Parts & Labor, The Church

So, there's a new DIY show space in Cleveland called The Church. We've had shows every night this week so far, it's been pretty off the hook. This is my first flyer for the space. I'm glad it's for Parts & Labor.

This flyer is my subversive attempt to start getting more cute girls to go to shows. I mean, I'm fairly certain anything with kitties and puppies involved, girls just can't NOT be interested.

Disfear, Knife Crazy, Blondsai!

I'm really excited for this DISFEAR show. You can download some wicked MP3s at Relapse Records' site, relapse.com. Misery Index also has some MP3s up there, which, they're almost too brutal for my tastes. They have a great name though. Then, Nine Shocks is Nine Shocks, which I guess is back in full force and playing a shit load of shows again. I went out to The Jigaw on Friday to catch Ringworm at like, 1 am. The place was packed. Metal dudes and females wearing all black as far as the eye could see. I hadn't seen that many skulls and swords, and illegible logos in one place since High on Fire played the Grog. The Jigsaw is well suited for that type of crowd. Which is why I can't wait to see Disfear tear it down. If you're on Myspace, add The Jigaw!



Saturday I caught Tall Pines, Meredith Bragg and The Terminals from DC, and Machine Go Boom at Moe's. I only go to see Tall Pines' last song because I got there so late, but goddamn, they're so good. I liked Meredith Bragg too. If you're into folky accoustic low key typa shit, check 'em out. Their keyboardist was wearing a pretty awesome Dungeons & Dragons shirt. Machine Go Boom was awesome, really a great show. Like, the crowd just wouldn't let them stop, which, any other band I'd be annoyed as fuck. I'm a big fan of "Less is More". Machine Go Boom? I didn't mind. There was however, the thing that drives me up a fucking wall going on during their set. Dumb Motherfucker with a tiny digital camera taking picture after fucking picture like it's goddamn fucking private show throughout the entire set. Goddamn, I can't stand it. This kid was INCHES away from the band, in front of the crowd, THE ENTIRE SET. I mean, on the one hand there was only ONE Dumb Motherfucker, I've been at shows with like, SIX of them Dumb Motherfuckers. Still, FUCK THEM. If you're name's not Lou Muenz or Keith Marlowe, PUT THE FUCKING CAMERA AWAY. It was a great show though, and I had a great time. If you're on Myspace, add Moe's Bar!



Blondsai, is from Baltimore. I know Sal, the beautiful and talented bassist from back in the day. I kinda fucked up the name of the band Chelsea Graveyard and The Screams at Midnight, which, I thought it was two seperate bands. So when I dropped the word "the" from "The Screams at Midnight", it worked out to look like "Chelsea Graveyard Screams at Midnight". I didn't recognize the mistake until after I had sent it to Sal from Blondsai. Which, y'know what? Blondsai paid for the flyer, so as long as they're happy with it... I don't care what anybody else thinks. I drew this flyer based on French Romantic Painter Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty Leading The People" painting from 1830, which commemorates the July Revolution. I took a few, um... well, liberties.

Neptune, Murder, Motorhead, Free Times

I didn't get to SEE Neptune play at The Black Eye here in Cleveland what must be a few years ago now, but I think I HEARD it. I'm sure I was there, in the kitchen, hanging out till 5 in the morning. The band played at 4. That entire time and place is almost one long blur now, with very few stand out moments solidified in my memeory. I never actually went down in the basement where the bands played because it would have been impossible to get down there, and even if achieved, scary as fuck to get back out. The kitchen was where all the action was anyway.

Self Destruct Button is fucking amazing. I say this after them having not played a show since last September. They played one of my favorite shows of all last year in the alley between buildings at The Compound. There's a video of it that Cleveland Photographer Lou Muenz took on their myspace page.

Jerk is cool.



While I was working on these two flyers for the Jigsaw, I came to the conclusion that I actually KNOW how to draw. I think the illustrations for these came out awesome, though honestly, I'm getting lkind of tired by the "hot girl holding a gun" drawings, which, maybe that's why I made this one a ROBOT. Anyway, Motorhead USA is I think that band Boulder playing Motöhead songs. I could be wrong, I didn't actually ask Dave when he asked me to do this flyer. Speaking of Motörhead though, I watched Motörhead: Ace of Spades, a documentary about Motörhead and their record, Ace of Spades. It's fucking awesome. It's like, it's kinda like Spinal Tap, only real. It's seriously funny for a lot of reasons, not all of them intentional. There's this segment of like, Slash and the band's roadies talking about how madly deep Lemmy's lyrics are. Motörhead is so fun and likable that it's hard not to love their music after watching this. I've never been a Motöhead fan before, never really got it. Now I'm like: "Oooohhh, shit".



