From the Mail

Here's an incredible Elvis drawing completed for the Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project. I retrieved it from the Famous Hairdos PO Box last week but with the pumpkin pie haze of Thanksgiving only now lifting am I getting around to posting this most worthy drawing. Thanks for the mail, Paige! Stay awesome.

Chairs of the Uppper Midwest

The latest project from Lemon o Books, Chairs of the Upper Midwest. Visit lemonobooks.com for photos and info on obtaining a copy. This is a fun one!

Drawings From The Milwaukee Zine Fest 2012

The fifth annual Milwaukee Zine Fest was held on Saturday, and I was in attendance representing Lemon o Books and soliciting drawings for the Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project. Thanks to the festival's organizers, everyone who attended, and deep thanks as always to anyone who has ever made a drawing for this project.

Here's the day's doodles, starting with a bevy of Madonnas:

I think I was told that this is supposed to be Rick Moranis. By Jason Ludtke.





The above drawing was done by a man standing and holding a small child. It's both a horse and a human face and should appear in psychology textbooks for generations to come.

The next one was done by the small child mentioned above.



The above postcard was signed on the back by Shane Matthias. Thanks, Shane!



I had a great day once again at The Milwaukee Zine Fest. Thanks again for the drawings, everybody, and until next time, thanks for looking!

Twin Cities Zine Fest 2012

Above: The view from the parquet, Twin Cities Zine Fest

On Saturday September 22nd, Lemon o Books made the trek from Milwaukee to Minneapolis for the Twin Cities Zine Fest, held at the Powderhorn Recreation Center in beautiful Powderhorn Park. Personally, this amazing event was also the public unveiling of the newest project from Lemon o Books: Real Fake Clouds. I had a great day, met some great folks, and traded and sold some books. I also received the great drawings below for the Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project.

Thanks to the festival's organizers, exhibitors, attendees, and thanks as always to anyone who has ever submitted a drawing. Thanks for looking!

Real Fake Clouds

Real Fake Clouds
______________________________

The third title in Lemon o Books' Field Guide series!  Real Fake Clouds is a short booklet and two track CD. The project abstractly examines clouds, those ever-morphing agglomerations of suspended water and chemicals that travel through the sky. We tried and (by design) failed to pin down these transitory atmospheric phenomena in print and sound.

The CD features the work of Milwaukee noise duo Druome and Portland's Daniel Menche. The former offer an instrumental recreation of weather, progressing from tranquil to stormy, and the latter submitted what sounds like a lengthy field recording following a similar trajectory. Together with the accompanying booklet, these works represent different approaches to the quixotic task of representing (in ink or audio) inherently ephemeral and changeable clouds. Thanks to both Druome and Daniel Menche for their contributions.

Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of Real Fake Clouds can mail $5 well concealed cash to:

Lemon o Books
P.O. Box 11872
Milwaukee, WI 53211

Shipping costs are included in the price for anyone living in the contiguous United States. International friends should email for more information.

More photos are available at lemonobooks.com. Thanks for looking!

From the Mail

Below are some incredible drawings found today in the Famous Hairdos of Popular Music P.O. Box. These Swamp Thing-looking portraits were anonymously sent from Carol Stream, IL. Thanks to the drawer for creating them and sending them in! Below each drawing, I've included the note that was written on the verso of each postcard.


"MOMMY."


"G.L.O.R.I.A.
 L.
 O.
 R.
 I.
 A."


"SNIFF IT."


"ANOTHER CHUNK OF BURNING LOVE."

Thanks as always to all past and future drawers for making this project real.

Haircuts: News in Brief

Above: The second haircut of 2012

Here's a rundown of a couple places around the Internet that have graced Lemon o Books with press and a few places that are selling our projects on consignment.

Press:

Fine Line is a beautiful international fine arts magazine based right here in Milwaukee. Check out what they had to say about Actual Bird Song and Our Moon here.

For Print Only is a blog featuring all manner of printed material, and they highlighted the most recent volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music here.

Sales:

Printed Matter is the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of publications made by artists. They're now selling both Actual Bird Song and Our Moon online here and here.

