Things that you think are liberating can actually become extremely confining or restrictive or oppressive, and things that you think are controlling can actually give you a greater sense of security and liberation in the end.

Andrea Zittel
Art21: Consumption

It was an amazing clear day in San Francisco, so we decided to get out and see some of the city. We took a bus to North Beach and had lunch at Piazza Pellegrini, then walked up Filbert Street to Coit Tower (that link is to Wikipedia—it appears that someone neglected to renew registration on coittower.org, and it’s been squatted).

We took the elevator to the top of the tower, but for my money the real draw of the tower is not the view (though on a day like this, it is impressive) but rather the murals in the lobby, which are (so far) free to view. The murals were painted in 1933-1934 as part of a Public Works employment program for artists, and they fascinate me, they reveal so much about the times and about the artists themselves. Since there is no official Coit Tower site, the actuals on the artists and the murals are hard to come by, but I did find this site which at least has each of the murals and the artist who painted it, and Flickr search for coittower mural has a lot of good shots. And this piece by Marc Norton briefly outlines some of the murals’ history.

After that, we walked down the Filbert Steps—where we had our first sighting of the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill—and then home, stopping for ice cream on the way. By the time we got home I felt sun-baked, but it was a lovely afternoon.

I just had this Jay Ryan print framed, and I cannot tell you how oddly happy it makes me to look at it. Every time I walk into the living room I feel the urge to say (loudly), “Dog in Socks!”

Edmond probably hopes I get over that soon.

(If you live in San Francisco, we have had all our framing—seven or eight pieces—done by City Frame on 3rd near Bryant, and recommend them.)

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: I love Cricket Press. They have a bunch of new stuff up on Etsy.

My latest coveted items are the Bandits stationery set (get the reference? Jane, you should), and the Vintage Dresses postcards, which are all gone (sniff).

I framed some of the cards from their Robot Series (one and two) card sets as a triptych in the hallway just outside our bedroom, and it’s a very cheerful thing to walk out to first thing in the morning.

My younger sister Mags, whose paintings and tattoo designs are up on her site Mentor’s Waiting Room Designs, gave Edmond and I a beautiful, stylized koi fish painting for our collective 40th birthdays. She delivered it when she visited in June, and has finally put it up on her site.

Cricket Press in Lexington, Kentucky, do silk-screened band posters, art prints, cards and a bunch of other delicious stuff. I’m in love with their Robots card set and posterand the fact that they always throw in a little something extra in your order.

I’ve been crazy for Chicago artist Jay Ryan’s silk-screened gig posters since 2001, when he was introduced to me by some friends there. I’ve acquired a few of his prints since then, but we don’t have enough wall space to show them all off. So I was all over his new book, 100 Posters, 134 Squirrels, which showcases a decade’s worth of his work. Ryan has created gig posters for a number of bands, including Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, Shellac, Neko Case, The Decemberists, Iron and Wine, Interpol, and of course his own band, Dianogah, and last year he did the cover and other artwork for Michael Chabon’s book The Final Solution. It’s great to have access to all these works in one place, especially since some of the posters are not available any more.