Where Ideas Come From - Part 1

When I was in art school, I wore out my copies of Communication Arts and Graphis magazines as I scoured the pages in search of inspiration for my next project. Imitation often passes for creativity, especially in art school. Following in the footsteps of the accomplished is not a bad place to start, but a true artist needs to discover an ability to develop their own original vision if they hope to succeed.

One of my graphic design professors in college, David Hardesty, insisted that the development of an idea was a process that could be learned and mastered. Over and over, he challenged us to find the nugget of potential in a rough idea, and then refine that idea step-by-step until it was strong and convincing. Over and over, he helped me discern the difference between a really good idea and a merely mediocre one. By the time I was a senior, I felt like I knew what I was doing. But my education had only just begun.

I once had the good fortune to have dinner with one of my design heros, the great illustrator, McRay Magleby. We got onto the subject about where ideas come from, and he told me that he actually goes hunting for ideas. For example, upon receiving an assignment to create a new poster for a client, he might leave the studio for a few hours, with the explicit goal of returning with the beginnings of his idea in mind. Sometimes he'd go to the grocery store. Sometimes he'd go for a bike ride. Sometimes he'd go for a walk downtown. Wherever he goes, he decides ahead of time that something he sees, or hears, or smells or touches will be the starting point for his design solution. And when you look at his work, you see that his wildly creative visual solutions really could have come from some outside-the-box inspiration.

As for me, I have learned a lot from both of these mentors. I rarely open the pages of CA anymore except to be entertained by the work of excellent artists and designers. Like Magleby, I prefer to go hunting for my ideas, often seeking influence from cultural or geographic sources. Like Hardesty, I like to take a raw unproven idea and polish it until it shines.

The fact is, we are surrounded by potential inspiration. It's everywhere. The scenery of everyday life holds the potential for creative genesis. There's only one small requirement. You've got to open your eyes and open your mind to the possibilities. In other words, you'll only discover inspiration if you are searching for it. You will find ideas... if you look for them.

Album Of The Year – 2006

The music business is changing quickly before our ears. CD sales in the USA are down 30% from a year ago. Local record stores are on the brink of closure. Increasingly, consumers (like me) are buying their music one song at a time on web stores like iTunes. So what is the future of the album, that thematic collection of songs and artwork that has dominated the music scene for decades? That question remains to be answered, but the prognosis looks dire. But for now, I resume my annual look back at the Album of the Year for 2006. Once again joined by my friend, Willy Snook, we weigh in with our opinion about the best that was.

"Firecracker"
- The Wailin' Jennys

My winner comes from Canada. No surprise really, as I've always had a thing for Canadian artists. The Wailin' Jennys simply blew me away last year with their stellar recording, Firecracker. These three female singers, with angelic voices, have a fresh new sound that puts them in a category by themselves. And the cast is new. The very talented Cara Luft left the group and was replaced by Annabelle Chvostek, who brought great songs with her and plays acoustic guitar, mandolin, and violin, and sings, well...sings as good as you'd have to sing to be in this group. Backed by a stellar band, they deliver song after song of beautiful harmonies and great songwriting. Producer David Travers-Smith does a brilliant job in every aspect, as well as playing trumpet, E Flat Peck Horn, Hammond M3, and percussion. Many of the fabulous players from their last record, 40 Days, again appear, notably Kevin Breit and Mike Hardwicke on guitars and dobros, the former additionally on National and mandolin. Christian Dugas is stellar on drums throughout, this time mostly with Joe Phillips on acoustic bass, though three other bassists cameo. In my opinion, every song is a winner. I've listened over and over and over and have yet to tire of this record. That's a pretty good sign that its a winner.

My runners-up, are -
"Life Short Call Now" -Bruce Cockburn
"Into The West" - Pilot Speed
"How We Operate" - Gomez

"Life Short Call Now"
- Bruce Cockburn

Willy Snook has selected this stellar recording, one of my runners-up, by another Canadian, Bruce Cockburn. Willy sends along these comments from the Rounder Records site...

