The Secret Life of Machines

Oakland's General Strike and the Occupation of the Port of Oakland

2011-11-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Part 1

11/2 Where were you?

I was part of the Critical Mass, about 200 cyclists strong, that occupied the Port of Oakland with the Teamsters and unions ahead of a march of at least 5000 people (latere estimates were much higher) who would eventually occupy, and shut down, the 5th largest port in the nation, becoming the biggest general strike in this country since 1946. That’s some shit right there. I wanted to get this all down while it’s still fresh in my mind; I think my kids will be proud of it. I am, and you should be if you were there, too.

Most of my favorite authors have some kind of background in journalism. Their writing is brief but somehow it communicates a description or an idea very clearly and in few words.
I wish I could communicate like that. I tend to be long winded and overly descriptive. It causes me to lose my train of thought sometimes. I like journalistic writing the same way curly headed people like straight hair and vice versa. So I’m going to try and not get too far off topic while I tell you about my experience on November 2nd.
But it’s going to be hard to do because the Occupy Movement doesn’t lend itself very well to summary or soundbites. The media has a hard time reporting about it because of that, and it’s the reason you hear so many people saying ‘there’s no clear message’.

Why is that? My theory is that we’re so used to getting our information in black and white snippets, so used to being marketed to with slogans and campaigns aimed right at our insides, that people are freaking out about it.
The Movement isn’t following the script and it’s driving critics insane, it’s not giving them anything to drag through the mud.
Some say it’s not giving potential supporters anything to agree with, either. I think they just don’t see their particular brand, yet; they’re used to being given a limited choice to identify with. So they're missing the point because it’s not about selling them something. And change, like a man said on the radio, doesn’t look like we think it should. It’s not pretty; it’s awkward and sort of weird.

Maybe I’m projecting, though. It’s my day job to be conscious of that sort of thing in order to make pretty things people want to buy. I’ve become very conscious of my own demographic. I can recognize the marketing techniques which can be really obvious, shallow, and even insulting when I see how someone else, a computer program sometimes, has $ummed me up. (see what I did there with the dollar sign? That’s a visual metaphor)
That’s what Tyler Durden meant in Fight Club when he says “you are not your khakis”.
(Try this: at the end of every tagline or slogan you see or hear today say “now, buy this stuff”.)

Then again, maybe that's my place in the 99%, or servitude to the 1%; maybe that’s what I was protesting about.

But, for those of you that are still looking for a clear message in this thing, that’s not it. Because what I’m talking about can be traced right back to a corporation squeezing a buck out of me while they withhold it from somebody else. And that has become so much a part of our everyday life that we think it’s normal, and we even get proud about having 3 jobs to pay normal everyday bills. We call those who don't, and who complain about the system, lazy. That’s not right. That's divide and conquer, that's what that is.
It has leached into our way of life, into our clothes and phones and everything and it’s become so normal.

Critical Mass

I read about this Critical Mass taking off at 4pm and I made sure I was down there by 3:30. I had found out about it through my friends who run a local bike shop and I thought it’d be good to ride my bike with them instead of march; I didn’t want to go it alone.

Well, I didn’t see them, I reckoned then that they were just passing the word. Word got around too because there were easily 200 cyclists assembling at 14th and Broadway in what would become the first wave of occupiers at the Port of Oakland.

I didn’t know anybody or exactly how this was going to take place.
I got a little nervous. It felt like the nerves a person gets the first time they do anything, really, but it wasn’t the first time I’d been to a critical mass.
But that was a long time ago. Come to think of it I should have been more nervous then.
I was 17 and there were only 13 of us and we were in Pensacola, FL riding in an action against car-culture, pissing off Southerners by backing up traffic for a mile on a two lane street.
At least on the way to the Port we had safety in numbers. I think about that now and I realize that part of my nerves were also from thinking about the police response to the protesters a few nights before when Scott Olsen was injured so badly. How would they respond to us? How would I respond to them?

I didn’t know who the organizers of the critical mass were but there was a call from the soundstage at the intersection for everyone participating in the critical mass to assemble around a particular flag. Cyclists were making their way through the people and started grouping up along side them behind the street-wide banner that marked the front of the march. The call came out for the cyclists to now assemble in front of the banner. We’d actually be leading the march. That was fucking cool. That’s when I got excited.

Already I had spotted a few guys that had done this sort of thing before. I decided I’d stay close to them; they seemed to know what they were doing. The route to the Port was being hashed out by a couple of these guys but there were only about 50 bikes in front of the banner and the rest were still massing up behind. They didn’t seem to hear when that call went out and I felt like I was seeing how quickly something like this can become confusing and disorganized. I was soaking this all in, too, watching it all. Now, they tell you not to look like a tourist when you walk around a strange city, you don’t want to be staring around like you don’t know where you’re at or you’ll look like an easy target for a mugging or something. In the context of a protest march, though, I thought this behavior made me look more like a narc, but I was really into what I was learning so far, really into these people around me.

By the looks on most of the faces behind the banner, the cyclists', I could see that they couldn’t hear half of what was being said to them or knew where to go. I pointed this out to the guy with the bullhorn who had called for us to assemble, and then all of a sudden it was my job to let everybody know what to do.
For a minute there I guess I was an organizer. That was cool, too. I rallied everyone to the front.

This spontaneous organism would set the tone for the rest of my night.
It was very tense for me sometimes; I’d never done this before. I’d say that most everybody there were exercising the 1st Amendment for the first time, and for me it was important that someone around me knew what the hell was going on, and others must have felt the same way. Later that afternoon I know I felt eyes on me the same way I was eyeing others for a sign of what to do.

And then it was time; we rode out.

