Sparkplug, Teenage Dinosaur, Revival House and Floating World join forces to bring you their 2012 FCBD anthology, BRAD TRIP. Eight Portland artists take you on a journey that explores vagaries, innuendoes, dreamscapes and weirdness in narrative form. Featuring all new comics by Virginia Paine (Milkyboots), Annie Murphy (I Still Live), Kinoko Evans (Zine City Comics), Aidan Koch (The Whale), Dunja Jankovic (Department Of Art), and Maria Sputnik (Gazeta) & Connie Hockaday. Covers by Lori D and Brenna Murphy (Oregon Painting Society).

Brad Trip is a 32 page black and white comic book with color covers. FREE with any order (or plus postage on it’s own) while supplies last. Any orders placed on WowCool.com this Saturday, May fifth (Cinco de Mayo!) will also receive as many other random free books as will fit in the box. We have all sorts of goodies waiting for you.

In Portland, Oregon? Go to the book release and art exhibit Thursday, May 3rd. Then join the artists the following Saturday 12-2pm for Free Comic Book Day.

WHO: Lori D, Kinoko Evans, Annie Murphy, Virginia Paine, Maria Sputnik
WHAT: Brad Trip free book release & art exhibit
WHEN: Thursday, May 3rd, 6-10pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

You too may have a fit of the vapours after reading and watching this overview of the exploits of this strange twisted man who is far more warped then Jonathan Pryce could have ever portrayed him. Hey, tomorrow never does die, does it?

It’s the last weekday of spring break. My family stopped by the office with smoothies after their trip to San Jose’s Happy Hollow. Shortly after recovering from the discovery that there was broken glass in mine, I notice my son flipping through an old issue of Mad Magazine. He loves Spy Vs. Spy, and was explaining the silent series of traps to me. On the facing page I recognized a story drawn by Harvey Kurtzman. Then I saw my name written there. I had totally forgotten about this personalized copy and don’t really remember the exact circumstances. This is from Mad #274, the October 1987 issue ($1.35 Cheap!) I was a student in Harvey’s class at The School of Visual Arts at that time. I imagine that I showed up early to class having just discovered that he was drawing for the magazine, brandishing the thing in one hand like Senator Joe McCarthy going after commies in the State Department. No idea when or how he snuck in there to jot this note. Thanks Harvey! I believe you now!

Thanks to Branwyn Bigglestone for remembering. She had the following to say and I couldn’t sum it up any better.

25 years ago today Rory Root & Michael Patchen opened Comic Relief in Berkeley, CA. The store has since closed, but its impact is still felt today, and I’m personally thankful for them helping me get my start in comics, and for giving me the opportunity to meet lots of people who have become some of my closest friends.

I wanted to just use the Dan Clowes CR logo on this post, but couldn’t find a good version on the web, and running across town to the office to dig up a better one was not going to happen on a Sunday. So… you get the above video. I’d not seen it before. Enjoy.

About the BBC has shared a selection of photographs charting the life of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a department based at Maida Vale Studios in Delaware Road, West London dedicated to producing sound effects and new music set up in 1958 and closed down forty years later. They were freaking awesome. More reading on Sound on Sound. You are also required to watch the Alchemists of Sound. Part one is below.

Already past its goal with a couple days to go, but still needing some extra help to safely up the print run to a thousand is Injury Comics #4. Please help these guys out.

Thanks!

Happy Music Monday with this 1999 clip of Nick Cave talking about the mighty Pop Group. Sorry there was a bit of a blogging blackout here last week. It wasn’t intentional, just slightly less than usual going on. Will try to get a thorough update of all the little bits happening up here on Tuesday.

Our fine friends at Sparkplug Books are getting set to publish three new titles – the first big batch since founder Dylan Williams’ passing last year – and they need your help to make it happen. There is an excellent array of reward items, including original art and t-shirts. Get yourself over to Indiegogo and help them out.

Sparkplug Comics is ready to take on new publishing projects and we’d like to ask your help!

