Big Sandy (nee Rusty Williams) and his Fly-Rite Boys. Formed in the late 80′s as part of the Southern CA Rockabilly Revival their sound has grown to encompasses folk, bluegrass, Western swing, Cajun, and mariachi influences. Sandy and the boys have recorded about a dozen albums of great roots sound. Start with the LP Jumpin’ from 6 to 6 and go from there. Each one’s a bit different but all have one foot stuck firmly in Rockabilly, country and western swing.

Big Sandy

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys

I’ve posted a few of these before so if I’ve repeated any it’s for good reason. The following are hand painted movie posters from the country of Ghana. These beautiful works of art are employed as promotion for traveling, somewhat impromptu, film showings. Someone will load up a truck, a few movies, a few posters and head to the country to show them on a building wall or a big sheet. What can be said about these? They’re cool, they’re odd, the perspective is all wrong, the composition is childish and every star look vaguely asian or completely unrecognizable – all put together you get a perfect piece of folk art.

AND THE BEST GHANIAN POSTER IS…….

Steven King’s – Cujo (The Killer Dog)

George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) George Jones, singer, songwriter, performer, drunk  and raconteur was considered by many to be the greatest living country singer – that is, up until this morning.

Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for tales of his drinking, stormy relationships with women, and violent rages as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing many performances, earning him the nickname “No Show Jones.” Jones had more than 150 hits during his career, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists.

Jones recalled a story where his 2nd wife Shirley hid his car keys so he couldn’t drive to the nearest liquor store 8 miles away. She didn’t however hide the lawn mower key – Says George,  “There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine, a key glistening in the ignition. I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did.” In her 1979 autobiography, 3rd wife Tammy Wynette ( and recording partner) recalled waking at 1 AM to find her husband gone: “I got into the car and drove to the nearest bar 10 miles away. When I pulled into the parking lot there sat our rider-mower right by the entrance. He’d driven that mower right down a main highway. He looked up and saw me and said, `Well, fellas, here she is now. My little wife, I told you she’d come after me.’

George and Tammy

George

Not a lot to say really – these are pictures of women on motorcycles. Always a bit of a male dominated activity, there were always those few brave woman who just wouldn’t sit still – and thank the lord for that.

San Francisco Womens Motorcycle Unit – 1940

Dispatch Riders

The Fabulous Bessie Stringfield – Rode solo coast to coast through the deep south in the 1940′s

Anne Margaret loved motorcycles

George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) George Jones, singer, songwriter, performer, drunk  and raconteur was considered by many to be the greatest living country singer – that is, up until this morning.

Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for tales of his drinking, stormy relationships with women, and violent rages as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing many performances, earning him the nickname “No Show Jones.” Jones had more than 150 hits during his career, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists.

Jones recalled a story where his 2nd wife Shirley hid his car keys so he couldn’t drive to the nearest liquor store 8 miles away. She didn’t however hide the lawn mower key – Says George,  “There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine, a key glistening in the ignition. I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did.” In her 1979 autobiography, 3rd wife Tammy Wynette ( and recording partner) recalled waking at 1 AM to find her husband gone: “I got into the car and drove to the nearest bar 10 miles away. When I pulled into the parking lot there sat our rider-mower right by the entrance. He’d driven that mower right down a main highway. He looked up and saw me and said, `Well, fellas, here she is now. My little wife, I told you she’d come after me.’

George and Tammy

George

Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE (born 1 May 1946) Happy Birthday! Best known for her role as the drunken fashion director, Patsy Stone in the BBC series Absolutely Fabulous, Joanna Lumley has had a long and varied career. Starting as a model in the early 60′s, she has gone on to be, among other things, a Tony Award winning actress, a voice-over artist, Bond girl, author and human rights activist. She has been awarded the title of “National Treasure of Nepal” for her human rights work for Gurka Justice Campaign and was awarded an OBE for her humanitarian work. Happy Birthday to one cool dame.

From – The New Avengers

New Avengers

With Rod Stewart

Patsy Stone – Absolutely Fabulous

Eddie & Patsy – Absolutely Fabulous

Safety in the workplace has always been a big issue, especially as countries develop new industries – more people + more jobs + big machinery = fewer arms and legs.  It would seem obvious, but perhaps, a reminder to be careful and not cut your hand off was helpful. The designers of the following posters went a bit overboard but they do get the point across. So don’t stick your head between two railroad cars, mind your tools and be careful when your loading fish – all good advice.

Netherlands 1930 – 70′s

Created in 1951 by Philippe Halsman and Salvatore Dali – from a sketch by Dali. The famous photograph is a ‘Tableau Vivant’ or Living Portrait, comprised of 7 nude women to create a human skull. This photo has been used on everything from T-Shirts, to shopping bags to movie posters (Silence of the Lambs and The Descent, et al). The following photos give a somewhat humorous behind the scene glimpse into it’s creation.

