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

Mt. Holly 2008 - The year in photos

Cub photographer, Autumn Haeg, turned 4 this past year and also turned out a few hundred photos (beginning here and moving forward) documenting her view of life on planet Mt. Holly.

Some highlights:

At some point, I enjoyed a bowl of soup.
We spent a lot of time in the car.
An interesting study of the lighting inside Mystery Cave.
Ponies.

Overall, it was a pretty sweet year.

Add Some Music to Your 2009!

Add a little soul!
Add a little garage!
Add a bunch of junk!
Add some easy-listening!

If I turn you on to something here, please support the artists by buying their music!

Have a rockin' new year!

Chris Montez!

Oh, man how I love Chris Montez. I got turned on to him by my good pal John P. of King Cat fame, and if that is not reason enough to believe that Mr. Montez isn't something of a ray of sunshine on the face of all living creatures, check this!

Those Beatles fellas opened up for Chris Montez at his 1962 London show!

It is alleged that while in London for said show he got into a fight with John Lennon in a pub and that Lennon poured a pint over his head at one point.

Mr. Herb Alpert signed Chris Montez to his fledgling A&M record label, resulting in 3 amazing records of laid back, cheery, latin-infused bliss.

He provided me with a headlining track on the first mix tape that I made for The First Lady while we were still courting. (Who am I kidding, we are still courting!)

He still sounds as fresh and happy today. If you doubt me cast your peepers on this:

The Unknown Comic.

Ah, the pun-tastic humor of the Unknown Comic. Originally, Murray Langston, a comedian who fell on hard times. When life handed him lemons, he put them in a shopping bag!

From Wikipedia:

"Langston also invested in a nightclub restaurant called "SHOW-BIZ", but the club closed within two years, taking his savings. Strapped for cash, he accepted an offer to appear on The Gong Show. However, he was reportedly embarrassed about appearing on the show, so he put a bag over his head, memorized a few old jokes, and became "The Unknown Comic". The character was a hit, and soon developed a cult following, appearing on more than 150 Gong Show episodes. Soon, he was appearing regularly in Las Vegas and made the rounds of many popular talk and variety shows."

Bush Hit by Shoes Tennis Remix

Alice's Restaraunt - Happy Thanksgiving

The Gobbler TV Commercial

The Gobbler!

Thanks Metafilter!

The Gobbler lives again online! Seriously, every page is an eye-popper!

Web Based Tunable Ham Radio Reciever - Listen to the world.

I love Ham Radio. I had a license to transmit Morse code back in my scouting years (only, the early 1980's, honest.) The memories of the nights I spent tuning, ever-so-lightly, the WWII aircraft receiver across bands and bands of chaotic jamming, unknown languages and frantic dots and dashes are some of my fondest. My room lit by the radio's single lightbulb (painted half read so as not to illuminate the cabin of the airplane to which it originally belonged). Warmth flooding off the tube-driven voltage converter.

Albeit stripped of most of these tactile elements that made DXing really great, a tunable online shortwave receiver is available courtesy of the the amateur radio club ETGD at the University of Twente.

Best listened to late at night, in a dimly lit room via headphones. There's also an amazing book about the life of one OM called Hello World (previously).

Thanks Metafilter

Jim Backus Memorial Cocktail Napkin Museum

I've been collecting cocktail napkins for some time now.

The naive nudes, the hand-drawn typography and the absolute corn beneath my glass of rye make me yearn for simpler times and a stronger liver.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more to follow, so subscribe to the feed for updates as they happen.

Pablo Valbuena: Augmented Spaces

Before clicking on the title link, hold onto your jaw and visit Today and Tomorrow's coverage of this installation. Be patient, it's worth it.

Real World Guitar Hero Riding A Bicycle

Fake or not, this is pretty cool. I'm hedging on fake, xmas is right around the corner and a viral video seems to be appropriate. I'll play along.

Thanks Sticksel and thanks Laughing Squid!

Wild Combination - Arthur Russel

The DVD for Wild Combination just became available yesterday. I'm pretty excited to see this film which up til this point has had very limited showings.

Arthur Russell was first and foremost an absolute perfectionist. His primary passions were his voice and his cello, but he forayed into many musical styles. People keep talking about the timelessness of his music and influence. It's not surprising that something so saturated and honed by one man's emotion should be timeless and beautiful. It's also not surprising that that immense attention, could cause someone to retreat deeply into themselves.

An Iowa farmboy; devoted Buddhist; and contemporary of David Byrne, Phillip Glass, Allen Ginsberg; Russell provided Sire Records with their first disco single in 1978. But, what really strike me are his minimal private pieces, just he and his cello, like Terrace of Unintelligibility :

YouTube video (part 1)
YouTube video (part 2)

There's a great interview with director Matt Wolf and the trailer clip over at Fecal Face.

Beauty

Via Metafilter

Who is Bozo Texino?

The First Lady hates that we live so close to the railroad. She claims it is because of the noise. I think it's because she catches a twinkle of wanderlust in my eye every time the train whistle blows.

Who is Bozo Texino? is a sootily shot documentary about the grease crayon hobos who have been marking up boxcars for the past 50 years. In particular, film maker Bill Daniel's quest for the true identity of one of the most prolific artists, Bozo Texino.