Autumn

There is something inherently warming about an impending autumn when there's a new album by Robert Wyatt to accompany it.

Overheard advice _01

Father to son in public toilet, "Don't tuck your shirt in, you'll look like your granddad."

Who do you think you are?

Here's my current answer with leading set to 0.1pt.

Up to the rigs

I saw Bellowhead on Friday night in Ipswich. Only just pipped at the post by A Silver Mt Zion at Colchester Arts Centre as the best live band I've seen this year so far. They were truly fantastic - dark, stylish, brooding, dancable and very very tight, they whipped the crowd into a frenzy of traditional English folk tunes, jigs and sea shanties performed by a big band, (there were 11 of them squeezed onto a tiny stage) with a jazz horn section. I did make the mistake of, on being introduced to someone who was an ex-Morris Dancer, of stating that I wouldn't hold it against him, but I think that was the evening's only faux pas. He was a bit of a folk purist and thought Bellowhead were 'disturbing' so I'm not too bothered. Anyway, this band are highly recommended and if they are playing near you in the next few weeks on their UK tour, do yourself a favor and make sure you go and see them. Morris dancing is optional.

On a brief aside, I had reason to pass through Strood nr Rochester (in Kent near where I once lived) today and saw where I bought my first LP proper, if you discount 'Remember You're A Womble' bought with a record token when I was seven or eight. The record I bought at the tender age of 11 was Blondie's Parallel Lines and I felt so grown up buying 'adult' music. It therefore seems only fitting when I wandered into a CD Fair about an hour later in Rochester that I should buy a Blondie 'best of'. The record shop in Strood is now a newsagent.

My Face Space Book

No offence if you're not getting a reply to your request for me to be your friend. It's nothing personal. Give me a ring or email me and we'll go for a pint. Sorry, but I've cancelled my FaceBook and MySpace accounts I'm affraid. FaceBook are still forwarding requests though, so I presume there's some history of me on their archives that other FaceBookers can still see. Not that I did much with the accounts. I only got a MySpace account so I could view some photos on someone else's page. But the visual spew and brainless "thanks for the ads" and the content rich (sic)/download slow phenomenon was never gonna be my bag. I simply don't have the time to wait an age to read drivel. I can read a Ben Elton novel in the time it takes for a MySpace page to load if it's mind numbing shallowness I want. As for FaceBook, well, work colleagues are obsessed and after the umpteenth email poke from people sitting next to me all day made me question the futility of life like nothing since the last time I caught an episode of Midsomer Murders, I cancelled. But, like I said, give me a ring if you have my number, email me if you don't. It's nothing personal.

Bounce

Currently in the middle of bouncing backwards and forwards identity proposals for the eco-venture project mentioned in a previous post. It's that difficult and anxious stage where every tweek and re-think means waiting a day or two for an answer via email to see whether the client likes your ideas or not. You also spend a fair amount of time creating presentation PDFs to present your ideas clearly to clients by proxy. Thankfully, this client has some design sense but it's always disappointing to get that fantastic idea you had returned with "not sure about this, can you try xyz instead," and then on reflection you realize that the fantastic idea wasn't actually that fantastic. However, it's sometimes that pushing by the client that drives your creativity. The real buzz then comes when you're getting to the stage when you think your ideas are never going to satisfy and you're beginning to believe you are drying up and BLAM, something hits you from your not sure where and you're off in a different direction. More research, more information gathering, more trials and then another PDF gets emailed off with polite comments and the hope of all hopes that this is the one that's going to let you get your teeth into the next stage of the job. But that's the nature of beast - design is a process and processes need working through. It's exciting, it's challenging and it is also very frustrating, especially when you've a million other things going on in your head at the same time. That's it for tonight now though, enough of staring into this screen, a bottle of organic cider is calling from fridge.

Fragile Crust

Found this great sign in Christchurch Park, Ipswich, recently. Weather worn, water damage adds a psychedelic visual element to the worry of a fragile crust.

Put some coffee on someone

Summer is nearly over and as usual at this time of year there's a surge of activity happening around the kennel. However, there seems to be a considerable amount more this year. So, in no particular order here's an update;
Dubdog is proud to announce it's involvement in the launch of a local eco-venture but unfortunately can not go into details at this stage but logos, letterheads, leaflets and a website are all being worked on;
Pindown is alive and kicking after a hiatus of several years and music is being scraped and spliced together and lyrics being written and there's even talk of rehearsals which will hopefully lead to several live outings.
And as the new college term starts, usually a very busy time, I'm winding down in one teaching job and gearing up for another as I switch in early October to lecturing on a Graphic Design degree course at the UK's newest academic centre, University Campus Suffolk.
More news and updates of all this when I stop panting and have a chance to draw breath.

Back again

Dubdog Design's main site is back online again. Sorry to anybody who had problems accessing it yesterday.

Presenting Mr T Thug

Two more Bum Gravy tracks from the Kings Cross Water Rats gig, circa 1994, are now available on YouTube plus some White Slug electronica with visuals from Ric8rd, aka Mr Technical Thug. Click on video above for (in my opinion) his best work so far or here for other work in Mr Thug's catalogue. White Slug begat industrial/metalers Optimum Wound Profile for a while, (well four LPs worth). White Slug's Jason is now working with myself under the guise of Pindown. Mr Thug, the other half of White Slug has left these shores (UK) and is currently working on visuals to be displayed behind Pindown on stage so Jason and I don't have to dance!

Mr Thug also remixed the music for Pindown's Blood Brand. The video for Blood Brand by Dubdog can be seen here.

Lastly, Pindown are currently working on new material, the first since their 2004 release Democracy In Action, and are planning live outings in the near future for which Mr Thug's visuals should get an outing.

Virtually invisible

Apologies to anyone trying to reach Dubdog Design's main website at the moment but it appears to have vanished in www mist. I'm trying to get this sorted by my host, Easily. It appears to have been down all day today and possibly longer. Last time I accessed it was on Wednesday this week. If it isn't up again soon I'll be changing my host.