This is a brief sample of some of the layouts for the new Titeflex catalog. It was developed in an ongoing effort to bring the Titeflex brand to the level of sophistication that is equal to their product offerings and engineering capabilities.

Titeflex Aerospace’s proven reputation and successful track record of innovation and quality can be traced to the earliest days of the space age, with over 90 years experience in fluid transfer technology. Titeflex was the first to produce extruded PTFE hose in 1955 and began producing convoluted PTFE hose in 1965. Titeflex Aerospace’s heritage of rigid tube bending and coiling began in 1913 as Joseph A. Lewis & Company, Inc. and has evolved in all aspects of precision bending and tube fabrication to become the world leader in aerospace rigid tubes.

Titeflex Aerospace provides customers with complete fluid transfer solutions in flexible, rigid, or flex-rigid hybrid assemblies. Titeflex leads the world in steel braided and para-aramid flexible hose, in addition to producing complex rigid assemblies in various metals. Titeflex assemblies support commercial aircraft, military and space applications, air and land based turbines, fuel, hydraulics, lubrication, gases, and oxygen.

The Titeflex team provides innovative, advanced technology solutions for our global customers, and complies with the most stringent quality standards.

QuaBoing Resilient Rubber Surfacing meets or exceeds these important industry and government standards:

Tiles: ASTM F1292-04 (Impact test)
Loose Surfacing: exceeds ASTM F1292-04 (test for maximum fall height)
Loose Surfacing: meets ASTM F963-03, paragraph 4.3.5 (ban on lead and heavy metals)

This is a spec poster series I developed for the 2010 New York Comic Con. The layouts feature three of Marvel Comics flagship characters positioned with choice images of New York City. The heros appear larger than life juxtaposed against one of the most famous cities in the world. The designs are accented with video gaming text, reminding the viewer that the convention is not only about comic books, but also has a strong electronic entertainment and pop-culture presence. The weathered technique of the posters was inspired by a recent visit to Manhattan and seeing the oversized bills posted on plywood construction barriers throughout the city.

Software: Adobe PhotoShop

This poster was designed for the upcoming Tegan and Sara show at the Orpheum in Boston. The concept for the piece was developed in support of their new album “Sainthood”. The two stars are juxtaposed in vector format against a photo of St. Catherine that I took back in 2005. The cosmic color scheme skews feminine, but married with the distressed tone of the poster, the piece remains gender-neutral. Heavy doses of Adobe PhotoShop were enhanced with a light sprinkle of Adobe Illustrator to create the poster. The hero font used is Telegraphico and the location was set in Mason.

Folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara first burst onto the Canadian music scene in 1998, when they earned the highest score in history at Calgary’s “Garage Warz” competition; their quick rise didn’t stop, for their melodic acoustics and charming stage personas led to a slew of dates with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair that same year and a record deal with Neil Young’s Vapor Records in April 2000. Natives of Calgary, these twin sisters transpired their music interests from the likings of their parents. Tegan and Sara began playing piano at age eight, and in their teens they were skanking around in their own punk bands. This Business of Art, which was produced by singer/songwriter Hawksley Workman, marked their debut in mid-2000, and a summer tour with Neil Young and the Pretenders followed in July. Two years later, Tegan and Sara released If It Was You, and So Jealous hit shelves in 2004. In 2007, Tegan sang backup on a song on new Sire labelmate Against Me!’s album New Wave, and the twins, who had by then moved far from the singer/songwriter mold and were more interested in exploring pop, punk, and indie rock, came out with the Christopher Walla (of Death Cab)-produced The Con. Working with Walla went well and the duo utilized his production skills on their next album as well. Sainthood was released in October of 2009. -MacKenzie Wilson www.allmusic.com

All too often, I’ve found myself completely uninterested in every song in my iTunes library (all 15.75 days worth). It’s not that I no longer like any of the music I’ve collected since the 5th grade, but you can only feed your ears a selective diet for so long. Sure, I have my usual suspects list of favorites, but today I was completely frustrated as I furiously scrolled through my digital library. That was all remedied when I thumbed to the 1993 Grant Lee Buffalo release: Fuzzy.

