So, I've finally gotten my music page 95% completed. Laying those things out is a giant turd, I tell ya what. And remember, I am NOT a web programmer, so I've had learn all of it off of the sweat off my brow.

Anyway, check out the tunes, and let me know what you think.

My old roomate Thomas has an awesome acoustic band down in New Mexico that had an awful myspace page. So Thomas gave the the go-ahead to kick it's butt, in good old-fashioned design style. Since I had just managed to do the same thing with my page, it was as easy as busting out the ole' template and fixxin' her up. Check it out.

For those of us using iTunes' coverflow, it's a bummer that Radiohead didn't provide any official (yet) cover art to go with the download. But the good news is that means we can all design our own official covers.

That's what they've been doing over at Hick's Design, so I had to chip in with my version to go along with everyone else's. (Looks like Grant Hutchinson chipped in also. The world is a small place. I just emailed him this morning.)

Well Howdy Ho, neighbors!

It seems that Shoreline Community College has hired me as their "New Media Consultant." (Blogger, basically.)

They want/need to implement advanced Web 2.0 web marketing strategies, so they hired me to figure things out. Pretty sweet. I'm stoked by this.

It's cool because it is great experience and will look fantabulous on my resume.

"By the way, Dan, do you happen to do any 'web' stuff?"

"Why, as a matter of fact, I do Mr. Gates. Yes I do."

The sad part is that it will drive a wedge between me and my first love, Shoreline's student newspaper the Ebbtide. I haven't been able to give the paper my all this year due to increased responsibilities elsewhere, but I'll still miss her anyway. Someone from the marketing department can't work at an "un-biased" media outlet, so one of them has got to go.

Although, pending further discussion, I should still be able to write fluff articles, so the Dr. of Love is still available for dispensing prescriptions for love.

I always loved the font used for the cover of Joy Division's "Closer" album. I tried hunting it down, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

MyFonts.com has a cool service where you can upload a .tiff of a few words set in the font and it will identify it for you. (Called IdentiFont. Get it?) A few close matches (Like Friz Quadrata) that would satisfy most peoplecame up, but they were not quite what I'm looking for.

I was stoked when I found out that Peter Saville, the designer for Joy Division and New Order's albums, had a website where he posted the fonts that "he" had designed for their use. He had one specifically labeled "Joy Division Closer" font. Unfortunately, the font he, or whoever is running the site, had posted was totally bogus. It was another font called Helios SSi that someone had slapped a new name on in total violation or the original designer's moral and copyright laws. Shame on you!

That wouldn't have been so bad if it had matched the font on the album cover, but no, it was totally different. Sucky.

If you happen to know what and where I can find this font (Yeah, right...) let me know.

P.S.
I hope this goes to show the depths of my sickness. What I forgot to mention is that I am considering creating the font myself from high resolution scans. I haven't made an entire typeface yet, just stuff for logos and such, so it will be interesting to see the results. The cover has every letter except for K, Q, & Z, and only a comma. No numbers, lower case letters, or other analphabetic glyphs are available, so either I make them up or they don't exist. Wish me luck!

Just got done camping up in the Cascades. Man, that was fun. A small story:

On my way down from the pass, I stopped over at a really cool little waterfall that I sometimes stop at. There were some stoner kids there getting high by their little campfire, and I waltz in all cool with my camera. "What's up?" I asked in my most condescending photographer's voice. You know, the "I'm cooler than you because I have a big camera and I understand the deeper meanings of life because I went to photography school" attitude?

So immediately, I start snapping away, getting some great scenery shots. (By the way, I'd upload some, but I've already packed me camera...) There was this rock ledge that I was gonna jump up onto instead of climbing up, because like, I was cool and all. Of course, that's when my sandal decides to slip in the sand.

I biffed really hard, camera in hand. I hurt my arm again, and I banged my shin on the corner of the ledge. Everyone was laughing their butts off because I had just made a total fool of myself. When I had shaken myself off, I realized that I was missing something.

I quickly discovered that the stoners were still laughing because, sure enough, there goes my sandal. Floating down the river. BA! I asked one of the guys if he could get it for me since I could tell he had just been swimming. (I really didn't want to go swimming again. I had just gotten done swimming earlier in the day, and I was not looking forward to riding back home all wet and soggy.)He says to me, "I'll do it for $10."

