The Ten Lives of Iggy! The SECOND annual Dull Tool Dim Bulb Lifetime Achievement Award™ presented by Jim Linderman

The Second Annual prestigious Dull Tool Dim Bulb Lifetime Achievement Award™ award goes to Michigan native Iggy Pop, nee' Iggy Stooge nee' James Newell "Iquana" Osterberg Jr. of Muskegon, Michigan.

One of my heroes since I was a child, King Iggy was born 12 miles north of where I sit today. By the time I was old enough to sneak out and see him perform, he was already hooked on junk and living across the state in a radical pig-stye in Ann Arbor performing as retarded baby brother to the MC5. (Another glorious group of talented misfits worth searching You tube for, and whose once thought revolutionary claptrap now seem like prophecy)

Iggy's first "big" record was probably "Search and Destroy" which not only managed to put the Vietnam war into perfect perspective a decade before Springsteen's "Born in the USA" it also managed to name check another prominent Michigan invention...Napalm.

I first heard of the mighty Iggy when someone, I can not remember who, told me they saw a performer cover his chest with an unknown sticky substance and chicken feathers while terrifying an audience of about 50 people. This would have been around 1968. Subsequent performances, which I always did my best to see, included peanut butter, blood, vomit and an abandon that makes Mick Jagger look as stiff as Richard Nixon (who I also saw the same year, running for president and already tricking the good folks of the state in the Civic Center of Grand Rapids) Just for the record, around the time Mick Jagger was pleading from a nice safe stage in limp fey voice "come ON people" as a man was being beaten to death by Hell's Angels in front of him at Altamont, Iggy was literally fist brawling with bikers while recording his live album "Metallic K.O."

Furthermore, Iggy is no fool. One can easily find the clip for the show in which a drugged out, wounded and near toothless Iggy discusses the difference between Dionysian art and Apollonian art with a stunned Tom Snyder. (I am not kidding here...there is a clear and pure artistic vision at work in this muscular addled and addicted musician) I am also sure he won every damn argument he ever had with David Bowie, even if he was slurring his words. Iggy also had the charm to romance no less than Dinah Shore on national television.

For his unswerving ability to make every other "rock" performer seem like a pussy, and in this I do not exaggerate, every damn one. For his uncanny ability to keep a waistline and torso hard as stone well until his fifties. For entering not "rehab" but a freaking MENTAL HOSPITAL to get cured (Man up, rock star wannabes) For his amazing celebration of life despite the adversity of commercial failure, drug addiction, the loss of friends and surviving in a world he invented but has profited from less than shallow imitators...and because "Search and Destroy" "I Wanna be Your Dog" "The Passenger" "Real Wild Child" "Five Foot One" and "Lust for Life" are among the greatest songs of my generation. For once being so desperate to PERFORM he hired Soupy Sales children to back him and finally because Iggy has managed to have ten lives in the time most of us have one, the Dull Tool Dim Bulb Lifetime Achievement award is bestowed. For most performers, selling a song for a commercial is a loser, pathetic thing. For Iggy, it is freaking just rewards and poetic justice.

The astounding clips here include an iconic, legendary, crowd-walking performance which belongs in the Museum of Modern Art collection (seriously) and the equally legendary performance 40 years later when Madonna, another Michigander, shamed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by choosing a REAL rock and roller to perform her songs when she was inducted.

As is tradition with the Dull Tool Lifetime Achievment Award™, a few little known facts about the award winner:

He did the voice of "Lil' Rummy" on the Comedy Central show Lil' Bush.

Elijah Wood is to play him in a forthcoming biopic, which keeps failing to get off the ground as no actor can come close to matching even a 30 second clip of the artist.

He reportedly called Moe Howard when naming his band, to make sure he wouldn't be upset there was another band of Stooges.

