John Lennon play-by-play from my 1980 calendar

December 8th:


and happier days, back in June, after Junior High:







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The Beatles, 007, and Christie's Pop Culture Sale

From Christie's 

SALE 9467 LOT 91

The Beatles 

A brass Apple paperweight, hollow and cast in two parts with removable stem, presented to attendees of the Apple Studios opening at 3 Savile Row, 30 September 1971
5½in. (14cm.) high

SALE 9467 LOT 49

Thunderball, 1965 James Bond's specially modified Breitling Top Time wristwatch used in Thunderball, 1965, the watch composed of a stainless steel chronograph timepiece, by Breitling, Ref. 2002, case no. 984343, manufactured in 1962 and then modified, the black dial with applied baton hour markers, luminous hands, sweep centre seconds, two subsidiary dials for constant seconds and 45 minute registers, and outer silvered tachymeter scale, in circular case with two chronograph buttons in the band, case 35mm wide, case and dial signed, mounted in glazed water resistant type case with screw down bezel and case reverse, by Valley Tool Company, 47mm wide, signed V.T.C., made for Sean Connery as James Bond in the 1965 United Artists/EON Productions film Thunderball

Lot Notes

The first ever specially modified watch issued by 'Q' branch to James Bond, the timepiece was equipped with a 'Geiger-counter' to detect radiation. Equipping Bond 'in the field' in Nassau for his mission to find two NATO atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE, Q explains here we have a Geiger counter, useful and unobstructive, the sweep hand takes the radioactive count, it's waterproof of course, to which Bond sarcastically responds, but of course. Besides the Rolex Submariner, the Breitling Top Time is the only other model of watch that Sean Connery wears as James Bond.

My paddle is up for these two British crown jewels.

 See this Wednesday's Pop Culture auction catalog here.

h/t Paul Gorman

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A/V Magic Show from 2ManyDJs

 SOULWAX 'MACHINE' from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

Under The Covers Vol. 1 from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

Under The Covers Vol. 2 from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

Under The Covers Vol. 3 from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

A multi-layered animated phenomenon.
Have a great weekend!

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Flying Colors

Linda's egg jeans , Gerber sneakers, a vintage Fischer lullaby toy, and The Beatles.

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Wary Meyers City Posters

The first four posters from a total of 12 cities which I drew earlier this year for a travel series. As alluded to in the last post, we're super excited about these, in particular all the logotypes. Typography is a big love of ours, and when we can incorporate it into a project we're all the happier. So here are the first four. Coming soon are SF, LA, DC, and Dallas.

The posters are 19" x 24", printed on 100lb. smooth Bristol paper, signed. $55 each, in our shop

The New York poster owes a lot to the work of Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast, with a little Tadanori Yokoo thrown in at the bottom. It started out as Massimo Vignelli Subway lines coming worm-like out of the apple, forming the frame, but later I changed the bottom lines to lox coming out of the bagel. But then we changed the line colors, since , although kind of funny, all-salmony didn't look that great as a border. And a lot of food worked its way in, mostly after drawing the bagel, then we had to represent the hot dog and pretzel, and all the eggplants and ugly tomatoes.

Miami's logotype is based on Ettore Sottsass' Superbox wardrobes. No relation to Miami, but it was the shortest city name and I the boxes would be nice and bold. Plus I've always wanted to make my own Superbox, modified into a monogram. The view is an artistic-licensed South Beach, with a couple Stilt houses in Biscayne Bay, the Bacardi buildings, a little Mondrian, and the ubiquitous rooftop cranes. The two curved graphics at the corners of MIAMI represent the sun, while the two at the bottom are tanned boobs, in a blue cutaway-bikini-top.

Seattle is overall a little more sci-fi/Moebius influenced. We wanted the logotype to be sort of rock n roll, and I was listening to a lot of Paul McCartney and Wings at the time (and still) which may have influenced the design.  Coincidentally Wings' big US Rock Show kicked off at the Seattle SuperDome. On the right is a giant Peep looming behind two towering onions. Probably the most accurate rendering of anything in Seattle is the outline of Mt. Rainier in the background.

London is my favorite. I love the red telephone booth type, and yet another Beatles reference in the Yellow Submarine spreading its colour along the Thames.

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A little Heinz Edelmann inspiration

How awesome would it be paint an actual wardrobe like this one from Heinz Edelmann's masterstroke Yellow Submarine ?  This is just a 5-second non-sequiter scene from near the beginning, but look how great this room is- white go-go boots, Hockney-esque rattan chair, Biba-esque Nouveau Deco everything else. But the dressing table and the wardrobe are the best. I'm on the lookout...

Related: Our half painted Lichtenstein dresser from our book,



and Jessica Lange, 1976:



...also a giant fur and purple leather King Kong hand would be a pretty awesome chair.

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A Relic From a Different Age

Our (my) newly acquired Wings sweater by The Ritva Man- one of only 5 black ones ordered by Paul McCartney from Mike Ross in 1975 for the Wings Over the World tour. Very 70's, very Ritva, and very glam rock- designed like a sports/concert t-shirt but made with flashy silver Lurex yarn, and a thick embroidered Wings logo designed by Hipgnosis.

