Greetings and salutations internet,

Typing fast hope I’m making sense, Nate Duval and I ended our blood feud and set aside our petty differences to create a fine poster for my favorite band:

Kidding about the blood feud of course…although we have joked before about staging an Andy Kaufmanesque fake fight for shits and giggles. Anyway these posters will be available at the show in Richmond, VA on Wednesday. We will make our copies available shorty after, stay tuned.

I’ve been mentioning an interview with Micah Smith, it’s been half done for quite a while I’ve just been slammed lately and Micah was down at SXSW last week so hopefully we can catch up and wrap the interview up this week.

I often ramble out of talk of new posters and into sports talk on this blog but at this juncture those two worlds have finally collided beautifully. I created a print for Gallery 1988‘s massive Greatest Moments in Sports Show.

Believe me, picking one concept was hard but I think I came up with something good. 4 colors on cream paper(Mohawk, the same stuff we use for  TSTOUT kiddos!), limited edition of only 55. The copies of this print at the gallery sold out quickly, my copies are available in the store now, grab ‘em while they last.

Now that I’m on the topic of sports I’m going to riff on PNW specific sports stuff so you can stop reading now if you’re just here for the poster blabbery:

Holy shit the Dawgs are on fire, after dragging ass through two thirds of the Pac-10 season they have won 8 straight and exploded into the Sweet 16. They’re playing West Virginia, going to be tough but it’s nice to be at a respectable depth in the tournament. I’m proud of these kids, finally getting their shit together and playing an exciting brand of basketball. We’re finally seeing the team that was ranked in the top 20 to start the season. BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON!!!

And of course there’s Charlie Whitehurst. Perhaps a future “savior” has come to the Jet City…

Jesus just left Chicago SanDiego and he’s bound for New Orleans Seattle.

A lot of people are bellyaching about this move, the phrase “hasn’t thrown a pass in a regular season game” has been used as much in reference to Whitehurst as “flip-flopper” has been with John Kerry. It’s a lazy way to look at things. Philips Rivers hasn’t missed a game in 4 years and Billy Volek is the best backup QB in the league so there would hardly be any instance in Whitehurt’s time in San Diego where he had a sniff of the regular season. In his 4 regular season snaps he handed off 3 times and then scrambled 14 yards for a touchdown.

The bottom line is, the Hawks looked at Charlie Whitehurst as a draft pick. They liked him more than any QB in this draft outside of Sam Bradford(who they aren’t going to have a chance at) so they traded up in the second round and gave up their third round pick next year to get him. I will say this ’til I’m (Seahawk)blue in the face, no matter what this move is better than taking a chance on Jimmy Clausen in the first round in 2010. Whitehurst is bigger, stronger, faster, has been in the NFL for 4 years and obviously cheaper.

Outside of all that, look at this guys hair! I have so many nicknames floating through my head, Serpico Jesus, Hot Tub Jesus, Rambo Jesus, Tim McGraw Jesus, Comic Book Jesus, Soap Opera Jesus, Aragorn Jesus, Dukes of Hazzard Jesus…

:NOTE: I wrote this Saturday night but passed out or got distracted by something shiny and neglected to post it.

Happy Saturday Night internet! This is the State of the Jon Smith Address. Why? Because I wanted a term that sounds dumber than “updatery”.

I got out of the house tonight! Went to a show, it’s been a month at least since I’ve enjoyed live music. Ran into some folks I hadn’t talked to in a while, I would have liked to stick around and enjoy myself like the lord intended but I have designering to do. It’s 12:30 and I’m back home slaving over a hot laptop.

A quick anecdote before I get into the usual updatery since it’s top of mind. I was waiting to cross Market St. in Ballard to get to my car tonight, when these two girls approached me:

“Excuse me, are you 21?”

“I’m 27. What’s up?” I already had a laugh in my voice because I knew exactly where this was going.

“We’re 18, do you think it would be possible for you to buy us some Alcohol?” She said casually, as if she were peddling Girl Scout Cookies.

