Discovering Chronics

Images of cover and records courtesy of Killed By Death Records.



Image below courtesy www.clepunk.com.

NOT LONG AGO I WAS BROWSING THROUGH a flea market and stumbled upon this 45 RPM vinyl record. It was the cover art that caught my eye, printed off register in cyan, magenta, yellow and black, the 4 printing colors used in full-color printing. The graphics were a beautiful example of rock ’n roll art from the short-lived, anti-authoritarian punk rock era in the late 1970s—that hard-driving, body slamming music that was the antithesis of the smarmy disco music that was playing in every mainstream club in America.

The 45 sleeve was for a band called Chronics, and included the vinyl record. Personally, I was never really deeply into punk rock at the time, but did like the The Clash and the Ramones. Here, I figured, was a “garage” punk art band, and since the price tag was only $3, I figured I would buy it for the cover art if nothing else.

Later, it took just minutes for me to find out quite a bit about Chronics. The band was composed of Bill Elliott, playing lead guitar, singing vocals (backing); Dave Deluca, rhythm guitar, vocal (lead); Dan Didonato, drums, vocal (backing); and Tim Dorman, playing bass guitar and singing backing vocals.

The web site Clepunk has this brief bio of Chronics:

“Right before Dan, Dave, Bill and Tim formed Chronics, Dave and Bill were in the Nuclear Ants with Mark Nolan and Brady Burnett. Dan was the drummer of Oil Can Harry and Tim was the sound man for OCH. In early ‘77, inspired by the Sex Pistols, Dave, Dan and Bill met at Bill’s house for a game of riffs. After the first triplet, something clicked. “Let’s do this a lot”, they chimed in unison, “all we need is a bass player.”

“Searching high and low they eventually begged Tim to pick up the bass and join. He gave in. After 3 months of rehearsal (2 months and 29 days more than the public deserved) they hit the road for a gig in Youngstown followed by a stint in the Motor City and then back to the Pirates Cove in Clevo, opening for the likes of Raven Slaughter and hanging out with Johnny Dromette. About that time, former member of Cookie (band Dave and Dan were in ’68 to ’70) Rick Perez had become a successful Cleveland lawyer and got a few of his lawyer buds to throw in some dough and pay for a recording session at Suma Recording giving birth to Nuclear Record #1 Calling All Cardinals/Test Tube Baby (2000 copies were pressed).”

“On the recording Ron Pirtle played bass on Test Tube Baby and Brady Burnett played drums with Dan DiDonato on percussion on Calling All Cardinals. Sending copies overseas, the record got to #11 in the Netherlands and also hit the charts in Germany. At Tri-C, Chronics made a lip-synch video for Test Tube Baby. They also played Henneseys, opened for Ubu at the Pirates Cove, and played at Major Chords in Columbus with the Pagans. Writing tunes with social commentary and popability, Chronics untimely demise came in the summer of ’79 following a scuffle at a wedding party between Bill and Dan. At the time, interest in the 45 release had reached L.A., but the band had to decline offers for gigs there.”

NME, the e-zine music news site, calls “Test Tube Baby” and “Calling All Cardinals” the number 1 and 2 songs for Chronics.

• 1. Test Tube Baby
• 2. Calling All Cardinals
• 3. Callin All Cardinals
• 4. Make you move
• 5. Slippin’ and Slidin’
• 6. Put ’em Down
• 7. Chronic Disease
• 8. Soulshaker
• 9. Save Me
• 10. Shake And Make

Listen to Test Tube Baby here. And listen to Side B, Calling All Cardinals here.

Finally, it turns out the record I found is pretty rare (only 2,000 pressed) and sells for between $50 and $75 bucks if you can find one. For me, it’s the cover art that caught my attention—but I am digging the tunes!

If you know anything about this band, please comment—I’d like to learn more!

Cabinet Card of Folk Art Carving

(Above) Cabinet card, c. 1880 (click image for larger view)

(Above) Detail (click for larger view)

(Above) Back of Cabinet Card (click for larger view)

IF YOU LIKE PHOTOGRAPHY AND FOLK ART (like I do), here’s a two’fer for you. A 4” x 6-1/2” photograph, taken about 1880, of a rare folk art carving by Asa Carpenter (1834 - ?). It is a Civil War carving of General grant on his horse surrounded by three Union soldiers and a field cannon carved from what appears to be a single piece of wood. The seller of this cabinet card says that, though little is known about this artist, an actual carving of a sow and young piglets realized $44,460 at the October 25, 2008 Pook and Pook Auction in Pennsylvania. It is not known if this carving exists or has been lost through time.