He invented the Stage-Dive

He ran away from school to learn drums with legendary bluesman Sam Lay, who played for Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Bob Dylan...Dylan himself once sent a telegram thanking Sam for playing on "what many say is my best album." So even as a child Iggy had the taste for the real thing.
Jim Linderman

At the Circus in Black and White #17

An unusual addition to the "At the Circus in Black and White" series as this is actually a unique photograph of a silent film being made at Universal Studios in 1915. Remarkable that even as early as this circus sideshow banners were familiar enough in the public consciousness to satirize them in a movie. Also remarkable that even back in the silent era, motion picture studios would go to the trouble to commission such elaborate (if primitive) backdrops for what would have been used only in a brief scene or short film. Add a scary clown, a fellow in drag and a miniature pony...it all adds up to a great photo!

Photo of Film Set Universal Studios 1915 Collection Jim Linderman

Important Long Post for Fans, Friends and Followers!

A personal note...I suspect I am going to be slowing down the posts on DULL TOOL DIM BULB. Many of you know I have breathing problems...living in Times Square gave me 25 years of diesel flavored air, running in the park every night after rush hour sucked in plenty more, and 9/11 gave me another solid dose of minuscule lung fibers, so only I'm good about half-a day. I do the posts and take my medicine but it's been a long winter, I'm wore out and hung to dry. Plus, I am having such a wonderful time putting together the VINTAGE SLEAZE blog, which is going very very well indeed.

I also have to do a few other things. Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books while unprofitable, deserves attention...and another book is on the way. I have an EXTRAORDINARY story to research, it will take some time and effort but I am anxious to get started. It's almost time to start growing the tomaters. Plus, somehow I'm going to scrape up the energy to scrape down the house and paint it. I'm going to do one square inch a day...unless it rains.

I am NOT abandoning the site! Merely devoting a bit more time to the OTHER sites. I expect to post at least once a week at Dull Tool Dim Bulb, so not to fear.

In the meantime, follow the following! Just like this blog, they are "all killer, no filler."
Vintage Sleaze
Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books
old time religion
Wondrous World of Wendt
The Painted Backdrop

Jim

Dr. Brinkley Ballsy Bilker of Border Radio Returns!

I recently found another photograph of Good Doctor Gonad...one of my favorite scoundrels of the past. Several books about him are linked at right. I wrote about the crook in a previous post, his gambit was inserting sheep glands into depression era men (apparently even one vice-president) in order to jump-start their waning libidos. Basically a medicine show fraud grown rich and powerful, his greatest accomplishment (other than ripping off "softies" way before the invention of Viagra) was the radio station he set up over the border in Mexico to avoid the scarce few government regulators around at the time. Yes, surprisingly, there used to be corporate shysters who would take advantage of the good folk of the country. A typical useless goat gland insertion would set a rural farmer back about $750...(think Bob Dole, except that the farmers were suffering ED at a time when there was no "magic bullet" which encouraged the engorging of spongy tissue) He also killed a few farmers and stole millions...and if it weren't for the American Medical Association and a few consumer rights advocates, his heirs would be still.

A brief aside and fun fact. Brinkley's border radio station played the Carter Family. They would record their "sunny side" songs onto giant transcription records, WAY larger than standard long-players...and mail them down so Doctor Sheep Noogies could pretend they were "live in the studio" in between his sleazy, unregulated pitches for his bogus cures. Years later, when researchers went looking for these precious discs to reissue them, it was found many were tossed out back the studio and the poor folks of Ciudad Acuna, right across the river from Del Rio, Texas, had used them as roofing tiles.

"Doctor" J. R. Brinkley original press photograph, 1934 Collection Jim Linderman

Beyonce, Bettie Page and a Secret from the Past (With the Negatives)

Now that Beyonce has channeled Bettie Page in the new Lady Gaga video it is time for me to reveal a little secret and entertain all you gents and gals with even the slightest interest in the history of photography...at least as it relates to women with whips. First of all, every year it is increasingly evident NO model has influenced popular culture more than Bettie Page. So curious given her clumsy short movies and relatively short career. But the face and derriere? To die for.

