NEW: Gweek 014 Podcast and The Hokum Scorchers

Gweek is Boing Boing’s cool new podcast about "comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps and other neat stuff". Here’s the lineup for episode 14 .

You can hear my band, The Hokum Scorchers (Amy Crehore and Lou Reimuller), playing a version of "You May Go", a Memphis Jug Band song (more details here) toward the end (56:30) of the new episode of Gweek 014.

Above is a detail of my painting "The Angel at Gossamer Creek". Links to blues, rags and jug band songs performed by The Hokum Scorchers (recorded in the 1990s) can be found here. (boingboing recently blogged ten songs).

Thank you Mark Frauenfelder of BOINGBOING.

Be sure to check out ALL the episodes of Gweek (free on itunes).

The Art of Amy Crehore

Unusual National Triolian Mandolin Paint Job

We bought this 1930s National Triolian resonator mandolin a little while ago. The unusual thing is the paint job: a solid pale yellow with custom pinstriping done by hand and a flower (?) design sprayed on the cover plate. I have never seen one exactly like it before. It's in great shape except for a spot where some of the paint is worn away from heavy playing. Wondering if maybe there was a set of them? Perhaps there was also a National Triolian guitar, plectrum guitar and tenor guitar painted to match. I can picture a hip 1930s band playing matching instruments.

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. The big instrument in the photo is a Gibson mandobass and the one on the wall is a Lyon and Healy Camp Uke.

Amazing Display of Botanical Paintings by Marianne North (1830-1890)

Marianne North, photo by Julia Margaret Cameron (in Ceylon around 1878) Wikipedia link

Over 800 of her paintings are in her own special gallery at the Royal Kew Gardens.

Marianne North (1830-1890) began her journey around the world at the age of forty. For 14 years she painted the plants of many different countries and wrote in her diary. When she returned, Marianne oversaw the design and construction of a gallery at the Royal Kew Gardens to house her work. She hung the paintings herself and painted decorative panels around the doors. The gallery opened in 1882. It has recently been renovated. Rocky Mountain Land Library has a nice post about Marianne on their blog, including a video of this amazing gallery at the Royal Kew Gardens and links to two books about this amazing woman. Kew Gardens is 10 miles from central London on the river Thames. My parents used to live near the river Thames and I remember going to visit Kew Gardens a long time ago. Please follow this link to read more and see video:

Rocky Mountain Land Library

Listen to Orson Welles: "The Mercury Theater on the Air"

Orson Welles

Last night I watched an old B & W thriller from 1946 called "The Stranger"on PBS. The movie starred the great Orson Welles, Loretta Young and Edward G. Robinson. After the movie, I did an online search on Orson Welles. LINK

I read about his marriages, affairs, films, etc. and I came across a great website of his early work in radio.

"The Mercury Theater on the Air" was a radio show started in 1938 which featured the New York drama company founded by Welles and John Houseman. It was later called Campbell Playhouse when Campbell's Soup began to sponsor it. Many of the shows are classic dramas: Dracula, Treasure Island, A Tale of Two Cities, 39 Steps, The Count of Monte Cristo, Rebecca, Our Town, War of the Worlds, etc. Here is a link to over 60 radio shows:

THE MERCURY THEATER ON THE AIR

(link to history)

(Thanks, Kim Scarborough for creating this page).

Ten Hokum Scorchers Songs

Here's the LINK to ten of our songs that were recorded in the 1990s. We play various instruments on these recordings. This is traditional hokum music: jug band, blues and rags. The Hokum Scorchers is a duo comprised of Lou Reimuller and Amy Crehore. We played at Bumbershoot, Seattle Folklife, Ken Kesey's events and other festivals and venues in the northwest. And, in 2009, we played at my solo art show opening in L.A.

P.S. There are also a couple more songs on my website (scroll down to play): LINK

I may add more in days to come.

Thanks for the mention BOINGBOING!

R Crumb Will Stay Home and Eat Aline's Cake

Screen shot of the negative article in The Telegraph which caused R Crumb's decision to stay home.Image via Dylan Horrocks

The Sydney Morning Herald has published a letter by R Crumb explaining why he won't go to Sydney to appear at Graphic (a festival of illustration arts):"Sorry, folks. I do feel bad, as I hate letting people down. But I decided I’d rather bear the pain of letting people down than subjecting my long-suffering wife to a 10-day period of dread and anxiety for my well-being. She’s been awfully nice to me since I told her I wasn’t going! She baked a chocolate cake even!" READ MORE of R Crumb's letter HERE: LINK
I don't blame R Crumb for cancelling his upcoming gig in Australia. He doesn't need to appear at events that upset his equilibrium. Life is too short for Crumb to be used for other people's political agendas. If Aline's gut says "no", it's a good idea to trust it.

The Lou Brooks Blog

An illustrator colleague, Lou Brooks, has a new blog.

Have a LOOK.

It's a very enjoyable website by a funny fellow.