DVD Release Notice

In 1965, three amateur film makers brought their super 8 film cameras to the Club Hullabaloo. Forty one years later, digital technology has combined sound and video of Bogus Slogan's performance.

The sound recording, taken from the mixing board tape, has been digitally restored to near concert sound and synced with the super 8 film. The DVD has the complete Friday show, three songs from the Saturday show and the Saturday double encore. Running time is 158 minutes. Full details and SetList are on the back cover.

Also included is Robert Soelberg's 1966 experimental film, "Touch Sensitive Lips." A film noir tribute to the groupies of Bogus Slogan.

The backdrop is a video still of Beauty from the Japanese Anime Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. A screwy oddball in the pantheon of human cartoons.

Bogus Slogan Poster #22 - Inside View

Franklin Roosevelt, American President, had the good fortune to live in interesting times. Born into wealth, he was liberal because of human necessity. As America's great depression arose from a loss of faith, Roosevelt used federal policies to move the USA towards governmental support of the individual. As World War II erupted - being another attempt of an individual or a small elite group for world empire - FDR was the leader in the fight for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - Bogus Slogan's favorite slogan. And he did this while crippled with polio.

In a never ending quest for political satire, the writers for the NBC's the Late Show starring Conan O'Brien, placed an optimistic FDR on snow skis traversing the New York backcountry. ZenithPointStudio used the video still as the backdrop for the BS Poster for the Hyde Park Winter Carnival. The slogan of never giving up is idealistic, but you might get a little further than where you are right now.

V for Vasarely

I would think that every one has the ability to create. Maybe not the equal of Vasarely, Brahms or Ansel Adams, but a charcoal sketch; a watercolour for their personal enjoyment. Don't we see a child's stick figure painting on every refrigerator? But at some time, you see a great work of art and leave with your artist block installed.

Vasarely: VASA ARNY (1976))

Larry Day introduced me to my first great work of art. The Op art of Victor Vasarely. Mr. Day is the father of the guitarist in one of my early bands. During a rehearsal break, he said he had a bass drum cover for the band! My first band had the proper descriptive name of "the unknowns." When we combined with another band, some one, who's identity is lost in time, convinced the group to use the name "World of Us." Larry, in the style of Vasarely, made the Op Art cover, with the band's name in contrasting color squares. He used thin "tissue" paper. The result was a very professional emblem.

Vasarely: BIVALA (1959))

He showed me his source book on Vasarely. As I turned the pages, each picture looked similar, but the art was so different from normal art. A little seed had been planted. Art was pretty "normal" until George Braque and Pablo Piccaso displayed their cubistic paintings. With the addition of pieces of paper, printed with designs, (Papier collé), the sophistication of modern art paintings, leaped into the stratosphere of human imagination.

Vasarely show an amazing amount of maturity. If you are painting a still life or landscape, you know what your work should end up looking like. Practice and experience should allow you to find your personal style. But how do you see Girl-Flower before you take the paint from the cupboard.


Vasarely: GIRL-FLOWER (1934))


Coming back to Vasarely after sufficient time for the "World of Us" to find its resting place, a picture like the 1963 "Untitled" is a discovery of inspiration. Combine Bivala, Girl-Flower, Untitled - Combine parts of them - Combine with the color palette of Monet - combine parts of them with the early cubist monochromatic color scheme... I am sure there is a combination out there that will set off my artist's block.

Vasarely: UNTITLED (1963))

Bogus Slogan Poster #21 - Inside View

The "Screamer" record release party poster is an early art project that ZenithPointStudio completed for Bogus Slogan. Fans love to be next to their music heroes, and having a party to listen to the new album brings together the two most important things. Money and Product. Actually, fans who can get a ticket into the private party get a special gift bag from the band as a thank you. Of course a free copy of the album is included.This party did not go very smoothly. The local fire department would not ok the permit for a live performance from the band. Supplies for the bar were "lost." No running water in the warehouse. There was no key for the front door, so everyone entered by the loading dock.

Upon arrival of the band, everything turned out fine. The evening continued with our boys leading a community group sing from the songbook of Bogus Slogan.

Abstracts: A Splash of Friction (2004)

Put on your thinking cap. What have we got here?




An Acme Transmission clutch gear system? What about the glyphs on the edges of the gears? Why repeat a level of color and a level of grey? With all those tabs, it could represent multiple diving platforms for a Busby Berkeley musical number. Could it be a cosmic black hole in reverse, where patterned matter is being expelled? And that cloudy pearlesence underneath the image - is that leaking transmission fluid?


The Pacific Trust Collection of Laguna Beach used an earlier digital painting for its 1966 American Natural Objects Competition Poster.

Bogus Slogan Poster #20 - Inside View

Do you like long walks on the beach. Australia can provide. Located on the southern edge of the continent, away from the wave glory of the east coast is 90 Mile Beach.
And on a warm December evening, following a wonderful day on the sand, you could rock out to the sounds of Bogus Slogan. This concert was near the end of an exploratory tour of the Southern Hemisphere that BS management convinced the group would be an easy way to enjoy a longer "summer." However, even with modern aircraft, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Japan; the tour proved to be too ambitious. The band "jumped ship" on a Hawaiian layover.

