Rock N Roll Paintings, Mini-Adventures & Thackery Binx

[Fig. 1: "Come Together" © Amy Hood]

Things I've recently discovered and subsequently loved:


1. Painting with India ink. Instant gratification. The variations you can achieve with just your brush stroke, or adding a little water or layering the ink are so unique to that medium. It is my new favorite medium. Expect many more ink paintings to come. Kobe portrait is next on my list. (I know he had a rough night Sunday, but he did break another scoring record didn't he?! Give the guy a break. Yeah, I'm talking to you Eric, if you're reading this.) Here's a recent commissioned painting I did for Sara Wilkins [Fig. 1] as a present for her Dad for Christmas. Turned out pretty fun. I especially love Ian Anderson, mid prance.

[Fig. 2: Don The Beachcomber. Sara and Yenny!]

2. Don The Beachcomber. This old tiki lounge [Fig. 2] that was established in Hollywood in the 30's but now resides in Sunset Beach, up the coast from our new digs in Newport. I went with Sara and my sis, Jen, after our mini vacay to Palm Springs this last week. It was like being on the set of Elvis' Blue Hawaiian. I'm sure it used to be like one of those old themed Hollywood clubs that the stars hung out in. Like the one in The Aviator where snow was falling and there were hot chicks wearing fur hats and swinging from trapezes while the bandstand howled. It wasn't that cool, but it was still pretty rad. They also had some killer Mai Tais that are supposedly world famous.


3. Palm Springs. I could definitely start doing winter breaks in Palm Springs from here on out, lounging pool side and working on my tan.


4. Rye Bread. Once hated it and now can't get my stubby fingers on enough of it.

[Fig. 3: Thackery Binx]

5. Thackery Binx on NCIS: I love crime/myster/investigation shows of any kind. And I mean any. Columbo, Hawaii 5-0, CSI: Miami, Law & Order:SVU, MacGuyver, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, and even stooping to Matlock and Murder She Wrote. The one exception to this was NCIS, the murder/mystery genre's dorky, dweeby little brother. All this changed when my pops was watching an episode over Christmas break and I sat down and watched long enough to realize that Thackery Binx, my adolescent crush/soulmate/star of Hocus Pocus, was in fact alive and well and still acting on NCIS [Fig. 3]. Hollywood had not eaten him up as a yummy childhood star and spitten him out a bankrupt coke-head with a bad goatee (poor Corey Feldman). So I guess what I'm saying is, that if the only things on were Wipe Out, Everybody Loves Raymond and NCIS, I'd watch NCIS.


- Amy
Listening to: "Rock And Roll Heart" by Lou Reed

Avett Brothers, David Mayfield Parade, & Slots Baby

[ Avett Brothers @Pechanga Casino 7/23/11 ] 

Saw The Avett Brothers this weekend at Pechanga Casino and Resort and haven't been able to get over it yet. They were so amazing live. It was funny though: they are such a boot-stomping, get-down-and-have-a-good-time band, but the audience was the most mild group of people ever. Only the floor seats stood during their set (we were in the nosebleeds where NO ONE stood) and I could count on one hand the number of people that were movin', shakin' and dancin'. They were all too busy recording the show on their iPhones to move I suppose. But that's ok cause me and Jen and some random guy did enough dancing for everyone that night. I wore my lucky boots and stomped my Kentucky-bred heart out. Don't worry, we went to the back of the bleachers so as not to disrupt the Debbie Downers sitting behind us. That was mean. I'm sorry. But how do you sit during such a raucous concert! I had to move my feet. Man they are talented, handsome devils. At one point my twin sis, Jen, turned to me and said, "what's the banjo player's name again?" I said, "Scott Avett. But what's the other one's name again?" She said, "Who cares." Ohhhh Jen. She's got it bad for Scott Avett. All I know is he's a damn fine painter, wailer and banjo picker.

[ Post Avett Brothers slots action at the casino. ]

The David Mayfield Parade opened and they were a blast to watch. Lead singer (you guessed it) David Mayfield played the guitar upside down and with his feet and he was on fire with the corny jokes. The violinist and bass player were two foxy ladies who knew how to get down. Made me want to pick up my fiddle again and give her a go.


Anyways as much of a hoedown as it was (it reminded me of playing with my Uncle Owen's bluegrass band at the family reunions in Bowling Green, KY), they have some beautifuly sweet and somber songs. Those really moved me. Probably because I'm in a heightened emotional state currently, but I wasn't the only one. Three songs in particular had everyone in the venue weeping like lil' babies: "The Ballad of Love and Hate", "November Blue" (one of my personal favorites - the version on their Live: Vol. 2 album, not the original - trust me), and an epic cover of Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" (dare I say that I liked it better than the original?). At least I can thank the iPhone recorders at the show for filming this cover so I can share it here with you lovely folks. Below are videos of "I'm On Fire" from the show and a live version of "November Blue." And now back to work. My lovely friend Lauren Gillmore hired Hoodzpah to design a new logo for her photography company LA Creative Studio. It's been so much fun to work on!


