Cool things

Ray Barbee: skateboarder from San Jose, CA and talented musician. His songs are jazz-influenced instrumentals. Very cool vibe. He also did a collaboration with The Mattson 2.

Tommy Guerrero: skateboarder from San Francisco, CA and talented musician. Not only that but he's an artist ~ he does the paintings for his album covers. His songs are soulful, loose instrumentals. Download free MP3s on his site. "I've been playing music since I was about 12 ... skateboarding since I was 9. You are what you are, and you are always that."

Ike Quebec: tenor saxophonist ~ a product of the swing and big band era. Later considered a jazz artist. His body of work is considered fiercely independent and original.

Orchestra Baobab: Currently on tour, catch them if you can. They are from Senegal and their style is a beautiful combination of afro-beat, jazz and roots music. Anyone would love the Pirates Choice album.



Ed Fella: Mr. Fella is an artist, educator and graphic designer whose work has had an important influence on contemporary typography. The pages above are from his book, Edward Fella: Letters on America, Photographs and Lettering. The book gives insight into his idiosyncratic world by combining and juxtaposing examples of his unique hand lettering with his photographs of found vernacular lettering.

Fella insists that he creates simply because, "this is what I do, and I've been doing it pretty well, almost from infancy. When you become famous for doing something, you want to do more of it. And, as Barnett Newman said, 'I paint so I have something to look at,'-which I think is so profound in a way. The context in which he said it was, at the time, a critique of formalism, but on the other hand, if you take it out of that context, it really is the reason why we make stuff. I always tell the students that they are the first people to see what they've made, and they should derive some pleasure from that, right?"