Part 2

I’m still trying to reconcile the rest of that afternoon and evening. It’s been a week now and it’s all still very present in my mind while the Occupy Movement is still very present in Oakland and elsewhere and the feeling is very exciting.

I came home that night feeling like I had participated in a separate but very important action. What I believed I was going to be a part of was a huge march, one face among thousands, heading in the same direction. What I ended up being a part of was the first small wave of people, not the march you see pictures of, to begin shutting the ports down ahead of the larger marches, holding them until they got there, confronting a lot of confusing, dangerous and new situations. That’s being honest. It was a big deal to me.

The plan was simple. We would make our way to 7th and Marina after shutting down the first entrance and essentially bottle up the entire port without having to stop at each entrance. The whole idea of the strike was to shut the port down, stopping the flow of commerce from going in or out.

We formed a picket line, circling and chanting on our bikes at the first port. Someone I assume was a union man told us that it was necessary or else the other unions wouldn’t honor the picket line. Some unions won’t cross another unions’ picket line even if they aren’t actually on strike themselves and that’s allowed in their contracts.

Sowing Confusion

Things were going really well (for us, anyways). When it was apparent that dozens of semis weren’t going to get out is when the confusion began. Our numbers were divided by a lack of clear leadership and direction, as well as police motorcades. Add to this a suspicious amount of protesters actually starting to advocate for the longshoremen who were now stuck at the port and the drivers who were idling there and you get total confusion.

I remember one cyclist in particular who would continually speak to the truck drivers and come back with their reasons as to why we should let them pass. To me it was like his heart was in the right place but it was like he was asking them all if they were okay with us protesting and then coming back to start a debate about it when of course they want to leave. I noticed him approaching and speaking with the police as well, but I don’t know what he talked to them about. I do know that within a short amount of time we were distracted from blocking the trucks and they were starting to sneak by while we argued about letting them pass.

Looking back it’s amazing to see how this developed. First there were obviously longshoremen who were done for the day trying to leave in their cars or pickup trucks. I was guilty of blocking one of these guys until a guy came up and said “Brother, would you mind letting the longshoreman go home?”

Imagine being asked the same thing only in reference to a man driving a semi truck that was hauling a shipping container and you have the basis of the confusion being sown. Not the picture of a man on his way home.
I was not there to be a traffic cop and I wasn’t there to search containers to prove whether they were actually carrying a load. I don’t know exactly how it works but I’m pretty sure that hauling those containers, empty or not, to and from ports in order to be shipped or dropped off is the commerce we were there to halt.

More people were beginning to trickle in but it wouldn’t be until sunset that I would see the march leader, Boots Riley, or anyone else in a leadership capacity show up with solid information about what to do next.

7th and Marina

But we had our goal of 7th and Marina and cyclists who had broke off earlier were coming back in ones and twos calling for more bikes at the next stop. Those of us that had had enough of the angry truckers trying to run us over at the first port, and enough of the pointless debate about letting trucks through, decided to go help elsewhere and make our way to the intersection.

Not long after we got there, the 20-30 of us were confronted with the same situation all over again, only this time it wasn’t union men or longshoremen arguing for the truckers it was a small contingent of cyclists and a few mediators on foot who seemed to appear out of nowhere.
In addition to who had cargo and who didn’t the argument was now about the working man who we needed on our side, the real 99%; the working man we don’t want to piss off because he’s just trying to get home; we were holding up the working man who gets paid low by-the-load wages, rents his own truck, has no healthcare.
We were assured that they were for our cause and would gladly protest tomorrow.
What the hell was I supposed to say to that? And one cyclist was worse than a message board flame war, screaming, cursing and hurling insults at others there.

The mediators I mentioned before, who appeared out of nowhere, reminded me of what NPR hosts must look like. Salt and pepper cropped hair, mom pants and a mellow demeanor that suggests they just want to communicate and understand. They were asking individuals if they had tried explaining to the truckers what was going on, tried to reach an understanding etc. By individuals I mean the cyclists who were blocking the trucks.
By the time they got to me I was through with explaining what ‘no trucks in or out’ meant and that we weren’t stopping anyone from going home. If they wanted to go home they could get out of their trucks and walk to BART about 30 minutes or less down the street.
At least they’ve got homes. I’ve got friends who have lost their homes because of greed and now I’m supposed to step aside to let these people go home? With shipping containers on their trucks?

I tried asking that lady as nicely as I could why she didn’t just talk to the truckers herself, I wasn’t about to move out of the way. We had just seen what happens when the trucks were presented with even a small opening. They gunned it. One driver had come out to the intersection screaming and bullying cyclists until they moved to regain their personal space when she turned and screamed “Go! Go! Go! Dammit Go!” The semi hauled ass out of there a foot from the cyclist.

That’s when it was the most tense. It wasn’t a message board where you could calmly type your views, I was on the spot. The people opposing me were right there engaging me. I might not have been riding with the Freedom Riders but I was facing violence to prove a point that speaks to something as big as a national movement and I don’t think many people have had the opportunity to do that. It tests your resolve, that’s for sure. You start thinking, shit, is it worth it?

It’s messed up now to think about it in light of my family but I’m glad I rolled right in front of that second truck trying to get through.

cont’d in Part 3

Look what I got!

2011-02-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Yeah! It's No Headline Audiozine and it's 1/4th ME!

Issuepisode #3! finally here. Enjoy my pretties!

Intro guitar rock: Drew Cook

Enthusiasm Heartthrob: NHAZ

Posters carnival rock: Ex-Dead Teenagers!
talk: NHAZ + a cast of thousands!

