Humorama and other men's magazine art

eOK, well I really enjoy this politically incorrect art.  I know what that indicates, but that's the fun of it.  Here are some  very excellent pen and ink art that I enjoy quite a bit.  First up Kirk Styles an excellent dry brush man.  That is to say when you dip your brush ( like a #2 Windsor Newton red Sable available at any art store ) in the ink you wipe it on a piece of paper until it starts to dry and use it then on the art.  Look at these: The one on the right is Styles and the other one is Bill Wenzel.  I like both of these guys very much, one very different from the other.  Here under them on the right Dan DeCarlo and Bill Ward.  You will know DeCarlo from his Archie comics work on Josie and the Pussycats and other stuff over there.  I like the backs also of these originals, they indicate where and how many times they were reprinted, very cool.  Click on them and get a larger view, very nice.  In the middle 2 nice Wenzel's, his was the best at men's cartoons. 

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Some new Astounding Pulps

Some really nice Astounding came my way, just love reading these awesome issues from March, July Aug , Nov, Dec, 1940 and Jan. 1941.  Some excellent stories from Heinlein's If this Goes On, to Slan by A E van Vogt ( with a drawing by Schneeman).  I have only gotten though the March 1940 issue with the conclusion to the Heinlein story which was excellent.  It also has what I thought was the best story in the mag Chapter from the Beginning by Alexander M Phillips a story of early man and a later evolution of same, hunting him.  Excellent tale of possible historical cross-over of the species, very cool. 

Seems that according to Fictionmags excellent site that he did work for Top Notch in 1936, some Shortstories in the 40's, probably more Astounding than is listed. The Wiki mentions work for Amazing, Wonder and Unknown.  It also mentions his being a president of the Phily SF society.  I thought the tale was very good, but, me, I just am a sucker for this kind of yarn. 

Some really nice art here from The Stars look Down drawn W A Koll, whom I don't know much. Nice work though

And one of my favorite guys illustrating pulps Edd Cartier.  Pulpartists says he went to Pratt and studied under Harold Scott ( who influenced a lot of pulp artists and was a very prolific one himself)  and William James ( who was an art director at Street and Smith) gave him his start at S and S.  He went on to do over 800 illo's for The Shadow mag. 

Another Cartier, he did say that he likes to put humor in his work and he does come across and does a nice light job of it.

Some more nice illos's...

 
Possibly some of the most excellent reading you can get in a pulp magazine, plus some of the better pulp drawings in one mag.  You really got you 20 cents worth of entertainment back in the day!  You can't exactly end without mentioning  John Campbell the editor who made it all happen, and had a real lively letters section too!  Wonderful stuff!

Wisconsin Foodie 2 Nettles and Pasta Pesto!

Right, the above is Pasto D'urtaica which is to say Pasto with Stinging Neddles.  Yup, thats the stuff when you touch it gives you a hell of an itch.  It grows in our yard like a weed, I pick the new growth off the top with gloves and yank the rest of it out of our garden.  It comes  back like a vengence.  To make this dish, I blanch the whole bunch in a  pasta pot for a few minutes and the stingers go away.  Let cool and remove the stems.  Blend it in a food processor, with about 3 cloves garlic, olive oil, fresh basil, chives and oregano, till smooth.  Add Parmasean cheese to blender.  We added popcorn cauliflower, cut into small pieces and roasted with some olive oil, turning frequently in a large pan and finish in a 400 degree oven to caramelize,  tossing well, add the Pesto and any kind of pasta you may wish, we added Cellentani, awesome, and stir until combined.  Free, fresh food out of the yard!  Google the Stinging Neddles if you don't know what they are, I bet you have some too!  To die for,  really excellent stuff!  Ya, gotta love the Italians for thinking this up!  And my wife, CBJ, did her take on it, with the fresh herbs and the roasted cauliflower.   

Interesting Pulp magazine uses...

Here is a really unique item I ran across in The Richmond Bookstore, Richmond, VA and a cool story to go with it.

