Philately Fridays: Bulgaria, 1988

February 5th, 2010 by MIKE DAVIS

Stefan Kanchev: King of what? King of styyyyyyyyyyyyle.





More from the man:
6 stamp set from 1982
Dove-haired woman stamp from 1980

Get Cryphy turns 2

February 3rd, 2010 by Mike

In a total coincidence, two of Minneapolis’ best DJ-based dance parties celebrate their two year anniversaries this week. Last night, hundreds of muisc-hungry party people packed the Triple Rock Social Club for the two year anniversary of our weekly Triple Double party.

This coming Friday, DJs Plain Ole Bill and Jimmy 2 Times will host the two year anniversary party for Get Cryphy, a monthly party crammed into First Avenue’s VIP Room focusing on rap-related dance music. For two years, these fellas have been spinning everything from E-40 to Disco D to Blaqstarr to 2 Live Crew to Paul Wall to Missy Elliot and have featured guest sets from DJ Sega, Low B, Emynd, Prince Klassen, and Burlesque’s own Mike 2600 and WZZWNSHP. The result is a big, sweaty, bass-filled mess with one of the most diverse crowds in town. We rides hard for Billy and Jimmy and support everything they put their energy behind, so expect to see many more collaborations between Burlesque and Get Cryphy!


photo by Dennis Jeong Plaster

Burlesque has been responsible for the design of 23 of the 24 Get Cryphy flyers and also a brand new t-shirt which will be debuting this Friday! Catch a sneak preview below.

Get more info and RSVP on Facebook!

Eagles of Health Metal

February 3rd, 2010 by MIKE DAVIS
Love this logo for the US Department of Health, designed by Edmond Sullivan.

Triple Double at Two

February 2nd, 2010 by Mike

Tonight we celebrate the two year anniversary of Triple Double. Way back in February 2008, Wezz and I set up a pair of turntables on the floor in front of the stage of Triple Rock Social Club. Along with DJs TRL from Modern Radio and Tanner Klouda (of First Avenue and Triple Rock employment fame), we spun a mix of hip hop, funk, post-punk, ’80s, and more. Rockers, rapsters, hipsters, skaters, punkozoids, and b-boys came out to dance, see their friends, and drink 2-for-1 beers. The $0 cover, cheap drinks, relaxed atmosphere, and great music has been the perfect recipe for this long-running weekly dance party. We’ve heard dozens of DJs spin thousands of songs and seen thousands of dancers do their thing, helping make our Tuesday nights look more like a Friday.

Come out to Triple Rock Social Club tonight to hear more of the great dance music you’ve been loving for the last 103 Tuesday nights.

with your DJs:
Mike 2600
WzzWnshp
Jimmy2Times & Plain Ole Bill
Rambo Salinas
TRL
Shannon Blowtorch
King Otto
Jeff Dubois
717 Boys

OPP: Jeremy Pettis gives us Tony Di Spigna!

January 28th, 2010 by MIKE DAVIS




Longtime Pileup reader Jeremy Pettis sent in these great examples of work from world class typographer Tony Di Spigna. Coming up in the 1970s working with Tom Carnase and Herb Lubalin, Di Spigna eventually started his own studio, Tony Di Spigna, Inc.

Here's a great pull-quote from the article...

"[Di Spigna] is amused by some clients who try to employ him on a sort of 'piecework' basis. If they have paid a certain price for, say, a four-word headline and they alter commission him to produce a two-word logo they will sometimes say 'But Tony, shouldn't it be half the price? After all, it's only two words.'

'These people miss the point,' says Di Spigna 'it's not the amount of words I'm charging for, it's the complete image.'"







Don't miss: Tony's zipper alphabet

The Shit is…

January 27th, 2010 by MIKE DAVIS

My man Blaine Rucker brought the ruckus right to my inbox with this one. No info on this one, so just sit back and enjoy it for what it is. Then go check out Blaine's collection of amusing and bizarro images at The Oro24K Tumblr.


Click image for larger view

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

January 25th, 2010 by MIKE DAVIS
Everyone in Minneapolis right now is bummed the Vikings lost to the Saints last night and is probably bummed about New Orleans in general, so I want to share this poster to celebrate one of my favorite cities in the world. My dad grew up in the Crescent City, so I got to spend a lot of time there as a child, even living there for a year when I was 4 years old. It's impossible to visit New Orleans and not get mesmerized by the music, food, and people. I found this poster at my grandparents' house about two years ago. Fortunately their house was unharmed by the hurricane and I was able to pull all sorts of old magazines and books from there, several of which I've already shared on the blog.

This poster, illustrated by the ungoogleable artist Gayle Grout in 1983, really captures alot of what I love about New Orleans. Have a look around...


Click image to enlarge





Happy birthday to The Current!

January 25th, 2010 by Mike

One of our favorite local radio stations, 89.3 The Current, just hit their five year anniversary. Part of Minnesota Public Radio, The Current has been supporting great local music and artists since the beginning. We’ve had a chance to design a handful of posters, t-shirts, and CD packages for the station and were thrilled to design the poster commemorating five years of music being broadcast through the air of Minnesota.

Wes and I collaborated on the design, passing bits of Illustrator and Photoshop files back and forth until it was just right:

The posters debuted yesterday at the Rock The Cradle event and, if there are any copies left, will be available at The Current’s SOLD OUT anniversary concert in the First Avenue mainroom featuring P.O.S, Solid Gold, Lookbook, and more.

If you didn’t get tickets to that show but want a poster, The Current will have them available on their website and we will likely be selling a few copies on ours as well.

If you want another chance to catch Solid Gold performing live (they’re all the rage right now), they will be co-headlining First Avenue’s Gimme Shelter concert on February 6th. Organized by the folks at City Pages, proceeds from the concert will go to the Red Cross’ relief efforts in Haiti. Mike 2600 (me) and Jimmy 2 Times will be DJing inbetween acts and I also designed the flyer.

RSVP on Facebook

JUST ADDED – our friends over at Rhymesayers have put together a monster of a concert to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. Check the flyer below for the lineup and meet us at First Ave!

Philately Fridays: Italy, 1970

January 22nd, 2010 by MIKE DAVIS


Check out this pair of stamps commemorating the 1970 edition of the Universiade, a series of competitive sporting events for Italian University students.



Plain Ole Bill: The Ultimate Man

January 19th, 2010 by Mike

“The Ultimate Man” t-shirt available in our online store.