The "Smoke and Mirrors" Edition :: Issue #041

Rusty’s Electric Dreams :: Issue #041 :: The “Smoke and Mirrors” Edition :: 07:08:2015

Rusty’s Electric Dreams, an inbox zine by pop culture activist Rusty BlazenhoffIssue #041 :: The “Smoke and Mirrors” Edition :: 07:08:2015

Smoke and Mirrors…Howdy all… Summer is in full swing over here in little ol’ Alameda. We had a delightful Fourth of July. After we went to the big parade, I held a yard sale and SJ made some money selling fresh lemonade, chocolate chip cookies, and Fluffernutters.

Ah, summer.

— Rusty Blazenhoff

“One of the most inspiring, weird and off-kilter collections of curated kitschy ephemera for the big-brained.”–Mighty on Product Hunt (upvote!)

[Have something nice to say? Say it and I’ll include it on my Press page.]

This space
intentionally left smokey

Don’t forget, these emails run long. Be sure to hit “View entire message” if it gets cuts off.

As seen on the Internets

Lung ashtray gets blacker the more you smoke…created by a professor of Psychology

:: Portraits created on LSD

:: http://www.openculture.com/portraits-on-lsd-1950s-research-experiment.html

:: Why some adults get along with their kids better than others:: http://www.elephantjournal.com/parents-their-children-have-great-friendships/

:: Broke-ass Stuart feels bad for SF techies

:: https://medium.com/@broke_ass_stuart/i-feel-bad-for-sf-techies

:: Anti-stress coloring book via Boing Boing

:: http://amzn.to/1JSAPpg

:: Great photos from Day 1 of Burger Boogaloo in Oakland, CA
:: https://wildaboutyouphotography.wordpress.com/burger-boogaloo-2015-day1/

:: Filmmaker And Speech Pathologist Weigh In On What It Means To ‘Sound Gay’

:: http://www.npr.org/what-it-means-to-sound-gay

:: Peter Max fashions!

:: http://dangerousminds.net/groovalicious_peter_max_fashions_from_1970

Real things you can actually buy: yay!

Knit the Sky: A book by Lea Redmond

The extraordinary Lea Redmond of Leafcutter Designs has authored her first book! It’s titled Knit the Sky: Cultivate Your Creativity with a Playful Way of Knitting and it’s based on her conceptual knitting #KnittheSky project.She writes, “I sank my heart into this book big time. Two years of writing, editing, proofing, and playing with yarn, and now a real live book!”

Yay, Lea!

The book’s official description:

“Record the beauty, emotions, and experiences of everyday life — not in your journal but with your knitting needles! Author Lea Redmond offers 32 enchanting projects that will inspire you to create beautiful finished pieces full of personal meaning and memories. Stock up on shades of blue, gray, and white and knit one strip of a scarf each day for a year, using the color that matches the sky on that day. When you’re done, you’ll have a unique memento of your year better than anything you can keep in a scrapbook. Or when you’re traveling, knit postcard-size swatches at each place you visit, using the colors you see around you. When the trip is over, piece the swatches together into a throw or scarf that will remind you of your journey every time you use it. Or knit a height-chart scarf for a beloved baby, starting with her length at birth and adding inches each year until you have the perfect gift for her 18th birthday. These are knitting projects like no other, resulting in one-of-a-kind heirlooms that tell a story only you can tell. Redmond provides instructions for all the stitches and techniques you need, as well as required patterns.”

Knit the Sky will be released August 25, 2015. Yes, it’s available to pre-order now.

Real things you can actually buy: no way!

Artist-in-residence: July 2015

Hereâ€™s a sampling of some of the show posters I creating in the early years. Most were for bands, but from them, businesses started hiring me to create prints for them!

The #2 print is from a now- defunct woodworking and retail shop in San Francisco called Stumasa. I carved the fake-wood in the linoleum first, to give it a wooden-feel. This was for their second year anniversary, and for years, people would call me to find out where I sourced the wooden paper!

My work is always custom-designed, and I spend most of my time creating posters, social stationery, invitations and business cards for people far and wide. Iâ€™m really grateful that I get to make things for a living. Always-for-hire, please see more of my work at Milkfed Press.

–xo Victoria

Ask your friends to subscribe.Tell the Others.

It’s not a cult. YET.

Events of note

Berkeley

[7/23] Willie Nelson & Family plays the Greek Theatre with Alison Krauss [Tickets]

Black Rock City, Nevada

[8/30-9/7] Burning Man

Fairfield, California

[9/26-9/27] Candypalooza at Jelly Belly Factory

Germany

[8/16-12/16] The World of Tim Burton at Max Ernst Museum BrÃ¼hl des LVR

Gilroy, California

[7/24-7/26] Gilroy Garlic Festival [Tickets]

Henderson, North Carolina

[8/27-8/30] Camp Grounded, “Where Grownups Go to Unplug, Get Away, and Be Kids Again.”

Las Vegas

[Ongoing] Akhob, an immersive “Ganzfeld effect” experience by artist James Turrell at Louis Vuitton [by appt only: 702-730-3150] HIGHLY recommended!

