So this was an extremely productive weekend. Aside from rereading two enormous novels (All The Kings Men and Confessions of Nat Turner), I also packed up all my things, moved, and adopted an adorable new friend.

This is my new apartment here in Philadelphia. I’m living with two amazing roommates, Tess and Jordan, both of whom are incredibly artistic and a great deal of fun. Jordan is actually a sculptor, and his work is being displayed in a gallery in Philly right now. I’m going to take some photos pretty soon.

I wish I could the place more justice with my camera, but it’s, well, too big. Plus I’m not fully unpacked yet. That big circle thing is from the roof, Jordan brought it down and hung it up. There is an upstairs loft, complete with a seperate bedroom, bathroom, big closet, where Jordan and Tess stay, and a downstairs bedroom with the same things, where I am. The windows overlook center city.

You can see William Penn over there and City Hall. It’s pretty nice, especially when the sun is setting. I’ll have pics of that later this week as I unpack.

I owe a massive thank you to this wonderful girl right here, my buddy Saray, who not only helped me move in over the course of the day (it only took two trips, but traffic and crazy weather was insane), but also took me on an adventure to adopt my new friend. Here you can see her at the register, with a mysterious box. What could be inside?

Hmm… I see the tiniest of ears…

Behold! My new BFF. As of now, my sweet little lionhead dwarf bunny is named Ash. I wanted to name him something from literature, but honestly, look at him. He is just too small and precious to be named Leonidas, Dante, or any of the other bad ass names I was thinking of. So Ash, after Ash Williams, the main character in Army Of Darkness, is his name.

Everyone welcome Ash. He just wants to snuggle you.

Honey toothpaste?

Juice… or soap?

I can write to Q.

There are few things that I love more then dollar stores (besides poetry, a glass of scotch, and my pal Baxter here). They are simply brimming with wonderful items like honey flavored foreign toothpaste, soap that looks disturbing like delicious juice, and stencil kits that teach children how to write… up to the letter Q.

They also remind me of tour, trying to save every possible penny by shopping in Wal-Marts, Family Dollars, and 99 cent stores through out the country. Foster, you know what I’m talking about. Often right after shopping in a Wal-Mart, we’d SLEEP in said Wal-Mart’s parking lot. Alex Sleepaway knows what I mean.

Good times.

Can’t wait for the summer and my vacation. I need my taste of the road, and my dosage of daily dollar store.

Til then, the humorous ones in Philadelphia will have to do.

Summer is upon us. The weather is absolutely beautiful here in Philadelphia, thus allowing me to go outside in my ultra cool vintage leather jacket without the fear of freezing to death. I generally choose fashion over my personal well being, which results in colds and sniffles during the winter months.

Expect lots of walking and lots of photos in the coming days.

For now, enjoy that lovely Philadelphia sunset over University City. I know I certainly did.

Much to my surprise, I was nominated for a Thinking Blog Award (thank you very much, Jessica @ Swedehart). Since I moved to Philadelphia and started blogging again, I’ve discovered a lot of fantastic writers whose verse draws me to their pages on a day to day basis. Not only do they have unique, powerful voices, but they often make me laugh, smile, and most importantly, think.

Treasure of Baghdad | inspires me to pay attention and not be an ignorant American.
Philebrity | is an amazing, often hysterical, Philadelphia based news blog.
Ultragrrrl | is written by the owner of Stolen Transmission Records.
Cute Overload | makes me remember that the world isn’t so terrible, so long as there are bunnies.
Chris K. Jennings | is a talented designer / entrepreneur, always coming up with brilliant ideas.

The Thinking Blog’s project is aimed at referring content, so including these links, as well as a link to the blogger award pages, will help generate content in programs like Technorati. Should be an interesting venture.

Visit The Thinking Blog Awards @ www.thethinkingblog.com

I basically live my life like a Nick Hornby novel, primarily High Fidelity. Not that I’m a loser who obsesses over ex-girlfriends and listens to “sad bastard” music through out the day (though some might care to argue), but more from the standpoint of the fact that I divide my life into top 5 lists.

