The Voice of the Pork Chop

Last week, Pittsburgh's music community learned that Jerry Weber, the beloved owner of Jerry's Records, had died at age 73. Jerry was THE source for vintage vinyl records here for over forty years. 

Over the past week, tributes to, and memories of Jerry flooded local radio, TV, and social media, as well as emails, phone calls and conversations. Instead of a pipe pic, today I'm sharing a photo of my friend, Pittsburgh legend Jerry Weber in his element.

Photo: Philip G. Pavely, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 2012

The word "generous" was almost universally used to describe Jerry. He wasn't in business to make a killing, but to rescue records and get them into the hands of fellow music lovers. Customers (myself included) have fond memories of spending hours shopping in the densely-packed maze of shelves, and approaching the counter with a stack of records to purchase. Jerry would flip through the pile, commenting favorably on some choices, and arrive at a total cost well under the already below-market prices.

If Jerry knew you were interested in a particular record, artist, or genre, he would hold items to offer to you. He regularly gave away miscellaneous things he found among record collections he'd purchased, like posters or photos. I can still hear his greeting whenever I entered the store, calling out, "Wayno-o-o-o! I have some oddball records you might like. Come back here and take a look."

Over the years, I did several designs for t-shirts and signage at Jerry's various locations, including the shirt he's wearing in the photo above. That design was originally created by his longtime employee Jay Malls, and in 2012, I adapted it for an event called Vinyl-Palooza. Here are my earliest t-shirt designs for Jerry's.

In 2013, Jerry and his son Willie came across a pristine copy of a rare 78 by Bogus Ben Covington, "I Heard the Voice of the Pork Chop." Only a few copies were known to exist in the 21st century, and Jerry got word of the discovery to underground cartoonist and fanatical record collector Robert Crumb, who had visited the store in 2004 when he was in town for a museum exhibit. Crumb offered to do a custom drawing of Jerry and Willie, giving the Webers full ownership and reproduction rights to use the art in any way they wanted, in exchange for the Covington record.

I scanned the art for Jerry, and was stunned by the beauty of the original drawing. A priceless record was exchanged for an equally priceless work of art.

Crumb even drew Jerry wearing the shirt Jay and I designed. The Crumb image was itself used on t-shirts and in advertising, as seen in the more recent photo below.

Jerry at Vinyl-Man's Clubhouse (photographer unknown)

Jerry sold his store to employee Chris Grauze in 2017, but his "retirement" was brief. A couple years later, he opened a smaller warehouse space in Pittsburgh's Swissvale neighborhood called Vinyl-Man's Clubhouse. The name was perfect. Jerry made every customer feel like a welcome member of his tribe. He helped generations of people build collections without going broke, and although he and his store were known worldwide, he was a true Pittsburgh treasure. We were fortunate to know this kind, friendly gent.

While drawing the following comics, I no doubt listened to several records that I bought from Jerry.

The only thing missing from Monday's cartoon was a frappuccino.

Pun Day arrived on Tuesday this week. This gag required some extra preparation for print. The main drawing was simple, but it took much longer to design the psychedelic background and to choose colors for it.

I tried to make that background work in the black & white panel, but it turned into a cluttered mess, so I deleted it for this one.

 

In order to show the complete figure in the strip version, I turned it into a vertical layout, with elaborate background in color strip only.

I rarely post all four variants of a daily comic, but these were different enough from each other to share for comparison.

 

I went more than a little meta with Wednesday's reversed vampire gag.

Another victim of parental and societal expectations.

 

Friday's comic pays tribute to the late conceptual artist Christo, and mocks the emerging trend of "immersive" art exhibits. Currently, people are going gaga over a multimedia van Gogh exhibit in several cities. In fact, there are two competing van Gogh "experiences" going on around the country. 

 

I haven't seen it, but I'm not convinced that animated projections and loud music constitute an appropriate appreciation of the artist's work. It feels like a dumbing down of history and culture.

 

Visitors to the Pittsburgh exhibition can even take selfies in front of a giant "Gogh Steelers" helmet. Everybody knows that Vincent loved American football.