As psychedelic waves lap against skimboards & surfboards, we rest easily under the atypical palm tree. ZenithPointStudio did not take the time to research native trees since the ubiquitous Palm (Queen Palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana)) symbolizes universal fun in the sun. (Next time a good old river red gum, (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) will do the trick) With a print run of 150, "90 Mile" has become a rare item for collectors. Seventeen have been publicly traded, the last price was $115.00 in 1971. Probably a little more today.

Photos: Don's Motel • Long Beach, CA





When America stops for the night, she wants all the comforts of home. He wants sushi?

Still operational. The last time I looked in, the owners were repaving their parking lot. What do you order for breakfast?








DON'S MOTEL
Long Beach, California (2001)

Gallery Preview and Reception: Ninety-Seventh American Natural Objects Competition

On Friday, March 10, 2006, the CityView Gallery will host the ninety-seventh Annual American Natural Objects Gallery Preview and Reception. A hosted bar and buffet will be available during the first hour. Doors open at 7 pm.



The Competition awards ceremony begins at 7:30 pm with the Pacific Trust Collection's President, Karin Greene presenting art grants from the PTC Foundation to the winners.

The Gallery show opens to the public on March 16, 2006.

The CityView Gallery is located in the Capitol Building in the heart of Laguna Beach. Parking is limited, so please arrive early.

Bogus Slogan Poster #19 - Inside View

Music Food Heat. America's Independence Day Concert in New Orleans. Drink Dance Music. Twelve hours non-stop each day. Bogus Slogan was honored to be the Saturday headliner. Scheduled for a 90 minute show, the greatest crowd of them all demanded and got seven encores - BS was a no-show at their own afterparty - Crawling into the limo, they told the driver to head for the refuge of the Mobile, Alabama Dandford Plantation Bed & Breakfast (A Slogan favorite).

Maelson Telsers of the New Orleans International Music Festival commissioned ZenithPointStudio to create the program poster. He asked for a design that represented the "swirl of colorful sound" that the festival traditionally brought forth. ZPS realized that with so many bands, even a 27" x 40" space would present a challenge to cover all the information for the festival. So the studio PrintWorks got out the small printer.

A background swirl of color, with a delicately painted frame, directs attention on the center panel where the band names are listed. Over 1000 prints were made and widely distributed through out the Louisiana Parishes. However, the inks used for printing were of a lesser grade and most posters which have been exposed to direct sunlight have faded. A mint condition "New Orleans International" will probably cost you $575.00. That was the sale price of the most recent transfer in December 2005.

New Executive Offices of the Pacific Trust Collection of Laguna Beach

Under the guidance of famed interior designer Frederika Jasen Penner, renovations to expand the inside space into the outside world of the new executive offices of the Pacific Trust Collection of Laguna Beach have been completed. Stunning views await visitors entering onto the main lobby floor. Reception, research library and conference rooms have been placed on the upper level. Executive offices reside on the middle level; while modern, state of the art, inventory storage and art restoration rooms are on the bottom floor.

Pacific Trust Collection President Karin Greene in a prepared statement:

We are thrilled with the results. A two year long process has culminated into these divine workspaces for the administration and promotion of the Collection's properties. Both employees and guests are cradled in the comfort and luxury of Ms. Penner's imagination. Her design has left abundant wall space to exhibit the best of the Company's art work.

We look forward to expanding our role in the International art community, as thousands of new artists emerge through exposure on the Internet. The new executive offices will work in conjuction with the existing PTC facilities located adjacent to the CityView Gallery in downtown Laguna Beach, California. The original office space will be used as a public workshop, classroom and as additional inventory storage.
The Executive Offices of the Pacific Trust Collection of Laguna Beach are open Tuesday through Friday, from 9am to 4pm. Please call to make a visitor's appointment and for directions to the building.

SysOps Notice 2006.03.01

Air still breathable. Push to play.
As we leave the era of newspapers and come to realize that nearly all media content is carefully edited human fiction, we are going to need a new gravitational touchstone. We do not necessarily need the truth (humans act on emotions and not logic; facts are uncomfortable), but we do need to communicate, since each generation wants its own voice to be heard.

When I was a little itty-bitty guy, I was constantly in awe at the music, novels, paintings, art that I "discovered." Thanks to the internet, that discovery process is now an everyday activity. And while technology bothers many, the ability to be everywhere fascinates me. High bandwidth inspiration. However, art and its inspiration, has to meet the art of the middleman.

Hopefully digital distribution should make the middleman an unnecessary fact, but the likelihood of scoring a marketing success in the world of popular music depends more on public manipulation than a cool tune. The exception to this general rule is the one hit wonder. Ned's Atomic Dustbin is an American one hit wonder. In their native England, they were known for more than "Kill Your Television." Get your Ipod, crank up the volume (be careful not to damage your hearing), let your ears float into the guitars and reflect on the hours and hours you live with your media.


For me, Kill's verse lyrics are a blunt request by a girlfriend to be left alone, in the chorus, the boyfriend pleads for a new vision, "soap for sore eyes". But, by the end of the song, he knows he can not compete with the manufactured beauty that can be found in the thousands of media channels. The music is a frantic drone with an instrumental center that slowly builds underneath the final chorus. If you have the volume loud enough, surf among the guitars.