Americana Playpens

Vintage photo booths are popping up everywhere. In homes, at parties, and in quirky shops. There to document a moment in time on tiny strips of paper. I really dig the folks who are taking not only current photos but also vintage ones from family albums and attic boxes and enlarging and displaying them in groups.

Fashion Toast

If you want sexy, adventurous and a touch of urban prairie, click over to Fashion Toast. Rumi is dishing it out in a heavy dose. I must score her for a REFUELED mag shoot.

Nightwood

Nightwood is a Brooklyn based home décor business specializing in its own reconstructed furniture and textiles. With a down to earth yet airy aesthetic and sensibility, Nightwood conveys a modern rusticity that emphasizes hand-crafted one-of-a-kind products.

Crackheads Unite

Collection by fashion designer Judi Rosen, New York.

Photo: Todd Selby

Arthropod Aesthetic

Bugs & insects housed in glass at Vagabond.

Weekend Soundtrack

Jakob Dylan "Seeing Things"

Devoted Wallflowers fans have long sensed that Jakob Dylan had an album of this sort in him. What’s surprising, however, is the finesse with which he’s pulled it off. Pared for the most part to voice and acoustic guitar, the songs on "Seeing Things" bring to mind similar work by the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Alejandro Escovedo and Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen.

Odd & Beautiful

Urban Prairie friends Mike Miller & Karen Linder of Lo and Behold Antiques always finds the best vintage, odd and beautiful signage around. One of the oddest has to be the one that reads "Skunk fat on sale here. Also traps." Now if that doesn't reflect the deep gothic south, I don't know what does. Most have already sold on their site, but the visit is still worth a look.

REFUELED Magazine "Style" Issue

The second issue of REFUELED magazine will feature Eisley’s Sherri Dupree. REFUELED no.2, the “style issue” gets an insight into Dupree’s songwriting, sense of style and her photography. Look for Chris Brown’s interview and Sherri’s self portraits in the magazines November release.

Found Typography Lovers

FounDesign is an ongoing collection of photographic images and compositions of Found Typography and Found Design. A must visit for any typography lover like myself.

Getting Refueled at 50 - Chris at CNN.com

To read Chris's take on turning 50, jump over to CNN.com's ireport. Also look for Chris's iReport used in CNN's broadcast news coverage.

Model + Prop Master

Another look at The Selby. Grace: Model, photographer, illustrator & Kenyan: Prop master at home in Orange County, New York.

Warrenton Texas

A strange look at the town of Warrenton Texas during 

antique week. A cross between "Sling Blade" and 

"Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus". The Fall show

starts Sept. 27th and runs thru Oct. 4th.

© 2008 Urban Prairie

Possesions

Photographer Todd Selby has put together a great portfolio of people and their possesions in their environment. Shown above, top left to right, my mentor Marvin Jarrett: editor-in-chief NYLON Magazine, Goergie Greville: film director & Chrissie Miller: designer of Sophomore.

Resturant owner and chef Jean Adamson.

Check out the site at theselby.com

Inspiration

Great, inspiring examples of Urban Prairie living. Wood, plastic, tile and steal.





Photos: Living Etc.

Weekend Soundtrack

Having translated years of personal pain into a compellingly emotive album, life takes an upward swing for singer-songwriter Collin Herring. In recognition of his latest effort, PAST LIFE CRASHING - written during two stints in rehab, a tumultuous marriage and subsequent divorce - Herring has been nominated for "BEST ALT-COUNTRY" artist and "BEST SONGWRITER" by the Fort Worth Weekly.

Help Spread the Word

Can you hear the buzz? Have you heard the good word? The bible of alt country style+design, REFUELED magazine, is spreading - and you can help move it's effort along further. Join the grassroots campaign. Be a part of the DIRT ROAD TEAM by adding banners, ads and animated gif files to your blog, website, myspace or Facebook page. Let us know about your efforts and your name will be added to a drawing to win REFUELED swag. More details coming soon. Thanks for your support and being a member of the DIRT ROAD TEAM.

Guest Blogger: Don Weir

After seeing some of the things Don Weir collected and speaking with him on the phone, I knew I had to have him as part of the REFUELED team. Don is the magazines contributing editor-at-large. Not only the proprietor of Open Road Antiques (set up in Uncommon Objects) in Austin, his skills expand to photography and writing. Ladies & gents, Don Weir:



"NEVER SEEM TO GET FAR ENOUGH / STAYING IN BETWEEN THE LINES"

Those, folks, are the blessed words of a musical savior named Jay Farrar - founder of long defunct Uncle Tupelo and frontman of the venerable Son Volt - and they ring dead true and honest when applied to REFUELED, the new bible of alt-country style and design. Without naming names, it seems that for years now, the traditional print magazines that focus on "country" design have rehashed the same old themes over and over again. Shabby-chic cabinets, pie safes, mantle pieces, enamel ware, watering buckets and the like fill their pages month in and month out. All worthy subjects for sure, but there's a whole 'nother world outside of those tight white lines, and Chris Brown has tapped into it hard and heavy with REFUELED.

Strange thing is, what Chris has tapped into is exactly the stuff that really gets me going - a reverential love for the unusual
remnants of yesteryear with a modernist graphic twist. Sure, I can get excited about an old piece of stoneware - but not like the beautiful decay of an ancient horse-hair stuffed doll, the worn zinc of a table used to make lightning rods in the '20s, or the folky, hand painted wonder of a warning sign from a railroad tunnel somewhere in Kansas. Then to embellish those wondrous finds and photographs with a raw yet sophisticated graphic style - well, to borrow from another midwestern tune-smith - it just "hurts so (damn) good." And it's different. Much different. Outside the lines is where Chris likes to tread, and I thank the hell out of him for asking me to be a part of REFUELED.

So, I haven't taken pen to paper in a serious way for years, but here we are. It's not The Paris Review -- but better in my opinion. Slang is accepted. Foul language is not considered foul. Dirt is good. Blood is better. Booze is welcome. It's all part of the alt-country design world that we inhabit, and Chris and I are gonna do our damndest to bring ya'll stories you'd never find in more traditional rags. Stay tuned. It's gonna be fun.

REFUELED Magazine In Hardcopy

I have been invited to be a publisher with MagCloud. MagCloud is an HP Labs research project evaluating new web services that will provide small independent magazine publishers, online content owners, and small businesses the ability to custom publish digitized magazines and economically print and fulfill on demand.

This will answer the thousands of REFUELED readers who have asked for the magazine in printed form. The next issue, due in November, will be available in brilliant full color on 80lb paper with saddle-stitched cover. More details to come.

Etta Industry

Urban Prairie friend D'Ette Cole has launched a total redesign of the site Etta Industry.

The Austin, Texas designer, previous co-owner of Uncommon Objects and Clutter, showcases her works in interiors, photography, creative direction, print and art.



Photos by D'Ette Cole/Etta Industry