Every year since the very first Riverwest 24 in 2008, the team has introduced a new tattoo design that bestows 5 bonus laps onto ride participants. The designs have ranged from cool to tacky and upon first glance they’re almost always questionable. The quality of line varies tremendously, but that’s arguably either the aesthetic or […]
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Lunar Cycle: Ride your bike around the moon
At the end of the year I lamented that I didn’t feel like I got on my bike enough in 2013. I clocked in a total of 3,184.38 miles, which was exactly 1,815.62 miles less than last 2012 (in which I went out on New Year’s Eve to cap off precisely 5,000 miles). I’m not […]
Continue reading…A brief history of my Banksy “Flower Bomber” costume
It’s Halloween, so that means my “Flower Bomber” costume from four years ago has found renewed interest. This year’s excitement has been an interview with PBS NewsHour as well as being declared “brilliant” by Buzzfeed (take that for what you will).The reason I’m finally writing something about the costume is that it’s clear that it […]
Continue reading…Milwaukee’s paved trails must be maintained, even when it is “too cold” to use them
“Please find attached a current photograph of the switch back, just beyond the Marsupial Bridge at Kadish park. I have often had to put forth a request to have the bike paths and recreational trails cleared after a heavy winter storm. When make the request I always ask why these trails are not cleared in […]
Continue reading…Out with the old, in with the new: Redesigning OnMilwaukee for 2012
Redesigning the new OnMilwaukee may have been among the biggest undertakings I’ve had to embark upon since starting at the media company, but the whole thing started on a whim. I had a little free time and I took a look at a couple of small elements. But the more I pushed the data around, the […]
Continue reading…I’ve been nominated for Best Album Art (twice!)
It looks like I’ve been nominated for Best Album Art (twice!) for Radio Milwaukee’s Fourth Annual Milwaukee Music Awards! Nomination #1 was for The Scarring Party’s “Losing Teeth” For this album I did the typography, layout design, and back illustration. The main illustration was provided by Ray Caesar. Nomination #2 was for Pezzettino’s “Lub Dub” […]
Continue reading…This Year in Music, 2010
So as always I don’t care what year the albums were released, what matters is they’re new to me and for me they defined the year of 2010. Sad to say this isn’t a Top 10 list, but a Top 8. I felt a sense of musical lethargy this year and really have no right […]
Continue reading…Two new albums worth checking out (and not just because I was involved)
The Scarring Party has been one of my favorite bands from its inception. Lead singer Daniel Bullock has managed to combine folk, old-timey, and punk ethos into a sound that isn’t duplicated anywhere else. And really, I’m not just saying that. Please let me know if you’ve heard anything remotely similar anywhere else. There are […]
Continue reading…Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) wants to ban European Style Bike Boxes
“It’s basically about [rich conservatives] in Madison who hate [bicycles] and think everyone should [drive] to work. It is basically making it difficult to use [anything but an] automobile.” Sounds familiar, eh Mr. Nass? Fortunately neither are terribly true—particularly in Madison, one of the most bicycle friendly cities in America. Sure, there are some car […]
Continue reading…This Year in Music 2009
It’s been a rough couple of years for music and while some powerhouses released albums this year 2009 was still kinda in the weeds. I usually do a Top 10 Favorite Albums that Defined my 2009 with an emphasis on my because I am often late to the game. Several years ago my number one […]
Continue reading…Mutant Chronicles: The Movie
I watched Mutant Chronicles, a movie based on the Swedish roleplaying game published in 1993. I didn’t come into contact with the game until about ‘95 or ‘96 when they released the collectible trading card game, Doomtrooper (which is a less cringe inducing name, if you ask me). That was back when Magic: The Gathering […]
Continue reading…The plea for Janet Zweig
According to JSOnline’s Mary Louise Schumacher, Janet Zweig’s public art project, which has been in the works for three years, has come under scrutiny despite receiving “unanimous support from an advisory committee of business leaders and art experts.” Zweig’s installation would essentially consist of five kiosks that would contain flipbook–style animations mounted in retrofitted transportation […]
Continue reading…Mixtape: January 2009
I haven’t put together a mix since Muxtape was shut down months ago. I’m still hurting from that one. I’ve also been a bit out of the creative loop lately, producing very little of any substantial quality. That, however, is about to change. The last few weeks have seen a new creative burst of energy […]
Continue reading…Top 10 Albums for my Personal 2008
2008 has proven to be a fairly conservative year as far as album purchases go. I’ve found my taste to be much more scrutinizing and it takes more than just hype to get me excited about an album. As a result the amount of purchases I made declined heavily, which is good for me, but […]
Continue reading…Clutter, tchotchkes, and minimalism
I used to live in an apartment with four other people. Each person had their own definitive style and managed to find a lot of unique ways to decorate the place. There were action figures, owls, candles, artwork, and more hanging on the walls, sitting on the mantle, and lining the halls. We were also […]
Continue reading…Teecycle.org and ThinkMKE.com Logo Development
Over the last few weeks I’ve been working with a couple of different people regarding logo design: Tim Cigleske of Teecycle.org and Steve Glynn of Spreenkler. Teecycle.org Teecycle.org’s old logo was in need of an overhaul. The green in it was a bit dark and overbearing and it was improperly sized on the site. The […]
Continue reading…An unfortunate incident with an adorable ground squirrel
This weekend I went out with Tim from Teecycle.org to do some tee-shirt modeling. Our location, this time, was Klode Park, located at the top of Whitefish Bay. It’s a small park with “No Dogs Allowed” signs posted everywhere but with plenty of dogs still roaming around. At one point a police officer staked himself […]
Continue reading…The Riverwest 24: 23 laps, 115 miles, 24 hours
This weekend Milwaukee was loaded and packed to the brim with things to do. There was the Downer Avenue Bike Race, Brady Street Days, a Bay View block party, The Riverwest 24, a free rummage sale on Holton, GermanFest, Critical Mass, Bar Camp Madison, Secret Chiefs 3 (with aquaintence and opener, The Demix) and plenty […]
Continue reading…Easy Rider: Cycling From Milwaukee to Madison
A friend and I may have gone out of our minds, because we decided to bike from Milwaukee to Madison, a trek more than 80 miles long. Before this trip I hadn’t biked more than twenty miles in an entire day. But when we headed out we thought positively about it. We thought we could […]
Continue reading…Google Transit: Ford the Milwaukee River
Google just recently released a useful new app called Google Transit, which takes bus information and applies it to it’s map app. This sounds infinitely more useful than anything the DOT or the Wisconsin government can throw together and is much more user friendly for those who don’t know how to use a computer. Arguably […]
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