The Million Dollar Saloon!

So this is a print made by Angel Erotique's breasts at the Million Dollar Saloon, August 28th, 1997. I found it in amongst a whole bunch of old gig posters.

The Million Dollar Saloon was a strip club in the basement of the historic Genosh Hotel in downtown Oshawa, a long-disused building which may be finally seeing some measure of reclamation in the year to come.




I actually played a show there once, with The Exploding Tits no less, opening for some GM hair band called Wyld Bulletz or something.

Six or so songs into our set, the bartender told us to quit, we were done. We then played a long cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and, at the end of that, I left my bass to feedback against its amp, ha ha ha. We were not paid.

As to Angel Erotique - if I even recall her name correctly - the internet holds no secrets I can find. She is lost to the sands of time, leaving behind only some pink, green and yellow paint - and an excuse for this post.

Jeff Lemire!

A couple of posts back, I mentioned that Catl would be playing some release shows later in January to celebrate the release of their debut LP, "¿Adónde vas? A ningún lado" - the artwork for which was done by none other than rising comics star Jeff Lemire.

Without further ado then, here is that new Catl artwork --



Skeletacular!

Mr. Lemire, as you'll recall, also did the viciously awesome cover art for No No Zero's "Rough Stuff" record (a nice fat scan of which appears in this recent post). But what else has Jeff done?


Primarily, Lemire is known for his work in the graphic novel form, and it was his debut in this medium, 2005's Lost Dogs, which first made his name, winning him a Xeric in the process.

His follow-up was ambitious and has won him unambiguous accolades: a trilogy of graphic novels spanning nearly a century in the part of Ontario Lemire hails from, Essex County (which gives the trilogy its name).




The first two books - Tales From The Farm and Ghost Stories - were released in 2007, and the final installment The Country Nurse in 2008 - just listed as one of New York Magazine's Top Ten Graphic Novels for 2008, in fact. All three books (already nominated for a couple of Eisners) will be issued in one ginormous compilation edition later this year, with the addition of some 40 bonus pages. Wow.

So 2009 is shaping up to be the year of Lemire. Not only is a compiled Essex County Trilogy sure to have media milling to praise his skills, but he will also be releasing a new graphic novel for DC/Vertigo entitled The Nobody. There are some pages available online from this latest work in progress, and I must say it promises to be great stuff, decidedly different in tone from Essex County and more of a traditional 'superhero book' by the looks of things.


If superheroes are your bag, be sure to drop by Lemire's blog, where he regularly posts watercolour superhero pics and his own unique spin on any number of cult favourites, as well as a goodly number of his own links and suggestions to Jeff's faves.




Comic art collectors may wish to note that the Catl LP is limited to a vinyl run of only 300 copies, and those LP release shows are coming up shortly: January 23rd at the Silver Dollar in Toronto, and January 24th at Isabella's in Oshawa.

I close with some more examples of Jeff Lemire's art, which I have pilfered from his blog.

Model Kit Art!

Trying to clear out my basement, I came across the following model kits I'd long since finished. Before I toss the boxes, I figured this art was well worth preserving.

Matchbox and Roy Huxley were a 'match' made in heaven for many, and it recalls for me many fond memories of building kits with my brother and our dad. If waiting for the glue or paint to dry was getting me down, gazing over these fantastic pictures on the box was always enough to counter any flagging enthusiasm.






I include a couple of non-Matchbox kits as well; the Skyhawk isn't even artwork, but I liked the note about the crew men, so I'll let it pass.

Stinkies! Knuckledusters! Shuttlecocks!

I recently got my scanner hooked up and running, so I hope to be posting a fair amount of new content in the new year.

To start with, here's three polaroids from a hometown show The Starkweather Fix played Nov.25/95 at The Crow's Nest in Oshawa, with no less than three of our favourite Toronto bands at the time: The Shuttlecocks, The Knuckledusters, and The Stinkies. The family tree you could spin off these three bands alone is dizzying to contemplate. Basically, everybody here was a veteran with a fat CV.

The Knuckledusters and The Stinkies had recently put out a split 7" on Classy Craig's Trophy label, and I believe this was the same weekend The Stinkies recorded their one and only full-length "It's Fun & Easy To Put Together The Stinkies" with Brian Ruryk (a release which came out on Sympathy).

I took these, so I guess that's why there's no pictures of The Starkweather Fix playing.

Rough Stuff #1 Album of 2008!

Says who? Well, CJAM 91.5 FM out of Windsor-Detroit does.

"I Am Collecting Beautiful Things" says the rest:

"A few weeks ago I was trashing the idea of very standardized Best Of 2008 lists. It wouldn't be right to criticize without putting out my own list of favourite albums released this year, so here you have it. No No Zero released a mindlessly fun album about sex, which is still highly listenable 8+ months after hearing it for the first time, which makes it a no brainer at #1".

Thank you CJAM. What a nice way to end the year.

Catl Record Release!

No No Zero alumni Catl release their debut juke blues boogie record "¿Adónde vas? A ningún lado" (translates as "where are you going? Nowhere") next month, and this very blog played a (very) small part in it all.

You see, the fantastic poster just above these words - designed by the reliably awesome Fort Polio, who we have featured here before - is based on a certain photograph that appeared here back in June, after I caught a Catl show at The Boat in Toronto.

Mr. Catl and Mr. Johnny LaRue will be playing three shows next month: their residency at the Dakota Tavern continues January 3rd, and then the duo play a couple of release shows, first at the Silver Dollar in Toronto (Jan. 23), and then at Isabella's in Oshawa the following night.

The new record is being issued as a limited edition vinyl LP with a CD version of the record (avec extra tracks) included. It's about half scalding originals and half toasty classics, including faves by such luminaries as Leadbelly, Memphis Minnie, Fred McDowell, and Buh-Buh-Bob Dylan. You can listen to three tracks from Catl on the band's MySpace page.

The cover art is by Jeff Lemire, who you may recall also did the cover art for No No Zero's Rough Stuff album. Keep watching this space for more on Mr. Lemire and his great Catl sleevework.