Deftones - The Acoustic Experiment by Eric Dewyngaert

Some of you know that I’ve been teaching a class at Portfolio Center over the past few months. This has been a new experience for me, as I’ve never taught before and it was only a few years ago that I was a student at PC. In my time away from the academic world, I started to miss it. Not only is teaching a chance to “drop-knowledge”, but I find it invigorating and refreshing. Perhaps I’m a huge design geek, but I enjoy talking about design with people who aren’t jaded with the industry. Rather, they are eager to excel at visual communication.

The name of the class is Entertainment Design (a broad name for “The Album Cover Class”). We focus on concept, branding, and typography for artists in the music industry; with the deliverables being album covers, packaging, posters, and various other marketing items. In the 1.5 quarters I’ve taught so far, we’ve had a live project for a major label artist and several guest presentations from my friends who work in the design industry.

I’m putting myself in the mindset of a student (which isn’t hard considering I used to go to school there) and trying to make this class-scenario a “dream class” for anyone with an open mind. If my homework assignments consisted of listening to music, going to the record store, and sketching (sober of course), I would have been more than happy to go above and beyond the call.

I don’t have many examples of student work coming out of my class because most students choose to photograph their packaging towards the end of their student careers. I was able to get one of my students (and new EC web-intern), Eric Dewyngaert, to send me a photo of his album packaging. It’s a new approach to The Deftones, titled “The Acoustic Experiment”. He asked himself, “What would happen if one of the hardest bands out there created an acoustic album?” He was able to track down live-acoustic performances of some of their most popular songs which were sonically peculiar and very intense. As you can see, Eric’s visual-reveal is what I envision being the result of many long recording sessions. Very cool.

Given that the name of the class is Entertainment Design, we may shift our focus in coming quarters to film and other performance arts, although I have a feeling that most of my students get a kick out of discovering new bands and listening to music as homework.

Also, there’s always an open invite to my buddies who want to drop in and give honest feedback! C’mon down…

Check out Don Cannon rocking a Process Love & War shirt at 0:11. Shouts to Joe for the heads up!

I just came across this photo on the interwebs from last summer when I was invited to play pick-up basketball with LeBron James while testing out his new kicks. You can see my arm (red arrow is pointing to it) at the edge of the pic. Haha…

Photo by Oh Snap Kid

One of our biggest pet peeves is being approached by people who say, “Hey, I really like Process so you should give me a bunch of gear to wear on stage during my shows” or “Hey, that’s really cool stuff, hook it up on the low-low”. There’s nothing more moochy, or irritating about a situation like that. The fact that a person thinks they are so wonderful, that they deserve the fruits of our labor for their own personal gain is beyond me. It’s disrespectful on all accounts. I realize, that’s the way things go sometimes. We’ve been in countless conversations like this over the years, and we’ve gotten pretty good at handling them…

On the flipside of that coin, if you have the privilege to meet Philip Christensen (General Manager / Partner at Graveyard Tavern) you’ll soon realize that Philip is nothing like the bro described above. Philip has been super-supportive of our brand, and you can tell because he wears our gear out and about all the time. Also, he mentioned Process as one of his favorite brands in his Blu Magazine feature.

His staff has always taken care of our crew every time we’ve come through their doors out of sheer kindness. That makes us want to work with them to further each others’ success. It’s great to know there are honest people out there who genuinely care about the well-being of others that work hard, the same way they do. Thanks Philip! Keep up the great work and we’ll plan on some big things for 2010.

I think this little rant of mine should spark a regularly occurring section on our site. I’ll highlight people that deserve a Shout Out. How often will this occur? As often as people are “doing the right thing”.

Check out our interview in the current issue of Blu Magazine. We talk to them about our design process (no pun intended), future plans, and bear fights. You can pick it up all over Atlanta, or just read it online here.

Jared takes a Larry Bomb!

Last night, I had the privilege to be a guest-bartender at D.B.A. Barbecue in the Virginia Highlands. This was the first time I’ve ever been on the other side of the bar, and it was quite an experience. I think I held my own, but you’ll have to ask my friends how I really did.

The drink highlights for me were:
-Larry Bomb (Crown Royal dropped into Red Bull)
-Whynatte Bombs (Jager dropped into Whynatte)
-A crazy Habañero-infused Moonshine + Strawberry liquor concoction

Thanks to Matt Coggin at D.B.A. for letting me in on some fun, and thanks to everyone who came out!

Before the NBA season began, I had a brief encounter with Jamal Crawford at Atlantic Station:

Me: “Jamal!”
JC: “What’s up?”
Me: “I drafted you to my fantasy team yesterday”
JC: “You won’t be disappointed…”
Me: “Thanks bro, have a good season!”

Little did I know, that he’d completely exceed any expectations mentioned that day! WOW!

I love Harry the Hawk at 1:13!

Check out the guy at 1:40 with the Process x Estate LA Chief Nokahoma Fitted!!!

Name:
Michelle Consuegra

Aka:  
Juez

Website:
www.michellemariephotography.com

Where are you from?
Good ol Woodstock, GA. But growing up I lived a few other places and traveled a bit. I always said I would move back to ATL. Right now I live on one of many Peachtree streets in Atlanta

Who do you work for? 
Founding partner and photographer at Michelle Marie Photography

What are your Current Project(s)? 
1. Enjoying life
2. Drawing, painting, taping, felting and super imposing as many mustaches & red lips, as possible on poor unknowing victims!
3. Stalking newly engaged couples… because they are so cute to photograph.
4. Scavenger Saturdays (this needs more time to explain, but loads of fun)
5. Hoo La La: the love project, set to launch in 2010
6. Baking cupcakes and giving them away before I eat them ALL!

Who would you love to work with?
Steven Lambert, oh wait I do!  On top of being incredibly sexy he is one very talented and creative dude.
A creative marketing group for non-profits.  My sister Heather, she never ceases to amazing me with her off the wall and amazing costume designs!  

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
my payless converse knock-offs.  I have had them for ages, I bought them before I had enough money for real ones.  I really like that they have a red stripe on them, other than that I am not totally sure why I love them so, but they are faves for sure.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Randomness…Bob Marley, M83 all the way to The Buena Vista Social Club, The Deadlines and The Juan MacLean.  I really love Pandora though. Fav station right now is Empire of the Sun.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Hot Wings at the Local… aaaaa so good!

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Piedmont park, right in the middle of the field where dogs and people run around playing games.

What are your Pet Peeves?
When people have too many pet peeves.

Shout outs?
Sister corner, my beautiful family and hot fiance, the 50’s, person who invented the bicycle.

“I really wish there was some sort of assistant with a light diffuser off camera right now…”

Our buddy, Bart Sasso, from Esperanza was recently featured on the front page of the AJC.com because he’s young, cool, talented, and available (ladies!). If you only knew his downsides… Keep up the good work buddy!

1st Place - Alan Woodruff - TEXAS RANGER CHUCK NORRIS

Congrats to Alan Woodruff & his team, Texas Ranger Chuck Norris, for winning the First Annual We Are The Process Fantasy Football League. By defeating Ross Martin’s Duuuuuuuuval Destroyers 221 to 115, Alan earns bragging rights for the next year, and his name engraved on the base of our new trophy.

Thanks to Joe Martinez, we were able to gather our league winners for portraits as we awarded them with their trophies. Check them out after the jump. But first an announcement about next season:

Next year, the competition gets even more intense, as we’ll be adding new players, adding relegation league, and increasing the role of several player positions. We have plenty of time to discuss the details, but if you’re interested in joining our league next year, now is the time to start sucking-up to the powers that be. Not everyone that played this year will be getting a bid to re-up for next season! Especially if you were the bro that:
1) traded Ronnie Brown for Plaxico Burress
2) traded Peyton Manning for an injured Michael Turner
3) started Seneca Wallace for 3 weeks straight

Ok, enough… on to the photos! Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone is a rapper or some kind of artist in Atlanta but some of them actually have talent. Def Jam’s newest artist, Cyhi Da Prynce is one of these artists. Check out these 2 videos: Studda & I’m 100. Studda was filmed in our favorite boutique/hangout spot, Standard. Keep your eye out in “I’m 100″ video for some Process gear.

I just received this in the mail from our friends at Armchair Media. It’s a clever device used to help translate and size real world items to the web. Thanks guys! Check out complete package after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

As a bro who grew up in Texas, I’m happy that the Longhorns finally got the respect they deserved to make it to another Championship game. I’m still getting over the amazing Championship game from 2005 where Vince Young led the Longhorns to a win in one of the most amazing games ever played. At this point, seeing the Longhorns in another Championship match-up is gravy. I’m looking forward to a great game.

I’m just sick of listening to all my friends who are belligerent Alabama fans who have nothing intelligent to say other than, “ROLL TIDE!” over and over and over. That’s not going to help your team win. While you insist on drowning out the music at El Bar with your big mouth, I just say, “STFU and enjoy the game.” It should be a good one either way. And besides, TX just won one a couple years ago (that I’m still psyched about). So big whoop…

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, the Longhorn logo trumps all.

The crew has been getting psyched for the 2010 World Cup by playing a lot of FIFA 10 on Playstation. There have been some serious throwdowns at my place lately!

If you haven’t heard of Dreaden, you will soon. I went to Lenny’s the other night to catch their show and I have to say it was awesome. Check out the photos after the jump, Danny the guitarist is rockin’ one of our tees. You can’t see him but Zak the drummer was sportin’ a StreetLocal tee that night as well. Thanks for the support guys.

Dreaden just released their first single “Night Friends” on XTM Online.

Download Here

View photos of Friday night’s show after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

One of our favorite local DJ’s, Cristo Disco, is new to the blogging world. Check out his site daily, as he promises a constant stream of fresh content, music, and photos. Break him in nice and proper with some comments!

Pr*tty Sh*tty is a great blog for all you design snobs out there. Topics include, the terrible Carolina Hurricanes jerseys to the prolifically-gross Papyrus font all over that lil’ Avatar movie…

The Atlanta Falcons finished the season at 9-7, just missing the playoffs, but this snaps a 44 year drought of not having consecutive winning seasons. It might not seem like much, but this is great progress for a team that was recently dismantled and reassembled with “more responsible” parts. Maybe next year, barring injuries, ATL can make a run at the top!

Right before DJ AM passed, it was announced that he had been working with Swoosh on his own kicks. No one knew when they were coming out, but most salivated over the sample photos. Our friends at Niche in Charlotte just announced that they will be receiving the highly-anticipated Nike x DJ AM Dunk High Quickstrike sneaker on January 9th. We’re still unsure as to which (if any) accounts in Atlanta will be receiving these kicks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if our buds at Standard get them. Stay tuned… It’s confirmed. Standard will also be receiving these on January 9th. Let the lines begin!

Big Boi Ft. Gucci Mane - Shine Blockas (Official Video) from SNORT THIS TV on Vimeo.

A brand new video from Big Boi for a brand new year. You’ve heard the song, now here’s the video straight from Snort This. Big ups to Zach Wolfe for filming and Sumner for editing the video.