The Motown Sound organized and incorporated into the Motown Record Corporation 40 years ago exporting the work of incredible artists such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder (check the drum solo) and Michael Jackson. This sound shaped the audible aesthetic for an entire generation and gave the world an intimate look at life in the American City. It was also critical in the racial integration of our American musical culture. It was the first label owned by an African American (Barry Gordy, Jr.) to push African-American …

We as a people are defined by our differences. The more detached and disassociated, the more defined. It seems to be part of our chemical makeup as a species. I often wonder if it a leftover defensive mechanism from our early days. Maybe it helped keep us alive when the shit got hot. Maybe it helped us identify potential threats. Who the fuck knows. Unfortunately, when we lay our vision of the world based on separations we are desperately neglecting our greatest source of progressive strength, our connections.

I know the Dad hustle very intimately. At present I have a day gig, freelance at night, hustle an art career ripe with shows and events but I always block off time that is untouchable to anyone but my little critters. It is critical to secure this into your daily routine.

I have always been Sean but since 2006 I have been, and always will be Daddy. There is nothing in this world that can hold the water that Fatherhood holds for me. It is in its truest form a blessing. But with all things in life, including blessings, there is the cold balance that keeps all happiness and sorrow deeply in check.

Sometimes the best place to hide is in your namesake.

I will be hitting the high seas for the next week and have learned that the internet is difficult to access on international waters. Barring a Titanic style departure, I will be returning to my obsessive posting next week. In the in-between time feel free to loop endlessly reliving the same posts over and over…. and over.

I’ll miss you rascals.

Nothing excites me more than a tight body in tights…. on Wednesday afternoons, shooting webs…. with raging pectorals WAIT!.. WHAT?! Yea, somehow the comic book industry broke major social ground by unintentionally getting all of of us heterosexual males comfortable gazing at men in tights….. shooting webs…with raging pectora…GAH! Anyways, I took note of a few sites that were exploring switching the sexes of our favorite ……. super men.

There have been many sources of inspiration when it comes to determination and steadfast will to carry on. They usually come in the form movie action star, injury plagued athlete and the occasional rise of a troubled youth to a fruitful life of social bliss. I think we can all agree that “overweight movie critic from the 80’s” doesn’t usually come up on our radar for hardcore, tough as nails, ‘never quit’ troopers. Roger Ebert however, the guy won’t stop.
Before the internet and before we were interested in picking up …

I was a latch key kid in East Detroit with no siblings and a wild imagination during the 80’s. There was no such thing as “disposable income” so the luxuries in life came in the form of the occasional 25¢ pack of Garbage Pail Kids. For the unfortunate that may not know what a “GPK” is, allow me the honor of introducing you….
There had been a pop culture boom with the introduction of the Cabbage Patch Kid into the marketplace during the early 80’s. It was the first real “Parents …

I find politics best served as finger food. There are very few of us who would feel capable of fully understanding this kind of meal as a full blown feast. It seems the Republican Party fully understands this philosophy and always seems to be the first ones out of the kitchen with the pigs in their blankets.
During the 2004 election I started using the term “one-step thinkers”. This term applies to the majority of us in one degree or another. It goes like this: If someone is talking to you …

I was an only child until the age of 13. Without any siblings in the house I naturally gravitated to the warm and loving company of He-Man and his selected band of mutated freaks and nefariously furry beefcakes. The line of toys took a unique approach to how a kid would interact with the steroid injected line of action figures. They were overly literal with the naming process and would usually design a textured characteristic that work in sync with the name.For instance:
(NOTE: For some reason all men are required …

The man that made 2001 will always have a place to stay in Philly.
The year was 2001. The place was a railroad apartment in Greenpoint Brooklyn on Manhattan Ave. The feeling was euphoria. I know….euphoria? Really?  Yes. The Sixers had managed to slide their way through each playoff match-up through a collection of nail-biting game 7’s which led to the ultimate David & Goliath match-up vs the “undefeated-in-the-playoffs” Lakers. This journey was witnessed religiously with my people Vic, PT, Pablo and myself.
Game 1 was tough but it was ours. I …

Life goes on.
and on.
………. and on.
This is an artifact that every molecule in this entire universe shares and holds dearly. In our world life is a very tangible and delicate experience. Life is our most treasured posession. It is respected. It is cared for. And most heartbreakingly, it can be taken.
I have tried to live a life ripe with honest interactions. From time to time you bump into another person who shares this perspective. You can see it in the way they listen to a story you tell. You can …

