


Doodled while listening to LOVE is LOVE (one of my favorite records) by LUNGFISH (one of my favorite bands).Illustrations, Comics, Diagrams, Paintings, Maps and Secret Codes, affixed to the hidden plywood wall of a backyard fort with masking tape.



Doodled while listening to LOVE is LOVE (one of my favorite records) by LUNGFISH (one of my favorite bands).
So, I'm probably more excited than I should be for this weekend. Several bands from my Louisville youth are reuniting to play a couple of shows for a good cause. Two of 'em in particular - ENDPOINT and SUNSPRING - helped shape my musical taste (and personal identity, in so much as the two were interlinked) from ages 15 to 18 more than any other. And despite the Civil War Re-Enactment vibe I get from most reunion shows, I still love heartfelt / homemade hardcore music and am looking forward to seeing the bands and a bunch of old friends.
poster by Hero Design Studio, riffing on the iconic cover of Endpoint's Catharsis record.
Here's a photo of the place during the day:
And here's what it looked like at night:
See you in Louisville! Thanks in advance to all involved in getting these shows together.
This week Leon Beyond cuts through the BS and shows-off a bunch of noteworthy chainsaws. Here's the V8 behemoth he talks about:
I did a bunch of drawings for this week's Riverfront Times article about St. Louis' standings in a number of national surveys. You know, those lists that come out ranking "THE DRUNKEST CITIES"--
or the "BEST BASEBALL CITIES"--
Or the "MOST CRIME"--
Or "BIGGEST PENISES" / "MOST STDs" (those are 2 different lists)--
Or just plain ol' "CRAZIEST"--
They all fit into a 'Cheap Thrills' style illustration that opens the feature. Keep reaching for the stars, St. Louis!
The wonderful comics website WHAT THINGS DO has been running my long out-of-print strip THE GHOST OF DRAGON CANOE. Part 2 (of 3) is up today.
Also, I recently came across a manila folder full of reference I had collected back when I was working on that story:
And get a load of this color palette!
Anyway, if like comics, or caves, or ramshackle schoolbuses, you might be into it.
This week I let Leon Beyond into my house to dig through my junk drawer and catalog all of its contents.

Trying to sneak St. Louis Cardinals' trivia past Leon Beyond on baseball's opening week is like trying to sneak the sun past the rooster. This week he traces the evolution (and occasional evolutionary dead-ends) of the Redbirds' famous emblem "The Birds on the Bat." Click for a larger version:
Paul Lukas (of the wonderful UniWatch) has written about this important insignia, and the invaluable 'Dressed to the Nines' MLB uniform Database is a great reference, but Leon didn't need the help of course. Here are some of the articles mentioned, starting with the original worn by the likes of Rogers Hornsby:
Audubon-inspired ornithologically accurate version. Birders to this day still decry that two male redbirds would ever sit that close to each other on a yellow baseball bat without pecking each other's eyes out.
The template that Catholic Kardinals use when designing their uniforms:
Vinegar Bend Mizell, the best drawer in the 50's Cardinals Clubhouse and future Congressman, sporting the disastrous one-season-only non-Birds on the Bat jersey:
And local architects' ongoing battle with the Lumber industry:
Stay tuned for future updates, including the slated 2014 league-wide switch to aluminum bats, which will surely necessitate the R&D of chrome embroidery.