More about The Ritva Man (our friend and recent visitor Mike Ross who's absolutely the coolest 70-something year old you could ever meet ) here. And if you're in London anytime, be sure to pop over to Surrey and check out The Lightbox's show Snap Crackle and Pop: British Pop Art meets the High Street in the Swinging Sixties. Writer Paul Gorman has a great preview of the opening night on his blog here.

...and just in from the encylcopediac mind and scanner-like eyes of Greg Allen is this awesomeness from the late Tony Curtis' closet: Three Ritva Man sweaters worn so much that the labels are unreadable, including a blue Wings, all three on the block at Julien's Auctions, Sept. 17th: No bidding against me...

Thanks Greg!

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Magneto and Titanium Man

Have a great weekend!

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ノルウェイの森

Norwegian chimney sweep.

 Equal parts Japanese Kanji character and modernist bird, it's one of my favorite objects in our shop.
Also it could be a model for a great spiral staircase, or very cool parking garage.

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Ram On

Actually it's a goat, hangin' out on the back of this Lopez Designs stoneware planter from 1975. This is perhaps the coolest piece of pottery I've seen in a while- so Southern California-70's. Look at that logotype!
One of the new additions to our shop.

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Bear Up Bison!

Our old and good friend Vinditto at the brilliantly resplendent The World's Best Ever kindly asked us to contribute a mix tape to their amazing catalog of Sound Advice. While we're no djs, our mix starts off somewhat autobiographical (except for Makin' It- I thought it was about makin' it) and then segues into a melange of what was most often in the tape player/on the passenger seat.

Click the boom box and enjoy.


Sound Advice 71: Wary Meyers

01. Streetbeater Theme by Quincy Jones

02. Boy/Girl by U2

03. Makin’ It by David Naughton

04. Sexy Eiffel Towers by Bow Wow Wow

05. Shack Up by A Certain Ratio

06. Me And My Arrow by Harry Nilsson

07. Only You Can by Fox

08. Monica by The Kinks

09. Stacey Grove by Tyrannosaurus Rex

10. Junk by Paul McCartney

11. History Lesson Part II by Minutemen

12. Fearless by Pink Floyd

13. On The Way Home by Neil Young (from “Live At Massey Hall”)

14. American Tune by Paul Simon (from Greatest Hits, Etc)

15. Red Sleeping Beauty by McCarthy

16. Post Modern Girls by The Strokes & Regina Spektor

17. Bear Up Bison by Big Dipper

18. Loch Ness Monster by Big Dipper

19. Moon Shadow by Labelle

20. Ma Ligne De Chance by Anna Karina

21. For Lovers by Wolfman and Pete Doherty

22. Grazing In The Grass by Hugh Masekela

23. Roxanne by Sting (from The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball, 1981)

24. Message In A Bottle by Sting (from The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball, 1981)

25. Tonight You Belong To Me by Bernadette Peters and Steve Martin

26. Wild Mountain Honey by Steve Miller Band

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The Ritva Man

Allen Jones

David Hockney

Goat's Head Soup

Patrick Hughes

Liz Frink

 We were looking up something on Christie's London website and came across a treasure trove of awesome Ritva Man sweaters which were auctioned off a couple of weeks ago. I've had the bottom photo of Allen Jones in an images folder for a few years but never new the yarn behind the sweaters until last week. 

From the V&A website:

The knitwear business Ritva (1966 - ca.1980) was started by Ritva Ross, who had the idea of using crochet squares to make a dress, and her husband Mike Ross. The first designs were ordered by Annacat boutique in South Kensington. One was purchased by Lee Radziwell and appeared on the cover of Life magazine in November 1966. Having rented a flat in Chelsea which doubled as a workroom and showroom, Mike and Ritva Ross built up a network of out-workers using hand-operated frames.

The firm offered a limited number of styles but allowed customers to have garments made up individually in a range of colours and patterns. The brand was first publicized in Nova magazine and sold through stores and boutiques in London and in the U.S.A.. In 1969 Mike Ross started the Ritva Man label with sweaters inspired by baseball uniforms, and a Ritva boutique was opened at 8 Hollywood Road, Chelsea. Ritva knitwear was heavily influenced by popular culture and contemporary art and introduced innovations such as the knitted minidress. Mike Ross collaborated with David Hockney, Allen Jones, Elizabeth Frink and Patrick Hughes to produce the limited edition artists collection of sweaters. A Little Ritva label for childrenswear was also started and commissions were undertaken for the film and music industries. Mike and Ritva Ross separated in 1977 but Ritva Ross continued to operate the Ritva business abroad until ca.1980.

Michael Anthony Ross was born in 1936 in Portland, Maine, U.S.A. and was educated at Syracuse University. He settled in London in 1960 and attended the Royal College of Art painting school from 1963-1964. In 1973 he launched the Bear Creek General Store at 10 Hollywood Road to sell imported traditional American goods.

Ritva Ross (née Tera) was born in Helsinki in 1941 and moved to London in 1961 where she attended the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts. Prior to starting Ritva she also worked as a fashion and showroom model."

The collage of labels on each sweater is a little work of art in its own right as well. 

All photos are from Christie's except the Goat's Head Soup Ritva Man, which is from the book Vintage Rock T-Shirts, and Allen Jones & friend.

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