Bobby Charles R.I.P

I keep claiming this blog is not about music, but for Bobby Charles, I'll make an exception. After all, how many heroes do we have? Especially those who are genuine, low-key to the point of painful modesty and who choose to live in a trailer alone with pet parrots? Louisiana born Robert Charles Guidry has been an inspiration to me not only for what he did (how many performers wrote hits for Fats Domino and worked extensively with the Band? Well, Two that I can think of...) Bobby was one. The writer of "See you Later Alligator" when he was a VERY young man, his recordings tricked Chess records into releasing a record by a White man. (They thought he was Black) He also, as a child, wrote "Walking to New Orleans" for Fats and Levon Helm once called him "a hellacious songwriter." Levon has never told a lie. Despite all this, Charles was painfully shy, a trait I both share and admire...and lived modestly out of the limelight by choice with his pets and worked to preserve the Louisiana wetlands. If anyone had listened to him, Katrina wouldn't have been as bad. Charles dribbled out too few recordings in his later years, but had just finished one with another New Orleans saint Dr. John. Charles was 71. His record produced by Rick Danko in the 1970's is available again after long being out of print. Sigh.

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Meet the Press: Woman's Deformed Feet from Improper Shoes

Original Press photograph, 1921. "Imprint of the Feet of a Woman (American) Deformed by Wearing Improper Shoes. Collection Jim Linderman

Take Me to the Water received Grammy Nomination for Best Historical Album

Take Me to the Water receives Grammy nomination for Best Historical Album
"Best Historical Album is a Grammy category that never attracts much attention, but the nominees are usually excellent. This year is no exception: Among them are the Little Walter Chess recordings and a Sophie Tucker collection from the folks at Champaign-Urbana’s great Archeophone label. The excellent Dust-to-Digital label is a regular presence among the nominees, and this year it’s up for a fascinating package called Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950.

The 8.75" x 6" hardbound book includes a gorgeous collection of rare photos of riverside baptisms by both white and black congregations, taken from the collection of Jim Linderman; there’s also a terrific essay by Luc Sante. Accompanying the images is a wonderful CD featuring black gospel, blues, and old-timey country songs that touch on baptism—including tracks by ubiquitous preacher Reverend J.M. Gates, quirky gospel singer Washington Phillips (who also played a fretless zither he built himself and called a Dolceola), the Carter Family, and J.E. Mainer’s Mountaineers. I don’t really think that baptism songs comprise a truly important genre, but the practice itself is obviously a huge part of religious life, and immersion baptism is still practiced today in the U.S. So while this may seem like a rather esoteric subject for a Grammy bid, that doesn’t make the music (or the photos) any less compelling." — Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

http://www.dust-digital.com/

Dirty Reds and Prophecy TURN or BURN!

If you are following my blog old time religion you already know I am a sucker for religious graphics of the golden age of fear. The best one here is "Moscow over Hollywood" which every patriotic American must read. Otherwise, how will you know "The Communist supreme headquarters have been moved from the alien-infested slums of New York City to the intellectual slums and moral cesspools of movieland" that "Three sets of Russian-born brothers control 95 percent of the movie industry" and that a "bumper crop" of lazy Hollywood 4-Fs like Frankie Sinatra, Orson Welles and Errol Flynn wouldn't even "trade greasepaint of the theatrical world" for the REAL grease of the munitions plants during the big one. And don't even mention "Comrade" Charlie Chaplin. The author also manages, through some convoluted stretch of god-fired logic, to proudly claim that since lynchings in the south have dropped by 10%, Red singer Paul Robeson will be foiled in his attempts to spread a communist revolution through the Negroes. These pure examples of perverted prophecy will also be posted on old time religion. If you choose NOT to follow the blog, don't say I never warned you about the Devil Spit.

Group of Religious Prophecy Pamphlet claptrap by Dan Gilbert and E. J. Daniels, all circa 1950. Collection Jim Linderman

At the Circus in Black and White #13 of a Series Clowns Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Untitled "Off the Clock Clown Family" 1965 Collection Jim Linderman

Tina the "go to" Surrealist from Sexology

I profiled another artist working for the digest "Sexology" on another blog (the fearless L. Sterne Stevens on Vintage Sleaze) but neglected to mention "Tina" the somewhat inept surrealist who was obviously the "go to" artist for the monthly digest. I have not been able to find the artist's full name, nor do I know if "Tina" is accurate...but then if I were working for a magazine with articles such as "Strange Objects in the Bladder" "Odd forms of Reproduction" "Polymastia-Multiple Breasts" and "When Midgets Marry" I might use a pseudonym as well. A gig is a gig. Genius Craig Yoe who has compiled pages from this journal in his book Sexology might know more about her, but I don't have the book and can't kindle it yet, so I'll wait for reader comments. The above paintings come from issues dated 1953 to 1956, and who (or what) subscribed to the magazine is a mystery. Thankfully.

