#236: Letterbox

DUMBO, Brookyn

#237: D.I.Y.

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

Quirky, homegrown D.I.Y. numbers just like grandma used to make.

#238: Classic Cobalt

Turtle Bay, NYC

#239: Framed

Turtle Bay, NYC

#240: Brooklyn Gothic

#241: A Tall Order

East Village, NYC

Stealth and discretion are key when hunting numbers in the wild. I enjoy operating like a secret agent, taking pictures out of my flower-lapel-camera (note: this does not actually exist) while James Bond music plays in my head. But try as I might to maintain unflappability at all times, sometimes I just can't help it. I will see a piece of typography like this #241 and actually do the simultaneous "YESSS!" and fist pump right there in the street. A good dose of smelling-salts is usually enough to make me come to my senses. But seriously, though. Look at these numbers.

#242: Something Rotting in the State of Brooklyn

Gowanus, Brooklyn

#243: Stained Glass

North Circular Road, Dublin

#244: Saltlands Sessions

Saltlands Studio, DUMBO, Brooklyn

Down in the mines where the sun doesn't shine . . . It's eleven hours into a recording session with Balthrop, Alabama deep down in a DUMBO basement bunker and while we haven't seen the sun all day, here in Saltlands it's warm and cozy. Pizza boxes, wine glasses, Hammond organs, and shouts and hollers. The energy here is high and the music so good it makes me long for superlatives not even invented yet. I asked Michael Arthur, our resident artist, to sketch today's number. His creations are fluid and magical and generally I'm too busy stomping on stage squeezing my squeezebox to be able to see the drawings projected on stage behind us, so I consider this a gift.

You can check out more of Michael's drawings at his blog, Just Drawn That Way, a trove of drawings and reflections both in New York and on the road. His work is improvisational and a direct response to the live music and performances he witnesses. In a couple months, I'll have the soundtrack to this number, but for now -- enjoy. Time to break out the bourbon. See you on the other side.

#245: Sunny Day Real Estate

South Street Seaport, NYC

The anthropomorphizing of celestial objects creeps me out. Suns and moons should not have faces, full stop.