Then, just the other day, I spotted this travesty:

I never had a chance to view any of Christo's large scale projects in person, but I saw his Wrapped Snoopy House when I visited the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

 

More photos of the wrapped doghouse, and a Peanuts strip referencing Christo appeared in a post on Jean Schulz's blog after Christo's death in 2020.

 

Research for this panel also led me to a Christo self-portrait, which prompted me to alter my original sketch for the gag.  

The cloth ropes and eyeglasses definitely improved the drawing.

Christo's work wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but what art is? He was pretty much the classic definition of a conceptual artist, with the idea and planning playing the most significant roles in a project.

In my younger days, I was aware of Jenny Holzer's art, which involves words and ideas shown via large-scale installations, billboards, or projections on buildings or other surfaces, through reading about it and seeing photos in magazines. At the time, I thought it was mildly interesting.

 

When some friends and I saw a 1990 Holzer installation at the Guggenheim Museum, her art affected me deeply, and I understood that it had to be experienced in person, on a large scale, as the artist intended. It was designed as an immersive experience, with the viewer entering the art and being surrounded by it. 

My objection to the van Gogh and Kahlo blockbusters is that I feel they don't honor the artists' intent. There was no conception of "multimedia events" in their time. But what do I know, I just draw cartoons.
 

Gags set in tattoo parlors always provide opportunities for placing secret symbols.

That's the latest from Bizarro Studios North. Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to visit Dan Piraro's blog for his thoughts on these comics, plus a fresh Bizarro Sunday page.

Bonus Track

Esquivel and his Orchestra
"Bye Bye Blues"

from Infinity in Sound, Volume 2
RCA Records, 1961

In the late 1980s, while crate-digging at Jerry's Records, this LP cover caught my eye.

 

I'd never heard of this Esquivel fellow before, but I dug his fashion sense. Besides, the price was right.

 

In the old days, Jerry would price records so that, with sales tax, they'd round up to the nearest dollar.

After playing this best-of collection over and over, I asked about other LPs, and, true to form, Jerry would set aside clean copies of every one he found. I eventually acquired all of the albums, and grabbed extra copies to share with friends. I was part of a tape-trading network back then, and made my own Esquivel compilation, which I swapped with other music fanatics.

Paste-up Cassette Cover, 1991 from my archives

When my friend Irwin Chusid, a music historian, DJ, producer, journalist, and preservationist, was working on the release of Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music, the first Esquivel compilation for Bar/None Records, I was among several Esquivellians consulted to make suggestions for the track selection. I'd worked with Irwin in the past on several projects with freeform radio station WFMU.

Irwin put me in touch with Esquivel himself, and we corresponded for a few years. I spoke with him by phone once, and mailed him copies of his records that he no longer had. It was a thrill to speak with the maestro, and to read the letters he sent, composed on a typewriter outfitted with a wild Olde English style typeface.

Esquivel was thrilled to know that people were rediscovering his music decades after he created it, and he gave many interviews to journalists before his death in 2002.

Every day I see this snazzy photo of Esquivel, which hangs near my drawing board.

In 1990, Nonesuch Records released The John Zorn Radio Hour, a promotional CD with the avant-jazz musician playing and commenting on music that he loved, along with many of his own recordings. 

During the program, Zorn said, "Esquivel created a beautiful pop mutation." That's the best description of his music I've encountered.

As I review my introduction and closing to this entry, I'm reminded of the way that varied interests, activities, and people in my life linked up, leading to opportunities and friendships I never could have expected. 

The great power of music is in connecting people. Jerry Weber, through his generous nature and love of music, also brought people together and made their lives richer. Genuine shared experiences are infinitely more valuable and gratifying than crass attempts to turn the paintings of a great artist into an IMAX sports-disco-rave.

Apologies for the extra-long post. I'd better get back to work making more comics!

Take care, stay warm, and listen to some music you love, or something you've never heard before.

See you next week, with a new pipe pic.

 

---

Support Your Local Humorist

 

 

Product Placement

Welcome to the weekly dispatch from Bizarro Studios North. 

Summer is flying by, and it already feels like back-to-school season, since we work on our cartoons at least four weeks in advance of publication. It's almost time to come up with some Halloween gags.

