I wish I knew then what I know now

Cheez-its rule dude

2012-01-21T21:49:00.000-08:00

This is what my friends and I do when we're bored on a Saturday night...

cool things

2011-12-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

My roommate Elliot told me to check this out. Its kind of sad but as I grow older and get more jaded its much harder for a work of art to really strike me. Or maybe that's just a refinement of taste... anyways this is one of the COOLEST things I have seen in a while. I guess that's what this blog is all about, cool things.
Dig it:

The Shrine / An Argument from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

Michelle MacNaught 9.22.1990 -11.20.11

2011-11-24T19:59:00.000-08:00

Last sunday, I was hit with the horrible news that my good friend Michelle MacNaught had left us. She had been fighting stage four ovarian cancer for over a year. It is hard for me to believe that she is gone. I can still hear the echos of her laugh. It's unreal.
She was such a beautiful,down to Earth person with a love for life. She never sweated the small stuff and was always out to have a good time. I'll never forget the first night I met her, we bonded over our love for rock n' roll music and the great Irish metal band Thin Lizzy.
Not only was she a beautiful person but she was a talented artist. She created gorgeous brightly colored mono prints and etchings inspired by her love and appreciation for nature. Her woodcut prints were so graphic and powerful. She used her art as a means to cope with her sickness. Even when faced with a life threatening illness she continued to build a large body of work. On Tuesday November 15th through Thursday 17th 2011 she had an exhibition at the Leo Koenig Gallery in Chelsea. It was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. She offered us a glimpse into her world, her struggles as she fought against her sickness. Every work was so heart felt and real, I can't remember the last time I saw a work of art nonetheless an art show that brought me to tears. It was heartbreaking. Michelle was a fighter, an inspiration to anyone graced by her presence. On this thanksgiving I am thankful to have known such an amazing person. She may have lost the battle to cancer but she won our hearts.
Michelle, you will not be forgotten.
I will forever think of you anytime I hear this song.

Here is a beautiful interview with her:

Michelle - Art. from Erica Hill Studio on Vimeo.

Dick Dale

2011-08-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

"Misirlou" what an awesome tune by Dick Dale the king of surf guitar. Love how his backing band is gently swaying back and forth together.

2011-07-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago on a trip back to my birthplace of Torrington, Connecticut I stopped by my local Goodwill store. I am an avid thrift store shopper and can spend hours there. Anytime any of my friends accompany me they always end up having to drag me out of the store. I've visited a good amount of thrift stores in my 22 years on this Earth, and between the Salvation Army and Goodwill, Torrington always takes the cake. It never fails. Anyways, I was browsing around this Goodwill, with a shopping cart full of clothes, a record player, and a bunch of records, about to call it a day, when all of a sudden I glanced up on to a top shelf, and saw the holy grail of all thrift store finds.
Behold!

Its a lamp with a base made out of what appears to be 4 goat legs. So crazy. I keep looking at it on my desk and expect it to scurry off! It kind of creeps me out, but I love it.

I was staring at it tonight, and decided to do a sketch of it. I think it'd be cool to do weekly posts from my sketch book, even though I hate showing people my sketches, I suppose it'd be interesting to see the bare bones and beginnings to my work.

Lately my time has been dedicated to working on the art for the new Wyldlife album, which should be dropping quite soon... As soon as we get the art straightened out...
Here's a fresh new track that will be featured on the full length entitled "City of Inbreds":

In other Wyldlife news, last weekend we played a show at Webster Hall with CJ Ramone. That was pretty surreal, to share the stage with one of my heroes. My first Ramones album was Mondo Bizzaro on cassette, which I purchased from the Music Town down the street from my house. (I realize this is kind of backwards in terms of owning Ramones records, but I loved it regardless and still do.) I'd like to thank everyone who came out for the event, and for those who didn't here's a peek at the mayhem you missed:

(If you look closely you can see me and the wyldlife boys, going crazy in the front!)
RAMONES FOREVER!

The other night I went out skateboarding and decided to bring my camera along. I realized that when you set the shutter speed to a really slow setting and are skating really fast in the middle of the street you can get some cool photos.

I'll leave you with some Hound Dog Taylor featuring Little Walter:

Thanks for stopping by,

-Spencer

2011-07-04T20:53:00.001-07:00

This looks so awesome.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Eat some hot dogs!

2011-06-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Two of the coolest cats to ever walk the face of the Earth.

2011-06-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

We've been working hard for the past few months on our next full length album! It should be dropping mid-July!
Also, our show at Webster Hall with none other than CJ Ramone (who is playing an all Ramones set, with legendary producer Daniel Rey), is coming up on July 9th! Get your tickets here

LED ZEPPELIN RULZZZZ

2011-06-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Been workin, workin, workin. It never stops... ever. I've been occupied with some poster work for the band He is We, as well as album artwork for the next full length Wyldlife album. Its gonna be huge! Should be out by mid July if we get our shit together!
Anyways heres an awesome Zep vid.

What an awesome band, don't know why people are sitting down though, so lame.

-Spencer

NEW FAVORITE BAND AT THE MOMENT AWARD...

2011-06-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

The new favorite band at the moment award goes to Jeff the Brotherhood. They are a drum and guitar duo from Nashville Tennessee. The singer plays a three stringed guitar through an Ampeg bass amp, and gets the heaviest of sounds! Apparently these S.O.B.'s played at my school and I missed it. What a bummer. Dig it.

Smith Westerns

2011-05-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

Link Wray

2011-05-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

Look at the swagger on this guy. Damn.

2011-05-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

This is what I'm talking about. What a band.

Download it

2011-05-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to play with these fellas on the 26th!

2011-04-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hope to see you there!

New Painting!

2011-04-27T03:25:00.000-07:00

How to make a painting of Dee Dee Ramone in less than two minutes.

T-shirts, Shows, Ramones, etc.

2011-04-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

I've got a few Charlie Sheen "Dying is for Fools" shirts if anyone wants one get at me. Only $10, proceeds go to the "keep my ass from being broke fund."

New Wyldlife shirts! Killer Wyldlife, the Champagne of bands! Only $10 as well. Proceeds go to help support the World Wyldlife Foundation, better known as 4 hungry dudes on tour.

In other Wyldlife news... We've got two totally radical shows coming up!
The first is on May 26th at the legendary club Maxwell's in Hoboken, with the Biters, and the Booze. Two of THE BEST ROCK N ROLL BANDS I HAVE EVER SEEN/ HEARD. I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

The second is with CJ Ramone who is playing an all Ramones set at the Webster Hall studio on July 9th! Thats right folks we're opening up for a Ramone! He may not be the most well known Ramone, but he is a Ramone nonetheless. As Tommy Ramone said, C.J. kept the band young as he joined the band in the late 80's and continued with them till they disbanded in the 90's. I can remember playing bass along with CJ's basslines on the album "Mondo Bizzaro." I had the cassette! I can't begin to tell you how stoked I am for this show. I was planning on buying a ticket myself, but now I get to share the stage with the dude!!!
If anyone is interested we're pre-selling tickets for only $15.

love,
-Spencer

ITS COMING

2011-04-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

Thats right folks! Its coming! My very own senior art show in the Purchase college Stood. There will be art by your's truly and other talented senior art & design majors. Theres going to be a ton of free food. There will be live music brought to you by The Radio Exiles, Space Ghost Cowboys, and of course Wyldlife.
It sure to be a night of rock n' roll debauchery.
The coolest cinco de mayo party you have ever been to.

Stay posted for more info.
love,
-Spencer

2011-04-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to catch the Strokes at Madison Square Garden last week. They put on an amazing show and it was good to see them together again. One of the high points was when Elvis Costello came out and played on the new song "Taken for a Fool." Apparently he played three sets in New York City that night! So crazy!

My only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display

2011-04-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

Man, what a beautiful song. Thank you Bruce.

Shout out to my friend Michelle MacNaught who has been beating cancer, and is now chemo free. What a fighter.

"I am holding a wolf by the ears"

2011-03-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Sooo cool.

No sleep till... Cinco de Mayo!

2011-03-29T00:53:00.000-07:00

At the moment I'm on spring break. While most college students are getting wasted in some sunny paradise, I'm still at school working tirelessly on my senior project. No work, no classes, no homework, I finally have a chance to put all my focus into this.