I am going to guess Tina worked on artist's board...somehow can't see her stretching canvas for these. (But I CAN see racing Jim Shaw to the Salvation Army to buy one) I also do not know the process for commission...did she produce a work every month based on the editor's direction? Did she read the articles for inspiration? At any rate, our unknown, deservedly so, artist is responsible for all of the above, which were published to illustrate the following respective articles:
Narcissistic Frigidity: Virgin Wives
Musical Sex Sublimination: Conversion of Sexual Urge
Change of Life
Women who Rape Men

Dull Tool Dim Bulb Discovers Andy Warhol Missing Link?

My discovery which questions whether Andy Warhol learned to draw soup cans from a small Heinz tracing book he would have had access to as a child seems to be striking a nerve. Quite possible, and I will lay out the details here as a few folks have asked.

I found a small booklet in an antique mall which was originally published by the Heinz company in Andy Warhol's home town the year before he was born. The book encouraged young children to TRACE THE IMAGES contained for "fun" when the intent was clearly to imprint impressionable young minds with the Heinz logo and brand. Tracing paper was bound into the pamphlet on top of each Heinz product. The book has a date of 1927 and was published in Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh was also Andy's home town and he was born one year later in 1928. As such, the small book, one of a series called "Heinz Kindergarten Books" would have been readily available to the young artist.

The images here come from the Heinz book number 6, so the series was well established and local Pittsburgh residents would have surely picked up the premium, which was free, for their children to play with. Although not as famous as his Campbell's images, Warhol did produce art with the Heinz logo, just like the branding experts at H. J. Heinz apparently hoped he one day would! As the similarities are quite striking, and the location and dates too much of a coincidence to ignore, I believe Mr. Warhol may have played with books from the series and remembered it some 40 years later when he began using similar (in fact, nearly identical) images in his work. I am not speculating that Mr. Warhol traced this copy, as thousands of children would have had the book, but he clearly would have had access to another copy.

Have a look, consider it yourself...and contact the art historians! Greg Allen on his blog has added some history on the book series and discusses the impact product advertising has on young minds.

The images were originally published a month ago on Dull Tool Dim Bulb, I am re-posting them along with a few additional scans. Just for the record, a Heinz Tomato Ketchup drawing by Warhol done in 1962 ( and quite similar to the very ketchup bottle shown in a tracing here from 1927) sold for over one million dollars at Christie's in 2009.

Big Chief Little Tourist Utah Snapshot

c. 1940 Snapshot Orderville, Utah at Fisher's Rancho Lodge. Collection Jim Linderman

Review of Gals Gams Garters The Virginia Stockings Scrapbook

John Foster reviews my book Gals Gams Garters at Accidental Mysteries, thus providing me another opportunity to post a photo of some legs.

"Cut from vintage men’s magazines of the 1950s, the anonymous collector used scissors and tape to arrange his private soft porn collection taped to the pages of a commercially bought scrapbook. Perhaps the creator’s wife found them and tossed them out, perhaps he passed away or maybe he found Jesus. Whatever the reason, they ended up in that dumpster and today are the subject of a new book called Gals Gams Garters by Victor Minx. Victor Minx is the pseudonym of Jim Linderman, a longtime collector...these pages are beautiful, almost randomly arranged clippings, where the yellowed tape becomes an integral part of the composition. Random colors from the magazine and the spaces between the clippings work together to build a solid page—one man’s private fantasy made public"

Book available at right.

Complete review HERE

Cleveland Torso Murder True Crime Ed's Head on a Plate

Cleveland Dick Dave Cowles shows the reconstruction mask bas relief of Mr. Edward Andrassy, a murder victim to be sure, but one of the lucky ones as he has his name. Most of the other victims are left only with names such as "Lady of the Lake", "Tattooed Man" and a handful of regular old "John Doe" followed with a number. It is a trade off though--as Edward DOES have a name, when the killer was finished he did not have a penis...win some lose one Ed. The Cleveland Torso Murderer is credited with 12 hits. There MAY be as many as 40. Most of the victims lived in the shanty towns which turned up in Cleveland during the depression. Big Daddy Elliot Ness got involved in the case and couldn't solve the crime...but it did insure books, films and such would be produced. Some book titles? The Maniac in the Bushes, In the Wake of the Butcher, Butcher's Dozen, Torso (a recent graphic novel) and many more. Unusual to see Paper-Mache as grisly.

Original Press Photograph November 1939 Collection Jim Linderman

Man in a Hurry with a Fast Blue Car

Kings! At the Circus in Black and White Dull Tool Dim Bulb Series #12

Snapshot, circa 1950 Collection Jim Linderman

By the way...he was deaf in one ear.

Til I Die Brother Publishing Co. BMI
by Brian Wilson

I'm a cork on the ocean
Floating over the raging sea
How deep is the ocean?
How deep is the ocean?
I lost my way
Hey hey hey

I'm a rock in a landslide
Rolling over the mountainside
How deep is the valley?
How deep is the valley?
It kills my soul
Hey hey hey

I'm a leaf on a windy day
Pretty soon I'll be blown away
How long will the wind blow?
How long will the wind blow?