The Murder Junkies is GG Allen's band, with Jeff Clayton of Antiseen. This show should be awesome. I'm really happy with how this flyer came out. I'm not so sure on the textwork, but I think I nailed that Stormtrooper walking on piles of skulls. I've been out to the Jigsaw a bunch recently. the thing that always makes me happy is that the shows start kind of late, so you can show up at 12 or 1am and STILL get to see the bands you wanted to, because they haven't even played yet. Saw this great band called Foreign Islands that my dude Keith Marlow brought through town. Then Roué tore it down on April 1.

Also, if you're in Northeast Ohio, I have 5 pages of a Skullface Story I wrote and drew with Andy MacDonald in an comic book art show at the Cafe/Gallery Bela Duddy in Lakewood. It's not a horrible show, as Derf also has some cool comics art up. Their address is 13321 Madison. The show will be up all month.



For anybody paying attention, I've been doing a lot of art for the Free Times. I drew the cover two weeks ago, and drew a bunch of spot illustrations for the cover story. The column is called The Joint and is written by a man serving time in an Ohio prison for a violent crime. Here's the story, I'll look for a link to the earlier one, I just did a spot illustration for, and try and see if I can post the images. It's going to be a regular column, which I'll get to do art for consistently. Here's a much bigger version of the cover art.

Blood

Red spot color on an otherwise black and white piece. I love the way that looks, especially with it being Skullface with a sword walking through a river of blood. I'm still getting used to coloring in Photoshop CS. I like it a lot, especially with the wacom tablet. There are certainly a lot of ins and outs that I need to learn. I can tell there are about a million faster and easier ways to execute the things that I'm trying to do. It's one of those things that I just need to work out.

The Terminal Tower has a big scafolding on the top of it right now. I think it looks like a winter hat, or a giant beer cozy or something. I left that out of this drawing. I also added a bunch of buildings that either arn't there or don't look anything like that. I love downtown, but sometimes that place drives me crazy. Funny thing about downtown is that somehow I am exempt from bums panhandling at me. I think maybe they think I'm a bum too. Can't say they're exactly wrong.

I haven't slept in a while. Gotta go do that.

Fuck Saint Patrick

I'm not the biggest fan of St. Patrick's day. In fact, I kinda hate it. As I sit here trying to come up with some words on the subject, I realize I don't really have much to say about it either. Let's have a parade.

I like Medusa though. I think I'm eventually gonna color this and offer a print. I'm up to my eye balls in drawing right now though, so that won't happen for at least a week. I wish I could organize myself better so as to maximize the efficiency of my time more. I had a couple weeks of down time and instead of accomplishing much, I just hung out and went to shows. Speaking of which, Aa from Brooklyn, NY on Saturday night at The Inside/Outside Gallery was fucking amazing. Then Bloodyminded was increible last night, also at Inside/Outside. I felt like I fell into a Grant Morrison comic. I got a copy of their latest release, Magnetism, but I haven't listened to it yet. There was a full moon last night, wolves about. Stay Tuned.

Bloodyminded

Uh, hey look, it's another flyer. Lately, I have been beating my head against the wall creatively. I have no idea what it is, but I'm totally in an idea dry-spell. I have all this unfinished business, and no job, and I'm kinda freaking out because I can't sleep.

Bloodyminded is from Chicago, and this promises to be a pretty wicked show. I just saw one of the best performances of the year so far at Inside/Outside. Evolution Revolution was pretty amazing. I went in not knowing exactly what to expect, and was surprised as hell. They have a great presence, hightened by the singer/guitarist in full wolf costume. Their songs are pop as hell, but really really good and fun. It was so refreshing and inspiring to see, which may have been compounded by the fact that there were maybe 15 other people there. Most of which were in the other bands that played. They have a fifty-some page book with a five song CD available for $10. It's a collection of drawings and poetry and such. I highly recommend it, getting in touch with them through their MySpace page is probably your best bet.