What is my senior project you may be asking? I'm making 2foot by 4foot woodcut portraits of all my heroes. Heres a sneak peek at some of the woodblocks I've been working on:

Beginning May 5th I'll be showing these works in the SUNY Purchase stood art gallery. Its going to be a night full of rock n' roll. Great art, free food, and I've got some great bands providing live entertainment all night long. Its going to be the cinco de mayo party of the century as far as I'm concerned. I'll give away more info about this as it develops, but for now... MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!! Speaking of calendars...Isn't the world supposed to be ending soon according to that damn Mayan calendar? You gotta live it up while you still can my friends!!!

In Wyldlife news... WE WON THE GOLDENFORK AWARD FOR BEST EMERGING ARTIST OF 2010!!! Thanks to all our fans who voted for us. The only reason this happened is because of you, and it means the world to me that you took some time out of your day to show us some love!
Check out the appetizer blog to read more about the Golden Fork awards, and hear some other cool new artists:
Golden Fork Awards

We played a benefit show the other night at this place called Barrow Mansion in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was pretty weird playing in an ancient mansion, they even had a two lane bowling alley in the basement! It was just like the last scene inThere will be blood:
This isn't it, but I thought it was pretty funny

We went off! and so did the crowd which always makes for a great show and a great time!
(Photos by Mike McNamara)
Our buddy Jim Testa wrote a nice little article about the event:
Here

Keep on winning,
-Spencer

2011-03-04T16:48:00.001-08:00

This guy really is the best drummer ever.

Best Drummer Ever - watch more funny videos

The Strokes

2011-03-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

So the Strokes are back together with their new album "Angles" coming out March 22nd.
Alot of people seem to be up in arms about this album, saying they're back together for all the wrong reasons. But its good to seem them again, it takes me back to seventh grade, I remember my first band jamming "Last Night" in my friend Kyle's basement. Love them or hate them here's the new single "Under Cover of Darkness."

Oh la la

2011-02-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

So into this song right now.

2011-02-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

My work recently has become about the things that I personally think are cool and badass, and I compiled a list of everything thats cool to me, and made this gouache painting on a big ol' 22in x30in sheet of paper!

I was commissioned to do a poster for Fluxus Friday, an art event at Purchase. I thought I'd tie it in to Valentine's day with a Giraffe and an Anteater french kissing. 2 color screenprint, edition of 40. Cool.

CSI:Miami

2011-02-13T22:09:00.001-08:00

My roomie Al the Viper just showed me this, I've never really watched CSI Miami, but I think I might start.

2011-02-07T10:23:00.001-08:00

Just got back from a road trip to South Carolina yesterday. I'll have some photos of that up soon. Until then check out this totally rad Social D acoustic set:

-Spencer

www.spencil1.com

2011-01-24T00:08:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that I have gotten my butt in line, and created a website. It is currently under construction, but you can get a sneak peek here

Get ya bookmarks ready!

Ricky Powell

2011-01-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

Check out this interview with legendary New York City photographer Ricky Powell:

2011-01-21T15:53:00.000-08:00

My buddy Asian Jay showed me this, so good:

I finally made my first appearance on Rollingstone.com, its about time:

Can't take it with you

2011-01-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

I've been on winter break since God knows how long. Aside from a few excursions to New Jersey, and New York for some shows, I've been at home in Connecticut. I don't have a job or any responsibilities really, its pretty funny. I get to stay up till 4 in the morning and sleep till 1 in the afternoon. It seems like I'm living the ultimate bum life, but let it be known I have been anything but a bum. I've tried to take all this free time and use it for creative things. I should never be bored.

I had an old Fender precision bass sitting in my room that needed some love, so I gave it a makeover. I coated it with some Maui Blue auto body paint (just like Leo Fender used to do), and painted a heart on the back, and a sugar skull on the front.

Mom:"What are you drawing, some fruits and vegetables?"
Me:"Uh yeah, and some skulls."
18x24 Pastel on paper

My brother let me into his netflix account so I've been watching a ton of movies and I recently came across a show called "Thumbs Up" featuring the totally badass artist David Choe. On the show he and his nephew hitchhike across the country, bumming rides, and hopping onto freight trains. It reminds me alot of Jack Kerouac's On the Road (probably my favorite book.)
Check it out:

More importantly if you haven't heard of David Choe before, you gotta check him out. The guy paints on everything from canvas's, to walls. He just doesn't give a shit, and just needs to create. This is visual rock n roll.
Heres the trailer to a doc made about him called Dirty Hands:

Check out his website: David Choe

My brother just showed me this ridiculous music video:

until next time,
love,
-Spencer

Sean

2011-01-10T23:24:00.000-08:00

Pretty much everyday I check out the San Francisco art blog Fecal Face, and today they posted this adorable video about a 4 year old Kid named Sean who lived in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco during the late sixties. Must've been a crazy place to grow up in.

Check it out:

California (Hustle and Flow)

2011-01-05T21:57:00.000-08:00

The LA times just premiered a new track entitled "California (Hustle and Flow)" off Social D's new album "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes." I had heard Mike Ness say in some recent interviews that the new album is going to have a "Exile on Main street" era Stones sound, and that is quite obvious listening to this new track. Listen for yourself:

California (Hustle and Flow)

This might as well be the Social Distortion fan club blog. Damn.

-Spencer

My best of 2010

2011-01-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! I hope your holidays and new years were swell. I spent my new year at the 58 Gallery in Jersey City where Wyldlife headlined the show and rocked into the new year. The place was packed full of awesome people who were dancing and singing along. Check it out for yourself:

What a crazy night...If this was how the year began, I can't wait to see what other craziness its going to bring.

Well...I'm sure you've seen a million lists by critics proclaiming what they thought was the best of 2010, but I've decided that since I have my very own blog, I might as well give you my opinion. Heres the best albums of 2010 for me:

10. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

I basically spend every moment of my life with my three roommates Ephraim, Alex, and Manuel, and as soon as this album came out they were playing it NON-STOP, which I am totally thankful for.

9. Turbo Fruits- Get Up Get Down

I saw these cats play at Purchase two semesters ago, and they killed it! They are without a doubt a band to look out for.

8. Vampire Weekend- Contra

Theres definitely a formula these guys have, but its a great one at that.

7. Titus Andronicus- the Monitor

I've always been a fan of underdog stories, and that seems to be all these guys sing about. For me they're a modern day E Street band. They're even from Jersey!

6.The Black Keys- Brothers

Over the summer these guys played two dates at the Central Park Summer stage. I didn't have any tickets but I sat outside and listened. On the second night I managed to sneak in for the end of their set, and I have to say these guys sound as good live as they do on the record.

(I don't watch much TV, but this has to be one of the best music videos of the year too.)

5. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

"Business men drink my blood, like the kids in art school said they would." So good!

4.the Gaslight Anthem- American Slang

They're just a great blue collar rock n roll band who blew up this year. And they deserve every bit of it.

3.the Biters- Biters, and, Its ok to like Biters

Rock n Roll is my life. Its what I live for. I've played tons of shows, and seen tons of bands, and no band blew me away more in 2010 than the Biters. I've seen these guys twice, and was lucky enough to share the stage with them the second time around. They look like a power pop band that time warped straight out of New York in the 70's. And they've got a real raw rock sound, that clearly pays homage to rock music at its best. I could sit and write all day about how damn awesome these guys are, if you ever get a chance to see them do it, or in the very least grab their albums.

2. Tokyo Police Club- Champ

If there was one album that defined my summer it was this one. It was the soundtrack to my life. It seemed that everything that was happening in my life was said on this record. Funny how music can do that.

1. Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes

I cheated on this one because the album's not out yet (1/18/11 to be exact) but the single "Machine Gun Blues" was out in November. If you know me, or have read my blog before, you know that these guys are my favorite band, and I'll rave about them till theres no tomorrow, and I couldn't be happier that Mike Ness and the gang are still going strong after 30 years.

Cheers to them!

So thats my list of music. I'm not even going to try ranking movies or books, because I'm too cheap to ever go to the movies, and sadly I don't usually have alot of time to sit down and read a book.

But I must say Inception was quite a thrill ride.

And Black Swan had me on the edge of my seat. It was honestly one of the craziest movies I've ever seen.

The one book I could not put down was Keith Richards memoirs "Life." This man has led a crazy life indeed, and if you've ever wondered what its like to live in excess, the fame, the drugs, the women, the rock n roll, this book will tell you.

Heres some of my favorite excerpts:

As he describes some english hecklers at a show: "And suddenly while I'm playing, this little redhead fucker flobs on me. So I move aside, and he follows me and flobs on me again and hits me in the face. So I stand in front of him again and he spits at me again and, with the stage, his head was just about near my shoe, like a penalty shot in football. I just went bang and knocked his fucking head off, with the grace of Beckham."

