The A-Sides

"It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, 

Without a strong rhyme to step to..."

So ends the summer of my discontent. 

It's been a rough while indeed, life had its ugly way with me & without goin' into unnecessary (& unpleasant) detail, let's leave it at that & get to the good stuff. 

I have felt not like myself for a hot minute & now I feel finally reinvigorated, rejuvenated & indeed re-inspired (sic?). In light of that, I have decided to kickstart my ass back into the proverbial artistic saddle by postin' my "top five" (with thanks & apologies to Mr. Nick Hornby) favorite pieces I've done thru the years; to clean out the virtual closet as it were to hopefully make room for some new stuff which I will hit y'all up with as soon as the inspiration flows from my inky fingers.

So without further ado & just a bit o' context, 

here are some works past & present to inspire the future...

We begin our archival journey in November 2008, Obama won his first term & my lovely bride danced in Brooklyn to celebrate. "Baby Got Hope" was featured in the wonderful book, "Design For Obama", & is pretty much the impetus for this here website~

Piece 2 (Woo-hoo!), really goin' far in the WayBack Machine, but Satchmo needs no introduction...

A bridge too far:

Kevin needs some context methinks: Part of a much larger installation called "Positivity", a collection of quotes I culled from folks who were HIV positive to allow for hope in a time of seeming hopelessness-

& we end the greatest hits (& misses) with the mackdaddy his own self, "Obama Said Knock You Out": quite a viral sensation, Tweeted out by none other than LL Cool J on election nite & becoming one of the biggest retweets of the evening (what the kids would call "viral"?) as well as in physical poster form traversing its way from New York to Cali & from Mexico to Japan & many points in between... 

Probably my real fave of all, not just 'cause of the hype (don't believe it, man!), but I feel it is truly the most successful piece I've done, artistically, technically, philosophically, politically, & spiritually~

Next episode: 

Deep Cuts: the B-Sides, Rarites & Outtakes, 

then on to the new grooves!

Kenneth Cole sez I'm a Courageous Cat!

Well, this was an unexpected surprise & indeed a delightful way to start my weekend~

Kenneth Cole, beautiful clothing designer & more importantly, strong social activist, just celebrated a few folks whom he thought were making important & special contributions to the field of education in his COURAGEOUS CLASS SPOTLIGHT.

 Proud to say I was one of those he chose to honor

in this extraordinary campaign.

Please do not feel obliged but if so inclined...

COURAGEOUS CLASS SPOTLIGHT:

BACK-TO-SCHOO​L EDITION

I once was blind, but now...

Colorblindness is really a misnomer; it is more akin to color-confused. Whereas your spectrum is quite vast & includes a veritable plethora of color, those of us who are genetically-deficient have a much smaller range & therefore colors get smashed up together, confused with others, & many unseen at all. 

I am colorblind, one of the most severe degrees of such. It is bothersome at times, disappointing at others, but as with any handicap (& I even hesitate to use that word as comparatively it is a non-issue), one learns to adjust & compensate for such. I also like the fact that I “inherited” from my Poppy, my mom’s dad, who left much too early in my life & sharing this genetic trait is at least something by which I can feel closer to him.

But being colorblind does affect me every day- the loss of a beautiful sunset, inability to decipher a traffic lite, seeing lots of green skin on folks I know are not Martians… unsure if I’m wearin’ a pink shirt. Being an artist (albeit one who predominantly works in black & white), an art teacher & just a lover of looking & seeing & really absorbing this wonderfully vibrant world around us makes it even more distressing at times.

This wonderful company EnChroma has changed all that with their incredible &, I dare say, inspiring sunglasses that promise “color for the colorblind”, & y’know what, they actually deliver on said promise in a big way.

Just back from Méjico where I sported these EnChroma Commander CX-14 sunglasses that profess (& do indeed deliver on that promise!) to allow the colorblind to see color. 

These are amazing, wonderful, & truly awe-inspiring & you can see my reaction to wearing them in the video...

(Lo siento for wind noise- tried to fix to no avail. 