Monkey Locks Football: Chris Collision
music by Joshua Shame

Next Time! by Abe the Professor

the Professor Interprets Lyrics: Abe the Professor
music: the Melvins

feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats and get the catskins for nothing: Lorem Ipsum
music: Seoul Avenger

outro: special sexual guest: Auggie
special shocked guest: Biz
music: Ghost Monsoon

and you can like us now on Facebook if you're into that sort of thing

Mic Check

2010-08-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Kathleen Hanna, former singer for Bikini Kill and current Le Tigre lead, had a contest to design a shirt for Julie Ruin, her solo project after BK. We won! Thanks to Kathleen for being so kickass about it too, her email totally made my day! It's awesome to have your art appreciated by someone you've been a fan of for a long time.

UPDATE:
So it's available now at buyolympia.com! So STOKED. seriously. Feel free to write if you want to hear me gush about it.

Hit The Parade

2010-08-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

What's that you say? Free tickets to RATT if I make a quick poster for the show? Hell yes. Thanks to Amanda at Lava Booking for keeping me in mind and for keeping Oakland metal.

Julie Ruin

2010-06-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

Kathleen Hanna, former singer for Bikini Kill and current Le Tigre lead, had a contest to design a shirt for Julie Ruin, her solo project after BK. We won! Thanks to Kathleen for being so kickass about it too, her email totally made my day! It's awesome to have your art appreciated by someone you've been a fan of for a long time.

Check back here or on Kathleen's blog for updates on where and when you can find it.

UPDATE:
So it's available now at buyolympia.com! So stoked, guys, seriously. Feel free to write if you want to hear me gush about it.

No Headline Audiozine

2010-04-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

The only podcast OR audiozine that still thinks a suit coat over a tshirt is a good look with jeans.

The only podcast OR audiozine by three men with tattoos on their fingers and one woman who had a baby with one of them.

And so on.

Four people with smart pants, strong opinions and stunningly attractive radio voices. Death penalty, Star Trek, spam, bike locks, the funny pages–if you’ve thought about it, we’re talking about it.

No Headline Audiozine

Local Talent

2010-02-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

Me and my son got over a hundred flicks of some local talent.
Mostly tags and stickers, and we didn't have to go very far. This was all in a radius of less than a mile. It got me so stoked I wanted to grab a paint pen and start ripping shit up, too. I used to write Mad As when I lived in Dallas but I use the word 'write' loosely since I only ever did a piece or two and mostly tagged.

SOTU 2010

2010-01-29T20:26:00.000-08:00

Fecal Face, an SF based gallery and online resource for all that is artsy and or fartsy in the Greater Bay Area and The World is going to be linking the world to photos I took of Obama's State of The Union. Some interesting shit happened when I aimed my camera at the flat screen, let me tell you.

Local Love

2009-11-14T16:58:00.000-08:00

Just finished this poster for Manifesto Bicycles here in Oakland, inspired by The Giving Tree and another kids book about a penny tree.

Something Sacred Carrying Our Designs

2009-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

We've been really busy lately and I haven't had a chance to post a lot so here's the run-down. We've got a few new stories almost ready for illustrations and a couple of shirts available at Something Sacred with the chance of a third. That's them down there. Killer Arcade was just sold too I'll let you know when it's available in shirt form.

Vote Soon at Threadless

2009-09-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

One of our designs is up for voting at Threadless. Help us win that 2k and put Tall Cat Studios on the map with an awesome win! Thanks!

Score this design: "Game Over," to help it get printed on Threadless!

New Flogging Molly

2009-08-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

Yes! Two Flogging Molly approvals from our recent design-siege on the band, my favorites of the bunch. At least one of these is bound for retail.

Tall Cats in Hot Topic

2009-08-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

A few of our recent approvals have made it to the shelves. The description of the Anti-Flag on yellow is hilarious. I think they shrunk the design too. Don't know about that Kid Rock print though, might be a bit out of register or just a bad picture. This is the third.

We've been working for the Misfits this week, it's turning out pretty nice..

F*ck Off

2009-08-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a long couple of weeks! We finished 6 Flogging Molly designs, a design for our friends at Manifesto Bicycles here in Oakland, and 3 for Spencer's. One of which (pictured) was pulled from the presentation, it was inspired by feathered roach-clips and Archaeopteryx.

Meanwhile, we're in touch with Something Sacred about another licensing deal which could result in the existence of one more shirt in this world for you to love and buy. And hopefully In the next few weeks we should have a few more approvals to post.

Salute This Up for Voting

2009-07-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hey if anybody wants to the Budnick design become a reality help us out and vote!
Vote for this design onShirtFight.com!

Nom Nom Brainz

2009-07-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

Finished up some AFI today and I was still in the mood to fool around with some type.
So I came up with this playing around with a new font suite that I bought and thought I’d try a horror design since we don’t do much of that. I staggered the letters to resemble the awkward motion of zombies and somehow it got radical. This could also look pretty classy in just pink and white.
As is it's 6 colors and it’s for sale, thanks for lookin!

Salute This

2009-07-22T11:23:00.001-07:00

I was watching Terminator 2 yesterday and holy crap Bobby Budnick was in it. I said to myself "Self, you need to do a little 90's expoitation." So I did this last night in a fit of inspiration.
This design is for sale too so email us for a quote if you're into it!

GMOVR

2009-07-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

Just finished this illustration and it's for sale!

It was originally a sub at Shirt Fight but I had only finished inking it 6 minutes before the contest ended and I vowed to finish it so here it is. It's my first big Rapidograph project and I regretted it instantly when I realized how much detail I was going to have to ink! Ball-point is a lot smoother and you can imply the details.