This campaign is a fundraiser for three of Sparkplug Books’ upcoming publishing projects.  Our soonest release, scheduled for April of 2012, is the graphic novel Nurse Nurse, by Katie Skelly.  This book compiles the previously self-published first seven issues of Katie’s ongoing sci-fi saga of nurses traversing the planets of our solar system.  The new book includes an eighth chapter to conclude the story.  The book has a two-color cover and black and white interior.

Our next two projects come from artists with whom Sparkplug has worked on multiple books in our past.  Reich, a series by Elijah Brubaker, is the ongoing biography of eminent sexologist Wilhelm Reich; this will be issue 9.  Olga Volozova, who has released Rock That Never Sleeps (a collaboration with Juliacks) and The Airy Tales through Sparkplug, brings us The Golem of Gabirol.  Each of these will have full color covers and black and white interior pages.

These books are of special import not only because they are amazing in themselves, but because they are the last projects on which Sparkplug founder Dylan Williams was working before he died of cancer in September 2011.  We are honored to see these through to completion and work with such great talent.

Sparkplug has had a long working relationship with Portland company Brown Printing and we intend to use them again to get these books printed out.  Currently the layouts are complete for each project and finishing touches are being made before they are sent to Brown.  The money from this fundraiser will go towards printing costs of each book, as well as shipping costs for the books and other gifts we are offering as perks.

Please join us in making these books a reality!  Donate to the Sparkplug fundraiser today!

DONATION PERKS!

• $5 New mini comic Brad Trip, published in collaboration with other Portland small press companies,  plus postcards & sticker
• $15 All of above, plus Nurse Nurse book
• $25 All of above, plus Reich #9 (printing in June 2012)
• $35 All of above, plus Golem of Gabirol (printing in August 2012)
• $55 All of above, plus one grab bag Sparkplug title
• $65 All of above, plus tee shirt (choose from Renee French, Dylan Williams or Austin English designs while styles and sizes last)
• $100 All of above, plus three Sparkplug grab bag items & poster
• $200 All of above, plus original signed artwork by Sparkplug artists Chris Cilla, Aron Nels Steinke, Trevor Alixopoulos, Jeff Levine, and others.
• $300 All of above, plus invite to movie night party at Sparkplug Headquarters.  Pick out a movie, get tour of our facilities and drink beer / eat snacks with us.

Three of my all-time favorite songs from when I first heard them to forever.

The great French Master of Comics Art Jean Giraud has passed away age 73.

Kim Thompson has written the definitive English language obituary of Jean Giraud for The Comics Journal.

Our dear friend Chloe is reprinting the popular Crap Hound #6 in a new edition and she needs your help on thee Kickstarter to make it happen. Here’s the pitch:

Dear Readers,

Sean is currently working on a book-length version of Crap Hound devoted to “Unhappy People” to be published by Feral House Press, so we thought we’d reprint an old favorite — Crap Hound #6: Death, Scissors & Telephones with a 16-pg. supplement of all new images — in the meantime! All the new material is in the supplement, the only change to the magazine from the 3rd edition is the cover.

This time around we’re offering pre-orders, as well as a variety of highly covetable rewards! Our goal is $13,000, which will cover the cost of printing 5000 copies of the magazine and supplement, silkscreen print, shipping and handling, and project fees.

Thanks for your interest in our project! If you like what you see, please help spread the word by sharing it with your friends! Remember, Kickstarter is an all or nothing proposition. If we don’t meet our goal, we won’t receive any funding!

Your Faithful Proprietress,
Chloe Eudaly
Reading Frenzy/Show & Tell Press

Double Fine Adventure on Kickstarter. As seen in Forbes. Most successful Kickstarter project ever. Over a million dollars raised in the first 24 hours – $600,000 past the goal. For a new point and click adventure game from two of the people involved with such classics of the genre as Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, Pajama Sam, Grim Fandango and many more. Double Fine has also been home to comics great Scott C., of course. These are the good guys. Add them to your good guy list.

Mike Kelley, a sure godfather figure to many who have followed, including the likes of Fort Thunder and Brown Cuts Neighbors, has left this world. He will be much missed. I just wanted to share a few images and link to some words about the man…

LA Times Obit | Pictures | Culture Monster | Dan Nadel | Robert Boyd | Art 21

Many images after the jump….

