KITCHY WITCH

INSPIRATIONS

Found some early Herbie comic books for cheap.

Dunno Herbie? here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Popnecker

I first heard about Herbie as a boy through an excellent retrospective in an issue of Comics Scene magazine (an early ish, when that mag was good). It sounded like the best comic book ever! But hard to find, especially in Northern B.C. where I lived.I pored over that article again and again soaking up this Herbie character.
There's been reprints since, even pricey hard cover volumes with so-so reproduction. But they're missing some of the neat other stuff by Shea and Whitney that went into each issue of Herbie. A shame as Herbie feels like a fever dream, we are lucky it ever existed at all! Here's some never reprinted items from issue 2:







If you own the rights to these images and want them removed, let me know and I will.

TOUGHENING UP THE SHINS

Sometimes..........
...........a blog isn't the best place to work out/on creative doubts, as the blogosphere is the place where those anonymous and pseudonymous people who don't believe in you- and maybe want to see you fail- come and kick you.

REASONS OR EXCUSES?

Are the following reasons....or excuses? If they are excuses, are they for the shipper or receiver?

You aim too high. You need to lower your standards. Vancouver doesn't have a lot of options. You moved to Toronto during a recession. No one's buying art right now. Agencies are wondering if they're going to have to drop talent, let alone sign talent. The music (or any other appropriate) industry is dying. If only you guys had released it five years later. If only you guys had released it two years ago. It's too funny. Is it funny? It's funny, right? I don't get it (what's not to get?) Canada wants a more safe, banal version of an American funny (or of any) thing and the one exception, The Kids In The Hall, are all filled up as of twenty years ago. Is there a market for this? Have you ever tried doing this yourself? No one's paying writers. No one's paying for content.

The list goes on...

LOOKING WAYYYY BACK: CHILDHOOD DRAWINGS

When I was 12 I took a Greyhound bus trip with family friend and Minister Dexter. He had conducted my parents wedding only a couple of years earlier and many years later conducted my Dad's funeral. A couple of months ago he conducted my brother Perry's wedding. It was there that he gave me back a sketch book full of my drawings: a sketch book that I had originally given him on that bus trip. I honestly have no memory of this sketchbook but it survived a few of Dexter's moves across Canada and he was thoughtful enough to give it back to me as a gift that shows where I was at then and where I am now. Drawing hands and feet are still a problem and many of the characters that I create today still don't really totally catch the zeitgeist. For example, The Burner, whose sole power is the ability to himself rather horrifically, he's remained in this sketchbook until now, ready for the world to see. Same with a rather pastoral unicorn scene just for all you fantasizing indie rockers.

THE UNVEILING #3: Mark DeLong and Jason Mclean

THE UNVEILING #3: Mark DeLong and Jason Mclean
Mon Jan 18th, The Ossington (61 Ossington)
Free admission
ONE-NIGHT-ONLY!
10pm (don't be late as we are rarely very tardy)

"Unveiling #3"
Hosts Robert Dayton, Junior, and William A. Davison dramatically unveil the latest and never-before-seen (until this very eve) creation of artists Jason McLean and Mark DeLong: a collaborative effort by these original and wild artists! Two minds melding together from opposite sides of this grate land of ours! "Works inspired by Portuguese cod fish cakes, the Greyhound bus company and Jason's quest. The subject matter is very personal to Mark and Jason as it reflects modern parenting and childbirth." Jason will be in attendance, Mark in spirit.


Then Robert and William will be auctioning off this masterpiece with minimum bid starting at just 100 dollars !!! A low price for this amazing work by these important artists...

This will be followed by a soiree/party
ONE-NIGHT-ONLY! So if you want to bid and possibly attain this never-before-seen work by a great artist, you best attend! Even if you are broke like us, you do not want to miss this opportunity of UNVEILING....

"The Unveiling" is a series of one-night-only soirees/exhibitions, held monthly (more or less) in the back room of The Ossington Bar, which playfully reinvent a romantic and antiquated concept - that of a single artist "unveiling" their latest creation for a gathering of colleagues, collectors, critics, and cultural elite. The series is organized and hosted by local artists/curators William A. Davison and Robert Dayton.

