Steve Lambert art shiow (SP?)

Steve Lambert solo show walkthrough from Steve Lambert on Vimeo.

Another great find from over at Dinosaurs and Robots. Yes, I'm talking about an actual rare and elusive Frauenfelder penned typo! (I know, I shouldn't cast any stones around typos myslef.) Look fast or you may miss it! Plus, this video walkthrough of Steve Lambert's amazingly beautiful new art show. Man, that feller is good.

My Drawing Kit

My Drawing Kit
Originally uploaded by mthaeg

It's a good day at my digital job when my desk gets this analog.

World Famous Wrestler, THE MYSTERION, Will Draw a Picture of Himself Kicking Your Ass for FREE!

For the past couple of years, I've been getting the cold shoulder from our postmaster. I finally found out why. It seems that as a result of a redesign oversight, this line disappeared from the bottom of each issue.

Philatelic Collectors mail to: 305 Holmes St • Mt. Holly, MN 55379 - all postcards answered by Mt. Holly postmaster & outlaw professional wrestler, the Mysterion.

Since retiring from the squared circle in 1994, the Mysterion has devoted much of his free time to making personalized drawings of himself mutilating all who challenge him by sending him their photo in the mail. The Mysterion speaks:

You senda da picture anda stamp, I unleash powerful fury of ALMIGHTY MYSTERION on you face anda body areas. I crack skulls. I wield foreign objects. I tear apart. I send back drawing and photo. You cry big tears like spring rain growing flowers for you own funeral.

In a message of goodwill (and fear for my own personal safety) this is a PSA for our good friend, The Mysterion. Send a photo, a stamp, and a nice letter of introduction to:

The Mysterion
305 Holmes St S
Mt. Holly, MN 55379

You can expect or receive your ass-kicking in 2-3 weeks.

Pablo skates his Baseman autographed deck

I love the fact that our friend's George and Jen have a boy thrashing around town on an autographed Gary Baseman deck. Apparently, Mr. Baseman did too. He signed the deck above the wheels where it won't get ground off. Smart!

Art Boat Party! Creative Electric SS Infinite Regress Opening

Safe House Boat
Originally uploaded by jennysalmela

For all of you artsters who will be looking for a relief from being packed into small studios in former grain silos, feed mills, and casket factories during this year's Art-a-Whirl. Take a break down at the river with the Creative Electric crew aboard their floating artscape!

Here's the skinny:

Creative Electric Studios to launch SS Infinite Regress during Art-a-Whirl 2009

DATES: May 15-May 17th
Bands / Dancing /special events at dusk on Friday and Saturday

LOCATION: Behind the Sample Room ( 2124 Marshall Street NE, MPLS) on the Mississippi River

Creative Electric Studios pulled the Safe House Boat into drydock over the winter and after extensive modifications the boat will be rechristened SS Infinite Regress and launched this May in time for Art-a-Whirl.

The public is invited to experience the infinite finite space inside the SS Infinite Regress. Visitors will be asked to don sterile white suits upon boarding. Once suited up visitors will be allowed entry to the bridge. Films will be projected and reflected through a series of glass mirrors onto the white suits, making them both the observer and the observed.

The design of SS Infinite Regress was predicated on this principle:

Infinite regress: in a series of propositions arises if the truth of proposition P1 requires the support of proposition P2, and for any proposition in the series Pn, the truth of Pn requires the support of the truth of Pn+1. There would never be adequate support for P1.

in other words ...

"an attempt to solve a problem which re-introduced the same problem in the proposed solution. If one continues along the same lines, the initial problem will recur infinitely and will never be solved. Not all regresses, however, are vicious."

Other christening ceremony events include:
Floating musical performances by White Map, Allison Lebon (of The Owls), Gay Witch Abortion
plus Modern Dance performances
(events subject to change)

Craftstravaganza! This Saturday! May 2!

