Let 'It' Out.

TOM - There's this guy here in New York that sings in the subways. Well, there's a lot of people that sing in the subways of New York, but there's nobody quite like
this guy in my opinion. He's probably one of the best singers I've ever seen in person. I've only seen him sing three times in the past two years or so, the third time being just last week. He has this amazing voice that sounds kind of like a cross between Percy Sledge and Marvin Gaye. He sings all these 60's Motown songs with pure perfection. He sings over karaoke tracks of songs like 'My Girl' which blast from his old, beat up boom box. His voice is so strong you could hear him from the end of the platform, even across the platform, all without a mic. That's how strong his voice is. He sounds so authentic too, a little too authentic actually. It's as if he was signed to Motown back in the day, was just about to make it big like Marvin and Smokey, but he let the booze and possibly drugs get to him first. This guy sings like he's in a studio booth somewhere, never misses a note and never gets drowned out by the subway noise. He sings effortlessly while he counts his money(which he collects alot of) and flirts with all the women. He sits the whole time, making little dance moves with his hands while singing out the side of his mouth. He's
old and missing some teeth.I don't know what his life is like when he's not singing. Maybe he's homeless and spends the nights on the street or sleeps there in the subway. Maybe he's a grandfather and goes home to his wife at the end of the night. I don't know. All I know is when I saw him last Friday on the L platform in Manhattan, he made me really enjoy waiting for the train. I took my headphones off and just stood there, watching and smiling. Unlike most subway
acts, I don't think he's crazy. I also don't think he's looking to get 'discovered'. He doesn't need any validation, he's a pro. It seems to me like he does it because it makes him really happy. I think that's the thing that really impresses me about him, he doesn't try too hard, or at all. 'It's' in him, all he's doing is letting it out.

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On the Side

Tom- Here's my latest illustration for the New York Press. It has to do with a guys unwillingness to commit to just one person.
If you look to your right, you can now click the 'follow' button and become a follower of the blog. I'm not exactly sure what that mean myself, but come join the social circle anyways!

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Printing a Beach House Poster

JAMES - I've gotten great use of my new printing studio this past week, finishing three great posters for upcoming shows by the XX, Yeasayer, and Beach House. The last two days I spent printing the Beach House poster - a four color poster on beautiful "Grape Jelly" paper. I just made a quick little video roughly documenting the printing process. I'll elaborate on the creation of the poster once it's closer to the show date (April 30), but for now here's what I did this weekend:

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Model Drawing

TOM - Here are some high(or low)lights from the last few model drawing sessions I went to. In the past, I used to bring a big ol' pad with my fancy charcoals and watercolors in attempts to make some 'serious' art, now I just throw some random pencils, markers and colored pencils into my bag along with a smaller sketchbook and I've been much happier with the results. I'm having more fun experimenting with the figure and my approach to it, rather than trying to create a finished piece. Thanks for checkin' in!

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You're the one for me, Fatty.

TOM - Here's one I did for this week's 'Flavor of the Week' for New York Press. In other news, there's alot of new and exciting things I've been working on recently but can't post them just yet, keep checking in though, the next few weeks should be exciting!

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