Bruce Cockburn's first studio album in 3 years finds the acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter at the top of his game. The 29th album in a career that's midway through its fourth decade, Life Short Call Now is wide-ranging, playful and adventurous, eager to take chances and happy to push limits. The songs run the gamut from the jangly first single, "Different When It Comes to You," to the classic folksong cadences of "Mystery," and from the vocal intricacies of Ani DiFranco's harmonies on "See You Tomorrow" to the deadpan modernism of the jazzy instrumental "Nude Descending a Staircase." Cockburn's insightful observations on life, love, politics, and the environment are as sharp as ever, and longtime fans and new fans alike are sure to be won over by this sterling album.

Willy's runners-up, in no particular order...

"The Raconteurs" ~ Broken Boy Soldiers
"Corrine Bailey Rae" ~ Corrine Baily Rae
"The Fray" ~ How To Save a Life

Willy also wants me to mention another new recording from 2006, "Love", by The Beatles. Its not new material, so I won't include it for legitimate album of the year consideration. It is, however, an exciting new re-mix of wonderful Beatles tunes done as the soundtrack of the new Cirque Du Soleil show, "Love". The audio quality reveals these old Beatles songs as you've never heard them before. And the re-mix, produced by George Martin and his son, Giles, is a masterwork in its own right. Combinations like, "Come Together", "Dear Prudence" and ,"Cry Baby Cry", into one sequencial song, knocked me out. And there are many others like it. If you love the Beatles, you'll want to hear this recording on a good stereo.

Waking The Blog

After an extended hiatus from blogging, I've decided that its time to wake up Ideapoint. I simply got distracted from blogging by work, music and other things, but I miss writing from time-to-time and people have been asking me what happened to my blog. So its back. At the same time, I'm going live very soon with a new version of my business web site - ideawave.com. If you have time, come over and check it out. As for this blog, I'll keep writing about music, sports, design and other things that catch my attention. I look forward to reading your posted comments.

The Blazers Make A Move

Don't know if you saw or heard anything about yesterday's NBA draft. The Blazers were by far the most active team in the market, making six trades and spending millions of dollars. In the end, we end up with Lamarcus Aldridge at #2 and Brandon Roy at #7. We also added veteran power forward Raef LaFrenz, Dan Dickau and Spanish guard Sergio Rodriguez. We gave up Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and Viktor Khyrapa. So much happened so quickly that it has taken awhile for me to absorb it all. All things considered, I think the Blazers had a great day that could literally transform the franchise. I'm impressed with interim GM Kevin Pritchard. Quick thoughts...

Telfair - He was good, but didn't have a great head for a point guard. And he's small. After Stoudemire, do we really need another small point? I'm happy to turn it over to Jarret Jack with Steve Blake as the backup.

Ratliff - Getting old and often injured, Theo's best days are over. Time to move forward.

Viktor - Sorry to see him go. He was a great scrapper off the bench.

Aldridge - He certainly has potential to be a Kevin Garnett-like power forward. Great speed and quickness to go with his size. Can shoot from inside and out. Runs the floor like a guard. Not all big guys turn out to be all-stars, but Aldridge has all the tools. A great character guy from all reports. Nate and Maurice Lucas will help him put on some muscle and turn him into a tough guy.

Roy - This may well be the pick that truly transforms this team. He's a Husky, so you may have seen him play. Many, many other teams wanted to get their hands on Roy yesterday and Portland pulled the strings to make it happen, even after having spent their own high pick on Aldridge. They literally stole Roy away from Houston who thought they had worked out a rock-solid deal with Minnesota to get him. Roy does just about everything well. Can play 3 positions. Won't surprise me to see him win R.O.Y. in 2007.

LaFrenz - He a solid, reliable back-up. He can score and defend.

Rodriguez - Don't know much about him. He's young... 19. Guess he's a ball-handling and passing wizard that has dazzled the scouts watching the Euro-leagues. Potentially a future Manu Genobilli??

Paul Allen - From all reports, PA was extremely involved in this draft and was very instrumental in making these deals happen. He attended all of the workouts of all of the Blazer's draft candidates. He opened his wallet in a big way (he literally bought the Sun's 27th pick for 3 million!!) He appeared on the radio during the draft and sounded very excited about all of it. Do you think this sounds like a man about to sell his ballclub? Me neither. Now that the ownership issues regarding the Rose Garden have been smoothed out, I expect PA will buy-back the arena and keep the team as his favorite (Seahawks are still #2 for Paul) plaything. Paul likes football, but he loves basketball.

