SIDEBURN MAGAZINE # 10 LAUNCH PARTY

Tomorrow night in Liverpool! Friday 16th March..... I got two features in this issue!
If you are in town or nearby....get on over...we got the new mag, shirts, live bands, great DJ's and pre and after-parties at Fids house

FRANK SIDEBOTTOM FUNDRAISER MANNEQUIN



Better late than never....here's a project I did last summer during the six months or so I wasn't blogging.
The idea was to make a life-size Mannequin of Frank Sidebottom to help raise awareness of the Statue Fund to raise money for a bronze statue in Timperley village (6 feet outside Manchester)

 I took Franks head (there is only one in existence) to CNC ROBOTICS where I do freelance set building for their sister company LIVERPOOL SCENIC WORKSHOPS. They kindly 3D scanned the head and then machined a polystyrene replica for me to use as a base to create the head.
I sealed the polystyrene with pva glue and the painstakingly rendered the entire head with a thin but tough layer of car body filler. facial features the nose, lips, hairline and ears were sculpted and then sanded until they blended in.

At this point I also started to work on the body. A shop window dummy was donated by fellow Frankophile Alan Woods. Unfortunately, the dummy was tall, slender and gazelle-like...NONE of Franks attributes. I decided to modify the standard dummy to resemble Franks vital statistics. This involved shortening the arms, legs and 'cutting and shutting' the torso. That went very well so I decided to now reposition the arms utilising plastic plumbers 'elbow joints'. Again this worked out surprisingly well so I took it further and remodelled the left hand, cutting and repositioning each digit into the 'Thumbs Up' sign. I pinned it all together with short lengths of coat hanger wire.
I sourced an identical suit on ebay for a max bid of £11.37...which I won, spent £4 on the shoes in a charity shop and had a genuine pink tie previously worn by Frank and then passed on to me as a member of Franks backing band THE OH-BLIMEYS.

I'm really bad at painting and the plan was for Martin Sievey (Frank/Chris's older brother) to do the painting..... however this didn't happen for various reasons so I decided to apply the paint myself. I'm more than happy with how that turned out. Working for Frank/Chris for the last 5 years leading up to his death I even knew which particular brand of paints to use and their code numbers.....Chris even imparted a couple of tips on techniques he used to achieve the desired affect.

I'm very proud of my work and whenever the statue is on public show, folks seem to love it.
It is currently on display at Alans shop in Wigan and is scheduled to make an appearance at FRANK-FEST in Manchester on Saturday March 31st. Headlining is THE FALL also THE STAGS are on the bill and will play a couple of Franks best loved songs in the set.



THE WIGAN INVASION

Its Soundflat Records 10th anniversary party in London very soon. Both my bands THE STAGS and THE SHOOK-UPS are on the bill.....said I'd never play in both bands on the same night.....but hey ho....hopefully it will be fun

AMERICAN SKATEBOARDER

Jason Adams makes a custom print of Duane Peters

ROLLERBURN

Everything is starting to fall into place for this upcoming event.....it's gonna be a hoot!

Say something with Billy Childish

Looking forward to this lecture by Billy Childish about German pop artist Kurt Schwitters next Thursday.

Venue is the Islington Mill, Salford and is part of the "Say something" season....

Billy Childish and Tracy Emin

Unbelievable footage from 1997 of Billy and Tracy publicly deconstructing Billy's writings about their relationship in Billy's "novel" MY FAULT.
If you are familiar with the history between these two, then it makes compelling viewing.

DON POST CALENDAR MASKS

FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER

THE CREATURE

GORILLA

THE HUNCHBACK

THE MAD DOCTOR

THE MOLEMAN

THE MUMMY

METALLUNA MUTANT

THE PHANTOM

THE WOLFMAN

MR. HYDE

DRACULA

Here at Full Frokkul Fiasco it's Halloween every day of the year! and to labour the point here is a fantastic collection of latex masks from DON POST STUDIOS.

These particular masks are commonly known as "The Calendar Masks". They were released in 1966 and as a marketing ploy, each of the 12 masks were showcased in a full colour calendar available through FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine. Unfortunately, latex doesn't age very well and not many have survived. Original examples, in good condition are highly sought after and sell for big bucks...

The Calendar masks were re-issued in the mid-nineties and can be picked up for a reasonable price but as with most things, the revamped version pales into insignificance compared to the 44 year old originals.

Another negative with the re-issues is, because they have been cast off the originals(the factory molds are long gone) the new masks are somewhat smaller and therefore can't be worn and are classed as display only.

However, it is possible to force the mask over a small childs head for a quick photograph....like we did one time a few years back.....sorry Jake!!

Duane Peters...update

Our thoughts are with our good buddy Duane Peters, who has been fighting to not lose his left leg after developing a serious staph infection following a bad slam on a skate tour last month. GoGo Lou emailed Duane yesterday and got a reply.....He is in good spirits and feels he's turned a corner in the last few days. Doctors said his leg has to grow some "new meat" in order for it to begin to heal and if this didn't happen soon he was facing amputation at the knee. DP has gone back under the surgeons knife very recently and signed a document to allow them to take the leg off if necessary. If amputation was to be the outcome, he told the docs not to bother making the stump to take a prosthetic limb saying he was gonna go back to boozing and "go pirate with a wooden peg-leg".

He ain't out of the woods yet but the gap in his leg has started to close up a little..and that's an improvement!

