Upscale Music - Mercedes Mixtape

For you music listening pleasure I present two upscale sites. Both offer an excellent selection of current music from all around the globe:

First is Mercedes Mixtape TV. Yes this is THE Mercedes. Clever marketing: offer free music to download and you can watch some very well produced ads. The current is mix tape 30 and all have been worth the wait. They come out about every 8 weeks. So far I have been able to collect all 30.

If you want to listen to music online, download over 27,000 free, legal albums, or are a musician and want to publish / expose your music to the world, Jamendo.com is the place. Jamendo is a world forum. Just about every type of music from every part of the world is there. You can listen to their radio station or browse the different genres and choose the music you want to download.  These are professional quality, produced music with art and the full works. You can contribute or buy most of the music. Well worth taking a look at if you are getting tired of formatted programming on most commercial stations, the limited play-lists of most web stations, and those truly "amateur" offerings. Granted, those can be really fun to listen too.

Enjoy and listen to the world.

WWI images from Library and Archives Canada

I find it always interesting looking back at pictures from the past.
Here is an archive of pictures from WWI and Canada in the early 1900s. 

Most of these pictures are about a century old now.

Most are not of WWI its self, but of Canada, immigration, and everyday life in canvas, posters, and photos. Yes, this is another culture. A peek at how they lived up North.
Enjoy as you digest your Thanksgiving left-overs.

The Future We Were Promised

More pre-mid-20th century posters.

I like the posters in this era for their simplicity. Very sparse, little detail, but they really get their point across.

These are from a site called  "Dieselpunk" another blog where you might find anything old. A great source for a picture of the past and what the past thought the future would be like.

1920's - plus
Swiss Poster history







1940-1960
Authur Radebaugh:The Bright Future





Radebaugh Bohn Ads etc.

Space Age Bachelor Pad Music

Ok, it is now time to show my music side. It is kinda scary.

It is a very eclectic mix. Mix in the modern sense, a little from the past, a little from the present, a little from the future, and a lot from the obscure.

Forever, (when programming, net surfing, graphics, or folding origami) I have found I work best, no I NEED background music to work. Actually closer to Muzak, Random tunes, not many vocals. In the old days I used to record my vinyl to tape (reel-to-reel, cassette) and mix up the tracks. Then a CD set on random and recorded. Next was CDs to hard-disk and random to Winamp.

Now am streaming net radio stations.

Started out listening to SOMAFM.COM Grove Salad till the FCC fiasco a while back.
Switched to SKY.FM their Chillout and New Age channels.

For a switch about 2 weeks ago I went back to SOMA.FM and played around and came upon Illinois St. Lounge.

This is fun! Makes me smile. My brother and I actually bought some of these albums new when they came out. Perry - Kingsley, Martin Denny, and the Electric Concept Orchestra. Very Go Go, Mirror ball, Polyester Leisure Suit; Makes you smile music.

Don't switch that dial,
Stay tuned for the really scary stuff!
Lights Out !

iphone Scanner made of cardboard

Can never figure out how I get to some places.
I see something that catches my eye, the follow links.
Who knows where they will lead.
iPhone Cardboard Scanning stand.

Today it is making things for sale.

This is really a neat concept.
Simple, you can do it your self.
Ponoko "The world's easiest making system

Simple items, but, the thing is if you have a creative bug waiting to get out here is a way to make it real and test / refine it.

Peregrine Heathcote

Today is nostalgia.
From my music to pictures, aircraft, cars, I gravitate to the 1930 - 1940s and Art Deco styling.
I love the old travel posters of that era.

Here is an artist I discovered on a Diselpunk site Diselpunk

Peregrine Heathcote captures the 1930s but adds some 21st century styling.
Each picture seems to tell a little story.

"Ready" by
Peregrin Heathcode

A book of art

Last Friday I reconnected with an old friend since childhood. He was lecturing at the University of Washington in Seattle.



Timothy Ely is a bookmaker (not making bets) he makes art books. They really are quite spectacular!





He creates art that is inspired by the book, the art becomes pages of the book, but the book is really inspired by the art.

Timothy C.Ely
Granary Books, "Materia"