On partying, "The ultimate party, if its any good, you can't remember it."

On knife fighting, "The way it was explained to me, if you're going to use a blade, the winner is the one who can make a quick horizontal cut across the other's forehead. The blood will fall like a curtain, but you don't really hurt the cat that much, you just put an end to the fight because he can't see... The big rules in knife fighting are (a) do not try it at home, and (b) the whole point is never, ever use the blade. Its there to distract your opponent.While he stares at the gleaming steel, you kick his balls to kingdom come- he's all your. Just a tip!"

He is without a doubt one the coolest people to ever grace the face of this earth.

In Wyldlife news, we have been nominated by the public radio station in Abilene, Texas for

the Golden Fork Awards of 2010. Were up for best short album of 2010. It would mean the

world to us if you could take a second and send in the ballot below:

Golden Fork Awards 2010

Thank you for those who voted!

We have also made it to round two of the Deli Magazine's best of 2010 list, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

2010 was a great year. I got to play a lot of cool shows, meet some great people, and travel to some interesting places. If I had to chose one thing that was my favorite part of the year, I'd have to say it was hearing Wyldlife being played on the radio. It was like that scene from "That thing you do" I was jumping up and down on my couch. Thanks Rich Russo!

Whats my new years resolution? Its simple: Have more fun.

love,

-Spencer

2010-11-21T13:45:00.001-08:00

Just doing the best I can

2010-11-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

Sooo much stuff going on... been workin hard.

A couple of weeks ago I screenprinted this poster for the CMJ college radio awards. 4 color silkscreen in a edition of 50. In return for my service I was given a CMJ badge which allowed me access into pretty much any show happening in New York City. It was kind of overwhelming, because I could only check out a handful of bands, and there were hundreds playing on a given night. I was also given vendor space at the CMJ headquarters. So the first thing anyone saw at CMJ was.... me haha.

After spending the day networking and spreading the good word, I headed over to webster hall to check out some music.

who are these guys? I have no clue.

Saw some hip hop chick named domique young unique (I think that was it), and then these guys ^ called Francis and the light. I wasn't really impressed and had a train to catch, so I blew that joint!

I said earlier that I've begun a love affair with gouache painting. Heres my first test, a study of "things that are badass," which is my theme for my advanced printmaking class.

The lovely dancers at Purchase asked me to make a poster for their musical, and of course I couldn't say no. 2 color screenprint in an edition of 35.

If you look at this with 3-D glasses on it, like, totally, pops out at you.

Rich Russo from 101.9 rxp, needed some posters made for one of his shows, and I was honored to make them for him. 3 color screenprint in an edition of 50. I think this is the coolest poster I've ever made.

What else have I been doing?

Playin my fair share of shows.

These were some pics my girl Kellyann Petry took from our show at the Purchase CO-OP last Saturday. We've got a show on Monday 11.15. with the Biters, and the Danvilles (two amazing bands) at Don Pedro's in Brooklyn.

If you can make it out to brooklyn its going to be a great time!

I took a walk in the woods the other day, and I had forgotten how nice it is to just wander, not go anywhere in particular and just stray.

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each others eyes for an instant?"

-Henry David Thoreau

Have a good weekend!

love,

-Spencer

2010-10-31T21:32:00.000-07:00

I've been messing around with gouache painting recently.
Heres a new one:

"Time heals all wounds" Gouache on paper 20"x 30"

I came across this photo of myself on the 101.9 rxp website. Its from the Steel Train show a couple months ago, and its probably the most epic photo of me ever ha
http://www.1019rxp.com/photopages/Photos.aspx?AlbumID=106605

I'll be putting more stuff up soon,

love,
-Spencer

Ripo!

2010-10-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

As with any artist I'm constantly trying to find new forms of inspiration. I recently discovered the lovely text-based, wall art of Ripo. Reminds me of Stephen Powers. check out his stuff at http://www.ripovisuals.com/index.html

-Spencer

For all the haters...

2010-10-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

The Deli magazine has ranked Wyldlife the 25th best Indie Rock band in New York City. Oh yeah and its out of 300.
check it out:

http://nyc.thedelimagazine.com/top300?genre=indie%20rock

There was a crazy thunder storm up here a few weeks ago. Its was quite a challenge snapping this photo at just the right moment.I probably took 200 photos just to get this kinda good one ha.

Heres a poster I did in September for a show at the purchase stood. 2 color screenprint, editions of 35.

I never got a chance to blog about my tattoo. Adam over at Jersey City Tattoo co. did an amazing job. Being an artist myself, I had high expectations and he did everything I wanted and more. Its a real cool place, with really great artists. Its even owned by Jake Casualty from the punk band the Casualties!

up close look:

check out their website:
http://www.jerseycitytattoo.com/

I swimming in work at the moment, trying to keep my head on straight and not get to stressed about it. Maybe you'll see some of this new work soon....

love,
-Spencer

2010-10-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

So I was asked to design and print a poster for CMJ. Yeah CMJ. I'm talking about the New York City wide music marathon festival. Some of the artists playing this year are: Phoenix, GZA, Surfer Blood, Ghostface Killah, Senses Fail,and Bayside, just to name a few. And I mean a few, hundreds of bands are playing. I was seriously jumping up and down when I got the email. Heres an idea of what its going to look like..

Screwed, Blued, and Tattooed, what a fun weekend

2010-10-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

What a crazy weekend. I threw a party Friday night, which was off the wall...

There was a mosh pit in my living room!

A few weeks I got my first tattoo. Sorry mom, sorry dad.

photos by the lovely KellyAnn Petry. http://www.kellyannpetry.blogspot.com/
Seriously, the most fun show we've ever played. I want to thank all those who came out, I love you all. Definitely not the last Wyldlife party this semester...

But the weekend was far from over...

Saturday night we played the 4th street festival in Jersey City, which was an abosolute blast.

One guy even wrote a nice review for us on his blog:

http://rockertycoon.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/wyldlife-at-4th-street-fest/
he took this video as well:

There is no better feeling for me than playing a good show. Nothing else compares. And its an even cooler feeling when other people appreciate what you do, and enjoy it just as much.
Thanks everyone for making this such an amazing weekend!

love,
-Spencer

p.s. I'll be posting some new work shortly!

More epic end of the summer adventures!

2010-09-02T17:52:00.001-07:00

So I played a show in Brooklyn, at the very hip Monster Island basement. We played pretty well, and after the set we immediately hit the road for Iowa.

Into the trunk you go Feldman!

We ate at Culver's, because we couldn't find a Sonic anywhere. I guess we just had to find out what the hell a turtle concrete is, and I'm still not entirely sure...

Dave really needed to clip his toenails...

We drove straight through to Iowa, no stopping. I still can't believe we did that haha.

After 19 or 20 hours of driving, we landed at the doorstep of our friend Dora. We dropped our bags and took this funny hat photo.

Then we proceeded to the Iowa state fair, where you can buy weird stuff like tiger heads, and....

I wish that was a joke.

Petting zoo!

Dora and Sam rode the romantic gondola ride, which left David and I together...

This poor fella was all alone.

We rode the olde mill ride, which is nothing more than a dark tunnel filled with water...

After a few turkey legs, fried pickles, and a fried milky-way bar later, we hit the bar with some locals.

This man almost ran us over with his truck..

He clearly had a few loose screws. You should click on this photo, and see how crazy this man's face is, chills me to the bone...

We did some grilling, which was great, but let me tell ya about those pesky Iowa mosquitos!

Then we broke out the fireworks!

Dora's Dad owns a sailboat, and he took us out sailing.

Walmart

99% of Iowa is cornfields.

Dave and I slept in Dora's little sister's room. There were a lot of creepy dolls staring at us while we slept.

Man, I love cats.

We departed Des Moines and headed for Iowa city.

We spent the night at Dora's friends John and Andrea's apartment, who were extremely hospitable. Feldman and I walked the streets exploring the college town of Iowa city.
The next day we visited our friend Mayim, who is one of the coolest people I know!

We finally said our goodbyes and set on the 20 hour drive home...

We stopped by the world's largest truck stop!

You can buy all kinds of cool knives and daggers there!

The drive back to New York was pretty smooth, other than the fact that we got pulled over twice for speeding. The cops the first time were pretty cool, I think they thought we were smuggling drugs into New York, which is clearly not the case, but they joked around alot, calling us the Jonas brothers, and asking why we wear such tight pants.
The second cop was not so kind and gave Dave a speeding ticket with a fine of $125!

