8tracks...make mine a double

UNIQLO Under Construction 5th Ave NYC

A friend recently sent me an email telling me about a website he thought I might like...8tracks.com and it wasn't until this week that I was able to dive in and take a look. J'adore!!! 

"Listen for free to the best internet radio, crafted by people who know and love music. Or, legally share your own online mixtape, a streaming playlist with eight or more tracks."


Through other people's mixes I've found music I didn't know about and I've met people as crazy about music as I am. It's a great alternative for your tired itunes shuffle or when you realize you've played that new album 20 times in a row. 8tracks is also available as a iphone app.

Here is a link to my first mix:

http://8tracks.com/lenzartis/for-all

You don't have to join or sign in, you can just listen...and not just to my mix...EXPLORE...find something new. 


And if you have the time to do so comment to me or send me an email and tell me what YOU'RE listening to...I really want to know. Better yet, sign up to 8tracks and share your music mixes with me.

Here is our For All playlist (no particular theme, genre is mostly indie, this is what's on heavy rotation in our world)

Piledriver Waltz   Alex Turner
My Halo   Atlas Sound
Baby's Arms   Kurt Vile    
Lord Knows Best   Dirty Beaches  
Nothing Ever Changes   Bill Ryder-Jones
Big Boy  Balam Acab
Suck   Yuck  
Circulation   Thurston Moore
Hounds   The Antlers 
Stutter   Yuck   
Still Life   The Horrors
Coming Down   Dum Dum Girls
Endless Blue   The Horrors
Baby Says   The Kills
Some Stay   Sacred Spirits
Corsicana   The Antlers

If you like:

Sacred Spirits you can download their EP for free at 

http://www.therecordinglabel.com/

Bill Ryder-Jones you can download his EP for free at 

http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/landingpage/23-06-11/bill-ryder-jones-a-leave-taking-soundtrack

Dum Dum Girls, Coming Down you can download this song from their upcoming album at http://www.subpop.com/channel/blog/download_dum_dum_girls_song_coming_down

Can you dig it? Naomi Campbell and Isaac Hayes, 21 years later and still pinching myself...

Photo by Edward Mapplethorpe (Maxey), 1990

Naomi Campbell and Isaac Hayes, photo shoot with Edward Mapplethorpe (Maxey) for 1990 November Paper Magazine

21 years ago...visiting my friend Edward in NYC, at his loft on Lafayette that also happened to be his studio....there was a photo shoot that day. "Mind hanging around til I'm done?" Are you kidding? "I'm not going anywhere!!!"

Naomi Campbell, photo by Edward Mapplethorpe (Maxey), 1990

Back then I use to shoot everything on my Sony Handy-cam. I asked if anyone would mind if I shot some video. This was the first photo shoot I had ever attended. Paper Magazine, Naomi Campbell and Isaac Hayes and yeah, it was pretty damn cool!

RIP Isaac Hayes

Behold Mother Nature

7/13/11 East River, NYC

How will I ever leave this apartment when I have this view?

Falling in love, Submarine and Soundtracks

What if John Hughes and Wes Anderson had collaborated on a coming of age film set in 1980's Wales? Well, I'd like this a lot and I feel like I just watched it, thanks to director Richard Ayoade and his debut film Submarine; which is based on a novel by Joe Dunthorne and is now playing at Village East Cinema.

I must say I was much more interested in the protagonist Oliver Tate and his love interest Jordana than the secondary story of Oliver's parents and the possible affair between his mother and her cheesy new-age mullet sporting first love, whom just happens to live next door, but overall this was a nice surprise as I knew nothing of the film and it was  a quirky, dark and comical reminder of my own awkward teen years.

Who's voice is that singing?  I don't know who I asked that question to because I was alone. (I seem to be going lots of places alone lately, I need to work on that) Yes, I Shazamed the soundtrack because it was driving me crazy. I know this guy's voice. Alex Turner? Who is that? I'll have to wait. I certainly can't Google the name right now, I'm in a theater. Shazaming would be grounds for kicking me out as was the lunch I snuck in with me.

Aha, Alex Turner, in case you don't know, is the lead singer for the Artic Monkeys... Of course, it's all coming together, Ayoade has directed videos for the Artic Monkeys. Very fitting that Mr. Turner would create the soundtrack to this film. The songs are lovely. Ok, let me be honest, I'm obsessed with them. It's not that they're soooo extraordinary, but they fit the film so very well. The songs add to the visuals and don't swallow the film, I knew they were there and I found myself waiting for the next and I downloaded the soundtrack the second I left the theater. I've listened to it about 30 times in 4 days.

And with lyrics like these I'll be listening for a while...

You look like you've been for breakfast at the heartbreak hotel, And sat in the back booth by the pamphlets and the literature on how to lose, Your waitress was miserable and so was your food
...Piledriver Waltz

If the sun's in your eyes,
I'll tighten your blindfold, baby
Don't worry your foot won't get cut
Strut carelessly...

Paraselene woman, I'm your man in the moon
...Glass in The Park

Put on this soundtrack and submerge yourself..."I'll know the way back, if you know the way..."

"It takes a long time to grow young"

Yes indeed it does...thank you Pablo Picasso.

I'm celebrating my birthday this week. I love birthdays, a celebration of the day you were born, but as I've aged I've become less fond of my own.

So I've come up with a new strategy, instead of counting each additional year, I'll now use the sum of my year. I'm turning 10 on Thursday. I'll turn 10 five more times if I reach my life goal of being a centenarian and the oldest I'll ever be is 18. All the sudden I really do feel younger.

It's just a number, you're only as old as you feel, you grow older and wiser, yeah right...all these little phrases to try and make us feel better about the time that is fleeting, but I will not grow old gracefully. I will fight age with everything I have, because I've a long way to go yet. I'm determined to be a centenarian. I want to be 1+0+0 "One" again.

What are you scared of...

 The Bergdorf Goodman Phobia Windows, featuring artist Mark Gagnon

At least once a day I say to myself, "How lucky am I to live in this gorgeous city"...especially when it comes to the views in front of me. I don't take it for granted, ever, NYC is the most beautiful city in the world! (sorry Paris) 

From our apartment we over look the East River, with inspiring sunrises, twinkling lights of the 59th Street Bridge, and the shore lines and beyond of Queens and Brooklyn. From the windows at work there is Central Park from the 39th floor facing north with views that reach to Westchester, the East and Hudson Rivers and beyond. 

Work View

Home View

Whether I'm looking out or into windows...New York City you inspire me. 

Across the street from work, 5th Avenue and 59th Street, is Bergdorf Goodman and as far as I'm concerned the best fashion windows in the city. The latest, Phobias, really has me crooning, save for the Alexander McQueen windows which these replaced a few weeks ago. Artist/Sculptor Mark Magnon, Lite Brite Neon Studio and the Bergdorf team have really touched upon something here, Phobias, we all have at least one, what's yours?

 Fear of Heights, Phobias, Bergdorf Goodman windows featuring Mark Magnon

 Phobias, Bergdorf Goodman windows featuring Mark Magnon

Fear of Electricity, Phobias, Bergdorf Goodman windows featuring Mark Magnon and Lite Brite Neon Studio

  Fear of Animals, Phobias, Bergdorf Goodman windows featuring Mark Magnon

I could run away from my fears in these....Valentino Dangerose Mesh Rosette Sandal

Above is a super 8 video of the Bergdorf/Mark Magnon/Lite Brite Neon Studio windows using Super 8 app.

 I hope you don't suffer from Vestiphobia. 

(Fear of clothing)