What's Next - Blazers still have to find a way to re-sign free agent Joel Przybilla. And they simply have to get rid of Darius Miles. They may have to give up some money and a good young player like Travis Outlaw or Juan Dixon to get rid of Miles, but I think they'll do it.

Starters next year (unless more big trades are on the way)...

Point - JACK (Blake, Dickau backups)
2-guard - ROY (Dixon, Webster backups)
Small Forward - WEBSTER (Outlaw, Roy backups. Miles? He's gone.)
Power Forward - RANDOLPH (Aldridge, LaFrenz backups)
Center - PRZYBILLA (Aldridge, Ha backups)

In a couple of years our foundation will be Jack-Roy-Webster-Aldridge. Could be great!!

Neil's Golden Heart

Given the opportunity to see a really good Neil Young concert for seven bucks , I simply couldn't pass it up. Actually, it wasn't really a concert, it was Johnathan Demme's new film, Heart of Gold. Still, it felt like a concert to me. I found myself wanting to clap and whistle after every song, and then I'd stop myself... "oh yeah, I'm in a movie theatre." After awhile I even forgot that I was hearing this music through the faded sound system of an old neighborhood cinema. All of the music touched me deeply.

In August 2005, Neil Young and friends (including a choir, string ensemble and horn section) performed for two consecutive nights at Nashville's legendary Ryman Auditorium. This came on the heels of Neil's brush with death due to a brain aneurysm and the completion of his grammy-nominated album, Prairie Wind. He was inspired and his band was sharp as a tack. In addition to that, Neil had the brilliant sense to make sure that this very special moment was captured by one of the finest cinematographers around. I own a DVD copy of Demme's last concert film, Stop Making Sense, by The Talking Heads. I've watched it dozens of times and its still good. In this new film, the combination of epic musical performance and stunning filmmaking left me feeling very satisfied.

During the opening set, Neil's new material from Prairie Wind was revealed to me in a deeper way. I liked all of it. The second set brought an excellent mix of material from Harvest, Harvest Moon and Comes A Time. For the first time ever, I got to see Neil play his legendary banjo-guitar on Old King. The display of several vintage Martin and Gibson guitars left my mouth watering. The performance of Old Man was the best I've ever heard that song, in no small part due to the story that Neil told prior to the song that revealed to all of us who the old man really was. Neil's storytelling and dry wit was in top form throughout the show.

Most of the critics are falling over themselves in praise of this film and of Young himself. Perhaps Neil's illness revealed his mortality, and a lot of people woke up to the fact that "Shakey" is still here, making great music just like he has for the past 40 years. This is no surprise to those of us who have been paying closer attention. Oh sure, I've had to indulge Neil his creative whims, but he always comes back to knock me on my tail one more time. Upon leaving the theatre, my friend Willy echoed the voice of another in saying, "Neil's a genius." Agreed. To me, Neil is like an old friend. I'm just glad I get to share the planet with him. He has influenced my own musical creativity in countless ways. When I got home, the first thing I did was grab my guitar and lower the "E" string to a "D", dropped D tuning, with the echoes of Neil's beautiful solo encore tune, The Old Laughing Lady, still ringing in my ears.

Please take my advice. Please take my advice. Everyone who reads this blog should go and see this film. You'll dig it. And a few of my friends that read this blog (you know who you are) would be making a huge mistake by not seeing this film on the big screen during its limited run. Are we clear? By the way, it's in Portland for two more days.

