Frank from Tek SubPort hooked me up and strung the guitar...

The guitar was finished, just needed some cleaning up and it would be sent off on tour, showing at music festivals and shows around Maryland for the summer.  Heineken Red Star got word of the guitar and became my corporate sponsor.

Press Photo...

Here we are at HFStival (where I kicked it with Billy Idol)...

And Virgin Fest Free Mobile Fest...

The final showing of this guitar is next Saturday at Rams Head Live in Baltimore.  Where it will be auctioned.

If you would like to attend the party you can get all the event info here.  Hope you can make it!

Love,

Jess!

Artistic Influences

Artistic Influences:

(the following have inspired me to make shit)


Dawn Mattier

Andy Warhol

Alfred E. Neuman

The Velvet Underground

Ben Cohen

Hunter S. Thompson

Scott Metzger

Tim Burton

John Waters

Jim Hamilton

Chris Harford

Romero Britto

Keith Haring

M.C. Esher

Justin Kreutzmann

Ween

Parliament Funkadelic

Alfred Hitchcock

Nicholas Ziolkowski

The word “Fuck”

Betsey Johnson

Massiveness

Lester Bangs

Marlboro Lights

Chuck Taylor

The City of New York

Beetlejuice

Michael Weintrob

Doc Marten

David Byrne

Glitter

The writings of Pete Townshend

Paul Reed Smith

Shapes

Mr. Brigermen

Andy Capp

P.D. Eastman

Jake Szufnarowski
 
RED
 
Cocktails
 
Maurice Sendak
 
Myself

stupid facebook.

Summer in a NUT Shell

So- If you all havent noticed I am a HORRENDOUS blogger. I think its because I literally dispise computers (unless its porn or pod related), sitting here and taking time to blog...kind of...erks me, however I have nothing to do at work today so technically, I am getting paid to share with you all of my shennanigans throughout the summer...and that, my friends, I can handle.  So here we go...

I am not quite sure how I am going to organize this..I think we will start with the specifics and then I'll tell you about really cool other shit later.

For all of those people who have been asking me "How on earth did you get Michael Weintrob to be your first professional collaboration?" heres your answer- I stalked him on facebook chat.  Yep, thats how I did it.  MW and I have known eachother for years, through the rock/jam scene.  We've always said hello, chatted briefly...one time when i was working in the coat check at Irving Plaza I gave him my buisness card and said "listen, if you ever need a hand, give me a call."  He never called.  At the time...I wouldnt have called me either....

Fast forward- two years later...

So anywho, I came up with the idea of painting these iconic rock photos/posters, it started with Sid and Nancy and then Eddie Hazel and then Miles Davis...I thought it was cool...but I realized if i tried to actually display them my ass was going to get sued and i needed to team up with someone who would give me permission to screw around with their work... 

Weintrob was the first person who came to mind, so i hit him up, told him the schtick and asked him if I could futz with some of his images on his site...he agreed...and told me to bring them up to a party he was having so he could take a look. 

Im not really a nervous nilly type, so I cant say that I was nervous...probably more weary..I was all like "holy fuck, I am going to walk into this party with my portfolio and hes prolly gonna "hmm" over these proofs and vomit on them or something out of disgust."  So sucked it up-walked in there with my hot rocker date and threw the portfolio on the bed, unzipped that sucker...and went for it...(not going to lie, i was freaking out)-it took about 30 seconds, Michael goes "I love it, lets do it."  I played it off all cool, like all "yea man, this shits great-good times" in my brain i was thinking "seriously? thats it? thats how its done? siiiiiick." 

So I came home and Michael and I got to work.  He sent me a copeus amount of hi rez images to choose from, and we started what would end up being the Hard Rock Cafe exhibit.  Now people are a little confused on the process so here it is- believe it or not, it very simple there really isnt alot of scientific brewhaha to my artwork, or life in general...it probably doesnt seem that way, but its the truth.

I took his photos, blew them up, made them black and white and printed them on the $125,000 printer at work. 

like this:

and then I patined my dayglo acrylic directly on top of the image, like this (this is my studyo where I spent a ridiculous amount of my time this summer):

and that is how the Weintrob/Pfohl Pop Rock Posters came into being, they are 6'x4' and are all weather proof.

