The Latest in Snaps

Le Grand Cru had some amazing times working on the BLOG that will
be released sometime in December over in Walla Walla with one of
my hero's Dallas Reedy. He's genius at fonts,web, humor, drums and
beard.. hehehe. On the way I stopped in Stevens Pass to take some
amazing pics of the trees in the fog. It's my favorite part of the
trip anywhere east Washington.

Mike,Ben,Vanja,Roald and I went for some mile high coffee
on the 40th floor of the tallest tower in Seattle. The white tower
with the point used to be the tallest tower here, alas no longer



Ben Blood turned another year wiser with a tasty chocolate cake
made by the amazing chef Vanja. She even made a camera using
the frosting! How cool? That's my girl!

"just the two of us"

"we can make it if we try"

Baby Face and Will Smith didn't know that this
song could be more applicable than father and son.

Years down the road two kids turning ambitious would
live in SEA-TOWN and pursue a future they were
making deliberately!

D'lish for the needy

What is this picture? I'll tell you! BAM!

It's 2000+ Korean folks in Seoul making Kimchi for the needy,
thas whuz up! I used to eat this everyday at the dental lab
on Beacon Hill. Uncle Kim would prepare some Kimchi,
and Sunny would make some rice or miso. I would get the
plates ready, I'm not gifted in Korean cooking, not yet that is!
Know what I'm sayin'?! There's always room to grow.
Get Korean and eat some Kimchi!

What is it? WELL its a traditional pungent dish of fermented
vegetables mixed with chilli. Usually it's made out of cabbage,
but once I had some that was made out of this radish that was
bigger then a decent sized baking potato! Not many people
can stomach it, but you have to try it if you haven't before.
You'll never have anything like it, I promise.

Needles Ex. 3

Ladies....heehehehe...someone REALLY needs to make this!

TYPE FUN

Currency Folds

So what do you do when all the banks around the globe start caving?

You take the little currency that you have left and neglect your need
for basics, food, gas, clothing, canned goods and take those colorful
pieces of paper and fold them up like origami. Like this Japanese
kid! SUH-WEET!!

Needles Ex. 2

K my mom found this sick sweater as well and apparently
the russians are responsible for making these clever designs.

So my desire still stands...anyone?

Get Your Needles Out!

Hey Ma can you make this for me? or Vanja? or Lindsey? Anyone?
This has to be the greatest thing ever! :D

Dress Kicks

In the shoe scene right now it is important to cash in on the
dress-tenni-shoe. They are super versatile from dressed up
to dressed down. They wear like a dress shoe but feel like a
tenni-shoe when you walk. Good looks and comfort?

Who would have thought?

It's a great oppurtunity for start up shoe companies to have
instant eyes on their product because they are rising on the
bell curve of demand and that means after the trend setters
get their hands on them the mass market stores will produce
great quantities and flood the market with imitations.
So if your are a manufacturer or have ever dreamed of
making shoes, make dress high top kicks or lo-cut kicks now.
If you are a buyer or collector, get em now while they
are hot and before the made quantities lower the quality
and excite the demand.

The latest brand to make em fresh & hot are a company
called Schmoove, their site is gross for navigation, but check
out their latest collection. Here are some yummy samples.
They are also available online at URBN if you enjoy em as
much as i do and have a 150+ bones to spare. K i don't have
that currency cred, but yeah i dream.

(click on image for larger/detailed view)

Fled-A Western Tale

Long were the hours that stretched into days as he hurled himself
across the desolate plains that reached for the dying sun. His only
companero's were the sweat on his forehead and the 4 legged beasts
in their yokes heaving for every breath. Some said he was running
from the law and some said from a bitter love. Whatever the reasons,
they must be as thick as the cloud of dust he was leaving behind
him, for the speed he pursued was certainly past good judgment
and without any respect for the barren & treacherous land.

The night laid siege to his mental stability as the wolf would
croon and the weed would bend the pitch of the wind. The
vegetation offered little resistance to the biting cold and his
dreams were filled with torment. Relief came not too soon
as the sun peaked into the tangerine sky. The crackling fire
brewed a sludge we could not dare consider to be coffee.
A polished spur would make due for reflecting his resemblance
as he pulled out his deer bone buck knife to scrape away the shadow
that had crept upon his face during the restless night.
This day would be longer than before as he measured the
supplies to the days ahead: A two pound bag of oats, some
dried venison, a little bit of honey, and some coffee beans.
Ready to meet the day he dosed the coals with kicked up
dirt. He rubbed the backs of the beasts empathizing that they
too knew what it was to carry a load. He thought to himself that
their shoulders could take the weight more then his heart could,
but then again, guilt is in the eye of the unforgiven. He climbed
back onto the device of his liberation and cracked the reigns with
a fervor he would have to maintain through the day. A couple notes
slipped past his tongue and around his teeth that old familiar
melody of "ol' Susanna don't you cry for me" fought through.
A song in his heart and an eternal dessert view to swallow him in.
"Giddy up!" he commanded with a shout and the fierce cloud
of their wake began to pile up into the turquoise sky.

In Touch With a Legend

Friday I put the guitar down after finding the right tones
for the next track to take a break and decide on lunch.
I see I have a very strange area code from a missed call
and usually am suspicious of people ringing me who
I don't know. For some reason I think I should call
this number back right away so I ring the number.