I'm Through With Paul

I've been a Portland Trail Blazer fan since the beginning of the franchise in 1971. I have stuck with my team through thick and thin for all those years. It has mostly been a fun ride, but recent years have tested my patience. Up until now, I've considered the fact that our owner was the 7th richest man in the world to be a considerable asset. When it came time to come up with the goods to land a Scottie Pippen, Paul could handle it, no problem. But as of last Friday, I'm through with Paul Allen, and look forward to the day the Blazers are through with him too. Better known as the "Accidental Zillionare", Allen has made one bad business decision after another in regards to the Blazers. He has the financial assets to solve all of his own problems, but he has chosen to come begging to the city of Portland for financial assistance. All of this due to his own poor management. I could go on and on about my disappointment, but a couple of other Oregonian journalists have done a better job than I could. Check out these stories by Steve Duin and John Canzano, and I think you'll end up agreeing with me. It's time for Paul to go. Hey, I hear the Sonics are in trouble up in Seattle. That would be a perfect fit. See ya, Paul.

The Jihad of Competitive Athletics

Holy Mohammad! There's just so much anger in the world of radical Islam these days. Everywhere I turn, I hear cries of "blasphemy". They're burning down embassies because of cartoons in European newspapers. They rant and scream death to the American Great Satan at the drop of a hat. They want to remove Israel from the map as we know it. These guys are just way too wound up! They need another outlet for all of their angst.

When is the last time you went out into the streets with a huge crowd and hollered and yelled for the destruction of your enemy? Well for me, the last time I did that was when I went to an OSU football game last November at Reser Stadium. I yelled, screamed, cheered and went through a huge range of emotions. I got mad at the refs, those bastards. I laughed. I cried. And when it was over, I felt better for it, even though we lost to the Stanford Cardinal. In fact, on a smaller scale, I repeat that same emotional mantra whenever I watch the Portland Trail Blazers play on TV. It keeps me going. I feel better about the world around me. I look forward to my next "outlet".

I've begun thinking for awhile now that there's something in this Western cultural tradition that might make sense for the foreign policy of the United States. I'm serious too. What if Condolezza Rice began immediately establishing amateur and professional sports teams all over the place in Afghanistan and Iraq? I mean what do they have to root for now? Weightlifters? Greco-Roman Wrestlers? Crappy Olympic squads? When our troops arrived a few years ago, they were using the Kabul soccer stadium for beheadings! These people need a team to root for! They need to wear the colors. They need cool logos on their drab clothing. They need to get their testosterone-fueled rage release over the next big game between Falujah and Baghdad. They can march in the streets about it. They can build a giant bonfire and burn the enemy flag! It doesn't really matter what sport it is, but it should involve at least some level of violence. Rugby would be really great in that part of the world. American football would be excellent as well. We might have to start with soccer and work up from there. Maybe there is some new cross-breed sport that would really get the crowd lathered up. Maybe it involves camels and big sticks.

It could begin with the youngsters getting enrolled into "little leagues" as soon as possible. At the same time, professional teams should be established in every major city. I think the buzz would begin to spread, and pretty soon new divisions would begin popping up in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and, one can only hope, in Iran as well. It would take a few years, but I predict that we'd begin to see fewer and fewer "Death to the West" mob scenes. And with that, I'm guessing we'd begin seeing fewer suicide bombers as well. I mean why blow yourself up when you could be the star Striker for the Basra Boomers and still get all the chicks (think 40 virgins) after the game.

I think our Western society is no less violent and full-of-righteous-rage than our counterparts in the Middle East. We just have football, baseball, basketball, hockey and much. much more to help us deal with it. Think about it. When we defeated the Japanese at the end of World War II, what did we do within a few years? We started setting up baseball leagues! And look at Japan now. They don't want to fight with anyone. They're no longer hell-bent on world domination. They get the "sports thing". Maybe in addition to establishing democratic political systems across the Middle East, the United States and Europe should be spreading the emotional freedom, sheer joy, and personal discipline that comes in the form of competitive athletics. It just might work.

Watch Out For The Vandals

I know a few Idaho Vandal fans, and they have been suffering at the bottom of the college football world for a long time. I can sympathize with them, since my Oregon State Beavers suffered so many consecutive losing seasons in the recent past. But the times they are a changin'. The University of Idaho announced today that they have hired Dennis Erickson as their new head football coach. He coached there many years ago as a young rising star. Since then, he has won everywhere he has coached in college football. There's no doubt about it. He will also win at Idaho... and then he'll be gone with the wind. But in the meantime, it will be good times in Moscow. Wanna bet?

