Hello Goodbye

Merry Christmas!

Rats

Our hearts go out to the family, fans and anyone else who is uplifted and inspired by the good Captain’s artwork. We lost a good one.

“I Can’t Sleep (On Christmas Eve)” Video!!!

Here’s the new video! A million thanks go to the inimitable Ben Pederson for his work on this. RIP TGIF and Merry Christmas!

Old Neighborhood

We used to be able to see these Christmas lights from our kitchen window. *sigh* The pics are from newyorkshitty.com.

“Christmas is Just Another Day (Without You)” Video!!!

Here it is! The music video for “Christmas is Just Another Day (Without You)” by the Snowman Electrical Band, from GIVE/LOVE!



The video was directed by Ben Pederson. We feel lucky to have gotten to work with such a uniquely talented artist. Not only was he our first choice, he completely exceeded our expectations of how cool a video for this song might be. So, we are honored to present this to you.

Read more about Ben Pederson and his work here.

A few free copies of GIVE/LOVE are still available. Send us your address and get one.

GIVE/LOVE is Here Now!

Free copies of GIVE/LOVE ship today!



At a lean and mean 16 minutes, it is the perfect soundtrack for impromptu Christmas parties with your most erudite pals, or when you’re all alone. You’ll feel like mistletoe has been hung on your brain. It’s that good!

Listen to a sample of “I Can't Sleep (On Christmas Eve)” performed by the Snowman Electrical Band, from GIVE/LOVE.

I Can't Sleep (On Christmas Eve) - Snowman Electrical Band

If you haven’t already done so, send us your mailing address and we will send you a copy. For free!

GIVE/LOVE

GIVE/LOVE is out DEC.2
GIVE/LOVE is out DEC.2
GIVE/LOVE is out DEC.2



Bees and Trees have produced an awesome Christmas album!

GIVE/LOVE is performed by the Snowman Electrical Band and produced by Bees and Trees. We are mailing the CDs out for FREE! Send us your mailing address and you will get a copy of GIVE/LOVE. We will begin shipping the CDs on DEC.2.

A limited number of copies come in full color sleeves. Send your address right away and get one!

For a year we have wanted to put out some kind of Christmas recording. There are so many popular Christmas albums and songs that we like. Working with the Snowman Electrical Band allowed us combine our appreciation of straightforward, un-ironic Christmas tunes with Snowman’s more psychedelic penchant.

We are all very proud of the seven tracks that make up GIVE/LOVE and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Grateful

We are thankful for Grateful Dead music from Europe ’72 and May ’77. Actually, we’re grateful for all of it.

Grateful Dead “He’s Gone” Copenhagen 4/17/72



We are thankful for the music of Jay-Z. He is, after all, “rap’s Grateful Dead.” He says so himself. We can buy that.

Jay-Z “Already Home”



We are thankful for our creative and inspiring friends. Thanks for turning us on!

How to make an abstract painting

"I'm an illustrator/fine artist"

"It's all about repeating, I believe, abstract."

All Power To The People

Where was the "All Power To The People" graffiti when I lived in Brooklyn? I guess the answer is I should've been making it.

Devendra in Atlanta

Because we are Rock-N-Roll Renegades we drove to Atlanta, (on a Monday night [!]), to see Devendra Banhart. The show was well worth trip, funky and loose. However, I was surprised at how little the crowd danced around or otherwise expressed enthusiasm for the performance. I haven’t seen this much sitting down since the last time I saw the Allman Bros.

Here’s a good video (shot by someone else) of the show opening “Long Haired Child.”

Treasury Junior - again

I love writing code. Any kind of code really, but especially fun code that does stuff. And I like it even better when I can learn new things - like how to work with the Etsy API for example.

I made this treasury to celebrate the birth of our little Treasury Junior, my first experiment with the Etsy API. He uttered his first words today - "beta testing". I'm so proud of him.