Luckily we made it back safely, and just in time for our show at the bowery electric, which was put on by our pal Rich Russo from 101.9 rxp. The show was sold out and we opened for the band Steel Train! I even saw Steven Van Zandt's name on the guest list, which completely blows my mind, I'm not sure if he was there, but just the idea of him watching us play blows my mind! Ahhhh!

So summers over and I'm back at Purchase, beginning my senior year! Looking back on this summer I'm quite proud of myself. It was really tough and stressful finding an apartment, a job, and supporting myself but I did it, and it was totally worth it. I'm really lucky to have been able to share it with such a great group of friends, you know who you are, and I love you all.

until next time,

-Spencer

New Adventures Part 1

2010-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, so what have I been up since my last post? I've been quite busy trying to make the most of this summer, and one of the things on my list was to visit Roosevelt Island. Every time I'm bored on the train I scan the subway map, tracing all the colored lines uptown and downtown, and I've often wondered what happens on mysterious Roosevelt Island, the long thin strip of land sandwiched between Manhattan and Queens. Well, there was only one way to find out so Manuel and I hopped on the F train to pay it a visit.

Upon arrival, we quickly realized the island was quietly deserted, and the few inhabitants rode around on motorized scooters. It was very bizarre, it felt like we were stuck in a video game.

The view looking back at Manhattan was breathtaking.

A lighthouse!

We stumbled upon "the Octagon" which is an insane asylum, making the island even creepier.

So what happens on Roosevelt Island? Not a whole lot!

My boys Ephraim, Alex, Manuel and I have been working on a mural, that will be hung in the SUNY Purchase Hub.The four us have all been influenced by the art in comic books so we thought we'd make a mural paying homage to our roots. The divided the panel into four "cells" and each did whatever we wanted. Heres a sneak peak at mine:

Stop by the Hub and check it out! And while your there grab a great tasting burger from Coyote Jack's!

I also had to check "visting the Bronx Zoo" off my list!

I think the peacocks were one of my favorite parts. Have you ever heard the sound they make? It sounds like a dying cat.

haha

Giraffes are the strangest creatures.

I think I was just as much interested in the people at the zoo, as I was in the animals.

My computer (I mean Manuel's computer) is dying so I've got to cut this short unfortunately. I'm headed on a road trip to Iowa this weekend, so I'm sure there will be more for me to write about!

-Spencer

2010-07-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

Manuel Bova and I collaborated on the album art for the new Wyldlife EP on Merrifield Records. I did the drawing and he did the coloring. I think we make a pretty good team!

Another Epic Day!

2010-07-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

I've had some time off from my job at GNC, so I've been trying to use it wisely and cross some things off my list!

"Lets do it!" says Manuel.

Started off with a stroll throught Central Park, which led us to...

The Met!

The Picasso show is simply breathtaking.

I think this is my favorite Picasso painting. My camera doesn't do it any justice.

Always love to check out this painting, makes me want to listen to some metal!

MAIDEN!

Epic!

Ringo Starr's gold snare drum! GEE WIZ!

I'm always a sucker for the Japanese and Chinese art.

One thing that I've been itchin to cross off my list is to visit Staten Island. I live in Manhattan, I've gotten down in Brooklyn, killed some time in Queens, and I've dropped by the Bronx, but of all the five boroughs I had yet to see whats good with Staten Island. My buddy Samm grew up there so it was a homecoming for him.

He always used to get a black & white cookie on the ferry when he was a kid, so when in Rome...

The Ferry ride was so beautiful, almost as beautiful as Samm is.

Before we knew it we were there! HOORAY!

Went creepin around Mr.Allen's childhood home.

Ah, yes critical decisions!

Before we knew it our time in Staten Island was cut short. For my first time on Staten Island, I gotta say... its not that cool. Oh well.

Next we headed to Brooklyn to see the killer rock n roll bands the booze, and biters.

I feel good knowing that Batman is keeping the streets of Brooklyn safe and clean.

Biters absolutely killed it. By far one of the best rock bands I've seen in a long time.

Give em a listen for yourself:

Next up was the Booze! I swear I went back in time to 1968 when I was watching these guys. They had such a great vintage look/sound.

check em:

My ears were ringing for hours after the show. If you get a chance to see either of these bands, do it, you won't be disapointed.

And so another epic day ended.
I've crossed off a few things recently, such as:
-visiting the Cloisters
-dining at the Famous Fish market in Harlem
-Seeing some good movies
-Checkin out the brooklyn botanical gardens!

I also made a trip to Purchase to screenprint some new Wyldlife shirts!

Shout out to supermodel Michelle for modeling for me!

Want to download the new Wyldlife EP for free? heres the link! I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!
<a href="http://wyldlife.bandcamp.com/album/nicotine-ep">Girls in Fedoras by Wyldlife</a>

2010-07-19T11:47:00.002-07:00

I've got some really great photos and stories to tell, but as usual this blog isn't loading them... they'll be up soon though I promise!

In other news...
The kind folks at Merrifield Records made a band camp website for Wyldlife and our new EP is available... FOR FREE!
Give it a listen, I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!

<a href="http://wyldlife.bandcamp.com/album/nicotine-ep">Girls in Fedoras by Wyldlife</a>

love,
-Spencer

Blu!

2010-07-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

The Italian street artist Blu, never fails to amaze me. Check out this latest wall animation he did:

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

2010-06-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

A couple months back the boys and I went to the sound waves recording studio in Union, New Jersey, and recorded some songs for this music website called fuzztopia. check em outttttt

WYLDLIFE "Zombies are Taking Over New York" from Fuzztopia on Vimeo.

WYLDLIFE "(I Ain't Got) Guardian Angels" from Fuzztopia on Vimeo.

2010-06-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

So,due to my, and my roommates laziness we don't have wireless, so my time at a computer is slim to none. Luckily there's a starbucks a couple blocks away I can go to that has wi-fi.
hmm so what have I been doing...
-I got a job at GNC. Thats right, the store that sells vitamins,diet pills, and protein shakes. How ironic.
-Talking with the sweet folks at Merrifield records, Wyldlife is now on the roster! We're working on releasing our EP soon!
-Partying!
-Checkin out some really cool gallery openings in Chelsea. Actually, now that I think about it, alot of them have been pretty disappointing. New York City is the center of the art world, and alot of the shows in the galleries here suck! I think its time for me to take over.
-Getting ready for the Wyldlife show on June 26th at lit lounge. If you're in the city come check it out we go on at 10pm. Its 6 bucks. and its 21 plus.... Lit lounge is located on second ave between 6th and 7th streets.
-I made a giant to do list of things for me to get done/accomplish this summer. I walked the Brooklyn Bridge last week, and I'm gonna hit up Coney Island tomorrow!
-I've been drawing all the different animals in the Museum of Natural History. I want to try to fill a whole sketch book of them by the end of the summer.
-Getting played on 101.9 RXP, New York's Rock Experience. For the past couple weeks our friend Rich Russo at the station has been playing songs off our new EP, on his show Anything Anything. Check it out on Sunday nights!

I gotta go the employees at Starbucks are gonna start kicking me out soon. ha

I heard this song at a bar the other night, and remembered how good it is...

love ya,

-Spencer

Some day your gonna die

2010-05-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

Oh man has it been awhile. What have I been up to? Where do I begin. I've just been trying to get my feet planted on the ground.
I recently got an apartment up on west 141st in Harlem and have been livin the city life! Its awesome, but I am in desperate need of job! Its tough, I've been applying everywhere from Petco to Puma. If anyone out there could hook me up I'd be forever grateful!

So other than the whole unemployment business, my life is pretty good! Wyldlife just finished recording our new EP, new tracks on the myspace son!!!!
http://www.myspace.com/wyldlife7
We've been playing some pretty cool shows all over the city, and have even been talking with Merrifield Records, which is owned by the bass player from the Bravery! I'll tell more as that develops...
http://www.merrifieldrecords.com/

My art work is being featured in Balance Salon of Jersey City for the month of June! Come to the opening on Friday June 4th for some free food and drink! For more info check out:
www.jcfridays.com

I'll make more posts when I get my internet situation figured out! I've been in Starbucks applying to jobs for the past 4hours and they're kicking me out!

love,
-Spencer

The future of film

2010-05-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Elliot Lobell is a very talented filmmaker at my school and he made this stop motion as his junior thesis. Enjoy!

Astoria from elliot lobell on Vimeo.

