well, now that i got a few projects out of the way and have made some good lead way on some other things, i can finally start participating in drawergeeks again. woo! this week’s topic was the lone ranger.

i sorta struggled on this one. i don’t know about the rest of you but cowboys and gunslingers are hard! so many bells and whistles and holsters to think of. and don’t get me started on horses. apologies to anyone that actually knows how a saddle and harness attach to a horse (i was about researched out at that point).

MUSIC! bands/artists i’m into right now:

mgmt- i think they put addictive chemicals in their music.

the frames- finally saw once a little while ago and am shocked i’m just now finding out about these guys.

need to breathe- they opened for third day a couple months back and i think it’ll be the last time they simply open for somebody again.

murder by death- this was perfect lone ranger drawing music. thanks to keath for this one.

sera cahoone- thanks to kean for mentioning her. really, all i need is a banjo and a harmonica to make me happy.

ralph stanley- ’nuff said.

iron man is finally out!

i got so busy over the weekend that i didn’t get a chance to post the drawing i did for friday’s drawergeeks. i present to you, the mullets!

the subject was rednecks, but i think mine came out a little bit more hillbilly then redneck. i’m actually a big fan of jug band music. there’s a wonderful earthy energy to it all. big fan of the banjo too.

in the spirit of music, this feels like a good time to list what my ten favorite albums that came out in 2007 were. they may not have been the best albums, but they were the ones i found myself listening to the most often. listed in semi-particular order, with no linking because linking takes too long.

1. Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
2. Radiohead - In Rainbows
3. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
4. Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
6. David Crowder Band - Remedy
7. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
8. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
9. Deas Vail - All The Houses Look The Same
10. Travis - The Boy with No Name

if your favorite album is not on there, it means i did not hear it or it’s number eleven.

so last night i went to one of the best rock concerts of my life to see the david crowder band. it’s the second time i’ve seen them but this was my first full show (with the also amazing the myriad (these guys ROCKED!) and phil wickham). david crowder band has been my favorite band ever since my dad introduced them to me over a year ago and once i realized christian music doesn’t entirely suck now. and man- if you ever get a chance to see them, don’t miss the opportunity. even if you aren’t into christian music- these guys put on one fantastic concert.

and although i love, love, love their music and crowder has to be one of the most entertaining and humorous worship leaders out there (who else can include a keytar (as seen above), a guitar hero guitar (reprogrammed to actually rock), a banjo and megaphones all into one show?), it was the awesome atmosphere of the evening that really made the event.

one of the things that crowder said that really resonated with me was that “if we all lived like we sang, the world would be a better place”. and he’s so obviously right. praising God for two and a half hours with hundreds? a thousand? however many people can fit into the hard rock down here… doesn’t mean anything if we don’t go out and live by that example out here on this planet. the tour is called the remedy tour for more reasons than that’s just the name of their new album. crowder and friends are sincerely trying to make the world a better place in the way all people should be making an effort to do everyday. crowder even wrote up a specific list for everyone there with ways to help out the orlando community. that’s awesome! how often do you walk into a rock concert and find ways to help people! just the small things. like giving towels and socks to a nearby shelter like we all did last night. that’s all it takes. and it doesn’t take very long. just live like you love God. even if you don’t quite know him yet. i think you have a fairly good idea of how he’d want you to live if you did. live like you sing!

i’m the busiest i’ve ever been in a long, long time, so i have no new art to show you today (though i do hope to have some stuff to show you/announce soon!). i’d be stressing out to no end if i didn’t know God has his hands on my (very sore) shoulders helping me along. but i need to make more of an effort to return his grace to his creations at every opportunity. among all the pixies and siths and drawergeeks, i don’t say how much i love God often enough on this blog. and i guess this is that post.

so thank you Christ for all the blessings i don’t deserve, for making each year better than the last and for the AWESOME concert we were at last night. and help me return the favor out there. :)

not really a vehicle lover so here’s a pimped out pixie instead for drawergeeks pimp your ride topic.

