KBBBLOG MIX TWO!
To Fall is Not to Fail, Paul Simon, Nina Simone, Corita Kent, some drawings and a twitter account about skeletons. Plus a pink trash can.
This week’s mix is named after a Dear Nora song that popped up on one of my previously made mixes that I have for background at Outlet and some other lo-fi /indie faves were also included (oh hello Guided By Voices, The 6ths, Silver Jews, Quasi). This week also includes Nina Simone’s cover of the Bee Gee’s To Love Somebody which made me tear up like the Bee Gee’s song NEVER ever freaking did (and seriously no shade to the Bee Gees) but that’s the power of the incredible Nina Simone. Check out her newly released Nina Simone: The Montreux Years from Rough Trade. Also, check out the 2020 Bee Gees HBO Documentary How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (that actually did make me tear up?)
There are several animated videos that accompany Nina Simone: The Montreux Years and the package design is great for the records too with a color palette going after my own heart. YES PLEASE!
Speaking of COLOR, the pink and yellow used in this week’s mixtape drawing is directly inspired by the pink erasers and yellow pencils that I saw at Target this morning as I roamed the aisles that celebrated my favorite season: Back to School. Yes, I know it’s the first week of July, but damn, do I love the promise of new school supplies. My friend Namita just called them “Objects of Possibility” as I was texting with her about my excitement regarding the seasonal aisles being filled with pens, notebooks, erasers, file folders, pouches and tape. And that’s so perfect. Happy Objects of Possibility Season! Go stock up. Go get those Objects of Possibility!
Also on this mix are two Paul Simon songs from Heart and Bones. I used to sing “Rene and Georgette Magritte and Their Dog After the War” to Hank when he was a tiny baby to get him to sleep and I ended up performing an encore of this song earlier this week when I was trying to calm him down from the extreme excitement of not sleeping in a crib. We stayed at my mom’s to escape the heat, but he quickly became drunk on the power of not being caged in and chaos ensued for three hours, but we finally wound down by me singing “Rene and Georgette Magritte” about seven times and rubbing his sweaty hair until he passed out. The above drawing was made in 2019 when I was trying to document all of the songs that I would sing to him (Be My Baby and Me and My Arrow also made the illustrated cut). And “Hearts and Bones” is on there because I love thinking about how he wrote this for Carrie Fisher.
Also, if you want to get lost in a Paul Simon talking about song writing on the Dick Cavett Show, I totally encourage you to do so. Watch out, there are quite a few.
Speaking of talk show hosts, the internet has been FILLED with Conan tributes (no he’s not dead, he’s just ending his TBS show). I really enjoyed this Vulture complied reflection. He’s just the perfect intersection of weird and smart. I also saw my favorite Kid in the Hall Scott Thompson tweet out the tour he and Conan did of Toronto in 2004 and it made me LOL.
I recently was asked by the College of the Arts at Portland State to create a print to go into 450 graduate boxes that were being prepped to ship to the homes of all of the graduating students this year. I reached out to the Corita Art Center to see if I could reproduce Corita Kent’s iconic rules and they said yes, but only if I redrew them and didn’t sell them. DONE AND DONE. If you happen to be in Portland and might be interested in picking up a copy, book a time to swing by and scoop one up. I made some extras for free distribution.
This list was first given to me as a 20 year old art student by my incredible professor Marcus Melton and it’s a list that has provided tremendous inspiration over the last 20 years.
These rules were first written in the 1960s when Corita made them for her students at Immaculate Heart College in LA. Since then, they have inspired and encouraged many both inside and outside the classroom. I JUST ADORE THEM SO! Huge thanks to the Corita Art Center for allowing this print to happen. Purchase a print of the original rule at Corita.org
I’m slowly watching Un Film Dramatique on Mubi this week, a film in which twenty-two middle school students, on the outskirts of Paris, experiment with video cameras and sound equipment for four years, documenting their own lives in the process. The result is a wonderfully shaky-camera, Degrassi-esque, coming-of-age documentary that shows us what life looks like through their eyes. I really have a weakness for coming-of-age anything TBH. My sister just reminded me of the great VHS tape-over-scandal of 1995.
I had to correct her in that it was when she taped over the series finale of The Wonder Years with an episode of Disney’s Gargoyles, but her version works too. I was mad as HELL, my friends.
Speaking of twitter, an account that has been giving me delight about 8 to 10 times a day in the form of skeleton images and gifs is OOPS ALL SKELETONS! Do yourself a favor and give a follow if you want more skeletons in your life (like I do, apparently).
I wrote a way-too-long instagram post about my skillshare zine class turning six last week and included a bunch of zine workshop teaching memories over the years. Speaking of workshops, I would be a terrible business owner if I didn’t mention that we have TWO workshops coming up at Outlet for the month of July. Want to learn about Risograph Printing? Want to make a collaborative zine? You do? Great. We have a Risograph workshop on July 10th and a Zine workshop on July 17th. Both are online, but we are slowly creeping towards IRL ones again soon. Leland and I are going to be talking about what Outlet has meant to us this last year and what it’s been like to flip a very in-person space to a very online space during the next Portland Creative Mornings. Stoked!
That’s it! I did this two times! Thanks for reading and if you enjoy it, please share with your friends. I think I am having fun? CU NEXT WEEK.
Kate, I love reading your newsletter, great tunes, and brilliant sketches. I realized that you are one of my earliest Flickr contacts and remember as a newly hatched graphic design teacher that your blog on Typepad (now I'm feeling old) inspired me to create one for my students, so lovely to follow your career and super cool to see your work. We live in the US these days, with all its craziness and a long way from home in the UK, take care and best wishes!
I love the art doc trailers and videos. I also like that your are inspired by the yellow pencils and pink erasers at Target. Target is one of my favorite stores 👍🏽My son also loves the toy section at target.