RIP Jon Martyn

This past year, I've been really strung out on some of the unsung and british heroes of late 60's - early 70's experimental folk. This song is a gem that pops into my head at least once a week.

May you never.

Original Replacements photo up on eBay

Legendary sweetheart and MPLS back-in-the-day photographer Daniel Corrigan has put up an 11" x 14" print from the original negative of this classic Replacements photo on eBay. The photo, shot in an elevator at the University of Minnesota's Coffman Union Student Center, captures so completely the individual personalities of each of the 'Mats.

I just spent a half hour diging around Daniel's portfolio; a trip back through the heyday of punk / post-punk / pre-grunge days when Mineapolis was king.

Thanks in advance to you readers for pooling your money together and buying this for me.

Foghorn Leghorn vs. The Beatnick Banty

My pal, Jodi's da-da-dadyy-o just signed on to Facebook. He goes by the name Gomer and uses Foghorn Leghorn as his profile picture. Just knowing that, you get the gist of the kind of character he is. He was the inspiration for me going to look for what may be one of the best Warner Brother's cartoons of all time, Banty Raid.

Banty Raids
Uploaded by thadk

Local Wrestling Commercials from 1984

DotDotkins has posted up a slew of vintage AWA (American Wrestling Association) videos including these wrestler endorsements. I can remember each one of these from growing up. I still salivate over that Best of '84 long-sleeve T-shirt. However, nothing beats the original Claw Power shirt.

Art Shanty Projects 2009 -Opens on Saturday.

Hey all, I know most of you are probably sick of hearing me rant about the Art Shanty Project this year, but forgive me, but this year there are some amazing shanties on the ice. A pedal powered coffee shop, a sauna/distillery, an overturned rowboat complete with arctic survivors, radical mappers, a submarine (the USS Walter Mondale), plus some returns from precious years, K-ICE Radio, The Norae Bang Shanty, Blackbox Theater (new and improved), Snapshot Shanty, The Art Car Taxi Stand and a dozen more make this an amazing experience. (not to mention Mt. Holly's own dICEHOUSES Shanty!)

Among other events this year will be world record setting conga lines and cribbage games.

Open weekends January 17th through February 14th.

More information at the Art Shanty Projects website.

Gary Wilson - Cage Protégé / Self-taught Electronic Musician / Duck Walker

Gary Wilson's 1977 LP, You Think You Really Know Me?, was one of my favorite discoveries back in the late 80's while I Dj'ed a catalog digging show on U of M college radio station WMMR (now, the amazing Radio K)

From the self-designed cover featuring a blown out negative of a mousy looking man in a man's cardigan and woman's cat-eye glasses to song titles like 6.4 = Makeout and Chromium Bitch, the Lp promised a wild ride. While it truly provides a high degree of strangeness, You think You Really Know Me? is an extremely earnest and emotionally charged reaction to one man's alienation to the women he loved.

Gary Wilson's bio on wikipedia
Talk to Gary himself.

The Holy Mountain? More like The Holy Mind Melter.

Guns, buns and God's son. Since The Holy Mountain is outside the tradition of criticism and review, I guess that is all I have to say.

Thanks to Dan Swenson for the share.

Bill Dilworth and his well kept room full of dirt.

Here's an amazing story about the power and value of inertia, simplicity, and asking the right things from life.

From Youtube:

"In SoHo, New York there is a second-floor loft full of dirt. It's called the New York Earth Room, and is a Dia Foundation Project. The artist is Walter De Maria, and he installed it here in 1977. Bill Dilworth has cared for the Earth Room for 19 years."

Thanks Metafilter

Popeye Moves into Public Domain in Europe

My pal Zak over at Lamano HQ, dropped a bomb on me on New Year's Eve.

As it is over 70 years since the death of Elzie Segar, Popeye has become public domain in Europe meaning he becomes as openly usable as the letter 'E'. . . in Europe. I'm excited for the possibility of a British led Popeye punk movement where skinheads get jaw implants and eye extractions. And, I know for sure the Kinder Eggs are going to chock full of Thimble Theater toys this year.

I've been a big fan on Popeye in all forms since I was a tike. I will even go on the record as saying Robin William's only redeeming quality is his roll in the live action version of Popeye (Second octopus post of the day) (which is huge considering my deep-seated hatred of all things RW). I even love when Popeye get's disrespected by whippersnappers. As a matter of fact, I have to leave this post right now as my daughter is upstairs toot-tooting, which means Popeye is on Boomerang right now.

A Great Vintage Yellow Pages Ad

As I scour the greatest tomes of common sense and handiness (pre-1966 Popular Mechanics), I look forward to finding these amazing ads from the good folks at the Yellow Pages. The beauty of these ads is that they each ran only once per publication. A bold and humane approach to advertising that provided readers with something fresh, and downright clever, every month. (Instead of the lazy, repetitious, Pavlovian, jackhammering of a single ad that we experience today.)

I'm open to discussion:

When, aside from maybe those equally great and varied "Don't kill yourself, get a subscription!" Mad magazine ads, have you actually been routinely surprised by or looked forward to an advertisers next emission?

I'll be posting some more up as I come across them in a flickr pool, here.

Kure Kure Takora - Amazing Japanese Kids Show from the 70's

Ah, what would Saturday mornings be without kids shows about a greedy octopus, a stooge-like gourd, and a chattering jellyfish with a sprinkler on it's head?

I stumbled across Kure Kure Takora while living in San Francisco a couple of years back. Initially, I was looking for a present for Autumn who was then 2. I found a very stylized DVD holder. It was a bold, red cartoon interpretation of the show's protagonist, Kure Kure Takora (Gimme Gimme Octopus). There were a few screenshots on the back that looked incredible. So, I picked it up.

Not only did Autumn go bonkers for the show, so did the rest of Mt. Holly! There isn't one of us who cannot sing the theme song in perfect Japanese (although non of us understand what we are singing. There are a whole bunch of episodes over on youtube.

This is a must for anyone who is a fan of Yo Gabba Gabba.