- Amy

My last few days in photos, How Kentuckians Are Hipster By Default, and Adventures in OC

I've been insanely busy of recent. Thus the neglect of this blog. So here is an update of my life in iPhone pics. The last few days consisted of photoshoots with Penelope Spheeris (director of Black Sheep and Wayne's World) to promote her new film at the Newport Beach Film Fest (it's called Balls To The Wall and it looks hilarious), adventures at the Balboa Fun Zone, some amazing patty melts with Kyle Lightner and Jennifer Hood at Eat Chow's in Newport (this part included some heavy banter with Eat Chow owner Eric about ass-kickin' surfers, hardcore, and documentaries), cooking lessons with the lovely Caroline Landon, and then the longest day of work EVER today which was only survived thanks to the hour long sun bath I took at lunch. 

[ I went to Urban Outfitters to find something glittery to wear to the Billabong XXL Awards this Friday. No glitter was to be found, but I did find out that apparently being from Kentucky is now "hipster". I guess that makes me a hipster by defualt. Crap. ]

[After a long day of photoshoots at the Lido and the Balboa Fun Zone for a project Jen and I are working on, we met up with our friend Caroline Tuesday night and made dinner. It was DELECTABLE. Lemon Zest Shrimp Linquini. Or something along those lines.]

[Lunch time tanning sessions at the local park today.]

This was fun; A bit boring but fun. I'll have to document more of the interesting adventures in my life and do this again, but BETTER!

Tomorrow I'm dying my hair. Ombre baby. Roots on purpose. Who'd of thunk?

- Amy
Listening to: Neil Young's "Old Man"

Middle Brother, Making Stone Cold Steve Austin Cry, & More Hilarious Dopplegangers

[ Fig. 1: Middle Brother. Left to Right: John McCauley, Taylor Goldsmith, and Matt Vasquez. ]

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AMY HOOD: Middle Brother at Detroit Bar

My sister and I headed up to the Detroit Bar to catch Middle Brother [fig. 1] last night. It was AWESOME. It's a supergroup of small rock/folk/indie bands. When I say supergroup, think Monsters of Folk (yay!), not Them Crooked Vultures (yawn). And like MOF, this band is made up of a plethora of amazing singers joining forces, sometimes taking the lead, other times taking turns backing each other, and at best breaking into three part gritty harmonies that would make even Stone Cold Steve Austin tear up (or at the very least make him want to join a folksy rock band).

[ Fig. 2: Johnny Corndawg. © cjfoeckler ]

Middle Brother is made up of Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes (yay!), Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit (double yay!), John McCauley of Deer Tick (Yeah 3x! [cue Chris Brown]), and on special occasion the hilarious musician/leatherworker Johnny Corndawg [fig. 2]. And I can't forget the drummer, Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes [fig. 3], who's game face rivaled any Billy Idol scowl. I like the way Rolling Stone described them as a whole: "This singer-songwriter summit... is an alt-country round robin, with raw harmonies and punk-rock sentiment as unforgiving as a prison shiv." Couldn't have said it better myself.

[ Fig. 3: Griffin Goldsmith. ©Jack Edinger ]

The album is really good. Seeing them live was even better. Which is almost always the case with a good rock n' roll band; They've got that energy, that stage presence, they love the live performance and they love the crowds. All of which seems to be very rare in pretty much all the bands today. Most of the bands I've seen recently either seem like they'd rather be surrounded by hot chicks in a hotel bar somewhere, or they are seriously lacking in talent without their production magic. 


I also discovered a new act thanks to the show (which is one of my favorite parts about going to shows). The opening act was a guy named Jonny Corndawg and not only can he sing a country/rock/rockabilly song, he is one of the fines leatherworkers you've ever seen this side of the Mississippi. I'm pretty sure every member of Middle Brother was wearing a finely crafted leather belt with his initials in it courtesy of Jonny. Last night, despite suffering from a bleeding ear and horrible amp feedback, he won the hearts and minds of the Detroit Bar masses. You can see him below featured in the song "Middle Brother." Also check out his song at the bottom or google "Trash Day." 