Brooklyn Show

This is another flyer for Wasco. I wasn't too confident with this at first. I love doing comics style shit, and trying to make that work for flyers, but I was afraid the text was just a little too small and really... illegible for the purpose of a flyer that's supposed to be promoting a show. Then I thought about it and about how, well I don't personally KNOW any of these bands (except Scarcity of Tanks), but as far as I can tell these bands aren't rock start types. I don't think they're gonna be insulted by not having their names in big bold letters with bells and whistles and neon lights and shit. This flyer doesn't exist so much to SELL the idea of going to the show so much as to INFORM the audience of the show's existence. I think. I think it's more of a cool looking memo than a promotional material. So, yeah, I printed out the text, shrank it down to 50%, then blew that up tp 200% to give it that busted crusty feel. Then cut it out and cemented it onto the artwork itself. It's refreshing to do that shit after doing so much stuff where the text is all digital and the original art isn't a flyer, but just the illustration.

The band that I wish I were seeing play is Child Abuse. I hope they come through Cleveland soon, the MP3s up on thier Myspace page are fucking amazing. If you're anywhere near Brooklyn, I highly suggest going to this show. Hey, here's another link: Glassshouse Gallery!

Samurai Champloo

Mugan is an undisciplined, unpredictable, and seemingly unstoppable manic swordsman on the lookout for somebody, anybody, who can challenge is wild style of erratic hack and slash fighting. Jin is a mature and schooled ronin, trained in the martial arts, and seemingly invincible, wandering the country also searching for a worthy opponent. The two coincidentally meet in a fiery conflict at the heart of a burning teahouse, they are thrown into a power struggle that leads to them being captured by a greedy corrupt governor. Heads on the chopping block, and still defiant, the pair are rescued by the efforts of Fuu, a teenage girl who worked at the aforementioned teahouse, who literally explodes to the rescue and assists their escape. The young girl then gambles on a coin toss to see if the two samurai will resume their duel, or accompany her on her quest to find the mysterious Samurai Who Smells of Sunflowers. She wins and the adventures begin.



There are 26 episodes of Samurai Champloo. The unlikely trio travels from Edo to Nagasaki, and along the way spend a lot of time distracted and involved in many adventures with as many unique and brilliantly designed characters. I like how the majority of the show, the story revolves around how hungry the main characters are, and that the catalyst of a lot of the conflicts they find themselves in is that they were just trying to find food, or make enough money to eat. Thematically, it’s a great device. The fundamental aspect of just basic survival that permeates this epic set in a world of changing times. There is a lot of good solid character building, as every now and then an episode will reveal just enough of a character’s past to placate even the most hard nosed critic, and add to the familiarity of the three as they travel with and learn to depend on each other. There are a couple episodes that revolve around just one of the main characters, which helps to develop the plot through their own perspective and adds to the overall density of the world this piece is about. Then, there are just good old fun episodes that have a fairly self-contained story presented and realized that often exhibits and examines some specific piece of culture that is unique to that time and place. There is an episode about a Baseball game that was pretty funny, and an episode about a group of secret monks that had a giant pot field that Mugen set on fire, and everybody got high. There are even episodes that have elements that revolve around specific aspects of hip hop culture that is completely unrealistic, but still amazingly fun. For instance Mugen’s style of fighting had a lot of break dance moves, or there was an episode about graffiti writers in this one province. This series barrowed heavily from modern hip hop, and it’s core ideals.

The thing about Samurai Champloo that makes it so amazing isn’t necessarily the amalgamation of hip hop elements and Edo Era Japanese culture revolving around Samurai, but that these ideas, among many others, serve as ultra-cool decoration and dressing for a deeper, more philosophical journey story that follows three unique and enthralling characters as they search for, and ultimately find, what they’ve always lacked: friends.

EVOLUTION REVOLUTION

EVOLUTION REVOLUTION from Troy, NY apparently puts on a show involving maybe animals playing groove laden dance music. They're playing at the Inside Outside Gallery here in Cleveland on Thursday March 9th at 7pm, it's an early show because the Gallery isn't soundproofed and there are babies trying to sleep at night. Check out this wicked weird video of them. Dude named Wasco set this up. Wasco is one of those soldiers that has been in the trenches longer than most and has mastered many valuable combat skill. His House is Slow Toe, which puts out records and publishes poetry, throws down magnafied reflections of America through Cleveland. I like that motherfucker. I keep meaning to ask him to collaborate on some zine type shit, but I always forget. Someday our creative paths will collide. The Inside Outside is really the best thing going in Cleveland right now, especially for completely DIY live music. It's young and smart and fun and comfortable. My band, Wheelchair RIOT, will be playing there on May 20th with Wasco's band Scarcity of Tanks. Pengo from Rochester and Lambsbread from Delaware, OH are also playing. It's a saturday night, so wear your fancy shoes. I've got a really phatt sketch dump to post, but i'm still writing all the words that go with it. Check back DAILY.