2010-05-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

Fresh new stuff coming soon!

2010-04-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

My friend Manuel just showed me this. Enjoy.

We do what we like, and we like what we do

2010-04-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

I first and for most have to apologize to you, my reader, for being a bad blogger. It may seem like I've been dead for the past month, but on the contrary, I have been very much alive. I've been so busy I haven't really had a chance to sit down and blog.
Here's some random stuff I've been doing:
- Playing a covers show as the Ramones

Call me Spencer Ramone

-Helping my bud Manuel Bova print the new Nick Corbo Animal Names E.P.

-Playing a sold out show at the Webster Hall studio

There was a random cat backstage, that attacked our drummer Rabid Russ. We later met Rich Russo, a DJ from 101.9 RXP (the best radio station in America,) and he even played our song on his show for all the world to hear! DAMN!

-Taking a Greyhound bus to Philadelphia at 3 in the morning to get to the Southern Graphics Printmaking convention in Philadelphia.

(Yeah, these are the Rocky steps.)

We had an entire mansion all to ourselves. (Its a long story...)

- I went to Atlanta for spring break to do some community service, and play basketball with homeless dudes.

When in Rome... order the chicken and waffles!

Got to bathe some really adorable puppies. They sure were a handful.

These were the living quarters at a local Atlanta homeless shelter. Plywood bunks, with stained mattresses. It wasn't for the faint of heart haha.

There was tons of Jesus graffiti all over the walls. ^This was my personal favorite. Spencil of course had to leave his mark...

-I went back to CT for Easter and caused my fair share of trouble.

I call this one "Satan's wind chime."

Now I'm back at Purchase, and of course working my skinny ass off. Heres a sneak peak at one of my more recent projects...

I've got some more stuff on the way so stay posted!

love,
-Spencer

2010-04-05T22:22:00.001-07:00

The past couple weeks have been insane. I have sooo much to write about...
But for now here's an animation I did last semester with a few friends. It was probably the most tedious thing I've ever done, and I'm pretty proud of it, having never done an animation before.
check it out:

Thank You, Mr. Gondry from elliot lobell on Vimeo.

talk to you soon

-Spencer

My name is called disturbance

2010-03-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Now through Sunday March 21st you can check out my latest show entitled "At night my enemies come out snarling like vicious dogs"in the Suny Purchase Visual Arts building room 1019. Its a collaborative work between Alex Derwick, Manuel Bova, Ephraim Hafftka, and I. The show is a pronunciation of fear and dismay, an exploration of the discomforting and disorderly.
Here's some photos of us working on it from beginning to end:

We each painted a life size self-portrait on cardboard. Thats ^ me!

Then we began the installation.

Cardboard city!

Alex D creepin!

Once most of the cardboard was in place we began painting it black!

Ephraim creepin!

Heres how the installation looks with the lights on:

But then we turned the lights off. Every viewer gets a flash light before they enter, and this is the only source of light in the entire room.

For the past couple days we've been working tirelessly, staying up into the wee hours of the morning. I've without a doubt screwed up my sleep patterns for the rest of the week! But I have to say the best part about staying up till 6 in the morning is that you get to witness the beautiful Purchase sunrise.

2010-03-11T21:27:00.001-08:00

So I'm making a conscious effort to make blog posts everyday, or as much as I possibly can.

Heres a real cool vid of Mike Ness talking about the new Social D album!

View this video at Hurley.com

My buddy Luke has a real cool blog called Party like Awesome. It highlights things such as rock n roll, hot chicks, motorcycles, cigarettes, and of course partying. Basically everything a blog should be about.

check it out at www.partylikeawesome.blogspot.com

have a good weekend!

-Spencer

I can't complain

2010-03-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks of my life have been crazy and the rest of this month is only going to get crazier.
Two weeks ago Wyldlife played a at a mini ramp in Jersey City. People were shredding it all night while we rocked out. If my 7th grade self could have seen me, he would be so proud of the man he has become.

We sandwiched ourselves into our friend Calder's SUV on the way to the show.

Here's Dangerous Dave ripping it up^.

Some cool graffiti on the ramp.

After the show we headed to our favorite Jersey City Food joint, Hollywood Wings. We started walking up to Hollywood, when we noticed a fight breaking out from inside. Some dude ran out, hoped in his Nissan Altima and tried to make a getaway, while another shirtless dude with a bald head threw a parking cone at his windshield. All of a sudden, there were five cop cars barricading the intersection, with cops outside of their cars guns drawn! This was all about a block away from us. We enjoyed our meal as the sirens flashed and people were loaded into ambulances... oh man.

Inside Hollywood Wings we found this prison shank knife^ on the floor by the ATM. Just goes to show how classy Jersey City, (aka America's Golden Door) really is.

Heres a video some dude made, you can see a clip of us playing towards the end:

We also opened the junior print show!

We spent many hours curating the show, and getting everything in the perfect spot.

Heres me looking fly. And of course no party is complete without a pinata!

This guy obliterated it in one shot!

We had a great turn out, and people really seemed to dig the art.

We played another show in Jersey City last weekend, and it was just as epic, if not more so than the last show.
Before we played, our singer Dave broke the news to me that I would be having my first ever solo art show at the Balance Salon where he works. Its a super cool place with really cool people who really seem to embrace the arts. If you ever need a haircut and want to check out some cool art, head to Balance. The show should be in the beginning of May, I'll let you know more info as I get it! Its gonna be sick!
Dave also got one of my drawings tattoed on his arm!

David it is truly an honor to have my art on your body! I still can't believe people like my stuff enough to have it on them forever.
And I still don't have any ink! Thats not for long though...
So the show was at a gallery/venue called 58 and as soon as I arrived I was greeted to murals painted by the prolific graffiti artist Doze Green. Now if you don't know who Doze Green is, he was one of the original New York City graffiti artist's in the late 70's and early 80's. And was one of the first to make the transition from the street to the gallery. I was in awe of the fact that I got to rock out right next to the art of a living legend, I couldn't believe it.
Heres a few works from his latest show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in NYC:

So damn good!

The show went really well and people really loved us. We actually had four encores, something we've never done before!

After the show Dave was selling one of our CD's to this punk guy. He had on the coolest vintage Metallica shirt, and being the hair metal afficiando I am, I told him how much I loved it. He shook my hand and told me he loved our set. When he walked off Dave tapped me on the back and said "You realize who you just talked to right?"
"No..." I said
"That was Jake Casualty, from the Casualties!"
I was blown away! I had to take a seat immediately. Jake Casualty from the legendary punk band the Casualties had seen our set, and better yet told Dave he wants to play shows with us! It was like a scene from a movie. I can remember sitting in my room when I was 13 listening to the Casualties on my boombox, I'm still at a lose for words. Playing with them would truly be a dream come true. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

So....
We've got a show at Webster Hall on March 25th and I cranked out these posters today on the offset lithograph press:

The offset press is real cool because it pretty much prints the image for you in a matter of seconds. Because of this convenience I was able to whip out an edition of 40. You may or may not see these posters scattered around the city...

So heres a brief look at some more stuff I'm doing in the upcoming month...
-An art installation with my collective the Tomahawks
-Multiple Wyldlife shows, including a Ramones cover show!
-Heading to Philadelphia for a printmaking convention
-A trip to Atlanta for spring break to do some volunteer work for a week
-Many more new prints for you to feast your eyes on

And I'm sure theres much more but its escaping me at the moment...

In other news Social Distortion drummer Atom Willard has left the band! This sucks! The guy can rip on the drums like no other, but he had to leave due to scheduling conflicts with his other band Angels and Airwaves. I dig some of their stuff, but you really left Social D for them??????? what????
This blows even more because Social D just announced that they've begun work on their latest album! Hopefully this won't delay the process too much. Ah! I AM SO STOKED!

Life is pretty damn good.

"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."
-Johnny Cash

talk to you soon
-Spencer

2010-02-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

Having some fun with Christmas lights!

My latest print "A Brush with Death" 22in by 30in,3 color screen print on stonehenge paper...

Speaking of Prints come see mine and my peers work at the Junior Print show in the Art+Design Building room 1019, March 1st- 7th.
The Reception is on March 3rd at 5:30, and there will be boat loads of free food, and even more boat loads of cool people, I hope to see you there!

Recently my musical diet has been made up almost strictly of the Ramones and Black Sabbath. Two of the most important Rock n Roll bands EVER. On March 20th there is going to be a cover band show and Wyldlife is going to be playing as the Ramones! I'm so stoked on the fact that I get to be one of my heroes, Dee Dee Ramone for a night! Its going to be a reallllllly great show. I let you know more info as it comes.