OK, its a purse, it has two clapboard images to it, the back was a bra ad or something.  It has the strap, clasp, and sides that made it about 3 inches wide inside and really looked professionally done, never seen one of these things before.  I really like the idea of including the dice with the Gambling Lady cover!  Bob the owner of the store and a buddy of mine tells me that when he was at one pulp show or another and I think it was the one in New Jersey that a guy came up to him and was interested in romance pulps which Bob had a bunch of, but not with him.  So the guy buys what he has, tells him about using them for woman's handbags, and he never hears from him again.  Well Bob shops everything from Fleas to backyard sales and right in Richmond, runs across 2 of these things, at a yard sale, the other one wasn't a pulp cover, but had the same 7 x10 image from another mag.  He couldn't remember if this was one of the pulps he sold to the guy in New Jersey, and Fiction Mags does not have it in that site either.  There are 3 or so Gambling Lady titles, one by Frank Gruber no less, but not this cover.  The cover image looks to me like it should be the 1950's, but the 10 cent price tag seems of question for a 50's pulp.  So it could be a composite image, even if it is its a nice one. And, no I did not buy it, if anyone wants it, its still there I would think. 

Old school, now New school

OK, As you can tell my old school ways have transformed into a much more easy to handle form of music.  Sampling is so much easier to do with the iPod Touch, and instant email, maps and a ton of music on the road, where I spend all my time.  Also I became a part of the portable hard-drive gang, with this preloaded rock and roll bonanza , all 1.5 terra bites of it.  About, what? 35 years of continuous listening?  Who would have thunk?  And for all those who know of these things, yes, the song Thunk by The Jefferson Airplane/Starship is on there!  So, the Decemberists, Springsteen's Waiting on a dream, Dylan's Tempest, Charlie Musselwhite, David Bowie's Hunky Dory, and Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, are going on shuffle for a good 8 hours or so!  Nice to plug in in my dash on the semi and cruise on down the road!  Yeah, I love it, gotta get some wireless speakers and use it at the house too!  Oh, it came as a very nice gift from my wife ( the iPod) and the hard-drive from my good friend Mike, nice when things work out like that!

New tunes

There are days when I want to go out and get some new music and end up not caring much for my choices.  So with my old school ways went to the library and checked them out to listen to them first.  Here are the 3 new ones I took with on the road.

I know you can down load samples of the above and get the whole deal burned to your Ipod or whatever you use, BUT, I prefer the real thing yet, love to read the notes.  The Clapton Album has a lot of wonderful tunes on it that he must love.  Its an album that at first listen, I didn't like, and some Clapton heads probably won't either.  But, the second times the charm, the guest artists on this album make it for me Taj Mahal on Harp on the opening tume Further Down the Road, also written by him.  Angel has J J Cale on Guitar, possibly one of the best songs here is Gotta Get Over with Chaka Khan on vocals, its written by Doyle Bramhall the other guitarist on the CD, very good too.  All of  Me is a song I've heard a few times, notable by Willie Nelson, here with Paul McCartney on bass and vocals.  And, one of my favorites is Goodnight Irene done old school a wonderful tune written by Huddy Ledbetter, better know as Leadbelly for a fight he got into in prison, got stabbed 5 times in the gut and survived!  Overall, the guitar playing is excellent and I really got into the various styles he plays here, including some Peter Tosh, Otis Redding and the Gershwin Brothers. 

All day yesterday was Record Store Day, a day of old albums on vinyl.  I heard a ton of music on that format coming though Indiana and Chicagoland ( Wxrt)  Great stuff made me look though some of mine, am gonna hafta dust of the record player and check some out, like the above!  Man, I have some great ones, I have not heard in a long time, like the Masked Marauders ( said to have Mick Jagger on the first tune) they were a great garage band, gotta love it, lots more.  Fodder for another day...

