From the Mail

Today I paid a late afternoon visit to the Famous Hairdos P.O. Box and found my receipt for another six months of rent on Box 11872 as well as these four drawings, postmarked in Wyoming. The latter definitely make the former seem well worth the expense. The artist writes that she picked up the blank hairdo templates at the Madison Zine Fest and wonders if the drawings are up to snuff. I think they're great. Thanks, Isabel!

Happy New Year

Above: 2011, the year in haircuts

I started 2012 the way I ended 2011-- with a whopping cold. So here, almost seven days and one bottle of Multi-symptom Cold and Flu Nighttime Relief Liquid into the new year, is a belated wish for a happy new year for you and yours from Lemon o Books and The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music.

Before talking about what 2012 has in store around these parts, let's take a quick look back at last year. It was a good one. The Chicago Zine Fest, the Madison Zine Fest, and, just last month, the stellar Milwaukee Zine Fest were great experiences. Taking myself, my projects and books out of the house and into the world is always a surprising, heartening, and illuminating endeavor.

And the books made in 2011 stand out for me as the best I've made so far. Last winter, The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music Volume Six cataloged drawings made by dozens of individuals (out of the total hundreds of drawings received so far) who contributed their work to The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music project. I am forever grateful to everyone who has made this silly idea of mine into a real and growing thing, and I hope it continues. While the drawers are the soul of this project, I think this book has my best design and craft yet for this series.



This fall saw the release of Actual Bird Song, the first non-hairdo project from Lemon o Books. This project was a collaboration between myself and two Milwaukee musicians, Lucky Bone and Slow Owls, who each contributed a track to a CD packaged inside a short booklet.



Now, with the highlights of 2011 lovingly packed away like so many Christmas lights, let's talk about some of my most anticipated projects of 2012. I'm still so excited by Actual Bird Song that my next project will continue in a similar vein. Two musicians are already on board to create sounds for a compact disc while I'm working on an accompanying book. I'm going to keep my lips sealed about the subject matter and the collaborators until things really start to take shape, but I guarantee that no one will be as disappointed as me if this project isn't just as good as last year's foray into audio-visual collaboration.

Also, the long-rumored seventh volume of The Famous Hairdos of Popular Music will become a real thing that you can hold in your hands. This will definitely happen before the project turns four years old in July.

Thanks for reading, everybody. Here's to another great year!

Drawings From The Milwaukee Zine Fest Part 4: Madonna

Here's the final batch of drawings collected at last Saturday's Milwaukee Zine Fest. Check out the other great drawings here, here, and here. Thanks again to the festival's organizers, everyone who attended, and everyone who made a drawing for this project.

Drawings From The Milwaukee Zine Fest Part 3: Glenn Danzig

Here is a third set of drawings from the fourth annual Milwaukee Zine Fest, which happened on Saturday. This set is comprised of drawings inspired by Glenn Danzig's hairdo. Thanks as always to the amazing drawers who keep this project going. Check out Saturday's Elvis drawings here and the Gloria Gaynor drawings here, and check back soon for some great renditions of Madonna.