[ Middle Brother © Brandon Tauszik ]

[ Bickering just like loving siblings. ]

And to close this blog out with a bang:

And I've said it for years now, but how much does my dear old friend Sean Murphy look like Matt Vasquez!? I think a DNA test is in order because they may be twins seperated at birth. Don't believe me from this photo [below]? Visit Sean at Kaylani's in San Clemente and see for yourself. 

Here are some tunes for you. 

-Amy

Listening to: Middle Brother's "Wilderness" 

Modern Myth Logos, Zombie Mania Sweeps The Nation, & 2 A.M. Design Playlists

[Click to enlarge.]

Here is a fun project I've been working on for my friend Kc. He has a production company called Modern Myth Productions and, among a slew of other things, they do a really popular podcast on zombies called "We're Alive". You gotta check it out. It's sweeping the nation faster than swine-flu hysteria. I like to think of him as a modern day Orson Welles, keeping audio drama alive and well. 

He asked me to design a logo for the company and the above designs were my first round of mockups. I really liked the "M"s on A1-A4. I also liked the simplicity of the first few options in B.  C1 and C2 may be my favorites though. They look straight out of a Russian propaganda campaign or a vintage horror poster. We all agreed that the "M"s in C3 will be a fun alternate text based logo to use. I only included type in some of them because I was mainly focusing on the graphics, so that part of it all is a little rough. We're still working on more options right now for the final logo. I am giddier than Perez Hilton over a new Lady Gaga song to see what we come up with! 

With all this freelance design I'm doing I've been putting in long hours and staying up till the wee hours of the morning. At that point, music is the only thing that keeps you going. Me and my friend Chris (who is a fine videographer I might add) recently trekked up to Orange for a licorice pizza (a.k.a. vinyl records) hunt. My friend Beatrice (who is a fellow blogger and fashion designer) had told me about a place with some epic deals across the street from Mr. C's records on Glassell street off the circle. She was SO right. Me and Chris dug through stacks and stacks of albums and it took all of my self control not to blow my paycheck. 5 records, 1 faux fur coat, and $70 later, we left the antique shop, mission accomplished. Here's some of what I got:

There's nothing like designing with the crackling of a great record playing in the background.

- Amy

Listening to: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "The Line" 

(best hidden track ever at the end.)

Tsunami Warnings, Our Campaign To Be The New Face of Doublemint Gum, & My Undying Love For Chris Brown (Even Post Rihanna)

[Fig. 1: Yenny (right) and me.]

Jen and I went to the beach this weekend. One of our favorite spots: Pirate's Cove/Wesley Dr. It was sooo lovely outside. Of course we abided the tsunami warnings. So intense. It's so horrible what happened in Japan. I seriously think the end of the world is coming. Hurricane Katrina, Indonesia, Haiti, New Zealand, Australia and now Japan. Not to mention all the governments that are bankrupt or in complete civil unrest. It's hard to watch the news anymore. It definitely makes me thankful to God for sunny days like this and friends and family. 

 [Fig. 2: Me and Jen circa 1996. Guess which is which haha.] 

Don't these pictures just scream Doublemint Gum commercial? [Fig. 1] I think so. I gotta get my agent on that ASAP. They've got to be looking for a new face for their campaign after the Chris Brown debacle. We've been practicing for this role our whole lives. Check out this vintage shot [see Fig. 2] of the Hood sistas back in our Syracuse, NY days. For Halloween we dressed up as giant sticks of Doublemint Gum. It snowed. Our costumes melted. Blasted water based finger paints. Speaking of Doublemint Gum and Chris Brown...

INSPIRATION OF THE DAY: Chris Brown's Insane Dance Skills

I know he beat Rihanna, but I still love Chris Brown. How does he move like that? And that cute little face with those tattoos? I can't help it. I'm determined to try to learn his tunnel dance moves in the "Deuces" video. Woah. 

- Amy

Listening to: Chris Brown's "Yeah 3x"

Smoking Stogies, Adventures With Caroline and Jen, & Crazy Jordanians

[ Fig. 1: My fancy photoshop blending/layering skills. ]

Every Tuesday I hang out with my friend Caroline and my sister Yenny. Mayhem inevitably ensues. And by mayhem I mean happy hour assaults, chick-flick-a-thons, mall-trolling - and this week - smoking stogies at our neighborhood gazebo (a.k.a our secret hideout which is now not so secret). Batman and Robin have the Bat Cave, The Babysitters Club had Maryanne's bedroom, Bart Simpson and Milhouse Van Houten have the tree house, and we have the gazebo. The gazebo has a great view of the man made lake. If you blur your eyes it's almost like you're in Venice. I said almost. The only problem is it's flanked by grass riddled with duck poop. Minor setback. 

