"Quality" Signage

Yet another example of the widespread abuse of quotation marks.

Pittsburgh PA, September 26, 2008

Music from "Machine Gun McCain" (Gli Intoccabili)

As I often do while working, I'm listening to some of Ennio Morricone's fantastic soundtrack music.

When the shuffle play feature brought up "The Ballad of Hank McCain," I heard it differently than I have in the past.

The lyrics below are clipped from a fan site, but they look to be fairly accurate.

Here they are, without comment:

---

No one knows better than McCain
Life's a filthy dirty game
Very very hard to win

No one knows better than McCain
How to disregard the pain
Never, never let it in

No one knows better than McCain
That an angry man goes blind
Knocks his head against the wall

No one knows better than McCain
How it hurts a man to fight
That he's human after all

No one knows better than McCain
What a desperate man may do
When it gets too hard to bear

No one knows better than McCain
How to spit on the taboos
As they thought he'd never dare

No one knew better than McCain
How to care for number one
How to take and never give

No one knew better than McCain
That when all is said and done
That's the only way to live

No one knew better than McCain
Just how angry you can be
When they cage you in with laws

No one knew better than McCain
That a man who thinks he's free
knocks his head against a wall

No one knew better than McCain
Just how bitter it would be
To be beaten after all

No one knew better than McCain
They're the ones who fix the game
They're the ones with loaded dice

No one knew better than McCain
That they'd get him all the same
And they made him pay the price

Poster for the 1969 film

The Italian title, Gli Intoccabili, translates as The Untouchables.
Producers presumably chose the title Machine Gun McCain for the US release to
avoid confusion with the TV Series based on the exploits of G-man Elliot Ness.

In Like Flint Again

I've just issued limited edition gicleé prints of my James Coburn portrait.

It's a signed and numbered run of 25 prints, made with archival inks on museum-quality, acid-free rag paper. The image is 10" x 10" and there's a 1" white border all around. It sells for $80 plus postage ($10.00 shipping and insurance within the US). Contact me to reserve one. It's groovy.

Ugly American, One More Time!

East End Brewing Company is bottling another batch of Ugly American Trippel IPA beer! Scott Smith, Pittsburgh's one-man microbrewery, does an amazing job at his environmentally-responsible plant in the East End.

Scott asked me to make some changes to the label text for this bottling, and suggested that I might like to tweak the illustration a little.

Here's my sketch:

Maybe it's a little overboard. The final version might be toned down a little. Stay tuned!

Goo Goo Muck! Mad Mike Lives On!

My blogging, socializing , and sleeping are on hold for a while due to an enormous educational project with deadlines seven days a week for the next month or so.

However, I did want to steal a few minutes to post some exciting Pittsburgh news. NYC's mighty Norton Records is set to release three volumes of Mad Mike Monsters on LP and CD this month!

The late Mad Mike was a legendary (and quite possibly mad) Pittsburgh DJ whose wild musical tastes foreshadowed labels like Norton and Get Hip and bands like The Cramps, The Raunch Hands and The Fleshtones..

Norton is celebrating the release of these long-overdue volumes with a party at Pietro's Pizza, one of the last places to host the Mad One spinning discs. Here's their announcement:

SATURDAY OCTOBER 11

MAD MIKE MONSTERS! NORTON RECORDS RELEASE PARTY IN PITTSBURGH!

7 PM-Midnight

Celebrate all things Mad Mike as three inaugural volumes of this sensational series blast off at the site of the late, great Mad One’s own radio studio, located at Pietro’s Pizza Pub at 2957 Banksville Road, Pittsburgh! Guest DJ’s will spin Mad Mike music exclusively, all night long! A great night for family, friends, fans... and pizza!

Sounds like a hell of a kickoff to the Halloween season.

ADDENDA:

1. Mad Mike's obituary from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I'd forgotten that he passed away on Halloween.
2. A Mad Mike tribute website.

Les Baxter - Framed

A reader of the long-defunct zine Cool & Strange Music recently commissioned a giclée print of my 1998 cover portrait of space-age pop maestro Les Baxter. The buyer was kind enough to send this photo of the spiffy tiki-style frame he is using to display his print.

Everything Must Go

Stubble & Smoke has ended its run at the fabulous Zombo Gallery, but you can still get one (or more) of the paintings or prints .

I've recently had a couple of requests for prints of paintings that have sold, and for older art from various places, and can now offer them on a by-request basis. I've found a great one-man shop right in my neighborhood that does high quality giclée prints (archival inks, acid-free rag paper, the works).

So, if you missed out on that one painting you had to own, or would like to own a print of just about anything I've ever done, contact me and we can talk turkey. Prices start at about $75.

Production of your giclée print will be personally supervised by the artist! Wow!

Atco Trousers!

Phone-shot snapped from the rooftop of the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

In case you wondered about the location of the home of Atco Trousers.

Partners in Art Crime

Photo op with Michael "Zombo" Devine at the Zombo Gallery, July 12, 2008. This was taken just before the opening night reception for the Stubble & Smoke art show, which also marked the gallery's first anniversary.

Photo by KimH © 2008

Rat Pack Prints

I'm now offering giclée prints of my portraits of Dino, Frank & Sammy. The images are 10" x 10", with a one-inch border, for an overall size of 12" x 12". They're printed in archival inks on museum quality Arches rag watercolor paper, and are limited to 25 individually signed and numbered prints.

The prints are $75 each, or $200 for the set of three, and the prices include domestic postage.

Contact me if you're interested!