Nature, Man

I found this guy hanging out on our front porch. At first, I thought, “Nature can be so cruel. As bugs go, this one looks ridiculous.” The more I thought about it though, the more I felt like stick bugs are the lucky ones. I feel a little like Doogie Howser. Remember that journal he kept on his computer?

Take 2 - Etsy API

Kate Banazi - Featurette

We recently purchased this Palm Heart print from Kate Banazi aka alyoisiusspyker and it's so awesome in person that we had to share a bit more of her work here.







Visit her etsy shop alyoisiusspyker
See more works from her portfolio

Phish on Phriday: You Enjoy Myself with Fireworks!

Last month we went to two Phish shows: 7-2 in Charlotte and 7-3 in Alpharetta. Even though the shows were in different cities they both happened at places called Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, which I take as a creepy sign of the times.

Anyway, I didn’t really try to gets tickets for July 4 (also in Alpharetta), and I wasn’t sweating it. But then, I became consumed by the thought that the July 4th show was going to end with “You Enjoy Myself” with fireworks during the Vocal Jam. I was sure of it, and I was starting to bum out because I was going to miss it. Boy was I psyched when set 2 in Charlotte ended with a really cool YEM, the Vocal Jam of which features bits of “Proud Mary” and “Get Back.” (Charlotte also got the first “Fuck Your Face” since 1987!)


Here’s a video shot by Bees from the lawn during “Get Back.”



So we were stoked on hearing YEM and making our way through the lot minutes later, fireworks! You Enjoy Myself with fireworks! You never know.




The next night in Alpharetta we got hear some stuff I never thought I would hear-- “Destiny Unbound,” “McGrupp,” and “Sanity.” I thought “Slave to the Traffic Light” was righteous, and Bees got to hear “Prince Caspian,” which she really likes.

Harvey

California Love

I am honored to be showing some drawings in this three-person show in Oakland, California. The show was curated by Devin Satterfield, who used to run Liminal Gallery and now runs Helloakland. E.T. Groff is an amazing artists as well as co-director of the Basement Gallery in Oakland. Good company, good times. Please check it out if you can.

Poster Children

16x20 Bees and Trees posters available now in our Etsy shop! Finally! Yes!

I’ll see you at the next Janelle Monae show.

“Tightrope” from Letterman. This is where it’s at. Wow.

Stuff we can all relate to.

WAVVES - “So Bored”




Devin the Dude - “Doobie Ashtray”

Everything about this is cool.

- from nadili on flickr

New Ben Pederson Video(s)

The ostensible battle in Ben Pederson’s new video appears to be a pretext for dealing with ideas of war, peace, chemical mind expansion and the visual language of dissent. The psychedelic style of the video is also one of its subjects. Like many of Pederson’s other videos it is ironic without being cynical, and funny without being a joke. “Battle” represents an exciting current of thought among artists who take the counter-cultural movements and icons of the past seriously, but are not so interested in nostalgia. Pederson’s work has a place at the very end of a long Romantic tradition. He has a special gift for giving ubiquitous pop culture subjects unexpected contexts and disquieting facets. It all ends up going in the bong.

Pederson and I used to laugh a lot about this place called Lidz. Lidz is a store in some shopping malls that sells hats-- lids, get it? But with a “z.” Lidz! Ben dedicated the video to me, which really flatters me to no end.

DO IT! DO IT!

I was cleaning up in the studio yesterday and I found a little piece of paper on which I had written this:
“Act first, analyze later. Impulse-- not theory-- makes the great leaps forward.”
--Jerry Rubin



I wish when I was an art student, instead of wading through Lacan, Derrida and Foucault, someone had given me a copy of DO IT! and told me to cut my losses. It’s never too late…

Do It!

Bi-Mon Sci-Fi Con

I know it will be tough for you to believe, but I wasn't always the super cool, style maven that I am today. In fact, when I was in elementary and middle school I was into comic books in a big way. My tastes were pretty pedestrian: X-Men, Batman, Spiderman, but I was certainly enthusiastic.




