The Age of Picasso & Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago

     The Age of Picasso & Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago has opened to immense traffic and formidable popular acclaim at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth (Texas). The unique lending of works from the Art Institute of Chicago contains nearly 100 gems from groundbreaking European artists of the 20th century. (Pictured: Juan Gris' vision of Picasso [left] and Picasso's Old Guitarist.)

     The exhibition will coincide in November with the opening of the Kimbell’s Renzo Piano Pavilion. The collection with remain on view through Feb. 16, 2014.

     Whether or not one is familiar with the selections as mainstays of the Art Institute, the new setting casts everything in a striking new light. The very walls of the Kimbell lend an unaccustomed depth, and the ebb and flow of natural light assures a new view on every visit. Multiple visits might as well be necessary, the better to derive the deepest and most pleasurable impressions.

     The Art Institute will regather its masterworks upon the completion of gallery renovations in Chicago. The loan to the Kimbell is at once practical and generous.

The groundwork had been laid with the Kimbell’s 2008 exhibition of Impressionist masterworks from the Art Institute. The Age of Picasso & Matisse relates a vivid account of European art during the first half of the last century – a period of intense experimentation and fusion of varied concepts.

Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse are the pivotal figures – friends and rivals of immeasurable influence. Each is represented by 10 works. Picasso’s Old Guitarist (1901) opens the procession of unbridled creativity. His immense Nude under a Pine Tree (1959) marks the close of the circuit.

     The Art Institute’s signature Bathers by a River, one of Matisse’s most important large-scale paintings, is displayed alongside works from virtually every stage of his career. Bathers by a River represents Matisse’s most emphatic response to the revolutionary language of Cubism, as invented by Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, and Juan Gris around 1910.

On the Web: www.kimbellart.org

“Carnival of Souls” Graphic Novel Adaptation Returns in New Edition from Cremo Studios

“Carnival of Souls” Graphic Novel Adaptation

Returns in a New Edition from Cremo Studios

 Herk Harvey, pioneering independent moviemaker of the last century, foreshadowed the development of an indie-film groundswell with a maverick production called Carnival of Souls in 1962 The film’s resurgence during 1989-1990 as a film-festival and art-theatre attraction brought about, in turn, a graphic novel that inspired Stephen King to declare, “I’m in awe...!”

With the restoration of that Carnival of Souls book in two distinct editions for 2013, Cremo Studios, Inc., has brought Herk Harvey’s accomplishment full-circle. The filmmaker had commissioned the Carnival of Souls graphic novel while enjoying renewed popular and critical acclaim for a film that, during the 1960s, had been confined largely to the drive-in and grindhouse theatres and then banished to late-night television.

The designer and co-author of the comics version, Michael H. Price, had been involved with the film’s 1989 restoration as a syndicated motion-picture critic and a jurist with the USA Film Festival at Dallas, which launched the big-screen reissue. A representative of Herk Harvey approached Price about developing the graphic novel in 1990, and a collaboration with Harvey began. Price enlisted newspaper illustrator Todd Camp as principal artist.

Price and Camp, in turn, developed the comics adaptation from a combination of the restored film, the original shooting script, and Harvey’s film-cutting continuity. The tale follows the narrative arc of Harvey’s original vision: A haunted protagonist finds herself under siege by a mob of ghostly stalkers.

Price & Camp developed the book in a visually intense Pointillist style, employing millions of dots of ink to achieve a photo-realistic image comparable with the film’s shadow-laden camera compositions. The original edition of Carnival of Souls appeared in 1991 from Malibu Graphics, its release coinciding with the first authorized video edition of the restored film.

The new graphic novel, Carnival of Souls: Black & White Omnibus Edition (Cremo Studios; $25) reproduces the original edition with refinements and embellishments. The 290-page package is rounded out with a retrospective of Price & Camp’s additional comics work of the 1990s, including the Hollywood-themed comic strip Moviola, a collection called Holiday for Screams, and such short-story selections as Planet of the Dead and a little-seen serial feature called Corridors of Terror. A limited alternate edition, Carnival of Souls & Further Crepuscular Peculiarities (Cremo Studios; $55) contains a selection of full-color pages.