Somewhat appropriately, today marks one year since legendary college radio station KUSF 90.3FM was shut down.

Media artist Dara Greenwald has been a close friend to many of the people involved in Wow Cool on both coasts for many, many years. I am sad to report that she lost her fight with cancer on Monday, January 9th, 2012. Although I have never met Dara in person, I feel her loss greatly and have never heard so many great things said about someone by so many people involved in my life and work from so many different areas. She contributed much to this world and I invite you to explore her work at http://daragreenwald.com/

This post will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

Yes, it is I. The irregular Wow Cool link dump. Usually posted on a Monday or Tuesday, often in two parts, often skipping many weeks. We are well back from the holidays, and therefore it is time to obliterate every open tab and share the good bits that emerge.

We open with the fight song from of the original St. Trinnian’s films. As you may have heard, St. Trinnian’s creator Ronald Searle passed away a few days ago. He has been remembered far and wide. I tried and failed to find what I thought would be the perfect image to present, so I went with the video instead. If you are going to read only one obituary of the late British cartoonist, you should read the one by Steven Heller in the New York Times. And, hey, I actually liked the newer St. Trinnian’s films.

If you have a couple days to spare you really should take the time to read this interview with amigo Steve Bissette – part of the Comics Reporter holiday interview series. I could list about half of the rest as must reads too, but I’ll let you pick your own favorites.

I was hit totally from left field to see that the Comics Journal had run this astoundingly comprehensive profile of the great Motorbooty zine assembled by Frank Santoro. Mark Dancey is the man and make no doubt.

Our late friend and inspiration Dylan Williams, of Sparkplug Comics, is being chronicled in bloggy fashion at the DYLAN WILLIAMS ARCHIVES – The life and work of Dylan F. Williams 1970 – 2011. “We are attempting to archive the life and work of Dylan Williams: Collected writings, comics, artwork, sketches, letters, stories, photos and tributes. This is an ongoing project compiled by Dylan’s friends and family. If you have something you would like to contribute, please write to tom (at) iwilldestroyyou (dot) com” If you knew Dylan, then the Amazon reviews will make you chuckle and miss him all the more. I lied a couple paragraphs ago, you also must read this Comics Reporter holiday interview with the current proprietors of Sparkplug.

I would be amiss to not give a shout-out to Sean T. Collins for giving us a Shout-out in this post-holiday roundup of amazing comics stuff. It’s part three of… how many? Does this guy ever sleep? So much goodness out there.

In related news, CBR’s Robot 6 has gone into overdrive the last few days (while most of us were relaxing) with great news, bits, previews and more. Seriously, too much to mention, just start digging.

And give special attention to this Robot 6 exclusive preview of titles coming from Koyama Press in 2012. We’ve just added a couple more Koyama titles to the shop here at Wow Cool. Snatch those up, because they are low in quantity and not likely to be reprinted.

OK… in more related news, just one more specific Robot 6 link, and another Koyama-related bit, even… you should really read their recent interview with Michael DeForge, who is also one of the featured artists at Wow Cool.

I’m not sure if Wednesday or Thursday is new comics day where you are. All I know is Paul Grist’s Mudman issue 2 is out from Image. Go get that!

I’m sure I could go on… but I refuse. Carry on… single file, begone with you!

Link dumpage composed while listening to Tom Ravenscroft sitting in for Gideon Coe on BBC 6Music.

Dig deep into this roundup of classic video game magazines that are archived online. Via Rock Paper Shotgun

Printrbot: Your First 3D Printer by Brook Drumm — Comfy couch not included on Kickstarter. Also via RPS, same link as above.

Two games I’ve been exploring today that are well worth checking out are Kairo (available as a very affordable pre-order with an alpha download) and English Country Tune, which is in full release, but you might want to wait to see if your mind survives the experience of playing the demo first before making the plunge. Again, both via RPS.

Alan Moore on how the mask of “V” became the face of a global movement in the Guardian.

The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy “The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence. Occupy has touched the third rail of our political class’s venality.” Also in the Guardian.

The archives of Anthony Burgess reveal many gems on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of his notorious Clockwork Orange. I had a great book-nerd conversation with the clerk at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris a few years ago about Burgess. He totally hard sold me on one of his later books. Sly bastard.

