This Is Blurbism

Hatch Show Print

I've known some nice people in my life, but I can't remember ever meeting a person as warm, gentle and gracious as Jim Sherradan of Hatch Show Print. After introducing myself and telling him that I'd dreamed of visiting, he opened the shop to me to photograph, chat, and answered all of my questions with a kind of authentic genuineness that I've rarely witnessed.

For years now, I have admired the work and history of Hatch Show Print. I've often considered making a pilgramage there, but it's a long trip from Toronto or Vancouver and I was afraid that I'd ultimately disappointed. Boy was I wrong about that. I'm glad to be wrong.

Hatch Show Print is enjoying a real rennaisance lately, due in part to renewed interest in music poster art from the likes of Bird Machine and others. There's even a new book on the subject: "The Art of Modern Rock - The Poster Explosion" from Chronicle Books.

According to Sherradan, business has never been better. Hatch is currently cranking out over 600 posters a year. He attributes much of the new interest to the computer. This is odd, because this is a very un-digital business. The reason, he feels, has to do with people's desire for something different and organic -- an alternative to the digital realm. In fact, the only computer at Hatch is their "retail computer" that runs their sales.

Jim has also started to create letterpress abstract art, using older out-of-use emblems, illustrations, and letterforms that might otherwise pass into oblivion. With his ideas and designs, Jim and I had much to talk about, and I sensed a kindred spirit.

Hatch is owned by the Country Music Hall of Fame, and run by dedicated people like Jim and his full and part-time staff as well as interns. It is a museum of sorts, but a working museum with an enviable client list.

Photos here.

Mensa

Here's a quick Mensa-style quiz:

99, 5, 84, 80, 2, 29, 70, 64, 57,_____?

I'll send a 10"x14" print from Three Sisters series to the first person that can tell me what the last number is.

From Memory

They say that your sense of smell is most likely to invoke memories, and I suppose that would include taste as well since they're so tightly linked. Yesterday I picked up a box of Luden's Honey Licorice Losenges (something that is no longer available in Canada) and upon popping one in my mouth was engulfed in a childhood memory.

When I was 5 or 6, my family moved to Woodside, California or more precisely "The Junction"* of Skyline Blvd and Old LaHonda Rd. The area was just sold off for development in beautiful 1+ acre lots overlooking San Francisco Bay. The man who sold us this parcel of land was named Mr. Stadtler, and he roamed the area in a vintage open-top doorless Jeep.

One day after I walked up to the General Store - known as "Hank's" -- Mr Stadtler spotted me and offered me a ride home. Even then -- well before the SUV craze -- I recognized the Jeep as something cool. I hopped in, and he instantly offered me a Luden's Honey Licorice Losenge. Off we went in the open air, the flood of licorice flavor in my mouth, the wind in my hair, and the grinding noise of that old Jeep's gearbox in my ears. Sweet.

I wonder, is music as tied to memory as taste is? The reason I ask is that I had another flood of memories yesterday after throwing on an old UB40 album (the first one -- the one nobody seems to have heard of). Instantly, I was transported to 1979, to my third floor loft in my house on Euclid Street, sitting with Carl smoking joint after joint on a hot Summer's day. And feeling so numb and anesthetised. Please, don't anyone ask me to do anything. I'm way too S-T-O-N-E-D. Of course that was back when pot was weaker and cost $60/bag.

*"The Junction" became famous around that time for Hell's Angel's on acid, Ken Kesey, Hunter S. Thompson. I was too young to notice.. it was just where I got off my school bus.

Pancakes: Flat As Nebraska

Today was mostly Nebraska. If you've seen Nebraska, you already know how flat it is. Save for some somewhat hilly sections near the Wyoming border and in the southeast, it's flat. Woefully so. But with this flatness comes a kind of rhythmic driving that's great for making fast progress, really listening to your music, and daydreaming.

Nebraska appears to have a unique way of dealing with speeders: ignore them. With a 75mph speed limit, and a fine of only $20 for going 95mph, there's no real incentive for the Highway Patrol to stop anyone. In fact, in the 500 miles I drove across the state, the only State Troopers I saw were tending to an overturned vehicle.

So, I daydreamed a lot today. The flatness reminded me of visiting Holland with my family when I was around 13. We all kept remarking how flat the landscape was. In the midst of all of this, my younger brother piped up "I've heard of Holland skiing!" Where he got this idea is a mystery to all of us, but it does come up from time to time at family gatherings..to much laughter.