EARLY MAN/THE SWORD OF DOOM

Early Man is Metal as all hell. I don't really know much about them, but i'm pretty sure they're from NYC. The band that I really want to see is The Sword. their website is www.swordofdoom.com, which also happens to be the name of a really fucking good Samurai movie from 1966. The Sword of Doom is about this sociopath samurai that has no honor and kills using an unorthodox technique. I'll spare you the plot, as it is long and has many threads, but the gist of it is that this Samurai with no honor, also loses his mind. This film has some seriously amazing sword fights, both intense as all hell, and exciting. There's a steady cam sequence where the villain walks down a forest path and slays about 30 adversaries. There's also a bad ass sequence where Toshiro Mifune chops apart maybe as many assassins in a snow storm. SPOILER WARNING: In the end he goes completely insane, surrounded by the ghosts of all of his victims, he attempts to kill them with his sword but ends up having to battle a group of assassins he himself was associated with. That's pretty much where I got the idea for this flyer.SPOILER WARNING OVER. It's really quite a remarkable movie. I have no idea if that is where the band got their name, but it will be interesting to find out when the play here.

Beef Dealers

I don't really know much about any of these bands, except The Subtones, who... is it my imagination or do they play like, every week? Anyway, I liked not knowing the bands because I like not having any preconceived stylistic leanings going into this flyer. Sometimes if I know a band is a metal band, or a hardcore band I’ll get the urge to do something genre specific, or on the other hand try and do something completely opposite from what anybody would expect from a flyer for that particular band. Either way, the art is influenced by the genre of the bands playing, which isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s just something I consider. The one thing I definitely did not want to do was anything having to do with “beef” as in “meat” or “cows”. Doing a literal graphic for a band has a time and place, but it usually just exemplifies a complete and total lack of any creativity or imagination on behalf of the artist. I’ve been guilty of it in the past, but at this stage in my “career”, if I’m going to reference a word from a band’s name, it had better be funny as hell.

I just decided to run with a visual image I've had in mind for a long time. I wanted to use this for a Skullface thing, but I think this works a lot better. I had this idea for a guy sitting on a pile of bodies with a machine gun propped on his shoulder and straps of bullets hanging all over him. I didn't really even intend to make it an insurgent type guy until I had roughed it out, and it just sort of became that. It was only after the fact, after I was done with the final art, that I realized in a certain context this could apply to the term “beef”, as in “conflict” or “a grudge”. What could possibly be a more profound statement than art depicting the current beef in the Middle East, and more specifically, in Iraq? On a more general scope, the conflict between The Western World and The Middle East? I highly doubt The Beef Dealers, as a band, had this in mind when they named themselves, and I really didn’t derive this meaning from their name to come up with this piece, but it is kind of universal, I suppose.

Night Jaunts #3

Unprovoked, a copy of Night Jaunts #3 showed up in my mailbox. I love when that kinda shit happens. The zine is a collection of short pieces from a range of authors from all over the place but mostly from the American Northwest. Which makes sense being that the publisher is apparently in Eugene, Oregon. Night Jaunts starts off with a handful of pages about skateboarding and stone vengeful thievery. I’m assuming the publisher wrote these because there is no credit with the title. Then there is a short piece by my dude Danny, who moved out to Seattle. It’s about some familiar haunts and beer at state minimum. Of the others there’s a piece about adventures on the day Wesley Willis died, and this entertaining short about the author, Burke, ending up having to get a tetanus shot on his 22nd birthday. The other stories revolve around introspective walking, alone, at night. Night Jaunts.

To order this zine, which I recommend you do, send $2 to PO Box 5841 Eugene, OR 97405 or email mishapzine at yahoo dot com



I’d also like to mention that my latest zine, The Caveman Diaries #3 is available. It’s $5 plus postage because it’s over 40 pages of flyer art, xerox art, sketches, ramblings, bullshit, more art, and a full nasty color centerfold.


