Design on the fly - literally

I get a lot of magazines sent to me on a regular basis at no cost - publications on fashion, architecture, interior design, graphic design, business, travel, food, wine, music and other topics. There's usually a stack of them in my living room, and on my night- stand, waiting to be read. This morning, while having my second latte, I was flipping through the latest issue of SPIN. Visually, it's really an appealing magazine - lots of great photos, intriguing illustrations, excellent writing, attention-getting ads and interesting typography (and the ink smells good, too). Then I started laughing...

The article "Stitch at the Devil," in the publication's "NOISE" section, is the story of the latest venture into the fashion industry by Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx. His Royal Underground line, created in collaboration with fashion veteran Kelly Gray of the clothing concern St. John, has made its way in Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales. Among the photos of T-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets was a shot of a pair of jeans - the subject of my giggles.

The image of a seven-inch tape measure is sewn into the flap of the zipper fly. I suppose it gives new meaning to the measure of a man being determined by the clothes he wears.

Still, there seems to be no reason for any man to be concerned, or uncomfortable, when wearing the pants. In the article Sixx confesses, "It's weighted in the guys favor."

Give a guy an inch...

Image courtesy of SPIN

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Selected sounds of the holiday season

'Tis the season. Preparations are underway for the holiday party for law firm where my partner, Ed, is employed. The event is going to be held at the beautiful Terwilliger Vista Bed & Breakfast. Live music will be provided by the local group The Rhythm Dogs. I'll be playing "corporate wife" at the event - and trying to be on my best behavior.

One of my assigned spousal duties was to select Christmas music to be played when the band is not performing. I was asked to select five to six CDs from our personal collection of over 50 holiday options.

There was no doubt of my first pick. Etta James' 12 Songs of Christmas (1996) is a must - especially for a party. That incredible voice, taking on traditional songs, is sure to be a hit.

The Sinatra Christmas Album, a compilation originally released in 1987, is a great musical gift package from "Old Blue Eyes." White Christmas (1996), from the late Rosemary Clooney, was another immediate selection. For me personally, it just wouldn't be the holidays without A Charlie Brown Christmas from the Vince Guaraldi Trio. I've been a longtime fan of The Manhattan Transfer and their release The Christmas Album (1992) has become a season classic in my home.

My final selection is also the most personal. In 1989 my friend Leslie McMichael released her CD Snowfall: Harp Solos for Christmas. Listening to it always brings back great holiday memories - especially of being in Seattle years ago and going to the Space Needle to hear Leslie perform live. In addition, Leslie (who co-founded the Vashon Island Harp School), and her significant other Marty Schafer, always celebrate the season by sending out an eagerly anticipated musical holiday card.

© 2006 Jeff Fisher Logomotives

An evening at Jimmy Mak's with Jacqui Naylor

It was great to escape from the house last night - after a week of dealing with a flu bug while finalizing the manuscript of my new book - to spend an evening with friends at the "new and improved" Jimmy Mak's club listening to San Francisco based jazz vocalist Jacqui Naylor. My partner, Ed, and I first met Jacqui at the Sayulita, Mexico wedding of our mutual friends Shawn and Greg. When Jacqui was a child, Shawn was one of her babysitters. Jacqui sang at the wedding, with partner-in-crime Art Khu on guitar, and I fell in love with her music. I mentioned to Ed that I had to get a copy of her CD Shelter as soon as we got back to Portland. Later, at the wedding reception, I felt someone trying to put something in my pocket and turned around to find Jacqui attempting to put a copy of the CD in my pants. She smiled and said "A little bird told me you might like this." I was hooked on Jacqui. I often work on design projects with her incredible voice in the background.

When Jacqui comes to Portland, Shawn and Greg always get a group together to attend the show. Last night - the first time in the new "big city" venue - we joined them, along with Greg's mother Marcia, Shawn's sister Karen, and our friends Scott and Erika, for a wonderful evening of friends, food, music and a drink or two. Jacqui performed some old favorites and selections from her new CD, The Color Five. She was better than ever. It was also great to get the chance to visit with her for a bit, and say "hi" to Art. Unfortunately, the night ended way too early for us.

