The Things We'll Never Know Part 3

Electric Dolphins Get The Happys Part 2

January 22, 2012

From The Archives 3

Packing kinda blows. Anyway, I found this while getting my artwork in some order. It was drawn during a particularly horribly sweaty summer. No, I never did get a.c.

From The Archives 2

Recently I handed over a rather sizable stack (say, roughly 1/6) of Devil Doll artwork for a small exhibition (of which a fraction will be shown). While organizing the other piles I came across this study for a barmaid character and one of the many panels that she eventually appeared in. Though not appearing in print, as this art was later scrapped for an entirely rewritten and redrawn third chapter. Other fragments from this chapter are littered about in the blog. While these particular pieces will not be in the show, a large amount of other original material will be, some previously seen in Mome and some that never made it in. More details on the show soon.

From The Archives

Old unfinished strip-

New York? New York?

Early Afternoon 1/9/12

The Square Egg and The Vicious Circle

It is with great regret that I acknowledge the recent passing of Ronald Searle, one of my favorite artists and most consistent influences. I'd advise anybody who isn't familiar with him to read Warren Bernard's illuminating overview at TCJ. I usually keep a number of books close by for inspiration. A couple on Otto Dix, George Grosz, Max Ernst, and more than a few by Ronald Searle. The Searle book I break out most often and with most zeal is The Square Egg and The Vicious Circle (Stephen Greene Press, 1968). On the surface it's a collection of drawings from various magazines. Beyond that, it is a masterly device for innovation. A sermon on living, working and expressing. Searle shows you page after page, how to loosen up, how to keep experimenting. Anytime I feel like I'm stagnating, I reach for some Searle and soak his work in. I study those lines, I absorb the energy, and take in the wit. His distortions, along with those of the other artists I mentioned, are the most telling and accurate renderings we have of ourselves. Ronald Searle 1920-2012

Roman Invasion Suite Remasters Update

A while back I made a post about going through my old cassettes trying to find any useful material for a Romans project I was putting together. I finally found a place in NYC that can handle the DAT tapes that won't charge a huge amount of money. Later this week I'll be dropping off those EP and LP session masters and cassette session outtakes for transfers. It shouldn't take that long, maybe a day or maybe over the weekend. From there I have to edit the material and then hand those over for EQ and levels mastering. That will unfortunately take longer but will be worth it. Another thing I'm doing is trying to get ahold of pictures and lyrics that have been floating around for inclusion in a book. The book may or may not include tour journal bits or random stories for context. But I think what we'd like to do is hear from everybody that had bothered to track down this material in the first place. Whether it was the crappy compressed files that have been floating around or the actual vinyl. If you have any stories you'd like to share for inclusion, feel free to pass them along. I'll post more info as it comes, DVG 2/6/12 Update: The DATs and cassettes have been converted and I'll be meeting up with Bryan Heany (Romans drummer) to get these mastered. Bryan also has the 1/4 inch reels for the unreleased LP (Plays For One) and we'll be comparing that to the DAT to see what sounds best. Then we'll do some uploading. In the meantime, if you have any pictures from any of our shows, please pass them on and we'll include them in the booklet we're putting together. Thanks! 2/22/12 Update: I met with Bryan Heany and we both convened back at Western Sound Studios in Kalamazoo (where we recorded the Siege of Port Theodora Sessions)to go through all of the recordings. We selected the extra tracks for inclusion and Bryan did some EQ'ing on some stuff. He'll be mastering that soon and then we'll upload those to a bandcamp site where you can download them at rather nice frequencies for the first time ever. Also, were currently answering questions and gathering artwork for the Romans booklet. Everything is getting that much closer.

August 2012 Update:

David Shinaver (vocalist, bassist) uploaded a few clips from one of our shows at the Comet circa 1997. This would be the transition period between the single and album. They're pretty easy to find on you tube.