I Dig Your Wig

A horror movie icon, a musical comics page, junk mail, Ben Vaughn live, and support for cartoonists from a great musician

Happy Saturday, Bizarro readers.

Today’s blog post recounts my reluctant adoption of digital tools in the late twentieth century, and, as usual, revisits the latest cartoons.

This week, my drawing board was populated by gunslingers, rock musicians, dinosaurs, clowns, disco dancers, and a familiar puppet character.

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Looking Ahead & Looking Back

Our sneak preview is a marionette mariner.

Following up on an old photo with Mister T, here’s a San Diego Comic-Con celebrity shot of your cartoonist and colleague Roy Tompkins with character actor Michael Berryman. We were thrilled to meet him and delighted to discover what a sweet and friendly person he is.

Our second archival piece is a 1994 comic illustrating a song by my pal Ben Vaughn. Wikipedia describes him as “a singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, composer for television and film, and a syndicated radio show host.”

I first met Ben in February 1988 at the Decade, a legendary Pittsburgh music bar, when the Ben Vaughn Combo was touring to support their album Beautiful Thing. The Decade closed in 1995, but will never be forgotten, as it hosted an amazing number of shows. They brought in national touring bands while supporting local musicians. Pittsburghers of a certain age love to say “Oh, yes, I saw [U2, Joe Jackson, the Ramones, the Pretenders, the Police, Violent Femmes, the Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, etc.] at the Decade.”

I spent many memorable nights at the club and appeared onstage several times. I was fortunate to see The Blasters when sax player Lee Allen and pianist Gene Taylor were in the band. I recall going with friends to see the Raunch Hands on my birthday. They played a furious set, repeatedly interrupted by a loud heckler. The offending audience member turned out to be comedian Sam Kinison, who had performed at another nearby venue and popped in to abuse his friends in the Raunch Hands. They invited Kinison to the stage, and we were treated to a brief comedy set.

As one of those Pittsburghers of a certain age, I could go on, but I’ll spare you.

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Spam of the Week

This semiliterate message came to me via Instagram.

Neither of my brothers sent this, so I deleted it, but not before doing a screen capture to share with you.

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Janis Ian’s Cartoonist Project

(Photo credit: Keith Stokes)

Singer-songwriter, science fiction author, two-time Grammy winner, and all-around admirable human being Janis Ian is also a fan and supporter of cartoonists. We met virtually via Facebook, where she regularly shares the work of many cartoonists with her followers.

Janis recently launched her Facebook Cartoonist Project, where for an entire month she’ll share cartoons by fifty of her favorite artists and provide an introduction describing how she discovered their work.

Here’s an excerpt from her announcement of the project:

May 5th is National Cartoonist Day. I've decided it should run for a full month, and reached out to my colleagues for help. So starting that day, there'll be a cartoon or two by one particular artist, often with a note about the work, always with attribution and a link to their own sites. I'll try to post things around 11am Eastern, and hope you will tune in.

Some of the cartoons will just be funny. Some will be heart-rending. Some will be political. But all the cartoonists I work with create pieces of art that provide me with a brief respite from the trial and trauma of daily life.

I hope that you support them by going to their sites, making sure you always attribute the work, and comment kindly on whatever I post each day.

It’s a kind and generous undertaking, involving a lot of work, and we’re all grateful to Janis. Please visit her page, and listen to some of her music.

Thanks, Janis. Your cartoonist friends love you.

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Bonus Concert (!)

WXPN, Philadelphia’s non-commercial public radio station just posted this full set by the Ben Vaughn Quintet, recorded in April. The set includes the song “Jerry Lewis in France,” which originally appeared on the Beautiful Thing album, and original BVC member Gus Cordovox is featured on accordion, just like in 1988.

The video inspired me to include the “Trashpickin’” comic in today’s newsletter.

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Thanks for subscribing, and keep those questions, comments, and pipe pics coming in!

Best wishes from your grateful cartoonist,

Wayno

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© 2024 by Wayno®

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