Comic art show in Davenport, Iowa

The Figge Art Museum in Davenport is currently hosting a show of original comic art, featuring selections by Kirby, Eisner, Gould, Kelly, Crane, Herriman, Raymond, Frazetta, Arno and many more. On a recent trip home (Muscatine, IA) I made a side trip to catch the show. There was no photography allowed -- so couldn't take any pics to post -- but here are a couple images from the museum's flyer promoting the show -- an Eisner "Spirit" piece and a C.C. Beck "Capt. Marvel." The show runs through Sept. 9 -- and more info can be found at www.figgeartmuseum.org

Cap's Hobby Hints

More old web images rescued! These are shot from the orignal art for four "Cap's Hobby Hints" pages by Henry Boltinoff. This feature ran in DC comic books for several years in the early/mid 1960s. Henry was the brother of DC editor Murray Boltinoff. Aurora, AMT and other model kit companies were regular advertisers in DC's comics at the time. Supporting kids' interest in the modeling hobby was a smart move on DC's part. Cap often gave hints for model railroading and slot car racing as well. You can see the title and issue number of the comic book each strip ran in, at the top of each original. How many of these did you read, way back then?




Here's the published version of the original strip above.

Here's a CAP'S page that was auctioned on eBay -- from VERY early in the series, when it was called CAP'S HOBBY CENTER -- and, no, I wasn't the seller, OR the winning bidder (darn it!) -- unusual in that the kid is actually building a figure kit -- looks like Hodad from the SILLY SURFER line!

Old pics rescued -- model kits

Ah -- just ran across a disc containing pics from some years ago (stuff I thought was lost forever in all my PC computer crashes ). Those of you who may have visited my old website will recall some of these -- but I thought they were worth posting again. This batch of pics is all from my long-lost model kit web page. I've long been involved in the figure kit hobby, and these are a few of my favorite build-up and paint jobs.

Life Drawing

Here are a few drawings from this week's Monday night life drawing session at MCAD. I hadn't done this in quite a while -- and I think my "rustiness" shows in there sketches -- but I still think there's something good in each of them. A number of my students (or former students) were among the crowd of scribblers. It was a two hour session -- with short poses -- the longest being two twenty minute poses at the end. These are all graphite on large sheets of newsprint.

I'm looking forward to the Sunday sessions starting up again during the school year -- longer sessions -- with, I hope, longer poses. I just hope my work load will allow me the time to attend!

Dale Watson/The Copperheads at Lee's Liquor Lounge 5/26/07

Folks who know me, know that if there's a good band playing at Lee's Liquor Lounge, that's where I'll be. A legendary bar here in Minneapolis, Lee's is the home of rockabilly and roots country in the Twin Cities: http://www.leesliquorlounge.com/ . Last night local band the Copperheads opened for one of my favorite performers, Dale Watson. Here are a few pics.

The Copperheads: http://www.thecopperheads.com/


Dale Watson: http://www.dalewatson.com/

Shojo Manga Show at MCAD

This show is currently in the main gallery at MCAD -- and runs until June 29. Photos are from the reception, hosted by curator, Masami Toku.

This internationally touring exhibition includes more than 200 pieces from 23 artists who have contributed to the development of shojo manga (girl comics) in Japan since World War II, reflecting the evolution of social roles for Japanese girls and women in the past 60 years.

For the MCAD show, Western responses to shojo manga have been included -- student work as well as professional work from MCAD alumni.

My only regret about this exhibit, is that many of the pieces are not originals, but rather (very high quality) digital reproductions. Still, there ARE originals among the work, and it's a fascinating collection of images from this genre of Japanese comics.

Green Bay -- the rest of the pics

Here are the rest of my photos from the Rockin' 50's Fest. I regret that I have no pics of the bands that played in the casino lounge (The Neanderthals were especially photo-worthy!) or of anything on Sunday past 5:30 when my digital camera crapped out on me -- just before the Starlight Drifters reunion! So I have no pics of that great band doing the theme song from my comic book "Johnny Dynamite" -- darn it all! But here's a nice sampling of photos from Thursday through Sunday afternoon. If you're an attendee reading this who DOES have Starlight Drifters pics, how about emailing me a few, huh?

Vendors!

Rockabilly Hall of Fame tables

Sonny Burgess

Rosie Flores

Conny (rockabilly singer from Japan)

The Seatsniffers -- GREAT band from Belgium

Robert Gordon and Chris Spedding

"Pappy" Dave Stuckey

Lee Rocker (of the Stray Cats)

.49 Special

Jessie Lee Miller -- what a voice!

Sue Moreno, Little Rachel, Jessie Lee Miller, Rosie Flores and Conny sing "Mean Mean Man"

The Hideaway Cats (Brazil)

The Taildraggers? Correct me if I'm wrong, OK?

Car show! Saturday afternoon in the parking lot. Dozens of gorgeous cars.

 James Intveld  -- the singing voice of Johnny Depp in John Waters' "Cry Baby!"

Charlie Thompson

The Collins Kids -- backed up by Deke Dickerson and company.

Collins Kids with Wanda Jackson "Let's Have a Party"

Levi Dexter and the original Rockcats reunion!

More bass! On-stage craziness courtesy Deke Dickerson

People!

Amber Foxx

The in crowd....

Jimmy Sutton's Four Charms

Yuichi and the Hilltone Boys

Sonny West

The Vibro-Champs