Christmas Podding

My neighbour and fellow blogger Mondo does a regular podcast with his mucker Piley called Podrophenia. For their Xmas broadcast they asked me to join in, choose a couple of festive nuggets and blather on about Christmas related nonsense. If you fancy checking it out for a few Christmas tunes you aren't likely to hear anywhere else this Chrimbo, go here.

A New Wave Qee in Belfast

Here's a picture from my Moleskine that I scanned and then manipulated and coloured using Photoshop.

Mahna Mahna

Sesame Street is the bomb.

Record box drawing

When the patchy weather has allowed, I've been sitting on the patio with a beer,possibly a BBQ, a crate of 7" singles and my portable record player. It is a most pleasurable way of spending an evening with friends, lucky dipping from the crate and spinning your pick. Crackly old 60s singles sound best on the little mono speaker or classic Norton reissues.
Anyway I was looking at the crate of records and admiring the colours of the sleeves and thought why not draw it while I'm listening. So I got out my moleskine and here's what I came up with.

Transsexual Transformers

I was watching the Transformers movie last night with my son and thoroughly enjoying the macho, robo action. It occurred to me that things would be different for the robots if they were a little mixed up and had been born womenbots trapped in menbots bodies.
I'm doing an Odd-Ball Art Doll swap over at ATCSForall.com, I decided that I'd make a transsexual Transformer doll that could be both pre-op and post-op. In true Blue Peter style, I whipped out a cereal box and my marker pens and here is what I came up with.

Pre-Op


Post-Op


Uncut sheet


Uncut sheet coloured

New Mail Art package from Dr DJ Toast

Here's the return package I got from the esteemed Dr DJ Toast as a trade for the Blondie 7" that I mailed him.
As well as the collages and personalised stickers I got a blinding Halloween CD featuring a mix of obscure monster songs and a selection of the good doctor's own tunes. To download some of his music for free, go to: www.archive.org and search DJ Doctor Toast.

obviousfront Mail Art

Here are a couple of fantastic pieces I traded with obviousfront at atcsforall.com. Both are thick plastic postcards which obviousfront has made and engraved himself.
The orange one was made for me and the yellow one was made in 1993 and was returned to sender after sitting in the San Gabriel, CA post office for 13 years.

These Industrial Strength postcards created some problems for the US Postal System. Several branches refused to accept them after an automatic sorting machine was damaged trying to process one.

The third photo shows the engraving machine being used to create my orange card.

Mail Art for DJ Toast

Seeing as DJ Toast sent me such a cool bundle of goodies, I thought I'd send something back. Rather than work on card or paper I fancied trying something a bit different, so I dug out an old Blondie 7" and using stencils and spraycans gave it a makeover. I popped stamps on it and stuck it in the postbox, no packaging, and wondered if it would make the transatlantic crossing in one piece. It did, old vinyl was made to last it seems, no chance of getting a song out of it anymore though.

"A Patchwork Of Flesh" painting

Here is a new painting I have just finished of Frankenstein's Monster called "A Patchwork Of Flesh". I will be submitting it for the Beecroft Gallery's Open Exhibition this summer in Southend. I used spraypaint and stencil, acrylics, Sharpie, white pencil, watercolours and collage.

Dr Toast Mail Art

Getting something in the post that's not a bill is always a treat, whether it's a little snip from Ebay, a record, a CD, a book or a mag you subscribe to. That's why I like making and swapping artist trading cards or mail art. Here's a cool envelope and contents I received today from postal artist and DJ Doctor Toast. Go here: http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=dr%20toast to check out some of the good doctor's music.

Thee Pinhead Jookbox #3

From Toronto 1977, here is Canada's most furious blast of punk yelping, "Screamin Fist" by The Viletones. Sounding like Iggy fronting "Spiral Scratch" era Buzzcocks, play it five times on the trot and you won't get it out of your head for days.



The Viletones - Screamin Fist

A Patchwork Of Flesh

Check out my new blog http://apatchworkofflesh.blogspot.com/ it's devoted entirely to my mail art Frankenstein Monster ATC project.

Happy Easter from Mickey Mouse

I was reading an article about punk gig fliers and someone was talking about a flier they remembered with a picture of Mickey Mouse being crucified. I thought this image would be perfect for an Easter ATC, so here it is. Thanks to obviousfront for the card stock.

Frankenstein Monster mail-art money up for grabs

I created some "Franknotes" for Wackystuff's Money Mail-art call. They are one-sided and are made by Photoshop remixing a toy banknote with a Frankenstein Monster drawing that I did a while back. Anybody who would like to get their hands on one is welcome to trade for an ATC or similar, just leave a comment with details.