Keep watching, it does improve later in video.)

& as an extry bonus, here is some comix I doodled way-back in college about bein’ colorblind… 

Enjoy:

"There’s only one rule that I know of, babies -- God damn it, you’ve got to be kind."

Kurt Vonnegut has always held a special place in my heart as well as in my head.

His writings, his beliefs, simply his way of being, influenced my younger self profoundly & still hold a great deal of sway in this somewhat older body in which I now find myself. Of course, Vonnegut would claim, & I think rightfully so, that these two identities are interchangeable, occupying the same time-line albeit at different points, but both exist together, now & forever intertwined.
More important than his works & his philosophies though was his place in the literary triumvirate that is one of the foundations of my relationship with my dad. Devouring those books off my dad's bookshelf in my pre-pubescence became a catapult to help us traverse that leap from being father & son to being friends.
As high school reared it ugly head, the oh-so-long (but equally wonderful) times we spent editing my school papers dwindled. Our Scrabble games also slowed a bit (although they picked up with a vengeance whilst I was in college~ when I finally beat him for the first time!).
But Vonnegut has always remained a cornerstone.

For better or worse, he & my father are responsible for the writer I am today, & a good deal of the man I am today as well.

So it was with quite a good deal of joy that I found this portrait I had drawn of Mr. Vonnegut in one of my old sketchbooks. It's unfinished, smudgy pencil & all. It's certainly not an antique per se, but it is somewhat vintage.
I had the pleasure of sharing it with Mr. Vonnegut at a book signing that I went to with my dad. He looked at it quite intently, then looked up at me with that same bemused smile that he wears in the drawing.
That was a good day indeed.

so it goes...

Happy birthday, my friend.

It does indeed get better...

My kids are doing a benefit reading of 

"It Gets Better" 

for our school's Gay Straight Alliance, 

the only middle school GSA in New Jersey & 

one of only a handful in the entire country.

More info. after this adorable poster...

On Friday 1 May, a group of wonderful & caring middle school students will perform a staged reading of stories from 

“It Gets Better”.

Please come support this important endeavor that will 

benefit our school’s Gay Straight Alliance- 

the only middle school GSA in New Jersey, 

& one of only a handful in the country.

Suggested donation for tickets is two dollars, 

but any amount will be greatly appreciated (read: more, not less!).

I hope you will consider sharing this information 

as well as the 

attached poster to any & all interested parties.

Please email, tweet, facebook, 

socially-media-ize, pony express, 

et al  this event to all your peeps.

The kids would really dig a huge turn-out & 

they so deserve it for their bravery & hard work.

The show will take place on 

Friday 1 May at 7pm at the 

Melvin H. Kreps Middle School Theatre, 

5 Kent Lane, East Windsor, NJ, 08520.

For more information, please contact the director & GSA advisor 

Robt Seda-Schreiber

rsedaschreiber@ewrsd.k12.nj.us

We look forward to seeing many friends, family & supporters come out & help us celebrate this extraordinary endeavor.

¡Muchas gracias!

"Champion of Equality"

Thought it might come with a cape, but no such luck...
All snark aside, this makes me very proud indeed~

Read more here & here.

Abracadabra!

I'm no Dr. Strange, but this is kinda' corny & cool at the same time~
http://www.magic983.com/winning-teachers-2014/2014/03/14/robt-seda-schreiber

Some days are better than others...

We started a Gay Straight Alliance @ the school where I teach (& also where I went as a student as well!), one of the few GSA's at a middle school, & we were just recognized by GLSEN for doing so.

I'm very proud of the brave kids who are involved & so thrilled to work in a school that supports them in this extraordinary venture.