Both editions of Carnival of Souls are in distribution via the Web catalogue of Amazon-dot-com. The eStore link is: https://www.createspace.com/4372670

Southern-Fried Homicide: Comics from the Gone World

Coming soon to an Amazon-dot-com near you: Michael Aitch Price's Comics from the Gone World series takes a detour into the haunted Southern... uh, Southland with a 150-page anthology of original slapstick chillers, true-crime misadventures, and retooled pre-Comics Code Shock Yockers, all loaded with enough bizarre absurdities and ghastly puns to fill a dozen such volulumes. Twice the size of the original Southern-Fried volumes of 1998-1999, and packed with razzle-dazzling art by Runaway Comic's Mark Martin, Fishhead's Mark Evan Walker, Dr. Feelgood's Frank Stack, and Carnival of Souls' Todd Camp -- among others too humorous to mention. Due in June 2013 from Cremo Studios. Maybe sooner. One never can tell in this crazy racket.

Fresh addition to the Cremo Records catalogue: Bebop Doowop is Greg Jackson and Mike Price's fresh collection of soul ballads and general-purpose R&B, under our ensemble name The Self-Righteous Bros. Engineered by studio champ Preston Dunlap, with Michael Pellecchia honking up a storm on the reeds. Contains the sole recording extant (barring a live version or two) of a Texas Shuffle arrangement Price had prepared in 1967 as an audition piece for Stax Records. The eStore link: https://www.createspace.com/2115761

The 'Comics from the Gone World' Series of Graphic Novels & Anthologies

Cremo Studios' Comics from the Gone World series originated during 2006-2007 as the offshoot of an idea from one of my commercial publishers as to how we should (quote/unquote) "reinvent Warren for the New Millennium." The comics-savvy reader will need no coaching to dig that the reference is to Warren Publishing, whose anthology magazoons of the 1960s, Creepy and Eerie, had served to resurrect horror comics from the wreckage of a censorship purge of the 1950s.

     The idea resonated agreeably, but corporate momentum proved lacking. So what else is new? One idea of mine was to retool a selection of post-WWII, pre-censorship comics yarns -- not so much in terms of restored artwork, as in terms of removing the (usually) inept writing and replacing same with Theatre of the Absurd-style dialogue: Sam Beckett, at large in the Jerry Iger Comic-Book Sweatshop. (The Iger Shop, responsible for such titles as Journey into Fear and Voodoo and Strange Mysteries, made Bill Gaines' scandalous EC Comics look downright middle-class by comparison.)

     I took the idea and ran with it during 2009-2010, dedicating the concept to my private-label publishing concern, Cremo Studios. Inventory was plentiful, including not only the contents of my Southern-Fried Homicide series of 1998-1999, but also any number of retooled Iger Sweatshop stories. Herewith is the head-count on Comics from the Gone World, including each title's eStore link. (And thanx alot to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, whose Gone World poetry of the last century buoyed many of us through the treacherous waters of the 1960s. Not unlike Warren Publishing's Creepy and Eerie.)

-- Mike Price

 

The Farkleschweiler Dossier -- Horror comics meet Theatre of the Absurd in a new collection from Rondo-nominated Michael Aitch Price -- author and co-artist of the acclaimed "Carnival of Souls" graphic novel. Adapted from a wealth of pre-censorship comics of the 1950s -- but with bizarre twists straight out of the stand-up improv scene -- "The Farkleschweiler Dossier" is a cram-packed 300-page whopper of ghastly mirth and hair-raising hilarity. A companion volume to Mike Price's "Carnival of Souls," "Scream Chills Illustrated," and "MHP's Great Big Crock of Christmas" -- all Comics from the Gone World!  https://www.createspace.com/3476846

Fishhead & Other Carney Gothic Horrors -- Irvin S. Cobb's Southern Gothic shocker becomes an elaborate graphic novel in a dark-carnival setting, as illustrated by Mark Evan Walker from a scenario by Lawrence Adam Shell and a script-and-layouts job by Michael H. Price. Backup chapters include a selection of carney chillers (absurdist) from the Iger Sweatship; Mike Price's survey of Little People (a.k.a. dwarves and midgets) from sideshow to cinema; and Price & Walker's additional tales of a jinxed traveling carnival, "Earth vs. the Sharktopus" and "Bally of the Beast." (And yes, Price & Walker had conceived of a Sharktopus, that unholy fusion of shark and octopus, long before Roger Corman misappropriated the idea.) https://www.createspace.com/3483198

Forbidden Horrors: Comics from the Gone World -- From the studio responsible for the celebrated "Forgotten Horrors" series of movie books -- a new collection of original and rebooted classic-horror comics. https://www.createspace.com/3479792

Forgotten Horrors Comics & Stories -- The acclaimed FORGOTTEN HORRORS film-history series yields its first graphic novel in FORGOTTEN HORRORS COMICS & STORIES -- a collection of comic-book novellas inspired by the low-rent chillers covered in the first five volumes of FORGOTTEN HORRORS, from the Depression years into the Atom-Age 1950s and '60s. From riffs on THE MAN FROM PLANET X and DESTINATION MOON, to takeoffs on THE VAMPIRE BAT and THE BLOB, to the long-unseen TOR JOHNSON--HOLLYWOOD STAR, here is a collection to delight the lover of maverick movies and offbeat comics. The book also marks a decisive tie-in between the FORGOTTEN HORRORS series and Mike Price's COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD series of graphic novels. https://www.createspace.com/3654100

Gigantic Curse of Iger Annual -- Cremo Studios presents its first full-color anthology in the "Comics from the Gone World" series -- 150 pages of ghastly mirth and jolly mayhem assembled and adapted from any number of the Jerry Iger Comic-Book Sweatshop's pre-Code 1950s yarns. The tale of the Severed-Head Nose-Biter! The Grinning-Idiot Strangler-at-Large and Getting Larger! The Homicidal Sub-Midgetoid! And others too humorous to mention...  https://www.createspace.com/3526927

Gigantic Horrors of Iger Annual -- Pre-Code horrors from the Jerry Iger Comic-Book Sweatshop of the 1950s... Filtered through the Theatre of the Absurd for maximum... uh, Absurdity ... Latest entry in the celebrated and maligned COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD!  https://www.createspace.com/3578533

Horror Comics from the Gone World -- The COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD series cranks into high gear with HORROR COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD (aren't they all?) -- 150 whopping pages of pre-Code 1950s chillers, adapted and re-written for a heightened Sense of Absurdity. Many entries from the legendary Jerry Iger comic-book sweatshop; a few from times more recent, including Mike Price & Todd Camp's rarely seen PLANET OF THE DEAD. Just the ticket for devotees of ghastly mirth and hair-raising hilarity. https://www.createspace.com/3691376

Mummy's Family Album -- Stalking from the ruins of Anxious... uh, Ancient Egypt comes THE MUMMY -- undead bane of temple-defilers everywhere -- with just one dire objective: To inflict his Family Album of creepy cousins upon the rest of the world! First collection ever of the acclaimed series of comic-book short subjects, accumulated from 20 years' worth of magazine appearances and many hitherto unpublished pieces.  https://www.createspace.com/3495971