There's a great post by Mr. Jalopy over at Dinosaurs and Robots called $upport Independent Business and Reject the Fakers that you would all benefit from reading. It is a case study around the corporate crapping on of Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching by Urban Threads that demonstrates how corporations rip off individual artists and create shittier versions of fine goods to screw the consumer as well. Here's a killer Jalopy quote from a few years back.

Everything you love, everything meaningful with depth and history, all passionate authentic experiences will be appropriated, mishandled, watered down, cheapened, repackaged, marketed and sold to the people you hate.

This Saturday, you have the chance to perk up your life wih some quality and style while perking up the pocketbooks of some great local craftspeople and artists at Craftstravaganza in the Fine arts Building on the Minnesota State Fair grounds.

There's a lot of great stuff to be seen including work from these mayoral favorites:

Amy Jo
Nate's Custom Sewing
Mia Sorella Aprons
Meghan Elizabeth Pottery
Aisha Celia Designs
Cosmo's Collars

Pan Handling Competition is Running Hot in Minneapolis

Becoming unemployed means considering all of one's options, like taking up a position as a Public Fund Requisitioning Agent (bum). It's a tough business here in Minneapolis and considering I will be out of a job in two weeks, I think I need to get my game, beard and hangdog look in shape if I plan to continue to provide for the citizens of Mt. Holly while on the streets.

Yesterday, I saw a guy on the street in full clown gear blowing bubbles while holding up a sign saying "The circus laid me off." It brings me back to one of my favorite ad campaigns from the past few years.

Frequent Mt. Holly tourist, Todd Norem (noremipsum.com) (ed 5/4/09 - and his partner Liz Otremba LinkedIn) created these media appropriate and proven effective outdoor boards for his client Ed who reported at least a 800% increase in gross income on days his media ran.

Brother, can you spare a headline?

Another Great Illustrated Unemployment Haiku

As I prepare myself to join the ranks of the great unemployed in two weeks (by choice, if you can believe that), I discover beauty and solace and survival tips in the wisdom of these hardened masters of redundancy, Matthew Bottkol and Todd Eisner. You too can find the cadence in inertia every week at Unemployment Haiku Weekly.

Awesome 60's Hovercraft Video!

Head on over to Dinosaurs and Robots for a great video of one of the suavest modes of transportation ever conceived, a personal hovercraft!

CB Radio Voice Effects! 1

Double Nickel demonstrates the Echo.

More from the Your Business Card is Crap! fellow.

Chris Zubryd, the director/editor of "The Pitch, Poker & the Public" the 30 min doc the original Joel Bauer clip was pulled from, sent me a link to the full clip. I haven't been this creeped out since The Men Who Stare at Goats!

This video asks the question "Can you go corporate without losing your soul?” It explores some of the advertising and influence industry's giants through the lens of the greatest persuader of them all; P.T. Barnum. As it turns out he never said, "There is a sucker born every minute". Hear why you think he did, hear how Joan Jett's career was launched by the man who launched it, hear from the creator of the Marlboro man and from the greatest pitchman alive today as well as one of the greatest Texas hold'em players to sit at the poker table. These men have been in the business for decades and have learned valuable things about creating perceptions to turn a profit.

Big Daddy Roth would have called this Rat Puke Green

loafing dept
Originally uploaded by mthaeg

My new workbench surface is probably going to drive me nuts, but it's left over industrial paint from The World's Largest Cribbage Board. It's as durable as a nun's willpower.

Audible design? Musical Craftsmanship? The Band live in their Woodstock studio 1970

If there is a band that I would ever have wanted to be a part of, it would have to be The Band. I've tried to explain why. It's not because of the artists that they've backed up. It's not because of one particular individual, although they are all amazing musicians.

I think that the real magic of The Band is in how they worked together as a design studio or craftsmen's guild, each with individual talents that built on and played off of each other's creativity to create a hardworking yet beautiful article.

One get's the same feeling from the house bands of Stax, Motown, or Muscle Shoals. But, in Woodstock, The Band created something special. Here's proof.

