PATTERNS AND TONES

I cannot discuss the work I did for Tower Records back in the 9T's without sharing a few shots from the photo shoot I did with the incredible Marian Anderson . Her sweet, good natured personality and her tough as nails attitude intrigued me. She was  the lead singer for  The Insaints , a local Bay Area punk band that were known for their outrageous live shows.  I asked her to pose for me for a promotional postcard for Tower and she didn't hesitate to jump in. Styled by the amazing Rosalie Jacques of Gypsy Rosalie's Wigs and Vintage, I asked Marian to "wear" the Tower Record bags as a dress. She didn't miss a beat and easily slipped into the less than comfortable plastic making it look glamours and stylish. Looking back on the day we shot this ad, I remember no one batting an eye while Marian posed for me. I supposed that's what I loved most of all about San Francisco. It was a place where a 6 foot tall goddess with an  outrageous  wi...

Back in the 9T's my friend Wendy Powell, who at the time was drumming for The Groovie Ghoulies , got me a job shooting for Tower Records. For a few years I supplied them with a steady stream of images to illustrate Pulse! their monthly in-store magazine. I don't normally post images I have shot commercially for this blog but since this particular collection of images met at the corner of Capsers Famous Hot Dogs Way and Tower Record Road, I couldn't resist. On top of that, this set of images feature the amazing Danielle Pimm from The Trashwomen dressed up as Catwoman! These images have never been seen before, as they never ran in the magazine. I had been using the Tower Record bag as a prop for several illustrations and ended up using it here as a makeup band and tail storage! The interior of this Caspers still had all of its vintage charm and was a perfect foil for the graphics and color of the iconic Tower bag. Tower Records ceased to exits and filed for ba...

"Caspers, Oakland No. 1" Nothing makes me think of home more than the graphics of a Caspers Famous Hot Dogs ® sign. The black outline around the dog, buns and condiments are a perfect accent around the three dimensional visuals that physically pop out of the plastic. And the bratwurst Deutsch Gothic type font without a possessive apostrophe makes this a perfect visual for me. The logo reminds me of the work of Paul Rand , David Weidman or James Flora  - three of my favorite mid-century graphic designers and illustrators. The visual message is no nonsense. When you come to Caspers, this is what you get. Although I only take my dog with relish and mustard with the occasional addition of sauerkraut, the round tomatoes and onion slice balance out the horizontal lines of the dog and buns. This 6T's graphic was a staple of my childhood. I grew up a few blocks aways from this Caspers on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland and went to nursery school down the street. I'm g...

I sat down with the amazing and talented surf guitar legend Johnny Bartlett a few weeks ago. We had a chance to talk about a band called Wig Torture I had blogged about last year. Johnny told me all about the conception of the band and allowed me a peek into his man cave. It is with great pleasure that I am able to round out the history of a great local Bay Area band and present to you the following interview with one of the nicest guys I know, Mr. Johnny Bartlett. "It's the wig torture!" Julie Green April 9, 2016 Soon after me and Dale started the band, Phil said “Hey I’ll play drums because my brother has a set of drums”, his brother is the drummer of The Mermen. Dale said “I’ll play bass because that only has four strings”. And that left me with guitar, so we all learned our instruments and then we met (thee) Michael Lucas. Phils’s brother was playing drums in Michael’s band “Mal”, which I later joined and am on the 2 nd album, which came o...

Music transcends all. I've always been very open to experiencing different types of music. There is always something that catches my ear, something I can relate with.  So when I heard that my friend Jake Hout was singing with the legendary Deathrockers  Altar De Fey , I couldn't wait to see how the darker side of the musical spectrum would wash over me. The lineup that night at The Stork Club in Oakland was a fantastic introduction for me into the midnight hues of this genre which I found in the experimental shavings of " Spirit Before A Fall ", the phantasmagorical duo "V.E.X" ( Ventriloquist Ectoplasmold Xanaxax ), the mythical line up of the legendary Goddess and Gods found in " The Gitane Demone Quartet " and San Francisco's own dark matter, "Altar De Fey". Newly reformed after having been part of the burgeoning Deathrock scene in SF back in the early 80's, Altar De Fey sounded powerful and brooding. I couldn'...