Wednesday, February 25, 2009

El Vocho Marches On

Last spring, I started posting a graphic novel in progress, El Vocho, as a blog. The premise is that art boy meets science girl, they come out swingin' but fall in love. Along the way, the pair collaborates on the ultimate clean/green energy engine that runs on - you guessed it - air!

I thought I'd post the latest entry here also, to bring a bit more attention to El Vocho, but I also wanted to display it here because I drew a truly wacky thingamajig in the last panel. It is, ostensibly, an art piece by my character Eddie, but in truth, it shows that I was a big fan of both Dr. Seuss and Jack Kirby as a kid. I hope you enjoy this.







©2009 Steve Lafler, all rights reserved.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

T-Shirts 2009: Organic, Bamboo & Hemp


T-Shirt season is just around the corner, and I've updated my offerings for custom wholesale screen printed Tees.
Check the Manx Media website for catalog links to Organic, Bamboo and Hemp T-Shirts from Onno Textiles, and of course there are plenty of Organic choices from American Apparel. I can source these shirts for any screen print job, along with the usual old school cotton Tees.
The Onno Textiles shirts are super nice, but a bit pricey. The American Apparel stuff is, of course, a fitted look for the young & beautiful (young & geeky?) and is priced just a bit more than their regular Tees.

With the Obama era here, and calls from all quarters for clean & green industry, I'm starting with baby steps in that direction with my screen print business. I should note that many jobs, especially on white or light color shirts, can be printed with water base ink that is somewhat cleaner/greener than plastic based inks.

By the way, that's a picture of my son Max, it's an American Apparel T, not organic, but I just felt like stickin' a pic in with this post! It's from our small but gorgeous back yard when we lived in Oakland.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

The King is Dead, Farewell Lux Interior

Just heard the sad news that Lux Interior, singer for the Cramps, has died of an existing heart ailment.
If rock and roll ever had a king, Lux was the man. L-U-X was another spelling for the word FUN. This man rocked. He defined psychobilly to it's core. He was bad ass and very, very funny. We'll never see another like him.
All I can add right now, the most fun I ever had in my life was my first Cramps show, at the Warfield in San Francisco, on the Summer Solstice in 1990.
Lux strode onto stage in his patent leather jump suit and black high heel pumps and announced, "I heard there were some BAAAAAAAAAAAD people her tonight!".
What followed was not a rock and roll show, but a full on pagan bacchanal, just a shit-kicking affirmation of life in all it's punk rock, hillbilly glory.
I jumped into the pit and lost my mind in an ecstatic, cathartic rumble. I lost my car keys and bruised my arm. Who cares? Maybe I was aided by a couple shots of Jack, but hell it was Lux, Ivy, Nick Knox and Candy Del Mar rippin' the joint.
Fare thee well, Lux, I'll miss you big time.
My condolences to Ivy and family. Ivy you are, hands down, one of the finest guitar players on the planet.