Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Zine update - Rough mock up of text pages

I decided that today I would put together a mock up of what I have finished for the zine so far. All the text is completely formatted to PDF and ready for print 100%. The ads are nearly finished and I should have those 100% the first week on January. As stated in the past, once all the photos for the year are processed, the final pages will be designed. The photo pages should be ready by the 2nd week of January. Proofreading and final designing can be ready as soon as the 3rd week of January. Here are some photos of my 1st mock up:


This is the cover in all it's glory. For fun, I put Omaha native Fred Astaire on the cover. I think his dancing skills really ad to the design! Be sure to vote for your your favorite local hardcore band to see who makes the actual cover if you haven't.


Here is a photo of some of the text of the zine as it will be printed. As you can see, there will be plenty to read once everything is finished. All the final design elements like page numbers and etc., will be added at the end.


This last photo is showing the exclusive Ghost House interview and an ad I designed for The Antiquarium.


This is the last Crucial Changes post for 2009. For new years eve, everyone should come out to The Hole to see this local hardcore show. Aside from the zine, CC will be doing the 2nd annual year end favorite hardcore releases, and possibly a surprise. Lots more content on the way, see ya next year! Peace.

-Keith

Sunday, December 27, 2009

25,000+ Views!


I was hoping that I would reach 25,000 views before years end. Thanks for supporting Crucial Changes throughout the year, and see everyone at The Hole for an awesome new years eve hardcore show. The zine will be ready soon! Peace.

-Keith

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Chill out! Winter Scene Report


Winter is here, and here in Nebraska we have had accumulative snow three times already. Along with the colder, snowy weather, winter brings us closer towards the holidays and a stressful meltdown of crowded stores, long checkout lines, and everything else that comes with the mass consumer lifestyle. The Crucial Changes HQ is celebrating these festive days by getting the zine ready for the planned January release. Last year, I bought a 3ft tall plastic lighted tree for a couple bucks way late in the season, and it's about as festive as the CCHQ gets, ha. As you may already know, my zine This Is Nebraska Not Anywhere Else is coming along well, and all I need is to shoot and process pics for one more show and final designing will be finished. Once crazy day passes, maybe I can get up some visual updates on my progress.

The final show of the 2009 year is going to be a new years eve show at The Hole and is still in the process of being put together. So far on the bill is Hercules, Cordial Spew, and Rather Unsightly Gentlemen. This should be a pretty fun show, and it's all ages so there is no reason why you can't make it. To date there are a few good shows lined up in January for locals as well as national and regional touring acts. On January 2nd, Crooked Ways, Ready Resist, and Nothing To Nothing + more bands will be playing the Ghost House. Also on the 2nd, Ties, Wearing Thin, Lockjaw + regional bands: Wreak Havoc and Homewrecker will be playing the Hood House in Omaha. Chicago's Harm's Way will be back in Omaha to play The Manor with Worst Of Times from SD, plus Hominoid on January 7th. On January 16th the underrated Techlepathy from Omaha will be playing The Hole with a long list of regional acts. Cruel Hand will be returning to Omaha to play In Commons on January 23rd with BraceWar, Mother Of Mercy, and popular locals Eastern Turkish, and Plight. Check the Nebraska Hardcore Myspace and Blackheart Booking's website to see what other shows will be going on in Nebraska this winter as they are being put together.

Happy Kwanzaa,

-Keith

Friday, December 18, 2009

Another zine update!

OK, so I made a mock PDF and ran some test prints of all the text tonight to see how everything will look on paper. There is going to be plenty to read once the zine is finished! With some minor tweaks, everything should be set up for the photo layouts. Due to getting more familiar with my design software, things have been on a roll the last few days getting a lot of tasks done quickly. This is allowing me to have plenty of time to get the layout looking polished by the end of the month. That's it, peace.

-Keith

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Zine update - Local Spotlights & Local Contributions

Things are rolling pretty quickly at the CCHQ! All the Local Spotlights and Local Contributions are ready to print. It's pretty cool to see that there will also be plenty of content to read to go along with the photos.

As soon as I shoot and process the film of the December shows, the photo layouts will begin.

OK that's it, more updates as they happen.

-Keith

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Zine update - Ads


I have been working pretty hard on the zine design and I have a couple of the ads finished and all the backgrounds on the photo pages is finished as well. I finished the back cover design last week and I'm pretty happy so far how things are looking. Currently I am re-printing all the Local Spotlights, and I should have those finished up in a week. That's it for now, more updates as they happen.

-Keith

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Crucial Changes is one year old today.


December 12th '08 was my introductory post on Crucial Changes. When I made it, I only had a vague idea of what the blog was going to be about and pretty much everything else went with the flow. With 100+ posts under my belt now I feel that I have shaped Crucial Changes into the kind of hardcore blog I would like to read myself as a hardcore fan. It is important to say that Crucial Changes isn't just all about me and my views and tastes. I will always accept contributions of rants, raves, and reviews. If you have something on your mind that you think would benefit Crucial Changes, send it to CrucialChangesHQ@gmail.com Tell me what is important to you.

Also a big "thank you" to all the bands, promoters, show spaces, and diehard underground music supporters for giving me something to blog about for the last year (you know who you are).

Semper Fi

-Keith