Announcing Dull Tool Dim Bulb EDITIONS Fine Art Prints From the Jim Linderman Collection

Designers and Collectors take note! Dull Tool Dim Bulb has teamed up with Artslant to sell affordable, high-quality prints of selected photographs and images from the Jim Linderman collection. At the shop, you will be given the opportunity to select the size of the reproduction, and even have the pieces professionally framed if you so choose! Some images will be available as large as a poster. Above are a few of the images available for purchase, and again, the operative word is AFFORDABLE. You'll see.

CLICK HERE to see ARTSLANT Dull Tool Dim Bulb Print Inventory.

What's Your Sign? Horoscope Astrology Zodiac Unfurled.

Astrology sign with two lecturers. 
Original Snapshot circa 1925 collection Jim Linderman
The new book of photographs from the Linderman Collection is
THE BIRTH OF ROCK AND ROLL available from Amazon
Barnes and Noble and publisher Dust-to-Digital.

Mexican Drivers, Freedom, Immigration, Border Wars and the Anniversary

A photograph can certainly launch all manner of thought, but what about a group of old driver's licenses from our southern neighbor?

Are any of the grandsons of these men now doing jobs we could be doing if we hadn't grown obese on high-fructose corn syrup.? (The last time I looked, soda in Mexico was still made with real sugar instead of corn syrup) Maybe that's why they can fit under the fence and we can't run fast enough to catch them. Drug wars on the border? Who do you think is the market for those drugs? Just look in the mirror on the table. Americans are. Not to mention that after Mexico refused our offer to buy what is now Arizona, we just went and took it.

How about those protestors near the future mosque in Manhattan? I know many of the demonstrators drove in from New Jersey, where they can't read what it says on the Statue of Liberty because her rear is aimed at them. If they had, they would know even the FRENCH knew welcoming everyone was our greatest strength. No, not just a platitude...our greatest strength. Some folks seem to have forgotten.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

When I lived in Manhattan, in a ten apartment brownstone building...my neighbors were, let's see...a gay man...a woman of Mexican heritage and her husband, a large family of Muslims who ran the local deli, a gay woman, an obese man who played piano on the Dick Cavett show, a white woman from New Jersey who was a buyer for Macys, a man from India, a group of three guys from Senegal, a medical device salesman we called "Big Guy" and an 80 year old African-American homeless man named "Pops" who lived in the basement when it was cold, swept up and kept hookers out of the building. Oh...and I moved in the Jew. Does that all sound like trouble to you? Sounds like freedom to me. I can tell you, when we had a blackout, which was frequent...we were all damn glad to see each other in the hallway.

(My guess is that those of you against gay marriage have never had a gay man walk towards you in a pitch black slum hallway with a six battery flashlight he had the good sense to have purchased in advance. Until you have, I suggest you keep your opinions about his rights to yourself.)

See, we liked the diversity. It was as natural as living, which we are all lucky enough to do for too-brief time. We should try to make it as happy, wonderful, thrilling and diverse as it can be. We might as well...since it's going to happen anyway, just do the math. Look at the globe and add BILLIONS.

Collection of Five Driver's Licenses from Mexico, Zinc, circa 1960 Collection Jim Linderman
Antonio G. Silva Torres
German Perez Huidobro
Emiliano Rodricuez Huitzil
Conrado Vazquez Espinosa
Antonio Gonzalez Fernandez

Keef Clocks a Creep! Keith Richards

In Honor of Keith Richards, just because...and his highly anticipated autobiography is coming out next month...(linked at right) Here is a brief clip which shows what happens when some gobber feels like freakin' with the Stones. So did they REALLY need those Hell's Angels bodyguards? I'd let Keith take care of any situation.