Guess who's worried. The Boise State Broncos. They just lost head coach Dan Hawkins to the University of Colorado, and now the Vandals are poised to steal all of their recruits. The football winds in Idaho are blowing north.

Like He Said

Kevin Hench at Fox Sports has a pretty good summary of the Super Bowl officiating. Are these guys from the Pac-10?

I Thought The Hawks Would Win

I don't follow the Seahawks as fervently as I do the Oregon State Beavers, the Portland Trailblazers or the Seattle Mariners, but they are my pro football team of choice. I started following them when I lived in Spokane back in the 1980's. Its been fun to see them finally rise to the top. They've earned it. They have a great team and a great coach, not to mention the richest owner in sports. I thought that this team would beat the Pittsburgh Steelers today. I still can't quite get my brain around how they lost. I'm not depressed or anything... it was a fun game to watch.

Let me give some credit to Pittsburgh for a second. They delivered on two excellent touchdown plays in the second half. Willie Parker's 75-yard run and the trick pass from Randle-El to Hines Ward were things of beauty. They didn't make many mistakes. Really just the one big interception pass to Kelly Herndon. But that's enough of that.

Seattle quickly dispelled the myth that Pittsburgh's defense was too much for them. The Steelers vaunted "D" were on their heels the entire first half. Just when it seemed like the Seahawks were about to score, something would go wrong. Usually a dumb penalty, or a dropped pass or a surprisingly poor call by the ref. How the first half ended with the Steelers up 7-3, I'll never quite figure out. I thought Seattle totally out-played them. Pittsburgh's offense never looked that great... except for the previously mentioned 2 big plays in the second half.

Its always the little things that count. Did Roethlisberger really score a touchdown on that 3-down late in the second quarter? I don't think so... he was just short. Should have been a field goal on that drive at best. Seattle's Darrell Jackson caught a touchdown pass in the first quarter, but it was called back because of a very slow and late flag because of a "push off". You have got to be kidding me. "I don't think I touched him" Jackson said. "I was very surprised when I got the call." Other bad calls took their toll over the course of the game. The chop block call on Hasselbeck. The invisible holding call on Sean Locklear that negated the successful pass to Jeramy Stevens on the Pittsburgh two-yard line. All of these little things ended up pushing Pittsburgh into the driver's seat.

Eventually the Seahawks were in too deep of a hole. Hasselbeck's woefully thrown interception pass to Ike Taylor pretty much put an end to things. That was so unlike the usually reliable Hawks QB. By that point, the Steelers cruised to an easy finish. In the end, the Seahawks were not good enough to overcome all of their mistakes and the terrible calls.

Don't get me wrong. I really do like the Steelers. I like a lot of their players and I like their blue-collar culture. I like Jerome Bettis. I really like Troy Polamalu, who played his high-school football in Douglas, Oregon. I'm happy for them. They really did beat some great teams to win this title. They took care of business today in a way that Seattle simply could not.

I expect to see the Seahawks right back in the hunt next year. I hope they are able to hang on to Shawn Alexander and a few other key free agents during the off-season.

So who's my player-of-the game?

Referee Bill Leavy... and Mike Holmgren agrees with me.

The New Record Store

I went to Borders Books last night to do some research on a design project. I used to love to wander around the music section at that store, hunting for the next great CD. I'd dig through the racks of plastic jewel cases, hoping to unearth a treasure. Sometimes I'd get lucky and stumble across an incredible record like Frou Frou. But something has changed. I had no interest in looking around over there any more. I simply don't go that route now in my quest for new music. Don't get me wrong. I'm just as driven to find new bands and fresh sounds as I was when I was 13 years old. I've just found a better way.

Like many people these days, I look for music almost exclusively on the internet. I'm getting more ideas all the time about how to discover music there. One thing I do is to listen to online radio streams. My current favorite is called Radio Paradise, and you can link to it on iTunes Radio under "Alt/modern Rock". They play excellent commercial-free music 24 hours per day. I'm constantly writing down the names of songs and bands I've never heard before. Later, I'll take all of those names to the Apple iTunes Music Store and explore these bands in greater depth.