I was approached by the folks at Colpa Press in San Francisco for copies of Our Moon. They are utilizing an old newsstand on Market Street to sell magazines and newspapers, but also independently printed books.  Visit their website here.

Finally, Quimby's bookstore in Chicago is once again selling our books. Here's their listing for Volume Seven of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music.

Thanks to all the great people who have supported these projects. Stay tuned here for Lemon o news and Famous Hairdos drawings. Thanks for looking! If you wish to order any of these projects directly from us, please see the ordering info at lemonobooks.com.

From The Mail

Here are some great new drawings from Houston, Texas for The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project . Thanks as always to all the contributors!

Famous Hairdos of Popular Music: Volume Seven

The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music
Volume Seven: Loretta Lynn
 ______________________________

It's been over a year since Volume Six, but it's been a busy year. I made a couple books that had nothing to do with hair (they were all about bird song and the moon), and now I've returned to The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project a better book designer. The last volume contained 28 great drawings, but that record just got shattered. This book has 35. And this project is all about the drawings.

Since 2008, The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project has collected drawings by hundreds of individuals- friends and strangers alike- based on the iconic hairdos of famous musicians. This is the seventh collection of drawings, disguised as a celebration of Loretta Lynn’s hair, but this book, and every volume before it, is about the many people who drew. Volume Seven features 35 great drawings spread over 32 pages in a numbered edition of 80 books. Drawings by kids and drawings by adults, the images range from silly to respectful to abstract. Each copy is mailed with four postcards for you to cherish or, better yet, draw on, mail back and keep this project going.

$3 postage paid in the contiguous US

P.O. Box 11872, Milwaukee, WI 5321

Thanks for looking! Check out more images here: lemonobooks.com

From the Mail

I received this great, funny rendition of The Material Girl in The Famous Hairdos P.O. Box today. It arrived in a wonderful package from Michigan sent by Mr. Ron DelVillano. The package also included four of his books of comics, including three issues of his series Usual Tapes. The books are handmade but also very spare and controlled, achieving a really nice balance. They're billed as "pieces of memoir and other things", and while I'm not usually drawn to memoir, as the series progresses he seems more and more willing to experiment, with nice results. Thanks, Ron.

Ron will be one of the first people to receive a copy of the next volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music, which should be done by the end of this week. Check back here very soon for more information about this newest book.

What It Is Right Now

The newspaper clipping above was kindly given to me by a friend a few years ago. I planned to include it in a volume of the Famous Hairdos of Popular Music, the series of sporadically published booklets that document this project. That book was going to be dedicated to drawings inspired by Dusty Springfield’s imposing coif, but that book has yet to be made, so I’m sharing it here today.

For those new to this project, I feel that this curious artifact is emblematic of my goals for The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music. That’s an odd thing to write considering that relinquishing my own artistic goals was one of my hopes when I started this endeavor almost four years ago. I hoped to create a forum for the personal expression of anyone kind enough to contribute, inviting them to inscribe their peculiar visions on artifacts of popular culture. I wanted to see what, if anything, would happen.  Judging by the hundreds of great and varied drawings which have been showcased on this blog and in six small books, I feel that I’ve succeeded. A seventh volume, dedicated to drawings inspired by Loretta Lynn’s hairdo, will be available very soon. Additionally, nearly all the drawings received so far can be viewed on this blog.


Above: The most recent hairdo template

By reducing celebrities to abstract shapes, I hope to create a place where people feel free to play. I’m not interested in a celebration of celebrities. I hope to celebrate noncelebrities drawing wonderful pictures.

Someone attending the first annual Chicago Zine Fest, leafing through the second volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music, which was dedicated to drawings inspired by Diana Ross’ hairdo, informed me in conspiratorial tones, “She would hate this.” He said this in a way that left no doubt that he possessed special knowledge of Ms. Ross’ tastes and likelihood for personal affront. Needless to say, I was flattered, though insulting the nominal subjects of my books has never been my intent. Simply put, the actual subject of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music is all the people— friends, strangers, kids, adults— who have made drawings.  So the newspaper clipping at the top of this post is both a reminder of why celebrities are often so horrifically captivating and a reminder that it’s probably best to keep them in perspective.