Anyways the games are sort of parodies of some classics like Double Dragon and Operation Wolf. They're called Face Punch, Lazer Burn, and Bullet Jungle.

You Are A Zero

2009-07-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

I developed a line of YYY's merch a while back with Cinder Block Inc. Unfortunately they're not available for purchase on tour or in retail but the Heads Will Roll design can be made to fit your band's name. Just holler at the guys over at Cinder Block (link to the right) if you're into it.

If you're into something like this and want to commission Tall Cat Studios to a do a new custom design though we churn this sort of thing out all the time. Just shoot us an email for a quote!

New Art For Sale

2009-07-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's all about contrast. A kid that kills, and pretty colors for something disgusting. That's the sort of contrast this design has.

I did all of this in ballpoint pen watching Enter The Dragon and So I Married An Axe Murderer, hence the claw marks and big heed. I like the color palette Liberatore uses in the Ranx books, they work really well on guts. This would be best printed on a natural or off white tee.

If you're into purchasing this art for your clothing line send us an email for pricing info!

UPDATE: We just put this design up for voting at Shirt Fight, It has 6 days left so if you want a chance to own it on a shirt go vote!

Ghosts In Ghost Town: The Tall Cat Studios Building

2009-07-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've heard a lot of stories about the history of our building. I've heard it was a hat factory, a firehouse (the downstairs neighbors have shower stalls and barracks style bathrooms), and one neighbor tells me about a man he knew who built his own plane in it, assembled it at the airport, and invited the neighborhood to come watch him fly it.

I eventually found out that it originally used to be a munitions depot. It was built by the government to house the munitions in the back warehouse (now the AK Press building) with the offices and barracks in the front warehouse. Ours!

This morning I was drinking my coffee thinking about what parts of our space might be originally from that period, figuring the support beams were for sure. I was wondering about the visible layers of paint on one of them, and that's when on an exposed piece of the wood under all the paint I saw something was written in a simple but classy hand: Goner.

Rumble With Buffaloes

2009-07-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

Went to Buffalo Exchange and found our Rumble! design there, just like Something Sacred said it would be. Didn't see Peace Parties so maybe it was sold out right because you all went there to buy one?

They're both available at your local Buffalo Exchange, get some!

Model Americans: Art Ru'Maj

2009-07-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

(note: there was a type setting malfunction, sorry!)

The Big Unwind

Our first art show! It turned out to be a late and awesome

night. It was also our big unwind from 11th hour paint strokes

and blade passes.

It was down to the wire, guys. We didn't think it was stressful

but we were really conscious of the clock ticking away for a month,

now, and we almost sighed when Andrea finished her painting

and the crooked Obama Commemorative Plate (As Seen On TV)

went up on its shelf.

First hour or two of the show with Abe chugging away and Soda

waving his custom Art Ru'Maj flags, available for free at the show.

Andrea with some last minute painting and my last minute

re-matting...is that even a word?

Model Americans: Art Ru'Maj

Ever heard of Tar'jay? That's how the explanation for our

show at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records starts out.

The collection was largely made up of Andrea's character

studies for her comic and my quick and easy collages and

simple photo retouches a'la Captain America (I painted them

on models and musicians' faces) and that's how the

Model Americans title was born.

We coined Art Ru'Maj to put a pretty name to the pretty

pictures that we made and sold for cheap. It's fancy-talk for

Rummage, and since the show fell on 4th of July weekend

it fit the holiday sale environment that we all find ourselves in

everywhere else.

You've got your garage sales and department store blowouts

why not an art show too? This was our art rummage sale.

My blade and it's effects on art.

Studded and Spangled Stars

We were stoked when Shannon and The Clams

showed up. Nobunny came by early when the last nail went
into the wall, and even put some work in the
show!
East Bay Express Best Painter Nominee Matt Decker
and his wife Hilary (owners of Premium Tattoo and Vintage) were
there and of course there was the curator himself: Steve Stevenson,
owner of 1-2-3-4 Go! Records.
Speaking of curators, Obi Kaufmann came by and bought
one of Andrea's illustrations. He's participating in a show himself
in Walnut Creek soon.
Our friend and sculptor Derek Weisberg came and supported
us, too. The love on 40th street was big. You can see more of their
work in our post about the 40th St Art Quest.
Thanks everybody for stopping by and if you haven't yet please
do, and at least take a free Art Ru'Maj flag. And thanks to Steve for
letting us put our junk on his walls!

One of the collages for sale ($9.99) and Andrea about to make

some sort of point with a flag.

Andrea trash talking to Trish, Cody Clam talking shop with Steve

while Abe is looking on amused in front of Andrea's painting ($199.99).

Oakland's Positive Mental Attitude...

2009-06-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

is huge. This is at Market and San Pablo and will most likely be there forever, it's made from something the city uses on roads.

This Is Art Ru'Maj

2009-06-18T15:18:00.001-07:00

That's pronounced CHEAP.

Just did these last night and this morning for our art show on the 3rd. So if you're in Oakland and wouldn't mind affording a piece
of art you should check it out for Art Murmur.

Rebel Grey

2009-06-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

I got some good approvals over the last couple of weeks including one for Def Leppard's tour with Poison and Cheap Trick which was all done by hand with a brush. Except the distressing. I think Spencer's and Hot Topic are eyeballin the ANTI-FLAG designs and one that's not pictured will be available at Warped Tour. Kid Rock is touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd and I'll post more of those some other time.

Hause of Howe

2009-06-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Mentioned Hause of Howe not to long ago. This is what I came up with for them. Almost gives you a toothache.