I've been working on a 4.5ft by 4.5ft woodcut, and I want it to look, like Black Sabbath sounds. I don't know if its even possible, but I like the challenge of trying to visually portray Tony Iommi's burning guitar, Geezer Butler's thundering bass lines, Bill Ward's fierce drumming, and Ozzy's biting vocals.

-Spencer!

Where is my mind?

2010-02-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

Two weekends ago I played a show at the Purchase Co-op. It was the Shack Attack Records CD release party, at the end all the bands got together and played a cover of the Pixies "Where is my mind?" The video really gives you a look at how intense and fun shows at purchase can be. You can see me playing bass in the back, rocking the Maiden shirt!

Got some new work on the way!

-Spencer

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Valentine's day heres my latest print titled "Sometimes I wish my heart wasn't so heavy." Its a 2 foot by 4 foot, 3 color reduction woodcut, printed on canvas, in an edition of 8.

In my art of the book class we've been making coptic bound books, heres mine^. Not bad for my first book!

A while ago my buddy Manuel Bova asked me to a drawing of deer head for a tattoo he wanted to get, and here it is^! I'm so stoked people like my art enough to have it on their bodies forever. Thanks Manuel, I'm honored.

Heres a video my brother made of me putting a stencil up on my friend's wall. The band playing in the background is Monotonix, who are one of the best live bands I've ever seen. I'm going to see them in Brooklyn this April, so stoked!

Hope you're having a great Valentine's Day!
love,
-Spencer

The Fall, and some damn good music!

2010-02-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched the movie the Fall with some friends. I gotta say its one of the most visually stunning movies I have ever seen. If you get the chance, I highly reccomend you check it out. Heres the trailer:

I recently downloaded the Secret Album, by my friend Aaron's band Sex God, and I can't stop listening to it. I'm so lucky to be surrounded by so many talented people here at Purchase, and to see and hear all the amazing work being made on a daily basis is so inspiring. I probably sound dumb rambling about my school all the time, but I love it here so much, I guess you'll have to deal with it haha.
Anyways, you can download the Secret Album for free here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=46963cf22b6b4a54e5c3dee5769931ecd0e2f19adbf1eedea543906a5faff527

Hope your having a good week so far!
-Spencer

I watch the sparrows dive...

2010-02-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a class right now called art of the book. We basically learn how to make different book structures, and then get to mess around with them and make our own. This assignment was to take an already made book and alter it. I collect alot of strange books so I was really into this project. The book itself is a wedding scrapbook, that I found in my closet. My parents must have bought it a long time ago, or someone gave it to them, and they never put anything in it, so I thought it would make a nice setting for some collages. Here's a few of the pages.

My friends at Shack Attack Records asked me to design the album art for their next release which is the Drop Records, Not Bombs Compilation. Each one is hand printed in an edition of 98. The compilation features alot of really talented Purchase musicians, and even has an unreleased track from my band Wyldlife! You can buy one soon at this website: http://shackattack.bigcartel.com/
or you can download this disc for free here:
http://shackattackrecords.bandcamp.com/
Keep in mind if you buy an actual copy, all proceeds will go to Wide Horizons For Children which is a charity that helps impoverished communities all around the world, so you get some good music (and art), while helping a great cause!
There will be an album release party this Friday, February 12th at 7:45pm in the SUNY Purchase Co-Op, alot of really great bands will be playing, including my own, so come check it out!

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Another art of the book was to make these weird accordion style books. I cut up some Chinese menus I've been collecting and drew on them with a pen. Here's a few pages:

I've been working on this pretty big (4ft by 2ft) reduction woodcut. I've got one more color to go and it will be done, so check back soon for some more pics!

My 100th post!

2010-01-31T12:24:00.001-08:00

Its crazy to think that I've been writing this blog for two years, and now I've made it to my 100th posting. Damn, hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

"Waiting for the Rain" construction paper collage.
I found this really old frame in a bin at Salvation army, and thought I'd make something nice to put in it. I really like the idea of working on found objects and letting them dictate what direction my work should go in. Its funny to think about, usually you start with a picture and then find the frame. I've been itching to do some collage work, so I broke out my construction paper and made this sucker.

I just started another semester at Purchase, and my life is a whole lot more interesting now. I just found out yesterday that Wyldlife is going to play at Webster Hall on March 25th, soooooooooooooooooooo stoked. If you've been living under a rock and don't know Webster Hall, its one of the premier venues in New York City. Check it out: http://www.websterhall.com/
Hopefully I'll see you there.
Speaking of Wyldlife, Jon and G Scott have left the band, to do their own thing. Its unfortunate, but life goes on. A good friend of ours, Russ Barnett has hopped behind the kit and will be our new drummer. Check out his band the boomerangs:
http://www.myspace.com/boomerangsband
Were still looking for another guitarist so if your interested, let us know!

Recently I've been really into the art of Charley Harper. Charley was an illustrator who did a lot of work for books and magazines like The Ford times. I'll let his work do the talking.

I've been working on some book projects as well as some new prints, which I should have up soon, so stay posted!

Nikki McClure

2010-01-16T23:52:00.000-08:00

Being home for winter break, I've been spending alot of time trying to tackle my boredom. Reading, listening to music,playing guitar and trying to find new inspiration for my work are the majority of what I've been doing.Surfing through the internet tonight I stumbled upon the art of Nikki McClure. Nikki is an artist based out of Olympia, WA, and creates beautifully intricate works on paper by cutting into them with an exacto knife. I really love the graphic quality of her work, the simple one or two color palette, along with the complexity of each line that flows gently to another.

See more of her stuff at:
www.nikkimcclure.com

Corrections!

2010-01-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

On my last post I said that West Warwick, Rhode Island, was the strip mall capital of the world. According to the Assistant to the Town Manager of West Warwick, I was wrong:

"Actually West Warwick has no strip malls, you must be referring to Warwick which has nothing but strip malls along Route 2."

-Luke Peterson
Asst. to the Town Manager,
West Warwick

Thanks Luke!

I wasn't born to follow

2010-01-12T22:20:00.000-08:00

My buddy Nick has been asking me for a while to make him a stencil. I went up to visit him in Warwick, Rhode Island this past weekend and brought him this gift^
It was cool to get a change of scenery for a bit, but West Warwick, Rhode Island is the strip mall capital of the world. Name a retail chain, and they have it! It made me want to puke.

Last night I made another rotten orange monster!

Tonight I watched the movie "It might get loud" which is a documentary about Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Jack White of the White Stripes, and The Edge from U2. They all get together and talk about what the electric guitar means to them, and even jam out each others music. It was a pretty cool film, this opening scene blew me away:

My mom was like "Spencer how did he do that?" haha

You kick the bucket, I'll swing my legs

2010-01-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

Rotten orange+Boredom=Too much time on my hands

You hear about those people that found a cross in their potato? They're selling it on ebay for only $1000! Get on that!

Happy new year!

2010-01-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

So now its 2010, a new year and a new decade. Looking back 2009 was a damn good time. I made some really great friendships, some of which I think will last a lifetime, I got to majorly grow as an artist and push myself in new directions, I got to tour the country with some really good friends playing rock n roll, and most importantly I grew as a person, I'm much more proud of who I am. With all that said, I'm really excited to see what this year will bring, what new adventures I will find. I've been thinking about what my resolutions should be, and I've decided to keep standing proud, and being open to new things. But most importantly to have a good time all the time.

I've been searching for something new to listen to and I came across the black keys. They're my new favorite band at the moment, and I can't stop listening to their album attack and release. Check out some of their stuff:

What the hell have I been doing with my life? Making nice things for you to look at.

2009-12-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

So I've been working constantly for the past few days, (I haven't slept in 72 hours) editioning prints, painting, and organizing my portfolios. I took a break monday night to play a show at the Bowery Electric in the city. That was a real cool venue, and you can check out bands for free on Monday nights. But other than that its just been straight work. Tomorrow I will officially be done with the semester. It totally flew by, so much happened, and heres some of my more recent work:

"Would you hit a man with glasses?" 46"x32" reduction woodcut on canvas, edition of 7.

For my advanced printmaking class we had to do a collaborative project, where every student made an edition of postcards. The only limitation was that it was a print on a 4"x6" sheet of paper. This is mine, 2 color screenprint on stonehenge paper, in an edition of 28.

