MEXICAN GRAPHICS: Grafica Mexicana; Hardcover
256 pages Lucha Libre/Dia Del Los Muertos/Art Hardcover, New
Lucha Libre, Santa Muerte and Dia del Los Muertos – Mexican graphics are everywhere. The 256 pages of this brilliant hardback tome are jam-packed with amazing visual invention and inspiration from over 40 superb artists, including Dr. Lakra, Dr. Alderete, Sergio Mora, Palehorse and Pooch. This is the essential follow-up to Kustom Graphics I and II and The Day of the Dead. Specially commissioned embossed cover by Dr. Alderete and Julio Carrasco.
LUCHA LOCO: The free wrestlers of Mexico (2012), Paperback
272 pages, Lucha Libre/Luchadores/Mexican Wrestling Book, New
Malcolm Venville’s rare deluxe Mexican wrestling volume, now available in an accessible, popular format. Lucha Libre, or "free wrestling," is a cultural phenomenon—renowned not only for the wrestler’s high-flying moves, but also for the mythology of their personas. These masked figures (a ritual dating back to Aztec culture) treat their masks—and the identities they embody—as sacred. El Santo, the first luchador pop star, rarely took off his mask even in retirement, and was eventually buried in it. It is such a significant part of the sport (and the performance) that the removal of an opponent’s mask in the ring is grounds for disqualification. Malcolm Venville fell in love with the sport after catching a show in Mexico and spent several weeks photographing and interviewing wrestlers outside the ring in a small portrait studio. Alongside each portrait is the wrestler’s fighting name and a signature quote from these interviews. Among the subjects are an accountant and a doctor by day—but Super Pinocchio and Astro Boy by night. They offer such gems as: "American wrestling is more about the lighting," "My character is the fastest in Mexico, but not when I’m making love," and "I combine wrestling with stripping but wrestling’s my passion." The result is an even more hilarious and colorful look at this already entertaining spectacle—part sport, part soap opera—as well as a window into the life of a luchador, a world normally shrouded in mystery.
ELECTRONIC SOUND George Harrison (1969); LP
Avantgarde/Electronic/Experimental/Noise/Beatles - Original 1969 press LP, Used (Small tear in cover)
Writing in 'Fusion' magazine, Lloyd Grossman pondered whether Harrison's "Electronic Sound" LP would have been released if not for the Beatles owning the Zapple label. He said that the record's shape and resistance to water made it useful as a "porthole cover" and concluded, in imitation of the noises heard on the LP: "If YOU fweemfweemfweemfweem apapapapapapap have an olD SunbeamToaster ugwachattttattachurgchurg churg and enjoyputting your dddddldddlddlllder ear up to it wwhoooooooggggg*-*- you may enjoy this album phwerpphwerp phwerp …"
GARBAGE GANG (Australian 1st release) 1985; Stickers
Assorted "Garbage Gang" stickers, Australia/New Zealand first edition from 1985 'Topps' (Rare)
$2.00 per sticker - contact store for details
BANANAFISH Number 16; Magazine + CD
Avant-garde/Noise/Experimental/Music/Zine Magazine, Used
Issue 16 of San Francisco’s cult influential and idiosyncratic noise zine 'Bananafish'. Over the years, Bananafish’s compelling taste in obscure music, art and performance, as well as the amusingly irreverent tone and content, elevated it from a well-produced amateur fanzine to a renowned scene figure in its own right. Some of its subjects, like Dylan Nyoukis of Prick Decay and Bruce Russell of the Dead C, became contributors, and others were avid readers. Wolf Eyes’ John Olson, who appeared in Issue #13 in 1999, wrote via email that he had followed it from beginning to end, and Australian drone guitarist Oren Ambarchi sought out every issue after he first found it in a Sydney record shop in the late 1980s. “It was a very important resource for me, being in Australia without much ‘literature’ on the noise underground – and it was hoot,” recalled Ambarchi, who was interviewed in Issue #16 in 2002. “It shaped what I did as a young musician, as I would search for releases of the artists that Bananafish covered,” he said, describing a search for Bananafish’s hardly-known subjects. “I would pore over it to find more clues about this mysterious underground music/culture.”
