• Why can't art be warm? #

• Hey Albanites! "Winter Wonderlark" art + craft show is in effect at the Trinity Church! #
• Awesome show tonight in pittsfield – thanks for coming and to all the new peeps i met!! #
• is playing in Pittsfield MA at Rebel Sound Records tonight…. but first, turning John Brodeur into a cartoon… more on that later! #

• is at the Troy Victorian Stroll w/ rwm designs! Forgot to dress up, unless I'm going for a victorian gentleman who slept on a floor las … #
• Recording today! Woo hoo! Hey, and if anybody's doing some "Cyber Monday" Christmas shopping, kids tees are 15% off at http://www.runwemust.com! #
• Cyber Sales!

  It's "Cyber Monday." The internet retail equivalent of "Black Friday." Isn't the word "cyber"… http://bit.ly/7Mhj12 #

• Took out his disposable contact lenses last night not realizing he left both his glasses and remaining contacts in albany! Hm…. Now what? #
• Just found out that this old organ in the studio i'm renting still works…. So cool! #

• Hey Albany NY! Harvest Fest at Washington Park today from 2 – 6 around the boat house! I'm near the pond. Come visit! #
• Hey friends, I made a new website/blog! It's at http://www.benkn.net…. if you like, please subscribe!! (under "subscribe" in white column) #
• My bad – show tonight is closer to 9:00 – wheaton college lyon's den #
• Hey Massachusetts! I'm playing at the Lyon's Den at Wheaton College tonight with Amanda Rogers and Mike Matta – 7:00pm!! #

• is spellbound on top of mt eisenhower! #

• Found a rad jacket at the thrift store… very speed-racer #
• is lovin' the new magazines record! http://twitter.com/themagazines #
• Hey guys, a video I made for Ludo's song "Save Our City" it's up online if you wanna check it out! http://www.vimeo.com/6933144 #

Hello September,

It’s ok, I think I can hang with Fall. It’s already colder though, like, 50 degrees this morning…. that happened fast!! *sigh* But, lo, soon the Fall colors will be upon us and many fantastic festivals, as well. Take at look at the events page when you get a sec and see if there’s one near you! Some friends are helping me handle multiple fests on the same days so don’t be confused if you see more than one on a particular weekend…. we got it covered.

For NY Capital District folk, there’s something very fantastic in the works happening in Clifton Park. For those who haven’t heard, there’s a new artist coop in town called Artique. Spearheaded by two art-appreciator / entrepreneurs, Angela Ledtke and Elizabeth King, they have outfitted a nice retail space for a number of hand-picked artisans to display and sell their work in exchange for rent and a few hours a month. I’m really excited for the whole operation and happy to be included! The soft opening has already taken place (though I’m not quite moved in yet) and a ribbon-cutting ceremony is to commence next week. Just visit the aforementioned link for more info!

Just got back from the 50th anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival in RI. Wow, what a weekend! I had a choice booth for Run, We Must right near the main stage where I was able enjoy sets by some personal favs, namely: the Fleet Foxes, Neko Case, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, and Pete and Tao Seeger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get away to catch Deer Tick and Iron and Wine on the other stage, but at the end of both nights, everyone got up and jammed with Pete Seger – it was quite moving, actually!

And so, having prepared some newness for the fest, I hath returned with the newness for the online masses – here’s what’s new!

New Tee: called “Happy Sun Power,” this new design is printed on a “Pomegranate” organic cotton American Apparel tee and portrays rays of sun entering a solar panel which becomes green power for a happy home. This was a big hit in Newport so I decided to put it up on the online store, as well. Currently, this design is only available in Toddler and Classic Girl, but there’s a Dijon colored Standard version possibly in the works, too. I must say, it’s pretty adorable on little ones.

Right, sospeaking of sizes, this leads me to topic B, in which I’m pleased to announce that a few of the designs are now available in Toddler sizes. This request has been made for quite a while, so after polling customers, I’m trying out a couple designs in kids sizes, those being: “I *Heart* Windmills,” “Late Summer,” and “Happy Sun Power” available in sizes 2, 4, and 6. For ages 6 and up, the Classic Girls tees actually run so small that they fit most kids pretty well. (I actually wear a girls large. I have the torso of a 12 year-old).

Lastly, the new poster design is something I’ve been sketching and working up since the inauguration. It’s called, “Strength in Diversity,” and portrays an abstraction of the American flag. In the stars, the design features 50 cartoon faces of folks from all different ages and background (you might recognize the guy in number 44). In the stripes I’ve drawn landscapes from 13 different regions of the country ranging from the Alaskan northern lights, to the Utah desert, to the Adirondack mountains in NY. For the paper medium, I discovered a company called Mr. French and ordered a batch of “Speckletone” paper – a thick, archival quality recycled blend of different papers with little chunks in it. It is the sweetness.  Here’s a video about the new poster:

One last note: for the aforementioned Newport Folk Fest, I also printed up a short second edition of the popular We Are Giants Now poster/music triptych that I made in 2007/2008. I used some different colors to make the design pop a bit more, and this time around the music for the posters is fully mastered.

Thanks to all the wonderful people I met in Newport for stopping by to say hey, as well as new and old friends from Solar Fest in July – you guys were really great to talk to you and thank you for your purchases!

Rock,
-Ben KN

Tulip Fest was a smash! For those out of town, this is a festival near where I live in Albany, NY. It’s a really nice event featuring tulips (as one would imagine), plus rock music, jazz, and lots of artists and vendors. A couple pals of mine performed, too – Maggie Mayday and Railbird – both wonderful.

So, I may have mentioned to some folks that I purchase 100 kWh of wind power for every item sold through a new partnership with BeGreen (www.begreennow.com). This not only creates more demand for renewable energy, but that 100kWh also helps balance out the carbon footprint of shipping each order. This has the same environmental benefit as not driving 148 miles or recycling 327 aluminum cans! From Tulip Fest alone, we offset about 13,320 miles of fossil fuel transportation – nice!!!

The only downside of the fest was when I had to carry a huge table for about a mile, which made me aware of some declining musculature on my end due to a winter of perpetual computer-activity.

All in all, the first outdoor fest of 2009 was amazing. Thanks to everyone who visited and/or made a purchase! I definitely made some new pals.

Take care!
-Ben