Giving comics for the holidays? Tom Spurgeon’s “The Comics Reporter’s Black Friday Holiday Shopping Guide 2011” is the definitive guide. It appears to be possibly still a work in progress.

Washington D.C.’s Emo-Punk über-dudes Fugazi are launching an online archive of 800-odd live show recordings, as first reported in the New York Times, and last reported here.

You can stare at this for hours… Michael DeForge’s concept art for one of the best Adventure Time episodes ever, Beautopia. And, wait, there’s more. And much more on the Frederator blog.

Beautiful Decay did a lovely post on Derek M. Ballard a few days ago that you should check out. A bit NSFW in most districts.

I could probably add tons more, but it’s late. Sorry, not much in the way of images or videos this time… click on for that. In case you missed it, Image Comics is having an SF Bay Area shindig this coming February. We haven’t signed off on anything yet, but Wow Cool will likely have a presence there. So, hope to see you at the Image Expo in late February in Oakland, CA.

I used to play the shit out of We Got Our Own Thang back in ’89. It was such an amazing time for music and this was a great bridge between hip hop and the emerging House music scene. Godspeed, brother.

LA Times: Heavy D dies at 44; singer who shaped rap music

I’ve been wanting to write something here about Susie Cagle’s coverage of Occupy Oakland for a couple weeks now. But, given the occupation’s escalating nature and Susie’s work on it being ongoing observation and documentation for an eventual full report, there was not an easy way in to hang a post on. Recent events and the press attention given them makes this seem like a good time to jump in. Occupy Oakland has been a strange story to try to follow, from the reports that make it all sound like a raging riot in the Guardian to the feel good piece in the LA Times on Thursday morning about protesters grabbing breakfast burritos from a food truck with the dockworkers Union boss. Add to this the such mindblowing events as solidarity protests in Tahrir Square and it’s all just a bit much to take in. One thing is certain, however, The Oakland Police Department is deeply fucked up. That’s not a big surprise to anyone, but it is shocking that the press has repeatedly been on the direct receiving end of their repressive measures — from their dusting off the riot playbook last Tuesday to this weeks imprisonment and intimidation exercises. Susie Cagle has been one of the most visible targets of their insane anti-journalist campaign — catching an exploding can of teargas right in front of her face (video above) to her arrest, imprisonment and the holding of her personal belongings by the police over the last few hours. As of this writing they are still holding her stuff, including her apartment keys. Yet, she is determined to follow this story until the end despite all of this. That level of commitment is a true inspiration. Just be safe out there, Susie. I don’t ever want to see you added to this roster at CPJ.

Follow Susie’s regular updates from the occupation on Twitter.

Susie’s homepage “This Is What Concerns Me“. You will want to also check out her Copyright Explained cartoon and her investigation of Bay Area faith-based ‘pregnancy centers’ What Every Woman Should Know and the accompanying Behind The Scenes report.

UPDATE: Posted late today on YouTube, Susie’s video from the plaza raid right before she was arrested. Yes, the footage is a bit rough. If I was ever in a situation where a large group of people were being told “Get on the ground, you’re under arrest”, I would probably try to run, break into a building, something–all Gordon Freeman style–because I would assume the alternative was far worse…

Mary Blair was born 100 years ago today. Even Google noticed. Her shapes and colors still fascinate. Below are a few photos I took earlier this year at the Disneyland Gallery show “The Colors of Mary Blair“. Clicking will make them twice the size. It’s magic.

http://www.gothicfuturism.com/

Stalker is an astounding film that you simply must see.

Go to nostalghia.com for all the Tarkovsky info you could ever want.
You can watch just about every film Tarkovsky made and much more online. Here’s a convenient gateway.

Stalker is also available on DVD Sadly no Criterion edition yet.

Found via Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Adam Curtis may be the greatest journalist of our age. Yes, whatever, or whenever, that is… He is certainly one of its greatest documentarians. His skilled use of the video medium – in films that demand that you both look and listen to get the full effect – persuasively show and tell that things are not quite as you have been told (and shown). His most recent work – All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace – named for the Richard Brautigan poem of the same name – seems particularly relevant in light of the spread of the current Occupy movement. This documentary series also gives perspective on the origins of aspects of the Tea Party Movement and the influence of Ayn Rand in particular. Strangely, one of the greatest proselytizers of Randian Objectivism – especially in Canada and the Northern mid-west – the rock band Rush, is not mentioned.