Psytrait Psychozics Sensitron Radiesthesia and Mind Bombarding! Forgotten Frauds of the Golden First New Age (Look Deep within your Orphanus)

Need a Psytrait painted? How about improving your life with Psychozics? I can tell by your aura that you need some Radiesthesia, and right now! Your Biomagnetic Rapports are clearly askew, and evidence of third teeth clearly indicates a few hours of Grey Sound might help. We could be too late, but if the Sensitron doesn't work, maybe Mr. Mir Bashir can help!

Examples of Modern Frauds, all from 1969, obviously the dawn of a new age.

Read Jim Linderman Interview from Collector's Weekly on Folk Art, Photography and More

Homespun Beauty: Jim Linderman on Folk Art’s Authentic Appeal

CLICK for FULL TEXT HERE

By Maribeth Keane and Bonnie Monte

For collector, blogger, and author Jim Linderman, beauty is all about the imperfections, which is why he’s so attracted to folk art. In this wide-ranging interview, Linderman talks about his favorite folk-art pieces he’s collected over the years, explains why he just can’t stand the phrase “outsider art,” and reveals what drew him to vintage photographs of circus freaks and glamour girls. Linderman can be reached via Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

Empty Tintype (No one Home) Interior Tintype with Divan

Any tintype is an "interior" unless it was taken outside, I guess. But unusual indeed is the tintype with no one in it. I have no idea why someone would lug their tintype camera to a home and take a picture of an empty divan. But there you go. Maybe while the photographer was fumbling around with his equipment, the model stepped out.

1/4 plate tintype photograph, circa 1900 collection Jim Linderman

Jim Linderman is author of The Painted Backdrop: Behind the Sitter in American Tintype Photography 1860-1920

Barnes and Noble Learns a Lesson from Libraries (Too Late)

So Barnes and Noble is closing their flagship bookstore in Lincoln Center. It dominated that triangle for 15 years, and was one of my favorite places...to arrange meetings, to browse the magazines and more, It was central to my Manhattan life for a long time. I met Elmore Leonard there. I watched Steve Earle play half a set and read from his book there. It also probably had the highest collective IQ group of customers of any Barnes and Noble in the country. (That is a guess, but the rest of this post isn't)

Here is a secret about bookstores. They have the same problem as libraries, but have to show a profit too.

Usage studies will show you 99% of books in any library never circulate. That's right...no one ever takes them out. Does that diminish their usefulness or utility? Not one bit. You see, it is impossible for a bean counter to measure the effectiveness of a book on an impressionable mind. Who knows what impact one obscure, buried volume will have on the one right person who finds it? You can't anticipate it, you can't predict it, you can't even imagine it, but if the book isn't there...THEN it is useless. The true value of a library is the potential, not the statistics.

Libraries are often subject to ill-advised "usage" studies by efficiency "experts" and account managers...and they are often one of the first things to go when a company cuts cost. Why? Because their usefulness can not be measured. It is not a "business" model which is applicable to financial appraisal. That's why libraries are funded by public money and endowments. Because they are too damn important to leave up to accountants who don't understand them and attempt to apply financial standards to them which do not work.

I'm sorry to see Barnes and Noble go, but they are falling victim to the same thing...they carry an enormous inventory, but 99% of the books sit on the shelve while the top 1% of sales, best-sellers mostly, account for an enormous percentage of the shop income. But unlike libraries...they are subject to economic pressures which the great libraries aren't...the need to show a profit.

I'm just sorry they put all the small, better managed local bookstores who knew their clientele out of business before they learned the lesson. And the lesson is? One nationwide bookstore with a cookie-cutter huge inventory all over has just learned it. 99% of the titles don't circulate. But you still have to pay to store them.
by Jim Linderman

Traverse City Michigan Miniature Village! Folk Art Make-work for Unemployed Folk

I hate to even think "fall" but for many in Michigan, fall means Traverse City. More exactly, the fall foliage on the way there and back. One of the most pleasant places in the country, and at one time home of the famous miniature city!

During the depression (the great one, not the current one) the Traverse City Opera House, still standing, became home for an unusual WPA project. Traverse City mayor "Con" Foster, who was formerly a circus promoter, thought up the original project to find work for carpenters who couldn't find any building the real thing, so Roosevelt's WPA coughed up the dough! Workers were hired to create miniature models of prominent actual buildings in the city. The intricate, perfect models were then installed in Clinch Park. At one time, there were over 100 buildings.

Weather, for which Traverse City is also known, took a toll on tiny town and it was put under wraps in 1973. A local businessman eventually bought the models, and when he passed away the whole collection was willed to the Opera House, where portions of it are displayed. Hopefully, one day the entire collection will be restored and assembled again.

Amateur Snapshots of the Traverse City Miniature City 1940. (Note walkway in the shape of states, the Michigan Mitten prominent) Collection Jim Linderman

Jim Linderman Interview on Blurb.com and Publishing Books

Original Interview Figure Photography Magazine HERE

Adventures In Collecting and Publishing with Jim Linderman
Figure Photography Magazine (Originally Published HERE)

Last month we reviewed ‘Camera Club Girls’ by collector and publisher Jim Linderman; in the course of our communications about that article, I felt that I wanted to learn more about his adventures in self-publishing. So Jim had been good enough to join us again for a closer look at the in’s and out’s of collecting art, curating a collection, and getting the work into print – do-it-yourself to the max!

Jim Linderman has written the Grammy-nominated ‘Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography’ published by Dust-to-Digital and has published six Blurb books on vernacular photography and photographic history, including the critical acclaimed ‘Camera Club Girls: Bettie Page, her Friends and the Work of Rudolph Rossi’ ‘The Painted Backdrop: Behind the Sitter in American Tintype Photography’ and ‘Shy Shamed Secret Shadowed Hidden: SSSSH! Vintage Vernacular Erotic Photography’.

FPM: Like you, Jim, I also have a fond enthusiasm for off-beat photographic trivia, retro kitsch, and forgotten documents. Before we begin talking about your self-publishing adventures, could you tell me about your collecting in general? Can you tell me a bit about your background, and how you began collecting the materials you eventually edited and published?

I always collected something, but increasingly as I age I realize I wasn’t making collections as much as I was assembling. I was always putting similar things together, in groups…to get a better understanding of them rather than a collection of things. Even then, my schemes how to acquire things and then comprehend them were more important than the physical objects themselves. I wanted to learn, and found learning easier when I had put together a group of objects on one place, but the process was most important. I guess ownership was less important than the steps required in selecting things to look for. I’ve never had much money, and always had to scrimp and suffer for things I obtained. Even early on, that shaped my eye.

One thing I do differently with my blogs and books than most folks, I think, is that I’ve always felt I had to go through the process of obtaining objects first. Nearly everything I use in my books and writings are things I have found and own. It makes me both appreciate more and learn more about the objects or images I have. If I do crib an image from somewhere, it is usually something no one would want to claim anyway…or at least not until I have put it into a context where it makes more (or less) sense than it did originally. My childhood was normal enough, Midwestern and safe. But I gravitated to the bad neighborhoods as much as I could. Beat literature, blues music and the library made me go bad!

Yeah, those damn libraries will do that to ‘ya, all right! But I notice that your collections are mostly image-based, as opposed, say, to text-based, like collecting odd poetry, for instance. Do you have a background in the arts? Not that one has to have any special training to be drawn to 50’s pin-ups, of course! We’re so sophisticated these days – socially and visually. One of the things I personally enjoy most about retro stuff is its sense of innocence. Is that something that attracts you, too?

Well, I do not have a background in any formal art training at all. Sociology and Library Science. I guess you would have to call me a self-taught” collector. I do, however, have the gene. I believe some folks are born with the same DNA strand which causes crows to bring shiny objects to their nests. I’ve collected just about as many things as you can imagine. Hand-Carved Slingshots from Tennessee. Painted American Indian Suitcases known as Parfleche. Privately printed books on who killed Kennedy and UFOs. Handmade Paper Dolls. Garage Pressed Punk Rock Records. As soon as I recognize an area or genre which has either been forgotten or neglected, I’m on it like glue. I immerse myself.

That’s how the ‘Take Me to the Water’ collection of baptism photographs came about. I noticed no one had collected them before, and there certainly hadn’t been a book. So, for ten years I bought every single real photo postcard or original photograph of anyone being immersed, and when I had reached well over 100, it was time for a book and music project (for which I and Dust to Digital, the publisher, were nominated for a Grammy this year). The original photographs were donated to the International Center of Photography in New York City, I believe the exhibition opens in January 2011. That is as example of collecting in depth, until I feel I have exhausted all avenues. I have never really been a “stamp” collector, where the goal was to fill in every pre-determined slot. The art world equivalent of that is the survey show. I don’t like survey shows. I like the complete picture which can only come from a good, driven collector or curator who likes to dig.

Wow! Busy guy! And a celebrity, to boot! Given that you experience collecting and curating as creative activities, I suppose that it’s only natural that you would want to share your discoveries with others. I have always argued that art is a communal activity; that art is created to share, being a form of communication, like storytelling. Few serious artists create something and then lock it away – they (at least) hope that someone else will see their work and appreciate it, or be affected by it in some way. It’s very interesting that a collector may have that same desire to share. I don’t think that all collectors feel that way, but you obviously do. So I can see that it’s not much of a leap from putting a collection together to publishing that collection for others to enjoy. So, how did that part of your work begin? You currently have an intriguing collection of publications available, and I’ve reviewed one of them; how did all of this get started? Were you getting requests from folks, or did you simply feel like it was the right thing to do?

After 25 years in living two blocks from Times Square, my lungs were so shot three doctors told me to get out, so I moved back to Michigan and now live near the beach mere steps from where my parents raised me. As my energy waned, the web grew, so it is now possible to use it for exploring as much as I used to in the car. My attention has also shifted to smaller things, visual things, photographs, comics, paper ephemera. It is still consistent with my feelings about picking an area and collecting in depth, and there are endless topics and areas to pick from. There is also more material available, it is less expensive, and easier to make a contribution. The web makes it easy to create and share images, and I use the objects I own as starting points for little essays and observations. A little Andy Rooney sneaks in, I worked with him during my years while at CBS News, but for the most part I avoid politics and opinion and such. I see both my blogs, of which I have a dozen or so, and my books (6 and counting) as art projects of my own. When done seriously, the blog is an art form, just as legitimate as painting or sculpture. I feel the same about “sharing” as I always did. First, there is enough for everyone! I used to laugh at people who cut in line at antique shows. After all, what were the odds they would be trying to buy the same thing I was? Second, at some point in my life I decided to leave a footprint, both digital and physical. So I do a daily blog post to clear my head, and in the meantime work on long range projects and goals. I treat my books as little art projects. Think “limited edition prints” or numbered editions. I always admired small press companies, and now with Blurb and other web-based printers, it is possible for anyone to make a book. I try to accumulate an area in depth, then package up a little product. I don’t make any money on them, the publisher takes it all…but they do provide a physical object and record of something I’ve done.

A creative act, a statement, a point of view – the same things other artists think about – ALL of the time! I have artist friends who also curate exhibitions, and they sweat over that work as much as they do over their own paintings or photographs. So I understand your motivations completely. I think most artists look at self-publishing more as a way to expose their own vision to a wider audience than as a way to pay the rent. Like you, it’s more about sharing than anything else. The million dollar question everyone is curious about is this: does self-publishing make sense? Is it effective? Does it help build an audience? Or is it just an expensive black hole to pour money into? Every artist thinks about it. The fact that Blurb makes all of the dough is certainly disappointing to hear! But, assuming that one goes into such a project with the intention to ‘get their work out there’ rather than to ‘make a pile of dough’, can you offer the rest of us any advice on the process? Has your experience with Blurb and/or other on-demand publishers been positive? Any war stories you’d like to share?

The advantage of online publishing with Blurb is that it costs nothing to do. Literally nothing. You do all the work, with their software, upload the finished product, and they do the rest. All if it. Printing, binding and shipping. As no minimum order is required, you have NO investment in the finished product and NO inventory to sit in the garage if none sell. Of course, you can buy as many as you like, and if you want to purchase 500 copies, they would certainly be happy to do it and ship them to you. With a “real” book, or at least one which goes through a major publisher, the ISBN process and with distribution channels, you have to invest in your product. With printing (likely, at this point, unfortunately, overseas) and shipping, you could easily reach ten or twenty thousand dollars without even selling one copy of your book. Then you have to figure out how to get it into the book distribution system (which at this point means Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the small organizations of independent booksellers) You CAN have an ISBN assigned to a Blurb book, it is a slightly more difficult process, but can be done. Since my books are art projects and a hobby, I don’t need to show a profit. Anyone who creates a Blurb book sets their own price, that is, given the cost one is charged to print each copy. Blurb is expensive… the base price is much higher than a similar book printed in quantity… so, given the economy and the trend towards e-books, I don’t see it as an alternative to publishing really. I price my books five dollars more than the cost to me. Since so few sell, and trust me, they don’t… that’s not really an income. As for selling and marketing, it’s all up to the author. Blurb provides badges one can use to link to the book, does a little indexing with search engines, but for the most part you own the book and you can do what you want. Buy twenty copies for friends. Print some to put on your shelf. But as a valid opportunity to publish to the real world, they are actually only a small step up from the “vanity” presses of old which would print, say, your uncle Charlie’s bar jokes or war memories.

Jim, I think that anyone interested in the technical details can do their own research on the quality of the various self-publishing services out there, especially since they are all evolving so rapidly; that said, my final question to you would be: In retrospect, with the experiences you’ve had thus far, do you feel that this is still a viable avenue for artists and collectors to get their work into the world? You’ve been far down this road to date – would you do it again? Or would you consider other options? Has the trip been what you expected / hoped for? And would you recommend your route to a fellow artist?

I would absolutely recommend it. First of all, one can be remarkably creative. The software provide all sorts of options and chances to experiment… yet it is so easy to create. Just enter the project with low expectations as to sales and you’ll be happy. I have found it useful for organizing collections… once they are documented in a book, they take on additional meaning for me and for those who can see the images. A blurb book is a wonderful way to show your work, they make simply outstanding gifts or promotional items… for the price of a piece of junk at your local mega-mall, you can give a literal work of art, and a personal one at that. Art and photography dealers might avoid yet another envelope of slides in the mail, but I guarantee they’ll look at a book sent to them. Several drawbacks we haven’t considered. The folks at Blurb have told me they have no plans to expand into e-publishing. It would be nice to be able to sell a version of your creation for the Kindle, Nook, or other readers, but no go. You CAN, however, elect to allow the entire book to be read on the Blurb site, and the page turning function is great. Digital photos on their platform actually look far better than they do in the printed books. Second, when creating a Blurb book, their software uploads each image, one at a time, into the file that is created for your book. Once loaded into their software and system, you can delete images, but you can not copy them out from the Blurb design interface. I’m sure they do it so no one can take the created book and use it for other products or publishing platforms. So when you create a book on Blurb, you should be sure you have retained copies of the images you used on your own hard drive or desktop as well. You can always, at any time, access your images online at Blurb, but you can not retrieve them once loaded into their program. Third, mistakes are permanent, you have to “republish” your entire book to fix them. EACH of my books has one tiny mistake others might miss, but every time I see them I cringe a bit. I know the Amish always intentionally leave one little error in a quilt because only God is perfect, but in a book it is just annoying!

Visit Jim Linderman’s Websites:
Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books
Dull Tool Dim Bulb the Blog
Vintage Sleaze
Old Time Religion
The Wondrous World of Wendt
The Painted Backdrop

Kopeefun Cartoon Cuties Copied!

