Cologne Factory Comics

Fake Album Covers For Fake Bands - Dolphin's Milk

2012-02-01T05:36:00.000-05:00

Hm. I dunno. Dolphin's Milk is a pretty bad band, but a job is a job, so I've made their record cover using one of my many found photos. If you like this band, you're going to love Second Chances #1, which you can buy online at Quimby's website by following that link. I will also sell it to you out of my backpack.

Chinese Rocks

2012-01-26T00:55:00.000-05:00

Well, Second Chances #1 is out and on the market, you can send me $11 and I will ship a limited edition, full color, signed & numbered copy to your home. Now that I finished that little bad boy, I'm working on a couple smaller projects. To let people know that I'm busy at work on these and not watching back to back to back episodes of Sons of Anarchy online while eating Cinnabon cereal and Mounds candy bars, I'm posting a little sneak peak at something that'll show up in print sometime in the Summer of 2012. Oh bless you, Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs my mother bought me in 1994 from Sam's Club for $9 and has proven to be one of the most beloved possessions in my life.

Fake Album Covers for Fake Bands - Mormon Fantasy

2012-01-19T02:41:00.000-05:00

Up to my old tricks again, yes. I am hoarding band names and making fake record sleeves. Meanwhile, I haven't actually recorded a song in about a year! I tried to the other day, to disastrous results. Band names are for sale, $50 each. I have dozens of similarly clever monikers. Maybe I will work on DJ names as well.

Second Chances #1 Premieres at Brain Frame

2012-01-17T05:12:00.002-05:00

This Thursday, Jan 19th, I will be taking part in Chicago's most exciting public comix event, Brain Frame 4. Check out the flyer above for the details of the performance. Come on out to see Second Chances performed live, and get your hands on a copy of the brand new, limited edition, full color Second Chances #1, signed, numbered, and monographed by the author, yes, Eric Rivera. And meet Tony & Grevin in person! Thursday night at 8pm! Look for this new edition the night of the event, or at fine booksellers like Quimby's.

And sometimes it's mildly appropriate to pull out these old Partyhouse TV clips, which were the inception of the Tony/Grevin enterprise. Below you'll find the last and best Partyhouse TV episode, in two parts. Andy Mills is in New York, so I have a new white guy to play Grevin, Sean Whittaker.

Second Chances - Jan. 11, 2012

2012-01-11T07:16:00.002-05:00

Here's the end of chapter two. Sorry for killing so many characters. I'm going to work on some new stuff for a little while now. Getting a little sick of these guys.

Second Chances - Jan. 10, 2012

2012-01-11T06:46:00.000-05:00

Fake Album Covers For Fake Bands - Jan 5, 2012

2012-01-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

Here's the new release from made up band, Arab Slums! Immortal Biker is twelve non-existent tracks from the mind of elusive field recording artist Oluf Bjarnfkard.

This is very silly, I mean I really, really do have other stuff I should be doing right now.

Second Chances - Jan. 3, 2012

2012-01-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

Here's the newest Second Chances page. I decided to kill one of the main characters. I also got a new red just for this scene, so expect more blood in the future.

Logan Square Literary Review

2012-01-03T15:28:00.001-05:00

That's right, I've got an ink and watercolor illustration in this fine Chicago publication. They sell them at fine bookstores like Quimby's, etc. This is what the new issue looks like:

Second Chances 12/24/2011

2011-12-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

Second Chances 12/23/2011

2011-12-23T14:26:00.000-05:00

Oh Gawd...Best Music I Heard In 2011

2011-12-23T02:12:00.001-05:00

I always want to do a Best Of music list each December, but I swing back and forth between being too lazy, and too dismissive of any computer use that's flagrantly time-wasting. As if my time is so supremely important. Anyway, I just have to make one for 2011, after reading Andy Mills' list. His picks are all recent releases, but I miss a lot of new music, so I'm just using the "added on" dates from my iTunes to look through things I bought or downloaded in the past year, and whatever has the most hits, wins. Also, I almost never have an album listening experience, I just use a little ipod mini, so I'm just doing favorite tracks, which makes sense in the modern era.

Does anyone give a shit about my favorite songs from 2011? If your rampant internet consumption is anything like mine, you probably will read this whole thing. So I'll try to do a good job. Top ten, I guess? Or until I get bored and go get more ice cream. I'm giving up all sweets in 2011 to stave off the diabetes which runs in my family and which I'll never afford to monitor in our horrible economy, so this week I am truly binging. My gut is already hanging over my belt. In no particular order...

1. Bill Callahan, Drover

This record came out about a week before I moved back to America from England, and was the most poignant listening experience I've had since I bought Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca for the week I toured Tokyo a few years ago. This song is perfect to me, and I was shocked as always at just how weird Bill is getting as I listened. Weirder with every album. Suddenly he's inexplicably quite funny, now? Also this is the first song I ever heard that made me think proudly of America.

2. Amen Dunes, Lower Mind

I just got this record, Through Donkey Jaw, which is on Sacred Bones. For whatever reason, everything about the whole record is perfect to me, even though most people probably won't dig this too much. It's lo-fi and messy, so whoever likes that sort of thing, he does that just right. I think the guy is from New York, but he lived in China for several years.

3. Nobunny, I Am a Girlfriend

Another very new one for me, though I think this song is actually a couple years old . This song is perfect and catchy, a good one for riding the subway in your leather jcket, but most of this guy's songs are pretty lousy, honestly.

4. Sleeping Bag, Slime

I love this god damned song so much. My old pal David Woodruff is in this Bloomington, IN band and they seem to be getting press and lots of hits, etc. I hope they come play in Chicago sometime.

5. Amanaz, I Am Very Far

This is a Zambian psych-rock album that came out in 1975. This song is so fucking chilled out and was very good to me this past summer. A lot of the record is recorded all out of tune, but this song is just right.

