vestacrest

Texture Project - Take 8

Dub Quickie + A Visual

I love Dub Music. Big ups, booyakasha (huh?)to Jimimon for coming up with this visually appealing, super-fun Dub Game. If you are inna NYC on Monday nights, check wit' Deep Space. Their site is also a good resource for all things dub, and give a listen to the live mixes.. Once saw Francois K and U-Roy there in a great soundsystem display.

Shaolin Soccer looks like unparalleled eye candy.

Texture Project - Take 7

Ear Love

Here's some sounds that I've been taking notice of lately:
From Thomas at The Letter T: Sounds of New York and Nature Love

Looking for the cream of the crop for groovy Internet radio? A great portal is Blentwell
Crazy site good for sampling some folks with good taste is Tigersushi
And if you liked the Silophone get into Cathedral...same vibe, good crisp acoustics, fun.

For me, though, Milkaudio got it goin' ON! My favorites: dzihan and kamien and of course, Bobbito who takes you from Steve Miller (what the fuck?!) to extendo dub mix and beyond (booyakasha!).

Texture Project - Take 6

Texture Project - Take 5

Crossroads in American Politics

W apparently stands or Wacko at the Wack Wedding. Our main man W has certainly found himself at this crossroads before. Click on the pic to see him address the American public as only he knows how.

Texture Project - Take 4

Steal this Idea: Safebike

First in a series of posts of business ideas that have occurred to me but have never have acted on. Feel free to act on these ideas. In the true spirit of "The Jerk"/Navin Johnson's Optigrab...remember where the idea came from. Any questions, see my Creative Commons License


The Pitch
In New York you will inevitably be hanging out at a friend's apartment and see a brand new expensive (?!) mountain bike looking lonely, longing and shiny in a corner. A conversation ensues:

You: Nice bike.
Them:Thanks.
You: Ever ride it?
Them: Nope.
You: Why not?
Them: Don't want to get it stolen...no place to lock it up.
You: Pass the cheez doodles.

No place to lock it up. Enter Safebike. Safebike would be strategically located, stand-alone small buildings, open 24 hours manned by an attendant who would make sure no-one takes your bike. Locations would have to be carefully scouted. Some ideas: Union Square, near Central Park, Financial District.

Fees could be hourly, daily, monthly...same structure as a car parking lot but cheaper.
Cash flow profile is good, low overhead, low risk, high demand.

Competition Bike locks: A good one can cost in the neighborhood of $80-100. At $5-10 a month, wouldn't you rather be able to park with piece of mind...after all, look what you're up against.

Other Factors
Space is at a premium. Use Safebike to store your bike instead of your 400 sq. foot studio.
If the business gets off the ground, more locations will pop up making the service even more convenient.

Big Picture
I once heard of a bike advocacy group that was lobbying hard to make Park Avenue entirely bike traffic. Makes sense as the main reasons people don't take their bikes out is it's dangerous and that the bike's going to disappear.

Think about the environmental implications of a city full of bikes...

Closing factoid
But it was one thing to rhapsodize about the individual freedom offered by the horseless carriage when there were a few thousand of them spread across the nation; it is quite another matter when there are 200 million of them. In 1911 a horse and buggy paced through Los Angeles at 11 miles per hour. In 2000, an automobile makes the rush hour trip averaging four miles per hour. American drivers are stuck in traffic for eight billion hours a year. Young graduates entering the workforce in the summer of 2000 will spend four years of their lives behind the wheel.
Published on Sunday, July 9, 2000 in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Here's a good resource on biking and alternative transportation.

Note: "Steal this Idea" is a stolen idea, lifted from the mind of [sic].

Coming soon to Vestacrest...

Urban Chic...Really Urban.
Get the look of the street...from the street!
Trash schedules, techniques, tales from the trenches, photo galleries and more.
Stay tuned to Vestacrest...
Take these people's stuff...

Texture Project - Take 3

Lookin' Good

Here's some visually appealing stuff. Basketball has some beautiful lines, the lane, the top of the key...this little flashette. And how about these shoes my friend BenJam wised me up to? No post would be complete without some guy dancing. You wonder if he was hanging with this guy in the green room. On a serious note, a couple designers who I have been following for a while are ImageDive and GreenbergKingsley.
From the DIY, ridiculous internet nonsense category comes GE's latest attempt at diversification...the e-marker!

Texture Project - Take 2

Second in the series.

More Texture Project

For starters, what is "Vestacrest"?

Vestacrest was a product of altered states and the sharp mind of Johnnie D. D knew I was looking for a new DJ name to replace Djibouti. We were in the kitchen of my apartment discussing and D looked over at my oven, one of those heavy white metal deals. "Vestacrest" "Huh?" Your name is Vestacrest. That was the name of the oven, and now it is my name. I was googling around one day and decided to look up Vestacrest.
Check it out
vesta: 3. A wax friction match. --Simmonds.
crest: The highest or culminating point; the peak

Thus Vestacrest is the top beat matcher scratcher. And there you have it.

Links of the Day

What this guy lacks in wardrobe and grooming he more than makes up for in breath control.
Tell me you don't love number 1 fan right in front of him jammin'! (wave your hands in the...air!) He can join forces with these peeps.. Listen to them go! Along the hip-hop lines, am pretty interested in seeing what Bobbito is up to. Project looks pretty cool whatever it is.
Don't think Bobbito could hang with these kiddies from FL on the court. Bizarre handle.. Download the most recent clip on the left-hand side of the page (4MB).
And here's a really cool installation of digital interactive musical neighbors to the north. Dig that Silophone sound.

Texture Project

Urban decay. Colors and patterns that form over decades and create surprising designs, rough, somewhat geometric...This is the first in a series of raw and manipulated images from SE Asian cities in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia & Thailand.

How to hook your turntables up to a Mac

I've been wanting to do this for a while. To get the mixer into the computer, record MP3's and then burn CD's. Here are some recommended ways to do it. Feel free to comment if you know of a good way to do this...

Method 1: Bastante Sophisto
Go to Apple and get one of these:

Method 2: Medio-Sophisto Someone else recommended the M-Audio Audiophile USB interface then some kind of Freeware. I have been using Audiocorder recently. Audacity also is free and clean, plus you can do simple editing, basic effects, cleaning it up, etc.
One source tried Radio Shack way with a variety of RCA to mini-jack adapters but it was all going mono.

Method 3: Ghetto Technique
Apparently, the little headphone jack will output your soundz in glistening stereo. Run an RCA to 1/8" from mixer main output to computer headphone jack. The recommender of this method uses soundedit16.

Otherecording programs recommended:
Pro Tools Garageband Cubase Logic Audio

Mac Music resource