Slogan Tees

2009-06-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ever spent more than 5 minutes staring at the submission page of Threadless.com's slogan contest trying to come up with something that might win you 500 bucks?
I have. I suck at it. Not so great off the cuff but give me a drink or deprive me of sleep and I'll usually come up with something decent.
But I'll let you be the judge of that.

Inspired by the last couple of sleepless nights (my 2yr olds' biggest teeth are coming in) and restricted by 140 characters on Twitter I came up with it this morning.

I'm going to design a few shirts around it myself so there's a chance someone might pick it up even if it doesn't get enough attention on Threadless.

Sorry For The Delay

2009-05-29T10:07:00.001-07:00

Seems like I've been saying that a lot this past week. It's been busy at Tall Cat Studios. We've been working on Def Leppard, John Mellencamp, a piece for Hause of Howe, and two new designs each for Anti-Flag and NOFX which will be out in time for Warped Tour, and Hot Topic. I'll post images when I get the final OK.

And just in case you didn't hear: Buffalo Exchange has picked up two of my designs (Rumble and Peace Parties) for a test run in all of their stores. (thanks to Something Sacred) So if there's a location near you go pick one up and show your support, and thanks for lookin.

Lemme Twitter Dat

2009-05-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

I started a twitter account for Tall Cat Studios. Get some!

Meanwhile the site is almost done and once I finish making my own logos for the games this illustration will be done and I can start coloring. Put your band name right over the top der.

Mr. T Shirt

2009-05-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

This sort of thing is on it's way out so get some while you still can, put your logo on that padlock right and pity some fools. Anyone interested in purchasing this design should send me an email.

Shirt Fight

2009-05-06T12:27:00.001-07:00

One of hopefully two submissions for this week's theme: Video Games vs ??? This would be Video Games vs Shirt Fight

Vote for this design onShirtFight.com!

The Merluzzi Ring

2009-05-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

So based on the crest from shirt design, I came up with a ring. It'll be produced in white gold with a ruby stone once we find a vendor or artisan who can pull it off. This is all copyright Joe Merluzzi now.

Busy Week

2009-04-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

This last week I finished a premium-quality shirt design that my client was so stoked on he's having me design a ring based on it. And I threw my hat into the Shirt Fight ring for their weekly contest. This week I submitted my Elvis design a little late but it felt good churning it out. Check them both out up there. I've also got a new request in from Faith No More and a few for them that are pending so keep your eyes open.

Business Cards & Postcards

2009-04-24T15:47:00.001-07:00

Derek Weisberg is a Bay Area sculptor who's showing at Space 1026 in Philadelphia this May. I did this post card (top) and business card (bottom) for him recently and I'm stoked about how they came out. Sorry about the photo quality, though. It's a little dreamy in here today.

Social Distortion Toddler T's

2009-04-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

I got to play with a couple of older Social D designs for a new line of toddler tees and onesies. Pretty stoked to work on some of Mike Ness' projects this past year.

Urban Outfitters: Another State of Mind

2009-04-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

This is a slightly different version than what was finally produced for Urban Outfitters (the final product was in B&W with a few changes and I don't have the mockup anymore, sorry UO hope you don't mind!).

Tim McGraw 2008 Tour

2009-04-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few designs from a larger line that I worked on from Tim McGraw's 2008 Live Your Voice tour.

The Misfits

2009-04-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

For Xmas management wanted a Misfits flavored parody of the Grinch, another icon with a creepy grin.

Monster Circus

2009-04-07T17:01:00.001-07:00

Can't believe I haven't posted this.
I designed a line of shirts recently for a new show in Vegas called Monster Circus which is this huge rock/side show with freaks and geeks and pole dancers that’s going to take over the Hilton in Las Vegas. It’s a super group with Rudy Sarzo (formerly with Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, currently with Dio) John Corabi (formerly with Mötley Crüe, Ratt), Fred Coury (Cinderella), Bruce Kulick (formerly with KISS), and Tony Montana (formerly with Great White) and Dee Snider is their guest singer. Google that shit.

Rumble On Teefury

2009-04-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everybody who bought a shirt, that was awesome! But if you didn't get one don't worry, what's great about Tee Fury is that I've got rights, dammit, and you might just see it again soon.
Later!
Josh

$9 Tickets To The Rumble

2009-04-05T23:05:00.000-07:00

Tee Fury is selling a shirt that I designed. They're available until 9pm PST April 6th for only 9 dollars. Pick one up, I think you'd look good in one!

...with just a sprinkle of Elowsky

2009-03-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

I go to Rebel 8's website almost everyday. Yesterday I noticed a High on Fire shirt I worked on in one of their blog photos.

High on Fire have a regular artist but they needed a quick shirt made from their album cover for the tour we were producing merch for. So I got to try and make the new album art work as a shirt. Basically I added a border and the album title but it was a bitch to crop. If you ever see the full piece it's epic but there were a lot of rad-but-asymmetrical details I didn't want to have to crop out in order for it to fit in a circle like all their other designs. I think I got to call out the kind of shirt too. No biggie. Except I think the baseball tee was only available on tour.

Nobunny Flier for 1-2-3-4 Go! Records

2009-03-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

1-2-3-4-Go! Records in Oakland is putting on a show at the Stork Club and Steve asked me to do a flier. This was a week ago and I just got this picture of it from Steve. All the bands but one have something to do with animals and that made me think of lost pet fliers.

Fear This

2009-03-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

My best friend Anthony Pearce showed me some pictures he took of the White House on TV and it spells FEAR. You wouldn't believe this guys attention to detail. Just check out some of the tattoo work he's done. End of Visual.

Manifesto's 1st Anniversary Party

2009-03-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

After a few revisions the poster is finally through and there'll be some available at the show.

I'll Be Bach

2009-03-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

I was told that this had been done before. Then I looked up what's out there. Now it's done.