I stumbled across a project that seems to be reserved for the super-nerds….. which I am a card carrying member of. Since I believe that the nerd-torch should be passed down to the next generation, I have indoctrinated my two daughters thoroughly with the first few Star Wars movies. They are big fans now (mwoohahahaha!) Some of the scenes are a little too scary but I am skilled at clicking the remote and skipping to the next scene without being noticed. They became fans enough to (on their own …

I like chocolate. Most people do. We have all heard the kitchy news blips about how chocolate triggers the same sensory markers in the brain as sexual activity. I don’t know about all of that but I know that I like chocolate.
We have a little cookie jar in the office next to mine that we fill up with little mini candy. Mini-Peanut Butter Cups, mini-Rolos, mini-Krackels, mini-Hersheys, mini-Hershey Dark and mini-Mr. Goodbars. I have taken note that these little guys taste notably and consistently better than their larger counterparts. At …

Eminem put this together for his (and my own) beloved hometown. He paid for it to run during the Final 4 on CBS. This will make my Mom cry no doubt about it. It really is well done and I am very very thankful for it. It is so spot and hits me dead center every time. Stay up Detroit.

Eminem – Detroit Final Four Commercial / NEWUploaded by PeteRock. – Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

I had to take a break from the site for a little while. After an enjoyable trip to Florida, we suffered some terrible news. I’m not going to share any details here but I will shake the tree a little and let the apples fall where they may.
When life and death hang in the balance, nothing seems worthy of your attention except grief, anxiety, love and a profound sadness. Every moment is remortgaged and time becomes your most valuable commodity. Everyone processes this kind of stress  differently. Glasses that were …

I was thinking about how pressure has been a running negative presence in my life for quite a while. Applied pressure tends to make things grind and cause a heavy amount of friction. I have seen pressure as a foe that could be defeated with persistence, patience and hard work. It wasn’t until I held a pencil in my hand pulled the graphite across a blank sheet of paper that I realized the positive creativity that pressure and friction can build. I have been drawn to pencils, pens and paper …

Sixers Theme Song
Every season I splurge and sign up for the NBA League-Pass so I can catch some of the Sixer games. Network television rarely picks up and of their games and since the departure of Iverson…..you never see them on regular tv. That being said, I really didnt know what to expect from the Sixers this season. From the start, I was not cool with the Elton Brand pick-up and thought that Mo Cheeks was coaching on borrowed time. My instics were spot on well before the All-Star break. …

Wow. On my drive home from work I was figuring that I would switch back and forth from the Hurricanes/Devils Game 7 match-up and the Game 5 Sixers/Magic game. But as soon as the Canes game started up, I was barely able to get myself to check the score of the Sixers game. That Canes game was as dramatic as a sports match-up can get. The early periods were littered with big goals and giant hits. The third period was a drull of ineffectiveness while the Canes were down 3-2. …

At the start of this year, 2009, I made a commitment to myself that I would run in a dozen races this year. One a month, roughly. I am already 1/4 of the way through them and I figured now would be a good time to compile and chronicle them. So far they have been a collection of 5k’s but I will start to stretch out, throw in some 10k’s and ultimately gear up for a marathon by November. I will be running in the City of Oaks Marathon and …

I know we have all heard about how silly the concept of a “War on Terror” is but I have to vent a little.
First of all, this ridiculous war title really should be renamed what it really is… “The War On People Who Are Violently Angry With Us”. That is what terror is, right? People who are shit-blind angry and repressed and will come up with creatively devastating ways to hurt people and, more importantly, scare the shit out of the rest of us. How on Gods green earth would …

Call me insensitive but I find it very difficult to feel bad for the guy who graced the front page of cnn.com with a parrot on his shoulder. I mean, it really feels like a set up for a hack joke about where he got his financial advice from. Right? Can’t you see the people who are choosing to run this front page headline on a slow news day being like “Yo, put the dude with the parrot on there! Yea, the guy who looks like a doofy- doosh getting …

I haven’t run in about three weeks but I have a big race this coming Saturday and I knew I was running out of time to train proper. I decided to suit up and hit my standard 5k loop. I stepped outside to check the weather and felt a comfy warm breeze that felt like the day was trying to tell me something. I threw on a pair of shorts and a loose running shirt so I didn’t irritate my scabbing tattoo. After grabbing the iPod and double checking …

