Written on the City

Hey, anti-social weirdos!

Our own prolific little vandal / "street artist", Adam Infanticide, is prominently featured in Written on the City, the artbook from the online collection of street art messages of the same name. At least 10 photos of his ubiquitous anonymous messages grace the pages of this lovely book including one on the back cover right by the UPC code! He's not making any bread off this book, but folks who dig this kind of stuff should check it out nonetheless. 

You can see more photos of Mr. Infanticide's work here.

This Valentine's Day, give her the gift that says "Fuck Yeah!"

Hi there :)

Just thought I'd write you a short note to tell you how much I enjoyed meeting you at the show the other night. I can't remember when I had a more fantastic time. Everything felt so natural, and you were so easy to talk to. It's hard for me to figure out what it is about you that attracts me so much. I suppose it might be the combination of your great sense of humor, your charming personality and your good looks. 

Or maybe it's the fact that you took me to V-D Day to see my favorite band, the Missing Teens ♥♥♥. It was only $10, at the Annex (152 Orchard btw. Stanton and Rivington in lovely New York City) on February 16th, 10pm, and the other bands were great too. I guess you could call it chemistry, or maybe even fate.

I really hope that our first meeting was not our last because I felt really special when I was with you, listening to the blazing drums of Darren Jones, the insane vocals of James Call, the smooth bass of Dave Tirolo and the wailing leads of Tim Brennan. I truly wish to give our friendship a chance to grow into something special, involving sex. I'm really glad we both got our own complimentary copies of the free Missing Teens Romance Manual, at the show, so we can figure out how to turn what we've got into something ever better :) :) ;D ♥

Well, I guess I've said enough for the time being. Have a wonderful week and, hopefully, I'll see you again real soon. I'll be on themissingteens.com all week long listening to their dreamy music and thinking of u. :) :) ♥♥♥

xoxo

Spandex Tiger-Dumpster Love

This record made me contemplate a very fundamental question which Spandex Tiger must face eventually. Can a band so based on there live performance ever be captured on a recording?

A Spandex Tiger show is a full fledged uber-sleaze cock-rock reality show. There stage setup includes a Casiotone, a real toilet and lead singer Rich Filthy is always dressed in the eponymous tiger print spandex pants. The whole show brings us back to 1989 in a very real way. The rest of the band plays other late 80’s characters including there guitarist, Tankkoray who dresses as a sort of wanna’ be gangster complete with wrap around shades and a bandana. The whole band is dedicated to a true love of old English 40’s.

When you leave a Spandex Tiger show your left wondering just what it is you saw. The whole concept may appear ironic, it may seem like a joke, but they play it so straight and they play there instruments so well. Worse half way through the show you find yourself no longer enjoying the show ironically from the outside you’ve become fully involved in the world of the band. You where actually “rocking out” to the funk filled neo butt rock. You where singing along to a song about hemorrhoids.

So I think I’ve expressed that live they brilliantly straddle the line between the truly stupid and the sublimely brilliant. I’m not sure if it’s possible to translate this feeling onto CD but I do know that this debut album did not achieve it. The album’s subject matter ranges from accidental tranny sex in Tijuana (Tijuana hand Job), Sci-Fi fetishism (Cumin In) to from what I can gather a mythical figure who likes to expose himself strangers on Ocean Beach (Waddel Dangler). Without the visual guide of Rich and company playing there parts with such love and sincerity the album just sound like juvenile potty humor.

Of coarse this is there first album and in truth what there doing is juvenile potty humor in the best way. Still there must be some way to translate the true love affair this band has for its subject matter. I truly believe that they want to make the great late 80's’s funk-cock rock album that was never made in it’s own time. Maybe they should put there next record our on cassette tape.

This Actually Happened to Me At My Bodega Tonight

I was fretting all day over what to do for the cartoon. I had two pretty solid concepts, which I think you'll see in coming weeks. But then I was ordering tacos (dinner) at the St. James' Deli and I had, more or less, the conversation depicted in this cartoon. It could have gone on longer but I wanted to produce 1 quality page, which took a little under 2.5 hours... 2 pages would have killed me (I'm sick).

I hope you enjoy. Again, this is based on a REAL CONVERSATION. There is no surrealism in this comic; this really happened. And for the record, I was wearing my heavy winter coat, which is an old U.S. Army issued overcoat I picked up at a flea market in the 8th grade.

I think this comic is a little rushed... I was definitely rushing. Still, I hope you'll enjoy it.

The exciting adventures of Bien Sûr and friends

Hey! James here. I forgot to post my first cartoon here. It's sorta lo-fi, but here it is anyways. The newer ones are below it (sorry).

This is the first cartoon I've drawn in years. As part of my New Year's resolution, I'll be drawing one a week. The comics center around a pretty much autobiographical character, "Bien Sûr," which means "of course" in French.

This one's pretty crappy, but the punchline's alright. Check it out!

More Bien Sur et al: Curse of the Magic 9-Ball

Hey kids. I hope you like my latest cartoon. I worked on it all week, and as usual, learned a lot (especially about how to use the original inks with computer-based coloring).


Anyways, all you need to know to understand the premise of this cartoon is that Bien Sûr lives with Belle the Daring Dalmation, who is a vigilante/superhero of sorts (a freelancer, currently between jobs), and that he (Belle is just a Scandanavian man's name) has vigilante powers.


Also introduced in this cartoon strip is one of their mutual roommates, Yahweh the Unemployed.


President Obama appears in this comic as well. $$$$$$$$$

Good Riddance George W. Bush! Party Friday, Jan. 23rd with the Missing Teens!

Hey, anyone remember that George W. Bush guy? You know, the dude who stole a national election, bombed the Chinese embassy, used the largest attack on US soil in over 200 years to silence his political opponents at home and launch a spree of deregulation and an avalanche of no-bid contracts to assorted cronies? Who started a foreign war on false pretenses? Who presided over the destruction of a major US city and port? Who attempted to privatize the life-long promised federal pension every retired American is supposed to receive?

Yeah, that guy. We'll be celebrating his departure from the White House and wishing Mr. Barack Obama well as he faces two wars, a crushing depression, a massive deficit, political opposition in the Senate, our friend global warming, and of course, an old favorite, the Israel/Palestinian conflict, on Friday, January 23rd, for FREE, at the Village Lantern, with live music and much partying.

Come join us with BLIMINAL and ESTELLA at 9:30pm on Friday Jan. 23rd at the VL (167 Bleecker St @ Sullivan). 21+. Bring your shoes! (Hope you guys got that one...)

Also: Valentine's Day got you down? You are not alone. Join the Missing Teens at the Annex on Feb. 16th to commiserate. With, of course, live muzak.

More adventures of Bien Sur and friends

Hey everyone! It's my latest cartoon! These are still very much experiments, crude, at this point, but I think getting my hands on the Pilot Precise v5 really helped, not to mention that computer shading, and I'm staring to understand what works in terms of layout and pencils (for me personally). Anyways, dig in, girls and boys and otherwise inclined!