are you are wondering how did i combine music & quilting ?
anyone who read my interview in
Quilter's Home knows that I've met Linkin Park and do a lot of my sewing to their music. Below is a 3 part post.
1. A Thousand Suns Review
2. NYC Show Recap
3. The Quilts!
A Thousand Suns Review
I've been a Linkin Park fan for 10 years and I've never been more proud to call myself a fan than right now.
Linkin Park's fourth studio album "A Thousand Suns" was released this past Tuesday the 14th. It is truly and album intended to be listened to start to finish. The album has set off a firestorm of positive, negative and mixed reviews.
LP's first album "Hybrid Theory" was released 10 years ago on October 24, 2000
LP's second album "Meteora" was released March 25, 2003
LP's third album "Minutes to Midnight" was released on May 15, 2007
Ten years is a long time. People change, they grow, they develop. My art and my quilts have changed over time, so it is only natural for others to change and grow with their art. It would have been easy for LP to put out a commercial album with guaranteed sales and sound like they did in 2000. Instead they challenged themselves to take it further. I thank them for taking that risk.
This album doesn't sound like anything I've heard before. It's hard to classify into a category and I'm OK with that. It's political & scientific and pushes you to think about the world around you.
Track 11 has a recording of Martin Luther King Jr.'s voice. I get chills every time I hear it. Over the track his voice changes to become digital and this line is repeated: "
cannot be reconciled when there is no justice involved."
Here are a few lyrics from Track 5 "When they come for me"
'Cause even a blueprint is a gift and a curse
'Cause once you got a theory of how the thing works
Everybody wants the next thing to be just like the first
And I'm not a robot
I'm not a monkey
I will not dance even if the beat's funky
I love music. I own over 200 CDs. Yes CDs, not just digital music. With many of them there are usually a few songs I want to skip. That isn't the case with "A Thousand Suns." It's clear that it was created as an album and not a collection of a few singles and a bunch of B level songs. In four days I've listened to it start to finish over 15 times. Each time I hear a few new things and appreciate the album even more.
You can listen to the entire album as one long track on
myspace. Listen to it for yourself and develop your own opinion of it.
*note*
I have never written a review of an album, but I have also never felt so compelled to express my opinion about a collection of music. Take it or leave it, but this album is passionate, original and most importantly authentic.
reviews worth reading
review rinse repeat
artist direct
sputnik music
the music network
NYC Show Recap {and photos!}
On Tuesday I went to NYC to see Linkin Park perform at the Best Buy Theater for 2,100 people in their only US show this year. I went to NYC with
Apryl. Apryl and I met in 2004 at a show and since have gone to show after show together. She is an amazing friend and I'm very lucky to have her in
my tribe.
One of the great things about being a dedicated fan & meeting other dedicated fans is you begin to form a family. In addition to Apryl I have been to many of these shows with Sal, Billy, & Mark. You would have to see us all to really understand the relationships. I met a lot of new "family" members in NYC this weekend...
Kelly -
Cindy -
Ana -
Jim -
Julian -
Raquel {and i love you all!}
julie & apryl over the years
{ a few of the many shows we have gone to together }
2004 - LP show in camden
2004 -nyc book signing
2006 - Fort Minor show in DC
2007 - LP show in camden {with ash!}
2008 - LP show in camden
2010 - LP show in NYC on 9.14.2010 {with sal & billy}
photos
{ all photos belong to julie or
apryl }
nyc
chatting with mark, lp's videographer before the show
my attempt at getting the crowd to cheer while mark filmed them
the crowd
the setlist
billy - julie - apryl - sal
{ up front in the pit }
there wasn't a bad seat or place to stand
this was the view from the back
The Quilts!
I mentioned these in my interview in
Quilter's Home, but I have never shown them all. Back in 2003 I won a Meet & Greet pass from the
Linkin Park Underground. I went back and forth for days about what to bring to the show to have signed. At some point a lightbulb went off and I decided to make a quilt. I had only been quilting for about a year, but it felt like the right thing to do. I digitized their logos and images and made embroidery files. Then using my mom's embroidery machine I made 13 embroideries. I then pieced them together into a 24" x 24" quilt top and brought it to the show. The band signed it and made lots of positive comments. It even got me the opportunity to film a clip for their website.
In 2004 I was lucky enough to get a second pass to meet them. I knew right away that I wanted to make a second quilt. At the time I was in college and was taking a silkscreen course. I decided to make screens from some of their logos and graphics and print them on various black and white fabrics. Then I cut them out & appliquéd them onto a red background. Since I worked this show as a part of the LP Street Team I was one of the last people to meet them that day. The band thanked us for our hard work promoting the show and Mike even wrote "thanks!" in the center of the quilt.
In 2006 Mike hit the road with
Fort Minor after releasing "The Rising Tied" on November 22, 2005. Apryl and I headed down to DC to see the last show of the tour. I decided to make a third quilt for the occasion. I cut the logo from red and appliquéd it onto black. I also did some creative thread work to create the "cracks" in the logo.
On Tuesday I decided last minute to take a bella solids charm pack and a sharpie with me to the show. I had my "family" members sign squares for me. The plan is to put all of these together to make my fourth LP inspired quilt.
-Julie
p.s.
giveaway winner will be announced
soon here!