I was an only child until the age of 13. I was also a latch-key kid so I had a decent amount of alone time on my hands at a young age. I would invent a variety of things to do in order to pass the time. One of these things was a game called “First Person Ever”. This game derived from my young fascination with the sheer volume of people in the world and the volume of ancestors that came before us. I was overwhelmed with the amount of …

Every week provides it’s own challenges. Some challenges are leftovers from weeks prior. Some challenges are fresh out of the oven. The most senior leftover is without a doubt my finances. This is the kind of leftover that sits in that extra large container and takes up most of the fridge. You have to make all the good stuff fit around it somehow and almost daily you open it up and take a good whiff. Stinks. As usual.
Every now and then I feel like I am starting to get an …

As an artist I find myself in a constant need for inspiration. Everyday I have been set with the task of creating something from what would appear to be nothing. The truth is that everything I create has been built on the foundation of everything that I have experienced thus far. This is why I explain to young artists and students that doing strong in math, history and any other elective holds the same weight of importance that figure drawing class does in developing your artistic skills. Really, art is …

Just an observation. I can only assume that press photographers have very little to work with on the Stock Market trade floor so they attempt to capture the mood by way of shooting people touching their face. The more extreme the situation is…. the higher on the head the hands go. It goes like this:
Hints of recession: thoughtful knuckle touch on the chin
Full blown recession: One hand or two covering mouth
Record Stock market plunge: Both hands covering eyes
World Banks collapse in unison: Both hands on top of head/ face grimacing
The …

Lets take a second and remember the aliens at my going away party in Brooklyn way back when.

In 2004 I went into work and began speaking with a fairly conservative coworker. We had political debates regularly and we very rarely saw eye to eye on just about anything. He asked me if I saw that “Obama guy” speak at the convention. I had missed it. He went on and on about how amazing this speaker was and that he was the kind of politician (liberal or not) who he get get into. I immediately found the speech online and was thouroughly impressed. Obamas name and story began …

Ok. I had to take a few minutes and comment on what may very well be the most fucked up CNN headline/photo I’ve seen in a long while. So…. stop me if I’m wrong here but…. There are two red men trying to shoot down a photographer in a helicopter that is claiming that nobody has ever tried to approach these guys. Now this is either a brilliant marketing angle to promote the new Indiana Jones movie or it is the most rediculous shit I ever seen. Regardless, these …

In my quest to cure breast cancer purely by running around like someone is chasing me, I have decided to join the pack and run the 5k Race for the Cure. I have been told that “donations” are actually a more effective way to work towards a cure so I am reaching out. CLICK HERE to check out my fundraising page and if you feel like “YOU HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE!” with breast cancer then donate a few dollars. Let’s do it people!

Last month I decided while under a serious amount of stress and unsteadiness that I would try and pull out my running gear and start training for the NYC marathon. I know this seems like the mark of a crazy person but fuck it. I used to love running…… like 12 years ago. Either way, I have been hard at it. The Nike+ gear and website has been an incredible motivator. If you haven’t seen the site and the gear you have to check it out. It is the most …

State of The Union

Wow. I found a slide when I was going through some boxes. I held it up to the light from the window and nearly fell over. This photo was taken from the rooftop of my apartment at some point between 1998 and 2001. The sun would set on the Jersey side of Manhattan so we would pull folding chairs and beer up to the roof and chil out while the sun would set. The noise from bustling Manhattan Avenue would be the soundtrack. I am so happy to have found …

<br />
<p>Wow. That really happened. A black man named Barack Hussein Obama has just won the 97% white great farming state of Iowa. This is big. Race aside this candidate is the only politician who has gotten me truly inspired and has given me hope. Who knows what will happen but I do know that it feel good to back integrity and to see integrity win out. </p><p align="baseline">I am starting up a new fundraising push that includes giving away prints of my Obama illustration. </p><p><img src="http://www.seankernick.com/myspace/obama_primary.jpg" /></p>

<p align="baseline">I ran across this site late last night. I got hooked and have already built a few of them. I love the concept of having people play a part in the creation of your little art dude. Very very cool.</p><p align="baseline"><a href="http://www.bentheillustrator.com/speakerdog.html" target="_blank" title="Speakerdog.">Speakerdogs.</a></p><p><a href="http://www.bentheillustrator.com/speakerdog.html"><img src="http://www.bentheillustrator.com/media/speakerdog/collection_04.jpg" /></a></p><br />