I smirked, collected my thoughts. “I’m going to be honest. If you were two eighteen year old dudes, I’d think about it but there’s no way I’m buying Alcohol for two eighteen year old girls.”

:NOTE: I have never purchased alcohol for minors. But I’m just saying it’s not a total impossibility that I would help out some pathetic dudes in a Superbad type of situation.

“Oh, well I’m not a lightweight. I’ve drank a lot before…” said the girl who was doing the talking, who couldn’t have been more than 105 lbs.

I laughed at the situation, she started on some drinking story that I’m sure would have illustrated what a heavyweight drinker she is. These girls were tiny by the way, really not sure they were 18. The girl speaking for the group had braces with the jaw connecting rubber bands going on, kind of a laughable yet scary scene right? I cut the girl off, explained I understand their situation but there’s no way I’m helping them out on this, mentioned I have two younger sisters etc.

So at this point, the conversation needs to end. Because if I stood there any longer I was just going to start lecturing them and give them every big brother piece of dimestore logic I should have imparted to my little sisters over the years.

So my parting statement was thus, “…Good luck, and BE CAREFUL….I’m serious.” That’s about all you can do right? Of course I’ve been over analyzing what I said and what I could or should have said or done but this whole interaction lasted all of 25 seconds as we crossed the street. I mean it would have been a little much to call them a cab or demand to talk to their parents right?

It reminded me of when Rocky tries to talk some sense into Little Marie.

In related news, I have used the phrase “the kids these days” in conversation quite a bit lately, I’m getting old. I was born with an old soul, the brain is catching up.

OKay moving right along to designy news: I will be loud and proud displaying and selling hand crafted, screen printed goodness at afforable prices in Austin, Texas this May. It will be my maiden voyage on the good ship Renegade Craft Fair, it will be their first time in Austin….we will be gentle and tender with one another, because the first time should be a precious moment.

Right now I’m wrapping up an album design, my piece for the 1988 Greatest Moments in Sports History poster show and a poster for The Cave Singers and The Dutchess and the Duke at The Showbox in March. Nate Duval and I are trying in our herky jerky manner to get some new 1982 stuff together but as always it depends on both of our schedules lining up.

New Interviews on this blog are long overdue, I’m very close to finishing up an informative back and forth with Micah Smith and a couple more interviews are on deck I’ve just been overloaded with work lately(things are picking up at the shop).

What else? I’m watching a lot of Starsky and Hutch on Hulu, it’s a great show! And I’m serious, not in an ironic way it’s a legitimately great show. Magnum P.I. as well, there’s only one season on Hulu though. Watching Magnum is a blast back to my earliest fuzzy childhood TV viewing memories and of course a mental adventure vacation to Hawai’i. Barney Miller has been in the mix too but it’s kind of disappointing. It’s mind boggling while watching to realize that Abe Vigoda is still alive considering he was already a million years old when Barney Miller had it’s run in the 70′s. Since we’re on the topic; I don’t care if it sounds square but a band calling itself Abe Vigoda is in poor taste in my opinion. Lazy to say the least.

I will be updating the store this week. The Dark Side of the Rainbow posters will be for sale very soon and while I’m on the topic of poster sales if you are waiting to hear back from me on anything shipping related I will be in touch within the next 24 hours.

I think that’s it, of course there’s probably something more interesting or exciting that I’m forgetting…I’m really stoked about Austin in May! This summer is going to be awesome, you heard it here first.

BTW I was right about The Saints, we’ll see if my Jeff Bridges prophecy holds up at the Academy Awards.

I just watched the final episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and in keeping with Coco’s request, I will not delve into cynicism in this post. Conan in his closing statement as it were, spoke directly to the audience and urged us(the young ones in particular) not to be cynical and thanked NBC for his time on The Tonight Show and employing him for 20 years from his time as a writer on SNL to now. His message was that if you work hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen to you. I cried a little…and also before that when Neil Young played “Long May You Run”, one of my favorite songs ever a and perfect song for the moment.