So while creating all of this artwork I planned the exhibit, which if you havent heard by now is called Pop! Rocks...if you havent heard about it and are my friend, you must be either deaf, blind or living under a rock because I cyber assault people about it on facebook (i am completely aware of this people.)...regardless, I found the venue, raised the money and booked the bands all while completing 30 pieces of art.  Chip Gates helped me with little incidentals, like flights and emails and backlines, which was amazing...bc that shit drives me nuts.

So thanks to Heinken, Absolut, Red Bull and PRS Guitars and Kevin Lichtfuss (who installed all the work) i was able to throw down at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore with Some Cat From Japan, Eric McFadden, Tom Hamilton's American Babies, WYLLYS, Tek SubPort, Rakkasan and Dinosaur Project.  This was so badass because A. These people are my homies -B. I hadnt seen McFadden in almost 2 years and C. I actually managed to get all of these kick ass people out of NYC, Philly, San Fran, and New Orleans to Baltimore to ROCK.  It was alot of fun and it was fucking hot as hell...the funny thing being, after the fiasco Scott Metzger's Heroin and I experienced in NYC during the blizzard last winter..i was expecting mother nature to be a bitch again, like with a hurricane or some shit...my mother's response:

"you know whats interesting about this Jess?" 

"whats that mom"

"well, the first time was extreme snow...the second one is extreme heat...and well, its just fitting...because you are extreme."

"awwwe! thanks mom!"

(incase you didnt know my mom is the coolest person on this planet and my best friend.)

Pop Rocks! Baltimore via Michael Weintrob's cellular phone:

So after Hard Rock Michael and i went on a little tour together...and managed to not kill eachother.  It was the first time we spent like...more than an afternoon/evening together, it was pretty funny really...to put two intense creative people together like that, who arent in a band...its a different dynamic.  It was cool though, I actually really learned alot from this guy...i mean A LOT.  And we became good buds, which is the coolest part.  And we went through some RIDICULOUS shit together. 

So heres the story-

I took off up to NYC on a Tuesday to meet Michael and McFadden at MW's studio (which by the way has the coolest plants ever)...and I walked into my fucking wet dream, Eric McFadden dedicating Maggot Brain to Starchild...i practically cried, there I was, in my favorite city in the world with two of the coolest cats and the one was filming the other, playing one of my favorite songs of ALL FUCKING TIME. Just me. eric. michael. and eric's girlfriend. and Maggot Brain.  ok, ill stop going on about that now....however, it was ill ok. just fucking sick.  Then we went up to the roof and took some really cool photos, which are now floating around on the black market somewhere...ill get to that in a minute...

the view from weintrob's roof:

That night we rocked Sullivan Hall with EMT and SMB and ITS.  Thats Eric McFadden Trio, Scott Metzger Band and Into the Sun....that was soopa fun.  One of the best parts about this whole set of dates is that I was able to get two of my favorite rockers together to play some music...Watching Scott and Eric shred together was one of those things...like "fuck yea!!!!" sort of things. :)

Next day, Michael and I took off to Gathering of the Vibes in Connecticut.  We get there and find this DOPE mexican joint and we get tacos.  Those were yummy.  We get over to the Vibes and install MWs gallery in the ART Tent, and then install what came to be known as the GOTV set, which included painted photos of this years lineup..ya know...Bobby, Phil, Damian, Nas...you get it...

so this is that:

That was alot of work and a long ass day, so MW and I were THIIIIIIRSTY!! I mean...I was anyway... I am always thirsty...mmmm I am thirsty right now actually...I am glad I thought about this, I have to go pick up my premade mojitos from the warhouse...shit, back on track...

MW and I swing over to this afterparty, which was great, because my old pals TURBINE were playing (you can read more about TURBINE on my rock blog, from back in the day...) We parked the car, went inside and got some brews...and all of the sudden people start talking about what a fucking shithole bridgeport, ct. is...and michael and i just look at eachother and we have this sort of moment thats like "i wonder if everything in the car is safe" so he asks some dude and was like "so my shit in Jess' car is ok right?" and the guys like "i mean, i dono man, maybe...i mean im sure it is..."  MW and I look at eachother again, and we are both like "mmm....ready to go?"