After a successful trip to the Cheesecake Factory (where we caught the tail end of the Lakers win over the Timberwolves), we hit up H&M (oh how I love that store) and then it was off to our secret lair. I had recently come into possession of some cheap stogies that had to be smoked. How? The strange Jordanian I work with. This guy is such an interesting specimen, and a little weird. A couple of years ago he got in a car accident that put him in a coma. He woke up a year later to find that the wife he had been matched up with by his parents back in Jordan left him while he was in the coma. Gnarly, right!? Despite having been put in a coma from reckless driving the guy still drives "like a bat outta' hell" (cue Meatloaf). He also insists on giving my sister and I presents everyday, most of which are either his ex-wife's old possessions (awkward) or items from his brothers Kwik-E Mart (talk about a stereotype filler, eh?). This is where the stogies came in. He gave me a pack the other day. This was the first gift that I readily accepted. Below are some fun and sort of trippy shots of us getting our Clint-Eastwood-via-The-Good-The-Bad-The-Ugly on [see Fig. 2].

[ Fig. 2: Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name. ]

Most of the photo creds go to my sis. Except the ones she's in. Obviously. I got creative after being inspired by Tamara Lichtenstein's photos and had some photoshop fun with my photo. It turned out pretty rad if I do say so. [See Fig. 1.]

[ Jennifer Hood ]

[ My lovely friend, Caroline Landon. ]

[ Me and Care-Bear. ]

[ And again. ]

[ Caroline giving that come hither stare. ]

[ Taking  a good toke to try and get an artsy smoke photo. ]

[ It only sort of worked. ]

[ Caroline Landon ]

[ Caroline, Yenny and ghost. ]

[ Jen hilariously pointed out to me that this looks like the cover to that horrible movie with Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock. See Figure 3.]

[ Figure 3: Forces of Nature Cover. ]

Cheers,

Amy

Listening to: New York Dolls' "Personality Crisis"

New Tattoos, Keeping It Real Like Ponyboy & Playing The Guinea Pig

[ On the "operating table," stencil on foot, awaiting the gun. ] 

Like I posted a couple weeks back, my friend Ari is apprenticing at Newport Tattoo right now. In order to practice he's handing out free tats like a pedophile hands out free candy on a playground. Being the starving artist that I am, and looking to scratch my metaphorical itch for some fresh ink, I offered my skin as a sacrifice. It was done in the name of art... and pauperdom. Here's a photo essay of the night as documented by my favorite twin sister (no need to point out my only twin sister), Jennifer Hood. 

[ Awaiting my foot's fate. ]

[ Starting to get excited! That's my friend and tattooist in training, Ari Kotsiris. ]

[ Discussing the plan of attack. ]

[ I had to run out to the car to grab my phone, and then I had the dirtiest feet you've ever seen which Ari had to touch. Sorry Ari. ]

[ Jen Hood, up to no good. ]

[ Sweet Jen. ]

[ Me mid-tattoo. ]

[ No pain, no gain. Or so the meat heads tell me. ]

[ Ari doin work, hoping I don't find out he has no idea what he's doing. Just Kidding. Ari was a pro and a half! ]

[ Trying to talk between whimpering - I mean - trying to talk while not noticing my foot is getting blasted. ]

[ We both made it out alive! Authors Note: Ari has the quickest thumbs-up draw you've ever seen. This thumbs-up was recorded at .06 seconds. ]

My tattoo says "Stay Gold Ponyboy." It's my first semi-ridiculous tattoo and I just adore it. Like I said a while back when pondering my potential Clint Eastwood tattoo, I've realized that the tattoos I like most on other people are the kind of ridiculous ones. The ones most would consider their mistake tattoos. And I don't mean the Winnie-The-Pooh-on-your-hip or dolphin-on-your-ankle kind of mistake tattoos - I mean a smiley face on your knee cap like my friend Tim Wiececk, or half the tattoos on or done by my friend Chris De Armas over at American Vintage Tattoo in Orange [See Figures 1 and 2]. Funny/strange/absolutely unique tattoos. "Stay Gold" is a pretty common tattoo, but adding the "Ponyboy" to the end makes it quite unique and semi-comical. Mission Accomplished. As soon as this bad boy heals I'll post better pics of the actual tattoo.

[ Figure 1: A Jackolope, and Figure 2: A Colonel Sanders headed chicken shitting biscuits. Tattoos by Chris De Armas. ]

If you want some free ink and want to play the guinea pig too, call Newport Tattoo and ask for this guy [Fig. 3], Ari Kotsiris.

[Fig. 3: Ari]

 Cheers,

Amy

Listening to: The Duke Spirit's "The Step And The Walk"