Forget you man! Get me a stick, I'll get it myself. Of course, there were no sticks around. So here's I go, emptying my pockets and belly flopping into this freezing cold mountain river. Man, that sucked.

I managed to get my sandal back and my dignity in one move. And just to show I was cool, as soon as I got out, I dove in again just to show how much fun it had been. That'll show you!

You probably had to be there. There's nothing in the world like watching me trying to be cool and falling flat on my face. That's pretty much my life story. I do pretty well when I forget about trying to be all high and mighty. I probably would have fallen and lost my sandal anyway, because I'm Dan, but at least I would have been in character the whole time. After the swimming I was just plain old me, and I had a good time taking pictures. The guys even showed me a cool shot to take.

So, that's it. Camping was fun. Unfortunately, I have to turn right around and start packing for the big move into my new apartment. That should be a bundle of laughs in and of itself.

I have once again gone and hurt my left arm. (For anyone who's known me in High School, this should come as no surprize.)

I was protecting a herd of wild grizzly bears from a deranged female Homo Sapien when I...

Ok, so I was standing on a skateboard in my livingroom and took a dive. Since my arm already has some nice hardware in the form of two -2" titanium plates and six screws, it kinda hurt. Apparently I pinched the left ulnar nerve, whatever the crap that means.

So now I'm juiced up on some pretty wicked pain killers and I'm completely gimpy in my left arm. At least there's no cast this time...

Here's a review that I wrote for my newspaper regarding the May 03 Sigur Rós concert that I've been talking about. I should have more photos later. If any one is interested, I can get them a high res version to use as a desktop or something. Just let me know.

Sigur Rós bring down the house at Benaroya Hall

Dan Gayle

Design Director

Many people insist that Sigur Rós music represents the dark, frozen winter of the Icelandic soul. As proven by the band at their May 3 show in Benaroya Hall, their music also tells the tale of the wet, dreary winters of the Seattle soul.

The opening act of the show was a quartet named Amina made up of young women who also played backup for Sigur Rós during the entire concert. They perfectly set the mood for the headline act with their haunting music comprised of various instrumentsincluding a violin, cello, xylophone, a toy Casio keyboard, a ten string guitar-like instrument, and a Macintosh Powerbook.

Sigur Rós opened behind a giant white curtain spread across the front of the stage. Their shadows were projected 20 feet high upon the curtain as their intro song Glósóli softly and quietly built into a thunderous conclusion that shook the auditorium.

As the curtain came down for the second song, Sigur Rós vocalist and guitarist, nicknamed Jónsi, began with the roar of a distorted guitar being attacked by a cello bow. As the cacophony died, the band began what was to be a repeated pattern throughout the show: A dynamic mix of sweet and haunting melodies built into a highly emotional and intense light to dark crescendo by songs end.

The melodies sang by Jónsi are often compared to the sounds of an angel crying, otherworldly and entirely different than anything offered by the rest of the musical world. Most songs are in Icelandic, but a few were sung in a language that Sigur Rós calls Hopelandic (Vonlenska in Icelandic). Hopelandic is a language invented by the singer to fit with the music and act as another instrument independent of words. As this concert proved, regardless of the language, Sigur Rós managed to capture exactly the right mood with every single song.

The show ended with two songs that highlighted the light/dark dynamics of the bands show. The songs Hafsol and Popplagið built into such a crescendo of intensity and volume that the members of the crowd in the front rows were nearly shellshocked. The songs both started slowly and quietly, but began to build methodically into end-of-the-world thunder signaling Ragnarök.

The drummer Orri was highlighted in these two songs, if only because of the violence with which he attacked his drum kit. Orris drum set included two bass drums, not because he played double-bass style, but because he needed the second drum to get thatmuch louder.

The curtain was pulled over the last song, Popplagið, while images evoking nuclear fallout projected onto it. The images swirled and flashed with such intensity that it would be possible to imagine someone in the front rows having a seizure. At the songs conclusion, the band dropped their instruments, leaving them to feedback and catch the rooms harmonics until the hall itself began to vibrate.

Sigur Rós music isnt for everyone. Some hate them because they play at a dirge-like pace, because every song sounds similar, or because there isnt a happy song in the entire set. You might love them because they are entirely unique in their combination of light/dark dynamics, their haunting melodies, and their live intensity.

The show at Benaroya Hall was an amazing show. I fully recommend going out and buying any one of their albums. You wont be disappointed. Better yet, if you can catch them live, be prepared for one of the most intense shows of your life.