Ricky Jay Celebrations of Curious Characters a Review of sorts...and Pizza

As I have been a big fan of Ricky Jay since watching him throw a playing card through a watermelon upstairs in a small theater off Times Square, it would be unfair for me to review his new book Celebrations of Curious Characters. Suffice to say it is a deal at any price (though it costs far less than any price) and it is the genuine deal, not some slight of hand. I'm not going to say he has the power to save the book from extinction, but your Kindle And Nook don't have you looking for the mailman until it comes either.

Anticipation beats a wireless download any day. Consider waiting for a pizza to be delivered. While eating pizza is wonderful too, the 20 minute wait is usually splendid. Some chat, a few jokes, maybe if you are in college furtive tokes with a wet towel under the door...and it arrives!


That is not an opinion, it is a fact. You will look far to find anyone who says they do not like pizza.


The origins of Celebrations of Curious Characters are to be found in a series of brief profiles Mr. Jay did for public radio. That implies erudite already...so bring your brains and expect the prodigious. When you have read it (and you WILL begin reading it immediately after tearing the cardboard strip off your Amazon box) you will have a beautiful spine facing you from the bookshelf rather than some digital bits which do not exist. As such, do not "Tell the publisher I'd like to read this book on Kindle" as you don't.

HERE is Mr. Jay's Wonderful Website. McSweeny published the new book.

Mystery Cabinet Card Pair

A Play? Pageant? Coronation? An odd group indeed, and while they certainly seem on a stage with a backdrop, it is a motley troupe, and identification is not made easier by a lousy photographer.

Two Cabinet Card Photographs circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman
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Big Folk Art Heads AGAIN

More big heads. A coincidence. I'm going work in the garden today, no time to do a real post!

Parade Snapshots circa 1935 collection Jim Linderman

Dull Tool Dim Bulb Tumblr HERE

The Big Folk Art Head of Peter Fuoco Carving Sculpture

CLICK TO MAKE BIG HEAD EVEN BIGGER


Peter Fuoco of Revelstoke, British Columbia discovered a big head in a tree trunk and spent some time bringing out the features, then added an equally giant hat. Dubbed "Ol' Woodenhead." A sign was placed next to it which read: "Don't be Wooden Headed. Drive Carefully. You'll live to enjoy the scenery more and longer." So beloved, the giant fellow was moved to his own "Woodenhead Park" next to the Trans-Canada Highway bridge. The second photograph here belongs to the Revelstoke Museum.
Snapshot, circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

Joey Lin and his Anonymous Works A New Stop and Shop!

Joey Lin and I have been swapping pictures of finds for a few years...but he also shares them with a wider audience through his blog Anonymous Works. Mr. Lin has a skill for finding authenticity, an increasingly scarce and valuable trait. Now Joey has gone commercial! He has created a website to sell the objects which attract his authentic eye. I have relied on his recommendations, now so can you.


Above are only a few of the modestly-priced pieces in his cyber-store, and I intend to bookmark and make regular visits. Joey is one of those folks attracted to art of the people. An artist himself, he is drawn towards untrained artists who through skill, talent, luck or happenstance create beauty. He has generously shared with me as a friend from afar, I am excited that others can now take part! He tells me the community of folks interested in his finds is a benefit as important as the objects... who can argue with that? His following online attests.

Take some time to see Mr. Lin's shop HERE. You will see many things asking for a base and a spotlight...but often created in far more humble places.

Wood Folk Art Birds of Uncommon Form and Grace

When do lawn ornaments become good enough to be called folk art? When you bring them inside.

Pair of wooden swans, circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books HERE

Tintype Profile Side View Young Woman

Collection Jim Linderman

A Beautiful Indian Princess Real Photo Post Card RPPC Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman

Peach Secrets

Every peach holds within a little secret, I guess.

Wire Mesh Masks for Odd Fellows Lodge Ritual Masks Folk Art

No, the one in the middle isn't Osama in final repose.

A group of Demoulin Masks! Lodge ritual objects. Demoulin was an astounding mail order company in the 1930s. These masks, three from the many they sold, were intended to be used in fraternal organization ceremonies. They are wire mesh, painted, with horse hair on on the "odd fellows" when needed and all originally had cloth straps to hold them in place. So these would date to 1920 or 1930.

As you can see, the company also produced some remarkable paper-mache parade and carnival masks.

One could bend these fellows back into shape, but I have to mow the lawn.