it’s the first cool day here in tampa! i’m finally starting to get into the fall spirit- still my favoritest of seasons despite not many color changes here in florida. there’s a crispness in the air, the humidity level lowers, and a ton of my favorite bands decide to release their new albums.

speaking of which, has everyone downloaded the new radiohead yet? you really don’t have an excuse since you can pay however much you want for it. i was listening to it on my way to work this morning and, despite it’s short audio length, think it’s a perfect album for this time of year.

miss cleo was the topic of this week’s drawergeeks. my cleopatra battles the evil xerxikes, invaders from the planet xerx.

yeah- i made that up. i have no idea where xerx is. or if there even is a xerx. or even if they are evil. if there are xerxikes somewhere out there and they are a peaceful race, i’d hate to start spreading rumors. so don’t listen to me!

new david crowder is out this week! i’ll be picking that up with the new athlete album that is also out. and maybe the new foo fighters. there’s also new iron and wine, jose gonzalez, eddie vedder, band of horses….

sigh. that time of year i guess…

jen and i will be seeing david crowder in november. with the awesome phil wickham. who i, by taking the time to link to him, just found out also has a new album out on tuesday. jeez!

drawergeeks topic this week was hotdog stand. i owe jen for helping me come up with this idea:

bands i’m really into right now: bloc party! i still remember has been my catchy fun song of the summer. i’m so late catching on to this band and i have no idea why. their music is highly addictive. as is wolf parade’s! i’ll believe in anything has been stuck in my head for over a week now!

and at work this morning, someone brought in cupcakes with cow sprinkles. i didn’t even know they made cow sprinkles! they taste just like regular sprinkles but better because they are shaped like cows.

hooray for fridays!

one of my pals slash comic shop managers is putting out a comic of his own this year called average ordinary super-heroes. it’s about a slew of superheroes who would rather sit around playing video games or hanging out at the pub rather than the hard work it takes to go out and save the world every other evening. anyhoo, he asked if i would draw a pin-up for the back of the first issue and, seeing as how he helps compile my reading entertainment every wednesday, i saw no good reason to decline his request. he also told me to make sure some of my characters where in the pinup as well. so that’s his main character, gold eagle, swinging behind my own superhero- captain cow and his incredible grappling udders.

MUSIC! picked up the new black rebel motorcycle club album last week and it is thirteen tracks of pure awesomeness. BRMC has gone from a band that i just sorta liked to a band that i love in a relatively short amount of time. baby 81 is a wonderful listen all the way through, harking back to the familiar sound they built with their first couple of albums but at the same time adding the melodic strengths they grew on their previous record, the equally wonderful HOWL. the album also causes some strange nostalgia for what american rock-n-roll use to sound like. so how excited was i to find out they are going to be just a short drive away in orlando in june? very excited! woohoo! it’s concert time again!

for drawergeeks this week:

so a couple of albums i’m really into right now: the new modest mouse is totally rocking my world. it took me a few listens to get used to the inclusion of the smiths’ guitarist but now that i am i can’t get enough of it. plus james mercer of the shins is all over the place on it. also, i know this came out about a year ago, but i’m really impressed with the killers last album. i enjoyed hot fuss well enough, but it was definitely an album that catered to radio friendly play- or at least resulted in it. i’m sure, because of the popularity of it, the studio probably encouraged the killers to kind of repeat what they did before. instead you can tell the killers made the kind of album they wanted to. and the multiple times the group sings together on it is great. makes me feel like i’m in a tavern or something, listening to my mates sit around and drunkingly sing their favorite pub songs. for those of you who couldn’t really get into hot fuss, i encourage you to check out sam’s town to get another sense of what the killers can sound like.

drawergeeks is up! this week’s topic was titans. hydras can be considered titans right? if not, they kind of reside in the same world.