One can't tell the story of Bettie Page without the fellow who first put her in a studio with bondage props...Irving Klaw. Wiki him up...or rent the underrated film The Notorious Bettie Page directed by Mary Harron in which Gretchen Mol makes Beyonce's bangs look glued on. Now here is the secret you will all thank me for. As part of the deal made with prosecutors in the 1950's, Klaw burned his negatives. We all know that, right?

WRONG!

Not only does a sizable archive still exist the family is STILL selling incredible glossy photographs of Bettie for pennies, just like they did in the 1950's from the back of sleazy men's magazines. The place is called Movie Star News and hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of glorious black and white photographs are shown on their website. Movie Star News used to print a big fat catalog when I was living near their little workshop and studio on west 18th Street, and walking into the place is like time-warp central. They still sell movie stills of B-grade actors, posters...and grumpy folks still look up suspiciously and growl "whaddya want?" when you enter. Well, we all know we aren't here for that old 8 x 10 of Vince Edwards as Ben Casey.

Ask for the Klaw catalog, circle the numbers you want, and skulk back in a week later to pick up the pics. The photographs are as gorgeous as the model. So if you want to taste a little of that "unmarked brown paper wrapper" spice, take a peek. Who says old New York City is gone?

You are welcome.

For more tales of the sleazy underbelly of our shared cultural closets, follow Vintage Sleaze the blog

One Man's Spring Another Man's Tornado Vernacular Photography Vortex!

Nothing like the aftermath of nasty weather to bring out the Brownie. A group of Tornado photos, likely Michigan and likely around 1930. There was a doozy nicknamed "The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak" which tore up 6 states including Michigan in 1920, these could be from that event, but so many strike the Mitten making an ID is a crapshoot. I hope no one was sitting down at the piano to play. One of the most striking events I lived through was a Tornado in the early 1970's. We were sitting on the porch, unaware of the carnage happening two miles away, until a fellow drove up on four flat tires, got out with blood on his arm and said "I just drove through a Tornado."

Group of Tornado Snapshots, circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman

The ART of Chalk Talk Forgotten form of Propaganda

So I have been playing with the idea of doing a project of some sort with CHALK TALKS. No, chalk can not talk, but that documented liar, charlatan and fraud Glenn Beck can, and he has forced my hand.

One of the most basic and rudimentary forms of visual communication and often used to influence children (and by Glenn Beck, his unsophisticated, vulnerable viewing audience who votes) chalk talks have been directing and developing damaged minds since a charcoal stick could mark a wall. Heavily used by schools, the military, churches, Alcoholics Anonymous and anywhere a, well...to put it bluntly, simple mind can be deceived or impressed.

The whole concept of presenting visual information on a simple black board to inform, trick and convince is visual propaganda. In fact, it may be the secret history of propaganda. Using humor, skill in rendering, confusing slight of hand and deception, the chalk taker also develops a convincing patter to go along with the images. At least Glenn Beck hasn't developed that...being a blithering bloated bag of confused wind...but he's resurrected the art, and even his amateur, pathetic version of the skill has convinced some to believe in things against their best interests...a testimony to the power of the chalk art.

And art it is...I pride myself at finding forgotten forms of art. The chalk talk is a primary example, never mind that it was, and is, aimed at the uneducated and often helpless masses. When used properly, it is as effective as any visual form, or at least it has been...and when you see Stephen Colbert or a political reporter drawing on the digital screen, the technique is the same but presented even simpler. It took years to develop true chalk talking skills, like magic...and most reporters lack the time it takes to master the art. So here I present to you some splendid examples of the visual skills which were used by chalk talkers.

