Sandwiches & Surgery

A couple of recent things...


I just wrapped up the largest, most time-consuming freelance project I've ever done - a series of math "word problems" in comics form.

My assignment from the publisher was for two textbooks, aimed at third- and fifth-graders. Between the character design/model sheets, the full page comics, and the quarter-page solutions, it came to around fifty pages of full color comics.

The project was at times frustrating, with several groups having to review each stage of the art and writing, but overall it was a good experience. It helped to sharpen my negotiating skills, for one thing.

From start to finish, it lasted almost six months. Apparently, I do have some sort of work ethic.

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The panel above is from the first installment of a strip I'm contributing to the bi-monthly newsletter from Pittsburgh's Animal Friends. It's my community service project.

Phone Doodle

Scribbled during a long, boring conference call...

What's in your kitchen?

A recent pile of junk mail we received included a Crate & Barrel catalog. This page caught my eye because of the weird looking items in some of the storage containers:

l was wondering what the hell all of these odd items could be, and where they came from, when I noticed text on what looked like animal crackers, but it was difficult to read.

l eventually realized that the photo had been flopped, so the text appeared as a mirror image.

Good old Photoshop came through and revealed words on the mystery snacks:

Would you care for a pigeon cracker or a rat biscuit?

Work in Progress

Preliminary study for a commissioned painting. It's better than earlier attempts -- which are too lousy to show here -- but it still has a way to go.

It's not looking enough like the intended subject yet, and in fact reminds me of someone else completely.


With a little more refinement and perseverance, I hope I can get it adjusted to where I'm happy with it.

I posted another example of this iterative process in June, while working on a portrait of James Coburn.

Jim Copp Stuff

My friends at Playhouse Records were kind enough to send me a copy of the new book, Jim Copp, Will You Tell Me a Story?, published by Harcourt. It includes a CD of Copp's original 1958 recordings of the three wacky tales, and is available from Amazon.




In the 50s and 60s, Copp and Brown recorded 9 LPs worth of surreal stories and songs in their home studio. Each year the two pals would travel the country selling LPs from the back of their car to department stores and toy shops.




My favorite is A Journey to San Francisco with the Glups, a bizarre road-trip saga. This was the first Copp-Brown record I'd ever heard. I bought it at The Doo-Dah Shop, a long-gone used record store that was near the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Having missed out on these recordings as a kid, I discovered them during my formative early-college years.



Playhouse has two best-of collections available, and they're very nice nice samplers. I reviewed them for Cool & Strange Music, and have posted the review here.

All of the Copp-Brown recordings are worth looking into.

A Goober from the Past

I was throwing away an old loose-leaf binder today when this Xeroxed item fell out:


I sort of remembered saving it some time ago. A quick Google search turned up this teaser from a 1992 Chicago Sun-Times story:

Ernest Borgnine, troubled by a failing marriage, says he once considered suicide - until his life was saved by fellow actor George Lindsey.

Lindsey, who played Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show," became such a good friend that Borgnine's life changed for the better, Borgnine said in an interview to be broadcast Monday on Fox TV's "A Current Affair."

The depressed Borgnine left home one ...

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The Human Tornado; 1927-2008

Rudy Ray Moore, a/k/a Dolemite, died this past weekend at the age of 81.
Here's a drawing I did of him for Cool & Strange Music Magazine.

Dolemite is my name
And rappin' and tappin'
that's my game
I'm young and free
And just as bad as I wanna be.

Umami

Here's a peek at a two-page spread for the holiday issue of Pittsburgh's award-winning Table Magazine. I'll post the complete image after the magazine is actually printed.
The article is on new discoveries in the study of taste.

LUX

I just got some very nice coverage in the lastest issue of Pittsburgh's own LUX Magazine.

Now, let's see if this little viewer thing works (flip to page 36).

Get your own - Open publication

Goo Goo Muck, Addendum

The Norton Records website now features this gorgeous ad for the Mad Mike CD release party.
I'm not affiliated with Norton or Pietro's Pizza, I'm just a music fan.