Haystacks Calhoun
Posted by David Goldin at 9:34 pm on July 21st
The Barefoot Hillbilly
Haystacks Calhoun was a GIANT! Always wearing his bib overalls and trademark good-luck horseshoe hanging from a chain around his neck. Haystacks was 625 lbs and over six and a half feet tall. The barefoot hillbilly, raised on a farm in Arkansas went on to become one of the most popular wrestlers in the 1960s.
When I was a kid I saw him a few times on a grainy Black and White TV. The other night at a party I met someone who was friends with his driver. He told this story:
1425 lbs. of fun on wheels.
Haystacks led a nomadic life traveling for years to different wrestling gigs. His driver sat behind the wheel of the station wagon. He weighed 350 lbs. Behind him sat Mrs. Haystacks Calhoun. She weighed 450 lbs. and took up the WHOLE back seat. Haystacks himself would sit or lay in the rear of the car. One evening they drove to an " All you can Eat Buffet ".
Mmmmmm..... All you can eat Buffet!
I don't know how much the driver and the Mrs. ate, but I imagine they made a dent in the buffet. That night Haystacks ate thirty chickens and perhaps plenty of fixins. When the meal was over they were given the complimentary dessert - a Dixie cup with Ice Cream.
I scream, you scream, we all scream, for Ice Cream!
Haystacks asked for seconds of dessert and was told he'd have to pay for it. So he asked for ten more chickens... ...Haystacks got his ice cream!
Sulphur Bros. Fireworks
Posted by David Goldin at 8:27 am on July 8th
Kids enjoying the show
This last 4th 'O' July - Independence Day was a blast! When the Sulphur Bros. light up the sky it's a real show. Giant displays so close ashes land on you.
Ahhhh, nothing like the smell of Nepalm.
It starts with kids screaming and running wild with smoke bombs duct taped to poles.
Quick we need more empty bottles...
Then the small arsenal goes up. Bottle rockets and small displays with reports.
Goldin and Emmett Hitz
Whoop dere it is...
Don't get him mad.
Emmet Hitz Ninja Style. He taped smoke bombs to both ends of his staff of protection.
Magnesium Sulfite... who knew?
Uh, Oh.... unpredictable Chinese Fireworks.... Stand back.
The ariel displays didn't photo so well.
It's finally dark and everything is lit.
Memories...
After the big stuff there are lots of sparklers for all the pyromaniac kids.
I did get a few jobs that I attribute to my fireworks passion. I did the cover of the Washington Post Magazine and some 4th 'O' July spots for the Boston Globe.
30,000,000 B.C.
Posted by David Goldin at 10:46 am on July 7th
A Nice Rock
Yesterday I gave a friend a gift. A handful of rocks tied up in a handkerchief. He thought I was nuts. He might be right. There's more to it than that. I was with the family walking around a lake surrounded by mountains watching the sunset. It was glorious. When it was time to go I thought of my friend that I would be seeing the next day. I didn't want to show up empty handed so I grabbed a few cool rocks and we went home and got the kids to bed. I went to the studio and began playing with these caveman building blocks.
The Tower
Always using every stone. Stack em up - it's a challenge.
Pyramid of Lost Souls
It's very meditative and these rocks feel great in my hands.
Waiting for the Fog to Clear
There's one round rock in the bunch. It's a good thing to top things off with.
Flaherty wearing Chaps
Ooh! a Key Stone!
Moribund Tabernacle
Flintstones, meet the Flintstones....
Olive
For some reason this one makes me hungry.
Circle, Triangle, Square
Last one... it's getting late. Time flies playing with these. It might have been a strange gift but I'd rather give that than some store bought piece of garbage. We'll see if my friend enjoys these magic rocks as much as I have. Oh, yeah... my friend is a fellow drawger.
Big Head
Posted by David Goldin at 5:26 pm on June 25th
First Prototype
The prototype had a cat head. It was decided, it wasn't the best idea. Mr. Goldin can you design something? I had to work with certain limitations. The head was bulbous shaped to fit the mechanism that held a retractable cord. The head could be pulled off and still attached to the body, thrown. The dog would then retrieve it and when biting into the head - press a button bringing the body and head back together with great speed.
Roughs strewn
I got sketching. Drawing creatures that resembled past girlfriends.
Norbert
I cleaned up the sketches and gave them back stories to build their personalities.
Salvador
With utmost respect, a nod to Salvador Dali.
China
The approved designs were sent to China.
We work hard, but who's complaining?
A Big Head factory was built and also a small city to house the workers.
Maybe next time.
When the first products came off the assembly line the board of directors held a ceremony to celebrate the auspicious occasion. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, I had a spot illustration that was due that day.
The family
I was sent some blurry photos of the first NEW prototypes.
Look'n good girlfriend!
It's fun to see the drawings transformed into 3 dimensional toys.
Promo for finished toy.
Only samples are available at the moment. One day my set will arrive and I'll send one to Waxman's dog.