The other thing I thought a lot about is tornadoes. I used to have frequent nightmares about them, I think due in large part to feeling traumatized by seeing Wizard of Oz at a young age. But then I saw one in Ohio one day -- it was a few miles away, and an awesome sight. Since then, my tornado nightmares have vanished.

Brenda and Doug informed me that tornado season was upon us so I was feeling especially paranoid. A good part of the day I was driving through dark and foreboding clouds, some of which were trailing rainy tendrils down to the ground. I kept a watchful eye in this tendril-rich environment lest any of these clouds "organize" itself into a real threat.

Portland, Jerome, Cheyenne

So far, I've been quite lucky with the weather -- sunglasses every day, and thanks to watching the weather patterns carefully, I even managed to thread the needle between a couple of weather fronts today. It was looking ominous today in the eastern third of Wyoming, but I somehow continued to find the sunny spots between the clouds.

Just when I was thinking that Wyoming was Cheney Country -- ie all about big oil, feedlots, chemical plants well hidden on dusty roads, pick-up trucks (the bigger the better) I stumbled upon this ray of hope just outside Arlington, WY. In the midst of all the nasty weather, the sun seemed to shine just for these wind turbines -- a stunning white glowing against this early Spring sky.

Tomorrow looks pretty iffy weather-wise. It looks like staying north will be the ticket for now.. eastern Colorado and Kansas all look like snow. Nebraska looks a little better. Giddy-up.

Vancouver Bound

Unbelievably.. I've gotten most things done. There's a few small things that'll happen in my free moments over the next 10 days or so, but the major and pressing things are behind me now.

The itinerary for the next week or so:

• this morning: fly to Vancouver.
• this afternoon and tomorrow: orientation and trip prep
• Saturday: depart for Charlotte, NC
• Wednesday: arrive Charlotte, NC

The route is uncertain, but I want to try to go through the south. That's an area that's foreign to me, and I want to soak it up as much as possible. Unfortunately, I won't have a lot of time to spare plus I'll be quite heavily laden. So no diversions.

Lies, Part III

7:05 am
"I'm sorry sir, that waybill doesn't exist".
"It hasn't cleared customs."
"I'll call you back in 5 minutes."
"Your new reference number is xxxxxx." Why?... is the tracking number not enough?

7:35 am
Still waiting. No call, no package.

1:30 pm
Delivery. Oddly, by PUROLATOR.

more lies

Lie #1: "your replacement part will be there first thing tomorrow."
Lie #2: "it'll be there by noon."
Lie #3: "it's on the truck, it'll be there before the end of the day"
Lie #4: at 630pm: "the truck is still out making deliveries. It'll be there soon. FOR SURE."
Lie #5: at 7pm: "DHL dispatch is now closed. Please call back during normal business hours."

yeah, right

"We appreciate your patience and your call is important to us. One of our representatives will be with you shortly."

-- heard hundreds of times while waiting on hold with Apple Support for a couple hours today

T minus 2 days

Hard to believe that I'm heading out for such a long trip. This came up so suddenly, and I have so much to do to get going:

• make all printing arrangements test strips and mastered files √
• make all framing arrangements √
• make all show hanging arrangements √
• make all photo tags √
• finish show posters
• trouble-shoot slideshow
• duplicate all photo libraries √
• duplicate all music libraries
• send in workbook ad buy
• create pics for workbook ad
• configure laptop √
• do laundry √
• pack √

and....

sleep.

Two steps forward, three back.

OK... NOW IF I COULD JUST GET THE GODDAMN HEADER TO BEHAVE! Geesh.. just like all software, this product needs work in it's navigation. I find something once, and I can't find it again later. So I spend too much time poking around..

And then the users manual... why the hell is there no printable PDF file with a TOC? In a scant few days I'll be working from a laptop, and juggling windows can get to be a real chore.

Other than that I'm enjoying this experience a fair bit. After so much time looking at the great weblogs of friends and colleagues, I have a lot to live up to. And of course I'm sure there's more than a few that will roll their eyes when they see that I didn't code this thing myself... but when I see all of the headaches people are having with the latest install of MT, not to mention comment-spam.... well, who has the time?