art
Iron & Wine at the Uptown Theater
We saw Iron & Wine last night at the Uptown Theater. It was such a great show! Sam Beam and his band always entertain; I love his folky grooves and chill sounds. Plus, for the backdrop, Manual Cinema were creating imagery with paper puppets, other object and even themselves, live as the music played. It was very simple but very effective and added a very cool element to the show
The opener, Jobi Riccio, was pretty great too! She has one album out so far and it’s well worth a listen:
She’s from Morrison, Colorado, near one of the greatest venues in the US, Red Rocks, she grew up with music and you can hear it in her voice and guitar. I always love finding new musicians when they open for bands I like. Plus I got a chance to chat with her at the merch booth, where she signed her LP for me!
A Few Upcoming Concerts
We have a few concerts lined up over the next few months. There is nothing live seeing a band or musician you like perform live. We’re going to see Iron and Wine in a couple of weeks at the Uptown Theater. Then, two days later, We’re going to see My Morning Jacket at the same venue. I love the Uptown, it’s a relatively small, brightly painted old theater, we’ve seen hundred of shows there over the years. My Morning Jacket’s latest album, Is, is fantastic
I’m also going to the Record Bar in May to see another favorite Messer Chups. Messer Chups is a Russian Surf Punk band who do a lot of fun covers along with originals. They are a blast to see live!
Small update: I forgot to mention the Nick Cave show I’m going to in May. I’ve seen him once before, he’s a fantastic musician with heartfelt lyrics. His latest Album, Wild God, is excellent. He’s written a couple of great, though dark books and he has a newsletter, The Red Hand Files that’s worth subscribing to. I can’t wait for this show! It’s at the Music Hall at Memorial Hall - I haven’t been there in decades!
New Art for our collection by Ryan Singer
Maura and I went to the Blue Rain Gallery in the Railyard Art District yesterday in Santa Fe and discovered a local artist whose work we fell in love with. This is his Bio from Blue Rain Gallery’s website:
Ryan Singer is a Diné (Navajo) artist and painter based in Albuquerque, NM, known for his unique blend of traditional Navajo heritage and science fiction artistry. His work weaves together childhood memories with nostalgic pop culture elements, including science fiction imagery. With a strong presence in the “Indigenous Futurism” movement, Ryan’s artwork often features characters from Star Wars, a passion he’s had since 1977. He also creates contemporary, realistic portraits of Native subjects, capturing their essence with a modern appeal. Ryan’s work has earned numerous awards, including recognition from the prestigious SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market, and is held in collections of museums and private collectors worldwide. Currently working towards his BFA at the University of New Mexico, Ryan continues to expand his artistic practice, collaborating with the Tamarind Institute and working towards his MFA.
We loved the whimsical yet serious nature and style of his work and the combination of imagery from his Navajo culture and SciFi/pop culture. There were several pieces that we were tempted by but we decided to wait and think about it. The folks at the gallery told us we could email them and they would ship anything we like and also mentioned that they were hosting an opening for Ryan in a couple of hours, if we wanted to meet the artist. We walked around the Railyard, ended up going to the Nuckolls Brewery for a couple of beers and decided to go back to the gallery for the opening. It was great to meet Ryan and chat with him about his work, which makes purchasing art even more special.
The piece we ended up purchasing is titled: “A Brief Moment of the Carbon Cycle”. It’s a 16” X 20”, acrylic on canvas painting done in 2024. there were some really fun Star Wars themed pieces, and a cowboy ET drinking beer, but this one stuck with us as we walked around thinking about the show. You can check out his other work on his instagram page!
Introducing My Next Tattoo
I got my first tattoo on my first wedding anniversary with Maura. I’ve been trying to decide what to do for my second the moment I walked out the door of Exile Tattoo. I’ve toyed with various ideas - cephalopods, skulls/bones, mechanical parts, etc. and couldn’t really decide on anything. I also knew I wanted to have one of the many talented artists I know create it, but everything was up in the air until the Two Headed Beast approached me about coding their website.
The Two Headed Beast is Chris and Mirna Stubbs, two very talented artists, a designer (Chris), and an illustrator (Mirna). I told them I would code their site in trade for a tattoo design. Chris had designed some tattoos for himself and I have to admit that I was a little jealous. I explained my initial to Chris and after some design and critique back and forth, this is my next tattoo:
Yesterday we met with Chet at Mercy Seat and I have a tentative date set to start inking! He seems excited to work on Chris' designs, yesterday he said “It’s not worth doing if it’s not a challenge”. It should take between six to eight hours in at least two sessions to complete.
In an email today, Chris sent me some fundraising ideas to fund our tattoos. They cracked me up and I had to add a few of my own! He’s getting one soon as well, after having designed mine, he went to work on an idea he’s been mulling around for a while for himself - Chris' Tattoo. They’re both pretty big and very detailed, they’re not going to be cheap.
His list:
- temporary lawn service: "grass for tats" (I call weed wacking)
- donate blood. it will be symbolic of the needle in the arm thing.
- 1st Fridays we claim a corner and give crash courses in web design/ photoshop on our laptops.
- shoe shine stand
- donate sperm... okay no
- a non-violent bank robbery achieved through the annoyance of begging
- counterfeit with bills that have subliminally printed the phrase "thanks for the tat honey"
- we sell advertising space on our bodies and get logos,etc tattooed in various places. Price depends on size and location...
- scooter delivery service, delivering small items, not scooters
- sell body parts, obviously not ones we’re having tattooed. Do we really need two of everything?
- sell our hair for wigs and paint brushes, it’s big money and if there’s one thing I have in abundance, it’s hair!
Money
Very cool video, featuring all sorts of faves:
Maura's New Studio
I'd like to present to you the newest addition to the Fowler/Cluthe home:
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We’ve been spending most of our free time working on Maura’s new studio and it’s all been worth it! In fact I took a week of vacation to help with the siding. We’re so excited to see it near completion. There are only a few more small details and it’ll be ready for Maura to move back in!
I've been obsessively taking pictures of the whole process. You can see them all at my Studio Renovation Gallery. Thanks to our friend Mike Mastin and his crew, Mike, Pete, Chris, Randy, and everyone else that helped. They do great work if you need anything done to your house!