LA MARKET


Today I went to LA's 'Market' with my colleague Gina, as part of fashion week. I went there to photograph collections for blaec.com to carry next year, as well as assist in the actual selection process. What fun! If you are interested in seeing what we picked out from a great group of designers (from Crispin & Basilio, Jovovich-Hawk, Dallin Chase, Sally Tseng, and lot's of new ones). I put a slideshow up of our pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/67724397@N00/2768a9 . There are quite a few so beware. Fash-own!

Ping Pong and laughs at Casa Rincon Last March


I found a video clip that reveals a bit of magic and fun at Casa Rincon. Friends in pockets of different coves throughout the house and a view of the beach and back again. Simone left today at 6am and has arrived by now. The WBA boys are off to Mexico City this weekend to play a music festival there. Then I head down on Monday. ...Until then I'm working in LA during fashion week's 'market' on Saturday and will be saturated in fashionista craziness and buzzing ladies. I'll be representing blaec.com , where I photograph clothes, help come up with fun fashion related ideas as well as assist in new designer choices, etc. I mean hey, I like good clothing design. It will be a total switch when I get down to me-hi-co-co. Can't wait.

Tropical Hobbit Village


A view from the sand of Casa Rincon. Swiss Family Robinson anyone?

The Beginning of the New Music Vortex at Casa Rincon

Back in March, we had a ton of friends down at Casa Rincon and this is when the idea to build a recording studio was born. Here is a typical tropical musical scene at Casa Rincon. The scene: Dan, Erlend, and Davide strumming and plucking, Lindsay chilling, Eric on surfboard repair duty, and Mark looking on. The waves are beyond the palapa, providing the background soundtrack.

Adrian's Report #1

Had a great day today. Went into town to send off Michelle and get some music equipment with Mark, E and Machat. Got pulled over for running a red light, barely, and they took my license, also lost my ATM card, but cancelled it before anything happened. Then went to the music store in old town vallarta, right near the movie theatre and Naranjo (the rad restaurant). We bro'd hard with the music store and E bought a beautiful used cream colored drumset, a PA and some Euro power converters. The store has really good stuff, vintage fender's, new euro pre apms: kind of like a Mexi Cowboy Star (remember that one by Cabrillo Blvd.? Maybs?) but less cracked out. Told them about the studio and they were stoked and told me that they do all the acoustic design for the nightclubs in Vallarta and can get us any acoustic panelling that we need, also cables, mics, software, whatever. The guys names are Charly and Nacho. Then we went to Riso's, probably the best supermarket in Vallarta, where I actually found yeast and wholegrain flour for Marcin to make his French friend's mother's bread recipe. Then Erlend left his ATM card in the ATM. Called his Dad to take care of canceling it. Also went to get mark in between who I had left at the Airport to say goodbye to michelle. He had walked about 2 miles into town thinking I would see him on the way to get him. I didn't see him, but he saw me and hopped in some dude's truck, all, "Me Llamo Marco! Vamos al Aeropuerto!" He found me there and we had espresso in the new wing of the airport. Then we went back to get Machat and E. I finally figured out where that offramp is for the road that goes around the city to the old town. Very lush and tropical above the city, very Night of the Iguana.

In the end, the good outweighed the lost license and two ATM cards. Also, loving the White Boyz, quirky bunch. All down to build and cook, and make a joke, ja.

Mary, Annie, Feisty


My friend Mary Rozzi (photographer), sent me this photo today. It's of her looking over the shoulders of Feist and famed photographer, Annie Leibovitz. Feist was photographed by A. Leibovitz in NYC for a feature in this month's Vanity Fair. Mary was asked by A.L. to be at the shoot, as during her research of Feist, viewed Mary's portraits and admired them quite a bit. An amazing day for Mary and Leslie... So happy for them both. How exciting! Cheers to the rad gal pals of the circle of radness for bringing such awesome creative life experiences into their worlds.

Rubies Photos in Japan



I was happy to see the Rubies promo photos I took get some good mileage in Japan ... here they are in the HMV and Tower Records in Tokyo!

Studio Progress







So the boys have been down in Mexico for 11 days now, and already have knee high walls up in the new recording studio. They drove around and locked in all their resources including a lumber yard stocked with tropical hard wood, and have some custom planks getting made as we speak. Two trees washed up on the beach, so they are using the straightest part of them for some columns and things are quickly coming together.
Erlend and the rest of the WBA crew arrived yesterday. Marcin made a nice dinner for everyone, including a vegetable bisque and a fresh green salad. Michelle was down for Mark's birthday, so the Mexi-crew is forming and changing. Here are some construction photos along with a couple others - sent to me from Adrian and Mark today. These were taken by Mark. Happy Birthday Marco!

New Chapter in Old Mexico / Recording Studio


Adrian is getting ready to head down to the house in Mexico to build a recording studio. They plan to be down there until early December, then back again for a new year's holiday. It started as Erlend's idea after spending many hours at the house working on his music with his bandmates. Now it's turned into a huge project that will become a studio with hopefully, a long life. Lots of research and doodling around here. Mark and Adrian will drive down on Friday. To Arizona, then down to the house... It will take them 3 days or so. Lots of interesting design challenges to tackle. Because the studio is on the beach in a tropical climate, there will various dehumidifying issues. The design will also be influenced by the climate in terms of materials and acoustics. Lots of fun mind buckling and ideas floating around the cabana during the major count down to the grand departure... Casa Rincon, here they come! To enlarge the image, just click on it.