I have heard Jake and Amanda play a few times before at open mics, but this was the first time I have seen them with their whole band. Wow, the harmonies, the fiddle, stand up bass! Amazing melodies and charming songs. They play later this month at Grrlz rock events, though their calendar isn’t updated to show that.
I am continuing my series in tribute to Hollywood Legends with three new woodcuts. Here I will discuss the process I go through.
I took this photo of the handsome chap. I found it by Googling his name.
I brought it in photoshop, put the letters on and flipped the image.
I also increased the contrast significantly everywhere except the hands.
I printed the image and transferred it to the woodblock with some Alphonse Mucha-esque borders and details to make it appear as a religious icon of a saint. Here you see it while the shellac is drying. I’m not confident that I am finished with my background details, but I am eager to get carving, and I will improvise a bit while carving.
Here are two more from the series. I got the borders from ancient religious prints.
Recognize Fred MacMurray? from such hits as “The Shaggy Dog” “The Nutty Professor,” “The Apartment,” The chilling “Double Indemnity,” and my favorite: “Pushover.” I don’t know what I was thinking with those random looping circles. Also that evil looking claw hand is creepy eh? that just ended up there. Forgive me, this was my first since college, so of course there was a re-learning process.
Resembles the joker more when he is printed in Green.
This is a crayon rubbing. Its done while I am carving to tell me where I need to take away more wood. Funny that the face looks fine in the rubbing but then looks all shaded on her face. Still looks cool though eh? Also I am excited and proud of the lettering, I gave the capital C extra flourishes and I improvised the B in an attempt to get it to match. Woodcuts are fun and my teenage students are enjoying them too. I like when they all work quietly for 20+ hours on a project. And when they don’t turn on slipknot or Dubstep or gangsta rap that glorifies violence and drugs.
KING TUFF play a fun, simple poppy kind of garage rock that goes down smooth with a cheap watery beer.
An obvious influence is the Ramones, but the lyrics are delivered tongue in cheek, and Kyle always wears a smile as he sings about how “bad” he is. Live, his voice recalled Billy Corgan sometimes. RIYL: Dr. Dog, the Moonknights, Be Your Own Pet. (Their drummer, Gary, really rocks hard). It was a blast seeing them play an early show on a sunday, though it was hard to get details on Magic Jake with all the goddamn FOG from the freakin fog machine.
Here at Mecca in Eugene, OR, I am teaching a Collagraph class. Here are some examples of what can be achieved with the process.
The original collagraph matrix- a eugene landscape. I taped and glued elements to the surface and carved away with an exacto blade.
A black relief print.
a color relief print, I put blue (straight out of the tub) on the top and mixed a green on the bottom.
A colored pencil rubbing of my matrix. (notice, it is not reversed.) I put in a sunset and little cars on the bridge.
With eerie spooky songs about vampires, zombies and the coming apocalypse, the Voodoo Organist, aka Scott Wexton has been touring the states for 20 years. He decorated the stage with Tiki Tiki masks and played an hour+ set of fun dark music. I was impressed that he can make his drum machines stop suddenly and pick up again, really giving the feel of a live band while operating the bass pedals with his feet and playing the theremin with his right hand sometimes.
Voodoo organist, I salute you. (why wasn’t this show sponsored by voodoo doughnuts?” also, why doesnt he have voodoo dolls for merch? He has a shop called Hoodoo in Yucca Valley California which is advertized as a comic book store that sells exotica, ephemera and presumably voodoo dolls and tiki tiki decorations. I must go sometime.
Eugene’s best jam band! ELEVEN EYES
They opened for young Organist Wil Blades, who plays with Stanton Moore and Billy Martin and many many others! I made the error of spelling his name with two “l”s but I fixed it in the second drawing… colored pencils… nice tools.
Primarily, that i’d like to attend more Renaissance Festivals! I drew more drawings but gave them away without snapping pictures first. I hope to make it back next year, it was really magical in the woods and how nice that all performances were 100% acoustic! No microphones!
When I get a chance I go to burlesque shows, I like to draw the dancers. Here are a few of my drawings, hope you like them. Hands are hard, so sometimes, for the sake of the drawing, I leave them out, saying to myself, “I’ll just draw the hands in later… and then I ink and color and post without drawing in the hands… HA. 
Today I went to the Eugene public library and got to hear some sexy chemistry jokes from Christine McKinley. She also played us some lovely songs about physics in promoting her new book “Physics for Rock Stars.” She encourages girls to go into fields in the math and sciences because its awesome and they can make real money. She was certainly inspirational and quite funny. and she liked my quark joke. Maybe its time for me to begin performing again my old staple about heat death, “Only time will tell if intelligent life will survive the inevitable collapse of our universe,” in my live shows. 
KAN WAKAN kicked ass at Cozmic pizza. Their epic shimmering, glamorous and dark 80s-influenced pop was gorgeous and the sound was done so well.
Mother Falcon played a tight set, they had 10 members present, and played a dozen beautiful songs.
I liked the pained expressions of joy on the drummers face. Also extra points because his name is Isaac.
Their cellist/mandolin player might have remembered me drawing them at SXSW.
Here’s to the current trend of chamber pop! It would be a blast to bring them to Alaska someday. According to their site, they sometimes have “rock camps,” like Cello Fury! COOL! If they come near you, please go see them. It will tug your heartstrings and enliven your sensibilities!
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 