Another approach that works for me is to explore the huge variety of playlists on iTunes. For example, remember Death Cab For Cutie? I gave them my Album of the Year Award a few weeks ago. Well, they show up on iTunes today with a DCFC Celebrity Playlist where they recommend 83 different songs that have influenced them. How cool! Not surprisingly, their suggestions send me in new directions I've never been before. I find interesting bands like The American Analog Set, Teenage Fanclub and Burning Airlines. Before you know it, I'm using up another iTunes Christmas Gift Card.

I suppose there will always be a place in the world for a truly great record store like Music Millennium in Portland, Oregon. But for me, those types of stores are holding less interest these days. What I really miss are the album covers.

A Conversation With John Lennon

So if The Beatles were the most important musical group of the last half-century, who was the most important Beatle? That's an argument for the wee hours over a bottle of Syrah. But if you ask me, I'd say John Lennon was.

John was the brilliant ying to Paul McCartney's incredible yang, but he was also the person that gave The Beatles their edge. He was the deeper thinker. He was the live wire that struck the raw nerve. He was the force that had The Beatles raising new ideas not just musically, but intellectually. He was funny, talented, usually humble and sometimes angry. When asked if he was a genius, John responded, "I don't know if there really is such a thing, but if there is, I am one." Many would agree. He was one.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of his tragic death, Rolling Stone magazine has released the The Rolling Stone John Lennon Interview Podcast. It is the audio version of a conversation between Editor Jann Wenner and John Lennon in December, 1970. The Beatles had recently disbanded for good. Paul McCartney and George Harrison had released their first solo recordings, McCartney and All Things Must Pass. John had just released his own epic solo recording, Plastic Ono Band. Yoko, as was usually the case, was right by John's side during this interview. She does not speak much, but her presence is noticeable, as John refers to her frequently. John is not in the happiest state of mind (just listen to Plastic Ono Band). He's still angry about the painful collapse of The Beatles and he's upset about how he thinks the whole world is treating Yoko. He's undergoing Primal Scream Therapy to confront his own demons. He especially is mad at Paul, and has much to say about Paul's new music, which he can't stand. In later interviews, he comes to a more peaceful reflection about The Beatles, and life in general, but at this point in time, he's on edge.

If you go to this web link, you can download these fascinating interviews to your iTunes Player or even to your iPod. They are being released in weekly sections. So far, Rolling Stone has released 3 parts that total over 2 hours of conversation. I don't think they're done yet. I have found them to be extremely interesting. Since this interview was intended to be for print only, the recording quality is less than perfect. In fact, the only microphone was aimed at Lennon. Mr. Wenner's voice is in the distant background. For this online audio version, the volume on Wenner's questions have been boosted a bit, so we can have Lennon's answers in clearer context. I encourage you to go check them out. You might learn a little something about the most important of the most important.

Take An Online Adventure

My good friend Sigmadog (see Almost Daily in the "links" over in the right column) regularly posts links on his blog to online games that never fail to cause me to immediately quit working and start goofing off. I think he does it because he gets addicted to them himself, so he figures that he'll cause the rest of the world to experience a similar detour in the middle of their work day. Well now its my turn. I found this great, free, online adventure scenario, I guess you could call it a game. Its called Samorost 2. Its really well done, and has several levels or "chapters" before the game is finished. It took me a long time to get through it, but it was a fun journey. It requires you to think about your cyber-surroundings and use deductive reasoning. If you enjoy this one, it looks like they have several others.

Album Of The Year

My good friend Willy and I have a tradition. Most years, we will discuss which recorded music album was the best of the previous year. Some years we agree and some we don't. Occasionally, the choice is obvious. Other times the choice is tougher. This year, we've come to separate opinions.

2005 was a weak year for the music business. The good vines weren't producing in abundance. I did not come across that collective presentation of songs that "knocked me out". I've tried to find a way out of picking a winner this year, but I feel that I have a responsibility to uphold. The Grammy Awards Committee can't just abdicate, now can they? There were some albums that I liked... or at least they had several songs that I liked. I've considered the lot of them and offer these opinions. You can click on any of the following titles to link to these recordings on iTunes.

And my winner is...