The Unveiling is presented in such a manner that it becomes highly performative with its’ climactic turning and twisting of the tropes of the auctioneer and the charming element of surpris . Indeed, for those who know the work of either Davison or Dayton , a humorous, subversive approach is not at all unexpected. "At the same time," Davison continues, "we have a deep respect for the work we will be presenting and we feel that this series will provide a highly unique, entertaining, and engaging way for some of our favorite artists to show their recent creations." There will also be snacks, oh, there will be snacks.



BIOS:

Jason Mclean was born in 1971. He graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver BC , 1997. Over the past few years, his diverse practice has included drawing, sculpture, installation, sound performance and mail art. Much of his work contains collaborative elements.

He was recently chosen by MacLeans Magazine as one of the top ten visual artists to watch for in Canada . His work has been displayed at Colette, Paris; Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles; Mother's Tank Station, Dublin; Bee Studios, Tokyo; Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto; Neon Gallery, Brosarp, Sweden; Spencer-Brownstone Gallery, NY; Abel Neue Kunst Gallery, Berlin.Perugi Art Contemporenea, Padova, Italy; Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice

His work has been featured in many important magazine such as Modern Painters, Flash Art, Border Crossings,Adbusters, and I.D.N. magazine. He also has had a published book project with Nieves Books, Switzerland and has submitted drawings to other publications such as Nog A Dod, Montreal/Nyc, Glomp #9, Finland and the Ganzfeld #5 Japanada.

http://www.jasonmclean.ca/


Mark DeLong was Born in 1978 in New Brunswick , Canada . He is a self taught artist working in a variety of mediums including drawing,painting,sculpture,video and installation.

His work has been displayed at Colette, Paris; Bee Studios, Tokyo; Spencer-Brownstone Gallery, NY; Abel Neue Kunst Gallery, Berlin; Perugi Art Contemporenea, Padova, Italy; Museum of London Ontario,MOCCA Toronto ,LES Gallery,Vancouver;Giant Robot,NY; Little Cakes,NY; and Hunter and cook in Toronto.

His work has been seen in Border Crossings and Canadian Art Magazine, He also has published books with Nieves Books, Switzerland Seems Books, NY and publications with TV Books, New York titled Sbooky Booky and The Only Clock On the Ship. Mark is represented by Perugi Art Contemporenea, Italy ; TV Gallery, New York and LES Gallery in Vancouver .

http://bambi.org.uk/

For further information, feel free to contact The Unveiling's hosts/curators William A. Davison and Robert Dayton.

William - davison@recordism.com
Robert - moustachedpainless@yahoo.com

Many thanks to Jubal Brown/Intervention Mondays and The Ossington!

LOOKING BACK

Going through my files for a project and found some gems from the past!
This first one is a drawing of Canned Hamm made by Jason Mclean and Marcel Dzama



Here we have a rare moment of Big Hamm and myself backstage before a Canned Hamm show, we truly look like old vaudeville comedians here.



This is us way after a show with The World Provider at an odd late nite Montreal bar, apparently I was singing "Iron man, Iron man, na na na na na iron man..."



Here's me experimenting with moustache length with Pro Hamm AKA Pete Mills, who was responsible for the production on the Canned Hamm albums, with the first album he understood our love of 70s Beach Boys but also added auto-tune as a special effect (this was back in 2000) keeping it forward thinking, and he made our dance-pop album sound much bigger than it was in terms of budget. He's currently producing and making music in LA . Him and Big Hamm are so insanely musically talented, real 'can-do' fellas.


Olllld pic, just pre-moustache, very early 90s with roomie Julian possibly before we formed July Fourth Toilet, Julian's another talented egg, verrrry versatile musician (you'd have to be to play in July Fourth Toilet who'd change styles at whim)/cartoonist/record collector.


From July Fourth Toilet's tenth anniversary show, Jasmine played the Lady Byrd and I was Bernie Byrd from our live rendition of K-Tel's Rock Fantasy LP:

LOOKING BACK THROUGH YOUTUBE PART TWO

CANNED HAMM
albums available:

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

LOOKING BACK THROUGH YOUTUBE PART ONE

JULY FOURTH TOILET
Much of this is from ten years ago or more, phew!
Funny seeing some footage and recent bandmates are in the crowd...

www.julyfourthtoilet.com