6. Radiohead, Little By Little

Oh right! Radiohead put out my favorite record I've ever heard from them. Finally trumping Amnesiac. This record is so great, I don't even listen to any of their old stuff anymore. My friend Adair was all tripped out about how there's two very separate beats going in this song, which I hadn't noticed til he said something, and now I'm always listening real hard to the percussion when I hear this one. The thing this record has really done is ruin cheap digital effects for me. They take so much time crafting completely precise and original, almost...organic keyboard tones and effects, that when I hear someone just throw a digital reverb or flange on something now, it almost grosses me out. Thus my contnued obsession with very lo-fi bedroom recordings, which tend to be so noisy they hide the cheapness of the effects themselves...I guess tape hiss and roomsound is preferable to bad computer effects, to me. My room i so fucking cold.

7. Tinariwen, Cler Achel

This is a few years old but I discovered them this year. I posted a live version of this song. The original is great, but in this video they kind of slow it down a little and it really grooves, plus you see how unbelievably cool these guys are. The band has been together for like 30 years, they're politically radical nomadic Algerians. Look at his turquoise electric guitar. His haircut. His desert-hardened face. The white performance robes. Listen to his playing style. There is nothing else like this on Earth.

8. Fosdyk Well, Slumber

What do you call this stuff? I feel like there might be a special genre name. It's goth folk for lack of a better term. Pretty strange. My old pal Scott Ferguson, another Bloomingtonian, wrote this album. He's a social and political radical who doesn't use the internet. He's very funny and silly, but these songs are very, very dark. My friend Sean recorded this incredible record, put it out, and now he has to ship copies of it to Italy and Germany all the time. They like this sort of thing.

9. Creedance Clearwater Revival, Someday Never Comes

Ugh. This is embarrassing, but I am doing this list by my set rules. Being from Indiana, CCR reminds me of asshole young men driving around in minitrucks and cranking Born on the Bayou while pounding on the dashboard to the beat, and going either to the mall, the Portage 9 Cinema to see a horror movie remake, or to a girl's house to lie on top of each other while watching DVD's for ten hours. This particular song fell into my running regiment over the summer, and I nearly reached euphoria several times while listening in 100-degree heat and wondering how the fuck I was going to get out of Indiana. What a pretty song.

10. Sammy Cropper & His Wire Connections, Mensonomu

And here it is, really, my favorite record of the year. I found it on some Nigerian Highlife fan blog, and have listened to it about 300 times. Perfect for long fast runs, but also for working or writing. Every song is perfect, strange, intricate, beautiful. Sammy Cropper is a session player in lots of Ghana Highlife records, especially a great band called Vis-a-Vis. This, however, is his only solo release. It's so much more magnificent than anything else he's ever played on that I've heard. I don't know too much else about him, but this is one of those instances in African music where it unknowingly overlaps with the most radical kinds of modern Western underground music (I think he uses home-rigged synthesizers, for example). I dunno, if I can stress one thing in this travesty of a time-waster, it's to download this one here.

Have a happy New Year and a very blessed anniversary of the birth of the American Saviour, Lord Jesus, both the Son of God and a god in his own right, I guess. That shit is so confusing. I have successfully refrained from saying Merry Christmas even a single time this year, by the way. Isn't that great? Happy holidays.

Farm Girls - "Getting Along" Music Video

2011-12-03T21:15:00.000-05:00

Well I have gone ahead and made a new collage video for my fake band with Pat Thurber, Sundowners. Although obviously, Sundowners is a real band, which was signed to Drag City, so now I went ahead and changed the name to Farm Girls and have made this video because I live out an extended adolescence with as much free time as I have ever enjoyed in my entire life.

Shot by Rivera

2011-11-30T03:49:00.000-05:00

Pete Voakes in the Magic Tricks practice space, Gowanus, Brooklyn

Men's Little Games

2011-11-29T23:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a rough first page for a new idea I have about two men who become enemies and rival clients at a very high-end BDSM dungeon led by Mistress Tanja. It might be very, very stupid. I also might not ever do more than this one page. Who knows?

Second Chances

2011-11-22T03:28:00.000-05:00

I posted this a bit hastily last week, I had to change a few panels that looked like shit so here's the baby, folks.

Shot by Rivera

2011-11-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

Shannon on Division Street, Chicago

Second Chances

2011-11-10T05:25:00.000-05:00

Shot by Rivera: St. Boniface Church in Chicago

2011-11-09T21:19:00.002-05:00

St. Bonaface was built between 1896 - 1904. It's been abandoned and responsibility tossed back and forth between the city and the Archdiocese for more than two decades now.. The community continually refuses to let the building be demolished. Currently it sits empty across the street from a park harboring both organized sports leagues and the occasional gangland-style shooting, most recently about one month ago (a man randomly shot in the groin around midnight on a warm Friday). Sometimes there are drunk crum-bum looking older guys sitting around out there but I think they're all pretty peaceable. As usual, it's the teenagers committing the most violent crimes. So, if in the area beware all teenagers of any and all background and race, if in groups of 3 or more. That's always the safest bet.

I was inspired by David Hanus' photo shoot in the church with a Chicago band. My shots didn't turn out as good as his (I think the settings were a little questionable on my ancient Canon A1). One morning I ducked under the fence of the church and conspicuously crossed the stoney lot to the back end, which looks like it's been blown out with dynamite, or at least a demolition crew or wrecking ball.

Most of the time I kept my cool inside, and explored pretty deep into the church, but at a certain point I heard some weird noises and saw shadows (turned out to be pigeons fluttering around through the broken out windows) nonetheless I was spooked.

I got out of there pretty quick after that. Last time I went by, they'd re-sealed the fence, and a middle schooler was inside, you could hear him destroying things, his little gang waiting outside for him, clutching their rubber masks. It was Halloween. I told them they should all go in the church but not to break anything or do that stupid-ass tagging. Then I saw a man get run over on his bike. I didn't get any pictures of that, though! Dummy!