Demoulin was astounding. I am usually full of hyperbole, but their catalog will seriously drop your jaw. Gary Groth recently edited what appears to be a reprint (and more) of the Demoulin catalog titled Catalog No. 439: Burlesque Paraphernalia and Side Degree Specialties and Costumes A generous preview of the book is available on Amazon...I do not know if these images are in the book...I found them on the web while trying to figure out what the hell I brought home. But I can assure you if the book is as good as it looks on Amazon, you'll love it. In fact, it too looks quite astounding.


Group of three Lodge Ritual Fraternal Masks, circa 1920-1930 Collection Jim Linderman

When red means RED and STOP with Giant Backdrop

Red means STOP
Detroit News Original Press Photo 1939 Collection Jim Linderman

Jim Linderman Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books Catalog HERE

Last Nail in the Coffin (The LAST Unheard Robert Johnson Track) 100 years of Traveling Riverside Blues

The only bad thing about Robert Johnson is that there are no more tracks to find. It used to be when one discovered an artist worth hearing, one had to go look for the rest at record stores, or under the mattress in bad neighborhoods.

Johnson is now 100...and they've all been found. The last discovery was made in 1997 when an "obscene" track withheld from the Columbia releases was added to the public canon. That the obscene lyric is the now familiar and standard blues phrase involving "juice running down a leg" doesn't matter, what does matter is that although the recording was purchased by the national trust, we still had to pay Columbia/Sony to hear it. The unreleased version of Traveling Riverside Blues on a 10 inch test-pressing was sold by the Alan Lomax archive to the Library of Congress American Folklife Center for $10,000, and was at the time the only unheard track by the artist. That Columbia was allowed to profit from it 8 years after millions had already paid for the reissue of Johnson's other output in 1990 (and the LP version years earlier) seemed odd to me.

Billboard Magazine June 17, 2000

Folklife director Alan Jabbour said "It's part of the Robert Johnson legacy, which in turn is part of our blues legacy." Apparently, it was part of the Columbia Sony legacy as well, since they asked fans to purchase the entire set to hear the then single new 2:38 addition back in 1998. As you can tell, I never got over it! HUMPF!

But it was worth the wait and I gladly shelled out the dough for the shellac.

By the way, they also erased the smoke from Johnson's lips when they put him on a U.S. Postage Stamp. A perfect example of Orwell's premise. Erase the cigarette, erase history and create a new reality. Call me stickler.

The Birth of Rock and Roll is HERE

Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books HERE
Dull Tool Dim Bulb the Blog HERE

The Good Dog Scrapbook by Jim Linderman and Anonymous

AVAILABLE NOW FROM BLURB.COM HERE

"Father, Shall you make me a Wind Toy today?" Wonderful Windmobile with Wheels

Jeepers. Dad must have gone crazy. Would you let your daughter ride on this thing with a good wind off the lake? This appears to be half windmill, half go-cart, all mystery.


Original Photograph Central Michigan circa 1920 Anonymous Collection Jim Linderman

Fern Bisel Peat Unsung Woman Artist and Children's Playmate

For 75 years Children's Playmate was just that. A playmate. From 1935 to 2008 (when it merged with Jack and Jill) it had kids thinking, drawing, clipping, making and thinking. These issues from the glory days give only a small indication of the beauty. Each issue was at the time digest-sized and 50 pages.


The artist was Fern Bisel Peat. She was born in 1893 and lived until 1971. She made a good living. but as with most women artists of the past, information is far more scarce than it should be. Fern could show you how to carve a pumpkin or draw an easter egg in the most charming and colorful manner. An unsung hero of commercial and educational art. Her work has been reproduced in a few places over the years, but as far as I know there has never been a retrospective, a comprehensive (or even cursory) biography or a museum exhibit.


Her work, in addition to providing extraordinary colorful covers to the magazines above, is often found on tin lithographed toys, puzzles and more. Because the magazine had a large circulation, original issues are available for small sums...despite them often being cut-up and written on as intended!

Issues of Children's Playmate 1938-1941 Collection Jim Linderman

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Ventriloquist Dummy Vent on a Box At the Circus in Black and White Jim Linderman collection of Circus Photographs #26

Number 26 in the series AT THE CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE

Ventriloquist Dummy Head (at rest). Original Snapshot circa 1930-1940 collection Jim Linderman


DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOKS HERE
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Wooden Clown Folk Art Ring Toss on the Nose Paddle Wild Paint

Carved wood handle ring toss game Hand-painted Circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

Dull Tool Dim Bulb BOOKS HERE