I’ve been thinking about death a lot lately. Not in a morbidly compulsive, Woody Allen-like way, nor in a mid-life, “what-does-it-all-mean?” kind of way. Rather, after a recent health scare and being let go by a soulless media corporation, my work on the first novel started to take a rather melancholic turn, which, incidentally, is exactly what it needed.

Within the unshaven, all-night, booze- and stimulant-fueled last few months, and the iTunes pretty much screaming at me to give Zoloft a chance, I found myself compiling a mixtape that I wanted to be handed out at my funeral. A 32-song examination of my life via the sounds and lyrics that have most moved me the last 30 years, but with a rather morbid emphasis on the two things I’ve loved the most in my life: myself and women. Most of the songs are somewhat sad in nature even if they border on solipsism, but the fact is that when you make a mixtape—even if it’s compiled for someone in particular and might or might not get you laid (as the awesome Dave Brown cleverly points out)—it’s still an exercise in egotism much in the same vein of googling one’s own name.

Below is a heavily abridged version of that playlist. I took the title from my favorite songwriter, Leonard Cohen. Anyone half as familiar with Cohen as I am knows that the Phil Spector-produced Death of a Ladies Man is his worst album, but certainly the one with the best title. The accompanying picture is a photograph of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell at some festival. I actually have the poster version near my bed. Mitchell has this extremely jubilant, teethy, Kool-Aid smile, but you can’t see Cohen’s face, just his back facing away from the camera.

Unlike my fellow players below, I hardly have the time to fantasize about jet setting off to far-away environs, whether tropical or tundra. I’m just stuck in America. Stuck with the same ghosts that haunt Thom Yorke in “Pyramid Song.” Stuck in the same moment that Leonard probably was on many other occasions. Embracing the women I love with my back to the camera.

Seth Combs
The Last Blog on Earth

1. The Man Who Loved Women \\ Tom Petty
2. I Will Kill Again \\ Jarvis Cocker
3. Not Dark Yet \\ Bob Dylan
4. I Want Love \\ Elton John
5. Do You Realize?? \\ The Flaming Lips
6. How \\ Badly Drawn Boy
7. Hell Yeah \\ Neil Diamond
8. Lucky Man \\ The Verve
9. Pyramid Song \\ Radiohead
10. It’ll All Work Out \\ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
11. Dead Flowers \\ The Rolling Stones
12. One Man Guy \\ Rufus Wainwright
13. Sometimes \\ DMX
14. The Message \\ NaS
15. A Change Is Gonna Come \\ Sam Cooke
16. In My Life \\ Johnny Cash
17. Tower Of Song \\ Leonard Cohen

This painting was hanging at the Belly Up until someone yanked it off the wall sometime in January.

Times are tough, I know… but really? I suppose someone had one too many PBR tallboys that fateful night in Solana Beach and realized that Jeff’s piece would look great in their living room. This would be a good example of how to not support an artist.

If anyone has any, you know, promising leads or something,  you can submit them here anonymously using a fake email address to ensure your safety.

17 years ago a mixtape dramatically changed my life.

This angry looking girl who sat across from me in art class was always wearing knee-high red Doc Martens and changing her hair color.  At the time I was a semi-clueless sophomore jock.  One day we started rapping about music.  She was like, “oh if you like so and so you should listen to this and that.”   A week later, bam, she slaps a mixtape on me. 90% of the bands on the tape were totally new to me.  It rocked.  I listened to the tape relentlessly.  Six months later I bought my own pair of giant Doc Martens.

The Dinosaur Jr. track #8 is a tribute to my long lost art class friend.  It was on her original tape from 1991.

I hope you enjoy this odd mix of psych/indie/folk/rock. The only common denominator here is that when I hear any these tracks in my car, I turn the volume way up.

-Nate
Urbanist Guide

1. Hello – Mr Oizo
2. Noam Chomsky Spring Break 2002 – Department Of Eagles
3. Milk Skates – Black Moth Super Rainbow
4. Ifa – The Benders & Tunji Oyelana
5. Mary Susan – Blood On The Wall
6. I’ll Believe in Anything (Album) – Wolf Parade
7. Sleeper Hold – No Age
8. The Wagon – Dinosaur Jr
9. What I See – The Dirty Projectors
10. Second Chance – Liam Finn
11. Low Gravity – The Acorn
12. Lay and Love – Bonnie “Prince” Billy
13. Heartbeats – Jose Gonzalez
14. The Wolves (Act 1 & 2) – Bon Iver
15. Crap Kraft Dinner – Hot Chip

We are certainly excited for the unveiling of Subtext’s latest, the work of Jolby, at the opening Saturday, February 21 6-10 pm.

Jolby (Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols) tell a story about what “home” really means inside the depths of an aging forest filled with odd characters, illustrious patterns, vibrant colors, and hand-rendered type. The show tells this imaginative story using a variety of mediums including screen prints, paintings, drawings, and even detailed handmade plush dolls.

Mark your calendars for the night of Friday, March 6th! Jeffrey Durkin of Breadtruck Films will be showing a selection of his short films on the big screen at The Pearl Hotel.