Check 'em out here~

http://glsen.tumblr.com/

feliz cumpleaños mi amor

haven't been here for a spot, but my beautiful bride's birthday is a good excuse to post indeed~

the one where Nonny dies so I can go to the "Design For Obama" book signing

This website's very raison d'être has finally become reality~

"Design For Obama", collecting the best of the DesignForObama website & featuring two of my pieces, has finally been published & I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the book release party last week. I celebrated the momentous occasion with my lovely bride & about 300 other folks at the Taschen store in NYC. The tastemakers at the shindig included, but were not limited to, DFO founder Aaron Perry-Zucker, New York Times & School of Visual Arts design guru Steven Heller & always-Mookie-to-me Spike Lee. It was a blast & a half, no doubt, no diggity.
But I wouldn't have been able to go if not for my wonderful Nonny.

Listen:

I had plans to fly into Chicago for the long weekend to see my dear old friend Neil & his family when I got the invite to the book signing & although I so wanted to go, I just couldn't justify the $600 fee for the ticket change, so it looked like I just wasn't going to get the chance to have my book signed by Mars Blackmon.
But Nonny would have none of that.
My Nonny, my mom's mom, was a very wonderful woman- kind & funny & biting as well- & as my mom would say, she simply made everything better. She was simple & yet in that simplicity she contained wonders & wisdom beyond compare & without peer. (I'm also breaking one of her cardinal rules by referring to Nonny as "she" (Who's "she"?!, Nonny would rebuke us); the other was never saying "shut up"... Both very good maxims by the way.)
Nonny had made it clear that she wanted to make it to 90 & then that was enough. Well, on Friday 16 October, she turned 90, & then she fell on the following Wednesday. She was always a women who knew what she wanted, & I find it to be no coincidence the timing of her death. She allowed us a little time in the hospital to pay our respects, & then she quietly passed on 2 November, further allowing me the opportunity to change my flight with no consequence. Airlines are known for their sympathy for the bereaved. In her passing, she also saved my uncle from an abysmal trip to see his partner's family & my brother to come home from California for a much-needed respite, & she did so in a fashion that allowed us all to say goodbye in a timely & loving way, especially my mother, who got to spend some very special time with her in the last few weeks. It is so essentially Nonny that she orchestrated all of this at the end of her life to, as always, make things better for all of us who were being left behind.
The book signing fell between her funeral, which was a simple graveside remembrance (wherein my 9 year old son informed us all very casually for the first time that he is Buddhist), & my mom's open house (or as we dubbed it, the "non-shiva"), so it was with a mixture of sadness & excitement that mi esposa hermosa & I ventured into the city.
Listen:
Far from the event I expected (a gathering of the artists whose work is in the book & their mothers), the book release party was a fantastic party & celebration of both the book's publication & the one year anniversary of Obama's momentous election. 300 people turned out, only about 25 or so of them being artists published in the book itself, although they came from very disparate locales: Canada, Mexico, Indonesia, Dominican Republic & even Connecticut. "Design For Obama" is literally & figuratively a work of art in & of itself; Taschen really did an exquisite job on the printing, the coloring, the paper-stock, the layout, et al. The heft of the book is only surpassed by its beauty. The book quickly sold out as folks got their copies signed by Spike, Aaron & Mr. Heller, & also a bunch of them requesting my signature as well! I have to say, it's unlike my generation to be un-ironic but that felt very good indeed. My wife, being the model for the better of the two pieces, also reluctantly signed her "work" as well.
The night was extraordinary & simply would not have happened without Nonny. As "she" told me once in her succinct manner after some girl had broken my heart & I showed up at her doorstep craving sympathy, "Sometimes these things happen." This perfect little dose of reality was followed by a strong but short hug & that was enough.
Well, Nonny, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to make the scene @ Taschen last week.

Sometimes those things happen too...

ain't too proud to beg...

Today I turn 40...
& I'm still not a superhero.
Please help me~

crying wolf

It's become tradition in my family that when my son starts a new school, we paint a mural on the wall of said school, both to help him get acclimated to his new surroundings & to thank the school for the part it will play in his life & further education.

It began at his preschool wherein my lovely bride & I painted a huge underwater scene over winter beak despite the fact that we were both stricken with some horrible illness that I am sure mutated into what is now called the swine flu. Nonetheless we had a great deal of fun painting (my lawyer wife especially showing great heretofore unknown prowess with a paintbrush) & knowing that our son Jack would be that much more comfortable entering his new surroundings.

