The Indie Rock Coloring Book

by CH Contributor

by Julie Wolfson

Already on a roll with their t-shirts that raise money for good causes, Yellow Bird Project's recently-launched whimsical Indie Rock Coloring Book offers kids, and the music fans that care for them, many pages of fun and games.

From the psychedelic cover of a hand drawing an explosion of instruments and swirls topped with a bird head to the 31 pages of coloring and games, the book tempts kids to start playing and even singing along. Each page features a drawing by U.K.-based musician and illustrator Andy J. Miller and celebrates some of indie rocks favorite bands. The first pages offer a chance to color in a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! carnival and to find all of the birds in Devendra Banhart's beard.

Keep turning to find the faces of Rilo Kiley with instructions to draw in each band member's current hairstyle. For the Holly Throsby there is a word search with the lyrics to "Making a Fire". Miller also drew his impression of Andrew Bird whistling and a maze that challenges Broken Social Scene to reunite. As Matt Berninger from The National says, "This is the greatest coloring book since coloring was invented. I've decided to have kids just so I'll have somebody to give this book to."

The book raises money for several of the causes that Yellow Bird Project supports. As Rilo Kiley's Pierre de Reeder writes in the foreward the book is, "a great example of how you can turn your love for music and art into something that can really help."

Pick up a copy from Yellow Bird or Amazon.

OuTable

by Lost At E Minor

OuTable, a collection of conceptual plastic utensils for outdoor dining, brings the poetry of nature to such humble items as the spoon. Designed by the clever Israeli-based firm d-Vision, the "neo-naturist" project takes inspiration from the simple beauty of eating outdoors with friends or family.

With varying shapes and sizes that echo the organic forms found in nature, the collection also speaks to an understanding of the relationship between man and nature. Among our favorites in the series, a fruit bowl comprised of bubble-like shapes shifts its center of gravity depending on what's in it. We also like the cutlery collection that requires finding your own stick to serve as the handle and a zipper vase that adjusts according to flower arrangement needs.

Shoot: Photography in the Moment

by CH Contributor

by Tisha Leung

Getting back to basics, curator and former Tokion magazine editor-in-chief Ken Miller's new book "Shoot" presents the work of 26 photographers who go au natural using only a single-lens reflex camera and natural light. Their work focuses on capturing a moment without the aid of elaborate lighting, sets or manufactured scenes, instead relying more on instinct, intimacy with subjects and happenstance to create dynamic images.

Miller documents the influence of this freewheeling approach pioneered by an older generation of art photographers, such as the legendary Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillmans, on a new generation who've embraced the style. Photographers featured include Tim Barber, J.H. Engström, Dash Snow, Juergen Teller, Peter Sutherland and Glynnis McDaris, as well as Goldin and Tillmans.

Pre-order Shoot from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See details of the launch party celebrating the 15 September 2009 release below and see more images from the book after the jump.

Shoot Book Launch
17 September 2009, 7-9pm
The New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002 map
tel. +1 212 219 1222

Spindrift x J.X. Williams Tour

by Jacob Resneck

Spaghetti Western rockers Spindrift are making their way west where their reverberated guitars hang on a minor chord like a magenta sunset over a high desert playa. Unique to this tour, they've been granted permission to use imagery from the reclusive J.X. Williams, whose all-but-lost horror spectaculars changed cinema forever.

Director Noel L awrence, the keeper of William's archives, secured permission from the elder master of macabre who leads a quiet life painting landscapes from his secluded villa in the Swiss Alps.

For those unfamiliar with the filmmaker, J.X. Williams drew upon his own experiences with the mafia and the Red Scare blacklist to create the infamous 1965 shocker Peep Show that outed the cross-dressing FBI master J. Edgar Hoover for the first time. Following that film, Williams moved on to a run of pornographic horror films before his quiet exile to Switzerland. Catch a quick peek on his site.

And already the band's fanbase is reacting with a mixture of fascination and disgust.

"I gotta tell you... watching J.X. Williams on the big screen behind you guys last night was riveting," one woman wrote on the band's MySpace page. "My jaw dropped, you guys couldn't have timed it better or played a better tune. And oh, before I forget, that was a woman's labia being sewn up inside of a pentagram?”

News of this unlikely and rare collaboration wasn't announced until after the tour had already passed through the Eastern Seaboard but there's still time to catch them in Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado where the band performs at the Monolith Festival on 13 September 2009.

You can also check out French channel Canal+'s capsule bio (with subtitles) on J.X. Williams and look out for the full-length documentary that's currentlyunderway.

Mike Shinoda: Glorious Excess (Dies)

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

Little more than a year after his "Glorious Excess (Born)" exhibit, Mike Shinoda recently released a 128-page book and four skate decks in conjunction with his follow-up show, "Glorious Excess (Dies)," currently on view at L.A.'s Japanese American National Museum. Shinoda's exploration of the celebrity-dom theme—one he knows well as a member of the band Linkin Park—runs full circle, with acrylic works that chronicle society's over-the-top preoccupation with fame, wealth and excess, a message carried out by way of a pivotal skeleton figure used to reflect a modern day vanitas.

The "Glorious Excess" book, published by Roger Gastman and with an essay by Shepard Fairey, features behind-the-scenes shots of Shinoda preparing for the shows, in addition to five autobiographical chapters about his work. The skate decks go for $75 each or $275 for the whole set on Shinoda's website. Money from all artwork and merchandise will go to the Michael K. Shinoda Scholarship at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Included in the charity donation will be the winning bid—at least $18,000—for a Honda roadster Shinoda customized for the show.

Glorious Excess (Dies)
Through 3 October 2009
Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles, California 90012 map
tel. +1 213 625 0414