Prove You're a Human

Got this random come-on from the human verifier over at Facebook. How it's not only my high school classmates who are stalking me there, it's the technology itself.

Everything is?

If you are looking for everything, you'll find more of it at Yahoo.

Yahoo: Everything is @ 2,310,000,000
Google: Everything is @ 571,000,000
MSN: Everything is @ 390,000,000

And for the sake of thoroughness
Neutral Milk Hotel: Everything is

Kermit gets a lesson in visual thinking from Harry the Hipster.

Your Business Card is Crap!

Thanks for the link from Cornelius Coons >

Will You Be Here Tomorrow? Industrial Education Video Carnage Compiled

Thanks to idea designer and budding cannibal Sean Whipps for sending this one along.

While I would love to think that this video exists exactly as it is currently edited, I have to believe that this is a compilation of scenes from an industrial safety video series. It's has to be. It's too insane.

Unless, perhaps the producers decided that the BLOOD ON THE HIGHWAY model of teen instruction through terror is the only way to ensure a safe workplace.

The next time your boss tells you that you are lucky to have a job especially in this economy, tell him you're not so sure and send him a link to this amazing gorefest.

Possible Good Luck Charm Recall - RIP Art Car Genius and Political Prankster Tom Kennedy

Topsy-Turvy Bus (Ben & Jerry’s latest flavor?) @ Yahoo! Video

I was lucky enough to get to meet Tom Kennedy this last winter when he visited the Art Shanty Project. Right off the bat, you could tell this guy was something great. Denis the menace grin and a twinkle in his eye. Tom is responsible for many amazing art cars and political pranks. I just saw over on Boing Boing that he had passed away.

On February 13th, 2009, Tom posted this responce to recieving a Mt. Holly Good Luck Decoder badge.

Dear Mayor, Your frozen dice game was superb! Greetings from Tom Kennedy (www.tomkennedyart.com), who met you on the ice. I am back in San Francisco, and really appreciate your gift. Is it a decoder and will I get sent secret messages? When we make art boats and float down the Mississippi, you should consider floating dice!

I hope it was not defective, Tom. May it serve you well in the next world.

Anyone who can put me in touch with those art boat folks, let me know. I do indeed have a dice I'd like to float.

World War I re-enacted by dogs!

More from the Dogville Shorts! "Vell Mr. Schmartalec, zoon you will be a frankfurrrrtar!!!!!"

[SPOILER] Another soundtrack inspired spoiler - Electra Glide in Blue

As long as I am spoiling movies...

Anyone who has seen this movie will tell you how unexpected and moving this final scene is. I'll tell you what. It was even more unexpected to discover that all the hairy bikers in the film were actually played by members of the band Chicago, one of whom, Terry Kath, also sang the closing song.

SPOILER ALERT - Paris, Texas (1984)

PARIS TEXAS
by birdy66

Last night while I had some sketching to do I wanted something mellow and lazy to listen to, something that would sound good comping through the small speakers of the radio that I play my records through. I got to C and pulled out Ry Cooder's soundtrack to this amazing Wim Winders film. It was perfect. But, I had forgotten one thing . . . that half of one side of the LP is dedicated to Harry Dean Stanton's monologue from this incredible scene. It stopped me dead in my tracks.

Queenie in Trouble - 1930's dressed up dog movie

Hold on to your pig's ears, chomp on your rawhide, there's trouble brewing for poor Queenie. Thanks Nicole.

Nick Saloman aka Bevis Frond plays the Countdown theme on Countdown

I remember seeing somewhere back in the early 90's a magazine's list of the most 10 most amazing guitar soloists of all time. There alongside Hendrix and Beck and Page was the name Nick Saloman. I was floored. Up until this point, Saloman, had self-released 3 home recorded albums on which he played all the instruments under the moniker Bevis Frond. 3 mind melting albums of lysergic noodling, drippy farfisa and amazing songwriting (One of my favorite songs of all time, Lights are Changing off his Triptych lp was covered by Mary Lou Lord whose version appeared in some crappy movie).