Whenever I meet a new and interesting person, most of my favorite questions revolve around the top 5 game, sometimes daring into top 10 lists. Favorite bands, favorite movies, favorite novels, favorite albums… so on and so forth.

But seldom do I ever hear anyone ask the question, what are your favorite albums… in terms of artwork?

There are a lot of beautiful records out there, and some absolutely horrible ones (see Pitchfork: Top 25 Worst Album Covers of 2006 for examples), and people tend not to notice the artwork as much as the music.

With today’s trends of downloading music illegally and using iTunes to purchase one or two songs from a record, I really believe that album art is an incredibly important aspect of how a record sells. Sure, some terribly designed records do go on to have platinum album status (example a: Yellowcard’s Ocean Avenue), simply because the music is that good that the consumer can see past the bad design jobs, but I think examples like that are far and in between.

So here are my favorite pieces of album art, specifically those of indie bands. And while these groups don’t exactly the multi platinum album status of mainstream groups that often grace the top art lists (ie: covers for groups like the Beatles, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, etc), I still think they are bold examples of what artwork should look like. As music moves more into the digital landscape, artists should pay attention to these great examples.

Hey Mercedes - Every Night Fireworks
This is easily my hands down favorite cover, which happens to be on one of my favorite albums. For those of you who aren’t familiar, this amazing record came out on Vagrant in 2002, and was Hey Mercede’s first studio LP. The photography is simply gorgeous, and the concept is just incredibly simple. Look at that sky and the contrast between the blue and the green… amazing.
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Mae - Destination: Beautiful
Ah, Mae. I remember discovering these guys my freshmen year of college via the once great MP3.com. This album, entitled Destination: Beautiful, wasn’t just cleverly named. The artwork itself is gorgeous, full of vivid, pulsating color, directly contrasting with the wonderfully melodic songs and lullaby-esque voice of Mae’s lead singer. These guys have their next album coming out on a major label, so watch out world.
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Further Seems Forever - How To Start A Fire
Further Seems Forever’s amazing second full length album, which came out on Tooth & Nail in 2003, received a little mainstream success with the single The Sound. The artwork features a beautiful painting, cut up perfectly, and a new logo for the band. Jason Oda’s design for the breathtaking 2004 release Hide Nothing was also incredible.
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Saves The Day - Stay What You Are
This is argueably the best Saves The Day album. You can all fight me, those who claim Through With Being Cool is better. Not only are the tunes more major and catchy as all hell, but the artwork is, to date, the best Saves The Day has ever had. A simple concept, a boy running through a field, the lush natural yellows and golden browns make this cover easily frame-able.
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Nightmare Of You - Self Titled
This is an album cover you have to see to beautiful. TONS of color, bright, and beautiful. A mash of flowers, just a very easy photo, makes for an amazing cover. The band’s logo is done in a fantastic script as well, I have GOT to find that font somewhere. It’s a new record, but hey, it counts. It’s also one of my favorite recent releases, Brandon from The Movielife shows us a different side of his talent.

Honorable Mentions:
The Academy Is… - Almost Here - A gorgeous illustration done by the ever talented Evan Leake.
Copeland - In Motion - Not only is the artwork lovely, but the packaging is fantastic.
Nada Surf - This Weight Is A Gift - Great artwork for a great comeback.
Paramore - All We Know Is Falling - I hate this band, but man, what fantastic artwork and photography.
Underoath - They’re Always Chasing Safety - Extremely memorable cover, ruined in the re-release.

That’s all! Keep in mind, I’m no music journalist. I just take photos. You have a favorite indie that’s not in this list? Let me know.

I was an obnoxiously precocious little kid. I spent so much time reading and writing from grade school to high school, that I was socially retarded around girls up until I entered college. My love interests were novels, the paperbacks that seemed only to collect dust in my 6th grade classroom. Perhaps I was a bit on the pretentious side, as I often scoffed at my friends who picked up R.L. Stine books, or the girls who were glued to V.C. Andrews. They didn’t understand half of what was going on. Flowers In The Attic? Get out of here.

