Chris Tarry - Always Fresh

Our favorite Canadian bassist and all-around creative force, Chris Tarry, is at it again - we just pushed the latest website update live and you should go there right now to check out a LIMITED TIME OFFER to name your price for downloads!:

Still here?

Let's continue this conversation over at Chris' site - where you can soak in the new layout and get all the news and features you can handle in one big Tarry-sized gulp.

GO!

christarry.com

Guest Blogger Concert Report: Big Day Out, Australia

You say your 25 minute drive to work this morning took an hour and forty-five minutes because it was snowing?

Then you might be slightly jealous to hear it's summer in Australia.

And slightly more jealous to hear the Big Day Out music festival in Sydney rocked and you missed it.

But all is not lost.

Artgig has a team on the ground down under and our guest blogger, Hallie Bruce, has filed a report from the trenches to satisfy your craving for vicarious sensory overload.


Big Day Out - January 23rd 2010

The heat didn’t stop the masses from storming the second day of Sydney’s Big Day Out music festival and it certainly didn’t stop the bands from tearing the music scene up.
The lineup was crazy. The performances were totally awesome. The crowds were crushing. (Thankfully the heat broke halfway through the afternoon with a downpour that drenched Olympic Park.)

Karnivool, Aussie progressive rock band, belted out smooth lyrics to deep alternative guitar riffs, Hilltop Hoods rapped out their famous harmonic hip hop, and Rise Against rocked out to some bone-shaking punk rock tunes. Even Lily Allen, not my favorite, sounded great, borrowing fellow Brit Dizzee Rascall, another Big Day Out-goer, for a song or two.



An attraction frequented by my brother was the Silent Disco, which provided headphones and different music to each participant who entered an interesting throng, each dancing to a different set of tunes.

The Mars Volta for sure was a huge lure for Big Day Out crowds, and the pit was filled to the brim as they entered on stage and began their famous improvisational set, delivering an amazing hour-long show. Cedric writhed like nothing else on stage, and the improv was completely on par with--if not better than--the original tracks. It was not a gig to miss.


But by far the set that took the cake was Muse, who entered playing “Uprising”, their newest and greatest single, projected up on three split screens set up alongside the stage and accompanied by a fierce laser lights show. Although the arena was enormous and the acoustics suffered greatly for it, the power of their sound was unmistakable. Performing hits like “Time Is Running Out”, “Hysteria”, and “Starlight”, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. But who wouldn’t be, when Matthew Bellamy and crew are standing right in front of you, serving up some of their best music? They were joined by Jet’s Nic Cester for a cover of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” in homage to Australia’s hosting of the 100th Big Day Out since Nirvana first played in 1992.

The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show, the colors and thundering explosions bringing to an end a most fantastic Big Day Out indeed.

Twenty-Ten: Welcome to the Future!

I hope in all of your New Years celebrations you didn't take a big swig from a beer only to find it was someone's ashtray because that's just disgusting.

But in all likelihood, you didn't, because people don't smoke in the future.

How else do I know 2010 is officially the future?

My dad just got a shiny, new Ford with a built-in satellite radio and he's not afraid to use it.

He even called me from his cell phone yesterday to tell me he was listening to an English soccer match in the car.

Later that night, he emailed me to tell me "The Hurt Locker" is playing at Jacob Burns.

It wasn't too long ago that I got him a shiny new portable satellite radio–minus the car.

The look on his face as I extracted the tangle of radio, antenna, wires, and plug from the box said it all–I may as well have pulled a little green martian out because it was entirely alien to him and he surely wasn't about to touch it.

He was positioned squarely at the perimeter of the technology boom, sensing the shockwaves emanating from the youthful, geeky core, but still peering in safely from the outside.

No more.

My five-year-old nephew has the Disney website bookmarked on the family computer.

My four-year-old son beats my ass in Wii Tennis.

Technology is woven into the very fabric of our daily lives.

3D TV, your car reading your tweets to you on the morning drive, flexible paper-thin e-readers–oh my!

Seamless integration.

Now where's my Apple Tablet?

Looking forward to twenty-ten.

Lake Trout Concert Report

The concert report has been postponed due to weather.

Here's a picture instead.

Happy Holidays - From Artgig Studio

Yet another fun holiday game to keep you from doing whatever it is you should be doing right now.

Play Now!
(Hint - you can duck)

Hopefully, I'll actually get to the Lake Trout concert report sometime before next year.

Here's a bite to hold you over - LAKE TROUT KICKED ASS.

Ghosts of Artgig's Christmas Past...

Time to dust off the old blog and give something back to you, our friends and clients, for the holidays are upon us.

How do I know?

Well, it's bitter cold and we've been hard at work on our 2009 Christmas card.

We're just about ready to rip of the wrappers in a frenzy of anticipation and let you have some fun with it.

But you'll have to wait (yes, you too, Mr. Tarry) because it must be properly tested by our team of Australian elves and graded for interactive goodness before it can be yours.

In the meanwhile, let's take a trip back...to the gifts we've left in Christmas past...

Who can forget this classic - a typical day at Artgig and yes, the kid can act:

Holiday Card 2005

And this heartfelt, bundle of warm wishes and fun:

Holiday Card 2007

And this - when in doubt, blow something up:

Holiday Card 2008

I try to forget the handwritten holiday cards of 2006 - still getting over the cramps.

Enjoy.

Artgig Launches 6 Flags "Wild About Reading" Website

When our client, Weekly Reader, showed the Wild About Reading website to their client, Six Flags, the first comment we got back was “The site looks amazing.”

“Amazing” – that’s pretty good.

The companion website to the Six Flags Read to Succeed program (also produced by Artgig), Wild About Reading is designed to get kids excited about reading and writing while providing valuable resources to teachers and parents.

We were paired with Illustrator Sam Ward (samwardart.com) for this project and his style and natural artistic pop is really a perfect fit for the “wild” jungle theme. Add a dash (okay, more than a dash) of Artgig animation and you’ve got a website that practically leaps off the screen.

Lis took the reigns as the lead designer and animator for this project and she came up with the dynamic site navigation – why not make it like a ride?

So we did.

As the user navigates, they “ride” the vertically constructed Flash site up and down.

So the site looks cool, it’s got an inventive navigation and valuable resources. What else, you say?

The website focal point is the Theater in the Wild, featuring three original animated shorts–each in a different style:

Captain Tallnuff – Little Jenny wants to ride the Log Flume at the theme park but she’s not tall enough – as seen through the eyes of the height inspector, a wooden Pirate named Captain Tallnuff.

Incredible Critters – A game show in search of the most amazing animals.

Out of the Box – Cleaning the garage turns into a mysterious adventure for 12-year-old Max.

Artgig did everything for the shorts - complete design, animation and sound production.

The animations are designed to get kids thinking about writing and prompt them to write more about the stories.

Go ahead–check it out. Be wild:

Wild About Reading