Grant Lee Buffalo, headed by singer/songwriter Grant Lee Phillips, was a California alt-rock trio that was blessed with critical accolades and had a few modest modern rock radio hits in the mid 90′s. Grant Lee Buffalo never broke into the true mainstream despite a successful stint opening for R.E.M. in 1995 and the band suffered a quiet end in 1999.

My chance encounter with Fuzzy first happened in 1993 while working as a dj for WXPL 91.3 fm Fitchburg State College radio in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. I spun the title track and was immediately stunned. The disc was randomly packed into a giant wooden bin tagged “New Music”. We were asked by station management and the XPL Constitution to play at least 3 tracks from this bin per hour. Playing songs from the new music bin was tedious. It’s not always easy to find brilliant new artists, especially while having to weed through countless ne’er-do-well rock and hip-hop acts from the early 90′s. Discovering and analyzing your personal tastes and savoring your sonic encounters becomes more about partnership of purpose with the artists rather than just playing records. My contempt for the bin and the process it represented ended when Fuzzy sunk its hooks deep inside my spirit.

Fuzzy plays like the soundtrack to a smoky, sepia-toned, grit-filled, dark cornered alehouse of which Grant Lee Buffalo is the house band. Gangsters, voodoo, failure, lost love and sweet affectionate hauntings serve as the lyrical skeleton to this acoustic powered jingle-jangle gem. Stinging hollow-body solos rip in appropriate time to add the right amount of raw color. A sparse ragtime piano stuffs the gaps and breathes life into this alt-rock prize. The near 50 minute narrative of raw beauty and honest pain is well-crafted and doesn’t suffer from any filler tracks.

I have carried and cherished this album for sixteen years now and I highly recommend you give it a listen. Fuzzy will forever be included on the soundtrack of my life. A beautiful reminder of great times in my personal development colored with stunning melodies and contemplative poetry discovered half a lifetime ago.

October 2009

Kyle Busch had, without a doubt, one of the best seasons in the history of NASCAR. His combined stats for the top three series in NASCAR racing for 2008 are mindblowing. “Rowdy” had 21 wins, 45 top 5′s, 57 top 10′s and led a staggering 4,362 laps. He also gave Toyota their first win in Sprint Cup history. What’s even more unbelievable is that the junior Busch brother barely finished the season in the top 10 in points for the Sprint Cup Championship.

Kyle Busch entered the playoffs 30 points ahead of Carl Edwards and left New Hampshire 74 points behind. A broken suspension piece early in the race put Busch 12 laps down and was a harbinger of things to come. The seemingly unbeatable Busch from earlier in the year was no where to be found; his car suffered catastrophic engine failure after 172 laps at Dover and finished 43rd. Kansas was no picnic either. The #18 M&M’s boys couldn’t get their JGR Toyota hooked-up and Busch finished a disappointing 28th. The one no one could catch was now mired in last place in the Chase after 3 races and was in a fight just to make the stage at the awards banquet.

Busch gutted out 4 top 10′s later in the Chase, but he never truly contended for a win in any of the races. His amazing season ended with a sputtering 19th place finish at Homestead; having to stop for fuel with under 5 laps to go. He did manage to finish 2 points ahead of Matt Kenseth in the final championship standings.

Did the rigors of racing in 84 NASCAR events between Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Trucks take its toll? Did Busch’s team peak too early or did other teams just get better? Was Kyle a victim of bad luck or just bad timing? No single answer is good enough to explain the team’s failure to capture the biggest prize in American motorsports. What race fans and NASCAR competitors do know is that Kyle is only 23 years old and he is a true wheelman. Kyle Busch has many years of racecar domination in front of him. He has the “checkers or wreckers” attitude for every race he is in. You build him something with 4 wheels and he’ll get you the best finish that machine was capable of (and often two spots more). A future champion? You bet. The question is not if, but how many.

November 2008