I'd been thinking about the everything bagel as the basis for a gag, and toyed  with variations such as anything bagel, everywhere bagel, etc. The idea of an "everyman" bagel inspired a funny/disturbing image, and presented the opportunity for gentle social commentary.

By the way, "Some Sports Team" shirts are available from Dan Piraro's Bizarro Shop. Dan created the shirt in a previous Bizarro gag, and it seemed to fit today's character perfectly.

They all had motive, and Pinocchio seemed most likely to rat out his co-conspirators. Now, I'm wondering if any other fictional characters had unpleasant encounters with whales. There must be a few more.

Sharp-eyed readers who've spent any time in old New York delis might recognize my little tribute to the classic "Anthora" paper coffee cup.

This is yet another gag that resulted from an idea that initially fizzled out. It began as a discussion between two people at some sort of rally, with one character saying "I feel pretty strongly about the cause. Somewhere between a t-shirt and a tattoo." That dialog had promise, but we couldn't think of anything the character could wear that fell between those two things, so we had a line of text and no illustration. After shelving it for a while, we came up with the marker tattoo, for someone who's squeamish around needles (or permanence).

The word "curated" is in danger of overuse these days. It's a safe bet you probably encountered it recently, when something less lofty (edited, compiled, selected, haphazardly thrown together) would have been just fine. The child in today's cartoon remains unimpressed.

Like it or not, the gig economy is gaining ground over traditional jobs with needless corporate expenses like health benefits for workers. Our enterprising protagonist tried working as an Uber driver for a while, but nobody would get into the vehicle once they recognized him. Arriving in a hearse was probably a poor choice, too.

Saturday's gag is based on an expression my wife and I often use while walking our neighbor's dog. When the pup encounters one of her canine pals, we give them both treats, and have always referred to it as "breaking biscuits."

Hey, when you draw a cartoon every day, you're constantly on the lookout for material.

As I do each week, I heartily recommend that you mosey over to Dan Piraro's blog for his perspective on the week's cartoons, and check out what he's created for the Sunday Bizarro page. 

This Week's Bonus Tracks

Petrochemical Heaven, 2007
Acrylic on Masonite, 12" x 12"
(Private Collection)

Several years ago, I curated cobbled together a virtual mixtape of music from my record collection for Inkstuds, a radio show based in Vancouver, BC.

After the show was broadcast, I posted info and commentary on the records we featured, because info and commentary is what we do here on the ol' WaynoBlog.

Enjoy!

Petrochemical Heaven

Robin McConnell, who's responsible for the Inkstuds radio show on Vancouver's CiTR, recently asked me to assemble a digital mixtape for a special all-music podcast. Most of these are unusual items that I pulled from my little box of choice records (see Figure 1, below) and digitized myself.

Figure 1: The artist's case of "bulletproof" records

Here's a complete track listing with a comment or two about each selection.

1. The Out Crowd :: The Squares
A 1964 novelty on the Roulette label, performed by Kenny Young, who co-wrote the song with his partner Arthur Resnick. Young & Resnick's most famous composition is "Under The Boardwalk," but it can scarcely compete with "The Out Crowd."

2. Phonograph Records :: Scott-Textor Productions
This is one of ten vinyl-praising jingles from "Spark Plugs," a Columbia EP.

3. Sentimental Journey :: Esquivel
John Zorn once described Juan Garcia Esquivel as "a genius arranger who created a beautiful pop mutation." I could not have said it better.

4. Iena Sequence :: Roberto Pregadio
A delightful, breezy tune from the deep well of wonderful Italian soundtrack music.

5. Relax-Ay-Voo :: Dean Martin & Line Renaud
Dino duets with a long-forgotten chanteuse (who also recorded a version of "Louie, Louie!")