The church will now apparently be turned into a senior living center early net year, a symbolic responsibility the building will hold in literally keeping alive Chicago's link to the past. Both architecturally and biologically.

Shot by Rivera

2011-11-09T01:55:00.000-05:00

Peter, age 36 Northampton

Second Chances

2011-11-05T02:15:00.000-04:00

Well here's some more for you trembling fans, hunched over your laptops, drooling, eyes like two little dried up raisins, checking and rechecking the Cologne Factory blog for new comics about adults, by adults, for adults. Yes, this one is for you. Probably I'll have even more up next week. The "x" key on my computer is completely broken, just that one fucking key, miraculously, and when I copy an "x" and paste it from somewhere else, it usually changes the font. I have tried to change it back but the computer won't let me. Computers have ruined everything.

Second Chances

2011-11-04T14:37:00.001-04:00

Well, well. I still haven't found a new scanner, but I did decide to go down to the Kinko's this morning and use their grossly over-priced little PC computer lab. Things are coming to a head in the Second Chances alternate universe. Grevin Cole may or may not be getting dangerously close to a young woman's drug-world. Tony Renzetti has been getting sexually abused. Not sure why I decided to go there. Thanks to Wally Krinkle's storyline I get to draw a bunch of cars. This is a universe I participate in more than the actual universe. Although I did have a nice, long & indulgent Halloween weekend. Here in the actual universe of Chicago, Illinois. Here is a picture of myself as Crackula and Sean Whittaker as a costume contest-winning Wolfman peforming a Monster Mash/Crocodile Rock medley which promptly cleared out most of the room:

Shot by Rivera: Nike Base Special

2011-10-20T01:14:00.001-04:00

Here's a satellite image of Portage, Indiana's potentially historic Nike Missile Site, a completely abandoned and overgrown former Cold War missile storage facility which closed down in 1972. The above image is interesting to me because it gives a good idea of the kind of meaningless and formless living Hell, fringes of society land I grew up on. No shops, no sidewalks, no downtown, few houses, no kids, no friends, no nothin'. But this isn't the place to unload all of that pent up neurosis.

My house was one rural "block" down the road from this bit of land. This past summer I decided to go pay the Nike Base a visit, which I hadn't done since I was about 11. At that age, I was completely obsessed by UFO's, Close Encounters, Alien Abductions, Paranormal Activity, Ghosts, & Exobiology. I became convinced that the flooded underground missile storage area of the base was actually an underground UFO storage base, that the site was only meant to look abandoned, but in reality was being monitored closely by men in black (this is far before the Will Smith vehicle popularized the term, and I was truly afraid of "MIB's.") I kept files at home with notes and theories on the Nike Base, labeled "The Nike Base Files." My friend John helped assemble these files, and once called me, describing breathlessly that many of the war veteran adults in his family seemed to know something about the Nike Base they were unwilling - or unable - to reveal. "Don't go pokin' around there, you don't need to know nothin' 'bout that place," they had warned him.

Within a year of this phase I discovered masterbation and all of these completely bizarre and worrisome proclivities were replaced by the constant, fervent self-pleasuring that our dilapidated American Middle Schools foster. My recent visit to the abandoned base was only the second time I've been there, because growing up on a busy, narrow, and dangerous rural road frequented by aggressive/fat/insane drivers meant I was unable to leave the confines of my family's half acre of perfectly manicured, astro-turfed grass, and playing with other kids was mostly forbidden in our family.

Exploring these buildings was pretty scary and I kept expecting to find dead bodies, because Portage is definitely the kind of place where people be cutting up other people and hiding the bodies in weird spots. All I found was a deer skull but the picture didn't turn out so look at these rotten old rooms, instead.

Shot By Rivera

2011-10-20T00:38:00.000-04:00

Gary & Robert, Portage, IN. 2011.

Old World featured in Out Of LINE

2011-09-25T18:37:00.005-04:00

I have some color drawings in a new abstract art show called, "Out of LINE," as curated by Jane Georges, a Chicago artist and chocolatier. The rules were for work to "explore line through the eyes of graphic disorder or submission," which was a heady description, and went on to suggest a style called surrealist automatism. Here's a famous and surely very valuable example below, made 78 years ago by Andre Masson, a surrealist French painter who was condemned by the Nazis when they occupied France as a "degenerate," because of some erotic drawings, thus he fled to America. At the airport, American officials confiscated a small pile of erotic drawings hidden in his luggage, and ripped them all up and made him watch. What in the damn world. He ended up heading back to France eventually and now I can look him up on the internet and write a little report about him for my slathering fans. Anyway, I realized after I saw his drawing there that it looks like the same drawing technique I used for these pieces that are in Jane's show. So perhaps you'd like to come on down and get one of them for like a cool hundo! All proceeds go to Wax Breast #1, the fundraiser to allow me to memorialize myself with these filthy little comic stories I've been working on. Honestly, I'm getting sick of working on Tony and Grevin, I just want to kill all of those characters in a car wreck and have them float around in the afterlife for a while, and then maybe start a completely new story, set in an androgynous future ghetto or something.

Here's my work, which is based on an old drawing I did as a 9 year old kid. It's called Old World, I posted that one last week.I already did that and then made that little banner above, and now as I am at the thirty minute mark of putting together this post, I realize what an internet schill I am, pumping this carefully crafted information into the ether for free, valuable man-hours spent glamorizing myself! Come see them in person! at The Prak-sis Contemporary Art Association and Gallery, on 1917 West Irving Park Rd in Chicago. Use the internet maps. Or use the internet blog videogame young adult arts & crafts sites.

Here's another one. Drawing these gave me a migraine, which I hadn't suffered in almost a year and almost thought they were behind me. What a terrible phenomenon to happen to people, and I can only hope, even; yes, pray, that they don't increase when I get old and sick. I will also trade these drawings for musical instruments & hardware, or valuable books, so truly, come one come all. The gallery itself is very interesting and a cool part of the community, and some of this work is very, very edgy and completely ballsy, very penetrating stuff. No suddle stunts here, people (said in aggressive old NY Jewish PR woman voice).

