Ghost Pixel

     As I mentioned previously, the Michal Menert show at the Belly Up in Aspen had a very impressive LED rig. It was ideal for showcasing animated clips, which were manipulated live by Tom Ludlow. Ludlow serves as creative director for a team of designers, who produced the clips. The designers include: Brian Long, Zack Citro, Jason Wyatt, John Camalick, Zack Shammy, and Josh Theil. Each of these gifted artists are part of a designer collective called Ghost Pixel. These guys have given motion graphics a more meaningful and prominent role in the live music scene. The vivid, prismatic, and fast-moving visuals helped transform Menert's music into a full-sensory experience. On a personal level, Ludlow has been a good friend of mine for years. He has partly inspired me to pursue an artistic path. I have seen him work hard to manifest his own success. He, and many of the designers on the Ghost Pixel team, graduated from my school, The Art Institute of Colorado. With forward-thinking and artistically innovative minds, Ghost Pixel is a group to keep an eye on.

Michal Menert

     The last week of November, I went to two Michal Menert shows, camera in hand. The first show was at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver. 

     Michal Menert has easily become one of my favorite musicians. He was born in Poland but began his music career in Fort Collins, CO. He worked side-by-side with Derek Vincent Smith in the production of the debut Pretty Lights album, "Taking Up Your Precious Time", which has been very well received by fans and critics. Menert has since moved on to release a solo album titled "Dreaming of a Bigger Life", which can be downloaded for free. Because of Menert's upbringing and years of experimentation with music, he has a particularly unique sound. It would be a mistake to label Menert as dubstep based solely on his incorporation of low-end sounds. As a genre, dubstep has largely moved to an unemotional clamor of deep bass and teenagers on drugs. Menert successfully rises above the overindulgent genre, by weaving together obscure samples of various music styles from all over the world, giving his sound a more layered and emotive quality. Overall, Menert's original sound sets him apart, and has enabled him to rise quickly in the electronic music ranks.

Mount Sopris and Carbondale

Last weekend, we went to Carbondale. Friday night, we took a bus into Aspen to see Michal Menert at the Belly Up. The music venue was easily one of the nicest I've been to. My jaw about dropped when a girl with an "X" on her hand walked in wearing her finest white fur coat. The stage was equipped with a full length LED screen. My friend Tom, aka VJ Ghost Pixel, was thrilled. He impressed us all with his carefully designed and tactfully orchestrated visuals. However, I will not get too much into this part as I will delve deeper into it later.

   On Saturday, we went for a drive around the area and did some sight seeing. The most dominating feature of the landscape is easily Mount Sopris. It has twin peaks, both with an elevation of 12,965ft and an impressive 6,250ft gain from the valley below. We admired the gargantuan beauty from a hill outside of town. After, we left the expansive valley and drove south along the Crystal River. We stopped in Redstone, a tiny and picturesque mountain town. We continued past Redstone into Marble, which is a particularly interesting town. A great deal of the nation's and world's marble came from this isolated mountain community. It is a strange sight to see large chunks of unfinished marble lying around casually.
   Of course, I should not overlook Carbondale. It was easy to fall in love with this small historic community. Resting in the valley along the Roaring Fork River, the town used to be largely agricultural. Likewise, it has been a large resource for coal. Today, however, it has developed into a tourist's dream. Much less ritzy and well-to-do than neighboring Aspen, the town has its own vibrant music and arts scene and would never disappoint an avid outdoors man or woman. The citizens have over time protested the development of large chain stores, and it is dominated by locally owned businesses. I could easily see myself ending up there.
    Reluctantly, we returned to Denver on Sunday, eagerly planning our next trip back.