The name of this project is ironically intended to imply definitiveness, in the same way that a bound set of encyclopedias once presented itself as a compendium of all human knowledge. 2012 will be the first time in 244 years that The Encyclopedia Britannica will not publish a printed edition. This has been chalked up to another sign of changing times—the online edition will continue to exist—but it is really an admission of the actual diversity, diffuseness, and breadth of human knowledge and experience, subjects that no book, not even in 32 volumes, could hope to dent. A cursory glance at The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music should show the irony in its title. It is not an exhaustive study of celebrity hair. What I hope this project does achieve is to offer a glimpse at the creativity, thoughtfulness, and generosity of humans. I am still having fun with this project, and I hope you do too. Check back soon for new drawings and information about the latest volume.

Deepest thanks as always to anyone who has ever drawn for me.  Consider printing the hairdo template above and mailing your completed drawings to keep this project going.

Haircuts: News in Brief

Above: The first haircut of 2012

Fresh from a trip to The Chicago Zine Fest, as a weirdly warm winter turns into a suspiciously summery spring here in Milwaukee, layout has begun on the long-promised seventh volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music. Volume Six was more jam-packed than any previous volume in the series, and Volume Seven is going to have even more of the great drawings that comprise this project. This one will be dedicated to all the beautiful, weird, profane, silly, sweet renditions of Loretta Lynn that our contributors have created. Stay tuned for more information.

Meanwhile, if you haven't already done so, please check out the new Lemon o Books website, which collects all our freshest completed projects in one tidy place. Lemonobooks.com

Drawings from The Chicago Zine Fest

"Milwaukee is to Chicago as the Moon is to the Earth-- nearby, lifeless, and ultimately inhospitable." Steven Blush, American Hardcore: A Tribal History

Above: Returning from The Chicago Zine Fest by train.

This weekend I traveled from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois to debut a new zine and CD inspired by the moon at the third annual Chicago Zine Fest. As in the last two years, it was a blast, a welcoming, well-organized, inclusive festival, but I'm glad to be home. Thanks as always to the organizers, attendees, and my fellow exhibitors. Thanks to the staff at Quimby's Bookstore in Wicker Park, and big thanks to Jeff Prokash and his roommates for the couch to crash on and some much needed post-festival unwind time.

Below are some of the great drawings I collected for the Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project on Saturday. Heartfelt thanks go out to the drawers who make this project real. When I started The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music four years ago, I dreamed that I would get submissions as great as these, but I am continually thankful that my dream has come true. Finally, to Ron, I decided your drawing was a little too saucy for this website, but thank you nonetheless. Without further ado, the drawings:



The artist who created the above portrait said, on handing me the completed drawing, "Happy Danzig." When I said thank you, I should have added, "And Happy Danzig to you, too." I apologize for my rudeness.







Until next time, thanks for looking.

New Website

Lemon o Books, the publisher and instigator of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music, now has its own home on the Internet. Lemonobooks.com will feature individual pages dedicated to the newest Lemon o publications, hair-related and otherwise, collecting them all in one tidy place with the least possible fuss and distraction.

This website (the one you're reading right now) will continue to chronicle the ongoing Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project and will continue to fulfill your Lemon o news needs.

Come check out my new place.

Our Moon

New from Lemon o Books!

With one week until the third annual Chicago Zine Fest on March 10, Lemon o Books is pleased to announce its newest publication, a short booklet and CD entitled Our Moon.

Following hot on the heels of Actual Bird Song last October, Our Moon is the second in a series of art booklets masquerading as field guides. It once again comes packaged with a CD focused on the same theme. Actual Bird Song dealt with all things avian, but for Our Moon we've turned our gaze even further skyward to contemplate the moon.

