Bob Dylan said Hi to me once

Here are three new sets of drawings.

Also, the free zine contest announced last week is still going on. There is still time to participate, but it's running out. Any drawings that arrive in The Famous Hairdos P.O. Box postmarked between September 21 and October 1, 2010 will be eligible, so get drawing. The fifth envelope receives a free copy of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music Volume Five.

Once again, Madison residents should mark their calendars for the Madison Zine Fest on October 2. It's now just under a week away. You can say hi, make a drawing in person or buy books at discount prices. I just bought some new pens for any prospective drawers to use. They're really nice (the pens and the drawers). Then, check back here to see your rendition of Loretta Lynn's hair immortalized on the Internet.

Thanks as always!

Just in time for the onset of autumn here in Milwaukee, this postcard rendition of Jimmy Page’s famous hairdo apparently depicts the time that he went as Adam Ant for Halloween.

The artist of this postcard suggested I check out her blog at elizabethemer.blogspot.com. Maybe you should, too. Thanks, Elizabeth.

Free Zine Contest

In celebration of the still-new fifth volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music and the upcoming Madison Zine Fest on Saturday, October 2nd (where we shall be sitting behind a table), it was hastily decided while taking the dog for a brisk walk that a contest is in order. The contents of The Famous Hairdos, for those not in the know, is entirely generated by generous friends and strangers. The often anonymous drawings are based on black and white images of famous musicians’ hairdos, printed on sheets of paper or postcards with the exhortation “Complete the drawing.” It is an admittedly silly project, yet also one that I am still very excited about. The project is a celebration of the creativity of so-called average people making sometimes silly, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes profane drawings as gentle graffiti on top of artifacts of celebrity culture. As such, the project becomes more fun the more people contribute. Remember: despite their similarities, Sparks was a far, far superior band to Rush, because Sparks knew that they were silly. Mull that over, and then read the details of the contest below.

THE CONTEST:

The rules of the contest are simple. The blank hairdo templates can be found at the Hairdo Templates link at the top right of this page. Simply view the image of your choosing at full size and print off a copy. Follow the directions and complete the drawing. Find an envelope and a stamp, and take the whole parcel to your mailbox or local post office. The fifth drawing (in honor of the fifth volume) to appear in The Famous Hairdos P.O. Box from the lower 48 states between today (September 21, 2010) and the Friday before the Madison Zine Fest (October 1, 2010) will receive a complimentary copy of the newest book in the mail. As always, the drawings will be showcased here and the winner will be announced as well. Good luck to all.

In other news, if contests are not your thing but you live in Madison, please stop by the College Library on the 2nd and say hello. We are the Andrew W.K. of partying. It promises to be fun.

The Children Are Our Future

Tons of great drawings by local middle school students. Check them out, and then stick around to read a message to these cool kids and their teacher, Tom, who has been a big supporter of the Famous Hairdos of Popular Music from the start. Thanks for looking.



































These drawings (and many that have appeared here before) were facilitated by my friend Tom. In addition to being a super stand-up guy, he is an art teacher in the Milwaukee area and is thus afforded a captive audience with No. 2 pencils who are supposed to listen to his instructions. And sometimes he instructs his students to fill out these sheets after a lesson. From time to time, I meet Tom for a pot of tea and leave with a fresh stack of drawings done by his students. He has been deservedly thanked in every volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music to date, and now I want to thank him here as well. Thanks, Tom, and congratulations on your recent engagement.

All of the above drawings were done by summer school students at Wisconsin Hills Middle School in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Biggest thanks go out to them and all the other kids who have drawn in the past.

In this batch, there is one drawing of Jimmy Page's hair devouring Pac-Man and in another drawing a figure sporting Loretta Lynn's hair as a massive moustache comments that his "mustach (sic) way's (sic) a ton," an apparent reference to Public Enemy's 1987 "Miuzi (sic) Weighs a Ton." What I want to know is how middle school students in 2010 are so hip to 1980s popular culture? Furthermore, anyone who ever finds him or herself compelled to utter any portentous proclamations about "kids these days" can take solace in the evidence here: that kids today are clever, funny, and are pretty into animals and fire-breathing monsters. This seems about right to me. And at least one kid thinks that road kill is as funny a punch line as I once did, so if anyone thinks that this might show an alarmingly morbid sense of humor, there is also the possibility that this student might end up a vegan who hates to drive cars. Sometimes humor is the best way to show empathy.

I hope you enjoy these drawings as much as I do.

In other news, the fifth volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music can now be ordered online from Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago, which has sold all five volumes on consignment. If you want to get your hands on a copy and support this project and support an awesome bookstore in the process, this might be the most efficient way to go. Check the listing out right here and browse some of their other wares in the process.

The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music: Volume Five

The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music

Volume Five: Prince

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16 drawings photocopied, folded and staple-bound in a numbered edition of 75. Covers are 100 lb. French Paper . Each copy comes with four postcards for you to cherish or, better yet, draw on, mail back and keep this project going.

The price remains:

$3 postage paid in the contiguous US

P.O. Box 11872, Milwaukee, WI 53211