This art is for sale too. Send me an email if you're into it. Or if you want to see it printed you can vote for it here.

Artquest

2009-02-24T21:29:00.000-08:00

While there have been reactionary articles in the recent past about gentrification in the area, and it's connection to Bohemia, these few and scattered acquaintances of mine have opened shop, expanding away from the setting sun into Piedmont and Downtown: Rowan Morrison Gallery, Manifesto Bicycles, Issues, and Premium.

Situated along and around the 40th Street Corridor they came together last Saturday the 21st and put on 4 art openings in one night in the form of a quest to see works by 8 Oakland artists. Each shop provided maps of the area and stamps for each of your visits. Once you collected them all you were entered into a raffle.
You can read more about it at the myspace page.
It's where I got this:
"More than just another Art Murmur, the merchants of the 40th St. Corridor appreciate the value that support for the local economy can have on a neighborhood. All the owners of these businesses, as well as the exhibiting artists, are also residents of Oakland."

And now some pictures. Follow me.

First I went to Manifesto where I saw The Living City with (clockwise from left) a piece by Task1, Jake Watling, Jaime Lakatos, Nathaniel Parsons and Dave Higgins. I liked the Higgins piece. It was like the Wheel of Fortune. Joseph Cambell-wise not Pat Sajak-wise. And all the pieces had killer details so I got some closeups too.

Next I went to Premium Tattoo and Vintage owned by my good buddies Matt and Hilary (more of Matt later. you'll see) who were showing Obi Kaufman's "The Robot Volcano: Paintings about Psychology". Obi also puts out that zine Swee[t]art and pretty much curated the Manifesto show.

At this point I should tell you that I took more photos but decided to show one piece apiece as it were.
And at this point that evening I decided to head over to Issues because there wasn't an inch of parking or walking space at Rowan Morrison.
I always end up spending too much money at Issues. You can help by buying mine and Andrea's books there, you know.

Anyways Buddy Matt's show "From the Tip of My Pen" was there and if you've ever seen his paintings you wouldn't be surprised at how good his sketch book is. He kept calling these awesome drawings 'exercises'.. as if!

Okay so now I've had two beers and two glasses of wine and with some encouragement from Matt I hassled Todd from the Piedmont Post. He bought one of each of our books! Thanks Todd!
And so after dropping my map into a puddle Joe at Issues stamped me a new one and it was time to hit Rowan Morrison for Derek Weisberg's "Olam Haba: The World to Come".
Heavy stuff let me tell you. All candle lit..there was an awesome Gollom (sp?), the Jewish kind not the computer animated kind, that accepted your wish coins in its mouth and which I didn't photograph because I'm dumb.
By the way, Derek's studio is downstairs from my loft and he used to own or run Boontling Gallery or something, Hi Derek!

I only bothered linking the galleries/businesses because this took forever and you can google the artists. Big up to my new friends at Rowan Morrison and Issues and to all my artist buddies for such a good time.

Talk The Talk

2009-02-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Stoked. I was just messing around with some photocopies that I made and they turned out pretty nice. Now that I've posted this I might end up actually trying to produce them....

Flying Guitars

2009-02-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

Today is the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper.
I don't really want to talk about it....

How Cholo Can You Go?

2009-01-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

Howard Gribble was in the latest issue of Swindle for his photos documenting gang graffiti in So Cal. (Mike Giant practically drew the whole issue). Apparently he uploaded all of these photos to his Flickr page after they had been gathering dust for years (most are from the late 60's to late 70's). Seeing the clean and almost elegant letter styles so long before the graffiti movement I'm familiar with (which started in the late 70's in New York) blows my mind. Sure, even the Romans wrote shit on walls but not like this.

I was surprised to see it was this particular guy on Flickr too. I think I've browsed a lot of his hot rod photos when I was designing for Social Distortion and Mike Ness. He's sans cowboy hat in Swindle's picture of him.

Check out that issue of Swindle and dude's Flickr. There's also some rad cholo art not written on walls.

A Pound Of Cheese

2009-01-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

So. Papercuts #2. Once we assembled some new copies of our books we were ready to split and so headed out to the bakery for the show.
We picked up a loaf of bread that had a pound of cheese in the middle because we had to and we got to meet Chelsea Martin whose books are rad as hell.
And if I didn't mention it before our books are now available at Rock Paper Scissors and Issues in Oakland. 1-2-3-4Go! Records also sells my zine FALL.

Papercuts No.2

2009-01-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

Papercuts is an opportunity for self-published writers and artists to get together and talk shop or sell and trade works between the big events like the Alternative Press Expo and Wondercon.
The first Papercuts was a success in Frisco at Kimo's and more people showed than I expected. There were spontaneous readings from zines and comics and music and drinks. This time its in the East Bay at a co-op bakery, it's earlier, and its All Ages and FREE.
If you're in the East Bay and want to participate feel free to show up with your zines or comics etc. and email dylan@voidbear.com to get your name posted (basically a free 'registration).

Pass it on

Billboard Liberation Front

2009-01-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

Good read about the BLF I found linked at Fecal Face. It's an interview with the BLF's point man that tries to find some shared motivations between the BLF and graffiti writers. While the BLF won't get lumped in with any specific movement they at least don't pull rank which can always be annoying and sad, like when Dee Dee Ramone experimented with Hip Hop.

More Billboards at the BLF flickr page.

Gore of The Svarta

2009-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

Andrea and I are doing some character designs for my nephew. He's written something like 46 pages of storyline for Ryu-Em, his role playing game. Thought I'd go the Masters of the Universe with it but furry underwear are hard to draw right off the cuff.
Also check the editorial illustration lookin' dude doing the Egyptian.

