Hello friendlies,

the 2010 calendars are nearly here! I’m really excited about these. Julie and I worked really hard on the images and design, and gave a lot of thought to each month’s image. They’ll be up in the shop soon: I’m going to ask for a nominal amount to help with postage. Take a gander (you can see the whole set here), and Happy New Year!

xm

hey kids,

if you’re seeing the snow falling on your screen, you’re in the right place. happy holidays!

the poster i did for the camper and cracker kids are up in the shop for your shopping pleasures. in fact, the shop is just brimming with poster-y (and book-y) holiday goodies.

if you’re interested in a poster for xmas, make sure you get your order to me by the 16th of december at the latest, else the poster won’t arrive on time! i can’t guarantee any orders made after the 16th will get to you, and i don’t want to see any moist eyes on christmas when the kids realize that santa didn’t bring them the two-headed praying mantis print or the zoodiac zodiac book they asked for. they’ve been good kids! even though they gave the cat a haircut and dressed it in a diaper, they’re still good kids. and you! treat yourself! brighten up that cubicle with something made with love by hand.

so click on over to the wertzateria shop for some hand-made home-made goodness. just be sure you do it by the 16th.

xm

Hello All,

here’s a little video of Andy & I playing our version of ‘Rascal’s Tongue’ from A Curious Collection of Cats at Diesel Books in Oakland:

xm

Good morning my dears:

A while back, the kind folks at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast did a Q & A with your truly about all things Curious and Cat-like: Behold! These are kind (and smart) folks, and their blog is definitely worth a look-see.

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1611

xm

for the cramper folks. the 2009 end-of-year poster. they have been really sweet – this is my third year making a year-end poster for them! here’s the first, here’s the second. this will be printed in two colors. i wanted something holiday-like, but not *too* holiday. dig?

xm

Today’s Curious Cat Links:

• A Curious Collection of Cats on Google Books.

• A CCC reviewed on Poetry for Children.

• A CCC featured on Young Adult Books Central.

• Lots of people love CCC on Good Reads!

xm

Here’s Andy and Michael (with Betsy!) performing Cat Haiku 2 at Kepler’s Books in Palo Alto on June 28, 2009.

The deep rhythmic retch
of the tabby’s gags and coughs:
A nasty hairball

xm

xm

Elizabeth Bird from School Library Journal wrote a most glowing (and thorough) review of our book, and we were so pleased. You can check it out here. A friend of mine asked me “is Elizabeth Bird your mom?”

Here’s why:

“For the child that desperately wants a cat, the child who already has a cat, and the child who has never even seen a cat, this is a great book. Basically that’s just a long and complicated way of saying that this book is for everyone. As funny and frisky as a kitty itself, this is one book of poetry you are not going to want to miss. An amazing debut and an amazing collection. Everything you need to know, you’ll learn from these cats.”

Wow.

x michael

hey folks,

i just uploaded a new set of stock illustrations to the stock site at the wertzateria. check out the sample below. these and many more are a click away.

xm

The Wertzateria *loves* Halloween. Seriously. More than Xmas, more than Thanksgiving. Halloween is the national Weirdo Holiday, and I embrace it fully.

This year, I’m celebrating by doing a small run of these posters for my friends Karl and Larry, who spend all year working on their contribution to the Halloween Madness. It’s called ‘The Driveway Follies‘, and it’s quite a marvel. They set up a small stage in their driveway in which they perform with hand-made marionettes – the kind I loved when I was a kid – and it’s just charming as all get-out. Watch carefully for the clown who rips his own clothes off to reveal his skeleton (without missing a single step of his spooky dance).

Here’s a color sketch for the poster. It’ll be two colors on orange paper. It’s a tribute to Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Australian Illustrator of children’s books. [edit: The posters are done, and you can getcherself one here!]

Here’s my brother and I in 1972, very much looking forward to bellies bloated with 1000 tiny candy bars (and 300 smarties). We used to spend hours drawing perfect haunted houses (complete with ghosts, graveyards, bats, vampires, etc.) and listening to “Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House“.

To provide the soundtrack for your happy haunts, The Argyll Adventure Tree is serving up some macabre delights on October 1 from 5-7 pm on Ninth Floor Radio. This is a co-broadcast with UB, the theme is “Spooky“, and it should be a hoot and a holler. Give us a listen! Last year’s Halloween show is also up and available for download.

I did a quick search, and came up with some amazing Halloween blogs from folks who are even more obsessed with Halloween than I. Check out the Franklin Mint Blog, or WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. Check this page for a crazy huge list of Halloween Blogs!