'hello i believe i just missed your call?'

"Hey Tommy! Man I'm glad you returned my call"

'Yeah but I don't know who I'm speaking to, who is this?'

"It's me Pedro!"

"Whoa! Cool I haven't talked to you for ages how are you?!"

"Just great, I just flew into Seattle and was wondering if you
guys were still here and i have a couple hours before i
need to be somewhere and was wondering if we could
meet up?"

'YES!!!!!!'

We quickly make arrangements to do lunch at Panera
and the anticipation builds! Here's the history folks:
Pedro is actually Pastor Pedro my old youth pastor from
back in the glory years of Michigan. I was super close to
him during that time he came and he was actually one
of the first people to hear garage voices' first songs
7 years ago! :D He has given an ear and arms to hug
thru many crazy details of my life from mistakes,
doubts, to vanja, to the death of my grandpa, He
has always been dear and close to my heart. To
have him pop in just like that in the middle of
the recording process was really special as well,
he knew us before we started and now where we are
7 years later to see how much we've grown as
people and as a band. It was so special to have a
hero of mine back in my tangible life for an
afternoon. Here we are in our smiles!

VW FIND!

Vanja and I have an affinity towards older cars. The angular shape of them, the cool interiors with hard plastic angles, nice leather seats, sometimes they even have wood in the dash and other accents in arm rests. The controls inside older cars are really cool as well with very sparse and simple design. It always make me think of the early 80's and communist Germany and then Goodbye Lenin! (such a great film).

Last Sunday between catching and missing busses we found this gem with cool metal rack and wood accents on top for packing fun stuff on. It was an old rabbit. :D Vanja walked a couple steps past after we had taken pictures and thought she should turn and right a message to be placed under the windshield wipers which read 'if you ever want to sell or get rid of this awesome car please contact me at...' :D She's pretty cool and so is this car. The second snap is of her writing the message on the hood!!! I tried editing them a little like how a Holga would take them. I think the 3rd snap is the closest to that intention. MMMm.. Holga Vanja shot a roll with her Holga at one of the days that GV was in the studio! woot woot!

Zurick Shoes

I really like what Zurick is doing with their shoes. They are simple,
crisp, and clean. They also look really well made. I've been thinking
about the winter and how white hightops don't really make it past
fall in flying colors and that when the cold months come so do gross
weather conditions that harm nice white high tops. So i thought
that black kicks would be good. I've seen some i like by Sneaky Steve
and Lacoste but tonight i stumbled on these new Zurick kicks and
you what this specific pair is called?.......THOMAS!

How suh-weet is that?!

It must be a sign! hehehee..

A sign that i need a job so i actually could afford shoes! Word!

Swiss 721 BT Roman

Karli Fairbanks designed all the goodness of GV's last record and in it
she used a font that i've come to enjoy! I was inspired this morning
by old German/Swiss manuals and thus created a series of 4 posters
with different type placements and Karli's font. Enjoy

Sabbath 2

Sabbath afternoon is a time for great food, great friends, & great
interaction. Tric, Melissa, and I spent the afternoon at Vanja's
casa and had a feast of amazing goodness. I love this picture of
Tric above, it reminds of Carol Kings album cover of Tapestry
for some reason, maybe its the warmth and shadows? Dunno.

Vanja made an amazing potato/rice casserole, bruschetta, and
a lovely salad. I jumped in on the zucchini/squash/onion saute
blend. For refreshments we had Cherry Capri Sun and 7up!

Dessert was Turtle brownies fresh out of the oven with French
Vanilla ice cream, it was gone before I could take a picture!

The Beautiful Chef!

We listened to jazz during the whole day and some Delta Spirit.
We looked at some of Vanjas latest pictures from Europe and
some of her latest wedding shots and i was blown away by them,
supreme quality. I drew a bunch of silly drawings and a portrait
of Melissa under a minute, not to much quality there!

We ended the Sabbath with a couple of songs on an out of
tune guitar, Patrick on the banjo, and Vanja on the harmonica.
We read a chapter out of Psalms and closed with prayer. It was
a delightful Sabbath afternoon. I want all my friends to enjoy
the peace and nourishment of Sabbath like this and even more
than this. There's nothing like it, you can't reproduce it, it is a
gift given to us by God to enjoy Him and each other. So look
forward to your next Sabbath!

Oh and if you guys have any recommendations for other
wonderful Sabbath afternoon things to do give me a shout,
we can grow from each other!

Sabbath

We've been in the studio for the past 3 days from 10ish to 7ish and
for some reason i feel completely exhausted. Each day we play
the same song over and over and get maybe 2 songs done on average.
It's loads of fun and a bit challenging. The sound that is coming
from what our producer can do is crazy good. The tones are dlish
and he has a great ear for adding things, fixing things, taking away
things, just a great balance that has quickly earned our trust.

But back to being tired.
It's nice to take a break from it. It's nice to step back. It's nice
to put your mind on something entirely different.

HAPPY SABBATH! The cure to any difficult week, to any
exhaustion, and to many faithless moments. I'm savoring
this one for sure.

I pray you kids receive the rest and peace you deserve!

SAVOR IT! It's a special day designed with you in mind!