Sean Klassen

For those of you who are going to be in Denver next week during the Democratic National Convention, I wanted to point you toward the Manifest Hope Gallery (HOPEfully you already watched the video about what to expect while in Denver below). The gallery is actually part of the Andenken Gallery and is located near 30th and Larimer. Not only will there be some amazing art from the likes of Shepard Fairey, Evan Hecox, Scot Lefavor, Thomas Brodahl and Vincent Comparetto to name a few, but some music from such favorites as the Silversun Pickups, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Cold War Kids, Nada Surf, Ben Gibbard, Jenny Lewis, Zooey Deschanel, Matthew Caws and Jonathan Rice. Best of all… everything is free. There will be a limited number of tickets for the rock shows though. I’ve been told to get them by stopping by the gallery next week between 10am and 5pm.

Wow, next week is going to be pretty crazy.

UPDATE: Just stopped by the gallery. I got a ticket, but it’s only 1 per person. There seems to be no chance of getting into the VIP show, which isn’t a big surprise. Oh yeah, and the artwork is unbelievable!

For a long time I’ve been interested in visual presentations of information as it provides a true combination of form and function. Not only are all of these designs beautiful, but they provide interesting and unique perspectives for understanding various types of information. Anyway, with the type of work I’ve been doing lately my interest in this type of design is becoming reignited. I’ve started to gather a nice selection of examples (new and old) I thought would be cool to share and also wanted to see if I’m missing anything… let me know!

Check out my ongoing list.

I just got back from a quick trip to New York City where my ridiculous Office Space meets Minor Threat band, PowerPoint, played a show at ABC NO RIO. We sounded as bad as ever, but I think everyone still had a really good time. And considering we’ve only practiced 1.5 times (with different members mind you), things turned out quite well. One of my favorite parts of the show was our delivering of a giant check to the city of New York for “One Rocking Show” (explains the above image). Anyway, you can find pictures here, here and here. I think there’s more out there in the world wide web somewhere too.

Another quick note… I wrote a small article for the “Focus On” section of .net magazine. It’s in issue 180 which just came out yesterday. So, go pick up a copy!

If you read my blog very often, you will know I’ve been really stoked on Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground. Well, they’re scheduled to play a show tomorrow night at the Marquis Theater in Denver, but I wanted to give you a heads up about an impromtu set they’re going to do tonight at 3 Kings. Monday night shows can be tough, but I think this will definitely be worth it

In other news, have you seen this article about scientists creating “invisibility” material? Whoa…

The newest rendition of the Factory Design Labs website I designed finally went live yesterday (including separate iPhone and Careers components). There was a lot of effort by a number of people to create this site on top of all the client work we have right now at the agency, so it feels good to see it up. Overall, the site has been scaled way back compared to previous versions to focus on what’s important for a portfolio: the work. I’ve been wanting to create a scaling/full screen video site for a while now and am glad I finally got the opportunity to do so. This was the right project for that type of execution. There were some pretty cool ideas that didn’t end up making it in to the final version for a variety of reasons, but I’m still pretty happy with the end result.

That being said, I have only 4 more days left with Factory. Since I started about 2.5 years ago, I’ve seen the company about triple in size, completely change it’s clientelle to huge international brands and move to a fancy new office… all of which has been pretty unreal to experience. The company has grown and learned a lot and so have I. What I’m most thankful for, though, is all the great people I’ve been able to work and hang out with. I’ve made some great friends. It’s become time for me to make a change though.  I’ve got some great projects and opportunities in the works and look forward to talking about them more soon… but not… just yet.

The fact that Arial is a redneck was enough to sell this for me. Awesome. Wow, I’m a nerd.

I just uploaded a new mix entitled Kite Flying Society. There is a rough theme of nostalgia, which more or less means there’s a bunch of old punk songs and some new stuff that has that vibe to me. Anyway, it is broken in to two parts and you can stream the first part over at http://seanklassen.muxtape.com.

You can also download the entire thing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy some of these songs. The tracklisting is below if you’re curious.

Part I

1. I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times (Vocal Track) / The Beach Boys
2. Angeline / The Howlies
3. Nightmares / Jay Reatard
4. About To Walk / Throw Me The Statue
5. Perfect Weapon / Communiqué
6. Easy Eats Or Dirty Doctor Galapagos / Man Man
7. Bikeage / The Descendents
8. In The Grass / LaGrecia
9. New Regulations / Downfall
10. Show Up Raising Hell / Fubar

Part II

1. Hamburgers
2. Simon Courage Flees the Coop / Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground
3. Rest In The Dew / Eureka Gold
4. Strangled By The Thought / The New Amsterdams
5. Josephine St. / I Love Math
6. Holland, 1945 / Neutral Milk Hotel
7. The Sprinkler / Sicko
8. Hands Up! / Walking Concert
9. Quick Check Girl / The Bouncing Souls
10. How To Escape / The Gamits
11. Barcelona (Early Mix) / The Rentals
12. Seldom Not Heard / Still Left Standing

Feel free to check out some other mixes I’ve posted here and here. Also check out the ridiculous amount of awesome summer mixes at the aptly named Summer Mix Series. Some of my favorites include Season Opener, Summer Politics and Beach Songs.

I got back from the roadtrip I went on a few days ago and have been trying to catch up with living since. The trip was a lot of driving (I put 4,000 miles on my car) but a lot of fun too. The journey included floods in Iowa, a trip to Ikea in Toronto, an amazing Bed and Breakfast in London, Ontario, quality family time, being hassled at the border upon returning to the states for no good reason, creepy Jesus shrines, lots of bbq and soul food, Graceland, great dj’ing by Darcie, a glimpse into the local music scene of Nashville and lots more.

So, with all of the driving we had to do, Darcie and I played a number of games to pass the time. One of my favorites though, involved simply spotting cars (American manufacturers seem to be best usually) and replacing the maker name with the word anal. So, instead of a Ford Explorer you get an Anal Explorer. Stupid, maybe. Hilarious, yes. Some of our favorites included the Town and Country, Venture, Dynasty and Avenger.

Anyway, if you’re curious about the trip at all I’ve posted some photos on my Flickr Account.