London

[Until 9/27] Secret Cinema Presents Star Wars [Tickets]

Los Angeles
[7/12] UnCabaret with Allee Willis at Au Lac, 8 PM [Tickets]

[7/19] “Around the World in 80 Sips” Summer Soda Tasting 5 at Galcoâ€™s Soda Pop Stop, 5-8 PM [Tickets]

[7/20] The Groundlings improv night (70s night with Cassandra Peterson) [Tickets]

[7/25] Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory showing at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 7:15 PM door [Tickets]

[TBD August] ALONE | Refraction

[8/3] Janeane Garofalo at Largo [Tickets]

[8/22] Pee-wee’s Big Adventure showing at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 7:15 PM door [Tickets]

[TBD September] ALONE | Reflection

[TBD October] ALONE | Absorbtion

Moffett Field, California
[7/14] Learn about the New Horizons spacecraft that is going to Pluto at NASA’s Ames Research Center, 2 PM to 6:30 PM [RSVP ASAP]

Nevada City, California
[7/24 & 7/25] Bread and Bones at Polly’s Paladar [Tickets]

New York City
[7/7-8/16] Penn & Teller on Broadway [Tickets]

Oakland

[7/10] Big Dick’s House of Big Boobs, a DIY strip club at a secret location

[7/12] Appetite Obscure‘s 17th potluck: RED, 7 PM at the New Normal Brewery [RSVP]

[8/4] Oakland A’s Jewish Heritage Night

[8/14] Fairyland For Grownups at Children’s Fairyland

[10/24] FIGMENT Oakland, a free, inclusive, participatory art event

Paris

[Until 8/8] Vik Muniz at Xippas Gallery, Paris

[10/10] Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton

Riverside, California

[9/18-9/20] Boing Boing’s Weekend of Wonder at Mission Inn

San Diego

[8/13-8/16] Tiki Oasis (SPACE-THEMED!)

San Francisco
SF’s POPOS (privately-owned public open spaces) :: guide

[7/8] Fireside Storytelling: Sink or Swim, 8 PM, Chez Poulet, $15

[7/9] Chuck Palahniuk and Lidia Yuknavitch: A Night of Mayhem at INFORUM, 6:30 PM [Tickets]

[7/10-8/8] After Life, an exhibition that “probes the possibility of life after death through the work of Fernando Orellana and Al Honig” :: Opening reception 7/10, 6 PM to 9 PM

[7/11] Ass Kicking Contest with Wayne White and Woodrow White at Heron Arts, 7 – 10 PM

[7/15] DorkbotSF #82 at Noisebridge Hackerspace

Danny O’Brien – Putting the Electronic in Electronic Frontier Foundation

Gordon Kirkwood – Art and Technology Projects

Jesse Silver – Blumenlumen

[7/16] Buzzed Bee, a spelling bee for tipsy adults, Stage Werx, 7 PM, Free to attend, $10 to compete

[7/18] The Real Numbers at Amnesia

[7/18] Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party at SOMArts Cultural Center [Tickets]

[7/19] Dark Garden Annual Corset Rummage Sale, 11 AM to 6 PM

[7/24] Steve Poltz at Doc’s Lab [Tickets]

[7/29] Fireside Storytelling: Confessions, 8 PM, Chez Poulet, $15

[8/2] Undercover Stratego, 3 – 6 PM

[8/4] Odd Salon: Myth(os) at DNA Lounge, 21+

[8/22] The Real Numbers at International Pop Overthrow Festival, Hotel Utah

[9/9] Fireside Storytelling: Storyteller’s Choice, 8 PM, Chez Poulet, $15

[9/27] Folsom Street Fair

[10/7] Fireside Storytelling: Saved the Day, 8 PM, Chez Poulet, $15

[10/29] TEDxSanFrancisco at Pier 70

[11/4] Fireside Storytelling: Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, 8 PM, Chez Poulet, $15

[12/3] Fireside Storytelling: Mind. Blown., 8 PM, Chez Poulet, $15

[12/31] PATTI SMITH & HER BAND perform Horses in its entirety this New Year’s Eve at The Fillmore! [Tickets]

Santa Fe, New Mexico

[9/4] Zozobra

Seattle

[7/9] Bawdy Storytelling: Dirty Little Secret at Re-Bar Seattle, 8 PM

ALSO: “The Obscure, the Charming and the Odd: Mark Pahlow’s Guide to Seattle”

Heads up!~~ [10/9-10/11] Kinky Salon. DEEP HEDONISM. Secret location

If YOU would like to co-curate an issue of Rusty’s Electric Dreams, I’d love to hear your idea! Please email me: rusty@blazenhoff.com.

Know about a cool event? Share it. I’ll do my best to include it in the next issue.

Apply to the DENT conference scholarship program.

“Stories are in one way or another mirrors. We use them to explain to ourselves how the world works or how it doesnâ€™t work. Like mirrors stories prepare us for the day to come. They distract us from the things in darkness. —Neil Gaiman, Smoke and Mirrors

*Did you get a blue ribbon from me that reads, “I Like You, In Real Life”?

Yes, I did thank you.
No, but I would like to. I believe you like me IRL. Email me and let me know.
No, and I’m not sure you like me IRL. I want one for $2.75 each. Paypal: blazenhoff@yahoo.com. Send: your name (that you would like on the ribbon) and mailing address
Yes, and now I’d like to gift one (or more) at $2.75 each. Paypal: blazenhoff@yahoo.com. Send: your name and mailing address. Ribbons will be blank.

from RON ENGLISH’S VANDALISM STARTER KIT

Rusty’s Electric Dreams is a weekly inbox zine by Rusty Blazenhoff. These personally curated missives are beacons to signal and celebrate the global tribe of weird, wonderful, and “different” people (“the Others“).

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