Zombie art available for trade

"They're Going To Get You Barbara #1 " acrylic and stenciled spray paint on canvas 60cm x 50cm. The image and title are form George A. Romero's classic zombie flick, "Night Of The Living Dead".

I have too many paintings at home and would like to give them new homes by trading some of them. This is the first one up for grabs, if you have any art you fancy trading for this piece leave a comment and I'll get in touch.

Porous Walker again

Jimmy DiMarcellis AKA Porous Walker has an exhibition at the Receiver Gallery in San Francisco, running April 4th - May 15th. It's called Me vs Me and is chock-full of layered personalities, objects and drawings.

I had an email from Porous this morning who said he is organizing a horse and buggy to pick me up at the weekend to take me to a party to celebrate the opening. He did say it might take up to six weeks for the buggy to arrive however. Not the best mode of transport to get to San Fran from sunny Southend really.

I'd love to make it to the show but unfortunately it's never gonna happen. There are some pictures of the show here though so take a gander and enjoy it all secondhand.
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1486&Itemid=63

He promised to send me something, so I'll post whatever goodies arrive in due course.

Thee Pinhead Jookbox #2

No relevant photo to go with this tune so here is a snap of my Skateboarding Zombies toys.

Second track is one I don't own on vinyl (can't afford it) and only discovered a couple of years ago. I downloaded from the net and burned it to CD, it's a tune I always play when DJing at Weird Fantasy. The tune is "Back Slop" by “Baby” Earl & The Trini-Dads. It's an absolute stormer of a track, a bouncy uptempo sax led rolling R&B instrumental with a ska flavoured twist. It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face and get your toes twitchin'.

Baby Earl and the Trini-Dads - Back Slop

Thee Pinhead Jookbox #1

Time for my first music post, and for my premier tune it's one of my all-time favourite singles. "Time of My Life" by Manufactured Romance was released on Fresh records in 1980 and is the only release by the band apart from two tracks on the "Backstage Pass" punk compilation. A superb pop-punk tune with ace vocals from Nina Spencer bring to mind Penetration at their best.
I caught them live once at The Greyhound in Chadwell Heath, Essex and they put on a great show.
They released a compilation of live tracks, demos and their minimal recorded output last year which may still be available via their website or MySpace. The songs show that they really coulda been contenders had things worked out better for them.

Manufactured
Romance - Time Of My Life

Bizarre Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I bought a 1950s copy of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from the local library because the illustations were kinda cool and ripe for re-interpreting. Here are a selection of ATCs I made using the black and white illustrations and then colouring with markers, spray paint and stencils and a bit of collage.

Rock 'n' Roll Morgue of Fame

Number one and two in a series of Dead Rock 'n' Roller ATCs are Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones, expect the famous and not-so-famous. Card blank created in Photoshop, illustration done with a Sharpie.

Space Invaders

I've been on a Space Invaders kick this weekend, I cut some little stencils which I used for a batch of ATCs.
A larger scale invasion is planned for later in the week.

BAZAART

Last nite I went to the launch night for BAZAART, an exhibition of 90 street artists. The exhibition runs from 20th-22 March at The Yard, Greenheath Business Centre, Three Colts Lane, Bethnal Green. London E2 6JB. Admission is free and it is well worth attending for anyone with even a passing interest in street art. There is a fantastic selection on display, and for sale, by many of the most prolific and in demand names in urban and street art, including: Dan Kitchener, Fake, Dave the Chimp, Eyesaw, Hutch, Milo, Mo Coppaletta, Kev Munday, Pure Evil, Rugman, Sinna One and many more. I was lucky enough to get three pieces of "dropped" work by Sinna One from Brighton who is known for his Sinbot. Fake from Amsterdam did me a stencil piece of a Spraycan for the price of a chicken roll which was incredibly generous and I also found one of his "Warship" stencils which he dropped later in the evening. All in all a great night with some amazing free art, pictures of which are included here.

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

I trade artist trading cards online at atcsforall.com. For those of you who have never heard of ATCs, they are 2.5 x3.5 cm and are traded in the same way kids swap football or Pokemon cards. You create cards in whatever medium takes your fancy and then trade them with other artists either online or at swap meets. There is a lot of work that doesn't interest me, far too many cute animals and "vintage" scrap-booking, but look through the galleries and you will find some interesting stuff. It is a very female dominated world though and could certainly do with a few more chaps getting involved which would definitely vary what's on offer. Click on the link in my "Worth A Gander" section and get involved. Here are a few examples of my ATCs.