Oh, what a shock my little mind was in for when I started picking up Vonnegut. Can someone at age 11 / 12 really appreciate novels like this? Slaughterhouse 5? Breakfast of Champions? Sirens of Titan? Cat’s Cradle?

No, probably not. But I read them all anyway.

Slaughterhouse 5 was the first of Vonnegut’s works I read. The unique voice, the constant moving back and forth through time, and the odd humor scattered throughout, really altered my perceptions of literature. Books didn’t just have to entertain. They could teach you something, deliver a message, leave you in awe and with a sense of wonderment.

Maybe I read it because the original title of the book was Slaughterhouse 5: or The Children’s Crusade, A Duty-Dance With Death, and that whole children’s crusade bit interested me. I was a kid, what did I know.

Sigh.

Vonnegut passed away on Wednesday, while I was in my room, sitting by the window, reading Franz Kafka’s The Trial. I wonder, would I have been here, in Philadelphia, reading Western literature, German literature for that matter, if I hadn’t picked up that dusty novel with yellowed pages in my 6th grade library?

A mind wanders.

Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.

So it is official. I have a new favorite band to photograph.

There are a list of groups who have been my favorites in the past. The Weakerthans, Fall Out Boy, Midtown… these groups put on some of the most insane live shows I’ve ever seen, and have been a joy to shoot and work with.

However Bang Camero officially, as my friends like to say, pwn3d! them.

Bang Camero is an 18 piece metal rock band from Boston, and came screaming into Philadelphia with their choir of 13 lead singers (what?!?), three lead guitarists, killer bassist, and raging drummer. While one might think having 13 lead singers would be kinda lame, it was anything but. The sound was nothing short of epic.

The singers performed not only gang vocals, but intense, almost operatic, 13 part harmonies. It was an experience I won’t soon forget… and neither will my camera, since it was destroyed during Bang Camero’s set.

It’s okay though, I’ll be returning home to New Jersey this weekend to pick up another camera.

Thanks to the local Origivation Magazine for providing me with a guestlist spot for this amazing show. I won’t soon forget it. Photo galleries will be up soon, as thankfully my memory card made it out alive.

I found these two boy / girl mugs sitting outside my apartment this morning. I wondered to myself, is this a sign? Is God telling me that I should pick up these sad little coffee mugs, and take to the streets, just as the strange homeless man who sits outside Fado every night has done long before me?

Because Sweet Zombie Jesus I am so broke right now.

Maybe I’ll pick up these mugs and sell them on eBay.

Quick updates? My job is awesome, I move into my sweet new apartment next week, and my crew from New Jersey are coming to visit this weekend. I’ll have to cook one of the five recipes I know how to make, and right now, quesadillas are OUT. Last night I made some and I put so much cheese inside that it would have put a lactose intolerant person into a coma.

Is it considered rude to serve Ramen noodles to eight people?

I hope not.

Recently I had Thieves & Villains over to my apartment in Philadelphia for a quick, last minute press shoot, as they were (and currently are as of this post) going to be featured over on Purevolume. It’s a bit frustrating, as the photo on Purevolume is cropped and half the guys get cut out of the thumbnail, but oh well.

This is one band you need to keep your eye on.

Made up of former members of Southcott (Rust / Universal Records) a group that put out one of my favorite albums of last year, Flee The Scene, and the singer of New Jersey’s hometown heroes Always Rushing By, they have an incredibly catchy pop punk sound with hooks that just get stuck in your head for days. I took the jacket photo for Southcott’s album, and it was great seeing my work in stores for the first time.

A label is sure to snag these guys up quick, especially since they have some incredible touring experience under their belts, having spent time on the road with groups like Faulter (Abacus), The Arrival, Adelphi (Drive Thru Records), The Track Record (Rushmore Records), and way more. They’ll be on the road all spring and summer, some dates with Adelphi and current buzz band Between The Trees, with an EP due out soon.

Gallery coming soon. For now, go listen to their tunes on myspace.

Thieves & Villains @ Myspace