Dip do do do
Do do do do
Do do

Until I die
Until I die
These things I'll be until I die
These things I'll be until I die
These things I'll be until I die
These things I'll be until I die
These things I'll be until I die
These things I'll be until I die

Drink Dream Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Dream Orange Soda Everyone's...Anytime. Ingredients on crown. Contents 6 1/2 FL. OZ. Property of Standard Bottling Co. Alliance, Nebr. Collection Jim Linderman

My Loving Parents, Hank, Luke the Drifter and New Years Day

Some of you may know, of all things, that I was nominated for a Grammy this year along with Co-producer Lance Ledbetter of Dust-to-Digital for the project "Take Me to the Water." This is a personal post, and one which I hope to avoid boasting or gloating.

I don't remember when New Years Day began to mean the day Hank Williams died to me, but I do remember writing a poem about it way back in High School. You see, I was born the same year Hank died on New Years day. He was riding in the back seat of a car being driven to a gig. I believe he was wearing his boots, or at least I like to think he was, and I've always imagined them crossed and propped up against the car door as he rested on his back and got some sleep. I think he was alive at midnight, but was gone with the light of the new year. The next year, Elvis made his first recordings. So as a baby I was able to share a life with both events, something I am proud of but which came about through no choice of my own. Pure dumb luck. How lucky am I to be able to say "the soundtrack of my life" began with Hank and Elvis?

I always favored Hank's "Luke the Drifter" songs best, the pseudonym he used for his gospel and religious material. I've said many times over the last 6 months, while talking about "Take Me to the Water," that artists perform harder when they are singing of their faith. I first realized this because of Hank's Luke the Drifter way back as a boy. He may have been the first Honky Tonker, but it was his Sunday morning material which moved me the most. I also believe it was an outlet he felt necessary to save his own soul.

Today as I helped move both of my parents to safer, more assisted living, I took some time to think about Hank, as I always do, but this year it was a deeper, more grateful appreciation. It was how fortunate I have been to share New Years with his soul...because my beautiful pair of loving parents somehow timed my arrival to be able to say it...and that on this very day I am able to still feel his presence even as I accept the difficult and taxing fact that my folks are waning profoundly this holiday. That it came in the same year as a nomination I never thought I would be able to receive has made this the most memorable New Years day ever.

Mermaids and Webb's Wonderful World of Retail

At one time, Doc Webb's store in Florida had 1,400 employees. The retail mega-mall miracle had miles of merchandise and at least a few mermaids. Way ahead of his time, Doc opened the store in 1925 and it spread like kudzu. By 1951 it was bigger than a Wal-mart, but he had tricks they haven't even thought of. He would sell dollar bills for 95 cents and serve breakfast for 2 cents to attract customers. The shop grew to 85,000 square feet. The soda fountain was so long it had 60 employees. He sold 16,000 packs of cigs a day and 60,000 rolls of film a year. He invented the express check-out line (ten items or less) and eventually had 70 different stores on the lot. Doc even supported African-American civil rights before most of his neighbors and fought against high taxes...but all things must end and Webb's went belly-up like a dead mermaid in 1979.

Webb's Talking Mermaid Show Postcard, circa 1940. Note on reverse: "Hi Bud. Saw the mermaids today at Webb's City. They really talk" Collection Jim Linderman

The Cookhouse by Robert D. Good At the Circus in Black and White

Chuck Wagon! "Cook House of Stevensons Brothers Circus in 1946" by Robert D. Good. For an additional photograph and biographical information on the photographer, see earlier entries in the "At the Circus in Black and White" posts.

Original Photo 5" x 7" by Robert D. Good title typed on reverse Collection Jim Linderman

Frozen Stiffs! True Crime True North: The Golden Age of Canadian Pulp Magazines

I haven't done a book review in a while, since like all the rest of us, I only look at pictures. It will be a few weeks before Kindle figures out how to incorporate graphics like these into their digital downloads, so I'll use the time to suggest a hardcopy purchase.

Canadian true crime pulp magazines! Written by Carolyn Strange and Tina Loo, I presume their real names...a fabulous collection of covers and entertaining text providing the history of detective rags from above. I suspect these magazines are FAR more scarce than those churned out in America during the 1940s and 1950s and as such seldom seen, so the writers have done us a service. As you can see, the covers are just striking. More primitive than ours, the Canadian illustrators opted for a sparse, open, esthetic as forlorn as their landscape during December. With their muted colors, these pulps seem as lonely as the folks who read them. Even the man on fire seems cold! I see a few soggy and nearly frozen pages of these in a pile on a cabin floor in my mind's eye as I type. The book, 100 pages of true north crime bliss was published 6 years ago, so my review is a bit late...but it doesn't diminish the appeal. Using images from the National Library of Canada and a wonderful layout and design, this is an inexpensive book as cool as a Canadian on a cooling bed...and even though it was published in 2004, It's still good...after all, it's a BOOK. Put on your cyber mukluks and go buy one.

(Book Linked at Amazon on the right here under "GOOD THINGS)

GM Hybrid Auto from FORTY YEARS AGO

Full Page in Hod Rods and Racing Cars June 1970. FORTY YEARS AGO. Um...maybe the profit margin was a bit greater on the Hummer?