Spring Sale! Everything Must Go!

All linocut prints and drawings (that I still have) available for 75 bucks each. You can purchase a couple from my Etsy store (which I started 2 years ago and forgot about) or just directly from me for the rest. Plus Etsy takes some percentage of the sale. So email me for inquiries at geniuschristie@gmail.com. Be part of the Mercantile Experience!

My Dream Had No Name (interior cabin scene)

Audio accompaniment provided by myself on the cardboard mountain dulcimer. The tuning is C minor I believe and I learned it from Davey. The song is a medley of Shady Grove and The Cuckoo. Jean Ritchie does a similar thing on one of her early albums (perhaps her first album for Elektra).

Drawings from the Yuri Norstein Presentation/Lecture

Master of Russian Cut Out Animation Yuri Norstein gave a presentation/lecture at The Evergreen State College last night. We were lucky enough to get tickets (thanks to Stefan)- although the ticketbooth turnips tried to sell my ticket to someone else. I had him sign the top one and he thought it was funny. Here is a link to his great animation Tale of Tales. And here is his Wikipedia.

My Dream Had No Name

First page from my new book I'm working on called My Dream Had No Name. Audio accompaniment provided by myself on the cardboard mountain dulcimer. The song is Happy Land and is a Christian hymn written by the Scotsman Andrew Young in 1838.

Raccoon Dogs

Inspired by the wonderful book Monarch of Deadman Bay: The Life and Death of A Kodiak Bear By Roger Caras.
The raccoon dog is native to China, Korea, Japan, and Northeastern Russia. Here is the wikipedia. Soundtrack provided by the Korean Psych guitar hero Shin Jung Hyun.

Prototype Versions of my Book/Zines available

Available from Ms Valerie Park Distro in Olympia.

2009

2007

Ghana Brass Band

Thanks to Spencer for sending me the photo that inspired this linocut. Audio accompaniment provided by an Ethiopian High Life band. For more great African music head to Awesome Tapes From Africa.

The Antler Attic

Inspired by an actual photograph of an attic full of antlers which I took in Eden, Wyoming. Audio accompaniment provided by myself and Davey on banjo (tuned down to a low D Dock Boggs tuning) and guitar (respectively). It is an instrumental interpretation of Ed Sturgill's song '31 Depression Blues (famously covered by the New Lost City Ramblers).

The A.L. Lloyd Treehouse

A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and was a key figure in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. Lloyd was sent to Australia as a youth and began collecting folk songs while there. Lloyd was a communist and pioneer in the field of collecting and recording "Industrial Folk Music". You can download a great album of his here. Audio accompaniment provided by the 70's Norwegian folk rock band Folque.

Sam Strom's House

Sam Strom was a Norwegian immigrant who was an early settler and miner in Monte Cristo, WA. According to this website as constable, Sam took on the "entire Darrington contingent of the Ku Klux Klan at least twice. Once when they tried to lynch a young Indian boy and another time when they tried to burn a cross in the yard of a Catholic schoolteacher there. He was said to be involved in something like 14 to 17 shootouts during his life" and was a proud member of the Western Federation of Miners. Audio accompaniment provided by Stanley G. Triggs from his Folkways album Bunkhouse and Forecastle songs of the Northwest.

Monte Cristo Structures and Stumps

Partially inspired by the book The Coffee Chased Us Up: Monte Cristo Memories by Elof Norman and also from photographs I took of Monte Crsito while hiking there with my Dad. Monte Cristo, WA was a mining boom town in the 1890's but that all ended with the Panic of 1907. John D. Rockelfeller's syndicate Colby and Hoyt took over the mines in 1891. The road to Monte Cristo washed out in 1980 and it is now a ghost town. Audio accompaniment provided by Alan Mills. Here is the Monte Cristo Preservation Society.

Czolgosz is Recovered!

A charcoal drawing I did 2 years ago somehow wound up on the streets of Seattle and was found a couple days ago by Lindy West of the Stranger. Here's the post on the SLOG about it. I'm still trying to figure out how the picture got to the sidewalk on 11th and Pine- I suspect it flew out of my car. I will also use this incident to post one of my favorite songs about the Mckinley assassination. The song is called Zolgotz and is performed by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. To download all the variations of this song head here.