My Pal Joost
Posted by David Goldin at 10:35 am on June 20th
Joost Swarte
A bazillion, gagillion, fafillion years ago, after my first year at R.I.S.D. it was summer and I was in Amsterdam looking for trouble... and comics! At night I ran around sniffing out the GOOD cafes, bars, and late nights at the Melkweg. In the daytime I was at the museums, galleries and wandering the city exploring. That's when in a urine soaked alley I found the REAL FREE PRESS. That day changed my life... It was the day I discovered the art of Joost Swarte. I was blown away and had to have it. I'd found a hard cover comic, it was expensive (for me) and I couldn't even read it ... it was in Dutch. Fuck it, I'll starve- so I got it and skipped a few meals. Then I went off on my travels and back to art school in the fall. The next summer I was in Amsterdam again. This time I knew what I was looking for... anything by Joost. I found another bookshop, not as seedy, and found more of his work.
Books- middle image is branded into the wood cover... how cool!
I packed it away and went off on more adventures and back to art school. I graduated two years later and moved to Manhattan and got a job at the Ink Tank animation studio. After being there a year we got a job doing some animated spots for MTV and Joost was going to be one of the artists. He was going to come by the studio! Now I'd been collecting his work all the while. I would find things at the Forbidden Planet on Broadway.
I can't read these.
I was now working downstairs as an assistant animator and wasn't going to be involved in the meeting when he came. Everyone knew me and probably sensed that I would have gone Wile E. Coyote to see him. When he came by the Ink Tank the call came- "David upstairs now". I got to meet him. I was a blabbermouth and knew all about his work, asking questions and all that fanboy stuff. I got his address and would mail him stuff. He wrote back. I kept collecting his work.
I've got to learn Dutch.
I would find his stuff in the Fantagraphics catalog. These were the days before the internet and to collect stuff you had to get off your butt.
Signed limited editions
Signed and sealed in plastic. Hands off!
I found one translated in Heavy Metal.
Prints
Years passed and I met my future wife (woohoo!) and we planned a trip to Europe. I decided to get in touch with a bunch of illustrators to see over there. I wrote letters and planned visits. Joost would be the first. We travelled to Amsterdam and then to Haarlem to his studio. I was in awe as we had tea and biscuits together and talked shop. Jooste signed a few books for us and gave me a set of prints.
How sweet it is...
The book came signed. He drew in it at the Ink Tank.
What a great guy. My bag was getting heavy with books as we left on the night train to Paris to meet zee French illustrators. But zat ees a nuz zair post.
Turn the Page
Posted by David Goldin at 11:01 pm on June 18th
Check out Issuu and let me know what you think. It's fun to turn the page. The Studio on the other hand was only built a few years ago and is still a work in progress. When we first got this property there was a dead forest where the studio stands. I chopped it down, burned it up. and built the foundation. But that's a whole other post.
Illustration Fashionista
Posted by David Goldin at 4:53 pm on June 10th
Street scene
I create new characters all the time, naming them, giving them jobs and placing them in all sorts of different situations. Some are modish and some are meant to look like vestiges of the past clinging to their disappearing world.
Mr. Hitz on the job
That's when a fellow drawger hinted that one of my characters looked a little dated. I laughed, he was right.
Illustration meltdown
I didn't realize that my drawing of Morton Wartley Humpshire IV would suffer though. My illustration appeared to be having an identity crisis. Looking in the mirror he no longer liked what he saw. His hat had always made him feel distinguished, well cut and debonair. That's why I drew it on him. Had others failed to notice this? Had they failed to notice that his hat wasn't just a hat, but a Fedora, made of the finest felt from Belgian rabbit fur? And yet perhaps he had fallen out of style...
Nice hat eh?
Morton Wartley Humpshire IV fell into despair. He decided then and there to change his self image... with my help of course... and he put his Fedora away. From now on everything in life would be before or after the Fedora.
Morton's Downward Dog
I helped by getting him started with a Yoga practice. It wasn't pretty, and there was a lot of grunting, groaning and other embarrassing bodily noises.
Sweatin to the oldies?
Then on to free weights. Every day he fought the urge to quit working out and to put his Fedora back on. But he wouldn't give up.
Smooth operator
Soon Morton began to see results and I gave him a new wardrobe. A little more in vogue, armed with a new look, he began to feel unstoppable. Look out world! Here comes the NEW Morton Wartley Humpshire IV.
Float don't float
Posted by David Goldin at 8:51 pm on May 17th
Horse trailer. "No, you can't weld things on it".
My friends down the road, Doug Abel and Jenny Brown, co-founders of the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, asked me to design a float for them for the Vegan Pride Parade in NYC. Hell yeah, who wouldn't want to design a float? A moron that's who! They have a horse trailer to work with, pulled by a pick up. I went down to the farm and took a photo of the trailer. It was uneventful. I've been there before and had a pigeon land on my head.
My float design
Then to the drawing board. I asked up front if this should be light hearted or intense. So I came up with this. A giant chicken in a nest with a giant word balloon. They went for it! It would be in the parade May 18th in the village and end at Washington Square Park. Kroninger might see it!
I'm crying it's so good.
Then I get the first email regarding the float. There were changes. O.K. I always expect that.
The Giant Colon sketch
Then they didn't have the right permit, or something so it was on hold. Then it was a go. Then it got killed all together. Now instead of a giant chicken quoting a character from a tweety bird cartoon there will be a giant Colon with rotting meat inside. I was offered the chance to make a paper maché turd for the intestine but I just wasn't inspired. Anyone who's in the area and wants to see Vegan pride check it out and let me know how the colon looks.