Many of the images are religious...no mistake. Most chalk talkers had a religious agenda, and many were preachers (and in some cases, talented but let's face it, failed fine artists)...but the technique was heavily used in sunday schools and at church dinners. Magicians were used at birthday parties. Psychologists were used at business meetings and buffons with drawing skills were used at pep rallies and the school assembly. They are all fascinating and I hope my health holds out so I can bring you more. With a history going back to Vaudeville, the characters, the monologues and the graphic quirks produced by this forgotten league of competent doodlers deserves a bit of attention, and I aim to try!

A note...I'll spare the good, hard-working legitimate teachers working on your children's behalf every day in school in the REAL chalk jungle. Far from being charlatans, millions of selfless and underpaid educators used the board in a similar way, but for a far more noble purpose...and they deserve our thanks.

Folk Art Paper Dolls from FAIRYLAND Handmade Homemade Primitive and Real

For decades, it has made no sense to me that common commercial paper dolls usually created as branded products from licensed characters attract more attention from collectors than folk art, handmade versions which are MUCH scarcer and more beautiful. Mark it up to marketing, I guess...after all, a child who watches 24 hours of television a day is going to prefer the latest Disney creation more than a doll in a homemade burlap sack, and that seems to be a preference which stays with us until adulthood and beyond, unfortunately. I've always much preferred the charming handmade versions children created when the money was short and even paper scarce. This little group of fairies was found in a pile of ephemera in an antique mall for one dollar. Made by a little girl, dating probably to the 1920's or earlier, the whole lot was packed into a very old envelope, browned with age, and reading in script "Fairyland" "SAVE" which someone did. Each is only a few inches tall, and if you click to enlarge they'll be bigger than they should be, but go ahead.

A few years ago my giant collection of vintage handmade and homemade paper dolls was used to illustrate what is, to this day, still the best essay and investigation in to the handmade doll. Since most attention in the toy literature has been devoted to commercial toys, including those which were premiums in products and provided in newspapers...very little published material on the folk art paper doll exists. The much missed magazine FOLK ART which used to be published by the American Museum of Folk Art has a back issue department and the Francine Kirsch article "Costumed by Hand" (along with many pages of illustrations which make these little fairies look even more primitive than they are) is in the Spring/Summer 2007 issue. After the article appeared, the collection was dispersed, but I still can't pass a set by.


Handmade set of Paper Doll Fairies, circa 1920. Collection Jim Linderman

Ed Atop a Stack of Hay 68 Tons RPPC

"Well, Pauline, I've landed on the old homestead again. Left Portland March 20 and landed in Hayburn the following day. Did you ever see a picture of a real hay ride? This is one of myself and a hay stack on my place. I'm on top of the stack. I had 3 stacks like this last year."


Real Photo Postcard mailed from Idaho to Salt Lake City, Utah March 31, 1914 Collection Jim Linderman

Misdirection Magic and Michigan The Abbott's Institution of Magic

Did you ever want to get lost in a magical world? Go to Colon, Michigan. Home of Abbott's Magic for over 70 years, the 50,000 square foot shop and factory is the official home of magic. The catalog, which is now over 475 pages and from which I cribbed these beautiful, evocative images is not only still being produced, you can DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE THING FOR FREE! My treasured copy is #22 from 1976, but all the beautiful retro magical graphics are still in the digital catalog. And what a show it is...hundreds of tricks, books, machines, devices, card tricks...It is truly an amazing spectacle, and despite having one of the most entertaining collection of websites around (the site turns and twists from one video to another, vintage flicks of tricks run continuously, there is a live chat room for sharing, a used marketplace for, well...torture tricks) and that's not all. They also print a newsletter (The Newest Tops) act as a clearinghouse for traveling magicians, list shows...you name it. If misdirection or slight of hand is your thing, this is the place. Colon, Michigan is the burial place of Harry Blackstone. Over 1,000 magicians gather there every year for a convention. Harry would be pleased, and I suspect plenty of them make a pilgrimage to his resting place.