You will want to pay regular visits to Curtis’ blog at the BBC. His access to their archives has leant him unique incite into many of the world’s recent shaking events.

Watch All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace on Archive.org.

The Google tribute is all kinds of awesome. I made the above video with my son last year.

I was just sent this by Scott Beibin, who worked on it, and am sharing it. I’m a little behind on what is going on in New York at the moment, so playing catchup now. Whatever your view, this is pretty major and you should stay informed. This video makes an interesting gateway into the datastream.

I’ve been watching the news enough to think that is very likely that London is going to erupt over the next few days. The City of London, commonly just, The City, is one of the largest financial services centers in the world. It has just been revealed that half the donations to the Tories have come from that sector. The Conservative Party Conference is underway. In the meanwhile, you see articles like this one in the Guardian about how great the $100 Million Lloyd’s building is and you can start to get a little steamed too. So… Occupy the City? I can’t wait to read what Charlie Brooker has to say.

More info: Adbusters Occupy Wall Street Page

A three-story, 20,000 square meter storage home for music from a number of independent labels from the UK and the US including 4AD, Beggars Group, Dead Oceans, Def Jux, Domino, Jagjaguwar, Matador, Ninja Tune, Polyvinyl, Rough Trade, Secretly Canadian, Side One Dummy, Silva Screen, Sub Pop, Too Pure, True Panther, Vagrant, Warp, XL among others. (A full list from PIAS’s website is here).  The warehouse was a temporary home for releases from all manner of indie labels and offshoots, and the extent of its destruction is starting to become tragically apparent.  While the full impact of last night’s events is still emerging, numerous indies have confirmed massive losses.  Beggars Chairman Martin Mills called it a “horrible” setback for the indie sector.

What music fans can do to show their support for the indie label community, and help them survive this disaster is to buy a digital download of an album from any one of the digital retailers going to their local record store while stocks last.

This way, the labels will be able to remanufacture their CD’s and vinyl more quickly, to resupply the record shops who are also affected by the riots.

Alison Wenham, Chairman and CEO of AIM, the UK’s Trade Association for the Independent Music Industry commented: “This is a disaster for the music community, but with the fans’ help, labels and artists will survive. Please show your support for the music community by buying a digital album from an independent label today”.

Reposted from A2IM.

UPDATE – “In Wake of London Fire, Organizers Answers Questions About Supporting Indie Labels” – by Peter Kirn on Create Digital Music. Includes news on PIAS’ fund to help labels and an interview with the organizers of “Label Love”

More news on DigitalMusicNews.com | BBC | The Guardian’s UK Riots page 

IFC – Indie Film Distributor also hit hard

Several book stores have also been ransacked, including several comic book shops and the UK’s oldest queer book store.

Pegacorn Press from Caroline Paquita on Vimeo.

Big thanks to Doug Rogers – formerly of God Hates Computers and Chased & Smashed – for turning me on to this new publishing project led by great great artist Caroline Paquita. Caroline is starting a small queer, feminist, total-art-freaker publishing house called PEGACORN PRESS. Through your help, she hopes to raise funds for new and better equipment to make this easier and all the more possible. Help pitch in to make this a reality over on IndieGoGo.

So, here we are, at long last, with the sequel to the “Lost Awesome Book Cover Designs” post. Unlike that previous posting, I can thoroughly endorse these ten covers as being very awesome. I’ve been collecting these in the last several months. You will quickly noticed that they have been arranged in a chromatic and/or thematic order. The images link to the books’ pages on Amazon. And, yes, I am selling these. I’ve got to raise money to get my next record out somehow. Give a little love if you like and buy these babies. Otherwise, watch this space and be sure to get the upcoming blasts from myself and the many other Wow Cool artists that are coming your way very soon from Wow Cool.