In Voluptas Mors – Phillippe Halsmann And Salvador Dali 1951

Philippe Halsman

Salvador Dali

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) As a designer, to say you’re not a huge fan of arguably the world’s most famous graphic designer is just about sacrilege. I’ve always held a bit of a grudge when he rather testily claimed to have directed the ‘shower scene’ in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, I don’t know, but he didn’t have to be such a dick about it. Anyhow… He really did change the face of graphic design, with his bold flat colors and use of  ‘paper cut’ imagery. He created posters for, among others, Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Kubrick and Scorsese. Better than his movie posters were his title sequences. Movie titles up to this point were mostly static, Bass created a very kinetic style, making the titles tell a story in motion. Check out the sequences for Psycho, North by Northwest and The Man with the Golden Arm on YouTube. They are great. So Happy Birthday Saul – you grouchy old (dead) bastard.

Having  just watched David Bowie’s new video for the song “The Next Day”, starring Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard I was reminded how cool and beautiful she really is. Already a talented and award winning actress in her native France, she has since made a name for herself in the US, winning the Academy Award for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (also winning the French equivalent, The Cesar for the same role) and costarring in among others, Inception, Public Enemies and the final Batman installment The Dark Knight Rises. She continues to act, campaign for Greenpeace, occasionally sing with Scottish Band Franz Ferdinand and was recently voted the most beautiful woman in the world by Hungarian magazine Periodika (?).

Every band in the world sells some kind of merch. From the smallest Indie to the largest supergroup. A T-Shirt, a hat, maybe a scarf or badge. It pays the bills and can make a ton of money. But one band has taken it to extremes, that being the band formerly known as Wicked Lester, aka KISS. Gene Simmons took over the merchandise and basically licensed anything and everything that could hold a KISS logo. He made partnerships with everyone from Pez to Sanrio’s Hello Kitty and even Mr. Potato Head. There are Kiss coffins, Kiss condoms, Kiss toilet paper and Kiss Beer and wine. There is even a Kiss coffee house in Melbourne. Between 1977 and 1980 they made $100 million on merch alone. Who knows what they’ve made sense. For a truly awful band from Queens NY they certainly have capitalized on their stupid cartoonish persona.

Mr. Potato Head

Hello Kitty

Kiss Condoms

The Snuggie

Deluxe Coffin

Standard Kiss Kasket

Kiss Krunch

NutKracker – The Demon

Paul Stanley Signature Fire Helmet

Pez

Funeral Cremation Urn

Solo LP Art Van Sneakers

Kiss Coffehouse

Medicom Kubrick Bears

Hello Kitty Kiss Toilet Paper

Kiss Wine

Doris Wishman (June 1, 1912 – August 10, 2002) Doris started her career as a film maker well into her forties. In the late 1950′s it was deemed by the film censorship board that you could finally show nudity in a film, only if it was a documentary. Doris hit on the idea of nudist camp docs and started her career with the nudie Hideout in the Sun. Her 2nd film, about a nudist camp on the moon, abtly titled Nude on the Moon was banned in New York State, as the censor board stated that films featuring nudity in a nudist colony setting was fine, but showing nudity in a science fiction-themed film about a nudist colony on the moon was not. Go figure. The nudie market quickly dried up and Doris, rolling w/ the tide, went into the Sexploitation/softcore market starting with 1965′s Bad Girls Go to Hell and peaking with her biggest hits Deadly Weapons and Double Agent 73 about a secret agent who would smother her enemies with her massive 73″ breasts, also making the fabulous Chesty Morgan a star, albeit briefly. Doris would next shoot a couple of hard-core films which she distanced herself from, believing them to be ‘unseemly’. She would end her film career with a bid at the slasher genre – A Night to Dismember, a commercial failure. Doris would retire to Florida, working in a lingerie store and would eventually pass away in 2002 of lymphoma, heralded by Joe Bob Briggs as “The greatest female exploitation film director in history.”

Doris behind the camera

The Christian record market of the 60′s and 70′s was an odd phenomenon – to say the least. If you had something to say or a family you thought could sing, well dammit, make a record about it, slap a shitty picture on it and call it good. Thousands of records were produced on small labels, most likely owned by churches, sold to parishioners and not to too many others. They have made their way into Goodwill and Salvation Army record bins the world over, reaching more people than ever, and are for the most part, unintentionally hilarious. Though I’ve bought a number of these I’ve never listened to a single one, though I would give “No Crippled Girls in Heaven” by Lanita Eversole a spin.