Archie Zimmerman: Carving like a Cartoonist

There are still 19th and early 20th century folk art collections and bodies of work to be found. I had thought the last gasp for searchers of work by undiscovered eccentric carvers may have been the first few years of Ebay, when folks in Middle-America started listing things they found in the attic as they learned to use their computers. Scarce few groups of work remain, but husband and wife team Heidi Kellner and Robert Zordani found some, the eccentric pieces of comic book carvings created by Archie Zimmerman. They won't change the world, and there have certainly been better folk artists, including many who worked in a similar manner. (Fred Alten, Earl Eyman and dozens more...whittling used to be done until the sun went ALL the way down) But the recently found cache is unique in their comic book quality. Each seems stretched and skewed in a way that characters in the Sunday Funnies and matinee cartoons used to be. Zimmerman passed away in 1961. A few examples are shown above, the biography and more examples of his zany creations are shown at the Z & K Antiques Website.

The Art of Oxymoron. Inside Outhouses at Alabam's RPPC

I had to ask around..."What's is called, you know...when you have, like, Jumbo Shrimp?" Oxymoron. I must be getting old. It might sound like an infomercial laundry product, but it turns out to be a wider phenom than I thought. Below is merely a few of the ones starting with the A. See them all at the HOME of the OXYMORON. Buffalo, Wyoming's once Alabam's "Soup or Service" station. Slogan? Don't go hungry or run short of gas." There must be a name for that too.

A Fine Mess
A just war
A little big
a little pregnant
A new classic
absolutely unsure
abundant poverty
Accidentally on Purpose
accurate estimate
accurate stereotype
Act Naturally
active retirement
actual reenactment
acute dullness
adult children
advanced BASIC
airline schedules
all alone
All natural artificial flavor
alone in a crowd
almost candid
Almost done
American culture
American education
American English
amicable divorce
among the first
Amtrak schedule
Anarchy Rules!
anticipating the unanticipated
Anti-Missile Missile
Auto Pilot
authentic reproduction
Awfully pretty

Alabam's Real Photo Postcard, circa 1955 Collection Jim Linderman

Domke and Da' Dinosaurs Prehistoric Meat-Eaters in Michigan

Pauldra Domke created a half-Bible, half-Dinosaur theme park on the shores of Lake Huron in Ossineke Michigan. He started in the 1930's. Known affectionately as "Uncle Paul" he delighted in painting gruesome drips of blood all over the big fellas, in particular the dropped Dino plopped on the ground as a wild dog-like creature rips his flesh above. I'm really sorry not to have color postcards! Guess what? STILL THERE.


Collection of Domke Dinosaur Real Photo Postcards, circa 1940. Collection Jim Linderman

Loew's Theaters Cover-Up (At the Movies and Meet the Press)

Press Photograph from 1939, a landmark year for the movie industry. Text on reverse, if you can believe it (and you can)..."Loew's Theaters Employes (sic) pasted paper panties on the undraped backs of 10,000 twin babies pictured on billboards throughout the city, after the District Attorney's office decided the posters were "indecent". The Pictures of Undiapered Infants had been displayed as a promotion stunt."
Original Press Photograph, 1939 Collection Jim Linderman

Special Temporary Oscar Post for Jeff Bridges

In hopes one of the most interesting, "normal" in every good way, talented and quietly politically correct genius actors wins tonight, a man who has entertained me from afar for some 40 years, I present Jeff Bridges State of the Art WEBSITE. That he is next playing Rooster Cogburn in a remake of True Grit with the Coen brothers is a gift of manna. Cross your fingers for the Dude.

Bear Rug Saturday Night Lazy Post

Amazing what one can (and used to) do with rags. I suspect we'll find out again soon. Group of outstanding hooked rugs from upcoming Brunk Auction, March 29 The Thomas A. Gray collection.

Soft Landing Vernacular Photograph Snapshot

Untitled Snapshot (Model Airplane on Bed) circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman