Antique African-American Folk Art Sculpture from the Jim Linderman Collection. Ranging from the 19th to early 20th Century, a group of examples showing how African-Americans were depicted by folk artists. Some with care taken to be accurate (as limited by their artistic training) and others with a most racist tint. Exaggerated and stereotypical renderings of African-Americans were the rule in popular culture, but with some of these figures attention was taken not to offend.
19th and 20th Century Black Folk Art Sculptures and Carvings Collection Jim Linderman
Antique Folk Art Man on a String. 18 inches tall. Collection Jim Linderman
Twelve year old Donald Greene Doodles a Courtroom Drama on the Reverse of his Spelling Test 1919. Collection Jim Linderman
The Exhibition of Celestial Planets! Figures created by Occult Prophet Benny Evangelista of Detroit. Bizarre Folk Art Sculptures made in the late 1920s, and the work of a murdered bogus faith healer. Intrigued? Read my story in The Chiseler HERE titled Faith Healer Left Headless : A True Crime Tale by Jim Linderman
Original Press Photograph edited and cropped for publication Collection Jim Linderman
Patriotic Spencerian Calligraphic Penmanship from Mifflin Pennsylvania 1875 variations and practice. Collection Jim Linderman
The Birth of Rock and Roll is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon. I received a copy and it turned out beautiful. A coffee table book, and a book about music unlike any you have seen.
My vintage photographs were handled beautifully by the fine folks at the publisher DUST-TO-DIGITAL and the design by award-winning Martin Venezky and his Appetite Engineers shop is fantastic. Historian, essayist and music-writer Joe Bonomo contributes elegant prose.
160 pages and when they are laid open, each is 19" x 12" of striking jumping' and jivin' humanity! I am proud indeed to make a contribution to our understanding of that phenomena we call Rock and Roll, and the folks mentioned above helped it happen.
There will be more about the book soon, but for now it is listed in the art book D.A.P. Catalog (shown here) and Amazon is taking pre-orders. It will soon be available at the Dust-to-Digital Website and other sources.
It may be worth mentioning that my first book with Dust to Digital, Take Me to the Water (which was Grammy-nominated) is now out of print and used copies are trading for over a hundred dollars…
I would like to thank the publisher Stephen Lance Ledbetter for recognizing the potential of this project, and for the magnificent results. A picture does tell a thousand words, and in this case the pictures tell a hundred year story like never before. Thank you!
My annual "I'm not at the Outsider Art Fair" series continues, here with works depicting famous residences by British eccentric and cypher Basil Merritt circa 1950. I'd be there if I could, but I hate to fly.
A few other posts in my unstructured and informal Outsider Art series are shown HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE More or less. Additional works by Basil Merrett are HERE.
Lavin Burcham, the boy who had oil poured on his hands (olive oil…so says the bible) leads off our tribute here to miniature mouths for the Lord! Boy Preachers are cool…it keeps them from being bad at least until they grow up. Whenever you hear a talking head on Fox rail against "Your Al Sharptons…" that's what they are talking about. Boy Preachers!
All these boy preachers have been profiled on the Old Time Religion Blog (which you should follow) except for Reverend Al. Do you know why Fox hates Al Sharpton? Because other than the Brawley incident, he is usually right. (Except when he worked as an agent for the FBI….It's complicated. It will make for a good book!) I hope he runs for president again. He will keep Hillary honest and give her a foil.
ALL ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN (Except for boy wonder Al Sharpton. That comes from his new autobiography shown here and available here.
Hey! It's Taka Boom, Chaka Khan's sister. Hard to tell with all the make-up. Strategic placement of disco ball helps identify the musical genre…you are going to put on platform shoes, wait in line to get in and possibly do some blow. Or should I say undisputedly.
The Undisputed Truth was brainchild/nightmare created by Norman Whitfield, a strong R&B composer who seems to have made a major mistake here. Norman wrote "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" and "War" (Oooof! Absolutely NOTHING! Say it Again!) He also wrote "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" "Just My Imagination" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone". So we are talking money here…big time top of the line songwriter for the ages money.
Whitfield was born in Harlem, but moved to the Motor City where he was soon writing songs for Motown. Blinded by success (or SOMETHING?) Whitfield moved to LA when Motown abandoned Detroit In 1973…and his first band was the nightmare above. They followed him from Detroit too… He still wrote hits, including "Car Wash" which you are humming now.
The Undisputed Truth lasted 8 years or so, with numerous members. Taka Boom's Fan Page is HERE. Can you Dig it? Well Dig THIS, it's the Undisputed Truth doing Whitfield's "Smiling Faces" I'm smiling.
Promotional Photograph (No Date) Collection Jim Linderman