Have Fun, and be safe out there, people.

xm

Friends to the Four-Pawed:

Andy and I are doing another ‘Singing’ for A Curious Collection of Cats (a children’s book lovingly illustrated by yours truly) this Sunday at Clayton Books in Clayton, California. If you are in the East Bay, come on out and getcher book signed and see Andy & I act like goofballs! Here’s a little bit from the book launch party:

What: Ukeleles and Kitties and Drawings
Where: Clayton Books, Clayton California
When: 3 pm. Right after naptime.

See you then? xm

Yee-HAW! See you in the desert? xm

Hello peps –

Back from a week in Santa Cruz for a silkscreen intensive. The teach, Jane Gregorius was amazing. I learned so much from her and was thrilled to be in class every day. Thanks to the kindness and hospitality of my friend Janet Fine, I had a nice place to stay. Met some cool new folks, and got to know better some old acquaintances (Hello Janice!).

In other artists news: got a cool package in the mail from my buddy S. Britt, including his oh-so-groovy coloring book Coloring Can Be Funny. Get one for the twisted 8-year old in your life! Also got a cool patch from Andy Arkley of the Bran Flakes (as well as his new CD, Twizzle). Oh, yeah, and Carolee sent me a nice letter and a postcard and some really great stickers. A letter! It had writing and thoughts and stuff! I love the mail. I love mail art even more. Thanks guys!

Just finished a few color sketches for the DSC (in conjunction with Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science). Feast your peeps on my favorite one “Colors in Nature”. Camouflage and blending colors: what use are these in the jungle?

xm

p.s. I’m going to rest my toes in the sand for a little bit. See you soon.

Last night I went to Historic Bowman Field to watch the Williamsport Crosscutters play against the Hudson Valley Renegades.  I looked for an ‘09 Team Set but they won’t get those in for another few weeks, so I picked up an older set from 2005 that I didn’t have.  Harry Kalas was on the front of their 2009 program so I got one and was able to get Luke Wertz and Korey Noles to sign it.  I got some great photos and even caught a foul ball!!!

Siulman LeBron

Leandro Castro at bat

Official New York-Penn League foul ball I caught

hello friendlies,

there’s a new poster for sale in the wertzateria shop – our big city orchestra poster commemorating their thirty years of noisiness is for sale here in the shop. all proceeds from the sale of this poster will go to buying me candy. lots of candy. big city orchestra is the brain child of a mysterious figure named odd McUb and his trusty sidekick ninah puchkina. look for a live show stateside in december. they will be playing lots of dates in europe in september 2009. Their website should have information on those happenings.

8″ x 17″ tall. two colors on yellow paper. cheap and yummy.

xm

Hi everyone!

Andy and I will be doing another “singing” and signing of A Curious Collection of Cats tomorrow at Kepler’s Bookstore in Menlo Park, California. Andy and I will be performing a few of the poems in the book (singing and playing uke), and author Betsy Franco will be doing a presentation about how the book was written. Should be a hoot! If you’re in the area, come on over and say hi and get a book signed. Fun for kids (or for the eternally young).

What: ‘Singing’ for a Curious Collection of Cats

Where: Kepler’s Books, Menlo Park
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park CA, 94025
(650) 324-4321

When: 11:30 am, Sunday June 28

Here’s a little video from Diesel Books in Oakland:

xm

Hey folks,

the set of icons I did for Pete Friedrich and Hostelling International are done! Behold. Next up: a psychedelic sweatshirt design for Hosteling International (for their San Francisco locations), a psychedelic cat poster for the groop big city orchestra to commemorate their thirtieth anniversary, and a psychedelic tshirt design for the band Cracker.

I’m seeing a pattern emerge here.

xm

Good morning friendlies!

My {extremely helpful and wonderful!} friend Carolee and I have been planning a new silkscreened artists book called ‘Zoodiac’ (based on the Chinese New Year illustrations I did for the San Francisco Chronicle) for months now. These photos were taken by Carolee.

We finally got down to work (in my new silk screen studio)! Behold.

This rack was the rack that I learned to silkscreen with. It used to belong to Flower Frankenstein, who taught me to screen prints. She had a great shop called kitty katty’s roadside shack in San Francisco. Then it belonged to my friend Jim Winters. Jim had fixed it up and put new slats on it and new hardware. When he moved out of his studio, he gave it to me. I’m super super lucky.

We made a mess. It feels good to get messy and make stuff. If you’re reading this, go make something!

xm

Hey everyone,

we’ve had such great feedback from our book ’singing’ that we decided to schedule a few more at book stores around the bay area:

Sunday May 31 at 3 pm (sharp! this will be a short set!) at Red Hill Books in San Francisco. We’ll be ‘opening’ for Jonathan Segel and Victor Krummenacher from Camper Van Beethoven and lots of other great side projects.

