During my recent trip to Richmond, VA I got a chance to hang out with Noah Scalin the creator of SkullADay.com, one of my new favorite websites. Noah is creating a new skull every day for an entire year. He makes them out of everything he can find from thread to pop corn to digital illustration. He told me he spends between 4 and 8 hours every day working on his skulls. I first met Noah after he created a video for The Gaskets using only stock footage. He invited the Gaskets and I over to his apartment to show us the video. I remember being very impressed by all the weird amazing things he had in his apartment. After I found out about his site I sent him an email and found out that he had not yet received a copy of the Gaskets DVD I produced which featured his video. So when I was in Richmond this weekend I stopped off quickly to give him a copy of the DVD on my way out of town. Two hours later we had talked about everything from How She Move to turn of the century web design. We talked about fashion merchandising, Planet Of The Apes as social commentary, and how I could get him a real human skull (I know a guy…). At the end of our exhaustive talk I asked Noah if I could photograph him and his skulls. He graciously accepted. I took photos of the skulls he created for the project, the skulls he has collected over the years, and the countless skulls people just keep giving him since he has started this mission.

So check out all the photos of Noah Scalin and his amazing collection of skulls.

Tonight is One Night Stand at Midway!  I was going to be there and shoot it and everything, but alas I have to go out of town.  I will have a spy there taking photos that will appear on my site anyway… so don’t miss that.  The reason I am going to be out of town is because I am going to a Gaskets show in VA.  (The show is on Friday, but I am leaving tonight.) So Richmonders, come out to that shit.  It will be way good.  The Gaskets will be playing with a full band! So exciting!

Also, this is going to cause me to miss the Trash 6 Year Anniversary which I am extremely upset about, as well as my buddy Doug Sakmann’s release party for Punk Rock Holocaust 2 at Rated X on Saturday. I hope you guys have fun, because I’ll be in Richmond.

PS. Expect me to slack on updates while I am gone… Be back Monday….

I took the day off yesterday for the first time since March or something. I just felt like doing nothing, and I had an adventure to go on. I think I will have to tell you all about it later, but it was not the type of thing I do every day. I have pictures that may or may not go up soon. Insane.

In other news, I got sleeping pills again, so I might be able to function a bit better, although I slept for 11 hours last night, so that is probably not a positive step in sleep recovery.

Starting tomorrow I look for a job, for serious. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I am looking for anything part time. Seriously anything.

I had planned on going to Virginia tomorrow to vote and hold signs for Obama, but it does not look like I am going to be able to make it, which is completely bullshit. I am so involved in this election right now and I am not even going to be able to vote. I need to change my registration ASAP. I argued with a girl over the Clinton/Obama thing for like an hour last night and then took her to a party where she did a bunch of my friends coke and had a bunch of fun and then told me she hated me because I was voting Obama. Great.

I have started carrying around a point and shoot film camera everywhere I go. I don’t know how I am going to pay for all the film and development or what I am going to do with the images, but I think it will be a very positive improvement in my life. I will probably be doing it for a few weeks/months before you see any of the images, but in one day yesterday I shot nearly 100 images.

Today is going to be a slow day with no pictures for you and with no real updates planned other than a call to my VA voting friends. There is some Polaroid news hitting the blogsphere like a hammer that I figure I should mention and thats about it today. This is one of those bullshit posts where I tell you why I am not updating. We hate those, but some times they are necessary…. I always try to make them interesting at the end with a cute video to make you feel like you didn’t waste 4 minutes of your time reading bullshit.

Oh Hey! Amazing! When looking through YouTube I found a video I actually want to talk about. One of the featured videos was a video by Noah Scalin who is a graphic designer who taught one of my best friends Teddy from The Gaskets. Noah actually directed this video for the Gaskets and now he has a featured video on myspace. Congrats Noah!

Update: I just got a Facebook message from Noah about his Skull A Day project.  Now you have the official website!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3VDNaikh1w[/youtube]

The Gaskets are playing at Midway tonight.  You should go.  Here is a video of them performing in Richmond, VA for the taping of a PBS TV show.  They are super fun.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDbs7ShDG8M[/youtube]

I just spent the last 20 minutes driving around LA trying to find a WIFI network that was open.  I am currently sitting in a CVS parkinglot killing an hour before I have to pick up a friend of mine from LAX.  We are going out dancing somewhere I think.  I may or may not have pictures for you in the near future. Anyway…

Celebrating the one year anniversary of the Pull-Out Method party at Midway (Ave B between 2nd and 3rd) the Gaskets are going to be playing.  It is going to rule and I hope you guys show up.  Unfortunately I am going to be at Sundance and I am going to miss the show, but I think you will have a dancing good time if you go.  They are going on at 11 so you can still go out after.  Trust me, you will have a lot of fun.

I was in Richmond, VA for the last two days because the band I manage, the Gaskets, were in the studio.  We recorded half their last album at Sound Of Music Studios and I think most of this new album is going to be done there… then again we are pretty much out of money now, so I am not really sure how that is going to happen.  We got the drums, synth, vocals and guitar done on four songs and vocals, drums and synth done on a fifth.  We still need bass and backing vocals on everything, plus a lot of piano and possibly some beat production stuff.  And then of course… we have to write and record a second half to the album, although I think they have three other songs that are pretty close to ready to record.

Anyway, I took a few pictures while I was there… nothing exciting, but a few shots.  I even got a photo of the infamous Thadd Williams who is both the webmaster tech guy for thegaskets.com AND this very site you are looking at.  This page would not exist without Thadd.  Therefore, he gets the top photo on this post because it is his first actual appearance on this page. Click here for the rest of the photos.

My friend and Gasket member Ross now has a music video for his solo song titled “I Swear I’ll Never Let You Go”.  His solo material is called Ballpoint Pens.  You can check out his music on his myspace page or you can just download a whole CD worth of free music here.  The CD is real good, I highly recommend it.  The video was directed by Lana Swartz and it has been described as “darkly comical”.  I am just wondering why it is so very small.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItH8mJB_TRc[/youtube]

A month or two ago the Gaskets were staying at my house for CMJ. A website called Uncensored Interview came over and interviewed the guys on my couch. The posted like 20 short videos of the Gaskets talking about all sorts of strange things. My favorite is them talking about the good old days below, and you can check the rest out here.

My boys the Gaskets got interviewed at CMJ by Blender Magazine.  The interview was primarily about this drunk guy who passed out  backstage with a Blackberry and a camera in his hands.   It is pretty funny.  No one ever found out who he was or why he was in their dressing room.  Click the picture to watch the video.