I’m sitting at my early 1900s wooden desk in my basement listengin to KZAP, an original sixties FM radio station that’s still going here in Sacramento, looking up at a poster made – and signed – by Dave Mann. It’s one of his rare non-‘biker’ paintings, showing an early rider on a pre-sixteen motorcycle crossing an old wooden bridge in a forest. It was given to me by an old friend, a motorcycle rider – and an exceptional artist in his own right – called Bob Wise. He does a lot of motorcycle and old car art.












Ahhhh … now we’re really getting to the crux of things . Underground Comics … scared the hell out me when I first saw them ( what will my parents think if they find one in my room … ahhhh … [ bleep ] it .. ]… fell in love once I started buying them .
But ahh … good sir .. y’all missed one .. a major league one at that !
Art Speigelman … cause yeah … before he went quasi mainstream ( if ya can consider the likes of ” Maus ” mainstream ) .. he was a stalwart among the underground comic royalty .
And David Mann … loved his art .. hate to this day his magazine ( EasyRiders )
Ahh … but those were the days … Art , Richard ( if ya can find a copy…. ‘ Rodder Journal ‘ did a killer profile on Williams ) Crumb etc etc … loved em all ..toss in some Frank Zappa as a musical lyrical soundtrack … .. and much like Hunter S Thompson … we’re in dire need of a new breed of their kind now more than EVER !
Kick ass … blunt .. to the point .. unafraid of stepping on anyone toes … politics and power be damned .. damn …
But hey … thanks for KZAP ! …. flipped it on the second I read about it … damn … the one place y’all got it over us … killer quasi underground radio … ahh but there is the internet .. where I’s listening as a bang away on the keyboard
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KZAP, KSAN, KFAT, etc…all superb central California radio stations from the long-ago days of independent media.
I meant to add a note about Dan O’Neill’s Penny Ante Republican, which predated Speigelman’s Maus by 17 years; thanks for the reminder. O’Neill would never have won a Pulitzer though, because his subject matter concerned oppression as it was happening in the USA and Ireland, and not safely in the rear view mirror…where we prefer our political discourse. I mean, we can all agree ‘fascists are bad’, but only when they’re historical, right? Otherwise, things get ‘political’, and nobody likes that…
I’ll have to see if I can dig up Penny Ante Republic … suffice it to say the title alone catches my interest .
And yeah … considering the decades of latent fascism here in the not so US of A since the inception of communism in the early 1900s .. it rearing its ugly head time and team again between 1%er’s , politics , corporate mentality , more previously underground groups rapidly becoming THE mainstream than I can keep track of .. etc .. etc .. etc .. et al … ad NAUSEAM ….
….with the FBI , DOJ , DHS etc keeping their heads in the sand while futilely chasing the ” One More Red Nightmare ” ( King Crimson ) thats exists only in their fearful delusions …
Yup .. we gots a problem .. thats been around fer decades … with at the moment no one digging their heels in .. counting the REAL cost of freedom ( and democracy ) … putting all on the line rather than chasing the almighty $ as did those in the past .. both writers musicians authors etc .
As for the younger generations .. spineless with ZERO stamina .. giving up after one round to chase once again the almighty $ … afraid to risk anything .. never mind everything
Phew … nuff o’ that …off the soapbox for me … for the moment at least … and yeah I’ll be checking out that recommendation … but damn … gotta tell ya … just re-read ” Maus ” .. despite knowing several survivors and their stories first hand … that tome emotionally exhausts me by the end
Cheers mate …. thanks for the nudge … even if you didn’t intend it to be so
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RL Crabb’s website has a few panels of ” Penny Ante Republic ” … gonna have to dig deeper to see if there’s anything remaining in print
And thanks for the additional radio stations … damn … ya’d think with Denver’s 60’s Rebellion past ( KFML.. the original KBCO , Ebbets Field.. Rainbow Music Hall etc ) … we’d have at least one blast from the past station for us Old Guys Rule ….. but no …. fact is what few ‘ rock ‘ stations we have left are barely rock at all .. even contemporary rock . No worries though .. with a D / record coalition exceeding 3000 … got more than enough of my own to keep me happy … though it is fun listening to someone else’s picks now and again
Tons of country though … Nashville Pop country that is … bringing to mind my favorite quote of late ;
” Todays Country Music is stupid music manufactured by smart people to take money from stupid people ”
Rock On – Ride On – Efff em if they Can’t Take a Joke – Remain Calm ( as best as possible in light of the circumstances ) .. and as always PdO … Carry On … my wayward fellow boomer
On the topic of music … knowing you like ole Bill ( Frissel ) … a couple of relatively recent picks … Marc Ribot ” Songs of Resistance ” & “Map of a Blue City ” … and here’s one that caught me off guard … ” The Coward Brothers ” … which is .. T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costellos first totally collaborative album … damn fine !