The seller was able to learn that Carpenter was born in Niagara, Canada on September 8, 1834, the 6th of 11 children by Asa Philopilus Carpenter and Margaret Ullman. Early in his life he was involved in the lumber industry before becoming known as an artist and sculptor. Various locations that note his residence include Howard City, Michigan; Crystal Valley, Michigan; and Scottsville, Michigan, possibly in that order.

The photographer of this cabinet card was Samuel L. Sharpsteen (b. 1850 - ?) and is being sold on eBay here.

The Hyped Up Realism of Oleg Dou

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OLEG DOU IS A RUSSIAN PHOTOGRAPHER who pushes photoshop to it’s limits. He starts with a photographic portrait, then goes to work. Enlarging and moving the eyes, chaning skin tones—his is an art that closely resembles the digital work found in a movie like James Cameron’s Avatar. It’s real—no it’s not—yes it is! There is a cold, unhuman-like quality to Dou’s work, which is exactly what he wants to achieve. Zombie-like synthetic androids.... this is what mankind’s scientists would end up with if we ever started building humans from DNA. We’d get these “people” — synthetic children for childless couples; sex partners for those willing to go there; soldiers to fight our battles; spouses for those people who prefer someone who will do exactly as they say. Oleg Dou is a master craftsman, an artist making a statement. Is it working? Are these highly-smoothed and manipulated portraits doing something new? Or, is technology leading the horse? You tell me.

What do you think folks?

Check out his site here.

Electric Color

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IT’S GREAT TO FIND SOMETHING with great paint or patina—especially something with hard wear and tear indicative of honest, hard use. Usually you think of the term “great paint” as a referring to a 19th century piece of painted furniture. But this metal Skil tool case is one of those more recent items (1960s - 70s) worthy of display to people with a special eye.

Available here.

The Paper House

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THE PAPER HOUSE IS AN ART ENVIRONMENT in Rockport, Massachusetts built in 1922 by Mr. Elis F. Stenman, a mechanical engineer who designed the machines that make paper clips. Though the house has a regular wooden structure (floors and roof), Stenman was curious to find out if rolled newspapers would provide insulation. Eventually, one thing led to another and he began rolling newspapers up and covered everything—the furniture, the piano, the tables, everything. Over the years, he coated it all with varnish to protect it. Though much of the rolled up paper was nailed together, he also used his own homemade glue made of flour, water and apple peels.

The most common question people ask today is “why” did he make a house from paper. Caretakers of the house today (relatives of Stenman) say no one knows for sure. Their best guess is that he did it to be thrifty and that newspapers were plentiful. Once local people found out about his odd project, they would bring him newspapers.

Many images were found here.

How Genetics Works

DO WE REALLY NEED a better example of how genetics works? I think not.

Via Reinikainen’s Blog.

Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard Finster

STRANGER IN PARADISE: THE WORKS OF REVEREND HOWARD FINSTER opened January 28th at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, IL. This is an exhibition you should not miss if you like works that are visionary and self-taught. You see, Finster was not just an artist, he was special— a “stranger from another world,” a shape-shifter, a shaman who traveled between time and space to bring meaning and voice to us mortals of the world. There have been others like him—all put here for special reasons and purpose. Elvis Presley was one, John F. Kennedy, Rev. Martin Luther King, Ghandi—well, you get the idea. While some shape-shifters achieve greater things than others, Finster did his part to preach his word of peace and love.

If you don’t believe the above, and I’d understand if you did not, perhaps you’d just rather read the catalog.

Following is from the exhibition checklist:
An evangelistic preacher in paint and self-proclaimed Man of Visions, Reverend Howard Finster became one of the most widely known and prolific self-taught artists, producing over 46,000 pieces of art by his death in 2001. Finster often referred to himself as “a stranger from another world” and “God’s last red light on the planet earth.” He saw himself as a sacred artist, fulfilling his visionary prophesies revealed to him by God through a heavenly, outer space world. Thus Finster believed he was to disperse warnings to people to save their souls from the horrors of hell. These experiences were very real to Finster and provided a seemingly limitless variety of images for his art, and content for his rapid fire, stream of consciousness monologues.