BANANAFISH Number 17; Magazine
Zine/Noise/Avant-garde/Experimental/Cult Magazine + free noise/experimental CD, Used
Issue 17 of San Francisco’s cult influential and idiosyncratic noise zine 'Bananafish'. Over the years, Bananafish’s compelling taste in obscure music, art and performance, as well as the amusingly irreverent tone and content, elevated it from a well-produced amateur fanzine to a renowned scene figure in its own right. Some of its subjects, like Dylan Nyoukis of Prick Decay and Bruce Russell of the Dead C, became contributors, and others were avid readers. Wolf Eyes’ John Olson, who appeared in Issue #13 in 1999, wrote via email that he had followed it from beginning to end, and Australian drone guitarist Oren Ambarchi sought out every issue after he first found it in a Sydney record shop in the late 1980s. “It was a very important resource for me, being in Australia without much ‘literature’ on the noise underground – and it was hoot,” recalled Ambarchi, who was interviewed in Issue #16 in 2002. “It shaped what I did as a young musician, as I would search for releases of the artists that Bananafish covered,” he said, describing a search for Bananafish’s hardly-known subjects. “I would pore over it to find more clues about this mysterious underground music/culture.”
WEIRDO Number 24 (1987)(Robert Crumb); Comic
44pgs B&W Comic; Used
Cover by Robert Crumb. Harvey Sez column; Harvey Pekar advises aspiring writers and illustrators on how to get published and questions the competence of editors and publishers. "Daily Strip," script and art by Bill Griffith; Ahead on his syndicated strip, Bill Griffith takes a vacation. "Gary's Birthday Present," script and art by Dori Seda and Don Donahue; Dori and Don clean Gary's house. "The Adventures of 'Wichita' the Rat Dancer," script and art by Robert Crumb; Soap opera with sexual content. "40," script and art by Aline Kominsky-Crumb; Aline turns 40 and remembers a visit to a weight-reducing camp during childhood. "Mrs. Holla and the Magic Ring!", script and art by Kim Deitch; Buster has an alcoholic hallucination.
WEIRDO Number 5 (Robert Crumb) 1982; Comic
(Unsung heroes in the history of humor) VG+
Synopsis: Picking up where Zap stopped, Weirdo, under three different editors, defined a new aesthetic for the '80s, opening the way for a whole new comics literacy for a new generation of readers. R. Crumb, P. Bagge and Aline Kominsky edited three phases of Weirdo, respectively the "Personal Confessions", The "Coming of the Bad Boys", the "Twisted Sisters". Each phase produced a crop of new cartoonists. Issue 5 features the works of R. Crumb, Drew Friedman, Harry S. Robins, Terry Boyce, Tom-n-Craig and more.
SID AND NANCY (1986); DVD
Cult/Music/Punk DVD, Used
Some films tend to glorify rock and roll by showing off its glamorous side full of adventure and wonder. Sid and Nancy does no such thing. Instead it exposes the dirty, grimy, seedy underbelly of punk rock which is full of violence and drugs. Gary Oldman plays Sid Vicious, the bassist for British punk rock group the Sex Pistols. The film chronicles his life from when he meets his junky girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, to the tragic demise of that relationship. It is a loud, mean, ugly, and crass film that perfectly captures all that the Sex Pistols stood for... anarchy. Filled with all sorts of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Sid and Nancy is a seriously wild ride. From director Alex Cox (Repo Man)
BARON BLOOD (1972) Mario Bava; DVD
Horror/Supernatural/Italian/Cult DVD, Used
A young man, Peter, returns to Austria in search of his heritage. There he visits the castle of an ancestor, a sadistic Baron who was cursed to a violent death by a witch whom the Baron had burned at the stake. Peter reads aloud the incantation that causes Baron Blood to return and continue his murderous tortures. As usual, Bava seems dismissive of things like story, character and acting, and concentrates on creating a memorable mise-en-scene, which makes a lot of the juxtaposition of the old and the contemporary: an ancient castle with a Coke machine, Elke Sommer in a miniskirt running through old fog-shrouded streets, etc. Mario Bava is one of the best Italian horror directors, his name is synonymous with terror! He influenced the "Friday the 13th" series, "Halloween", and countless other films, inside and outside of the genre.