Don’t Let the Devil Blow Your Mind – by The Elder, Marshall Taylor

No Crippled Girls in Heaven – Lanita Eversole

Sex and the Female – Evangelist Jay Snell

The Singing Midget – Lowell Mason & The Crusaders

The Beatles & Jesus Christ – The Valley-Aires

The Weibe Family Singers

Songs by – The Chet Long Family

The Love of God is Slipping Away

New Jerusalems Where I’m Bound (in an Airstream) – The Meeks Family

God’s Gospel Giant – Vance Zinn

We’re Excited – The Kings Messengers

Bill & Sue Present Jesus on Conformity Records

And God Gave Me a Fix, From Junk to Jesus

Come Ye Apart Awhile (?) – May Rowland

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm  format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the street photographer style that was coined The Decisive Moment that has influenced generations of photographer.

Cartier-Bresson spent more than three decades on assignment for Life and other journals. He traveled without bounds, documenting some of the great upheavals of the 20th century — the Spanish civil war, the liberation of Paris in 1944, the 1968 student rebellion in Paris, the fall of the Kuomintang in China to the communists, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the Berlin Wall, and the deserts of Egypt. He became the first Western photographer to photograph “freely” in the post-war Soviet Union. But many of his most renowned photographs are of ordinary daily life, seemingly unimportant moments captured and then gone.

Cartier-Bresson died on August 3, 2004, aged 95. No cause of death was announced. He was buried in the local cemetery.

France

Brussels

Picasso and daughter – Spain

Rome

Mexico

France

USA (somewhere)

Rome

France – The River Marne

Seville, Spain

Truman Capote – USA

France

Los Angeles

France

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Ron Mueck is an Australian sculpture currently living and working in the UK. Ron started his career as a puppeteer and model maker for kids shows in London in the ’80′s. He created many of the creatures for Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (even voicing the character Ludo) and Story Teller. He left Show Business for the world of fine art in 1996. With his model making skills he faithfully and in minute detail reproduces the human form but alters the scale, tiny or huge, for a sometimes (hell, all the time), jarring effect. His sculpture ‘Boy’ is over 16 ‘ high and ‘In Bed’ (seen below) spans well over 30′. His ‘Spooning Couple” is just a bit over 1 foot long. He creates his pieces out of silicone, polyurethane, wood, synthetic hair and hours upon hours of painstaking detail. Ron shows all over the world – as long as there’s space large enough to hold his work.

Women’s wrestling started as a novelty act between mens bouts in the 1940s. It didn’t take long for the women to be topping the bill all on their own. The 1950′s and 60′s were considered the “Golden Age” of womens wrestling and The Fabulous Moolah was Queen (see below). The idea of one tough, scantily clad (for the 50′s) babe kicking another scantily clad babes’ ass was a dream come true for the repressed 1950′s male. Just like everything else cool about the 60′s, lady wrestling simply faded away with the 70′s  – and was replaced with muscle bound men fake smacking the shit out of each other. Enter Hulk Hogan, et al.

The Fabulous Moolah

Young Mae Young

Old Mae Young

Unidentified Lady Wrestler

Ella Waldek – Girl Wrestler

Penny Banner

Unidentified Lady Wrestler

The Fabulous Moolah

Mexican Lobby Cards are beautiful, especially from the 50′s and 60′s. Great weird artwork, bold type and a black and white still pasted smack in the middle of everything. Usually lobby cards would come in sets of 8 and were somewhat expensive to produce as each one would be a different 4 color print. The Mexican artist solved the problem by simply printing one 4 color master then slapping  a different cheap b/w photo on the existing card. Because of this many of the stills wouldn’t survive longer then a few runs of the film, becoming extremely dog-eared or missing all together. A totally clean card is a rarity indeed.

Attack of the Giant Leeches

Beast with a Million Eyes

Santanico

La Bestia de la Noche Amarilla

La Callavera Chillona – Screaming Skull

La Brujas del Infierno

El Charro de la Calaveras or El Lobo Humano or El Vampiro Siniestro

La Mente  Y Crimen

La Mano del Dablo – Hands of the Devil

Doctor loco de la Isla Sangrienta – Crazy Dr of Blood Island (?)

Neutron

El Latico en Las Momias Asesinas

La Momia Azteca Contra El Robot Humano – The Azrec Mummy vs The Human Robot

El Ataque de los Zombies

This is a tough one. Some LP covers are designed so beautifully that it doesn’t even matter what’s on the record. Most though carry the weight of personal experience and love of the music that’s on the vinyl (or CD). It’s hard (for me, anyway) to appreciate the cover of say, Super Tramps’ Breakfast in America when the music inside is such utter bullshit. Or conversely, Nirvanas’ Nevermind -  a great album, but I find the cover absolutely  awful – iconic indeed, but to my eye poorly designed. So take this for what it is, opinion laced with a designers eye and a bit of snobbery. I know everyone will have an opinion – “where’s all the Led Zeppelin LP’s” (there is one on the list) and “why in the world would you include the first Killing Joke LP”. I also know the minute I post this I’ll remember 5 other LP that absolutely must be on the list. But for now this will have to do. All I can say is – My blog, my List.