In the mid-1960s, Finster began building a roadside park, first known as the Plant Farm Museum, an attraction meant to display all of “the inventions of mankind.” This soon transformed into an outdoor museum of collaged concrete sculpture, collections of unusual junk and recycled machine parts, hanging sun catchers, and buildings covered in paintings and signs. Later, in an 1975 article in Esquire magazine, it was dubbed “Paradise Garden,” and the name stuck.

Finster said he was “God's junk man.” Endlessly inventive, he took all manner of salvaged junk and discarded items, and using his ingenuity and tireless energy, created expressions of his personal visions. In his poem for the garden, he stated, “I took the pieces that you threw away and put them together by night and day, washed by the rain, dried by the sun, a million pieces all in one.”

This exhibition provides an in-depth survey of Finster’s career, covering the variety of themes inherent in his work, much of it relating to his visionary experiences, including: Visions of Other Worlds, Sermons in Paint, Historical and Cultural Heroes and The Plant Farm Museum [Paradise Garden].

There is an accompanying exhibition catalogue available for purchase.

February 23, 5:30 pm:
Film Screening and Panel Discussion • KAM Auditorium I Can Feel Another Planet in My Soul: Strange Visions. Wondrous Art. The Remarkable World of Howard Finster • A showing of excerpts from a documentary film still in progress on Howard Finster followed by a panel discussion with Steven Pattie, executive producer/program creator; Glen C. Davies, exhibition curator; Jim Arient, collector; and Randy Ott, collector

March 4, 5:30 pm:
Guest Lecture “An Inside Look at Outsider Art Environments: Monumental Expressions of Devotion, Evangelism, and Salvation,” a talk by Lisa Stone, author, adjunct associate professor, and curator of the Roger Brown Study Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Co-sponsored by Lorado Taft Lectureship on Art; School of Art + Design; Department of Landscape Architecture; and Krannert Art Museum

A fully illustrated catalog will include essays by the exhibition curator, Jim Arient (representative of the Arient family, who are principle lenders to the exhibition), Phyllis Kind (President of the Phyllis Kind Gallery), and Norman J. Girardot (Professor of Religious Studies, Lehigh University) and a checklist of works in the exhibition.

Schedule:
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion
January 29 through March 28, 2010

Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
July 24 through September 26, 2010

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art,
Auburn University, Auburn, AL
December 11, 2010 to March 12, 2011

Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL
April 22 through August 28, 2011

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN
November 10, 2011 through January 15, 2012

Photos above by Dr. James F. (see them here.)

Signed Historical Photographs From the Jerome Shochet Collection

Lot 92
YOUNGER, THOMAS COLEMAN (“COLE”). Photograph Signed and Inscribed, “Yours truly / Cole Younger,” in pencil, bust portrait, showing the outlaw partly in shadow. Signed on the mount above and below the image. Approximately 2 1/2x1 3/4 inches (image), approximately 5x3 inches overall; photograph trimmed into an oval shape and mounted to a larger sheet; elaborately matted and framed. Np, nd

Estimate $5,000-7,500

A rare signed photograph showing the middle-aged ex-outlaw after his release from prison in 1901.

Lot 40
HOWE, JULIA WARD. Photograph dated and Signed, bust portrait by J.E. Purdy, showing the abolitionist and poet looking wistful. Inscribed in the margin below the image. Additionally signed by the photographer at lower right, in pencil. Photographer’s blind stamp and imprint, lower left and bottom. Approximately 5 1/2x4 inches (image), approximately 10x8 inches overall; framed. Np, February 1904

Estimate $800-1,200

Howe (1819-1910) composed the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and was an influential suffragette and peace activist.

Lot 83
WILDE, OSCAR. Photograph Signed, cabinet card half-length portrait by Alfred Ellis, showing the poet in a typical pose, with a flower in his lapel and holding a cigarette. Signed in the image at bottom left with a flourish extending to mount. Photographer’s full imprint on verso. Approximately 5 1/2x4 inches (image), approximately 6 1/2x4 1/4 inches overall; minor fading to image, minor scattered soiling, even toning to mount, bold signature. Np, nd

Estimate $4,000-6,000

Lot 17 (CIVIL WAR.) SCOTT, WINFIELD. Photograph Signed and Inscribed, “This card is respectfully / inscribed to / Miss Van Horn-- / the friend of my family, / by her friend-- Winfield Scott / 1862,” carte-de-visite portrait by Charles D. Fredricks, showing the elderly General seated in uniform and grasping his sword. Inscribed on the verso. Photographer’s full imprint on verso. Approximately 3 1/2x2 1/4 inches (image), approximately 4x2 1/2 inches overall. Np, 1862

Estimate $1,000-1,500

Scott (1786-1866) served in the War of 1812, commanded the Southern theater during the Mexican War, was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1855--the first officer to attain that rank since George Washington--named General-in-Chief of the Union army at the start of the Civil War, and devised the “Anaconda Plan” to defeat Confederate forces.