If you have never heard these albums: Miasma Inner Marshland and Triptych you really owe it to yourself to give them a spin.

Here Saloman puts his licks to good work interpreting the them to his favorite gameshow. It's the closest thing I could find to showcase the sound and feel of that amazing early Frond sound.

La Mano Art Sale!

My buddy, Zak Sally, kingpin of the La Mano Comics and Shark Psychology Empire, is selling some original works of art.

From Zak

Yes.
Like many people in the country (...and just about everywhere else), I'm scraping the barrel. This is NOT my "long-talked about-but-never-instituted 'I WILL DRAW YOUR INSIDES' Initiative", nor is it my "Sammy the Mouse OUT-TAKES Project": it's just me selling some art for money.

Keep your eyes on Zak's blog for more art as it becomes available: Sleeping Bait

Artist Scott Seekins - The Britney Cove

Scott is one of my favorite artists in Minneapolis. His life is art. He is a master of many styles an techniques. If you are in or around town when he has his open studio, you must go to witness the breadth of his talents. One of his favorite subjects in the past several years has been Britney Spears. In honor of her show here in Minneapolis and the excitement Scott must be feeling, I would like to share with you Scott's Britney Cove.

Johnny Rex's super-8 movies from Minneapolis' skid row circa 1960

Visitor's to Minneapolis often remark about how much drinking goes on here.

They point out the few remaining buildings with any character downtown (There are really only one half a blocks worth left) and remark, "What happens in there?" but seldom wander inside.

And I'm glad.

Because, I tend to tipple in these places, to get away from the suits, the college kids, the convention goers, and the suburban sports fans. I enjoy cheap, stiff drinks, earnest conversation, and little or no distraction from either. It's a slice of heaven.

If I had a time machine, I would go back to skid row. Perhaps I'd see my grandpa brawling outside The Sourdough. He worked for the railroad. And from what I hear, he liked to get into his cups.

Enjoy this little slice of permanent happy hour. I hope it makes you as thirsty as it makes me.

Down on Skid Row by Johnny Rex.

Steve McQueen's Bullitt Car video and syncopated map!

I made a very rudimentary version of this route the first day I discovered that Google opened up their maps for route sharing. I just discovered Seero which allows users to watch a video, of , say, the best movie car chase of all times side by side with a map where the route is drawn out simultaneously!

Sorry, the embedding is a little wonky still, Click here for the full experience:

http://www.seero.com/video/Steve_McQueen_3

New Freeland

New Freeland - watch more funny videos

A classic from Bob & David.

New Register is online!

Mr. Doob's Unknown Pleasures AV

Mr. Doob has created a really sweet live version of the cover of the classic Joy Division Unknown Pleasures album cover that reacts to the music of the same. Click image above to check it out.

Another Gem from Unemployment Haiku Weekly

There is a certain zen to entering the folds of the unemployed. Some take it with grace, some take it with a short length of rope and a chair. We all, however, take it at least once in our lives. In recent times, purely as a result of some sort of BS on Wall Street, my pal and heckuva writer Matthew Bottkol and his pal and sometimes Mad Magazine contributor, Todd Eisner were both ejected out of the infernal bunghole we ad-men call The Industry.

And on days where I feel like i just can't take it anymore, without fail, I get a RSS ping that tells me Matt and Todd have posted another haiku. And I laugh. Not because I know these guys. Not because I still have a job. Mostly, I just laugh at the grace which which these two respond to the truisms around being an out of work creative in 5/7/5 form. Thanks, fellas.

You should too: Unemployment Haiku Weekly

The Amazing World of Song Poems: What is a song poem?

I can think of no better way to introduce you to song poems than through the words and music of an artist who is actively engaged in the process. The clips above are taken from an amazing documentary called Off The Charts, by Jamie Meltzer, which can be found on Amazon and Netflix, and help tell the story and present the work of Caglar Juan Singletary.