When he started kindergarten, he requested we do the same & we did, painting a huge piece in an archway of his new school with the happy approval of his new principal.

Now he is entering, for lack of a better term, an "upper elementary" school, & again we are starting the process of "beautifying" his new surroundings. This process has been a little different that the previous two in that I submitted a sketch for approval beforehand & received some constructive criticism on some changes they wanted to see implemented.

I thought you, my small but dear readership, might be interested in this process so I am including all three drawings for your perusal.

The first sketch was a collaboration between Jack & myself, incorporating his new school's mascot, the wolf, portrayed as members of a band, in homage to his favorite group, Gorillaz.

Here's my first sketch~
This drawing was met with great enthusiasm from his new school, but it was felt that the wolves were perhaps too human-looking & perhaps didn't read clearly enough as wolves. I agreed as when I was doing the sketch, I was unsure whether to go full-wolf as it were or perhaps more human. I erred on the side of anthropomorphism & was happy to makes the musicians more lupine~

That sketch was then deemed to have more of a "middle school" aesthetic & it was requested that the wolves be a little more cartoony. I at first was disappointed & thought about politely demurring (I think the 4th & 5th graders were being underestimated & would enjoy these wolves, with their somewhat fierce & rockin' demeanor), but quickly remembered for whom & for what reason I was doing this, & happily acquiesced to my patrons' wishes~

This sketch was approved wholeheartedly by all involved & we start painting this weekend.

(I will post pics of the painted mural upon its completion.)

I am not unhappy with the final drawing, I think I stayed away from too much of a Disney-esque vibe & still kept enough of my own artistic sensibilities (& I especially like the new afro!), but I am still partial to the second sketch & feel that is the most successful drawing of the three. But given the mural's location, I understand that perhaps the compromise was necessary &, in the end, will produce the best work for its intended audience.

But, in the end, whatever the artist in me may think, the father in me is pretty damn happy to be able to once again be there for my boy...

I'd truly love to hear (read) your thoughts on the three sketches & perhaps you'd like to share a similar instance when you made an artistic compromise & your feelings about finding such a medium, whether it was a happy one or perhaps not so much.

trece años eróticos maravillosos hermosos

Thirteen years ago today I watched my girl walk down the grassy aisle, more stunning than the sunlight itself that was streaming through her hair.

She has only gotten more beautiful, more interesting, & far more sexy since then...

los ojos...

Fourteen years ago today, this beautiful girl

walked across the street to meet me...
I'll be taking this weekend off to celebrate that moment.

o mine papa...

I already gave my Pop enough props in my Vonnegut piece,
but this pic is too good not to post.

Happy Pre-Fabricated, Greeting Card-Created, Ad Revenue-Stimulating, Unnecessary-& Unwanted-Present-Giving Holiday!

what's in a name...

"sweetestbaboon" originates from a beat poem written by Brion Gysin, who was a painter & poet as well as very chummy with some guy named Burroughs.
The way it seeped into my brain was on a mixtape (remember those?!) a friend made me that included the poem set to music by Gysin's frequent collaborator & jazz saxophonist, Steve Lacy.
The entire enterprise seemed to scream my name so I adopted it as my online identity as it were, in lieu of the ubiquitous "monkeyboy".
As if I even still had your attention, here's the poem in its entirety, followed by the tune as well.
Enjoy~
I'm a blue baboon
I'm a true baboon
I'm a helluva
Hullabaloo Baboon
And I love a baboon
Who bays at the moon
In the mad month of June
The looniest month of them all
He asked me to spoon
By a moonlit lagoon
and there, very soon,
I fall into a swoon
And I fall! I fall! I fall
'Cause I'm a baboon
A baby baboon
The weakest baboon of them all!
I fall into, a swoon
in the arms of this goon
And there, on a dune
I turn and I give him my all!
My all! My all! My all!
Cause I'm a baboon
You could feed with a spoon
The weakest baboon of them all
I'm a skinny baboon
I'm a mini baboon
Just so tall!
I'm the sleekest baboon
I'm the meekest baboon
But I'm the chic-est baboon
Of then all!All!All!
I'm the cheapest baboon
The deepest baboon
The sweetest baboon of them all!
I'm not uptight
I don't wanna fight
None at all!
I'll take your attack
Lying flat on my back
Or bracing myself
On a wall!
Oh, I'm a baboon
Won't join your platoon
I'm the weakest baboon
Of them all
All!All!All!
I'm a neat baboon
I'm a fleet baboon
Im' the Beat-est baboon
Of them all.~
Brion Gysin 1972.