"Biking to the Bluffs" 18"x10" reduction woodcut and silkscreen on stonehenge paper. Edition of 8.

I made an edition of counterfeit David Copperfield autographed photos with Burger King crowns. "King for a Day" 10.5"x8.5" digital and silkscreen on stonehenge paper. Edition of 24.

"I'm not a monster" 23"x30" 3 color screenprint on stonehenge paper. Edition of 5.

I've got a few friends here in the photo department at Purchase, and for their junior show they asked me to paint a holiday scene on the walls. Along with my collaborators Ephraim,Manuel, and Alex, we came up with our rendition of a holiday scene. The show should be up until the end of January, so check it out in the basement of the visual arts building.

I've been working on a massive painting/collage/installation based on events that happened on a friday night in the city.Its going to be over 30 pieces, and will probably reach about 20ft tall and 30 ft wide. This is what I've got so far^.

Happy Holidays!
-Spencer

2009-12-09T01:05:00.000-08:00

Its 4 in the morning right now, and I've got an artist statement due today at 8. Its really difficult for me to write about my work and summarize it in a few paragraphs. I'm still figuring out what it is that interests me as an artist, I'm definitely getting closer, but I'm not there yet.
In need of some inspiration I checked out this video of one of my heros Barry McGee. If I had to name one artist that has a major impact on my work it would be him. Pure genius. Check it out, you'll understand what I'm saying.

How could you be so perfect for me?

2009-12-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

These songs are so good, I can't stop listening to them. If you didn't know Julian Casablancas is/was? the lead singer for the strokes and these tunes are from his solo album Phrazes For the Young.

Dig it!

Let the Good Times Roll

2009-12-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

"Something beautiful has died" Gouache on 2ft by 4ft piece of cardboard. A few weeks ago my painting class had a guest artist critique with an artist by the name of Clay Ketter. I showed him my last dead bird painting and he really liked the idea of taking something sad and gross and making it beautiful, so I'm going to keep trying to push this idea a little farther.

2009-11-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

David Noah Feldman wins the print for correctly spotting the "Holy Diver" quote by Ronnie James Dio. Ha

Ride the Tiger.

2009-11-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

Here at purchase some students organized a little thing called art on the fence. Theres all these fences across campus covering up the construction, and my friend Mitch came up with the idea of putting up art on them. This is my work. Its called "Self-Portrait as a Tiger, Playing Badminton in 1963" acrylic on 2ft by 4ft acrylic on wood.
I'll give you a print if you can guess where the quote in this piece came from...

He's the next Tony Hawk.

Some Highlights from my collaborative installation with EPHRAIM HAFFTKA, Alex Derwick, and Manuel Bova.

2009-11-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

Heres a video my brother took of me and the boys playing "the national anthem of Wyldlife" at a house party somewhere in Pennsylvania. House parties are without a doubt the best shows to play.

2009-11-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

"It's Still Real To Me" Time Lapse from elliot lobell on Vimeo.

My friend Elliot made a really cool time lapse of us putting the wrestling ring together for our art show.

Its still Real to Me

2009-11-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

I've been working so hard on a collaborative installation with my boys Alex Derwick, Manuel Bova, and Ephraim Haftka. Its titled "Its Still Real To Me" and its up in the Suny Purchase Visual Arts Building room 1019 from November 10-15 opening reception tomorrow November 12th at 6:00. Come check it out! I'll be putting up more photos soon!

Stay Gold!

2009-11-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

"Yeah but what are you going to do about it?"4ft by 2ft. Gouache and phonebook paper on cardboard. I'm quite proud of this piece. I was reading this article in Rollingstone about how they've been finding these seabirds that just eat strictly garbage, its so messed up.

"Waiting for the 1 train" 55in by 36in. Spraypaint on cardboard. I''m happy with the figures, but I don't know how I feel about the whole composition.

"Families Rule" 27in by 21.5 gouache on cardboard.

The boys and I have been hard at work on our next show, it will blow your mind, I kid you not. This may be one of the coolest exhibitions Purchase has ever seen. I'll post more info soon.

-Spencer

2009-10-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

A week ago I was asked to do a cover for a magazine from CT called Inkwell Press, and this is it. Gouache on cardboard.
check out Inkwell press's blog at www.inkwellpress.blogspot.com
I've got some more paintings I've been working on, I'll post some photos soon!
-Spencer

2009-10-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

Just found this gem on youtube.

You can't fall in love with potential.

2009-10-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

So the Social D concert was quite an experience. The bus ride was pretty damn long, but I slept most of the way, so it wasn't a big deal.
Atlantic City was a trip for sure. We were dropped off at the Show Boat casino, which if I recall correctly, you can win a trip there if you are the winner of a show case on the Price is Right. I had never been to a casino before, so it was quite an eye opening experience. I'm only 20 so I couldn't gamble, but I'm sure that is for the better. There seemed to be a lot more losers than winners, people who looked really down and out, passing out on random couches and chairs. It was pretty depressing.
The show itself was crazy. What I learned is that Social D's demographic is basically really tough looking middle aged white dudes. During the show about 5 fights broke out right next to me. It was ridiculous. Everyone seemed to be on edge, but this didn't prevent me from having a good time. Even after 30 years those guys can still rock, and they put on a great show. Mike Ness even gave me a shout out because I guessed the name to their song "Bakersfield" that was soooo damn cool. I can finally check seeing my favorite band off my list of things I've done.
The ride back was intense, we arrived at the Port Authority bus station in New York city at about 3:30 am and were stuck there till 4:45am. If you want to see some sketchy people I recommend you go there at 4 in the morning. Lots of interesting folks.
All in all it was a great adventure, just like I had thought it would be.

"King for a Day" silkscreen on autographed photo.
Over the summer I found this framed 8.5x11 autographed photo of David Copperfield at a thrift store. I silkscreened the burger king crown on his head. I've been really interested in working on top of paintings, photos, and random things I come across, and this is a little exploration in that direction.

-Spencer

Let it Burn!

2009-10-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

This thing smelled horrible.

A while ago I made this squid poster for a show at my school. My friend Franco liked it so much he got it tattooed on his arm. Skin is a relatively new canvas to me haha, its an honor to have my art on someone's body. Thanks Franco.

"Killer Wyldlife, the Champagne of Bands"(26"x8") a one color screenprint I threw together last evening, edition of 35. I've been doing alot of last minute posters every time Wyldlife has a show haha. I put them up at 2 in the morning and most were taken down by the afternoon. Its cool that people like them so much they want to steal them, oh well.
If your looking for something to do tonight come check out me and the Wyldlife boys at the Stood, 10pm, its going to rock, and I promise you won't be disapointed.

"The Death of a Passenger Pigeon" (22"x30")reduction woodcut, in an edition of 20, on Stonehenge paper. This was my first reduction print and I'm pretty happy with how it came out. You may be asking, what is a reduction print? Well, what you do is carve out the first color from the woodblock (the background color), print it on paper, and then carve out the second color and print it on top of the first color. I'm definitely going to make more of these in the future.

This weekend has the potential to be one of the best of my life. Tonight I get to play a show on the main stage at Purchase, while tomorrow I'm taking a 5 hour greyhound bus ride, to see my all time favorite band Social Distortion at the house of blues in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Its going to be an adventure!

-Spencer

2009-10-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

My friend Mayim Yael gave a really nice shout out to me on her blog, and I thought I should return the favor.Mayim hails from Des Moines, Iowa, and is hands down one of the coolest people I've ever met, and if you want to know whats up with art, music, and fashion, check out her blog.
http://mayimyael.tumblr.com/

This girl has good taste.

2009-10-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

The tomahawks stop for nothing.

Had a great weekend. Friday night, Wyldlife had a show at a house party in Pennsylvania. It was a crazy drive. It was down pouring, and we were driving on the side of the mountain, that just had the most insane curves. The party was so much fun, all the kids there were really cool, they danced and sang along to our songs. Without a doubt one of the best crowds we've played for. Thanks Ty for having us. House parties are really the best shows, because everyone just wants to have a good time, and enjoy themselves.

Saturday was Fall fest, and Mewithoutyou played. I haven't listened to them too much, but they put on an amazing show. The singer was just bouncing all over the stage, and the drummer was just banging on his set so hard. By far one of the best drummers I've seen.

-Spencer

2009-10-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

Last night me and the guys finally finished printing the fall fest shirts. What is fall fest you may ask? Its a pretty big music festival put on in the fall at my school SUNY Purchase. The big headliners this year are Mewithoutyou, among others. You can find out more about it on my boy Sam Schacter's blog: www.theloveschack.blogspot.com
Now I've 300 shirts to iron tonight! SWEET!