Big Words: The Mike Giant Interview

2009-01-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Fecal Face gave readers a chance to ask Mike Giant, co-owner of Rebel8/badass illustrator/graffiti writer/ex-tattoo artist/fix-gear head from way back, a question for their interview with him.
Read his answers to mine and other readers' questions at Fecal Face...I'll be over here sniffing Sharpies.

2K9

2009-01-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

I'm back in the East Bay after an intensely long vacation to Texas. Good thing the kid is into flags and stars because there will never be a shortage of either as long as there's a Texas.

I found out that this Pixies design was approved before the holidays after forgetting all about it.

A.P.E.shit

2008-11-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we shared a booth at the Alternative Press Expo with Oxleberry and The Daily Stool Sampler and quietly debuted Tall Cat Studios. TCS is the umbrella company for me and my girlfriends comic books/zines and freelance work. I took a few pictures of our books and we're working on getting our site is finished.
Fall is a collection of stories about falling. I asked my friends to give me their stories about falling whether it was figurative or literal. And there's the first two issues Tall Cat Presents written by me and illustrated by Andrea.

The Pogues

2008-09-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

More Pogues. Available at Cinderblock.

ROCKBAND2

2008-09-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Me and Richie Goodtimes put a line together for Rockband. These are a few that I did. Should be available at Virgin Megastore in Times Square NYC once everything's finalized.

Incomplete Sentences

2008-09-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Fake and generic. Inspired by early Barbara Streisand-haired emo bands whose names are always incomplete sentences, which is what the shirt says.

Occult-y

2008-09-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

Old meaningless occult-looking badassery

Fake Shirts

2008-09-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

I threw some old sketches onto a mockup

Flogging Molly

2008-09-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

New Flogging Molly

The Palette of Necessity

2008-09-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm liking bold black and whites lately, we'll call it the palette of tactile necessity. You could also call it budget. No matter what you call it though, I'm into it. Good ol' black and white.

Saw this shirt on thecobrasnake this morning that says "you can't see the cross for the flames". That's some old testament ish right there and odd to find there. A few pictures later I saw the sticker. Reminds me of the sticker on my Uncle's truck that says "Prepare To Meet Thy God". Together they're pretty strong. If I was a stylish Christian with a negative attitude I'd rock both of them.

Goldfinger

2008-09-05T18:00:00.001-07:00

An older girls tee for Goldfinger's latest tour line.

Manifesto Spoke Cards

2008-09-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

I did a few illustrations based on some photos by my buddy Dusten Jensen (link over there--->) and a couple of previous icons I did for Manifesto. They should be turning them into post cards and spoke cards soon. They'll be available at the shop so I'll holler when they get there.

UPDATE*Unsolved Mysteries UPDATE music*: They're at the shop, now, go get em!

No Use For A Name

2008-09-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

Drawn and Quartered.
No Use wanted something cute and violent for the Japanese leg of their tour. They said that the Japanese like violent things happening to cute stuff.

All Summer Long

2008-07-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Kid Rock needed an event shirt for a string of sold out dates in Michigan. He wanted something Detroit specific that captured the feel of his All Summer Long video. So I came up with a Roth inspired illustration of Kid. It sold out at 2 of the 4 shows that I know of.

Atomic Kitsch For Sale

2008-07-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Green Day approved these designs and one is currently available at Hot Topic. The other will be soon.

I've also got a Kid Rock approval on an Ed Roth style event shirt and once it's printed I'll post it here.
Other than that this last month a couple of ads I did for my friends at Manifesto Bicycles were printed in issues of Urban Velo and the East Bay Express Best of the Bay issue.

You Are What You Draw

2008-06-12T09:49:00.001-07:00

I was looking at pictures of artist Michael Sieben and it reminded me of a theory I have which is that people see their own faces more than any other and that it's a subconscious reference source when drawing characters and faces and the like. I've never researched it or anything so someone else may have hit on this already but it was a revelation for me. A useless sort of "well how'bout that?" revelation but a revelation none the less.
I should say that not all artists look like the characters they draw but some characters look like the artists that drew them. Sometimes I'm sure it's not intentional and is subconscious.
To me, Sieben's characters share similarities with him in the roundess of their faces/heads, the shape of his brow and set of his cheekbones along with the shape of his eyes. Just like Chuck Jones and his characters.
It was the shape of my own face that I recognized in a sketch of mine the first time this occurred to me. And then I started noticing it everywhere especially in Chuck Jones cartoons. You can always spot a Chuck Jones cartoon because they all have his eyes and their heads are shaped like his.

It's usually certain facial features of the artist that pop up in their work. Granted cartoon animators use their own faces in mirrors as reference for expression all the time, and it's obvious when a celebrity voice talent has been used as reference for the characters they play in a cartoon. But for the most part it's a subtle reference that I think is unintentional and unnoticed by the artist. Take a look at 'ol Chuck up there. It's always in their eyes and the shape of their head.

Badge Bomb

2008-05-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

I've licensed some new and old button designs to Badge Bomb. They specialize in non-band specific designs but a few bands have licensed their goods to them too and you can buy the pack I designed for Rise Against and The Shins there as well. Tell your friends about this place, there are some pretty rad looking buttons.

Atomic Kitsch

2008-04-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

"Grass is greener my ass..."

BobBobBobBob

2008-02-22T10:27:00.001-08:00

Open wide kids: New vittIes for your mentals. I made these over the last week. All my love to Science and Mechanics magazine and The American Dream.

Helvetica

2008-01-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

I'm watching the documentary Helvetica. Totally in to it. Here's something I did recently at work for a non music line in which Helvetica and I made sweet sweet love and had a baby that I'm proud of.