because i needed to get this one done pretty fast, i tried something a little different this time. i was inspired by dave stewart’s amazing coloring in books like the spirit and superman confidential. mine didn’t turn out even in the same realm of coolness as his, but it was nice to try something new. i’ve probably typed this before, but that’s one of the great things about drawergeeks. besides giving me a topic of something i might not have drawn otherwise, it also gives me an excuse to try out new styles or approaches to things. they don’t always work out, but i always learn something from them.

alsoooo…. jen and i saw the flaming lips last night and i have to say that it was possibly one of the greatest concerts, if not life experiences, i have ever been too. we were at a big party with more confetti, balloons, and lasers than anything ever before. so, all of you who told me i was going to have an awesome time- you were right!

so DC is in the process of “sexing” up all of it’s female characters it seems. they’ve done it to supergirl and now they’re doing it to mary marvel as well. (for those who don’t know who mary marvel is, she’s billy (captain marvel) batson’s sister who shares his powers granted him from the wizard shazam). mary’s one of the last wholesome mainstream comic heroines out there but times- they are a’changin i guess. and i drew this last week in remembrance of a more classic time…

 

also, three bands i’m really into right now: deas vail, the arcade fire, and silversun pickups.

drawergeeks subject this week was cavemen. and it’s been raining a lot here.

on a music note, congrats to the shins for crafting the first great album of 2007.

tomorrow very early in the morning i’m going to go and get some wisdom teeth removed and a few cavities filled. one of the wisdom teeth is impacted which should be a whole lot of fun. i can’t wait. i’ll likely be in pain for a couple days afterwards which i’m also really looking forward too. it’s the start to a great week! anyhoo, i don’t talk about comics, movies and music enough…

music- i’m really in to sufjan stevens right now. i can’t get his song chicago out of my head. i’ve got to thank my friend jeff denton for introducing me to him.

movies- saw snakes on a plane this weekend and it was every bit as bad as i hoped it would be. i was hysterical. now i’m ready for the fall crop of films, which are usually a big breath of fresh air after the ridiculous and over-the-top summer ones.

comics- my new favorite web comic is zip and li’l bit by trade loeffler. the story is just getting started but i already love it. the art is amazing (love his linework) and there are plenty of sheep. lots of sheep is always a good reason to read a comic.

on the paper side of things, i’m really into the x-men books again after suffering through many, many bad issues (except astonishing of course). mike carey and chris bachalo are a big part of my recovering interest but ed brubaker and billy tan are doing an awesome job as well. and, it’s not really x-men related, but everybody who’s into superhero comics should check out nextwave by warren ellis and stuart immonen. it’s absurdedly awesome.

speaking of x-men, i created a new x-character! she’s got magical mutant pixie powers and there’s even an ‘x’ in her name! i call her piXie! (i’m so lame..)

i just wanted to take a moment to mention how awesome my dad is. and that may seem kinda odd considering what day it is tomorrow, but i’ll say something nice to mom tomorrow.

my dad is awesome because he introduced me to the david crowder band. and i know this album came out last year and they’ve been around a few years before that, but i’m just now hearing about them. when did christian music get to be so good? i’ve been kinda out of the loop for the past few years because for awhile, it just.. wasn’t. but i’ve been listening to a lot more christian music lately thanks to a terrific radio station we have here in tampa, and things have changed. a collision (or 2×7+14) is seriously the best album i’ve heard in a long time. it is just on so may different levels, teetering at the beginning on alternative radio friendly rock (the first four songs just grow on you) then taking a gradual turn towards some southern gospel moments in the middle and then just accelerating non-stop for the second half the album with some of the most powerful, melodic sucession of songs i havn’t heard since, well, i don’t know since. i’m not a music reviewer by any means. i won’t be able to explain to you why i think certain music is good (or bad). but i do know i love this album, and i encourage everyone, christian or no, to at least check it out.

on the secular side of things, i’ve had the new flaming lips album for over a month now and i’m still loving it. then again, i love everything the flaming lips do. and i just got the new snow patrol this week and am finding it to be a great follow up to final straw. not sure if it’s as addicting as final straw, but still good. kinda like dcfc’s plans after transatlanticism.