6. Take Me Out To The Ball Game :: Stuart McKay and his Woods
A 1955 Time Magazine review described Stuart McKay and his Woods as "A happy nonet, basically a saxophone quartet plus rhythm section, but more likely to be heard playing bassoon, English horn, flute, clarinet, oboe, with a discreet French horn on hand as well. Leader McKay plays nifty bassoon, fast and, when necessary, dirty. The rest of the crew has shrieking fun with sound effects…"

7. Got a Match? :: Frank Gallop
Gallop was a radio and TV personality whose record "The Ballad of Irving" was a favorite of Doctor Demento. I searched for this record for years after hearing a college friend's description of it.

8. On Her Doorstep Last Night :: Roger Ruskin Spear
A selection from Unusual, the second and final solo LP by RRS, of the Bonzo Dog Band.

9. Laisse Tomber Les Filles :: France Gall
France Gall's 1964 single was one of many Serge Gainsbourg tunes recorded by the comely yé-yé singer.

10. Powerhouse :: Ernie Felice Quartet
Raymond Scott's magnum opus, as interpreted by Ernie Felice's accordion-fueled quartet.

11. Witch Doctor :: Werner Hass
Wild German version of Ross ("David Seville") Bagdasarian's hit.

12. The Pirate’s Poop :: Cliff Ferré
Ferré made many naughty "party records," loaded with puns and double-entendres. On this selection he sounds like a scatological Tom Lehrer.

13. What’s A Nice Kid Like You Doing In A Place Like This :: Scatman Crothers
Scatman as the Cheshire Cat, from Hanna-Barbera's 1966 television special, "The New Alice in Wonderland." The cartoon also featured Bill (Jose Jimenez) Dana as the White Knight, Mel Blanc as the March Hare, Daws Butler as the Mad Hatter, and Don Messick as the White Rabbit.

14. A Really Big Show Tonight :: Kirby Stone Four (with “boy singer” Ed Sullivan)
The Museum of Television and Radio in New York has video footage of the KS4 performing this onstage with Ed Sullivan. Big Ed seemed to be quite game for a little self-parody. A classic.

15. Mr. Dante Fontana :: Piero Piccioni (featuring Alberto Sordi)
Piero Piccioni's theme for the 1966 film "Fumo di Londra," directed by and starring Alberto Sordi as an Italian who dreams of living in Swinging London. I never get tired of hearing this.

16. Hey Barmaid! :: Jerry Colonna
A bravura performance by Bob Hope's bug-eyed sidekick, who was often caricatured in Warner Brothers cartoons. WFMU has a nice Colonna tribute page, with additional music to download, on their blog.

17. Hawaiian Ungawa :: Homer Henderson and the Dalworthington Garden Boys
A wonderfully entertaining record from the mysterious artist and musician Jay Cotton. Jay collaborated with Gary Panter on the infamous Pee Dog comic book. "Hawaiian Ungawa" is the B-side of their single "Lee Harvey Was a Friend of Mine."

18. Hooray, They’re Hanging Father :: The Joy Buzzards
The Joy Buzzards are a California band featuring the great cartoonist and musician Robert Armstrong.

19. Bedazzled :: Peter Cook
From the soundtrack record. An amazing performance by Peter Cook.

20. Eefin’ Alvin :: The Chipmunks
David Seville and the boys, cashing in on the eefin' craze.

21. Ballad Of Thunder Road (1968 version) :: Robert Mitchum
The second version of this tune that Mitchum recorded. They're both terrific.

22. That’s How You Got Killed Before :: Dave Bartholomew
One of my favorites by this New Orleans legend. At nearly 90 years old, he's still active, and occasionally sits in on trumpet at Preservation Hall.

23. Diddy Wah Diddy :: Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
One of Beefheart's earlier records, a spiffy cover of the Bo Diddley classic.

24. Washingtron :: Tru Fax and the Insaniacs
According to the band's website, Washingtonian Magazine named TFI "worst band" in 1980 without ever hearing them.

Ten Musical Questions

Here's an email interview from March 2006. A blogger submitted the questions to me, but he abandoned the blog and it was never published. I don't think I'm responsible for his disappearance, but you never know.

---

1. What is the last record/CD that you listened to?
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Japanese version) by The RZA.
This CD is different from the version released here in the US, which included a lot of vocal numbers. This Japanese release is the (mostly) instrumental score, consisting of RZA's sonic collages. It's absolutely hypnotic.