That is why I love Conan O’Brien. Plenty of the jokes and bits on his show over the years were plenty snarky and poked fun at plenty of folks but I would say for every barb he threw at a Paris Hilton for example, he made himself the butt of the joke on twice as many occasions and it was always done under the umbrella of lighthearted fun. Conan is not a mean or bitter guy, most great comedians have well documented demons that make them who they are but Conan is a rare exception, in the vein of a Jerry Seinfeld I suppose…I can’t think of a better or closer example off the top of my head. Jay Leno is certainly not a happy person, David Letterman is a guy I’d like to have a beer with but that dude has mountains of issues. Conan took the high road on his way out because he is a well adjusted, smart and grateful human being.

I have been a Conan fan since I was about 12 or 13, staying up wicked late whenever possible to catch Conan, Andy, Max, Joel, Abe Vigoda,  La Bamba and Robert Smigel get crazy with the cheeze whiz. When the day finally came and Conan took his seat on The Tonight Show it was unbelievable, finally someone with a connection to my generation who won’t just give the audience what they expect at the premiere slot in late night. I considered it as important to the comedy world as Barack Obama’s election was in American politics and race relations….I was a little excited.

Because I feel so strongly about Conan as a fan of his and the late night genre in general(I’ve seen every episode of The Larry Sanders Show multiple times) I constructed an editorial Illustration to encapsulate what has happened here with Conan and NBC. The sun will rise on a glorious new day for my Coney Island baby,  he’ll be back and most likely better than ever in just a few months but I could not let this time pass without making light of this most heinous blunder NBC has perpetrated here. While also paying homage to Conan’s enduring spirit, soldiering on with perfect hair and plastic smile. Not letting the man get him down but not letting it go unnoted the great injustices that have occurred.

The fine folks at Nakatomi have brought this Illustration to life. Enjoy:

And in other news, I will be back to blogging this week. Working on multiple interviews and new prints, see you back here soon!

I needed something on in the background while working over the weekend, I found WKRP on Hulu and had a weekend long viewing mitzvah. I watched every episode available, all 22 episodes of the first season.

This show was a very hazy memory growing up, it was one of the first shows I remember watching re-runs of as a kid. Night Court and Cheers would follow and I would eventually grow to understand what I was watching but WKRP was so early on that I only remember Loni Anderson’s big Aqua Net hair and big tits and maybe Johnny Fever’s mustache and bug eyes.

After viewing, I can recommend  WKRP in Cincinnati for the following reasons:

It’s a great time capsule for the style, music and general attitude of the late 70′s and early 80′s. The clothing and hair are worth watching for sure.

Unintentional comedy: The character of Andy(Gary Sandy), the station manager is the precursor to Matthew McConaughey. Watch ANY episode, they are the same person…minus the bongo’s. Makes sense I guess, WKRP probably would have been right in McConaughey’s wheelhouse growing up.

Insert Mooseknuckle joke here _________.

The fake music is great too. In the show they’ll be on the air and say “Alright! Here’s Heart of Glass by Blondie..” and then play a song that is definitely not Blondie, just some generic guitar riff that gets faded down pronto. Also at the end of each episode during the credits they play this loud rockin’ fake song that’s somewhere between an up tempo Elton John song and a piano driven Lynyrd Skynyrd tune with completely unintelligible lyrics, why not just have fake lyrics? The lyrics sound like mid-90′s Adam Sandler gibberish.

If you’re interested in the radio industry at all(or what radio stations where like back when radio was a profitable enterprise) WKRP is an interesting watch in that regard. The main Jock, Johnny Thunder was fired from his previous job in Los Angeles for uttering a word far too hot for broadcast, the word? the guess it, “Booger”.