Oswald's Confession & Other Tales from the War -- Jim Marrs, the bestselling Gold Standard in conspiracy research, and cultural historian Michael H. Price deliver a persuasive study in fact-based fiction in OSWALD'S CONFESSION, a graphic novel designed as a companion piece to Marrs' influential book, CROSSFIRE: THE PLOT THAT KILLED KENNEDY. Retracing Lee Harvey Oswald's final hours among the living, OSWALD'S CONFESSION spins a compelling tale of vain ambition at the ragged edge of mortal danger involving political and criminal intrigues. The mad dash for Oblivion culminates in the presidential assassination of Nov. 22, 1963. The book also collects Marrs & Price's TALES FROM THE WAR series of short comics stories, from the science-fictional "It Takes a Child To Raze a Village" to the Civil War-era shaggy-dog yarn "Lot of Brass!" Bonus tracks include an array of war-comics rarities from the pre-Code 1950s.  https://www.createspace.com/3720535

  

Pasteboard Demons -- The crime-card controversy of the 1990s comes rampaging back to life in Michael H. Price's anthology of his notorious "Bloody Visions" trading-card folios -- all together in a single whopping volume, larger by far than the original pieces. Rare bonus-card images round out the set, with an additional selection of Price's true-crime comics stories. https://www.createspace.com/3477049

New Salt Lick Album Gathers Momentum

     Steaming ahead on the new Salt Lick album--working title: The Salt Lick Wide Awake Library--reuniting a quorum of the original string-band ensemble with a core of fresh and politically attuned compositions by Kilgore's Buddy Hale. Continuing progress at Harris Kirby's studio, with selective vocal and instrumental overdubbing from D Lee Thomas (banjo), Greg Jackson, and Yrs. Trly. A good sign, too, that 2012's Buddy Hale CD (Buddy Hale: The Salt Lick Sessions) is attracting the enthusiasts at its eStore location. (And thanx to all for the sustained show of interest.) Gotcher link, right here: https://www.createspace.com/2067281
      There will be additional Salt Lick reissues during the next few months, and a handful of hitherto unreleased titles.

Cremo Studios -- a Miocrobrewery Record Label for Blues, Folk, and You-Name-It

Cremo Studios and its Cremo Records microbrewery label represent some of Texas' more adventurous music, in a variety of idioms. Cremo Records launched in 2012 with Mortal Coils, a suite of Dust Bowl ballads from Greg Jackson & Michael H. Price. (The eStore link appears below.)

     The name derives from a legendary indulgence of the last century, the long-extinguished Cremo Cigar, which advertised itself as "the Cream o' the Tobacco." Hence Cremo Records and "the cream o' the blues," or whatever other musical idiom one might insert. The catalogue includes the East Texas string band known as Salt Lick; the earliest recordings (1969-1970) by Texas blues singer Robert Ealey; Sumter Bruton & Michael H. Price's Bruton & Price Swingmasters Revue; historic Boogie-Woogie piano duets by midcentury artists Tom Harris & Charlie Castner; obscure movie-soundtrack cues; and collections of Price's uproarious appearances with such radio outlets as The Dr. Demento Show and TM Century Comedy Network.

    A representative sampling follows, with matching eStore links. And stay tuned for a comprehensive catalogue, to follow in short order if not sooner.

 

Bruton & Price Swingmasters Revue: Last Stand at Caravan of Dreams:
     https://www.createspace.com/2115605

Buddy Hale: The Salt Lick Sessions: https://www.createspace.com/2067281

Greg Jackson: Faraway Friends of Mine: https://www.createspace.com/1889446

Jackson & Price: Mortal Coils: https://www.createspace.com/1842255

Lost Boogie: Harris & Castner: https://www.createspace.com/2108892

Robert Ealey: Blues That Time Forgot: https://www.createspace.com/1886208

Michael H. Price & His Bluesicians: From Hell to Texas: https://www.createspace.com/2070341
Michael Aitch Price & His Musical Miscreants:
     Voodoo Killed the Rodeo Star!: https://www.createspace.com/2032132
Michael H. Price & His Bluesicians: Boy Howdy: https://www.createspace.com/2077899