Sunday, May 31, 3 pm
Red Hill Books
401 Cortland Avenue (@ Bennington)
San Francisco, CA 94110

On Sunday June 28 at 11:30 am we’ll be doing another ’singing’ with Betsy Franco, the author of the book, at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, California.

Sunday, June 28, 11:30 am
Kepler’s Books
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park CA, 94025

Come by and get your copy of Curious Collection of Cats signed (and sung)!

Here’s another video Andy posted (Lenny vs. Patch) from the book launch:

See you there? Your current answer is YES!

xm

Hey guys. Check out the April 20 issue of Time magazine – one of my stock images is in there on page 52! Thanks to Rama for pointing this out to me. Also of note:

• There’s a new Wertzateria site live! Months of hard work went in to this. This is the eighth iteration of the Wertz web site you’ve ever seen. Thanks to Suzanna at Ultrapop and Ryan Medlin for the design and programming, and thanks to Andy for the tweaking and additional html help.

• The new Grey Gardens movie. Seeing it tonight with my sister, who first shoved the video cassette in my hands in 1990.

• I just moved all my silkscreen equipment and supplies in to my friend Hae’s studio in West Oakland. Stay tuned for pictures.

• We just did another Argyll radio show last night. This month’s theme was “that effing mocking bird kept us up all night.” Listen here.

Happy Saturday.

xm

(a hairball? no, not a hairball…)

Friendlies,

we had such a marvelous time at the book launch for A Curious Collection of Cats. Many, many thanks to Diesel Books in Oakland, thanks to Abigail and Hayley at Tricycle, thanks to my sweetie who set three of the poems to music so we could sing ‘em. There were about 60 people in attendance, and we sold out of books! If you want a book, call Diesel (510-653-9965). They are ordering more books (and doesn’t it feel good to support the indie bookstore instead of the nameless behemoth bookstore?) and should have more copies soon.

For those of you who came to the Launch, thank you so much! If you couldn’t make it, we’re scheduling a few more “singings” for the book: Betsy Franco and I will be doing a talk and signing at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park on June 28th at 11:30. I am also scheduling a singing for San Francisco – stay tuned for that info!

In the meantime, here’s some video my brother Tim took of us singing:

xm

LoveEvolution 2009
Originally uploaded by ultrapop design

Our 15th AAT was originally webcast on the 15th of May. In April, 2009, via his Ape House label, Andy Partridge re-released deluxe editions of 25 O’Clock and Psonic Psunspot. The deluxe editions feature extra tracks and copious liner notes. Those interested in the influences and inspirations of the fantastic music on those records will be especially pleased with the liner notes. What we’re saying is, go to your local record shop (while it still exists) and buy the CD’s! You’ll be glad you did.

And once you’ve listened to the CD’s, you’ll naturally want to hear the great music that inspired the Dukes in their youth. Next thing you know, you’re down the rabbit hole of 60’s psychedelia. And it sounds like The Music of the Stratosphears.

My Love Explodes – The Dukes of Stratosphear
For Your Love (scratched vinyl version) – The Yardbirds
Biff Bang Pow! – The Creation
Who Are the Brain Police? – Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
(Blues Theme – Davie Allen and the Arrows)
Leave Jackie Alone – The Dukes of Stratosphear
Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl? – The Barbarians
Humanoid Boogie – The Bonzo Dog Band
Lazy Sunday – The Small Faces
What in the World? – The Dukes of Stratosphear
Get Me to the World on Time – The Electric Prunes
Astronomy Domine – Pink Floyd
Go Fuck Yourself with Your Atom Bomb – Tuli Kupferberg
Granny Takes a Trip – The Purple Gang
You’re a Good Man, Albert Brown – The Dukes of Stratosphear
Isn’t It Strange? – Sparrow
Collideascope – The Dukes of Stratosphear
(El bueno, el mal e el feo – Romanceros)
25 O’Clock – The Dukes of Stratosphear
Eastern Music – The Mode
A Dream for Julie – Kaleidoscope
You’re Gonna Miss Me – The 13th Floor Elevators
Yes I Need Someone – The Eire Apparent
You’re My Drug – The Dukes of Stratosphear
I Can Hear the Grass Grow – The Move
Your Gold Dress (Demo) – The Dukes of Stratosphear
Shangri-La – The Kinks
He’s Our Dear Old Weatherman – Mark Wirtz
Vanishing Girl – The Dukes of Stratosphear
When My Mind is Not Live – The Status Quo