There is a Ginger vs. Mary Anne thing with Loni Anderson(Jennifer) and Jan Smithers(Bailey) where Loni Anderson’s character (like Ginger on Gilligans Island) was the obvious sex object of the show but in hindsight it’s pretty obvious that the real winner is Jan Smithers(just as time proved Mary Ann the obvious choice over Ginger). I mean Loni’s got a better body(debatable) but she has the face of an ewok and that hair is retarded.

Winner winner, chicken dinner.

And as far as the characters and the performances I would put it on par with M*A*S*H. They do go for a little bit of a Hawkeye and Trapper John thing with Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap. If you’re a pop culture junkie like myself and or appreciate classic television, WKRP is a must.

I’m just waiting for Hulu to update to the second season…

]]> http://smithbellcraft.com/2010/01/06/wkrp-in-cincinnati/feed/ 2 jonjonsmith wkrp gary-sandy-then jan http://smithbellcraft.com/2009/12/30/blotter-color-new-print-122909/ http://smithbellcraft.com/2009/12/30/blotter-color-new-print-122909/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:35:20 +0000 jonjonsmith http://smithbellcraft.com/?p=421 ]]> Ahoy there internet, I’m getting back out from under my rock and unearthing the creations I have been toiling upon whilst beneath said stone.

Behold, “Blotter Color” a 4 color hybrid art print, limited edition of 30 pieces. In addition to the 4 screen printed colors, it was printed on watercolor paper where I introduced water into the printing process along the way along with a slight color change(red to magenta). Before the last color(black lineart) I added brush strokes, dabs and splatters of watercolor which makes each piece in the edition quite unique.

Here’s a video I slapped together to better illustrate what I’m talking about in terms of the way the pieces vary:

I am adding these pieces to the Big Cartel Store store today, measures 9.75″ x 13″ and is printed on watercolor paper. I am listing them individually so check ‘em out and pick whichever one you like best!

Here are a couple more pics and blathering about the process…

On some of the pieces after the black printed I’ve gone in and elaborated on the linework to add more depth…

The original illustration is from a page out of a sketchbook from last year, I blew it up and played around painting shading or detail areas over it as I was putting the screen print together.

This is pretty experimental stuff so I wasn’t sure exactly how it would turn out but I’m pleased with the result. I’m excited about the future possibilities, I kinda feel like Doc Brown when he slipped off his toilet and discovered the secret to the Flux Capacitor.

In other news I will be picking up the remaining pieces from the Something’s Better Than Nothing show this week and making a few selections available next week, which will include some one of a kind pieces from the “OUTSIDE THE LAW” print run. Stay tuned for that.

I believe I have found my next interviewee(but I’m keeping it secret until posted this time), pretty big deal as far as I’m concerned. Big fan of his work and it’s not someone I know as well as Todd Slater or Brad Klausen, I’m stretching my wings internet! Fly with me won’t you?

That’s it for now. Have yourself a fine Thanksgiving, internet. And if you don’t happen to be American and want to get in on the Thanksgiving action: take the day off work, pour gravy on everything you eat for the day, wear your most festive sweater, argue with your family, drink some Egg Nog(spike it), take a nap and force yourself to watch the Detroit Lions…you might have to youtube that, Good luck!

A lot of people trip over this kind of stuff, all I know is if any beer company came to me and said “hey we like your song, can we give you a truckload of cash to use it in a commercial?” I can’t imagine saying no. It’s free money and odds are you’ve imbibed this product on numerous occasion. As long as you’re not changing your lyrics to suit the product it’s cool ;)

Due to my being at the tail end of my laundry cycle I happened to be out of work(dirty/worthless) shirts today so I ended up wearing my best Nate Duval shirt to the shop. Normally I’m packing and such so I don’t have to worry much(rhyme unintentional) but today I ended up reclaiming screens most of the day which lead to the inevitable destruction of said shirt.

Sad, but I have only myself to blame. If you wish to obtain a brand spankin new version of this shirt, or buy me a replacement(XL, thanks) you can do so here.

And for the record, I told Nate to make this shirt from his Spoon poster.