Today, Bees and I went to the Fanaticon (!) in downtown Asheville, partly to reconnect with my geeky past, and partly to have something to do on such a nice day. Fanaticon is the first comic book convention I've been to in approximately 20 years. The scene has really grown up (irony intended).



There were Storm Troopers, Ewoks, Batmen, Spidermen, zombies, girls in corsets, and Ghostbusters to beat the band. I really enjoy seeing people who are aggressively into a particular interest or way of life getting a chance to fully be themselves and immerse themselves in their passion without any fear at all of reprisal from the "straights."



Being in the Fanaticon, terms like "nerd" and "geek" kind of lose their meanings, or at least their power. Our purchases amounted to 10 bucks worth of horror comics from the Bronze Age, or the 1970's, for those of you not down with the lingo. We had a blast. A laser blast! Excelsior!



More photos to come!

Phish on Phriday

It’s been a while since we’ve done a “Phish on Phriday” post, and truth be told, I thought about bailing on the whole idea. However, this morning I saw this and felt it was too good not to share. This is a video of Phish performing the Rolling Stones’ “Loving Cup” on Jimmy Fallon’s show last night. Actually, it’s more like a funny video of a great big Mets fan in sunglasses (?) waving his arms furiously while Phish plays “Loving Cup.” Check him out, watch him go! It made me laugh.


Rolling Stones Week: Phish

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon | MySpace Video

Hands Plus Land

Joseph Diliberti as photographed by Allen J Schaben for the LA Times

Joseph Diliberti isn't like most Rastafarian ex-Marine Vietnam veterans that you meet. He has some rather compelling ideas regarding housing and simple living. I found out about him and his amazing digs on the LA Times website. Check out the audio slideshow, and bail on your mortgage.

Any Way You Want It

Bees and Trees are sending our creations out into the world and they're ending up in all sorts of crazy places. Two of our girls are now available as prints from Urban Outfitters. So if you've ever dreamed of having an angry librarian adorn your iphone or a shy nerd grace the cover of your MacBook Pro, your sweet fantasy can now become a reality.



Check them both out at the urban outfitters print shop.

High Design

Bees and Trees have made our first foray into web design. We designed and built the website for the Asheville NC band Kovacs and the Polar Bear. Visit the site and listen to their album “Loathsome Teeth.” They are breaking out new material at their shows, so get to one if you can.

Imagine a scene in which two drunk kids in a purple jeep are chasing Dave Matthews around a muddy field. Now, imagine that those kids are listening to their favorite sad song at top volume. Kovacs and the Polar Bear are performing that song.
kovacsandthepolarbear.com

And here is a site that features a picture of the feet of someone in Kovacs and the Polar Bear:
lydia see

Danny Heller - Palm Springs Exhibition

Last summer, we posted a feature about the paintings of Danny Heller. The essay is published on the back cover of the exhibition catalogue of Heller’s 2010 solo exhibition at Terrence Rogers Fine Art in Palm Springs, California.



Heller’s paintings in the Palm Springs exhibition, Heller’s third solo show with the Terrence Rogers Gallery, depict Mid-Century Modern suburban architecture and furnishings of Southern California. This group of paintings is Heller’s most complex and alluring.



Many of these new paintings feature hard-edged shadows that bisect the compositions. The effect is similar to that of the formal shadows of film noir. As in many noir films of the late 1940’s, Heller’s Palm Springs paintings suffuse scenes of Southern California opulence with paranoia and secrecy.

Stills from He Walked By Night (1948)

Some paintings depict scenes at dusk or at night. The visual language is that of drama, suspense, and fear. Heller’s Palm Springs paintings have roots that reach more aspects and attitudes of Mid-Century Southern California than the subject matter immediately suggests.




See the paintings here:
Danny Heller Art

Or on the Terrence Rogers site.

Phish on Phriday-- photos by Justin Horne

These are recent photos by Brooklyn-based Justin Horne. He sent them to me the day I finished watching the “Phish: Live in Brooklyn” DVD’s.

