The artist John Van Hamersveld and Alida Post, his wife, have brought the Summer of ‘69 to Vegas. Both friends, I visited them in California a few months back and heard of their amazingly fun opportunity unfolding in Vegas. While first hush-hush, now everyone can know.

Alida and I met 17 years ago in New York City and have kept our friendship over the years and as we each switched coasts. Along the way, she met and married John. John brings his creative artistic talents; Alida her savvy relationship skills and marketing talents; together a force of creative nature.

John has created many memorable images including The Endless Summer movie poster; album covers for the Beatles, Stones Jefferson Airplane, KISS, Blondie and Grateful Dead; the classic Jimi Hendrix concert poster; Johnny Face; the St Mark’s series with Mickey Mouse; Pinnacle Indian. For me, his artwork ranges from bright silkscreened images to iconography to monochromatic drawings. In all cases, having a sure hand on layout, focus, subject, color, proportion…all qualities that are found in a skilled craftsman; with images of emotion, feeling, depth, completeness and originality that are found in a true artist. If you like Keith Haring, KAWS, or Shepard Fairey, then you will likely appreciate Van Hamersveld.

Now in Vegas, John and Alida have the opportunity to bring his art to a broad audience. I am particularly excited about the canopy movie debut, Signs of Life. John has created a movie that is projected from the Viva Vision canopy above Fremont Street in Vegas. Two custom-painted vintage school buses flank the street while John’s iconic images and recognizable style are animated 90 feet high and five blocks long. The visual engages you; sweeping you down the street and back to 1969. Video here.

To round out the Summer of ‘69 experience and bring John’s art into your own home is Hippie Nation Gallery & Records. Hippie is an art gallery located right at the Fremont Street Experience that will sell custom John Van Hamersveld posters, digital prints, original drawings and hand pulled silk screens, in addition to record albums. Do it this summer because the show ends Labor Day! More info at Vegas Experience.

This past weekend, I chose to start a new art business. Its a business that provides a platform for artists, feeds my soul, and generates revenue; a great triumvirate. I’m focusing most of my working effort on this and I’ve chosen to pause my Speakeasy Cubes art installation. Its a tough call to make but I believe the right one.

Its hush hush for now as I pull together the business plan and team. I won’t be sharing details on it here for several months. So when you see me, please ask me about all this in person!

I really like the elaborate holiday windows that the traditional and high-end stores in New York City create. I took a few nights and took pictures of them. Bergdorf Goodman had the best. Below are six random pictures out of over 150.

Tonight, I hooked up buttons, a twist knob, and a flexible sensor to the Boarduino so I could twist, push, or bend them and a range of values (that made sense) were sent to my laptop computer.

This is my first project where I connected physical objects that people use (buttons, knobs, bendy things) with computer hardware and electronics. Another step towards a working prototype of my art installation.

I spend all day today soldering and finished everything needing it. All three Boarduinos (an Arduino clone made for breadboards) are done as well as several breakout boards for other components.

I’m running test programs on them tonight to see if any problems show up. Tomorrow night, I’ll start on some simple programs to familiar myself with the Arduino development environment and platform.

Today, I soldered for several hours and made my first working computer prototyping board. Its called a Boarduino and is a clone of the popular Arduino. I’m going to use the Arduino platform to prototype an art installation I’m doing for Burning Man 2009.

I’m a geek and an artist. I went to Georgia Tech and almost got a bachelors in electrical engineering but towards the end switched to computer science. So now, I get to build on all that knowledge and my work experience to make art.

Soldering isn’t easy for me. I tend to burn or overheat the components. They’ve got a few burn marks on them. I bought extras just…in…case. I tested the board half way through and it seemed to be working. Then at the end, I wrote and run the equivalent of “Hello World” on the board. Hello World is usually the first program taught to students and run on new computers. I had to do it. And on this computer, it makes a red LED flash.

So I’m off and running on the prototype and look forward to sharing my progress after I file my provisional patent on the art installation. I believe it is great!

When I first moved to New York City in 2007, I was possessed by the subways; those mysterious tunnels that transported me from one neighborhood to another and sometimes under water. Now that I’ve been here over a year, I better understand where the neighborhoods are and the lines run. The mystery fading away.

Until tonight.

You see, I’m starting to look for vast dark spaces in New York City to preview an installation I’m building for Burning Man 2009. I heard of the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage and that it closed permanently in 2001 due to security paranoia. An anchorage is a large, very stable stone structure on either side of a bridge. Creative Time used it for eighteen years as a forum for the exploration of artists working in many disciplines including new media, music, fashion, film, design and video. Visitors compared the cathedral-like vaults (nearly 50 feet high) to Piranesi’s “Carceri”, to ancient catacombs and to the austere intimacy of a monastery.

I’ll likely never be able to see them; doubtful put a public installation in them.

While I was reading about the Anchorage, I found the book New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City by Julia Solis. Its a collection of images with history, legends, and facts of the places we don’t see underneath New York City; its abandoned train stations, cathedral crypts, and subterranean hospital passageways, and other delectable places.

Now, my mystery and wonder of the subway is back. And, I am still looking for that amazing vast dark space for the preview. Anyone know of?

If you haven’t heard yet, I’m in the online video blog Forever…For Now. Its a view into the love life of my friend Shanti. And…I fit into that love life.

The recent episode “Jack’s Love Letter” is very raw. I’m very raw. I filmed most of this episode myself. You’ll see. What happens in it is very complex and what is captured is scary at times. I had to do it. It was hard.

Watch it. Now. More after the jump.

That was episode 9 of Forever…For Now. There is lot of things that happen that lead up to this. Go back and watch all the episodes before. They’re 10 minutes or less each. Its a roller coaster of a ride.

Hey, everyone. My friend, Shanti, has a video blog at http://foreverfornow.com that is about her New York City dating experiences and Season 2 just went live.

Its hilarious! And true. True in that funny yet really raw way. Go watch at least the last few episodes from Season 1 so you can get up to speed and then watch Season 2.

A new episode goes live every Monday. Do it Forever…For Now.

Tonight, my friend Rainblo invited me to his new event, Sideshow. Sideshow is each Sunday night currently based in Tillman’s located at 165 W 26th St, New York. Open bar from 10-11pm w/ performances throughout the night. This opening night, the performances included sexy women dance group, erotic ballet, and juggling. Rainblo owned the room MCing the performers, spurring the crowd on to debauchery, and keeping the spirit fun, sexy and full of life. The venue has a great vibe and is perfect for this show. I’m going back for more Sideshow!

Ran into Josh, Amy from Atlanta, Murray, Rich Rent, Paul Alexander, and more. Paul Alexander is an icon of mine; being part of the Jackie 60 crew and The Ones. Paul and I talked for a while on his current band as well as his history with Jackie. I made a trip to New York City in October 1996 with a major reason being a part of a Jackie 60 party. I did and that experience is one of the significant inspiration moments in my past leading me to what I do today. I have a fantastic story about calling the Jackie 60 phone number that Tuesday morning to hear the theme and crawling the city to put together my outfit. It includes a rubber miniskirt, the Path train, and approval from Kitty Boots on my outfit you see me wearing in this picture. Ask me sometime and I’m happy to tell you this story.