A hot topic recently has been that of the Chinese Ghost Cities. A Sino-Housing Bubble of a scale appropriate to the nation that happens to have the most damn people on earth living under it. Get the satellite view here.

In case you thought we might be the heck super efficient in land use here in the West, I would like to send you to this report on the UK’s Post Office Railway. You will want to read all of it and take in every photo.

In the meanwhile, for something that just quite resembles context for our position here, I request that you read these interviews with Simon Reynolds on Ballardian: “Magisterial, Precise, Unsettling” from 2007 and ‘Magisterial, precise, unsettling part 2’ from 2009.

My colleague Richard Pell is profiled on We Make Money Not Art this week and you should go read that. Not convinced? It starts like this: “If you want to see a penguin, you go to the zoo. If you’re curious about dinosaurs and dodos, any natural history museum will enlighten you. But where do you go if you want to learn about spider silk-producing goats, anti-malarial mosquitoes, fluorescent zebrafish or the terminator gene?”

The Center for PostNatural History is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge relating to the complex interplay between culture, nature and biotechnology. The PostNatural refers to living organisms that have been altered through processes such as selective breeding or genetic engineering. The mission of the Center for PostNatural History is to acquire, interpret and provide access to a collection of living, preserved and documented organisms of postnatural origin.

The Center for PostNatural History website

My portrait of Richard Pell

Reading Frenzy – An Independent Press Emporium is a small, specialty bookshop/gallery/event space in Portland, Oregon. They are having a rough patch at the moment and could use your patronage. The full message from RF follows.

The image you see above is the beautiful print that Aaron Renier created for us, No Book Ever Ends. If only we could say the same for bookstores. Every few years Reading Frenzy hits a point of financial crisis. That time has come again. As you know we’re a tiny, specialty shop devoted to independent, small and self-published titles. Reading Frenzy is more than a just store though — it’s an art exhibit and event space, a hub of cultural activity, and a community resource. It’s been a struggle to make it through the past 2+ years of the recession and we’re proud that we have. We’ve done that with a skeletal inventory and cutting back on staff and other expenses, as well as being resourceful and creative. We’ve simply reached the point where these measures are no longer sufficient.

In the past, friends and I have organized massive events with stellar musicians, writers, and artists, charged a modest admission, and raised a few thousand dollars to help us ride out tough times. We’ve done membership drives for our 500 Friends program, which haven’t garnered the hoped for hundreds of members, but have resulted in a few people giving very generously. That’s not going to happen this time. The support we need must come from the hands of many and not the backs (and bank accounts) of a few. We shouldn’t have to put on a three ring circus to garner the support we need to make this modest venture viable.

We have some exciting changes underway — a brand new computerized consignment system that will allow us to improve and expand our work (and our offerings) with small and self-publishers. A new issue of Crap Hound due out this summer, and the next print in our Reading Frenzy series by Nikki McClure. We also have top secret plans to expand our mission in a way that has never been done before. We truly believe that despite the changing nature of the publishing industry and reading habits this could be the long-awaited next step we need to take in order to achieve long-term sustainability, but it’s coming at a time where the shop is in dire straits, making it difficult to impossible to move forward.

I’m asking you to support the shop through your patronage. Not a donation or an act of charity, simply a decision to help support a venture that you want to see continue to exist by purchasing something. Here are ten meaningful things you can do today to support us:

1. Visit the shop today at 921 SW Oak St or online and spend $20 on anything.
2. Purchase our print No Book Ever Ends by Aaron Renier: $30
3. Purchase our print Reading Frenzy! by Carson Ellis: $40
4. Purchase a Reading Frenzy! t-shirt or tote by Carson Ellis: $18-$20
5. Purchase one of our Crap Hound prints — Hands, Hearts or Eyes by Sean Tejaratchi: $40
6. Purchase a Crap Hound t-shirt (currently not available online but we’re working on it): $20
7. Become a member of 500 Friends of Reading Frenzy and receive annual discounts and perks: $25
8. Purchase any issue of Crap Hound: $12-$40
9. Promote Reading Frenzy on your website, blog, Facebook, etc. You can find us on FB here.
10. Make a commitment to visiting our shop in person or online on a regular basis. If everyone on our mailing list spent just $5-$10 a month we could cover our basic monthly expenses.