Yin, Yang, Michael & You

2007-12-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

X approved the designs I did along with some others we submitted so anybody going to their shows will have some decent stuff to change into once you spill all your beer on yourself in the pit.

In other news:

I found this at thecobrasnake where you can see pictures of pretty people with ridiculous 'designer' t-shirts and the not so pretty with gems like this..

Dark Lion and a Magic Trick

2007-11-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my cousin Corey taken by our friend Mike Brodie. It's the only thing left of the logo I designed for Dark Lion since Corey's hat was stolen by raccoons or left in a boxcar or something. The holes in the D and A and R are fucking TEETH dude! and that's a snake rapping around the N which it's tongue makes the hole in the O. The snake wraps around the whole thing really and its all sitting in a big puddle of ink splats. Oh man,I bet I've got an old photocopy buried in my archives at home somewhere..

..and this is a picture taken recently by Mark TheCobraSnake of a girl I drew into existence 10 years ago. So weird..

Leave Saul Bass alone, Green Day

2007-11-29T14:51:00.000-08:00

I read a comment under a picture from a Green Day related site and I'm obliged to clear something up. The image was of an altered version of their American Idiot cover art (appropriated from The Man With The Golden Arm's poster art) this time with the hand holding what looks like a kite... at first. Then after a minute or two you realize it's a flag.
One of the first comments was something along the lines of "is that a kite?" and then "whoever does the art for Green Day is a Legend". She's only half right. A legend was involved with the art but unfortunately he died before the album was made. If Saul Bass had designed it even the 15 year old with the lowest of brows would've instantly guessed it was a flag. And not just the over all look and layout of the album was appropriated: the heart grenade is already a skateboard truck company's logo. At least they waited until after Saul Bass was dead; Spike Lee's team ripped off Anatomy of a Murder's poster art "line for line".

I guess I'm hatin'...am I hatin'? Hatin' on biters is okay right? Because I'm asked to do parodies all the time. I think the difference is the context. Jerry Only's Obey parody only works if you know Shepard Fairey's work whereas the American Idiot art is being mistaken as original and suffers next to Saul Bass' actual works. Maybe I'd feel better if the designer behind American Idiot's art was clearing this up and not me. Anyhow here's a link to a site about ol' SB

Soul Broker

2007-11-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

Soul Broker is an Oakland rock band, half of which are buddies of mine. They came up with this slogan "If You're Dyin' We're Buyin'" and it sort of fueled this idea for a shirt involving brokering your soul and paying the toll to cross the river Styx. So, Death is taking the coins left on Dead Guy's eyes to fill his big bag of evil. Good drinking music, Soul Broker is. If you ever get a chance to see them live they're the guys that all look like bouncers...don't tell them I said that.

Flogging Molly

2007-11-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

The Shins

2007-11-21T14:50:00.000-08:00

Still Rising

2007-11-21T14:29:00.001-08:00

Two newest Rise designs for Hot Topic.

XOXOX

2007-11-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

I just heard about a blog called skull-a-day or something like that and dude posts pictures of a skull a day. I wish I had something to post everyday. Here's something today though: the two X designs I was talking about before. The tan shirt is going to need a doctor because it will be so sick. The second one on black is pretty straight forward. You'd be surprised sometimes at what bands will end up approving and rejecting though. Most of the time it's filtered through their management so there's no telling what they'll see and what sort of stink might be put on it before it's shown to the band. And there's never really any time for a proper presentation so usually I just hope the design's good qualities shine through. Man...I bet seeing X live is way better than when I saw "the Germs".

2007-11-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

I've been working on some stuff that I can't show here yet, like a design or two for X and an all out assault on Cinder Block's non band-specific Premium Line which is a fun way to say Fancy Shirts That Are Radical. It's gotten me back into working with brush and ink and its a big relief to turn away from the computer screen. I read an article about someones screenprinting project and it mentioned that no computers were used during the image-to-screen process. Where I work it's not time effective to draw on film to burn it. If I create something out of the computer I end up scanning it into the computer for seperations later and it does sort of sterilize the craftsmanship. But the finished product, usually something intended for mass production if it's silk screened, doesn't have to be. I thought of the punks that didn't like cds for similar reasons. It was even debated in the liner notes of the Shit Split when it was re-released on CD and they justified it explaining that some kids might never hear it because most kids these days don't have record players. I preferred my walkman until about 2 years ago when my girlfriend bought me an Ipod. She got me the older version since it was bulkier like my walkman and cassettes. But what I liked about my walkman was making my own tapes, I didn't care that there was a limit to the amount of songs I could fit on it because that made my choices much more thoughtful.

The Pogues

2007-10-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the last night of the Pogues stay at the Fillmore. I saw them last night and it felt like I had already seen the show since I had spent so long staring at recent concert photos with the same lighting and the same back-of-someone's-head perspective. It was the first concert I've been to where my designs were being sold and I felt proud...proud and drunk. I met James and Spider and the audience was totally stoked which made me stoked.

This was the best seller.

Rise Against

2007-10-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Rise Against

2007-10-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Misfits

2007-10-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

My employer holds the license for the Misfits and they have an endless supply of merch ideas. I kid you not when I tell you that there is such a thing as Horror Business Incense. Like the eye of Sauron nothing escapes their gaze and everything is fair game. This is an OBEY parody I designed. It's actually the third or fourth version; point being you can rest assured that official Misfits merchandise only exists if they like it so if you have the fiend skull anywhere on your person it's been approved on high.
Here's what Shepard Fairey had to say about it.

The Pogues

2007-10-10T17:55:00.000-07:00