From the Phone - Vol. 9

It's been a few years since I dumped some of the photos from my phone onto this here blog. And honestly, a hell of a lot has happened since my last FtP post in 2018. A trip to Peru for the Dakar Rally, crossing Mongolia in a Land Cruiser (again), late nights in La Paz with the Spruce Bruce, Crispy Boyz with my mom, giant fighting cocks in the Philippines, Moto Guzzis and Russian monuments, scramblers in Portugal, Team No Alto and some Old School MTG, among many other things. The photos aren't in any particular order, and most of them won't mean anything to you without some kind of context. But who gives a goddamn. It's just a little peek behind the curtain, a glimpse into the past, moments captured and typically forgotten on my phone. So, behold!... Shitty cell phone photos, Vol. 9!

South, Before They Shut Us Down (Again)

It's important to have an escape plan, or at least somewhere you can wander to when the shit goes sour. I typically head south, over the border and into Baja. It has worked for me once before, and continues to prove itself a viable option. And so with the left coast of our country closing its doors yet again, suggesting its citizens rat out their neighbors for having Thanksgiving feasts, but also encouraging them to hit the Black Friday sales, I felt like it was time to point my front wheel south and see what happens. Back to Baja, to celebrate long dirt roads, empty beaches, gas station empanadas, getting lost and not giving a shit.

Young Man

Been on this shit lately...

Fay Jones

Fay Jones is a fine art painter from Seattle, WA, who was trained at the Rhode Island School of Design, and whose work is exhibited in numerous locations around the Pacific Northwest, including a mural at Westlake Station and a painting in Seattle's opera house, McCaw Hall. She also just so happens to be Richard Garfield's aunt... Back in 1993, while her nephew was finishing his doctorate in combinatorial mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, he was also developing a new strategy game called Magic: The Gathering. As his game evolved from simple playtest cards to full-color cardboard, Garfield commissioned his aunt to create a piece of art for a card called Stasis. It was the only artwork that Richard Garfield would commission for the game he'd created, and the only piece that Jones would ever do. For many, it represents a simpler time in the game's history. Jones' work is unlike anything else used in the early iteration of the game. It feels inspired by Gauguin or perhaps Picasso, and yet uniquely her own. This short documentary (featured below) highlights her career and the body of work she's created. You can also see more of her painting here.

Thirty Five Millimeter | The Quest for Urza's Chalice

As the new year dawned, an eclectic assortment of men, women and goats gathered in the perennial woods of a coastal state to cast old spells, tap kegs, play the corn tossing game, eat mind altering fungi and pretend that they were wizards and shit. Days turned to nights at this camp of casting spells, and the quest eventually ended with a Swede and a guy named Paul playing for the coveted cup. It was a wild fucking weekend, for sure. One that I will remember for the rest of my life. Fortunately, I have these 35mm photographs to remind me of simpler times with better people. 

Ennio Morricone

I kiss at last the beloved ground of my land,
That I left one day with my hard heart full of pain.

Helen Folasade Adu

He takes, but surely she can't give what I'm feeling now
She takes, but surely she doesn't know how

JWCOFFEY.COM

I finally put together a small portfolio of the photo and video work that I do. It's mostly motorcycle travel and motorsports, but there's also some cowboy shit and the occasional hot dog, too. Here's the link.

Prior to the Apocalypse - LA to Detroit in a Prius

A few weeks prior to the apocalypse, four friends and a dog drove a Toyota Prius from Los Angeles to Detroit. They stopped for food, for fuel, for wi-fi, and to find old cards. Along the way they ogled Art Deco architecture in Oklahoma, drank tropical things in the Windy City, smoked cigars in a secret bunker in rural Michigan, and then finally delivered their friend to his wife and their newborn baby somewhere outside of the Motor City. Here are a few of the photos that one of them took along the way. A visual smattering of the United States, just days before a global pandemic.

Hell & Back

What I've been listening to lately...

Thirty Five Millimeter | The Battle of the Alamo

Way down in Old South Texas, you just might find yourself a man...

Scenes from the 'Battle of the Alamo' in San Antonio, TX. Shot with an Olympus Epic Zoom 80.

Putin

I just drove a Toyota Prius from LA to Detroit.

Met this lil' lady along the way.

So I sent the photo to my man, Tim...

"Looks like Putin in a dress throwing up gang signs."