Lot 60
PICASSO, PABLO. Photograph Postcard dated and Signed, “Picasso,” showing a close up of the master holding a sculpture of a bird by its stone base. Inscribed in the image at bottom left. Approximately 4x5 3/4 inches; 3 pin-holes along top edge, bold signature. Np, 25 [April 19]58

Estimate $2,000-3,000

The image is a still from Visit to Picasso, a film by Paul Haesaerts.

Lot 50
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Photograph Signed, “A. Lincoln,” as President, carte-de-visite portrait by Gardner, showing the President seated, legs crossed, his left arm leaning on a book and holding a newspaper, his right hand holding his eyeglasses. Signed on the mount below the image. Photographer’s imprint on verso. Approximately 3x2 1/4 inches (image), approximately 3 1/2x2 1/2 inches; corners and top edge of mount slightly trimmed, discoloration from prior matting, minor scattered soiling. Np, nd

Estimate $40,000-60,000

This image was taken early on August 9, 1863--a Sunday--a time selected so as to avoid the unwanted attention of the curious. It is one of four images taken in the same instant, as Gardner employed a four-lens camera that allowed him to send each of the four parts of the negative to a different assistant in order to maximize production. As quoted in Hamilton-Ostendorf on the same page as a reproduction of the present image, John Hay made a note in his diary about the sitting: “I went down with the President to have his picture taken at Gardner’s. He was in very good spirits.” Charles Hamilton and Lloyd Ostendorf, Lincoln in Photographs, 1963, p. 130, No. O-70.

Lot 48
LAST PORTRAIT OF LEE LEE, ROBERT E. Photograph Signed, “R.E. Lee,” carte-de-visite vignetted bust portrait by Boude & Miley, showing the General in civilian attire. Signed in the image at bottom center. Photographer’s imprint on the mount at bottom. Approximately 3 3/4x2 1/4 inches (image), approximately 4 1/4x2 1/2 inches; slight fading to image. Np, nd

Estimate $4,000-6,000

On January 10, 1870, Lee sent to a woman in Louisiana a signed carte-de-visite with the same slightly faded image as the present one, noting that “[i]t is the last that has been taken & is the only kind I have. I wish I had a better.” Roy Meredith, The Face of Robert E. Lee, 1981, p. 100.

Lot 36
HO CHI MINH. Photograph Postcard Signed and Inscribed, “Au Dr. Adolf Leichtle / HoChiMinh,” bust portrait of him looking into camera. Signed in blank margin at bottom. Approximately 5 1/4x3 1/4 overall. Np, nd

Estimate $700-1,000

Lot 30
GORKI, MAXIM. Photograph Inscribed and Signed, “M. Gorki,” in Russian, bust portrait showing the austere author and activist in heavy coat with short hair. Inscribed on the mount below the image. Approximately 7x5 inches (image), approximately 10x8 inches overall; minor scattered soiling to mount, remnants of prior mounting verso. Np, nd

Estimate $1,500-2,500

“To Viktor Vasilyevich Muizhel, at the beginning of our great collaboration with heartfelt wishes for its well-deserved success.” Muizhel (1880-1924) was a fellow author whose name has not withstood the passage of time as well as Gorki’s.

Lot 15
THE FIRST UNION OFFICER KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY (CIVIL WAR.) ELLSWORTH, ELMER EPHRAIM. Photograph Signed, “Elmer E. Ellsworth,” carte-de-visite full-length standing portrait by Brady, showing the Civil War hero in civilian attire. Signed below the image on the album mount into which the photograph has been inserted. Photographer’s imprint in image, lower left. Approximately 3 1/4x2 inches (image), approximately 6 1/4x3 3/4 inches overall; minor scattered soiling to mount; matted and framed with a commemorative envelope and an unsigned carte-de-visite showing a bust portrait of Ellsworth in uniform. Np, nd

Estimate $4,000-6,000

Ellsworth (1837-1861) recruited and led a Zouave regiment for the Civil War drawing upon New York's volunteer firemen (the “Fire Zouaves”). He became the first notable casualty of the War when he was shot and killed after removing the Confederate banner from a building in Alexandria, VA. This image was taken in New York only weeks before his death. Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Mathew Brady and His World, 1977, p. 203.

