Well, extremely sad to say, Urlo, Poia and Lu have headed for the airport. The Dark Nouveau Tour was a massive success. I miss my good friends already!!!!

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Vita, the drummer for Ufomammut, was still in town today. George and I drove over to the Mission to get him, and took him over to Alameda for a visit to Jon-Paul Bail’s house and a tour of his Political Gridlock studio. Seemed a good quiet day to chill down from the busy weekend. Went to Ole’s Waffle House for a mid afternoon breakfast and then caught a drink at the Lucky 13 in Alameda. Showed Vita all the cool posters at Lucky 13 Alameda, collected by Dan, the owner of Lucky 13, who made a special trip over to the bar just to say hello to him. Played pinball and drank a couple of good Belgian brews.

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As for Saturday night, Ufomammut and Acid King surpassed my expectations and played just amazingly cool sets, just blew my mind how good the show was. Awesome poster visuals provided by Malleus, Alan Forbes, Dave Hunter, and Firehouse. Justin and Heather played really cool music, perfect for the mood, DJ’ing into Acid King’s masterful and heavy groove. I’m still stunned at the power and grace that drives Acid King – I got swept onto their heavy freight train of metal – and dug the shit out of their entire set. Loved where they were taking me, and was all sweaty at the end.

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I was overjoyed to finally get to witness a live Ufomammut show. Urlo, Poia and Vita played heavy, groovin, doom with modulated soft sections and booming heavy over-drive. Made me so very happy to finally get to meet this side of my friends after knowing only the visual art side of them for over seven years. I’m astonished at how powerful they are with music – and enjoyed every second of their set – and will savor the memory for the rest of my life.

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Varnish was packed full of great people. I want to thank everyone for coming down and supporting the scene! I had the time of my life! Thank you to Varnish Fine Art for hosting my event!

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This morning I called Joey from Acid King to tell him thank you – to him and Lori, and Mark – for such a great show at Varnish Fine Art last Saturday night. He hipped me to Brian Lew’s glowing review of the show on Umlaut. Brian hit the nail on the head when he said, “This will go down as one of my favorite nights of the year!” I want to thank everyone who helped me organize this show and who participated and who came to have a good time.

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After packing all the gear and wrapping at Varnish at 2 am, George and I caught four hours of sleep, met up again at my house at 6 am, and drove over to Golden Gate Park, and started to set up for everyone at Speedway Meadow for the West Fest. We pulled into Speedway Meadow minutes before dawn, and found that our space had been commandeered by our good friends in the Hell’s Angels. Didn’t have a problem with that, and found good lodgings for our booth next door to good friend Chris Shaw and his wife Alex Fischer. Started to set up the table to sell our West Fest Poster Series with Malleus, Dave Hunter, me and Ron Donovan’s posters. Dave was there bright and early. The Malleus boys slept in at my bidding (since they played such a ripping rock show the night before) and Ron, who had just recently arrived home from Hawaii, made every effort to get the posters to the show, so people could get complete sets of posters.

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Going to take the day easy tomorrow. The ever dependable George will meet for coffee in the morning. We’ll return the PA to McCune in South City SF, help search for Acid King’s visual backdrop DVD (we were having a such a good time and forgot this detail), settle the poster details from the show at Varnish, return the gridwall sections, write thank you emails, etc. Take a day to recharge for designing my Dinosaur Jr poster. Think onward to two Widespread Panic posters coming in the Fall. Get cracking on The Young Gods poster. Start to play with designs for The Prodigy who have asked for another design. Schedule printing for Skinny Puppy at the Regency by Zoltron.

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Mail order that backed up while Malleus was here – Tuesday night and in the mail Wednesday

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Ah, I guess it’s back to the drawing board ; )

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Most of all I’ll shed some tears for my Malleus friends. Miss you guys. Hope you arrive safe and sound in Tortona, Italy!

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West Fest 2009

Editon of 200

4 colors on archival cream paper

20″ x 26″

Signed and Numbered

$30 + $7 Shipping

DARK NOUVEAU

Malleus, Alan Forbes and Firehouse

Artrock Gallery

893 Folsom Street in San Francisco

MALLEUS, the artist collective of Urlo, Poia and Lu, the remarkable poster design team from Italy, will be unveiling their new works and limited art prints on Saturday, October 10 at ARTROCK GALLERY in San Francisco.

Alan Forbes and Chuck Sperry / Ron Donovan of the Firehouse will exhibit with MALLEUS – each presenting art prints specifically designed for the event.

In addition there will be a live print demonstration, so you will have an opportunity to acquire an exclusive art print made for you right before your very eyes.

The event is a celebration of DARK NOUVEAU, a return to the roots of poster creation.