Shot by Rivera

2011-09-14T01:02:00.000-04:00

D N R trains in Gowanus, Brooklyn. 2010.

New World, 1994

2011-09-13T22:28:00.000-04:00

I finally found this again: one of my earliest pieces of saved art, drawn with mechanical pencil aged 9. I held onto this over the years, thinking it was a really good little piece, and it's something I've never really been able to re-create, these little bio-mechanical Aztec bird/jet creatures.

Shot by Rivera

2011-09-13T21:22:00.000-04:00

NYC's Michael T. at the Bowery Poetry Club, circa 2007.

Lost Gloves Music Launch!

2011-09-13T03:02:00.001-04:00

Well I have been meaning to post these new illustrations up all week, but I've been out in the big city setting myself up to become a full-time Chicagoan, with a job and a room and everything. Somewhere in that whirlwind of activity, Lost Gloves officially launched their new EP, Now Face East, as a digital download, and the website features my special illustrations. Each of the six fantastic new tracks features a watercolor drawing with selected lyrics. I'd recommend going over to their site and listening to Brooklyn's new shining star of the indie rock circuit. They've been playing some really good shows lately, so do keep an eye on them. And lookie here for more of my silly shit coming soon, deep-dish Chicago style/hot dog with lots of toppings style/misplaced homo-erotic obsession with failing sports teams style.

Fake Album Covers For Fake Bands

2011-09-06T16:59:00.000-04:00

Here's my old fake band, Cologne Factory. I found this photo in an abandoned storage shed in South-Central Texas. A hoarder at heart, finding this shed full of junk was like a little fantasy, and the best part of my road trip to California in Jan 2007 with Tristan, Rich and Becky.

Fake Album Covers For Fake Bands

2011-09-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

My new hobby is making fake album covers for fake bands. Sundowners is a fake band I'm in with Pat Thurber. But now The Sundowners are a "real" band on Drag City, which is Will Oldham's label and thus really cool, I guess. I know I greatly admire that strange little man.

Anyway, I will keep making fake album covers for a little while because I'm addicted to being on my computer.

Second Chances

2011-09-06T04:50:00.000-04:00

Back to it.

Shot by Rivera

2011-09-05T21:48:00.000-04:00

F train guitar player in 2007. Just before this guy had gotten on, I was on another car where a bum had pooped his pants, and there was a huge stinking puddle at his feet.

Shot by Rivera

2011-09-04T22:13:00.000-04:00

I took this picture in April 2007 in Manhattan. I'd only been living in the city for a few months, and it was just starting to warm up. I worked at the bookstore on 2nd Ave. and 33rd street, and on my lunch break, I used to walk around looking for pictures to snap (which is how I got this one), and eavesdrop on the truly crazy and often obnoxious people who seemed to be lifelong residents to the area. Once, I followed a couple in their sixties for many blocks, while they had a screaming argument, the woman shreiking and screaming, "why don't you love me anymore?!" as the man shrugged and told her to leave him alone. The woman kept beating on her chest and trying to block his way, and it was so weird to see because they just looked like normal old people, and it was something like 10am on a Tuesday.

The bookshop was just down the street from Bellview Mental Hospital, and patients would get day passes, and tended to spend a lot of time in our store, making messes out of the Metaphysical, Manga, and Sex sections, masterbating in the bathrooms, and in general providing one more insane aspect to my very bizarre new life in the city.

Abandoned Water Park

2011-08-29T11:36:00.003-04:00

Illustration by Sarah Rivera

Splash Down Dunes was a waterpark I went to as a boy, growing up in Northwest Indiana in the 1990's. In 2002, a business dispute between the two owners resulted in the park being closed down and left to rot, and today, it still stands, ready to be explored, the slick and dangerous slides begging, whispering, pleading, "pull off the highway and sneak in here! Climb all of this dangerous stuff!" I was nervous about stumbling across a corpse on my first visit, maybe some unfortunate thrill seeker who'd broken through one of the sun-baked, brittle water rides.

This area of the park has the most skateboarding potential, but be warned of

the wasps in the left-side bowl, where I was swarmed and stung.

Since no one gets out of their cars in Northwest Indiana, or indeed, has any reason to be interested in an abandoned waterpark (as it doesn't involve fast food or Facebook), Splash Down has remained relatively unscathed - lying on the outskirts of Michigan City, the area is yet another sprawling rural community, with isolated houses surrounded by huge safety zone motes of perfectly manicured, astro-turf grass. Small, ranch style homes cap the center of each property, like nipple fortresses. Very few houses, no sidewalks, and being butted up next to US Route 20 mean that there are few children, and those nearby teenagers who've obviously laid claim to the park by their spray painted curses and broken glass, haven't managed much vandalism beyond that.

Suck Your Own Dick

Currently Porter County is trying to sell this park and turn it into a real thing again, so I guess the whole place remains salvageable, and playing on it is safe enough. My big goal is to go there during a rain storm and try the steepest slides. I hope they never sell it and it remains this great secret hangout and skatespot for me and whoever spray painted "suck your own dick" on the dolphin statue. If you're interested in checking it out yourself, you can park across the street from the entrance, in their old giant gravel park lot. There's so many weeds, you can kind of hide your minivan back there. One of the front gates has been torn off, so enter there. One time I drove past and there were two cops sitting there, so be aware of the one real risk that is always present everywhere you go in Northwest Indiana - not the citizens or the environment, but the police.

Second Chances

2011-07-16T02:30:00.000-04:00

Chuggin' along.

Apatani Woman

2011-07-01T02:00:00.000-04:00

Kayapo Man

2011-06-30T03:43:00.000-04:00

Here is a drawing I did of an Amazonian Indian. These guys aren't really doing this anymore, but incredibly, they still were a couple decades ago. I might do another portrait like this tomorrow, right now I need to get back to my J-Boy hip-hop videos. Ugh. Here, watch a video of this incredibly handsome Amazonian man:

Mursi Woman

2011-06-28T02:56:00.003-04:00

This is really something, these lip plates. It's pretty weird that this is the pinnacle of beauty in another culture's aesthetics, but much stranger is that these same lip plates appear in several ancient cultures around the world, including some particular Amazonian tribe, amongst males. Why do so many disparate groups practice this same body modification?

Second Chances

2011-06-27T02:34:00.000-04:00

Second Chances

2011-06-22T20:24:00.000-04:00

If you read the first chapter of Second Chances, you've been on the edge of your seat for the past couple months, wondering what is going to happen to everyone. Here's a sneak preview of things to come. Red the Trucker gave Tony Renzetti a pill that has him suddenly hallucinating. We'll take things from there, more to come soon.

Second Chances Part Two Preview

2011-06-21T01:46:00.000-04:00

Here's another new page from the upcoming chapter of Second Chances. My computer is starting to be all sluggish and glitchy and it made me so mad just now that I bit my left pointer finger really hard, and simultaneously remembered suddenly that I used to do that in elementary school, bite my finger in anger. I'm gonna go ahead and try really hard to not re-develop this totally bizarre and creepy habit.

Human Skulls

2011-06-18T00:39:00.000-04:00

Here's some skulls I drew. I found some diagrams of the skulls of every race of man, and I was thinking about doing a series based on those, like Australoid, Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid skulls, etc. All the races, you can kind of see their features in the skulls, it's pretty neat. This is drawn from a caucasoid skull. So.

More Jurassic Park

2011-06-01T14:26:00.000-04:00

A new piece for the DDISORIENTATIONN show at the Northampton Fish Market.

Potheads

2011-06-01T00:17:00.000-04:00

Here's a junky old Potheads strip that I found in a sketchbook today--I didn't use it for anything because it looks pretty crappy, but it's kind of funny I guess. Something about that greasy, full-lipped fat man from the third panel really grosses me out.

Goofy Collage Poems

2011-06-01T00:02:00.000-04:00

So this is a funny game to play, where you make a poem out of old children's schoolbooks. I made this one a while ago, but I just found it and the poem, to me, is just striking! Try one of your own sometime. I don't do collages very often, and this one is pretty sloppy, but that poem boy, I like that poem...

Jurassic Park

2011-05-31T01:11:00.001-04:00

Here's a new Jurassic Park panel I just finished, which is for the Northampton Fish Market Art Happening, DDISORIENTATIONN. Here's Ben Foot's incredible poster for the event.

I've got a load of dinosaur art to be featured in this spectacle. Damn, lookit that poster he made, it's gorgeous.

Internal Combustion Engine of Variety

2011-05-30T02:07:00.003-04:00

I've been developing an unhealthy obsession with bad cable access television, perhaps sparked by my return to Northwest Indiana this month. That's probably because of the cable access show I was a part of over a decade ago, as a horrible, fat high school dickhead. I found a cd with the intro and outro to the first terrible episode of The Internal Combustion Engine of Variety in my parent's basement. It's not funny or interesting unless you're Pat, Andy, or myself, but I will throw it on my blog for the ten Hungarian superfans who seem to be following my site (or one SUPER super fan checking ten times daily). Anyway, there's a lot more content coming this week, but this old video ought to tide you over, a real trip down memory lane. Once you're done with your video trips down MAMMARY lane, fellas. Before you watch, let me also mention that the first song is a very early Pat Thurber original composition, which is pretty impressive in comparison to the rest of the video.

And here's some of my favorite cable access clips that I've been watching lately from around the USA. God bless you all.

This guy is a complete fucking idiot:

That'll do.

Cologne Factory Music

2011-05-25T13:38:00.000-04:00

I've made a fake music page for my fake band's fake EP, Jungle Court. You can go there and download five classic Eric Rivera songs for free. The photos I used are from an Icelandic newspaper from the 1930's called the Falkinn. Keep on the lookout for new Cologne Factory songs coming soon.

Old Books for Hoarders

2011-05-17T12:21:00.001-04:00

I've added a lot to my weirdo collection of old educational books lately, mostly at the local Indiana thrift stores but also at garage sales, that I figured I should start featuring them on the site gain. I know people mostly aren't into this, but just appreciate some of the hip and artistically minded design that you never see anymore. Children's text books that look like Swedish film posters from the 60's. Do kids still read? I'm really not even sure if they do.

Middle School Comics

2011-05-17T02:35:00.000-04:00

I just found these comics I made when I was 12. Obviously they go straight onto the internet. I was so miserable at that age, these mean little comics about my classmates are kind of indicative of how I was feeling on the inside.

Willowcreek Middle School lunch: 4 candy bars?

A Celebration of Adair

2011-05-17T00:33:00.003-04:00

Cologne Factory - Gold Everywhere (Music Video) from Andrew Adair on Vimeo.

Andrew Adair is a filmmaker from New York City and also one of my best and oldest friends. Last week he blew through town here in Northwest Indiana, and we spent a couple days shooting a music video for Gold Everywhere, a hit track by my one man band, Cologne Factory.

Adair has been making his shorts for years now, so I thought this was a good opportunity to feature his newest music video, along with some good old shorts that I've been a part of over the past few years. Adair is a true talent, and he has a real artistic vision. Good ole O'Dair.

Man Under the Bed (One) from Andrew Adair on Vimeo.

USA! USA! USA!

2011-05-13T17:46:00.000-04:00

Hello! I was just starting to get lotsa HITS on this blog, but then I moved from the UK to the USA, and that took up a lot of time and energy. Now that I'm settling in to Indiana, it's time to reclaim some of you internet addicts who've inexplicably been surfing Cologne Factory.

I haven't even been doing a ton of drawing lately, so for the time being, I'll put up some work from other people that loosely ties into me.

First we have a Labour Club video shot by Andy Skank in Northampton. I played there with a completely captivating solo performer named Laura J. Martin, and Andy put up a video of my little show, featuring three whole songs!

I've also got to show you a new comic by Andy Mills of NEW YORK CITY. He's doing a series called Genius Plaza, which is what we named our house in college when we shared bunk beds and dabbled in alcoholism and psychedelics. You can visit his blog to see more.

That's all for today, but I think I'll have some more junk to share this weekend.

Video Junk

2011-04-06T14:09:00.002-04:00

Clever, too clever, or not clever enough?

Mills

2011-04-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

Andy Mills put up a little comic page which is quite pretty and also has the vibe of the Matt Furie characters in his Boys Club comics. I sure like the last panel of his comic here, great muted colors.

2011-04-03T22:30:00.002-04:00

Here's a bonus panel from next issue, for all the fart knockers out there who demand more from the Second Chances series. That ought to appease the Ukrainian fans-that's right, someone in the Ukraine has been giving Cologne Factory hits. I really want the Africans to get involved next.

29 March Racehorse Sketch

2011-03-30T21:29:00.000-04:00

I drew this over at the Racehorse pub on half price ale night, in my favorite drawing spot. You end up having to draw these same damn guys from that seat every time, but last time we sat on the other side of the bar, and it meant we were constantly accosted by super-drunks. The seat with this vantage is a bit more discreet.

Second Chances Part Two Preview

2011-03-29T15:41:00.000-04:00

I've been working on the second chapter of Second Chances, which is good because I've definitely gotta crank up my output in 2011. The last chapter took months and months, but if I can keep up the productivity I've had this week, I'll have another full issue of Wax Breast finished by Summertime. Ah, blessed Summertime. My heart swells for her. That is very sincere.

So this is a preview to keep you all on the edge of your computer desk seats. I really like spending what feels like a long time on inconsequential side characters, because for one, I would get bored just drawing Tony and Grevin over and over, and for two, I like trying to develop seemingly generic characters (like two plodding street beat cops) in as short a time as possible. Like last issue when I did a little scene where two librarians share a short conversation. I dunno, maybe everyone does this...I haven't read that many comics. But it's pretty fun. If your idea of fun is painstakingly rendering shitty little cartoons all by yourself in the middle of the night while listening to the Adam Carolla podcast...you mean that doesn't sound fun to you? What if I told you I chuff away at cigarettes in my bedroom all night while I work, so all my possessions stink? Still no? Well fine, dummies. Have fun with your group activities and sports and sex and proper dinners. I'll be drawing basically fat old versions of myself over and over again in my room, then meticulously posting them on the internet.

Slum Party

2011-03-06T21:58:00.001-05:00

Well this Saturday was a big success, I played with an electronic musician named Matt Riviere, which made for a less than compelling band listing (look honey, two men with very similar names. should we go to this or just go see DJ's? ...DJ's it is!!!) In the end though, we had a really wonderful crowd come out for the continuing Slum Party musical showcase series curated by Chris East and Aimee Holmes.

I was also selling copies of Wax Breast like hot cakes, so those loyal fans will obviously be featured first and foremost here! Thank you very much for that, guys!:

Andy Skank had his HD Flip out and got some good clips of my performance, too! How great, I know I'll personally be racking up lots of hits for his Youtube account as I watch myself over and over. You can too:

And I got some pictures of Matt Riviere to share with you as well. I really enjoyed his performance. He had a lot of complicated looking equipment and the songs were a little bit spooky and sort of like a good version of Blank Dogs in a way. You all know about Blank Dogs obviously, because everyone loves researching obscure and not even particularly good underground indie music. Check out Matt Riviere here.

Jack Parker is a Northamptonite with a really good music blog, and he did a review of the show which is a lot better than my manic, self promoting, run-on sentence writings, so go to Power Chord for more on about this very special night.

Racehorse Pub Sketch 2

2011-03-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

More time spent drinking room temperature ale at the Racehorse. The Racehorse is a really well lit pub that sells half price local ales on Tuesday and almost never has women in it.

Wax Breast #0 For Sale

2011-02-27T19:58:00.003-05:00

Wax Breast #0 is a comic collection I've assembled, and it's for sale at just £5/$7. That's 22 full color pages, in a limited edition run of 100 signed copies. These collector's items are already flying off the shelves, and into the greedy palms of Northampton residents in the KNOW. If you live in the USA, I'm not totally sure I'll figure out how to sell these to you, but hopefully I can figure out a Paypal system soon - I'll keep you posted on that.

Aside from buying them from me, out of my backpack, this brand new adult funny book (and it is adult - this book is filthy) is available exclusively from Skulls & Robots, the friendly neighborhood art shop in the Northampton Fish Market Arts Centre.

And if you buy this book, you'll be immortalized on this very website! Here's the first glamour shots!

Office Artwork #2

2011-02-18T17:46:00.000-05:00

This flyer for the now defunct Brooklyn band Magic Tricks actually astounds me. I think I spent 3 solid days working on it at an old job a few years ago. Astounds me because it really did take that many hours to meticulously cut out all those pictures of rubber masks (the original Photoshop file must've had 50 layers to it), it astounds me because the idea is so good, and it's completely astonishing that the only copy in existence is a tattered old printer copy that I just scanned in. No one saw it then, and no one will see it now.

Also here is a prime example of why the New York music scene sucks so badly...a Tuesday night show for $7? With four randomly chosen bands? At a venue with beers that cost as much as the entry? No wonder everyone just wants to go see DJ's. Thanks, New York.

Comic Strip Workshop #2

2011-02-18T16:12:00.001-05:00

Ah man, I really should've posted this earlier in the week as it's happening tomorrow afternoon, but lately I've just been phenomenally lazy. Here's me snapping out of it and inviting you out for the second Comic Strip Workshop at the Labour Club, February 19th from 2-4. 5 quid to join in and make some comic book art. The last one was a blast, hope to see you there.

Racehorse Pub Sketch

2011-02-05T12:14:00.000-05:00

NEW Garbage Boys/Trash Boys

2011-01-24T17:30:00.002-05:00

There's a new cast of characters I'm working out at the moment...

Wax Breast

2011-01-20T17:21:00.013-05:00

Office Art Work #1

2011-01-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

If you've ever worked in an office, you know how easy it is to start making stupid drawings. sometimes i've really been pleased with the clever pieces that have come about through sheer desperate boredom and the ever present panicky paranoia. This first piece is by Greg Gangemi, I'd been collecting the Alpha Rabbi posters I'd find in Brooklyn, and Greg and I both liked ICP. He titled the pieces "Violent Jew" and "Shaggy Jew Dope." I'll put up some of my own Office Art later, let's give it up for Greg Gangemi to kick off this soon trail off mini-series.

Potheads Triumphant Return

2011-01-17T20:32:00.000-05:00

I always like these guys I draw that sit on a couch and occassionally mention in passing their horrible domestic situations before asking for more peanuts. They'e pot addicts and they dibble and dabble with heavier stuff, too.

Pointless Dream Comics 2

2011-01-17T20:18:00.000-05:00

NEW & FREE Mill Son Comics

2011-01-17T19:12:00.003-05:00

More masterworks by Andy Mills & Eric Rivera

Mill Son Comics

2011-01-17T18:44:00.006-05:00

Here's the first new panels to come up in a while, thanks to Alex lending me his extra scanner. These were done recently as a collaborative effort between myself and Andy Mills. We would pass the paper back and forth for each new panel, trying to put the opponent into illustrative and authorial pickles. Because obviously this was a competiton, although we both seem to be winners in the end, because I think these are hysterical. They're pretty gross, because we'd been drinking whiskey and chuffing away at cigarettes all night for these.

More coming soon...
-Eric R

There you have it folks, the way of the law. Keep on the lookout for more Mill Son comics, I'm going to post a panel up soon as a public challenge to Andy Mills.

Sundowners Downloads

2011-01-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

In 2010, Pat Thurber and I recorded a handful of songs tat I think we were both really pleased about, I listened to one of them 67 times on iTunes, it says. Not to count my running sessions where a few of them came in handy. We named the "band" Sundowners and made band tshirts and recorded for a week in Michigan, also we got into party mode and drank gallons of beer (they should just sell beer in plastic milk jug gallons, shouldn't they?) and took some pills meant for people with narcolepsy, which kept us manning the Mankindness Recording studio when we weren't playing beer pong with teenagers down the road or walking to the Sandbar, the only bar you need (or have) in La Salle.

Go download the songs on the new Sundowners site.

Comic Workshop

2011-01-16T09:35:00.162-05:00

Well yesterday was the Eric Rivera Comic Strip Workshop, which was a rousing success. Kids came out to draw, so did adults, actually. The adults draw better than the kids, but the kids have power in numbers, and all of them had some very strange and creative work by the end of the session.

Ryan did a panel set in 2065, featuring the very best watercoloring of the day. The robot rust was particularly clever painting.

Alfie and Jemima did the old "take turns drawing comic panels" game, and the outcome was a beautiful one page comic titled "Why You Should Never Jump In a Man's Beer," about a little monster character who jumps into all the beers in a bar and gets shot out of a canon. They also had some really good sketches, see below.

Yes, Joe staked out the cushioned leather seat and cranked out, without pause, the sharpest looking drawing style you could ask for. Hopefully you can make out the text here, Joe's a comic genius and so it's quite clever.

Andy recounted to Sarah the violence that sprang up, which everyone was quite alarmed about, since we normally have pretty relative peace. Unfortunately the no good teenagers (as opposed to the normally friendly ones we seem to see for the weekend music) came out and managed to really ruin the night for everyone, not just the handful of lovely people working hard to run The Labour Club, the Midland's best live music club anywhere in Europe. So if the guys who decided to kick off like a bunch of male hens put in a pen together are reading my comic and video blog, I'll tell you now, assholes, if I see you, I'll make sure I'm trying to get you into jail where you belong, and there's a lot of guys I know who will put you in even more immediate danger than that. Some a these boys don't play. And I ain't playin.

Sarah has a very nice style. She really likes a lot of color, and will add so much paint sometimes that while I watch her do it I think yikes, she's gonna mess that up, but in the end they come out like this stunning piece. The bottom panel with the flipping hair looks like it could be a shot from an anime film...and let's just compliment her nice style of dress as well! Very good hat. I made her stand in front of a wall of scrap pages I had in a box. I wanted to have some visual examples to show people who might like tips. Only somewhat helpful, but it also looked really cool.

It was Barney's birthday weekend, he stopped by for a look, but I did not wish him a happy birthday. And I WILL not!

Lewis is seen here on a break from his modern art masterpiece. You could probably blow that up and sell it on a hip tshirt! Anyway, come out for the next Comicking Session in February. I forget the date. I'll ammend that later.

Eric Rivera's Comic Strip Workshop

2011-01-13T19:30:00.000-05:00

Short notice indeed, but this is an event worth rushing out last minute for. This Sat 15 Jan, come to the Fish Market for a comic book workshop led by Eric Rivera. £5 to join in, drawing materials will be provided. Learn some helpful tricks and tips if you're interested in making comics, and do some healthy networking with other artists in Northampton. If you're under 12 years old, it's likely that you should skip this one, and avoid most people who like to draw comics in general. Come out from 2-4 pm, and enjoy the afternoon with us.

More Gumby, Please

2010-12-28T19:15:00.001-05:00

with whale song soundtrack? good call, gumby creator, whoever te fuck you might've been

How About This One, Pat

2010-12-22T23:20:00.000-05:00

I'm Bored

2010-12-19T18:27:00.000-05:00

You won't be bored when you watch this performance from smug little muscle man Iggy Pop. From BBC, of course.

