Tangents | I Got You Covered

something set me off… now i can’t seem to stop

I don’t even have a record player, but I want this Sonny Clark record.  On VINYL.  Must have it.

It all started because I was trying to suss out a particular visual reference for something I’m working on and ended up tooling around the Birka Jazz Archive looking at old album covers.  I checked out some old Columbia stuff first, but I knew what I was looking for was probably either from Verve or Blue Note.

I still don’t know if Blue Note was what I wanted, because I got all caught up in the work of graphic designer, Reid Miles. Oh, my word.  Talk about a day well spent.  He created these amazing album covers that frequently stopped the scroll.  It’s like my finger said “Girl, you might want to wait.” His use of color and type elicited audible reactions that I hope nobody else actually heard.

I’m getting all giggly & screechy over records from the mid 1950s to late 60s.  I haven’t been this excited about a record cover since I was little and I hid in the closet with that Nikki Giovanni just to stare my name in print.  Seriously,  I don’t even need to listen to the albums with the covers that send me.  I kinda just want to hold them and look.  I’m already intrigued and inspired.

A googly-bingish search for more on Reid Miles sent me to Hard Format where I studied the well curated display of some of his most beautiful work.  A link at the bottom sent me off again.  Now, I’m listening to previews of old jazz records on itunes and staring at the cover of every Blue Note record released.  Crazy.

From this tangent: I get another GENRE of freaking music to absorb and another interesting website for me to explore… great!

N♥

am i that obvious? the look of books

i am completely and utterly obvious.  i’m still trying to figure out if i’m okay with that.

Coming back from lunch and a walk on the beach yesterday, I popped into B&N to browse a bit.  I don’t believe in love-at-first, you know, but I fell.  I fell hard.

Sitting on the corner of a random table with a ‘$25 and under gift’ sign were a few of the coveted Penguin Classics collection designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, eight of which were just released here in the states.  I couldn’t quite remember exactly where I’d read about her and the beautiful editions.  (♥:design*sponge)   I just stood there for a few minutes, touching them.  And in my head, thankfully, I purred, “Mmmm, pretty.”

Penguin Classics designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith
Penguin Classics designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith

(images: Coralie Bickford-Smith’s site)

coralie classics 2

Then, on the way to the section I was supposed to be in, I saw an endcap that had me at H-H-Hello.  Oh, Melville House, what are you doing to me?

Melville House Publishing's Classic Novellas
Melville House Publishing's Classic Novellas
Melville House Publishing's Contemporary Novellas
Melville House Publishing's Contemporary Novellas

I guess the first two hurdles are behind us.  I noticed and now, I want.  The whole obtaining thing is going to be a challenge.  I’m going to play hard to get.  I said I was obvious, not easy.

Nikki♥