Jacqui has upcoming tour dates at several Blue Note jazz clubs in Japan, and at locations around the U.S. If you can't catch Jacqui in person, get yourself one of her CDs - or touch base with her on MySpace (where she and I bumped into each other a few months ago).

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Great food, fine wine, fun design,a quirky film and a new book

I've been a bit lax on the bLog-oMotives entries lately. It seems a busy social calendar, writing my new book Identity Crisis! (to be published by HOW Design Books in 2007), submitting articles for publication in Turkish and Russian design magazines, and preparing materials to be published in other books got in the way this past week. The social aspects were a great deal of fun and provided lots of design inspiration.

Last Tuesday night I attended a great cooking class at the culinary store In Good Taste in Portland's Pearl District. Holland + Knight, the law firm for which my partner is the business manager, had the cooking class "Hands-On Tropical Escape" as their summer associate activity. Chef Erika Carlson and her cohorts led us step-by-step through making Tamarind- Glazed Prawns on Won Ton Crisps; Watercress Salad with Oranges, Caramelized Coconut Spiced Macadamia Nuts and Chevre; Chicken Jerk and Halibut Pineapple Skewers on a bed of Caribbean Couscous with Dried Tropical Fruit and Flaked Coconut; and Banana-Rum Flambe with Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream. Along the way we sipped Segura Viudas Brut Reserva, Red Stripe Beer and Willow Crest 2005 Pinot Gris. A great time was had by all - and, as a designer, I enjoyed checking out the great packaging of all the food products throughout the store.

The following night some friends had a private party at the new N.E. Alberta retail establishment Cork: A bottle shop. The store, operated by the former owners of the restaurant Assaggio, is a welcoming space highlighting an incredible selection of wines. Proprietor Darryl Joannides did a beautiful job designing and building out the store. One of the first things I noticed was the business card produced on an actual wine cork. Designer Todd Skiles of Fullblast created the logo and other identity elements. The walls of the store displayed some beautiful art works from the Alysia Duckler Gallery. As if we hadn't had enough food and wine the previous night, the party featured a wonderful selection of appetizers and desserts from caterer Food in Bloom, and much more than tastings of three whites (including a selection from Jacques and Francois Lurton - who make some of my favorite wines from Chile and Argentina) and four reds. The voice of jazz singer Mary Kadderly sounded fantastic in the acoustics of the space. While I was checking out all the wine label designs I heard some laughter across the room. One of the party guests had discovered Bitch - a Barossa Grenache produced by Dan Philips, David Hickinbotham and Chris Ringland, some well-known individuals in the wine industry. Quite a bit of Bitch was purchased by the party-goers. I'm sure everyone has someone in their life that deserves a bottle. I'll certainly be going back to Cork to check out more wines, their selection of gourmet chocolates, and the balsamic vinegars and olive oils. We'll probably pop in on Thursday evening while enjoying Alberta Street's Last Thursday event.

My Thursday was a day of recovery and time to catchup on many work-related efforts. I really had no desire to even leave my home and spent much of the day working from my new garden space.

Friday started out with a meeting to help coordinate the Second Annual North Portland Pride BBQ and Festival to be held August 13th on the grounds of the University Park United Methodist Church. Last year I designed the logo for the now annual event. I had great biscuits and gravy, at Darcy's in the Portsmouth neighborhood, while brainstorming with the coordinators about sponsors, participants and performers for the festival.