in hope that one does actually learn by example...

My folks celebrate 47 years together today.

They have by far the best relationship I have ever seen any couple share yet have never decided on a song.

This is the closest they've come for the time being~

can you tell me how to get...

This is a piece I did in for my boy a few years back as he went from the family bed to his own digs. It's a simple & fun drawing of my family hangin' on Sesame Street with some of our favorite folk, done to make his new surroundings feel like his own spot whilst still bein' looked upon by some ol' friends~

(I am especially proud of the fact that I somehow (albeit barely) managed to work my wife's cleavage into the drawing.)

mi hermano

I jokingly refer to myself as a renaissance man, knowing full well that doodling a little bit every now & then & being able to put together a really good mixtape hardly qualifies as such, but my brother, JD, actually embodies the very concept in the truest sense of the term.
Our relationship at times has been strained but my respect for his talents has never followed suit. In his wide & varied experience & in his many travels, he has painted, sculpted, tattooed, played music, cooked & baked, repaired accordions, opened galleries & restaurants, been in more bands of so many many different genres & temperaments, elated, infuriated, raised rabble, & basically has always left any place he has been with a little more imagination & inspiration that it previously had.
Thirty years ago, he held me down, dangled his saliva over my face & made me scream in a high-pitched manner that would for some reason make our cat bite my face repeatedly. Twenty years ago, he put ink to my breast, indelibly marking me with a Native American badger symbol that signified more about our relationship that the actual meaning of the marking. Thirteen years ago, he cooked for my wedding & played guitar as my beautiful bride walked down the grassy aisle. Now he flies into town once a year to play a concert in our garage with my soon-to-be nine year old, allowing our precocious aspiring musician to act as lead singer, guitarist & overall ringmaster whilst behind the amp, JD makes sure the band stays tight & true to my boy's vision.
During this time, we have consoled each other over lost loves as well as shared joy in current ones, we have argued bitterly in cars & on street corners, we have written, drawn & painted together, traversed the country, narrowly avoiding ugly arrests down south as well as watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon, celebrated each other, accused each other, loved & hated each other at different times & sometimes at the same time, our relationship has grown & receded in fits & starts, we have talked but perhaps never really talked...

Today is my brother's birthday, & because I have this little piece of Internet real estate, I can wish him the happiness & joy he so truly deserves in a very public way & hope that the pleasure his oh-so-many talents have brought oh-so-many people are reflected back unto him on this day & every day hereafter.

& because you, dear reader, sat thru the above (& perhaps to embarrass my darling brother), I give you a real rarity from his vast oeuvre, dating all the way back to the 80's, when he was just an insolent pup playing a mean guitar, backing up a local celebrity madman named Jigs. This track, long-forgotten but still potent, comes off of a compilation (notable at the time for its inclusion of then-red-hot band, "The Smithereens"), "East Coast 60'S Rock And Roll Experiment", a collection of local punk & otherwise inclined bands covering 60's tunes (hence the title). So, without further ado, Jigs & The Pigs lettin' us know "These Boots Are Made For Walking"~

momma's boy

Whilst I don't have the same disdain for mother's day as I do for some other pre-fabricated, card company-promoted, & gulit-induced present-buying holidays (yes, I'm looking at you, valentine's day!), I've never been one to look upon it as an essential event on the calendar either.
Perhaps it is for others, but I guess this momma's boy needs more than one day to celebrate the

two best mothers of their respective generations.

Thank you ladies, here's a song for y'all...