We walk downstairs and around the corner and as we approach Arthur (thats my hatchback) theres broken glass EVERYWHERE and low and behold Michaels camera is long gone.  I almost peed myself, I know thats super unattractive people, but its just flat out the truth...this is MWs livelyhood, his baby...i felt awful...and it didnt help that the cop who came thought i was a raging smart ass...it was just really fucking bad, especially since we had taken all these kick ass photos together installing the work, the roof shots, etc. GONE.  and MW was flying out to shoot BOOTSY COLLINS on Friday.  Which meant we had 24 hours to figure out how we were going to take care of this.

Bootsy Collins:

So i wrapped arthur up in cling wrap, michael made some phone calls, i cried and dropped the F-Bomb, michael made some phone calls, i made cocktails...and by friday afternoon shit was handled, I went to the Vibes and Michael flew to Cincy to shoot Sir Boots (which I heard was fucking awesome).  We sold the Les Claypool painting to a kick ass Primus fan who drove from missouri or some shit to see them rock...and the Bob Weir and Nas were stolen...so, we just figured the weekend was all about having fun and getting ripped off...and thats how we approached it, and we ended up having a really great time. 

We kicked it with Wavy Gravy in MWs gallery:

Jackie Horne asked me to doodle on her hoolahhoop...and then she rocked it.  And told me just how she felt in sign language...

Even though MWs gear was gone, he still rocked the view finder...

I touched up our paintings...

We gave Damian Marley Pop Damian and he dug it!

By the end of the weekend we were exhausted...late nights, early mornings...I cut that shit down and we split back to NYC...i dropped MW off, and back to Baltimore i went...and just like that the POP! Rocks tour was over.

Heres an interview I did with JR Hevron over at Hidden Track that was a soopa good time...kinda talks about how all this shit started happening and why...

Hidden Track Interview

I swore to myself that when I got back to Baltimore I was going to take some time off from creating shit...I think I lasted two days...I got back in the studyo! and started doodling little designs for my next BIG takeover, i just couldnt help myself...i was too excited.

And then I decided I needed some winter boots...so I painted these doc martens, they are pretty...ugh...LOUD...which makes sense id say.

And the day after those were finished I was delivered my PRS SE for this Art Guitar Exhibit here in maryland for Music4More's Maryland Chapter. 

This is me, ridin dirty...starting the PRS piece...

the story behind my design

so, this project is pretty special to me...because A: it was handed off to me by my studyo! mate Ryan, who left the info on my desk with a note that said "this is fucking perfect for you" and B: i had just completed a bunch of research on guitars with the help of some kick ass rockstars who took time out to answer my email..and it was so timely really, i was able to use all this great information from these cats that actually KNOW what they are talking about to put together this idea.  So i mocked up three sets of proofs, put them in a box and sent them off...a couple months later i got word that I was one of the first three local artists picked and would be included in the tour and get on the of the gutiars in the first distribution...i was all "yeaaaaaaah suckas!"

So, in the long run, this piece was influenced by 4 particular knuckleheads who's guitars and personalities just meshed well, Scott Metzger, Eric McFadden, Robbie Mangano and Jake Szufnarowksi.

This will display on tours, in venues and at festivals around and about until November, then theres a rockin party and auction in November (open bar!), and the proceeds go to music and art education in public schools - which RULES!  I am soopa happy to be a part of that fo' realz.

So that pretty much concludes the ART part of summer...now lets chitchat about rockin' shows i saw and just being an ass...

MUSIC:

This is my first time i actually got PAID to take days off of work, so I totally took advantage of that and saw some really dope rock music.

RANA on a BOAT! on Rocks Off! Concert Cruises - NYC

This is RANA

This is me really pumped to be on my first Rocks Off! Cruise of the summer.

I went to the Starscape Music Festival and wanted to kill myself bc there were all these sweaty saggy neon tittys rubbing up against me...call me crazy- that shits just not my bag...then i got gut busted by an industrial size hoolah hoop and saw people who looked like this- so i got the hell out of there.

I took my mom on a Rocks Off! Cruise for her 55th birthday (which is on the 4th of July) and surprised her with Pinatas! (this is probably a good time to tell you all about how much i love Rocks Off! Concert Cruises.  I went on my first one 5 years ago, and look forward to them every fucking summer...if this is something you have yet to take part in you are MENTALLY CHALLENGED and need to RE-EVALUATE how you spend your time, and I say that in the nicest way possible :).   best parties of summer)

Mom on her first Rocks Off! Cruise:

Rocks Off! let me bring pinatas to celebrate...they rule.

Then we rocked the Hard Rock Cafe with some Hendrix action, if you want to listen you can do that here:

here's the link to download the mp3's. It only takes a short while: http://www.sendspace.com/file/5vyjwj

here's a link for a bit torrent that's higher quality flac/wav files: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=537433
 
 
I finally got to see Furthur, and Primus, and Nas and I found this kid Quinn Sullivan who shreds a fatty...hes 11.  That and more was all at Gathering of the Vibes...
 
Oh! I saw Anders Osbourne, like really saw him, sat and listened..instead of working...wow. Killer.
 
This is Anders and Eric Bolivar.  Both soopa cool cats.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I saw Tea Leaf Green for the first time in 2 years with my favorites, the American Babies...i ended up taking a ghondala to the Marriot and having a sweet ass WEEN dance party...
This is Berta, the American Babies number one fan...she comes with me to all of the shows.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I went to the Peter Frampton/YES show, where I had my retnas burned out of my eye sockets bc the bassist from YES decided to gyrate infront of me the whole evening in his spandex...NO PICTURES OF THAT BECAUSE I ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT YOU PEOPLE.
 
My friend Judy and I went to Muddy Water Jam Festival where I saw Moldover perform and learned how to operate the Octomasher by the inventer...I also hung with my buddy Nicky who made me a killer Cran and Vodka and drove me around the backstage in reverse...in the dark...uggh....
 
Muddy Water:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And in the beginning of the summer, i went and saw WEEN with my friend Bobby, and luckily there are no pictures of this because I was reeeeetarded...this is a great segway into cool other shit from this summer...
 
 
OTHER SHIT:
 
I had my first photo shoot ever this summer.  I rented a suite (that Janet Jackson and Mary J Blidge often stay in) at this super famous hotel on West 23rd Street and Michael and Scott came and we took all these photos and headshots.  It got pretty crazy and intense, bc apparently this is NOT allowed...I cant go into detail about it...but theres some killer photos and heres one of my favorites:
 
 

ps that guitar is crazy heavy, I dont know how metz shreds that thing for hours on end, i think my arms would fall off.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I drank alot of martinis during that shoot...and poor bobby drove my fatass to Ween, and well...i think the concert was fun?  ;-)
 
 
My friend Judy and I gave birth to our imaginery Cocktail Cooking Show.  I think we named it "Get Drunk Like Us" or something, i mean I cant remember because we have portion control issues and make enough cocktails for the whole entire studio audience that doesnt exist....and well someone has to drink them....
 
these are our mango mojitos:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I learned that you can watch the internet on television now...so i made my friend sit through the ENTIRE Scott Metzger's Heroin Pop! Rocks show....and since she is cool and polite, she enjoyed herself.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
um...
 
i cant really think of anything else....
 
so thats it....i mean theres alot more....but those things are sacred and what make living a life of art and rock so special.  on that note, im signing off from my office...
 
 

I want to thank the following people for making this one of the greatest summers of all time:
My Mom, Scott Metzger, Michael Weintrob, Rocks Off! and Jake Szufnarowski and Steph Webster, Eric Bolivar, Jason Crosby, Ron Johnson, Eric McFadden, Will Bernard, Peter Costello, Hard Rock Cafe, Kevin Lichtfuss, Tim Buck, Ray Tan, Rakkasan, Dinosaur Project, Chip Gates, Jeff Gaines, Tom Hamilton, Nick Bockrath, David Butler, Adam Flicker, Victoria Vox, WYLLYS, Anders Osbourne, Bobby Haight, Gathering of the Vibes, Rocko, Renne and Alyson, mother fuckin RANA ya'll!!, Heineken, Absolut, Red Bull, PRS Guitars, The Faust Family and Pride Global Inc., Judy Kurjan and Tek SubPort, Moldover and everyone who has supported the development of my artwork and has believed in this project from the beginning.  I love you with all of my heart and am very appreciative....thanks for sticking around.
 
 
Jess!