"Plans" - Death Cab For Cutie
Most of the songs on this record are great. DCFC is an interesting band that started out as college friends in Bellingham, Washington. They have since relocated to Seattle. Lead singer Ben Gibbard's vocal stylings help create their distinctive sound. Its hard to categorize... a little bit folky, for sure, but its too eclectic to fall neatly into any single genre. Their music shows up frequently on TV and movie soundtracks. If you like this album, listen to their previous one, "Transatlanticism", from 2003. It might be even better.

The other nominees, in no particular order...

"Love, Angel, Music, Baby" - Gwen Stefani
"Illinois" - Sufjan Stevens
"How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" - U2
"Speak For Yourself" - Imogen Heap
"Devils & Dust" - Bruce Springsteen

As for my friend Willy, his award goes to...

"Righteous Love" - Joan Osborne
In his words... "My winner caught me way off guard... and late in the game. In many ways, similarly to the way that Lisa Loeb got me a few years back. Joan Osborne "Righteous Love". Can't stop listening to it."

Willy's runner-up is...

"American Idiot" - Green Day

In conclusion, let me say that I think 2005 was the Year Of The Single. The Year Of The Mixed CD. Maybe thats because it was the way I bought my own music. I've become an iTunes junky. I don't, by the way, see that changing anytime soon.

So now its your turn. Who was the best? What music did you like this past year? Post your opinion to the blog comments if you wish.

Remembering Joni Mitchell

I often wonder which artists of my generation will be remembered for their creative contribution centuries from now. Who will be the Picasso, Mozart, Van Gogh, or Beethoven of the past fifty years? One who certainly deserves that sort of remembrance is Joni Mitchell. As a musician, she followed no one, and set the creative course for countless artists that have followed. As a songwriter and lyricist, she was without peer. Never driven by commercial success, she followed her creative muse wherever it took her, and that was quite often further than the record companies were willing to follow. She also is an incredible painter. I expect a Joni Mitchell painting a hundred years from now will reach the highest price levels.

Why am I remembering Joni? Well, for a few reasons. I just watched two incredible DVDs about her. The first was called "Joni Mitchell, Painting With Words and Music". It features Joni's "final" concert, which was actually an orchestrated event put together simply for the DVD. It marks Joni's final performance before a live audience. And she is simply incredible. The set list covers the breadth of her career. Her mature voice is near perfect and her jazz-oriented backing band follows her every turn with great skill. I never got to see Joni in concert, but this video helps make up for that in at least a small way. The second DVD I watched was called "Joni Mitchell: Woman Of Heart And Mind". Through interviews and recordings, it is a biography of Joni's artistic career. I learned a lot. Joni began in the early sixties, hoping to follow in the folk-footsteps of Joan Baez and Judy Collins. It was not long before she had eclipsed all other female performers and was defining the role of singer-songwriter by the early seventies. Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Graham Nash, David Crosby and Jimi Hendrix were all under her spell. Her original use of non-traditional guitar tunings set her apart as a guitarist. She had the voice of a goddess and her lyric writing was quite simply at another level... only Dylan might be in her league. Her discovery of jazz in the mid-seventies took her to a whole deeper level of musicianship. It didn't always work well, but she was always on the cutting-edge of musical inventiveness. And when it did work, like on her 1976 album "Hejira", it was literally a masterpiece.

Finally, I'm remembering Joni because she has decided that she is no longer a musician. That's right, she's all done. Mostly due to her frustration with the music industry of today, she has decided to quit once and for all. In a way, its sort of refreshing to see her go out when she still "has it". But it leaves me feeling very sad to know that's all we're going to get. So now she is Joni Mitchell, painter. If you have not seen her paintings, I encourage you to go find them somewhere on the internet. I wish she would put together a retrospective of her paintings and send them on tour, but that has yet to happen. And if you have not seen these two DVDs, I encourage you to see both of them. You'll be reminded just how important an artist Joni Mitchell was. There are few artists of her ability in today's music business. I expect her legend will outlive them all.