Fish Market Comics Up

2010-12-17T17:09:00.001-05:00

Hello, here's a some pics of my comics that are on display at Fish Market Art Gallery, for the Chrismas Advent Calendar Show here in Northampton. You should go see it, there's a few top notch displays already, with more surprises to come.

These are new comic characters, which came about just for this show, and I'm now expanding the story to make something a little more substantial for the imaginary comic book I'm always flapping about.

Long Haired Country Boy

2010-12-14T19:40:00.000-05:00

I know all the words to this.

Ike & Tina

2010-12-14T19:31:00.000-05:00

This is quite an old clip, so the sound is a bit garbled up, but I kind of like the effect on this strange video. It looks like it's filmed in a basement with spotlights, and somehow it's just really, I don't know, urgent. Anyway, she's so good at singing. I guess Ike used to beat her up or something? Right?

Cologne Factory

2010-12-14T14:19:00.003-05:00

I'm testing out to see if this'll work, downloading music from the blog for free? How does that sound, fans? Here's a song called Slow Blow, which I recorded in England this Spring, 2010. It's got bassline made with a slowed down guitar, and cardboard bo percussion, and lots of little guitar parts, played on a badly tuned guitar. That's what the kids like now, right?

Cologne Factory - Slow Blow

2010-12-12T20:31:00.002-05:00

The backup man-dog singers are truly amazing. So is this woman singing, Jesus fucking Christ.

American Video Clips

2010-12-12T20:29:00.003-05:00

This looks like something that could be on Tim & Eric, really.

American Video Clips

2010-12-12T20:22:00.001-05:00

This video is so, so wierd. The shots of the audience are the point that I really lose it. Something about Dave Dudley I just find vile- when he squints as he sings, his little smirk, the fact that he doesn't actually play guitar and the band is mostly hidden, the pre-commercial country pop macho posteuring. And he looks like an old grey man dying his hair and rolling around town writing songs about driving cars, dressed only in shirts with costume collars.

But then there's this cover of the song, and it's just too good not to like when the Flying Burrito Bros play it. I dunno, they just seem like good guys, right?

American Video Clips

2010-12-12T20:15:00.000-05:00

The way the guitar player does his solo and looks into the camera grinning is just great. A fine song. Porter actually almost looks like Bradford Cox.

British Video Clips: Dire Straights

2010-12-06T06:36:00.001-05:00

Nothing fits with this singer, which I like: that voice with that face and body, that kind of guitar playing...basically, he looks young and horribly dorky, but this is such a cool song. Good for him!

Garage Rock

2010-11-26T11:00:00.000-05:00

Jay Reatard...

Good Flyer for Upcoming Show

2010-11-10T20:37:00.000-05:00

A guy named Ben Foot made this flyer for the show I'm playing with some really good UK bands on 3 December at The Labour Club. Never used my Christian name for this sort of thing before, but it's a dynamic name, it's got a good ring to it, and I feel alright about that.

Anyway, Ben Foot does comics and stuff and has a website, but I don't know who he is, I'll have to figure that out, if he lives in Northampton. It's kind of Peewee's Playhouse-ish.

American Video Clips: Scared Straight

2010-11-05T18:13:00.000-04:00

"If you ask us what it's like to hear a man screamin', cuz four dudes is fuckin' him in his ass, we'll tell ya bout that too, cuz we hear it every day."

Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic

2010-10-22T14:07:00.000-04:00

Pick up the Oct/Nov issue of Dodgem Logic, I've got a comic on page 44, pictured left. That's me with the lazy eye as soon as I take off my glasses. If you live in America, you could order the issue online here. It's a particularly good issue, aside from my comic, so buy them suckers up.

Sing Song Showcase 3 Nov at The Labour Club

2010-10-21T20:50:00.000-04:00

This 3 Nov, sure to be a nice clear and crisp autumn evening, come out to the new Sing Song Showcase at The Labour Club, where one English pound gets you a night of rustic acoustic performances. Pick a card for special musical direction in this experimental open stage. Play a song you wrote. Win a drink. Meet your soulmate?

Come find out this 3 Nov at 8pm, Labour Club.

American Video Clips: Charles Manson

2010-10-19T20:49:00.001-04:00

Cologne Factory on Nice Kitchen

2010-10-05T09:21:00.000-04:00

Nice Kitchen is a new web series Andrew Adair is making in Brooklyn. He came into Northampton last month and filmed Cologne Factory playing Funny Funeral.

Rum Live

2010-10-01T14:19:00.000-04:00

Very Sharp Gumby Intro

2010-09-04T08:27:00.001-04:00

2010-09-03T07:17:00.002-04:00

Cologne Factory Performance a Success...?

2010-09-02T12:05:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday saw the debut of the new Cologne Factory band. The Storyteller and Joel Harries also performed. THis was the first time I'd seen The Storyteller, and I was glad he was on the bill, it was a nice transition from Joel's perfect and gorgeous songs to the absolute mess that was Cologne Factory. Not to say The Storyteller is halfway to being a total mess, but it was nice to have the ambience raised a bit from Joel's somber performance. Not to say Joel is TOO somber, etc. Is everyone as sensitive as I'm making them out to be? Joel was great, Storyteller was funny and good, Cologne Factory was a trainwreck that people luckily seemed interested in watching unfold, wet and gasping, into this world. Neither Matt nor Henry quit the band, so I think we'll be playing again very soon, hopefully at a house party? Does anyone need a band to ply in their kitchen? We're most comfortable playing in kitchens.

Cologne Factory Live at The Labour Club Aug 28th!

2010-08-13T08:13:00.000-04:00

Cologne Factory is playing Sat. 28th August (that's me with a backing band). The show is free and there are some great artists also on the bill, The Storyteller and Joel Harries, two of Northampton's finest. Come see at The Northampton Labour Club at 9pm.

Grevin & Friends

2010-07-20T09:35:00.001-04:00

Livingstone In Africa

2010-07-20T08:34:00.000-04:00