Friday, April 24, 2009

Batmandi, the Last Billionaire on Earth

One of the joys of setting up at the annual S.P.A.C.E. show is talking with fellow Kirby-fan Tom Scioli, of Godland and The Myth of 8-Opus.

Tom was drawing several renditions of Batmandi, Last Billionaire on Earth last week, so I had to purchase one. Pretty nice!

Check out Tom's brand new site: http://www.tomscioli.com/
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Todd Rundgren's Arena Rock

Thanks to Nathan Smart (http://www.myspace.com/nathansmart) and his lovely wife Meridith, who gave us free tickets to the show, Mary and I saw Todd Rundgren during his recent visit to these parts - fulfilling a 29-year dream for Mary,who missed seeing Rundgren in 1980.

It's doubtful whether Todd rocked as hard in 1980 as he did in this show; playing the entirety of his new, crowd-pleasing album Arena and a good dose of older material, Todd and his finely-tuned band created a barrage, a wall of melodic heavy metallic sound. Throughout the exhibition, the still-thin band leader performed physical sprints and leaps not usually witnessed on a man in his 60s.

Here are some photos from this amazing show:
http://trconnection.com/gallery/set=dss20090410/preview=1
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Steinweiss: the Inventor of the Record Album Cover

Before Alex Steinweiss convinced Columbia to allow him to design album cover art for Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart in 1939, album covers featured just text on the cover. When the sales of that album skyrocketed, Columbia paid him to continue designing covers, and he went on to design roughly 2,500 of them over the next 35 years.

I will be presenting nearly 60 of Steinweiss' record covers (most of them from the '40s and '50s) in a gallery display entitled Steinweiss: the Inventor of the Record Album Cover, hosted by Wild Goose Creative in Columbus, Ohio.

The grand opening of the display is Saturday, May 9th, at 7:00 pm. Program notes will be provided. If you're in the area, please stop by and enjoy the designs and innovative techniques of this important 20th century graphic artist.

Wild Goose Creative is at 2491 Summit Street, in Clintonville. Parking is available on Summit and behind the building.

WGC is a non-profit, community driven arts company. Learn more at:
http://www.wildgoosecreative.com/Wild_Goose_Creative_%7C_Home.html

And learn more about Alex Steinweiss at:
http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/as_index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Steinweiss
http://soundfountain.org/rem/remcovart.html
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