I am working my ass off for this art show. I hope you will come! I will be showing a large selection of work spanning from 2007 (the birth year of Teddy Pancake) to things that I will probably be working on the morning of the show. I will be showing my influences in a new series of mixed media pieces that are new paintings on recycled art prints from 2007. Lots of new stuff. Sneak peeks soon. Okay, that giant canvas in the corner is giving me dirty looks. See you there April 3rd. Feel free to repost the flyer!

While I am not planning on turning this blog into a bi-weekly report on San Diego band, The Burning Of Rome (see Burning Of Rome Logo), I had to comment on the U31 debacle I witnessed last Saturday. You can get the main details in this article. Those SOB bouncers obviously crossed the line when they followed Adam and Joe out onto the sidewalk, after they threw them out. I’ve seen plenty of people tossed out of a bar, and I believe if those knuckle-heads would have just thrown those two out and let that be that, everyone would have been laughing their asses of about it five minutes later. No need to go stomp the little guys for messing up your bar, your job ended at the door. We expect to see that kind of thing in Pacific Beach or if we go to Canes, but you don’t usually see too many punches thrown in North Park. That being said, my favorite part of the linked article is

“…lead singer Adam Traub climbed onto his keyboard rig in his usual no-holds-barred fashion and jumped off the stage, making contact with a hanging mirrored disco ball and setting it into motion.”

Adam, these folks just aren’t giving you enough credit, and we should really call it as it is. The way I see it you knew it was your last song and you had already unplugged Joe, unbeknownst to him, who was grossly out of tune. I saw you look at that disco ball when you climbed up onto your keyboard, before you “set it in motion.” HA HA HA! I was laughing then and I am laughing now as I write this. You saw it up there, taunting you, and you knew what had to be done! Ahh, the disco ball, like some glorious bedazzled punching bag just within reach. A fucking pop band!

I was really stoked to make this logo a while back for my friends in the death-pop band The Burning Of Rome. I have a lot of respect for this band. Ian MacKaye himself could appreciate The Burning Of Rome’s DIY ethic. They record all their own music, and their records sound great with headphones on. They constantly hold concerts/art shows in their studio, Speakeasy Studios where they are building a scene in the tragically un-hip North County area of San Diego. Anton Patzner from Judgement Day (an Oakland string metal band, yep, STRING METAL) recently said it was actually a dream of theirs to come play one of these shows, as he had experienced the art friendly vibe for himself on a previous visit to San Diego. They recently got escorted off the reservation directly following their performance at the San Diego Music Awards involving some hijinx reminiscent of a Gorgoroth concert involving pig heads on poles. It’s fun to have a band in San Diego causing a ruckus, and fairly ironic that the ones to do it sound so damn catchy.

I’ve been making a new website. You are on it if you are reading this. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do but it needed to be done. Now a new (AND IMPROVED) blog and a fairly complete archive of my art and design work are all right here, in one convenient interweb location. It’s not at 100% completion yet as I still need to add notes and information to all the work/art galleries, but the pictures are up, and that’s what I’m about, pictures. I also started freelancing again for 20th Century Fox Television, recently hand painted some album art for Irradio, and finished about 3 more paintings for an art show I am putting together for March at a tranny bar downtown San Diego. No joke. So I’m BUSY, alright? I’m not going to post many more pictures of my new pieces until closer to the show, but if you browse the art galleries I bet you will see something you haven’t seen before, and I promise to post some sneek-peeks of new stuff. This year is setting up to kick major ass and I am looking for more opportunities to show art, and illustrate/paint your album/skateboard/t-shirt/face/whatever. Please contact me if you are someone in need of these services ’cause Pancake’s your man, man. Stay tuned.

Originally I had planned for the whole run to be printed like the green version shown above. That red next to the green really messes with your eyes, which is exactly what I was going for. I was printing late at night and the lighting was not the greatest, and after a couple of pulls they just were not looking right to me. Like a big jerk I decided to switch the run to black ink, which was stupid. Upon inspecting the posters in better lighting I quickly realized the green copies were exactly right. Don’t get me wrong, the black version turned out really good, but it isn’t as trippy. Anyway, there are 4 green copies, and Earthless got 3 of them. I guess that makes them extremely limited, right? Always, always, always, always, always, always, GO WITH YOUR GUT.

Black copies will be for sale at the merch booth at the show, and if there is any left they will be available in my etsy store Saturday.
**EDIT** Poster now available in the store.

Oh man, Basil Wolverton could really draw, and I have always admired his oddball perspective. Fans of MAD Magazine will recognize his work. This poster for the Detroit Cobras was definitely influenced by his drawing style, especially in the hair. And that color blend I printed there is metallic silver to metallic gold/bronze, so it looks great when the light hits it right.

Art show this Saturday! Come look at weird art and have your eardrums massaged by The Burning of Rome and Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra. I will be showing prints and some newish paintings. Doors @ 7:00 Bands @ 8:00.

Speakeasy Studios 2403 Industry Street Oceanside, CA 92054 MAP

I can watch The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth over and over because the design in those movies is so damn good. The man responsible for this is of course Brian Froud, and I find myself sketching the characters he creates from time to time.

I did a take on a scene from the Labyrinth where the goblins are in Jennifer Connelly’s character’s closet waiting for her to say the precise words needed to damn her little brother into slavery or whatever other terrible fate the Goblin King has in store for him.

I always wanted to make a print of that image so when I had the opportunity to participate in the “These are the Quotes from Our Favorite 80s Movies” group print show, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do just that. The opening reception for this show will be Friday May 15th in conjunction with Salt Lake City’s monthly “gallery stroll” from 6 – 9 pm. at Signed & Numbered Gallery in Salt Lake City. 30 artists were asked to create a print based on a quote from an 80’s movie. I call this print “She’s Going To Say The Words.”

You can purchase this print here.

I’m stoked to have this weird drawing included in the second installment of the Gigposters.com Coloring Books. There are a lot of cool artists involved in this thing, and you can scribble all over their art. Look at you, Picasso! Get it here.

The “Lyrically Speaking” print show is opening today and tomorrow in conjunction with the 2009 Independent Record Store Day. My Black Sabbath inspired “Wizard” art print will be available at these shows.

Show opening reception:
Friday, April 17, 2009, 6 – 9 pm at Signed & Numbered/Slowtrain Records in Salt Lake City
Saturday, April 18, 2009 Size Records in Oklahoma City and 52.5 Records in Charleston, SC.