Ben Morse

Ben Morse's photographs of The Revival Tour at Shepherd's Bush on Saturday are awesome. He's pretty awesome himself to be honest, maker of many Frank Turner videos (among other things) and a fun tweeter.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benmorse/sets/72157627784702399/show/

The Revival Tour 2011

I travelled up from Falmouth to London just to be a part of The Revival Tour. It was unmissable in my eyes, and I even missed an awesome party in Fal-town to go to it. (To be fair, I had train tickets booked long before the party was announced, but hey, I'm gutted I missed the party.)

The gig was like no other. Four artists, all from punk bands playing folk music; Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music and the founder/creator of The Revival Tour, Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem, Dave Hause of The Loved Ones, Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio, plus Jon Gaunt and Joe Ginsberg who play fiddle and double bass (to be honest, I'm not entirely sure who is who.) And they literally all played non-top for almost 4 hours, taking it in turns to play each other's songs.

We got a tiny bit delayed on the way to Shepherd's Bush and arrived just as the show
was starting. Here's the view from behind the bar at the back.

We didn't stick to the back for long.
Dave Hause played some of his songs first. He's awesome.

Chuck modeling a stylish hat, because he can.

Some special guests joined. Not sure who they were...

Double bass man (Joe) has amazing moustache. But also moves a lot.

Hello Dave in the darkness.

Brian!

Guy in the beanie is Dan, whom I was not familiar with before yesterday.

Brian had a lot of entertaining ramblings as usual.

"I've left stains on tables from here to Germany."

Brian on his dislike for coasters.

This other chap is Ian Perkins, the other half of the Horrible Crowes.

Edging closer.

Look at that pose!

This would have been ultimately better without the head shadow.
But lookit them sing their hearts out.

Dave somehow finds his way to that back of the crowd and surfs back to the stage.

And I'll finish with my best/favourite photograph.

AMAZING.

Folk-lore

I love Stacey Rozich's illustrations, I would even say she is probably one of my favourite illustrators. It's funny how I could probably select several favourite illustrators but when it comes to graphic design it's more about individual pieces of work. And even then, it's not the same. Anyway, I love her illustrations for the amazing folk-art style.

This particular illustration is particularly folky, in more sense than one, for the inclusion of... lutes? Stringed instruments anyway. And it seems kind of relevant to me as I am training it up to London today to attend The Revival Tour tomorrow.

If you don't know what The Revival Tour is, these are the words I keep using to describe it: "a collaborative folk music event with musicians that used to be in punk bands." The very words I used to describe it to one of my tutors yesterday. Technically all the musicians are still in their punk bands but hey.

So. Excited. Eeee!

Escher pop-up book

I'm not a massive fan of MC Escher but I've got to admit this pop-up book looks pretty cool, and impressive. Posted on Creative Review with a lovely selection of other books.

Designing/making a pop-up book is something I'd really like to do.

Word as Image

I found this very fun.

Grid: the board game

I hosted a board games night at Chy Morva last week, all bar one of us were graphic designers. This would be a cool game for us, although I'm not sure I understand the rules...

"The game consists on forming letters on top of the board. When choosing black, the correct pieces must be flipped leaving the vertical stripes as part of the background only. When choosing stripes, the correct pieces must be rotated. The letter shape must be defined by the horizontal stripes while leaving the vertical ones as part of the background."

http://www.typographyserved.com/gallery/Grid-Board-Game/2089282

R.I.P. Steve Jobs

It was 1.30am last night/this morning (I'm a student, I'm allowed to be awake at that time) when I read the news about Steve Jobs on Twitter. At first I thought it was a crude joke but then I remembered he had been pretty ill, and so a sad day it is. My Macbook is probably my favourite possession and the iPod is a pretty neat invention. He seriously changed the world.

I approve of Francesco Mugnai's words:

"Millions of people are talking about his death. The U.S. president is talking about him, his “rivals” are talking about him, everyone is talking about him. Indeed, in just 56 years, he had reached a true state of semi-divinity. He was a symbol of innovation, of humanity, of change."

"Steve was adopted, he did not graduate, he had no money. He changed the world. What excuse do we have not to change ourselves and our life? Personal transformation is the most powerful weapon for changing humanity and the planet. That’s the biggest lesson that Steve has left us. R.I.P Steve Jobs."

Marisa Seguin's maps

I love these illustrative maps by Marisa Seguin.

I particularly like Vancouver, maybe partly because I like Canada and partly because I like the colours.