My roomate Phil Wong designed this shirt. You can catch more of his dope stuff at www.reluxenyc.com

Alex Derwick designed and printed these with us. check out his stuff www.alexderwick.com

And I designed these suckas!

I should mention that if you are looking to have some sick t-shirts, CD's, or posters printed, Alex,Ephraim, Manuel, and I, can design and print them for you, at the lowest price possible!

I was on pandora today and this song came up, its so damn cool, I thought I'd share it with the world.

-Spencer

My fifteen minutes of fame? Lord I hope not.

2009-10-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, with my boys Manuel, Jay, and Cam. We arrived at NBC studios in Rockefeller center, and we were walking through when some guy approached us, this is how it went:
guy:You guys here to see Jimmy Fallon?
Us:Yeah.
guy: You guys want to stand behind the roots and rock out when the musical guest plays?
Us: Hell yeah!
The musical guest was Christopher Cross, who I had never, ever heard of, and I like to think I have a pretty wide knowledge of popular music. I guess he would be categorized under "soft rock." It was music you'd hear in the supermarket late at night haha, but that made it all the more fun to dance to.
So we ended up rocking out behind the legendary Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald(the surprise guest), haha, two very old "rock stars." You can see me directly behind Christopher Cross, rocking a leather jacket, my shades, and a sailors hat. Notice how at the end of the song, I motionlessly rock the Run DMC pose.

I'm not sure how I get myself into these situations, but man am I glad I do.

2009-10-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I posted some recent work so I decided to throw some up!

One color screenprint I whipped up the night before our show at Purchase. Edition of 23.

Acrylic on canvas. I haven't thought of a name for this one yet, and I'm not sure if I'm that into it haha.

In my drawing seminar class we've been drawing the letter K. Sounds weird, but its really helping me tackle drawing perspective properly.

I'm really starting to get into collage. Ink, phone book paper, and spray paint on cardboard.

The first couple of my painting classes, we were messing around with abstraction. Its not something I normally do, but it was alot of fun to just let go and experiment.

I just finished designing and printing the shirts for the Dance conservatory. If you want one email Addison Reese at addison.reese@purchase.edu , but hurry because they're going fast!

I've really been kicking myself for not bringing my camera along with me on my travels. This weekend Wyldlife played an acoustic set at the Balance hair salon in Jersey City. Our singer Dave works as the receptionist there and it was just a really cool place with alot of cool people. The best part was we got free haircuts after our set! If your in Jersey and need a haircut I recommend you hit them up.
Later that evening we went to edge of the Hudson River and got to see the Manhattan skyline from New Jersey. It was breathtaking. I'm so pissed I didn't have my camera.
After the Hudson we ended playing a show on top of a mini ramp in this old warehouse. It was seriously one of the coolest shows I've ever played. We set up on top of the ramp and were just rocking out while people were skating all around us. I almost got hit in the head with a stray board haha.

I've been working hard with the dream team (Alex, Manuel, and Ephraim) tryin to get the Purchase Fall fest shirts printed. I'm really stoked with how theyre coming out. I'll post some photos soon!

This day, the only one that matters

2009-09-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend I headed down to the Joshua Liner gallery to see the show "The Last Thousand Years" by Evan Hecox. I've been a huge fan of Evan's ever since I started riding skateboards that he designed back in middle school. It was so cool to see his work in real life. I also picked up his book "Urban Abstract," which is amazing as well, the people at Joshua Liner were real cool, and hooked me up with a signed copy. If you have the chance I highly reccomend you check this show out, the gallery is located on 548 west 28th street in New York City.

We also saw a show featuring the paintings and photos of the actor Dennis Hopper. I never realized how talented the guy was.

Then we headed over to the Jonathan Levine gallery on 20th to see the DFace show. Probably one of the coolest installations I've ever seen. I love all the colors he uses.
All in all it was a great weekend. I got to play a block party with my band Wyldlife which was just sooooooo much fun. There is no greater feeling than playing music, especially with your best buds, nothing can possibly compare.
I saw my friend Adam giving really cool sharpie tattoos the other weekend so I asked him to draw rock n roll on my arm. I really dig, think I'll get it done for real.What do you think? check out Adam's blog here: www.letskickfire.blogspot.com

-Spencer

2009-09-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

I like drawing on walls.

Blu and David Ellis

2009-09-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

A great collaboration between Blu and David Ellis.This is the future of art right here folks. This is what will written in the art history textbooks.

2009-09-20T18:53:00.001-07:00

Wow. This gave me chills.

2009-09-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

"Subway the Official Sandwich of the Pope" 2 color screen print on BFK rives paper. Right now I've only made an edition of 5, but I want to print a ton more!

My eyes are Lungs, I'm a Prophet, and I speak in toungues

2009-09-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm just sitting at my office worker job at the Purchase College Office of Admissions. They've been having me work at the reception desk, which is great because I can spend all day on facebook and surfing the net and stumbling upon new and interesting artists.
Nothing like finding new art.
I landed on the White Walls website which is a gallery in San Fransico that has really cool stuff. I found some photos from a show that Ian Johnson and Albert Reyes had, which seemed really amazing, wish I could have seen it in real life...

Albert Reyes does alot of his work on the covers of books, which I think is so damn cool.

And it doesn't get much cooler than Ian Johnson's portraits of jazz greats.

check out more
www.whitewallssf.com

Until Next Time,

-Spencer

Some old work....

2009-09-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

When the summer first began my friends from my old band Liberte asked me to make a design for their EP. So I whipped up this two color lino-cut for them. All EP's are numbered and hand pressed. To hear their music go to www.myspace.com/liberteloves
(Oh yeah and that ripping guitar that you hear on the record, thats me.)

I finally finished that poster for BigY supermarkets. Hopefully I'll win that gift card haha.

"I'm Brilliant" Intaglio on rives paper. A few days before I made this etching, I was attacked by a hawk. I was just hanging out in the grass with some friends when a hawk swooped down from a building and flew at me. Luckily I jumped out of the way and was not harmed. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. And I decided to make a print about it. True story I swear.

3 color screenprint I did on some old book pages about castles in France.

"Now I am a gentleman" Intaglio on rives paper.
This is one of my first experiments with the medium intaglio. Intaglio is a printmaking method where you engrave into a sheet of copper, etch it in acid, and make prints from it.

Last april I designed and screenprinted some shirts for my old band brick physics. Were not a band anymore and I don't know what to do with the shirts haha. I still have a ton left, and if anybody wants one let me know.
Thanks to Sam Allen for modeling, he plays guitar in Wyldlife, and he likes to wear lots of belts.

I'm having way to much fun...

2009-09-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

So I've been back at school for a week now, and its already been crazy. I managed to miss the last train home from grand central last week, and was stranded in Manhattan, till 5 in the morning. My friends and I ended up just hanging out at McDonald's in time square watching fist fights break out while the police stood there and did nothing, eating expensive pizza, getting my friend's palm read, and eventually passing out on the sidewalk at grand central waiting for it to open.
My work is slowly beginning to pile up, which for right now is a great thing! I've got t-shirts to design and print for the purchase dance conservatory, album art for a friend's band back home, paintings and prints to be made, Wyldlife is starting to get shows (were play the CMJ festival!! so stoked, I'll write more about it later) and Alex, Manuel,Ephraim, and I have begun planning our next art exhibition. Heres a clue as to what it will involve:

This past weekend was a load fun catching up with friends, going to barbecues, and hearing some good live music. I went to a show on Sunday with a ton of great purchase bands, including: the Shakes, Elemeno, Zona Mexicana, my boy Nick Corbo, and Space Ghost Cowboys(it was their cd release show.) Their CD is amazing by the way, check them out on myspace.
I swear that I go to the coolest school in the world.

Another punk rock summer came and went...

2009-08-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

It's truly been a great summer, one that I will remember for the rest of my life. It had its ups and, and it had its downs.
I got the opportunity to travel the eastern coast with my band, hang out with some great friends in New York City, see some of my all time favorite bands, meet some cool new people, work a lifeless job (but I had a job nonetheless, which is whats important in these times of economic crisis), spend a few days in Rhode Island, get closer to family, and grow as an artist and a person. One of the most important things I've learned this summer is to be proud of who I am, to take advantage of everyday and every opportunity, and to not let people take me for granted.

2009-08-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

Tim Armstrong is so cool.