WHOA! I don't think the kind folks at Woolworth's intended our little KOPEEFUN consumer to use this magic transfer paper to copy hot, pre-code comic babes! Maybe the older brother got into the pack?

Kopee was magic. All you had to do was rub! A tracing paper impregnated with some mysterious chemical which would allow you to lift images right off the pages of your comics! I think this is what the copyright statement means when they say not to be stored "in any retrieval system."

Carefully preserved in a package from 1941. As you can see, the manufacturer had numerous suggestions for use. Well...I'm just glad our little wicked rubber had "extra sheets"

Magic Kopeefun Paper Pack of Extra Sheets with Handmade Rubbings 1941 Collection Jim Linderman

Chalkboard Cat Man Boy Dog (Children's Hospital 1907)

Untitled (Children's Hospital, Detroit 1907) Original photograph Collection Jim Linderman

Gene Bilbrew Dream Book (The Pharoah Knows)

I have certainly made it no secret one of my favorite artists is the junked-out and largely forgotten illustrator and fetish cartoonist Eugene Bilbrew, an African-American artist who worked with a who's who of Times Square sleazy scoundrels during the 1950s and 1960s. All my blogs have some "Bilbrew stew" but until now I have not posted the Bilbrew DREAM BOOK! He did the cover in 1972, shortly before passing away too early (robbing us of who knows how many fascinating pulp covers.)

There are literally thousands of Bilbrew illustrations floating around the web, most of them in sites you do NOT want to visit. I prefer the wacky drawings Bilbrew did for the several lines of paperback books printed by Satellite Publications in the mid-60s, but when I googled the Dream Book up, not on the web yet! Hardly seems fair. Here you go.

Warning...do NOT google Bilbrew...this is a family blog!

Dream books are still to be found anywhere the lottery is played or someone wants to "know" if their dream means they'll get the job or find the mate. Pharoah's Dream Book of Numbers can help you find power and wealth. One way is to sell Dream Books. I suppose Aunt Sally's Policy Planner is the most famous Dream Book, but there have been many. A reproduction of Aunt Sally's is available HERE.


Pharoah's Dream Book of Numbers (cover illustration by Eugene Bilbrew) 1972 Wholesale Book Corp. NY, NY Collection Jim Linderman

Square Dance Culture (for Squares) Do Si Do Indeed!

Sociologists would call it a cult, I guess...maybe a ritual? Collective madness? I'm talking about a dance. For squares.

Ranking right up there with the Twist (Popularized by one "Chubby Checker" who took his fake name from Fats Domino, get it?) and the Pogo (jumping up and down like a fish on a hook while aiming some gobs at the performer)...the Square Dance is a curious relic now. That's not to say it isn't still practiced! There are probably as many Square Dancers around today as ever.

I suspect the Square Dance is the only cool (sorta) dance not invented by the brothers. At least I've never seen an African-American square dancer, but my racism will hopefully be corrected by submissions. It would make a great scene in a film by Tyler Perry, wouldn't it? Tyler...call me!

Some fun facts.

There used to be entire record labels devoted to the genre.
George Balanchine "did" one in 1957 as a ballet.
The square dance tempo is 120 to 128 Beats per Minute. Techno!
Cartoonist Chuck Jones, who invented Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, was a big fan. So big, in fact, he drew the poster ideas above!

Believe me, this is a craze which will sweep the nation. You heard it here first.

I once saw a gay square dance collective sweep down Fifth avenue, and though it was a parade, their feet were hardly touching the street!

The way most cool thing about a square dance is the caller. A Svengali who stands in the front of the room and directs the participants with his own special patter. Sorta like rap done by a guy with a bandanna around his neck. Inflection and technique is critical, and each caller develops his own style. Think cattle auctioneer with exceptional rhythm!

To see a color film which will give you great pleasure or nightmares, see THIS
(Warning....it is SMOKING HOT!)