Thanks for your time and hopefully your support.
Your Faithful Proprietress,
Chloe

Reading Frenzy/strong>
921 SW Oak St.
Portland, Ore 97205
(503) 274-1449
Open Mon-Sat 11-7, Sun 12-6

The multi-talented Mark Sunshine (singer of Monster Magnet splinter faction Riot God and an artist most awesome) has updated his site again. Minimal, bold, and links to greatness.

Sam McPheeters of Vermiform/Born Against/etc. fame has released a collection of his early 1990s Hardcore Punk Zine Dear Jesus, as a velo-bound collection. Wow Cool still has a few copies of the first of his Shooting Space zine available.

Dear Jesus was a hardcore punk fanzine I produced between 1989 and 1992. There were four full issues, and a mini-issue I made 50 copies of and sold at one show in 1990. Everything is included in this collection. The anthology totals 140 pages, with a new intro, color cover, and sturdy velo binding. More work by Sam is available on BuyOlympia.com.

These five issues include interviews with Jello Biafra, Richie Birkenhead (of Underdog & Youth Of Today), Doc Dart (this is the piece that led, 17 years later, to my Vice Magazine profile “The Troublemaker”), Econochrist, Lifesblood, CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, Ian MacKaye, Maximumrocknroll, Mike BS (of ABC No Rio), Mykel Board (of MRR), Nation Of Ulysses (pictorial), Nausea, Neanderthal, No For An Answer, Revelation Records, Rorschach, Soulside, Supertouch, artist Seth Tobocman, Swiz, and Tit Wrench. This collection also includes articles on the first Gulf War, punk in Latin America, an extensive Born Against tour diary, and many, many painfully opinionated reviews. Dear Jesus was one of the most consistent hardcore punk zines to document the early 1990′s ABC No Rio scene in New York. If this is a historical period that interests you, then this is perhaps something you will want to own.

Last, and far from least. Today’s absolute must-read is this post from Adam Curtis on his blog at the BBC – “RUPERT MURDOCH – A PORTRAIT OF SATAN“
Related Reading: Charlie Brooker’s “Q: When does a tabloid become crude propaganda? A: When it starts printing it” in the Guardian.

Enjoy

This book is an endless source of wonder and speculation. I can spend hours imagining the adventures of the Easy Wizards. I saw this little sticker book randomly in one of those little over-priced toy stores that inexplicably thrive in the strip-malls of central California. “You gotta be kidding. I mean, you know who this is, man? This is Captain America. I’m Billy. Hey, we’re headliners baby. We played every fair in this part of the country. I mean, for top dollar, too!” -Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider.

Former Magic Band drummer Robert Williams posted this to his MySpace blog this morning. It is an astounding performance. If you can wrap your head around it, then you might get a bit why people can get so crazy about the music of Captain Beefheart. I love how chunky the bass is in this.

It might be going too far to say that none of this (Wow Cool, Brown Cuts Neighbors, etc….) wouldn’t be here without Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band… but it wouldn’t be going very far from the truth. I tend to spend much of my casual thinking time thinking in music, and much of it is the music of Don Van Vliet. My octave range may not be as great as Don’s, but I can hum and whistle in some pretty right on it pitch.

I’m obviously avoiding the issue here.

Despite about 17 years since his last public appearance in the Some Yo Yo Stuff film and a quarter century plus since the Magic Band was last active, the death of Don Van Vliet on Friday, December 17, 2010, has had a profound affect on me and many others around the world.

Here is the Guardian’s obituary of Don.

There will be much more posted here in the next few days about the greatness of Captain Beefheart, For now, here are a few videos that you simply have to watch.