Following Hillman Curtis

One of my favorite design guys these days is Hillman Curtis. His area of speciality is motion graphics. I heard him speak at a design conference a while ago and he really inspired me. In addition to traditional flash animations, he specializes in making short films for the web. He continues to surprise me with his great ideas. What makes an artist great, in any medium, is when they present ideas that go beyond the expected boundaries. Hillman always leaves me thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?" At the same time, he inspires me to go further in my own visual thinking. Go look at his web site. I especially like the "photographs" he has displaying in a loop on his home page... give them a second to load.

John Reed's New Blog Is Up

I want you to know that John Reed has started a new weblog called "The Reed Report". John and I have been talking about creating a blog together for over a year, so we finally found the time to make it happen. I expect great things from his blog and I encourage you to bookmark it and make regular visits. John always has a lot to say about many subjects. Pay attention.

Ducks demolish Beavers at Autzen

Its Sunday night, and I'm only just now pulling out of my foul mood. I got mad when Ryan Gunderson threw a pick on OSU's first possession, and it only went downhill from there. There was a tiny smile on my face when the Beavers put together a long drive on the ground to make the score 14-7, but that optimism was quickly extinguished. My tail has been down ever since. Nothing worse than losing to the Ducks... in a blowout no less.

I had little expectation that the Beavers would win this game, but I really wanted the team that beat Cal in Strawberry Canyon to show up for this game. A little fire and passion and a good battle was all I asked for. No luck this year. The Beavers looked beaten from the start. The team that lost to Louisville showed up for this game. It was painful to watch, but I stuck it out to the last play and even listened to the post-game talk on the radio. Everybody's pretty discouraged by the poor effort. I went home and watched Fresno State give USC all they could handle. Way to go, Pat Hill. That effort is what I wanted from my ballclub on Saturday.

Beavers - Gunderson didn't look ready for prime-time. Maybe next year. I'm hoping that our redshirt freshman QB, Sean Canfield, might turn out to be the guy we're looking for. OSU simply did not have enough talent on the field this year. There were a handful of really good players out there (Hass, Bray, Ellison, Bernard), but not enough. I thought Oregon would go after our young corners, but that didn't really happen a lot. The whole defense was literally in a fog. Could not stop Oregon from doing anything they wanted. The offense showed moments of ability, but usually ended up blowing drives with turnovers and penalties... so what's new?

Ducks - They got payback for last year and then some. Two touchdowns every quarter. The offense, defense and special teams all scored points. It doesn't look to me that the Ducks are missing Kellen all that much. I thought both Dixon and Leaf looked great. As usual, games are won on the line of scrimmage and I thought the Ducks were dominant in that respect. Oregon played their best game of the year hands down. I'm not happy that Stewart is only a freshman. I'm guessing we've not seen the last of him.

We'll see if the Fiesta Boys were suitably impressed. Might have to get Phil involved with a little leverage on this one. Speaking of Phil, I'm guessing he was behind the new game-day jerseys. I didn't like them all that much (especially those funky numbers), but I'm guessing those young California boys wearing them thought they were fabulous, and that's what counts.

I couldn't see the game very well. The fog looked so thick that much of the game was barely visible on TV. Reminded me of last year's USC game. I thought the fog might help the underdog, but I guess not.

Mike Hass gets the Pac-10 single-season receiving record... that's all I've got, but at least I got something.

Mike Riley - 8 wins in 2003, 7 wins in 2004, 5 wins and no bowl in 2005. He's got one more year to reverse this trend. If he gets 5 wins or less next year, he'll be in trouble. He needs to go back to the drawing board, re-evaluate all of his coaches, and work his ass off on the recruiting front. He needs to teach his kids how not to get 15-yard penalties on a regular basis. It can't be this hard to do.

I know these things go in cycles. I know we were real young this year all over the field. This year's team underachieved... really should have beaten Arizona and Stanford. But it was the little things that made the difference this year. I'm hoping they learn how to get the little things right next year.

The beginning of all that follows

This begins a grand experiment... my own weblog. I am creating Ideapoint as a way to learn more about blog management for my design clients. In the meantime, I think I might have some fun with this. I will post my opinions from time-to-time on a variety of subjects. I'll probably write about graphic design, multimedia arts, character education, music, sports, and the way I see the world around me. All comments are welcome. Along the way, maybe I'll learn something.