The Treehouses of Cad Goddeu

Audio accompaniment for this post provided by Robin Williamson from his magnificent (and out of print) 1981 album Songs of Love and Parting (on Flying Fish Records). The song is Gwydion's Dream and you can hear it here. Gwydion was a magician in Welsh Mythology and appears in the poem Cad Goddeu, which appears in the ancient Welsh manuscript, The Book of Taliesin (also the name of an awesome Deep Purple record my sweetie gave me for Christmas). In the Poem, Gwydion brings the trees to life to fight as his army.

The KGB in the Third World

Inspired by the book The World Was Going Our Way :The KGB and the Battle for the Third World
Here is a review of the book
Audio accompaniment for the post is a Russian Pagan Folk Song and you can hear it right here.

Pages from the upcoming book: Soviet Espionage Gadgets

Soundtrack provided by Jody Stecher & Krishna Bhatt. The Song is Called Russian Two-Step and it is Amazing! Listen here.

Soviet Espionage Gadgets Pt. 1 (Non Covert Cameras)

Spherical Hovel Designs

Constructed at Stefan's Birthday gathering on Jackson St.

Tentacles in a room without an Aquarium

At Hattie's Hat while talking about Malcolm Gladwell with Amanda and Tim. Soundtrack for this drawing provided by Alan MIlls. The song is The Squid Jiggin' Ground. Listen here.

Images for the Old, Weird America Talk

KEXP DJ Greg Vandy will be speaking Thursday night at 7 pm at the Frye Art Museum. Admission is FREE! It is part of the Old, Weird America Exhibit. Greg asked me to draw this map of Harry Smith's influence on the folk revival and Greil Marcus' book Invisible Republic/The Old, Weird America.

A New Culinary Tradition For The Moderate To Exorbitantly Wealthy

Audio accompaniment provided by Tom Paley. Listen to Sue Cow right here. You can get the album from Davey.

Lumberjack Pianos

The Lumberjack Piano or The Hammered Dulcimer as its known outside of Michigan, is an instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. It is usually set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who strikes the strings with mallets. There is a great little book by Nancy Groce called The Hammered Dulcimer in America. It is available at the King County Library- because I just returned it. Listen to Bruce Hutton playing Haste to the Wedding / Harvest Home (medley). It can be found on his awesome 1978 Folkways Album Old Time Music- It's All Around.

Guy Inspired by Dune

I got a book (from Cinema Books on Roosevelt) on the making of the 1984 David Lynch film Dune. It is an adaptation of the Frank Herbert book from 1965. Almost every printing of the book has a fantastic cover. And the movie is an 80's sci fi classic on par with The Wrath of Kahn, Bladerunner and Empire Strikes Back. Both Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott tried directing the movie and failed. Jodorowsky's version was set to have Salvador Dali in it and working on the production design. The worlds are amazing, the miniatures are inspiring, the set design and wardrobe are also great. In addition to that, Brian Eno contributes to the soundtrack. Listen To the Prologue to the film right here.

Mechanical Crabs

Inspired by my uncle's ash tray in which the lid of the crab opens to reveal a receptacle for ash and cigarette butts.

Paintings inspired by Gourmet Magazine (R.I.P.)

I don't know what issue this was from but i have always liked the photographs in the magazine and the people at Conde Nast are a bunch of turnips for shutting it down.

The Sixteenth Century Resonator Citternophone

The Restored Early 19th Century Supertone Parlor Guitar

Before


During

After


Click here to hear me playing the Supertone. I talked the nice man who was selling this guitar down to $15. That of course was at Tuxedo Junction, in one of the back garages in the instruments area. I also had to buy about 30 bucks worth of tuning machine from the helpful people at Dusty Strings.

Admiral Yi Sun sin

Admiral Yi Sun-sin was a Korean Naval Admiral who implemented the armored Turtle Ship nearly 200 years before they made an appearance in the American Civil War. He is reported to have won every naval battle he entered and succesfully fought off the Japanese Navy during their invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598. He was shot and killed during the battle of Noryang and had two of his officers prop him up so that no one knew he was dead until the battle had ended. According to another source, he ordered his body be hidden in the cabin, while his nephew put on his armor and beat the war drum for the rest of the battle.