Singletary, like many song poem artists, stumbled across an ad in the back of a magazine that encouraged writers to submit their work, and the obligatory fee, to a company that will set their words to music with the promise of promotion through the music industry as a songwriter. What I find wonderful about many of these artists is that fame is usually not the primary goal for engaging in the song poem process. The artist's desire is to create a piece of work that expresses some heart-felt message that the artist is not able to create independently.

More to follow through the week as I will be introducing you to song poem organizations, artists, musicians and ultimately some of my own personal collection.

Tip of the hat to KEANON, whose comment over on Boing Boing led me to begin speaking about song poems with Singletary's story.

The Uncharted Zone - Say Goodbye to your Friday.

Thanks to Mr. Cornelius Coons and Ms. Domonique Franchesca for turning me on to this. The spirit of these singer/songwriters coupled with the video handiwork of Phil Thomas Katt has totally motivated me to spend the next week indulging myself and introducing you to the world of Song Poem Music. Stay tuned!

Until then, you can soak in more of this fine homegrown work on The Uncharted Zone's YouTube channel.

The Forest City Rockers Episode 2

The Forest City Rockers - Episode 2 from Eighty Four Films on Vimeo.

Eefin & Hambonin

World crisis charts fed into Microsoft songsmith.

My buddy Matthew from over at Unemployment Haiku Weekly (how appropriate) sent this over. Johannes Kreidler fed Microsoft Songsmith with charts based on plummeting stocks, war casualties and other doomsday statistics. The results are a lot more upbeat than you would expect.

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.

Two new Mt. Holly Related Blogs

The dICEHOUSES bLOG is loaded with the latest on our submission to the 2009 Art Shanty Projects. Think of it as a journal of our progress, articles about our favorite games, and a really sweet James Gang video. Heck, maybe the First Lady may even post her recipe for Shanty Wangs? This will also host our reporting from frozen Medicine Lake.



I've updated my portfolio over at The Public Works Department; It's now a blog. This will make it a whole lot easier for me to keep it updated. Check it out for all of the art and advertising that we proudly export. There are condom machines turned comic book vend-o-mats, my gruesome visage putting food on the table, even some professional work. And, the best of all . . . there's more to come!

The lady just wanted to live in her house

Photo: Stuart Isett for The New York Times

Any of you who have had the misfortune to bring up real estate around me while I'm into my cups knows that I have some pretty strong opinions about the whole racket. Set aside what you would expect me to say about retaining history and celebrating quirky character within community. Yep, I'm all for those things. The real issue I have is with the phenomenon called "First Time Home Owners". A home is where one puts their roots down and stays. It is the bottomless container for memories. It is the place where the grass is never greener. It's the place where your kids will bring their kids to visit you. Most first time house owners, don't stick around for more than 5 years, their houses are nothing more than a series of growing investments. This results in the development of shitty, temporary communities with no infrastructure or character. Case in point. Try to find one of these new developments in your area that is in walking or bike-riding distance to a library. But I digress.

I read this article about Edith Macefield’s tiny house in Ballard, WA that made a really sweet point about the most important location in anyone's life, their home. Even though she was offered a cool mill for her house, she passed. Not because she was some wingnut with an itinerary like the crackpot who wrote the previous paragraph in this blog post, but because simply and earnestly it was her home.

From the New York Times article:

“Everybody that’s come in and tried to talk about this has tried to create that image of her,” said Mike Semandiris, whose family has owned a chili parlor around the corner for more than 70 years. “But she didn’t give a damn about preserving old Ballard. The lady just wanted to live in her house.”

I'm not to sure which side of the fence I'm on about the decision to sell her house for demolition following her death this past spring. A big part of me (again see the first paragraph of this post) thinks it should remain. But a bigger part of me feels that with no family to leave it too, her home became just a house with her passing.- Link