DARK NOUVEAU evokes equally the fin de siècle style of Toulouse-Lautrec and 1960′s San Francisco Psychedelia – and operates here as a manifesto of reinvention and revision – aimed at connecting to the poster movement of the Decadent Period to the Belle Epoque and folding it into the Psychedelic Period to the present modern global silkscreen movement.

DARK NOUVEAU opens at 7pm • Saturday, October 10 at ARTROCK GALLERY • 893 Folsom Street in San Francisco.

“Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.”

MALLEUS, the artist collective of Urlo, Poia and Lu, the remarkable poster design team from Italy, will be unveiling their new works and limited art prints on Saturday, October 10 (the evening right after the Hall of Flowers Show) at ARTROCK GALLERY in San Francisco.

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Alan Forbes and Chuck Sperry / Ron Donovan of the Firehouse will exhibit with MALLEUS – each presenting art prints specifically designed for the event. In addition there will be a live print demonstration, so you will have an opportunity to acquire an exclusive art print made for you right before your very eyes.

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The event is a celebration of “DARK NOUVEAU,”  a return to the roots of poster creation. DARK NOUVEAU evokes equally the fin de siècle style of Toulouse-Lautrec and 1960′s San Francisco Psychedelia – and operates here as a manifesto of reinvention and revision – aimed at connecting to the poster movement of the Decadent Period to the Belle Epoque and folding it into the Psychedelic Period to the present modern global silkscreen movement.

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DARK NOUVEAU opens at 7pm • Saturday, October 10 at ARTROCK GALLERY • 893 Folsom Street in San Francisco.

MALLEUS, the artist collective of Urlo, Poia and Lu, the remarkable poster design team from Italy, will be returning to San Francisco this year under the tour banner DARK NOUVEAU.

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The following events are a celebration of “DARK NOUVEAU,”  a return to the roots of poster creation. DARK NOUVEAU evokes equally the fin de siècle style of Toulouse-Lautrec and 1960′s San Francisco Psychedelia – and operates here as a manifesto of reinvention and revision – aimed at connecting to the poster movement of the Decadent Period to the Belle Epoque and folding it into the Psychedelic Period to the present modern global silkscreen movement.

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The Rock Poster Society’s Festival of Posters 2009 at the Hall of Flowers • Golden Gate Park • Saturday, October 10 • 10 am to 6 pm

Exhibiting this year will be:

PNE (Post New Explosionism: Emek, Justin Hampton, Jermaine Rogers), Malleus (from Italy), Drowning Creek Studios (Jeff Wood with Johnny Thief), Burlesque of North America, The Firehouse (Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan), Wes Wilson, David Byrd (of Fillmore East fame), Stanley Mouse, Brad Klausen, Victor Moscoso, Dave Hunter, Gary Houston, Lee Conklin, S.F. Rockposters, David Singer, Randy Tuten, Alan Forbes, Justin McNeal, Marq Spusta, Billy Perkins, Paul Imagine, David D’Andrea, Bob Cohen (Avalon co-founder), Chris Shaw, Alex Fischer, Eric King, Carolyn Ferris, Tea Lautrec Litho, John Seabury, Gregg Gordon, John Howard, Cahoots Graphics  (Dennis Loren), Ryan Kerrigan, fillmoreposters.com, Jim Pierce, Pat Ryan, Perry Pfeffer, Dano Kuhlken  (DKNG Studios), Connected Music, Larry Freeman, Cliff Yamasaki, Vince Dugar, Political Gridlock, Sherwood Donahue, Helie Robertson, Tom Hill, Kris Mikkelson and Ron Schaeffer.

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DARK NOUVEAU opens at 7pm • Saturday, October 10 at ARTROCK GALLERY • 893 Folsom Street in San Francisco

New works by MALLEUS • Alan Forbes • Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan of the Firehouse

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DARK NOUVEAU art installation at VARNISH FINE ART GALLERY • at 7pm • Friday, October 23 • MALLEUS • Alan Forbes • Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan of the Firehouse • Dave Hunter

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DARK NOUVEAU at WEST FEST • A limited edition silkscreen series celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock will be presented by artists: MALLEUS • Chuck Sperry • Ron Donovan • Dave Hunter – look for our table at Speedway Meadow, Sunday afternoon, October 25, 2009

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“AMERICAN ARTIFACT: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art”

Screening at The Roxie Cinema • 3117 16th Street • San Francisco

Sunday night • October 25 • 9:15 pm

Q&A with special guests Chuck Sperry Ron Donovan of the Firehouse • Winston Smith • Chris Shaw • Dennis Loren • Paul Imagine • Malleus