The David Bowie CD is another I had a hard time liking the first time though, but, man does it grow on you its awesome!  Its been 10 years since his last album, he's had a heart attack to recover from but, back like a great rocker.  The album is a pretty quiet affair, heck the cover is a post-it note over his Heroes album, no notes here, no musicians listed.  Great tunes, The Next Day, The Stars, Valentines Day ( reminds me of Pete Droge's 4th of July is a good day to die, they'll remember you each year, your departure from here).  BTW, the video of The Stars is a very good short film, can be seen on YouTube.  OK, the album is a rocker, not quiet, it has Earl Slick on Guitar pretty good if you ask me, he replaced my favorite guitar player in Bowie's band Mick Ronson a great player on Ziggy Stardust and other albums.  He died at age 46 of liver cancer, way to young. 

The Heart Album on the other hand is one that I like all the way though the first time, a fine bit of hard rock, these woman can do it all, even with strings the ladies rock.  This year they were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I think this album is to prove that they belong there.  Dear Old America and Skin and Bones both excellent tunes.  You can't go wrong getting this CD. 

Its really great when your bands of the past still can produce good music, I have the new Niel Young and Springsteen albums that I find to be really good also.  In this day and age when people are retiring it feels good to hear them doing their art and on the road.  Heart is out and about, close to me, in Highland Park, Il. Bowie, on the other had is not out promoting his new one.  Clapton probably is.  The last time I saw him live was at Alpine Valley, WI. (1992)  It was with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Robert Cray.  It was a wonderful show, with a great jam in the end, you can not believe how good that was!  The sad part was that was the night Stevie Ray went up in a helicopter and crashed in to the side of the hill there and was killed.  It was a very foggy night.  Man, that was hard to take, one of our favorite  guitar players was gone.  Clapton rocks on...

Pulp Stuff

The below is  part of the reason I don't seem to get anything done.  This is the top of my desk, I'm sure one or two of you have about the same kind of room that I have there.  Geeze, all's I want to do when I get to it is look at all this cool stuff, like the stack on the left which is pretty much Doc Savage for 1934 and  up to 1938 or so, on the right a bunch of Adventure for the 20's and 30's, Some Spicys, Short Story and Thrilling Wonders among others.  Of course in the back, some Street and Smith Thick Books, vintage paperbacks and what have you!  OK, I do get to some reading, like these below. 

The Doc on the left is January 1934 with the 1st appearance of Pat Savage story Brand of the Werewolf,  a very up to date gal for 1934 and an excellent story for an early Doc.   Classic Baumhoffer Werewolf cover and some good stories on British Guianna,  and Pearl Divers.  The issue on the right is April 1934, Classic Baumhoffer cover for The Monsters, great use of what is more modern tech, TV and 2 way wrist radio's!

The 2 consecutive issues of the Shadow, I've read recently and a while ago, with some excellent covers, like the Chest cover for Sept. 1944 by Modest Stein is excellent, I like the Shadow shadow.  I love oriental stories of mystery.  The second story in the issue is by Ralph Andrews a tale of oriental Double-cross, which I like also.  The third tale is by Talmage Powell about a killer retuning home, it sucks you right in, good yarn.  Several more tales by John Roebert about 2 guys looking to get out of crime, James Bent a story of black market meat (its the war years after all) and Death lays and Egg By Ted Stratton about a perfect crime but the husband fails to remember one thing!

The other issue of the Mask for Oct. 1944 is great, don't know the artist for the issue, but could be Stein, very nice.  The story I found to be excellent with a nice twist ending.  Also a very good Nick Carter Story by Bruce Elliott. 

Here too I have to add some nice art by Jack Gaughan, boy, double click on this and take a look at what would have been the cover to my issue of Cloak and Dagger # 3 or so around 1969 or 1970 can't remember anymore, but really fine art.  He said to me that he got up over coffee and did these drawings to warm up!  Pretty cool.  I found these drawings when my mother died, buried at her house, she never though out much.  OK, the rest of the issue on ditto masters was there too!  Here too, is the back cover to it. Ah, and one more illo from that issue, one of mine from 40 years ago!