Oops … hang on there Sloopy …. just found out PAR is only four pages long … which is what RL Crabb has up on his site … all four pages . Ha !
But maybe that was one small part of the overall problem of O’Neill never being up for any awards .. its kind of hard to win an award with only four pages … not to mention being self published ( take my word for it …being self published is the kiss of death in the murky world of Pulitzers etc )
Oh well .. at least PdO made me aware .. and Crabb made it available so … its still a win for me at least
s. clay wilson been dead almost 10 yrs.I remember writing him in ’73 asking him how much for his art.$150 a page and he wouldnt separate a page out of a story,you had to buy the whole story,so a 2 page story cost you $300 minimum.With prices like that I dont know how he ended up destitute and had to beg for alms.He could be a nasty piece of work.A friend commisioned a piece by him sometime in the 80s.God knows what it cost him.
David Mann.You ever notice that his men all looked the same?Long black hair and beards.Once in a while a blond guy.It made you think that California had all these black haired biker clones all over the place.And boy did he ever milk the pony express rider thing to death!Let me see,there was the viking.the pirate,the knight…
Though I like DM’s works .. no disagreement on the … errr …. hmmm … overt homogenization/ whiteification of his paintings .. facts is the M/C’s under the riders butts are pretty much the same as well . Kind of like the James Taylor of motorcycle art …
Problem is .. fame can do that to ya …. making you think if you don’t keep doing the exact same thing over and over again … everyone will stop liking you … so you throw creativity out the door … replacing it with corporate branding … that once you’re stuck in it … you’ll never get out .. alive or otherwise
But the other fact is … place a huge part of the blame on the Public / Fans .. who keep demanding the same ole s*** over and over again cause their precious little brains can’t handle anything new
Damn I hate fame … Almost Famous was almost too much for me … escaping it just before the internet went ballistic being the 2nd best decision I ever made ( #1 being marrying my loverly wife of now 31 years )
OK … so back on topic … An ….. ‘ is he is or is he aint’ .. [ cartoonist ? artist ? illustrator ? what ? ] … but damn his artwork is incredible
And though he din’t do much with cars and M/C’s .. his artwork for the original ” The Song of the Sausage Creature ” by Hunter S Thompson in the 3/1/95 issue of CycleWorld … rivals just about anything done by any of the artists in question
Fact is in my opinion as much as I love all those discussed so far .. the artist in question wipes the floor with all of em … even Von Dutch ! .
I’m talking of course about Ralph Steadman …. a man who went into art to change the world .. did have some effect on it … never backed down or compromised ( once he was established but truth be known he never backed down ) and more than once told the Establishment exactly where they could move it with illustrated instructions on how to accomplish it
So does ole Ralph belong in this conversation ? In my never ever humble opinion … Damn Right He Does … but hey .. I’m a fan ( got a shelf full of his books ) so … well … an educated opinion mind you .. but in the end … just mine
Now pardon me while I give a listen to those stations PdO recommended
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Ah Ralph! Love it! By far one of his best illustrations was in the ‘Curse of Lono”. I had good parents that raised me on Zap- and H.S.Thompson, — that and mix in a little Alan Watts. Yep, I don’t fit in one bit, really.
Jeeze .. Alan Watts as well ? Hell toss in a lil Hesse and we’ve got the basis for one helluva discussion … ceptin … my folks were’t on board .. had ta do it all on my own.. against all their wishes .. which is the roots of my ‘ Outlaw ‘ ( according to Tom Robbin’s definition ) mentality no doubt .
” Commit Random Acts of Defiance ”
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And then of course we’ve got those crazy crews who ran and drew ChopperToons , CycleToons Hot Rod Comics etc et al .
Not quite what one would consider … ‘ underground ‘ .. but suffice it to say back in the day you’d raise more than a few eyebrows as well as peoples ire if you got caught reading them . Especially ChopperToons .
Wow .. amazing how three ( damn fine ) articles can bring back a flood of memories so deep I can hardly wade thru them all …
And ahhh … I know they’re long gone … but if any of the descendants happen to be looking in … a major THANKYOU for Vaugn’s News Stand and Sundries in central Joiisey … without them and their very open liberal Freak Nation mindset .. I’d of missed out on all of it … not to mention Rolling Stone Magazine .. the Frank Zappa book … EasyRider screen play .. and all the rest …
Amazing aint it how one well stocked little shop can have such a profound effect on one’s entire life .. not to mention career !
And kids today think we missed out on so much … hell … the only thin we missed out on is corporate over homogenization for the sole purpose of making a profit off all those … err … mindless enough to fall for their garbage
Rock On – Ride On – Remain Calm and do Carry On .. regardless of the powers that be
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