More after the jump

It’s not a big secret that I am a huge fan of Nuisance. I booked them twice for shows in Western Massachusetts. Once at a spectacularly disastrous warehouse show in Florence (at the Arts & Industry building, now home to Ecstatic Peace/Father Yod, then the home to Wow Cool, Al Columbia and Sebadoh); and again at the Majestic Theater in Easthampton. The Majestic apparently burned down in 2007. The Arts & Industry show had a small getting busted by the cops problem which eventually cost me 50 bucks. I have several blurry black and white photos of the warehouse show and full video of Nuisance’s set at the Majestic (as well as some of Doc Hopper and Beef, who opened). I wrote about these shows a bit in Andy’s Chair printed zines numbers 2 and 3. Those photos and video are very likely to show up online sometime next year. In the meanwhile, today’s gem showed up online… coming to me somehow or other through the facebook. It’s a demo tape from 1987(?) with 5 songs. They are: Your House, Brighter Flower, Censorship Song, Waiting Room, and Days Of Sun.

Nuisance’s albums on Lookout are available on iTunes: Confusion Hill | Sunny Side Down or as CDs on Amazon: Confusion Hill | Sunny Side Down

So… you’ve read Rip It Up and Start Again, and Simon Reynolds follow-up Totally Wired, and are ass-deep in post-punk lore and legend and spend your days wandering the record stalls humming “She Is Beyond Good and Evil” by the Pop Group. And you start to wonder… “Can I plunge any teh further down thee rabbit hole” Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You really can. Somewhere while digging up some background for my few bits on the late Peter Christopherson the other day (see previous post), I stumbled across the impossible time-sink of a music blog Kill Your Pet Puppy. I was looking for a copy of the fanzine by CRASS, Toxic Grafity, and discovered KYPP. Strangely, or not so much, the worlds of CRASS and other anarcho-punk goings on, were not so far separate from the industrial goings-on by G. P’Orridge and crew. The signs are clearly visible in street art of that era and later. Further digging led me to find that M’Colleague at Maximum RockNRoll, Paul, had flagged it for blog of the week a few weeks back. It’s hard to encapsulate the wonders to be found within KYPP… You just need to dive in.

In the meanwhile, speaking of the Pop Group… I would love to see this full documentary – “Mark Stewart – ON/OFF – Pop Group to Maffia”. I contacted Monitorpop to try to find out what had become of this film, but have heard nothing back yet.

UPDATE: I somehow failed to mention that The Pop Group have reformed, and are playing two shows on the last two days of 2010, with Sonic Youth in Manchester and London. More info, photos, video and a history of the band are on the Pop Group’s site.

Peter, P2, Krems, originally uploaded by Chris_Carter_.

Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson has often been the man behind the scenes in his 35+ year career in music. He was known and celebrated as a pioneer in electronic and industrial music, sampling and video – first with Throbbing Gristle – and in the last 30 years with his own long-running Coil project (from 1982 until co-conspirator Jhonn Balance’s death in 2004), Psychic TV, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Rage Against the Machine and many more. But much of his work – the stuff your mom probably was aware of – was behind the scenes. He often portrayed himself in this boy in the back room image in Coil publicity shots. Little about his biography indicates that he was very shy. But it seems clear he had his hands firmly on the controls creating images and video for Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel (his first three solo album covers), Paul McCartney, Jah Wobble, The Crystal Method, Rollins Band, Hanson, Erasure, Robert Plant, Sepultura, Van Halen, and Yes, for the Owner of A Lonely Heart Video. Now that is subversive. There are even more curious entries to be found in his videography. (A partial list is to be found on Wikipedia.) We have lost one of the premier image makers in popular music, aged only 55. And he could make the electronics scream real good, too.

COIL – Windowpane
Uploaded by RileyELFuk. – Explore more music videos.

Windowpane by Coil.
The uploaded video is not of the best quality. I picked this track because it is one I used to play on my old radio show in the early 1990s. It was the white label promo 12 inch and it fit in nicely with the mix of acid house, industrial, post punk and American post-hardcore/grunge/what-have-you I would spin on Wednesday mornings on WRPI 91.5FM, Troy. WRPI’s record library contained (and still did, last I checked in 2009) an impressive collection of records by Throbbing Gristle and it’s various offspring. Windowpane also evokes some of the feel of Joy Division’s ‘New Dawn Fades’. It’s a more positive flip on that haunting melody.

Throbbing Gristle bandmates Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti have issued a statement on the band’s website.

Dave Simpson’s memorial post on the Guardian’s Music Blog.

I picked three of my favorite photos of Sleazy from Chris Carter’s flickr collection.