This weekend just gone, Snoo and I attended a little soiree in Wolverhampton. Two of our friends, who we know through Manics fandom/Forever Delayed, were celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary with them renewing their wedding vows. And, of course, a little party and drinkies afterwards. As is only right and proper. It was a really lovely event. The ceremony itself was only short and understated but beautiful all the same. I was very honoured to be there and I really had a fantastic time. Especially as there were a load of people there who I’d not seen for a long time, so it was really nice to catch up with everyone!

I designed a card for the happy couple which I thought I’d show here. The market for Congratulations-on-your-twentieth-anniversary-and-on-the-renewal-of-your-wedding-vows card market is pretty small (and dare I say it, niche) so I didn’t really have much to go on. I wanted something which not only reflected the anniversary side of things, but also the fact this was, in effect, a second wedding. And of course, trying to be a little different. This is what I came up with. I think it does the trick. I hope you agree.

Hopefully, I covered all my bases here. I was quite pleased with how it all came together in a relatively short time. I really need to try and push my colour pallet thought!

A while ago I started using Spotify. I even blogged about it here. See, I told you. Anyway, initially I was just using it as a means to stream music while I worked or exercised, and it was good. I also found it a good way to find out about new bands and artists which I may not otherwise have come across, and without having to shell out money, or indulge in nefarious practices in order to get my grubby (no pun intended) paws on said songs. I have started to realise that it is possible to use it for much more than that. The main thing being, you can make and share playlists. I’ve always been a fan of making mix CD’s etc. I enjoy compiling together all my favourite tracks of the time, and trying to make the whole thing flow (relatively) seamlessly. Maybe I’m indulging my childish dreams of being a radio DJ or something. I’ve also really enjoyed swapping these compilations with others, and hopefully they’ll find something new that they’ll enjoy from it. I’ve certainly found artists I love from getting CDs from others. Over at The Illustration Station we’ve been doing compilation exchanges for a while now, and recently I suggested doing a new one. Someone made the suggestion that maybe an exchange of Spotify playlists might be a bit quicker, cheaper and easier and without the whole messy business of having to burn CD’s and go to the post office. Plus, you have the added bonus of being able to share the playlist with many people, as opposed to just the one recipient of the CD. Great! So, that’s exactly what I’ve done. So, I present to you…

It can be accessed by clicking here. You need to have the Spotify app installed, if you don’t already.

Now, with a name like that, you might be expecting a certain type of playlist (i.e. summery stuff), which isn’t necessarily the case. It’s more a compilation put together in the summer months (although, it is threatening to rain as I type this…). Plus, I’m a sucker for alliteration. It’s mainly what I’ve been listening to recently, and a lot of stuff that Ben and I were listening to while we were away in America. The tracklist looks like this (click on the image for a larger view):

So that’s it really. I hope you enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed making it. Unfortunately, Spotify doesn’t seem to have everything I wanted to put in on it’s database, so there are a few great tracks which don’t feature here, but maybe will in future compilations. I’d like to hear what you think if you get round to listening to it, and if anyone wants send a playlist they’ve made my way, I’ll give it a listen.

Cliffs, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.

I’ve now finished editing and uploading all my America photos. It was a pretty big job in itself! From the thousands I took, I’ve whittled it down to around 450 – A respectable number I thought, and hopefully enough, but not too many, to look through in one sitting. You can see the complete set on Flickr now. I need to get some of the best added to the photography gallery on here at some point soon. I’m not sure I can face it quite yet though…

I guess that’s it then really. Finishing the photos marked the end of the trip. We do still have the video to work on, production of which, all being well, will begin this weekend. That’s gonna be a MASSIVE job! But, for all intents and purposes it’s back to normality now. I feel very fortunate to have been able to do, and it’s crazy thinking about the chain of events that led up to it (this being one of the major factors). I’ve been thinking a lot about all the little things that happened along the way, and all the cool people I met along the way, in all the different places. Th climbing community tend to be a very friendly bunch, and it was nice to strike up a conversation with complete strangers while stood under some random rock in the middle of nowhere (Aaron, Adam and Chris in Boulder, CO, John and Laura in Joe’s Valley, UT and Moe in Castle Rock, CA, and all the guys at the Rock Ranch in Hueco – to name but a few). All very cool people, and all with their own stories to tell. It’s chance meetings like that, along with all the travelling and climbing that really made it a very special experience). Of course, the biggest thanks of all belongs to the people that where there with me. It was great to share and reminisce about the experiences with Ashby, Snoo and of course Benny, for putting up with me for the full two months without any noteable clashes or falling out. The trip was, and always will be one of the greatest experiences of my life, and it was nice to have great friends there with me to share it. Here’s to the next one! I can’t wait!

You can read more detailed accounts of what happened on the B² Productions website.

Hello. It’s been a while, eh? A lots been going on as well. I’m now back in Blighty after my two month trip to the states – It was a very cool experience, and I had a fantastic time. It was kind of odd though, time wise. The trip seemed go fly past in no time at all, but being in Yosemite and places like that right at the start seem like a lifetime ago now. I guess that’s just the nature of such things really. We fitted a huge amount of stuff in though, so it’s all good. Huge amounts of “stuff” and huge amounts of traveling, for me, is obviously going to equal huge amounts of photos. And, this is indeed the case. There’ll be more of that to come in the near future, but this post isn’t about that – it’s about something else. So, here goes…

Basically, The Tragically Hip are back on tour again, with another mammoth tour, but more importantly, with mammoth shows. They’ve returned to their ‘Evening With…’ style shows, which were debuted on the 2000 Music @ Work tour. Sadly, I missed that, but I wasn’t going to suffer the same fate this time! Whilst in America, we managed to work our schedule around one of their shows at the Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco. It was a great show, and great place to see them. I took my gear along and recorded the show as well. The highlight for me had to be when they (finally) played ‘Escape is at Hand for the Travelin’ Man’ which was absolutely beautiful! However, seen as I’ve posted versions of that before on here, I thought I’d share another little surprise from the show: Throwing off Glass – a song which, by Gord Downie’s own admission “We don’t play too much…” I also created some artwork for the show which also uses some of my own photos I took in San Francisco – Here’s the wrap around front cover:

If you’re reading this, and want to get hold of a copy of the show (for free, naturally), you can download it by going over to The Hip Tracker.

The other tapers have also been out in force as well, travelling around and capturing all the great performances and special little gems which get dropped into the sets every now and then! It’s really great that there are people out there willing to do it, and that the band are cool with it. Anyhow, the 2009 DVD’s are starting to surface, and I’ve been asked to produce some artwork for it. Which, I duly did…

When I create artwork for recordings or DVD’s etc, I often try and make it in keeping with the artwork of the album the band are currently touring (in this case: We Are The Same). It was pretty tricky with this album, as there’s not a huge amount to work with, so I’ve tried to recreate the eroded, glowing, typewriter font as best I can, mixed in with some of my own style work. I think the two sit together rather nicely, and I’m pleased with the two sets of artwork I’ve produced so far. Hopefully I’ll get to do some more – we’ll see what else emerges.