“Song I Heard the Ocean Sing,” which opened the first Brooklyn 2004 show, particularly reminds me living in NYC-- but in a good way! This combination of “Waves > Song I Heard the Ocean Sing > David Bowie” from Knoxville 2009 seems appropriate today.



I didn’t see the two Brooklyn shows when they happened in 2004, but Justin Horne did. He has a supernatural level of luck when it comes to getting good tickets (frequently miracles) to sold out shows, like the Brooklyn shows.



Like Mr. Wizard or MacGyver, Horne makes disproportionately cool things happen with what seem like small gestures. Natural principles are corralled and focused by simple means. Horne combines a strong color sense with minimal techniques to make a variety of formal works that deal with chance, transition and transformation.



See more at JustinHorne.com

Lance Link Does it Again!

Watching Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp the other day I noticed something kind of neat.



The Dragon Lady (an evil chimp working for CHUMP) was receiving a custom camera. I love cameras, so I was very excited to notice that she was handed a Diana! The camera was originally produced in the early 60's to mid 70's and I've never seen one actually being used during that time period, much less by a chimp! So, of course, I was really psyched. Luckily the Diana is so simply constructed that a chimp probably really could use it.




The Dragon Lady's Diana has been modified to spray some sort of sleeping gas at her victim, a foreign ambassador. She's planning to intercept him on a plane and knock him out after they land.



As you can see this modified Diana is the non-flash version. It's very hard to tell if it's an actual Diana or a Diana clone. I'm leaning toward clone because the film advance looks slightly rounded, but some Diana's were like that. It's hard to say since the proliferation of clones was enormous. Even Reader's Digest gave out branded clones for free!



Lance Link and Mata Hairi are guarding the ambassador on the plane, and they do not recognize the disguised Dragon Lady. Lance gets friendly and asks to borrow her camera. Oddly, she says that the camera is very expensive (about a dollar retail) and not to touch it.





But touch it he does! And he knocks out the Dragon Lady with her own camera!



The day is saved!

Phish on Phriday

Unless I can think of a way around it, it looks like I might have to get a North Carolina driver’s license. That wouldn’t be such a big deal except that it involves re-taking the “written” portion of the driving test. Let’s just say I don’t have a good history with that test.
In that spirit, here’s an early version of “Slave to the Traffic Light,” then “Cars, Trucks, Buses” from 1997, and then “Possum” from 2009, NYC.
Pressing the point is “Contact” from Alpine Valley 1996. Hear here.

Let’s Make the Water Turn Jimmy Carl Black

Bees and I just watched the fascinating and scholarly documentary “Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention in the 1960’s,” and we were both struck by the endearing character of drummer Jimmy Carl Black (“the Indian of the group”). It really broke my heart when nearly 40 years after the fact Black expresses his pride over having been a Mother and his confusion over the demise of the group.



Here’s a super cool 1968 instrumental version of “Let’s Make the Water Turn Black” from the German television show Beat Club. I’ve seen a video of them playing this, but I can’t find it anywhere. That’s a shame because while the band plays, Motorhead Sherwood makes a big, messy sandwich onstage while laconically shaking a tambourine. Pretty funny, I thought.



Just so you don’t feel cheated, here’s a nice video of the Mothers doing their inimitable thing in 1968, this time from French television. If you’re a M.O.I. fan you’ve likely seen this, but here goes for the uninitiated…Things to note: Bunk Gardner teasing “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” at the beginning, Zappa’s unique conducting of the band, Jimmy Carl Black holding it all together, and the sheer mind-blowing synergy of the band. The main musical theme here seems to be based on “Sleeping in a Jar.” But, heck, I won’t pretend to know what’s going on. If there are any music theory nerds, (or any other nerds), out there who care to chime in-- I’d love it. I like to learn.

“Keep an Eye on Summer”

I’m getting mighty tired of winter.
I’ve got the southern California blues again. Some Danny Heller paintings and this strange video certainly help scratch the itch.