I then rushed home, changed my clothes and headed to the Simpatica Dining Hall, in southeast Portland, for a client luncheon. The dining hall is located next to the Simpatica catering kitchen in the basement of an interesting old building that was formerly the Pine Street Theatre and the La Luna club. I think their logo is beautiful (and will try to find out who created it) It was another amazing meal of their signature green salad, grilled asparagus with Parmesan and lemon, fuscilli pasta with Nonna's meatballs and red sauce and a chocolate cheesecake tart. I was so tempted to have the Simpatica Cheeseburger, but felt I'd already overeaten throughout the week. With my lunch I had O'Reilly's Chardonnay, while other guests enjoyed a Zoot Allures syrah/cabernet (bottled by J. Christopher Wines). Lunch ended about 3:00 p.m. and then it was suggested that several of the guests walk a block over to Doug Fir, in the Jupiter Hotel complex, to cap the afternoon off with a cocktail (or two). Somehow it was suddenly nearly 5:OO p.m. and time to call it a day.

This is not my normal kind of week. I'm usually quite the home-body. With 80-85% of my design work being done cyberly for clients outside of Oregon I seldom have the need to leave my own neighborhood for any reason. It felt great to spend part of my Saturday going the Marbott's Greenhouse & Nursery (1808 NE Columbia Blvd) buying several flats of annuals for my garden and patio pots. The relaxation continued as Ed and I spent part of the evening watching the intriguing and quirky movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I thoroughly enjoyed the Saul Bass-ish opening credits and the movie was great entertainment.

Our social obligations for the week were not quite over. Yesterday morning we had a brunch book signing to attend at the home of Robert Weiss and Norma Leszt for Weiss' latest book, Mardi Gras at the Monastery and Other Stories. (Bob was a founding partner in the law firm Weiss Jensen Ellis & Howard, the company Ed went to work for over 12 years ago, and the firm later merged with Holland + Knight.) The roof garden of their condo was the perfect place for the gathering, with more good food, mimosas and music provided by Robin Dubay and Holly Stern of the Portland Baroque Orchestra. I'm really looking forward to reading the book when I finish with some of the other selections on my nightstand. The brunch was the perfect start of a beautiful day, and a great way to end the craziness of the past week.

With this entry I hope bLog-oMotives is back on track. I plan to post entries on more of regular basis. So, it's back to work as I try to focus on staying cool. The forecast is for 102 degrees here in P-land today. I'm fairly wimpy in that heat - a great reason to stay in my air-conditioned office and get a lot done.

Photos © In Good Taste and Doug Fir

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

High on Hollyweed:30-year-old college art project is put to music

Many friends and acquaintances of mine are "creative types" - designers. artists, architects, writers, musicians and others - who are always working on some interesting projects. The other day I got a press release from writer, and former Portland resident, David Batterson about his latest effort. I know Batterson from his work writing articles and text for businesses and organizations. However, he's also a song writer.

Batterson and former deejay Mark Giles have completed a new song - "Hollyweed USA" - celebrating a popular stunt that happened 30 years ago, when the landmark Hollywood sign was changed to read "HOLLYWEED." Batterson wrote the lyrics to the song and Giles composed the music. Giles also sings on the demo of the copyrighted song. The musical tribute has not yet been recorded by a record label, but has been distributed to college, indie and "pirate" radio stations in the U.S. and overseas.

Student Daniel Finegood was the person who envisioned the stunt and - on January 1, 1976 - carried it out with some friends. It received worldwide publicity at that time, and earned Finegood an 'A" for his college art project. The artistic deed was in recognition of the new California marijuana law being implemented on that day. Finegood documents the event on the site Hollyweed.net.

Batterson and Giles have also written the songs "Unless We Have A Song" and "Rattling The Dishes," and are working on more songs.

Update: Danny Finegood lost his battle with cancer on January 22, 2007.

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Hot art and design in a book about cool jazz

I'm fascinated by great children's books - especially children's books that are for kids of all ages. Books that are well designed or incredibly illustrated always catch my eye. I recently came across the beautifully designed and illustrated book Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits, a collaboration of jazz great Wynton Marsalis, illustrator Paul Rogers and graphic designer Jill von Hartman. The book, published by Candlewick Press, includes text and graphic tributes to Louis Armstrong, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Art Blake and many others. It's a wonderful treat for any jazz enthusiast, a fan of the stylized illustration of first half of the last century, or a kid being introduced to jazz and design.

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives