Custom WordPress Theme Design

Alan Gutierrez is a long term client and I have done many projects with him. Here is what he has to say about working with JTkconsulting:

James Kendall is fast and efficent. He is fluent in HTML and CSS. He knows how to develop standards based web sites that look good on any browser. His understanding of standards and usability give his designs a ring of quality that the customer can percieve, even if they don’t know about standards, they know that their site looks and feels very professional, and his knowledge of standards means that his designs create no nasty suprises.

He is a tremendous resource. He understands PHP and WordPress, and is intelligent about creating templates that are easy to adapt and extend.

Working with James is easy. He communicates well, responds to requests immediately, and never fails to create a design that the customer is eager to adopt.

Although I make my living now by doing graphic design, WordPress themes, and other webstuff. One day I hope to do production video for a steady paycheck. To that end I have launched a website - and uploaded some videos of my creation to YouTube.

This video I made by cutting up the public domain classic horror film Night of the Living Dead directed by George A. Romero and produced: by Karl Hardman and Russell Streiner.

If you are interested in my doing some video work for you, bounce on over to my “busines site” and let us know how we can help.

• Tom Waits - Downtown Train
  One of the more accessible Waits songs that is contrasted brilliantly with the high gloss version of Rod Stewart’s cover. While this only gives one a glimpse of the brilliance of Wait’s songwriting it wins This Damn Blogs best video of the eighties award.
• Lou Reed - Dirty Boulevard
  So what’s a Seventies rock icon doing at the end of the eighties? He’s writing and singing about the Dirty Boulevard. While this is far from Reed’s best it is a perfect juxtaposition to mainstream music videos that surrounded it back when you could actually watch music videos on T.V.
• The Godfathers - Birth School Work Death
  This video is a pre-curser to all of the mid 2000 power pop that clogs Fuse and the like. While this is a really good song and has been a staple of my mix tapes for years, it is this high on the list for what it portends.
• Guns N Roses - Welcome To The Jungle
  Come on, can you talk about 80’s music videos with this? And for all that has happened since GnR was the biggest, baddest band in the world ’round about this time.
• Faith No More - We Care A Lot
  They do, they really do.
• Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
  I think of this song when I am trying not to laugh.
• Concrete Blonde - Joey
  I just stand by and watch you fight your secret war. Although I used to wonder why I used to cry till I was dry.
• Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
  Okay, maybe this video is not eighties, but the song is….
• The Clash - London Calling
  If you don’t know why this on this list you might as well stop reading now and click on outta here.
• The Church - Under the Milky Way
  I always thought that this song personified a certain type of music that was made in the eighties, and not in that sad embarrassing way that you are thinking…..
• Janet Jackson - Nasty
  Again, I was thinking that I need a video that represented a certain 80’s sound that has not yet made this list.
• Soft Cell - Tainted Love
  Maybe the most recognizable song of the eighties, and the video is very indicative of what one breed of producers were doing in that decade.
• Smithereens - A Girl like You
  This is a really good song, by a really good band that never really got their due. So I am putting them on this list.
• B-52’s - Own Private Idaho
  Could the B-52’s have flourished in any other time period then the one that they flourished in? Dunno, but how fun is this video?
• Prince - Purple Rain
  Okay, so this is not so much a video as the end of a movie - but this may be THE 80’s moment.
• Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
  I always forget the name of the band who did this song first, but this is the version that everyone remembers anyway…
• Alcatrazz - God Blessed Video
  While this is an excellent example of trying to do too much in a music video in that 80’s way, it is also the first time that most of us were introduced to Steve Vai.
• Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning
  I remember the first time I saw this video in ‘88, I was thinking, now that is different, that is interesting.
• Animotion - Obsession
  While this is not a horrible song, it makes this list as a perfect example of that new wave synth-dance euro-trash crap that filled night tracks back in the early eighties.
• Jeff Beck - Ambitions
  I love this video - Where else can you see Donnie Osmond, Parker Stevenson, Jeff Beck, Graham Bonnet, etc. all in the same place.
• John Cougar Mellencamp - Small Town
  Come on, you know this is a great video. Whatever you think about Mr. Mellencamp the old black n white photos and super 8 video changing along with that back beat make this a winner.
• Elvis Costello - Veronica
  Mr. Costello doing what he does best, telling us a story…
• Eddie Murphy - Party all the Time
  Come on - The Eddie Murphy laugh, Rick James, Bitch, cheese keyboard riffs, and that damn eighties drumbeat…. okay, so it’s not a great song, but it’s funny and oh-so 80’s.
• Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane
  The most beautiful video of the eighties is this cover.
• Sam kinison - Wild Thing
  This thing is a hilarious who’s who of big hair eighties metal combined with the genius of Sam Kinison and Jessica Hahn’s boobies.

Back in the day I drove the Nova 90 miles an hour to Atlanta to catch Tom Petty’s Southern Accents Tour - and not to overstate it - it changed my life. To this day that was one of the best concerts I have ever seen - The Del Fugeos, Georgia Satellites, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers all rocked the roots rock and gave me a different perspective about music.

When Tom did that shaking and screaming thing in the middle of breakdown and the crowd sand along with a song that was well over a decade old at the time it gave me chill bumps, and Petty’s rant about the bikers in the audience before Spike was some of the best on stage banter I ever heard.

Well that was then, this is now, and Mr. Petty is doing it again, but this time The Heartbreakers will be joined by Pearl Jam, some shows with special guest Trey Anastasio, and others with the Allman Brothers Band. Not too bad, huh?

As part of their summer tour, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers will headline the Bonnaroo Festival on Friday, June 16, and the Austin City Limits Festival on Sunday, September 17.

Petty is putting the finishing touches on his third solo album, “Highway Companion,” which is produced by Jeff Lynne with Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, and will be released this summer.

You can listen to the first track from the upcoming album here.

Welcome to cowpunk week at TDB - I would have never guessed that I would be writing about Old 97’s and Willie Nelson in the same week - but - another great new release from Rhino makes it necessary.

Hit by a Train features 18 of the Old 97’s Best Songs From the Band’s First Five Studio Albums, Plus Singles, and Live Tracks released between 1994 and 2001.

Included: “Timebomb,” “Jagged,” “Murder (Or A Heart Attack),” “Rollerskate Skinny,” “Four Leaf Clover” (with former X singer Exene Cervenkova) and “Valentine,” an acoustic track featuring Hammond taking a rare turn on lead vocals.

The Listening Party is Here, I’ll do a review if they’ll send me a copy

Cherry Hill is a rock band from Las Vegas serving up melodies and harmonies with a classic guitar sound. This is a great track download it while you can : The Struggle - Cherry Hill

Although they have a sound in which they have perfected as individuals, they are still able to own characteristics to successful bands such as The Black Crowes, Matchbox 20, and the late, great Blind Melon. It is only a matter of time before Cherry Hill’s ability to create and their long-term dedication catapult their music into the world.

This 3-CD boxed set is the first to spotlight Willie’s historic Atlantic output in its entirety. Disc one presents 1973’s David Briggs/Arif Mardin-produced debut Shotgun Willie, remastered and expanded with 12 bonus tracks. Disc two presents Willie’s first concept album, 1974’s Jerry Wexler-produced Phases And Stages, remastered and expanded with ten bonus tracks. Disc three presents the Wexler-produced in-concert classic Live At The Texas Opry House, expanded with five bonus tracks.

I am not a “Country” Fan by any means, but I like roots music and Willie is one of a kind and this set is from when he began fusing folk and roots-rock with a rebellious “outlaw” country flavor, inventing an authentic, stripped-down sound that remains vastly influential.

If you want to know what I am talking about, check out the listening party.

All of us know Bettie Page; this girl is something else. Those pictures, man they still drive everyone crazy. A movie, “The Notorious Bettie Page,” is coming out in April that be, you know, kinda fun.

Don’t forget to check out the Official Bettie Page site as well as and check out Bettie on Bettie.

Hey now, do you need some external storage?

How about a usb 75 Gigabyte external drive in a nice black case, or maybe a 2.5″ USB 2.0 Aluminum Hard Drive case with 20 Gig drive that is small enough to fit in your shirt pocket that you don’t even need a power source for?

I am auctioning off two nice external storage devices on ebay, bounce on over if you are interested.

So I wanted to do some design this afternoon, but not a website design since that is all I seem to be doing lately - sooooo I whipped a cool ( imho ) new desktop wallpaper and named it Grunge Girl.

Like most things that I do like this I am releasing this under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License.