Stubble & Smoke! July 12-26, 2008

July 12 - July 26
ZOMBO GALLERY'S FIRST ANNIVERSARY SHOW:
STUBBLE & SMOKE

All new works featuring hard-luck mugs, saucy dames, The Rat Pack,
plenty of red meat, and the entire Chinese zodiac.

A detailed Press Release will be posted here the first week of June.

Signage (Hot Lunches)

A beautifully lettered and distressed sign spotted on Chartres Street in New Orleans, May 2008.

Signage (Please Do Not Change Mango)

Spotted at an Indian food mart in Monroeville PA

Sure enough, inside the store was a stack of mango boxes, and a customer looking over her shoulder, changing mangoes.

Bendix 2.0

This sketch is getting closer to what I have in mind for my William Bendix painting: crazed and homicidal.

Blue Plate Special

April 2008 Sketchbook Page
Study for one in a series of meat-related paintings

Way Down Yonder

We just spent five days in New Orleans - our favorite place to visit - attending the Jazz & Heritage Festival and enjoying the city's fine food, music and people.

These water meter covers have become one of the city's signatures. They show up on t-shirts and hats, and recast as plates, trivets, and ashtrays.

First stop at the Fest. If you're buying cracklins, trust a vendor named Fatty.

Street food, outside Vaughan's Lounge around 2:00 AM, after a late Thursday set by Kermit Ruffins. The pork chop sandwich was absolutely out of sight.

The final day of the Fest, enjoying a fresh cigar, hand-rolled that morning at the factory on Decatur Street.

Lynda Barry Rocks the 'Burgh

The amazing Lynda J Barry was in Pittsburgh recently, teaching her workshop, Writing the Unthinkable .

What It Is, a new book based on the workshop, is coming in May from Drawn & Quarterly.

Lynda and her partner-in-crime Betty Bong also paid a visit to the ToonSeum, which is where we met up. Ms Barry and I staged an impromptu nerdly-eyewear exhibit:

Photos by LJB

Acid Logic

Wil Forbis's new book, Acid Logic: A Decade of Humorous Writing on Pop Culture, Trash Cinema and Rebel Music is available now from the publisher. The cover and interior illustrations are by Your Humble Blogger.

Wil's new CD, Shadey's Jukebox, will also be out soon, from Rankoutsider Records. The CD also features art by YHB, (previewed in earlier posts.)

Secret of the Ooze

Left to right: Mark Martin, Wayno, Ben Burford
Northampton, MA, 1991

Feeling the effects of alcohol combined with Vanilla Ice's "Ninja Rap."

Required Reading

I'm in the middle of a time-consuming project that isn't terribly blogworthy, so here's a look at a book in the "active" pile:


This is a groovy hardcover containing hundreds of photos from 1960s and 70s Italian sex comedies, plus a nice 20-track CD of soundtrack music from the same era.

Dusty Groove mail order gives a very accurate description on their order page:

A really crazy little book -- one that's filled with sexy images from Italian comedies of the 60s and 70s -- and packaged with a special CD to match! The book itself is practically softcore porn (so be aware of that, you sensitive viewers!) -- 326 full color pages with images from the films, most of which feature ladies in some state of undress. The production quality is quite high -- almost at an art book level -- so you might be able to justify this one as "art", even though it really contains very little information on the films -- just lots of naughty pictures. But the CD's also pretty great too -- and features 20 classic sex comedy themes that include "Sessomatto" by Armando Trovajoli, "Isola Tuttofare" by Piero Umiliani, "Fail Piano Fai Presto" by Gianni Ferrio, "Quel Gran Pezzo Dell'Ubalda" by Bruno Nicolai, "Curiosita Infantili" by Fred Bongusto, "Vieni Avanti Cretino" by Lino Fanfi, and "Rio 70" by Nylon.
© 1996-2008, Dusty Groove America, Inc.

Great stuff, and a nice intro to a rich and delightful area of musical exploration. There are sample photos and audio previews at Movie Grooves.

Online prices vary widely. I've seen it from $15 up to $45, so it's worth shopping around.