Dig in, internet! It’s the long awaited Brad Klausen interview!!!

For most of you reading this Brad Klausen needs no introduction. But for the few of you who may not know, Brad is a Seattle based designer/illustrator best known for contributing a bulk of great design work including a ton of amazing posters for Pearl Jam. As a designer I have to say the way Brad came out of relative obscurity and hit the ground running with PJ posters when the bar had been established at a dizzying height by the Ames Bros. is pretty awesome.

When you get called up to the majors and you look like you’ve been there before, it’s a Hell of a thing. From that start with Pearl Jam(which he continues to do posters for) to posters for all kinds of bands(Built to Spill, Mogwai, MGMT, The Gossip etc.) Brad continues to be a fucking powerhouse in this screen printed, signed and numbered niche, and a super nice guy to boot.

So with all that said, let’s see if we can’t get to know the fella.

Jon: Alright let’s take it back, where you from? Montana? Idaho? Colorado? Everything east of the Cascades is all the same to me.

Brad: I am from LA basically… grew up in Santa Clarita, Newhall to be more specific, which is about 30 minutes north of LA. But I commuted to school in North Hollywood and all my friends lived in the LA area, my dad lived in Playa del Rey, so I grew up in a car stuck in traffic on the freeways of LA. But Newhall is by no means LA, over the course of years we had a variety of different animals, a couple of horses, 2 goats, 3 pigs at one point, they’ve always had chickens, there were some geese and ducks briefly,…to all my friends in LA I lived on a farm out in the sticks, and while we had farm animals here and there, it was by no means a farm. Since my folks have lived there, it’s changed drastically, the population I think has tripled. Not sure if you watch the show Weeds, but they filmed the first few seasons there, and where the show takes place in the planned community of “Agrestic” with all it’s “little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same”, that’s Santa Clarita now… growing up there you could just watch the development, that’s the wrong word though,.. development implies growth or progress and to me, covering over all the hills as far as you can see with boring, lifeless cookie cutter homes and cramming as many as you possibly can into as much land as you possibly can and then naming the communities something regal similar to  ”Agrestic” to make it feel like it’s a fancy area is not growth or progress. How many of the same house can we cram into one hillside over and over again until all you see is houses… but it’s not just Santa Clarita, that’s just California for ya…

Never would have pegged you for a SoCal guy…but then again most people I know around here are transplants to Seattle.

I went to the same school from kindergarten through 12th grade. A small private high school in North Hollywood.. my graduating class was I think 63 students… I got a plaque at graduation for being there 13 years. You can’t really be a loner in that environment, teachers I had in third grade I had in 10th grade, it was a small environment that little did I know had made me socially retarded when I got into the real world. Standard stuff like meeting people and introducing yourself, were not skills I had from existing in the same place for 13 years. But all in all high school was alright… looking back on it I probably thought it was way worse then it actually was because I was an ignorant teenager and that’s what teenagers do. Towards the end I had had my fill of the place and couldn’t wait to move away and get as far away from LA as possible. I was applying to schools in Maine and Vermont but only made it as far as Denver, which wasn’t the opposite coast, but it wasn’t LA so I was fine with that.

Brad: After that, I went to the University of Denver. It wasn’t an art school but they had a nice little art department. Apparently DU is known for its business school, which shows what I know, I had no idea, even when I was there. I actually didn’t know there was such a thing as art schools, I found out about those after I graduated from college, again showing how oblivious I can be… a friend of mine who graduated from The Art School in Pasadena, CA took me for a tour through the school a little after I had graduated, and it made me wish I had gone to an art school… but the more I thought about it, I was glad I had the experience I did, I had a lot of fun in college and I don’t think I would have enjoyed art school nearly as much as a regular old college. Plus the small art department at DU was bad enough with all the kids in there trying to find their identity by playing the role of “eccentric art student”… those kids drove me up the wall… a few of them, that’s who they truly genuinely were and they lived and breathed it,.. but most of them were just trying on the uniform to see if it fit. You could tell who was for real and who was just searching for their personality when it came time to put art up on the wall for critique days. So I don’t know if that would have been worse at an actual art school, my gut says it would have been much worse. Always made me giggle though, you can make art and be an artist and not be a weird eccentric character, but for some people who they are is far more important then what they make…