I've created a Paypal button, so if you want to pay via paypal, you can just click on it. It will add $1.50 for shipping though, so be ready with the $6.50... Yeah, expensive, but most people will charge more than that for shipping, and I'll send this shit anywhere on Earth. Sorry Martians. If you would like to send me a check or money order (payeble to John Greiner) or well concealed cash, please mail it to John G 373 Lear #52 Avon Lake, OH 44012.

Hook Boy

Mike Uva is a song writing mastermind. He traded his CD "Where have you been?" to me for a copy of my latest zine at the time, last summer. I ripped him off like the Hamburglar screamin out "Robble Robble 'n Shit". It was such an unfair trade. "Where have you been?" is a really well done tracks of folksy, at times pop, rock songs that range from the paths of Dinosaurs to Floridian exploits involving skin care products. I like it a lot, and feel kinda guilty all he got was a zine full of my bullshit. Do yourself a favor and head over to Mike's label's website: Collectible Escalators. They got MP3s n' shit. You can even ORDER THE CD.

I've been jonesin' for some crime noir lately. I even ordered a used copy of Bendis' GOLDFISH Graphic Novel off Amazon. I swear it's the sixth copy of that book I've bought. I keep loaning it out to people and never getting it back. I also started down the slippery slope of addiction to the HBO original series The Wire DVDs. I dunno how noir it is necessarily, but it's got s shit load of crime. I guess that's where this flyer's idea came from, that NEED for something dark and shady.

John G

Giant Robot Rations

I have no idea who October Guard is, but K Ration is made up of some pretty good dudes. I've missed all their shows, but I hope to make it out to this. I wanted to do a graphic of a giant robot wrecking some shit, or protectively holding a kid it one hand while fighting off a giant pterodactyl with the other, but my ambition got the better of me and I opted for a straight forward upper body image of a battered warrior. This week I had the anime series Giant Robo playing while I worked on stuff and it kind of inspired this. I'm not sure when it was made, but from what I can gather it is pretty much a rip off of the live action 60's show Johnny Sokko. Someday I'd really like to take this character for a spin in a one shot comic or extended graphic novel. Maybe I'll try and work a short into the next Wheelchair RIOT zine.

Thanks,
John G

One Night, Two Shows

Another Jigsaw flyer. B.A. Baracus is from Columbus, I should of put that on this flyer, but I forgot. This show is this Saturday. I have no idea who the other bands are. I wish I could have gotten this done faster, but I just didn't have a lot of time. I kinda rushed it, but on the other hard ... I did try to crap out the artwork real fast, and that didn't work. I looked at the less than stellar drawing and it made me wince. So I redrew the thing and invested a little bit mor time and I think it shows. Still... less than a week before the show... that's not good.



Speaking of... here's a second flyer I did for this Saturday with less than a week to go. I was going for a "Blaxploitation" look, and then realized I was drawing this on, y'know, MLK Day... which then made it kinda even funnier. I don't think I nailed it, that "collage of graphic elements" look I was going for, but I feel like it's in that ballpark at least. I'm going to probably dedo the lettering when I get the chance. This show should be pretty awesome. Tall Pines is maybe the most unique band in Cleveland right now. JJ Magazine is sweet because they wear suits.

John G

Pet Monster, Kill the Fall

Another flyer for a show on the same night. I saw Pet Monster play with Tall Pines on Tuesday night, and they were pretty good. I wasn't into them at first, but Hannah convinced me after we watched them for a few minutes. They covered "Chinese Rock". I think Pet Monster is the type of band that will get better and better as they play more shows. I like Kill The Fall too, and the Jigsaw is always a pretty sweet place to see bands play. Still, I don't think I'll be going to this show. In an effort to get some comics done, I'm desperately trying to stay home and draw instead of go out all the time. So far it's not working. We'll see what happens. I've got a ton of flyers to do also, so stay tuned for more.

Thanks,
John G

The Cold Cold Hearts

Not really sure who these bands are. I think they're all local. The Cold Cold Hearts has members from Quasi Modo and Satan's Satellites. The character is Heath from the comic Fear Agent, published by Image Comics. Fear Agent is written by Rick Remender and drawn by Tony Moore. It's a sci-fi adventure series reminiscent of the 50's pulps. I highly recommend it.

welcome, sons of bitches

Hey, get ready for sketches! Maybe even comics!