The CD features four tracks, the first of which is a heartbreaking, fifteen-minute piece by Adam Krause and Marielle Allschwang featuring guitar, violin and crackly snatches of ham radio conversation intercepted by walkie talkie. This might be the song that was in Michael Collins' head on the far side of the moon. The remaining tracks on the CD were recorded by Gen Ken Montgomery in New York City. His suite of three tracks commences with collaged audio from the Appollo 11 mission and ends, twenty minutes later, with a joyful section that reminds me of The Residents at their most beautiful. It's a great listening experience, and, really, the whole cross-country collaboration hangs together beautifully. I'm proud to have played a part in it.

Below are photos of the project. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of Our Moon can mail $5 well-concealed cash to:

Lemon o Books
P.O. Box 11872
Milwaukee, WI 53211

Shipping costs are included in the price for anyone living in the contiguous United States. International friends should email for more information. Update: This title is sold out.

Upcoming Events: Chicago Zine Fest 2012 and Moon Ragas in NYC

Above: Fine dining, outside our hotel room, Chicago Zine Fest 2011

Except for the fantastic drawings received in the mail last month, it probably seems like a quiet start to 2012 here at The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music/Lemon o Books. However, a lot of work and planning have been going on behind the scenes.

First off, in a little less than a month Lemon o Books will be in Chicago for the third annual Chicago Zine Fest on March 10th. I've tabled at this event the last two years, and despite the bitter weather that a Midwestern March all but promises, it has always been a blast. The Chicago Zine Fest is housed in a beautiful space at Columbia College, and last year it took two floors to accommodate all of the talented exhibitors. It always draws a large, diverse crowd, and the organizers seem to pull off a better show every year. I'm definitely jazzed to make the trip again.

Here's the full schedule of events for the weekend:

Friday March 9, 2012:
1 - 3pm Gender, Race & Sexuality, a Discussion with Women in Self-Publishing at Columbia College
6 - 9pm Zine Readings at 826CHI
9:30pm - 12am Zine Olympics at Quimby's Bookstore

Saturday March 10:
11am - 6pm Zine Exhibition at Columbia College

Our Moon and "Moon Ragas"


Above: A stack of tape loops
(Tape loops and photo by Adam Krause)

In other news, the follow-up to Actual Bird Song is quickly taking form, and much like its predecessor, that form will be book and CD shaped. Where Actual Bird Song was a quasi-field guide and audio companion inspired by birds and notable for its lack of both fields and guidance, this next project takes its inspiration from the moon, Earth's satellite and cosmic dance partner. It will be called Our Moon and should be finsished just in time for the aforementioned Chicago Zine Fest. If everything goes to plan in the next month, Our Moon will be just as beautiful, weird and scientifically useless as Actual Bird Song was last fall.

Actual Bird Song began as a collaboration between myself (in charge of book-making) and Neil Gravander (aka Lucky Bone, sound-making). The project soon expanded when Neil invited fellow Milwaukee sound-maker Slow Owls to create his own avian-inspired audio.

In a similar way, this new project began as a collaboration between myself (once again handling the visual half of the audio-visual equation) and writer, musician, carpenter Adam Krause but expanded when he invited sound artist Ken Montgomery to contribute to the audio portion of the project.

This weekend, the collaboration gets even more collaborative when Adam travels to New York City to play a show at The Stone (Avenue C and 2nd street) with Montgomery. The event will be recorded and the results should find their way into the final version of Our Moon. If you're in New York on February 19th, consider attending this event.

Meanwhile, I'll be here in Milwaukee putting the finishing touches on the booklet for Our Moon. I'll post all the details right here as soon as the project is ready to share with the world. Thanks for looking and reading. Here's to an active and exciting spring!

Actual Bird Song Previews

Thanks to Neil "Lucky Bone" Gravander, you can now listen to previews of both tracks from Actual Bird Song, the booklet and CD released last October, from the comfort of your computer chair. Give 'em a try.

Lucky Bone - actual bird song (excerpt) by ursa--major

Slow Owls - actual bird song (excerpt) by ursa--major

Copies of this project are still available. Interested parties can send five dollars well-concealed cash to P.O. Box 11872 Milwaukee, WI 53211. Update: This title is now sold out.