auto pilot

Nothing takes the pleasure I get out of snow like driving.


shift © Laura Kicey

Prior to last weekend's wildfire of a show by the one and only Night Train, I was transporting the guitarist goods to destination: Lewisburg.



in tune © Laura Kicey

Somewhere in the wilds of Pocono, PA, snow starting belting us. Then stopped and all seemed well and good. until I made an unfortunate move on a solid sheet of ice and got hooked on the ass end of a tractor trailer. My first accident! My cherry (-colored car) penetrated! The sobs of ecstasy!


burst © Laura Kicey

Groan.

I was fortunate enough to be able to avoid getting behind the wheel for the remainder of the weekend which was spent, in part, photo-frollicking in the depressed towns of Berwick and Danville, PA.


the masses © Laura Kicey

While Danville maintained a certain quaintness, Berwick was just all out odd. Evidence of the difficulty of keeping businesses afloat in this town were apparent everywhere. The seeming complete lack of zoning put shops, industry and residences back to back with each other and mostly in completely inappropriate buildings. Business owners seemed to take every advantage of what they saw as holes in the marketplace and left themselves open to basically selling any and every thing. Their signage reflected this sentiment, with many shops ending their names with Etc., And Stuff, And Things and other vagueries. Others built onto their signs without foreseeable end. This worked for some but not all.


et cetera © Laura Kicey

Meanwhile back in South Eastern PA, things are shaking loose. Plans for the upcoming JOINTS joint are on a roll. Frames have arrived, postcards are coming. And financing to cover it all came in the form of two sales of pieces I have hanging in the Funky Lil Kitchen in Pottstown. From a complete stranger. VERY very excited.

LAB is taking off. Most pleasing. And the vernacular design itch has been transferred from Joseph to me. I love this things Tibor Kalman and Kerrie Jacobs wrote that Mr. Robertson posted on LABlog. Look for more on vernacular design in the next issue. Also for the next issue, a call for entries:

Posters & flyers— we want to see ‘em. A pack of design ninjas will pick the best of the batch and we’ll include them in an upcoming issue of LAB.

Here’s the only rule:
The poster/flyer must be designed by you. No found objects, please.

How to submit? Send a PDF (or .jpg) of your design via our contact form. Please be sure to include contact info. Bonus points: post a picture of your creation in its natural habitat to this flickr group.

Curious about usage rights? Check out read the fine print

Be sure to add the following tag to the photo (for flickr):
LABproject03



Next weekend, the D and myself are to be Most Esteemed guests at the Parental House of K in the Northeast of Nowhere, PA. We will dine on Special Hot Pot and wrassle cats, possibly thumb wrestle cat with opposable thumbs.
And then, adventures in Coal Country. Followed by next Sunday, our show goes all the way up! Stay tuned.

chemistry

cover of LAB magazine featuring amphibious © Laura Kicey
design Joseph Robertson

It is everything I wish for in most magazines... where most fail, LAB comes in and save the day. Not long after it was due for release, here it is. Brainchild of Joseph Roberston, fellow flickrer. He kindly put my photo on the cover and re-ran my article on self-portraiture inside. Everyone should immediately go and e-grab the first issue of LAB magazine. I ordered one off Lulu so as to get a hard copy and support this amazing project.

Every time I write now I have to fall all over myself apologizing for being such a slacker with the blog. It is one of those nutty backward spells where I am shooting precious little, but making large forward leaps in projects such as LAB nad joints which facilitate past work. I've been chaffing at the bit to write a little about my New Year's excursion down the coast to North Carolina. So here is a lil something...

Things I have learned.

1) No matter where you go, all children are on wheels now. This makes me feel very old and I worry that if they come out with an adult version of these shoes I will perish in a terrible accident in attempts to 'keep up'.


labor © Laura Kicey

2) Wave. And no matter what you are doing, you can pass it off as innocent. Even undressing in public.


eardrum © Laura Kicey

3) 'Collapsing' and 'abandoned' are not mutually inclusive states. Still. Damn it. Same with 'cheap' and 'good'. Especially when applied to hotels in either case.



the deep end © Laura Kicey

4) Insanity in a socially acceptable package is no less amazing. I had flashbacks to Violet Hobaugh


flocking © Laura Kicey

5) Alfred Hitchcock might have been from the South if he wasn't already British. I came from farmland. We had nowhere near this amount of bird mass. It was terrifying. And as a semi-closeted bird nerd kinda exciting.


soiree © Laura Kicey

So Mr. D and I have finally finished curating the joints show, I sent out press releases to all the local papers. I've got to order frames and prints yet this week. Bundles of people are expected to turn up. I am still getting that nauseous-everyone-I-want-to-talk-to-is-here-but-can-only-take-2-minutes-with-each feeling. Two hours and over 30 people we know, plus the random ones we don't who pop in.

In other news, another photo was published on FILE and JPG published the following photo for their Tourist theme included in Issue 7:


vacational © Laura Kicey

In other publiciziziztationings... The band Mr. D plays with, Night Train to Terror in the short time I have been acquainted with them have grown on me immensely. Like a tumor. They make me shake my ass while I shoot them. They played Small's in Harrisburg last Saturday night and have an upcoming show in Lewisburg and Tuesday Tunes (I think) this Friday night, January 19th. If you are out in the middle of nowhere, come out and support!!!


engine © Laura Kicey

relating

JOINTS the photographs of laura kicey and dustin fenstermacher
mugshots coffehouse and café, Fairmount Ave @ 21st Street, Philadelphia, across from Eastern State Penitentiary
February 4th through March 4th, 2007
Opening reception February 8, 6.30-8.30pm
Mugshots will serve light refreshments for those in attendance.
Works are on sale directly through Mugshots, please contact a staff member to discuss.
For more information jointsmugshots@gmail.com


download and distribute freely as it is slightly past time to start publicizing this little thing we've been working on.

*photos in flyer charlie and his angels © Dustin Fenstermacher, aim high © Laura Kicey

....................

I have an enormous amount of blog-catching-up to do, including a recap of the New Yearsy roadtrip that landed Mr. D and I Somewhere in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, admiring street-side hams, etc.


old year's night © Laura Kicey

While I meant smoked pork products, that is Dustin on the berm, stealing the bridges thunder.