Lot 24
EARHART, AMELIA. Photograph signed, showing the smiling aviator in short sleeves standing before an airplane engine whose propeller bears a Hamilton Standard logo. Signed in the image at bottom center. Approximately 10x8 inches; mounted to a sheet trimmed to size. Np, nd

Estimate $1,000-2,000

Lot 51A
AMONG MOST REPRODUCED IMAGE (LINCOLN ASSASSINATION.) BOOTH, JOHN WILKES. Photograph Signed and Inscribed, “Yours affectionately / J. Wilkes Boo[th],” carte-de-visite portrait [by Silsbee, Case and Company, or Case and Getchell], showing the actor-assassin seated with a walking stick. Inscribed in the image at top. Photograph mounted on a card mount bearing imprint of S.T. Blessing in New Orleans on verso. Approximately 3 1/4x2 1/4 inches (image), approximately 4x2 1/2 inches overall; inscription truncated at top and right edge affecting the “th” of signature, some scattered soiling. Np, [1862-65]

Estimate $10,000-15,000

The present image is among the most reproduced and pirated of all Booth images. Copies of this and similar images have been found on mounts bearing an imprint of any of a number of studios, including Bradley and Rulofson in San Francisco and Mathew Brady's in Washington, DC. Tintype copies were made from photographs taken in the same session as the present image, and engravings based upon the same poses were issued after the Lincoln assassination by J.H. Bufford of Boston. Gutman and Gutman, John Wilkes Booth Himself, No. 21.

NEXT MONTH, FEBRUARY 11, TO BE EXACT—AT SWANN’S AUCTION HOUSE IN NYC, an interesting auction of signed historical photographs will take place. I have included some selected images for your perusal, images of famous and infamous individuals. While I am not a collector of autographs, you have to admit, there will always be interest in knowing that a famous person’s hand actually touched and signed something. Especially if you have a personal hero, like Abraham Lincoln or Amelia Earhart—what price is too high?

All of the 90+ photographs in this February 11 auction can be viewed (and bid on) online here.

For more information contact: Marco Tomaschette at: mtomaschette@swanngalleries.com

All images © Swann Auction Galleries

Make Mine a Double

HERE’S A SWINGIN’ 1940s MARTINI TRADE SIGN FROM A COCKTAIL LOUNGE IN DENVER. As you can see, this is way cool when illuminated and would be great displayed up high or on the floor as a cocktail table. With a wonderful original blue paint surface, this baby stands 36 inches high and is 31 inches across the top. Made of sheet metal by an anonymous maker.

This item is located in the Urban Country Shop of 1st Dibs.

Touchless Automatic Wonder

(Above) Cover of the book “Touchless Automatic Wonder” by photographer Lewis Koch.

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TEXT AND IMAGE, MIXED WITH WONDER AND SURPRISE are the stars of this new book by photographer Lewis Koch. Described as “found text photographs from the real world” Koch is a photographer whose works are in some awesome collections: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, and numerous major European collections.

Lewis Koch is a master at his craft and a master of his art. I get the sense that his is “an eye” that never rests—something all artists of any substance have. Koch has traveled the world to find these images, from Uttar Pradesh, India, to Hoodoo, Tennessee—and many countries, states and small villages in between. The printed, painted or scrawled word—these bits and pieces of visual language communication that tell us yes or no, follow this, turn here, buy that and so many things—Koch seeks the intersection of the two where wonder and mystery appear. Only through the lens of Lewis Koch will you (the reader) easily find these metaphors. You’ll find them easily because it has taken Koch much of a lifetime to bring them to you. He has captured them in his camera, developed them and presented them for you in this beautifully printed hard cover book published by Borderland Books, Madison, WI.

Koch will be doing a book signing in St. Louis next Thursday, February 4 at 7 pm at the famous Left Bank Books, an independent bookstore in St. Louis founded in 1969.

You can order the book here, or on Amazon here.

And one more thing. A big round of applause to Richard Quinney, editor of Borderland Books. Where would publishing be today without the small, independent press? Huzzah!