Got home from Europe, they flew me out for an interview and asked if I’d be willing to relocate from LA to Seattle, which I quickly replied to with “YES!” since I couldn’t wait to get out of LA once again and out of my parents house (don’t get me wrong, my Mom and step Dad are awesome, but when you go from living on your own in college to moving back home, it’s no good). I moved up to Seattle in November of 1999, right in the midst of the WTO riots… it was a quite a greeting…

Jon: Ha! Way to date yourself grandpa. I watched the WTO riots on TV in High School, Junior year. I still need to see that movie about the WTO riots, it looks kinda shitty though. Plus Michelle Rodriguez is in it and she renders all things she stars in unwatchable.

Okay we’ve talked about this before in person plenty, without getting too convoluted I think generally people think of Brad Klausen as an illustrator more than a “pure” designer although I find the more designy posters in your catalog just as impressive as the hardcore line art posters…but this is more of a technical question than a design vs. illustration question though. I want to know how often you use, and how much you like or don’t like Illustrator. How do you look at it? The approach, you know what I mean…

Brad: I use illustrator mostly to clean up my hand drawn type. I’ll draw all my letters and then scan them and bring them into illustrator and redraw them in there so that i can make things more consistent.. you know, make the spacing between things more even and make sure each letter is the same height and width where it needs it. But other than type, I don’t use Illustrator all that often. I might use it to make a pattern or a particular shape if I want to make sure that things are precise and even and symmetrical. Mostly I just draw everything in pencil then use a light table to ink the drawing and then clean or alter that in photoshop. I use photoshop far more then I use illustrator. But I like Illustrator a lot, it’s a resourceful tool in the shed.

Jon: I’m sure by the time this posts your Monsters of Folk poster will be out there for all to see and purchase. I had the pleasure of racking this print at D&L, I trust the registration held up and the there were no bugs??? Blend turned out nice?

Brad: It came out great, the graveyard shift did well as always. Blend looked good too…it’s always kinda cool to see how blends can actually start to blend away from the original idea and combine the two… there were a few in there where the brown overtook the orange and the blend went from a brown to orange to a brown to a lighter brown, but those looked cool too… I know both Steve and Cary get mad at me for using blends as frequently as I do… you might be more privy to them cursing me when the blend isn’t working right on a print run of 1500 pearl jam posters that need to be done tomorrow…

Jon: Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you, you’re targets are too big. To pinpoint the registration it’s a lot easier to work with a target that’s like 3/8″ , so I would say shrink your targets by about half of what you usually use.

Anyway, speak on the future of Brad Klausen, workwise and or personal if you got anything cool going on. I know you just moved, if you’re digging your new place/neighborhood etc.

Brad: The new place is ok. It’s on the west side of the hill of Magnolia near Discovery Park. And while it’s awesome to take the dogs for daily walks through Discovery Park, this side of Magnolia is sleepy and quiet. Mostly just old folks and families. It’s kind like living in a sleepy midwest town, there’s Magnolia VIllage, which is one or two streets of a few restaurants and shops I think there’s a pub, and on a Friday or Saturday night after 8 pm it’s a ghost town. No one comes over here. My girlfriend and I have started referring to it as “Mangolia”.

As I predicted, my trip to Portland on Sunday derailed my interweb posting progress. But the trip was tons of fun, we left at noon and got back at like 5AM. Ghostland played a great show at Crystal Ballroom, it was nice to get a little hang time with the nicest guys on the planet: Aaron, Thomas and of course Alex the guru of sound. Much love and respect, reminds me I haven’t been down to Austin in a while….

And I don’t know what it is exactly but being in Portland reminded me of this: