Cathal, Henry and Paul cover U2

Check out this cool version of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday on youtube. Yes, the silhouetted figures seem mysterious but I assure you are quite friendly.

go here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLUoRoM8nN8

Talent Alert

I recently met a really cool and brilliant person, an artist, Wendi Gueorguiev. She's a painter who has segued to a prolific sculptor/potter. Organic and beautiful would be words used to describe herself and her works.

This meeting came about during the Antagonist Art Movement at the Niagara, the day of what Stamford, CT would call a snow/sleet storm kind of day, and what NYC would call another wet and slightly slippery day. My 2 hour path to the Niagara was to play my songs - at least that's what I initially thought. However, looking back it seems my efforts were to meet Wendi; I can play anytime, but meeting someone like her doesn't happen often. Please take a moment and visit her website to see her sculpture. http://www.blackcatandcrow.com/

myspace = your x-mas music place

I took the liberty of uploading a few of period comma's renditions of classic Christmas songs to thir myspace page. All songs are based on the birth of the alleged Jesus Christ.

The band would appreciate you downloading them to be included in your holiday music mixes.

Please visit: www.myspace.com/periodcomma for the 4 songs: We 3 Kinks, The Little Drummer Boy, Hark The Herald Angels and Silent Night.

Enjoy - thank you

The Protagonist Visits The Antagonist

I represented the band 'period comma' at the Niagara in the east village the other night. Getting there in a customized snow storm that I know was created to keep me out, was a journey all its own. Therefore, I am claiming 'protagonist' stature in that I ventured on nonetheless to play at the Antagonist Movement's promoted art show and music evening.

Once in the city, I knew it'd be a normal city night. There was no snow, only rain and slippery sidewalks, hardly enough to keep anyone indoors.

The tikki room at the Niagara is where the events took place. One room had an art show of emerging artists and the other contained Dee Jay and live music. I played the first set and it was cool; I always hate going on first - but what the hell. I haven't played a full set of music on my own in quite a while - so again, what the hell. It was fun and I gave away a few Cd's.

All in all, a Thursday night with The Antagonist Movement is something I would recommend to anyone starting out in the field of music or art. The energy created by the artists and the attendance was great.

Tomorrow Never Knows

Is it the 12th already? Really looking forward to playing at the Niagara tomorrow night. Don't know what to expect. I made a few give-away cd's for whoever has the guts to take them.

Stutterdot Design is really branching out in the world of visual/audio. Maybe it's a premonition for my next life to become a nerd-like creature for a future high school somewhere that lives in the dark corners of the A/V room.

Anyway - hope there are witnesses to the event.

Thank you Antagonist Movement for the invite. Click the link to the right for more info on them.

Coloborate in Logo Design for Bay Area Company BASAN

I recently had the opportunity to kick off some design concepts for The Bay Area Sustainable Arts Network (BASAN). The design pictured here is one that I was championing for (that's a map of the San Fransisco Bay Area depicted as being global). Not sure if that comes across. I did state my layouts were more conceptual than a finished design so we'll see where it leads.

Anyway, it's a great challenge and the people on the west coast that are BASAN seem real nice; real.

Press release - New company logo, website and product design: ethiKids, inc

Stutterdot Design has been spending the last 6 months creating an image for this brand new company, ethiKids, inc.. The result is a meaningful yet playful logo, package design and online presence (http://www.ethikids.com/*) that the client is extremely happy with.

First off, the people at ethiKids, inc. headquarters knew what they wanted. So, as fresh and exciting all the graphics and colors created for their international appeal were, they wouldn't settle for anything. To be honest, I was hoping for a 'Yeah, that'll do for now' a couple of times throughout the brainstorming sessions... but no such luck. And in hindsight, I am glad they stuck to their guns; it's a challenge any designer should welcome. Not to mention the client's enthusiasm to see their fully saturated campaign come to life is, how you say - priceless.

Logo: There were many designs based on typography at first; designs they liked, but something was missing. Then they told me about 'The Butterfly Story', a story about this person who decided to help a newly metamorpho-sized butterfly escape from its cocoon, not realizing that nature did not intend things to work that way. After the 'meant well' but 'not needed' help, the butterfly did escape but soon dropped to the ground unable to fly. The lesson here is that butterflies, as well as people, need to develop muscles, or skills, giving them the strength to deal with and maneuver about life's hurdles. Once I fully understood the ethiKids philosophy in a visual sense, the butterfly that now hovers above the 'ethiKids' type, came to fruition. This is no butterfly to reckon with.

The colors: They have a recognizable palette of Red, Blue, Yellow and Green to give their product an automatic familiarity, with the added use and foundation of Purple. This added the boldness and maturity needed to provide the subtext: ethiKids, inc is a serious learning and growing tool.

ethiKids, inc and their products: (note - ethiKids is always typed in lowercase, save the capital 'K'. David Lynch declares the same sternness with his latest film, 'INLAND EMPIRE' in how it should always appear in uppercase) The ethiKids tag line is -Strengthening Character Through Dialogue - with the first product, "what's the deal?"**, being a full workout station disguised as a game. It truly is amazing and the splash is going to be a big one. I've played it with my daughter and unexpected conversations unfolded right before our very ears. Things that maybe we'd never discuss became exciting and almost unstoppable. The game is designed for ages 8-11 and may be used with parents (or guardians) and their children or even in school with teachers and students taking part in many of the ethiKids' activities. My daughter is at the older end of the age spectrum; she loved it.

The website: Talk about information. There is so much on this website from the years of research and actual experiences that the ethiKids, inc. people compiled into this easy to get to fountain. Both adults and children have access to activities, polls and stories on real life people in the news. However, one of the goals of ethiKids is not to keep children glued to a computer screen. Their time spent there should be brief. the learning activities are meant to be printed and played in real-time human contact.

Opening music provided by Blue Man Group by permission

* website CMS by Timothy Wood Design

** The main part of the "what's the deal?" game consists of 40 story cards. Each card has a situation that could happen either in school, at home, with friends or during activities. After each story are a few questions to kindle the conversation between the players. What's discussed are the set of values at stake and the set of skills (both included) needed to strengthen decision making.

Stutterdot Design Featured

Stutterdot Design is being featured in Talent Data Base today... I mean it's somewhere along the bottom of the list, but... maybe I should say - Find Me Me Me!

NEWS RELEASE - New Look for the Interiors Company Inc Website

Stutterdot has recently created a new look for the online presence of INTERIORS COMPANY INC. Interiors is an interior design company located in Westchester county sporting cool press in such magazines as Trends.

The palette throughout the website had to reflect the company's sense of design. As a result, the stripes, concentric rectangles, swirling line patterns and contrasts were taken directly from their custom made coverings and finishes.

The photo galleries within the site have motion to them, giving the feeling that you, the user, are actually entering into the rooms. This is of course accompanied by a quick navigation system to have return visitors quickly show their friends the styles they like best.

Music supplied by Satellite Sound

period comma - solo performance on Decemebr 13

It's good to get out. Many folks don't know I'm the songwriter for the pop combo 'period comma'. Yes, a ghost writer. So my question to you: do you believe in ghosts? I'm hoping you do so you'll come check out my solo performance at the Niagara on DECEMBER 13 - 9pm SHARP.

The Niagara is located at 112 Ave A and the corner of East 7th Street. NYC*. Tel: 212-420-9517

The music is one aspect of the evening. There will also be a visual show from various emerging artists. I'm really looking forward to it. The producers of this art and music happening is the Antagonist's Movement. Please visit their website to find out more about them.

I'll be playing a 45 minute set from the band's Lily Still CD and a yet to be release titled 'beyond simple'. I'll throw in a few songs from David Lynch films as well.

Visit www.myspace.com/periodcomma to hear some full band version of the tunes.

Stutterdot Design consists of many facets - well maybe 3 main ones as umbrellas: Music / Design / Script Writing. For music there is use of a 24 trk recording studio, Black Smile Studio, complete with Roland V Club drums, the Line 6 Pod for guitar and a Korg DB for bass. There's also a 12 string Taylor and an assortment of electric guitars including a 1962 Gibson MelodyMaker. People are asked to bring keys if needed. There have also been songs used in stage plays written by Paul JM.

*Bands play downstairs in the tikki room. 21 and over evening.

More on THE SEVERED SOUNDTRACK

The Severed Soundtrack - So much work still to get done. As far as the audio portion of the project, which consist of 12 songs, we're almost halfway through.

The original intentions for the soundtrack was to be a 'rough-demo' to accompany the screenplay if and when a prodco or agent became interested. then the soundtrack would possibly get rearranged, re-recorded to professional standards having the actual actors doing the singing.

The new intention is to now re-do the project to a more professional level on our own - mastering and all. So the band, period comma, has been back in the Black Smile Studio getting in total sync with the click track and making every beat count - as opposed to counting the beats. They have several more tunes to do until the really tough part - the vocals. period comma moves at lightening speed so there's no telling what's going to happen when none of the vocalists is a mismatch for the key... hmmm.

Anyway - the cover art will have the same theme as the image* here. There'll be new photography and more believable sfx. This 'holding hands' picture relates the underlying theme of the screenplay which deals with 2 calc geeks in their mid -20's, deciding to get revenge on the girls who made fun of them in high school by axing them - real nice. Anyway the title of the movie, well now soundtrack, is not referring to those victims, but rather the victims of severed relationships - parental and love interest. Both killers have this missing in their lives which may explain the totally uncool way they are dealing with a problem that resulted from nothing other than being kids.

Anyway - enough for now. More tomorrow.

*soft version

A Rumor Release - Soundtrack Written for No Movie

That's right... 'No Movie'. Paul JM (that's me) has also, well rumor has it, been working on a musical; a screenplay with songs that are sung by the characters. Picture The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Now the only difference here is that this horror/comedy screenplay titled THE SEVERED, isn't as good - so, Paul (me) has decided to move forward to record the soundtrack using various singers for the characters and release it privately.

The backline band is 'period comma' (www.myspace.com/periodcomma) and it is being recorded at Black Smile Studio in Stamford, CT.

The title of the cd will be 'The Severed Soundtrack'... yes, there is no bounds for the imagination at Stutterdot.

Cover art is in the works and will be posted when the concept is complete.

Press Release - New Marketing Campaign For Theatre

Stutterdot Design's conceptual campaign to promote New York's theatre, Blueberry Pond's new play, HONG KONG*, proved very successful in ticket sales and attitude.

Blueberry Pond Theatre Ensemble, located in Ossining, NY has been in development for about 3 years. Hong Kong (Nov 2 - Dec 2) has had an amazing attendance for this great theatre whose main stage plays are written, performed and directed by the members.

Stutterdot approached the job with asking a few questions: What is the story synopsis and who is the protagonist. In other words, who should the audience be following? Now knowing that it dealt with corporate backstabbing and deceit, I decided to create the title to abstractly represent a skyline as opposed to Asian lettering: the title already tells you that most likely it has something to do with Hong Kong. I then photographed the lead actor (protagonist), suggesting to the audience to follow her actions; give them an anchor.

Next: The Tag Line. This is something I feel very strongly about. A play on words - or rather, off words, like say the event title, works best for most situations. Again, considering the theme of the play and in this case, location, I chose 'The SIN Rises In The East'. The function here is to create curiosity and not say what the story is about. Other promotional materials such as e-mail blasts and websites will give a brief synopsis, so the tag line should be brief and in some ways demanding.

All imaging was done with the use of Illustrator and Photoshop, having the only actual photo being the woman's face; no money was laid out for stock photography. This led to an affordable yet very effective and professional campaign.

* Hong Kong - written by Lloyd Pace - directed by Forest Hamilton
please visit http://www.blueberrypond.org/

the underground that makes sense

Paul JM, Creative Director of Stutterdot here, and what I'm asking about is this: what is happening in the 'underground' promotional scene? Whether it be a flyer for bands, art or fashion shows... ? What is a trend that could be something unique and groundbreaking? The criteria here is that the design has function and not just a novelty 'wannabe' punk-like ad.

Thank you

today is...

Welcome to the stutterdot design blog. The visuals and graphics produced here include LOGO DESIGN, TYPOGRAPHY, FLASH ANIMATION, WEBSITE DESIGN and CONCEPTUAL CAMPAIGN & MARKETING NEEDS. (Thank you)