2. What is your earliest music memory?
I was on a local kids' TV show here in Pittsburgh at the age of about eight. I wasn't a regular cast member or anything; local kids could sign up to be guests around their birthday, so it was just a one-shot thing. There were around 6 or 8 kids on the show each day, and the host would interview each child, and ask them to tell a joke and sing a song. I sang the Yogi Bear theme.

A year or two later, my younger brother appeared on the same show. He completely clammed up and just stared at the camera, like one of those kids from "Village of the Damned."


3. What is the first record you bought?
Redirecting my lunch money, I bought a 45, "Gizmo," by Jimmy Heap, from a fifth grade classmate. Years later, I was thrilled when the song turned up on a bootleg CD compilation.


4. You once played in a band that sounded like?
(If you never played in a band, what would a band you play in sound like?)
Two answers:

1: A country/blues version of The Cramps. In the early 1990s I played harmonica and sang in a cartoonist band called the Sin Alley Katz. The band also included JR Williams on vocals and electric ukulele, Mary Fleener on bass and vocals, Mary's husband Paul Therrio on lead guitar, mandolin and sax, and various drummers. We'd regroup every year for the San Diego Comics Convention.

(Sin Alley Katz photos courtesy of Mary Fleener)

b) A bunch of spastic Sun Records rejects: In the early 80s, I played guitar (badly) in a rockabilly-inspired trio called The Rumble Strips, with my friends Jim Spitznagel (bass) and Kathleen "Crash" McCollum (vocals). We couldn't find a drummer, so I also programmed and triggered a dirt-cheap rhythm machine when we played live, and on our only recording, a 6-song vinyl EP.

5. What would one find most surprising about your music collection?
That would depend on who you asked, I suppose. People who know me from my involvement in the world of oddball music might be surprised at the amount of straight-ahead jazz I listen to. It accounts for about a quarter of my collection. I'm a big Frank Sinatra fan too.

6. What is something you like to play at maximum volume?
The Pixies' album Surfer Rosa. It's one of my absolute favorite records of that era, and I'm sure that listening to it in the car will accelerate my eventual hearing loss.

7. The first concert you attended was?
It was either Emerson, Lake & Palmer or Frank Zappa. I can't recall which one was first, but I think I saw to both of these shows when I was in tenth grade.

8. What is your favorite music moment that involved yourself?
Two answers, again:

a) A couple years ago, during the (alcohol-free) intermission of the annual University of Pittsburgh jazz concert, where I volunteer as stage manager, Joe Lovano and I crashed a nearby wedding reception to score some drinks.

b) Learning all of the lyrics to Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business."

9. What is a song or album from an artist or band that you generally don't like but for some reason like this by them?


I absolutely hate the Statler Brothers, and their bland country harmonizing (despite endorsements from Johnny Cash). They sound like a bunch of weenies to me. However, they released a great comedy album called Alive at the Johnny Mack Brown High School under the pseudonym Lester "Roadhog" Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys, which I like a lot. Ostensibly a send-up of inept musicians, this CD (which collects two rare LPs) is infinitely more enjoyable than any of their "legitimate" releases. As comedic country music goes, they're still not in Homer & Jethro's league.

10. What is one record/CD that you think everyone should have in their collection?

Esquivel's Exploring New Sounds in Stereo. This was the album where Juan Garcia Esquivel really nailed his signature arranging style, and it's a joy to experience his playful genius.

His reinventions of familiar tunes ("Third Man Theme," "All of Me," "My Blue Heaven") were as radical as anything happening in any musical genre. It also includes "Whatchamacallit," an Esquivel original that I never get tired of hearing. I'm a big fan of Hoagy Carmichael, so Esquivel's unique take on Hoagy's "Lazy Bones" is yet another reason to find this album, in any format. The mono version of the LP was titled Exploring New Sounds in Hi-Fi. I find the "Hi-Fi" version of the cover art to be more visually pleasing.

I once heard an Esquivel tune on a radio show featuring John Zorn playing music that influenced him, and he described Esquivel's music as "a beautiful pop mutation," that's about the best description I've ever come across.