Sip on cocktails and check out the films, including a documentary of the Sanctuary143 CONSPIRE event; “Mixed Message”, a film about a graphic designer with ADD; and “SCALE”, a look into the life of Miki Iwasaki, furniture designer, architect, and teacher.

The day’s drive starts at a red light alongside a curved cement fortress, a corner store painted in the likes of a green-and-yellow checkerboard. Cactus leaves for sale on one side, a man spraying fire from his mouth on the other. When green comes, I’ll know what to do. I could do it every day. Race through cobblestone roundabouts, circular kingdoms ruled by sword-wielding Aztecan giants and dead presidents. Fly over sidewalkless bridges that cover the concrete river. Dodge mammoth potholes that lurk along the pockmarked boulevards, avenues lined with women made of both clean white plastic and tarnished brown putty and square trees trimmed to look like the landscaping of an 8-bit video game. Brake, gas, brake, gas, brake, my eye all the while waving at the monstrous eagle flag waving at me from afar. Scale the rolling hills of urban sprawl, each its own tidal wave disguised as a wall of Technicolor confetti. Count the specks as I feel myself climbing into the sky. Follow the fence westward through whiffs of sewage and street food, to where the line between “here” and “there” switches from rusted panels to a roofless cage made of railroad tracks before trailing into the sea. There, in the shadow of the bullring, pause in the company of the coconut shacks, cotton candy peddlers, divided families and the falling sun, and know that the long night ahead, wrapped in neon-streaked disco twilight, will close with another slow dawn that I’ll dedicate to not letting the fear of gunfire keep me from driving the same lap tomorrow. Welcome to my Tijuana taxicab.

Derrik Chinn is a permanent tourist.  See for yourself at derrikchinn.blogspot.com.

1. “Sex City” // Van She
2. “Wake Up” // Lo-Fi-Fnk
3. “Vamos a La Playa” // Righeira
4. “Moonlight Affair” // Silent Circle
5. “Fashion Victims” // Zemmoa
6. “Time Stands Still” // Cut Copy
7. “Double Shadow” // Junior Boys
8. “I Want Your Love” // Chromatics
9. “Life After Sundown” // Glass Candy
10. “Pegaso” // Professor Genius
11. “Neverland” // Silent Shout
12. “Lady Operator” // Mirage
13. “Caught By Surprise” // Laban
14. “Sunlight In Electric Wires” // San Serac
    

Gavin Potenza’s Homage to the Stamp is a striking reminder that print will never die. Plenty of additional eye-candy after the jump.

This Saturday/Valentine’s Day cruise over to Velo Cult bike shop to check out the first of a series of art shows at their digs on Fern Street in the heart of South Park. This one features five artists including Acamonchi, Anthony Bareno, and Matt Lingo.

I’d like to pretend I’m cooler than I am and my musical tastes are more obscure than they are, but this mixtape is me.  I like folk music and alt country, mainly, and the more melancholic and beautiful the better.  I tried to put together a playlist that represented the type of music I actually listen to on a daily basis. Neutral Milk Hotel, the Decemberists, Bon Iver, Sam Amidon and Bonnie “Prince” Billy is the music I fell in love with in the last decade — some within the last few months. And I grew up on bands like The Allman Brothers, The Kinks and The Band (thanks mom and dad).

I’ve been in San Diego for almost six years now, and local bands like Transfer, The Album Leaf and, more recently, Calico Horse and Joel P. West, have made me proud to be a part of the San Diego cultural scene.   I included Bostich + Fussible (of the Nortec Collective) because I’ve lived in Tijuana for the last two and a half years, and the songs they make are such a perfect representation of the chaos, fun and excitement of my beloved TJ.  Hedwig and The Angry Inch is on my list, too, simply because the song is freakin’ awesome. Plus, musicals make this world more enjoyable, don’t you think?

Kinsee Morlan
San Diego CityBeat + Adapta Project
http://tijuanatales.wordpress.com/

1. Two – Headed Boy    Neutral Milk Hotel
2. Pale Green Things    The Mountain Goats
3. Skinny Love    Bon Iver
4. For Every Field There’s a Mole    Bonnie “Prince” Billy
5. The Breeze    Dr. Dog
6. Random Rules    Silver Jews
7. Saro    Sam Amidon
8. The Crane Wife 3    The Decemberists
9. Hoppípolla    Sigur Rós
10. The MP    The Album Leaf
11. Melissa    The Allman Brothers Band
12. The Weight    The Band
13. Well Respected Man    The Kinks
14. 28th & NE Davis    Joel P West
15. Gold    Calico Horse
16. Everybody In    Transfer
17. Papa Was A Rodeo    The Magnetic Fields
18. Origin Of Love    Hedwig & The Angry Inch
19. Tijuana Sound Machine    Nortec Collective presents Bostich + Fussible

Local film maker Jeff Durkin of Breadtruck Films has just released Sanctuary143’s CONSPIRE documentary. His art has reached new levels with this film (larger version here) and we can’t wait to see his next release.

Contact Jeff for a DVD ($10), and support a local creative on his journey.

Mark your calendars for March 6th! Jeff will be screening the CONSPIRE documentary and two other short films at The Pearl Hotel.