1.The Beatles – ‘White’ Album

2. London Calling – The Clash                                                   3. Velvet Underground

4. David Bowie – Alladin Sane                    5. Cohn Coltrain – Blue Train

6. Devo – Are We Not Men?                            7. Elvis Presley

8. Kraftwerk – The Man Machine                       9. The Beatles – Revolver

10. New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies

11.The Rolling Stones – Exile on Mainstreet             12. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper

13. Talking Heads – Greatest Hits

14. Roxy Music – Country Life                                   15. The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

16. The Smiths                                                        17. T. Rex – The Slider

18. The Ramones                                               19. The Rolling Stones – Some Girls

20. Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures

21. Elvis Costello – Get Happy                                               22. The Notorious BIG – Ready to Die

23. Donald Byrd – A New Perspective                                           24. Wire – Pink Flag

25. David Bowie – The Next Day                                       26. David Bowie – Heroes

27. Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks                                28. The Beatles – Meet the ….

29. Elvis Costello – This Years Model                                                          30. Led Zeppelin

31. Little Richard – Here’s Little Richard

32. Primal Scream – Screamidelica                                             33. Iggy Pop – The Idiot

34. Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin                               35. The Rolling Stones – Let it Bleed

36. Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space    37. Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure

38. James Brown – At the Apollo      39. Patti Smith – Horses

40. Pixies – Come On Pilgrim

41. The Residents – Eskimo                                                      42. The New York Dolls

43. PIL – Metal Box                                                        44. The Beatles – Rubber Soul

45. Ride – Nowhere                                              46. Kraftwerk – Trans Europe Express

47. Eric Dolphy – Out To Lunch                         48. Eno – Here Come the Warm Jets

49. Johnny Thunders – Copy Cat                                         50. Tom Waits – Rain Dogs

51. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

52. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited    53. Frank Black – Teenager of the Year

54. Johnny Cash – American Music Vol. 1                              55. Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation

56. Freddie Hubbard - Hub-Tones                              57. Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

58. Deer Hunter – Halcyon Digest                 59. Cornershop – When I Was Born for the 7th Time

60. David Bowie – Diamond Dogs

61.Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water          62. The Gun Club – Miami

63. Paul McCartney – McCartney                        64. Talking Heads – Fear of Music

65. Beastie Boys – License to Ill                66. Marilyn Manson – Mechanical Animals

67. Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin….                  68. Beck – Odelay

69. Joy Division – Closer                 70. Miles Davis – Bitches Brew

71. Funkadelic – Maggot Brain

72. Andrew W.K.                    73. Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power

74. Dexter Gordon – Gettin’ Around               75. Doom & Madlib – Madvillain

76. Peter Gabriel               77. Lou Reed – Transformer

78. Howlin’ Wolf – Real Folk Blues                     79. The Specials

80. Television – Marquee Moon

81. David Bowie – Pinups                82. Serge Gainsbourg – Historie de Melody Nelson

83. Killing Joke                             84. The Cramps – Bab Music for Bad People

85. The Louvin Brothers – Satan is Real       86. Frank Sinatra – In the Wee Small Hours

87. Pink Floyd – Animals        88. Nick Lowe – The Jesus of Cool

89. Various – The Best Musical Comedy Songs       90. Pizzicato 5 – Playboy, Playgirl

91. The Head and the Heart

92. Blur – Leisure                     93. Sharon Jones – I learned the Hard Way

94. The Horrors – Strange House             95. The Damned – Damned

97. Ian Dury – New Boots and Panties                 98. REM – Murmur

99. Belle & Sebastian – Tiger Milk                           100. Pete Molinari – A Train Bound for Glory

Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967 – Sheffield, England) Difficult to put in any specific category, part folk, part troubadour, a bit rockabilly and a bunch of pop, Richard Hawley is a truly unique artist. His first brush with popularity came with his Brit-Pop band The Longpigs in the early 90′s. Leaving the Longpigs in 2000 he played for a short bit with his friend Jarvis Cocker in Pulp. Leaving Pulp he struck out on his own recording a number of well received solo LPs – being nominated for the Mecury Prize twice. When not working on his own music Richard has written and recorded with The Arctic Monkys, Nancy Sinatra, Elbow and REM to name a few. He is currently writing music for a new Lisa Marie Presley LP (?).

With Jarvis Cocker and/or PULP

About 2004 and earlier

The Devils Arse – On Dec. 5 2008 Richard played a live show at The Peak Cavern (or Devils Arse, named for the flatulent sound the cave makes when water drains away). The name of the cave was changed in 1880 from “Devil’s Arse” to “Peak Cavern” in order not to cause offense to Queen Victoria during a visit for a concert. More recently the cave has been promoted using its older, more vulgar name.

Lay on Ground – Light Fuse – Get Away