Above are some progress pics of the wound and some pics off Ebay. Duane is selling some of his art and personal skateboards to help to pay off some crippling hospital bills. If you feel you wanna bid and help raise some cash take a look on Ebay HERE

Update 20th October 2010:

Here is a post from earlier today over at Duanes facebook page....

just noticed all the cool donation sugestions.I dont think I,m cool with that tho,but thank you all you radsters.cant go to jail for oweing I dont think,I just gotta stir up the shit instead of siting in it I think,so I,m burning A disc with all my last Shoe ideas & even tho the market is soft I,m gonna look for someth...ing.when my son clash told his class his daddy was a shoe maker for a living the other day it made me start to think about it.no real offers yet but I'll wash dishes ,Tap dance or what ever I gotta do till shit happens. ive allready done the bum thing,begging aint my style no more.Clash gets his tonsils out friday so I hope it dont rain that day,gonna ride motto up to LA to see him,coreys brother cherokee has been going to bat for me during this whole fucking last ordeal of mine. I guess some shit sold on ebay.I will be able to give her half.I,ll sell garage junk next weekend & next till I can tap dance on the road in 3 weeks.rent got paid.Gonna work on just staying sober & healing for now.More people way werse off than I ! You ROCK ME ! Thank you Friends for even wanting to help out,much Love.

 

DRASTIC PLASTIC

Earlier this Summer I picked up a big box of assorted AURORA MONSTER MODEL KITS. I had all these kits as a child and unfortunately administered all the usual "melting with a magnifying glass/ air-gun/ fireworks" torture routines. In the 90's, I picked up all the re-issues and these remain mint boxed but it ain't the same as having the originals. I parted with 4 pounds at my local car boot sale for a rag tag, mixed up collection of various tiny kit parts that I recognised  from 20 paces. These kits are the real deal and I have a hunch they could even be 1st issue from the mid-60's. The series was re-vamped in the 70's with various"Glow in the dark" pieces such as hands, heads, rats, bats etc. and not one of the myriad of parts in the box were glow parts. After an hour or so sorting the parts out, I discovered I had a totally complete FRANKENSTEIN(my favourite) and almost complete DRACULA and THE CREATURE. The rest of the kits are AURORA PREHISTORIC SCENES including a WOOLY MAMMOTH, T-REX, TRICERATOPS and a bunch of CROMAGNON MEN / WOMEN

"I dont give a damn about my bad reputation......!"

My mate Jamie went to see JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS in London on Monday night.

She played the 100 club, which is a small intimate venue......and he told me she was really great!!

Bad reputation, Crimson and clover, I love rock 'n' roll along with Cherry bomb and other Runaways songs.

Tonight she is playing Manchester supporting GREEN DAY at a stadium gig at Old Trafford Cricket ground....Wilky #99 was going and told me there was still cheap tickets available....I declined his offer...I reckon the Monday night small show woulda been a better bet and anyways I seen Green Day before..Ha Ha!!

Here is something on my shopping list....it's a Joan Jett official Barbie doll....

Here is a couple of promo vids for "Bad reputation" and a cover of Gary Glitters "Do ya wanna touch me"

THE ORIGIN OF "SKOOTER FARM"......

On my recent trip to Finland I saw a lot of bicycle choppers being built. This made me think back to a project that me and Capt. Highside did between us back in the summer of 1995.

The Captain was actually recovering from a broken foot that was the result of his first and only vintage motocross race and to fill his downtime he began playing around with some old cycle parts.

When I saw what he was doing, I got involved and like most things I seem to do, the project "snowballed".

The Captain did all the engineering and I took care of sourcing parts, paint, cosmetics and graphics.

This bike was christened "Subversion" and I came up with the name SKOOTER FARM CYCLE CONCEPTS...little did I know this name would stick and that over a decade later would be the moniker for our fledgling dirt track team.

People ask me a lot what the name means..... so I'll try to explain:

"SKOOTER" is an outlaw biker term for a stripped down, purposeful motorcycle. Originally spelled "scooter" I decided to change the spelling to disassociate the word from Lambrettas and Vespas.

"FARM" is a word that suggests homegrown productivity, dirt, agriculture and hillbillies.

So I guess the jist of it is..... motocycles built in outhouses and then ridden around in fields by inbreds!! ha ha!

Anyway, back to the bike, the frame and forks are a heavily modified, stretched Raleigh Burner.

The front wheel was from a unicycle and the rear is from some old moped. Other trick parts are a Mongoose Supergoose stem, one-off custom seat, faux-springer forks and the bullet head light and tail light.

The little guy sat on the bike is the Captains nephew, Tom, aged 9, up at Sunday biker hangout Rivington Barn when the bike was first finished.

SICK SIDEBOTTOM......update

This is a piece of art that Frank did. It's called "Me as me after chemotherapy" and just sold for £480 on EBAY. The money is going to Christies Hospital charity.

Here is the message that went with the auction:

hello fantastic fans,... frank sidebottom here,...

and after finding out that i've got bobbins cancer,... the world has gone potty !!!
(see my "oh blimey" blog on www.myspace.com/franksidebottom )
I've had loads of press,.. offered loads of interviews and telly,...
and they are playing me loads on the radio !!
which is just what i had in mind for the month of may,.. as I celebrate 25 years in fantastic
semi-professional showbizness this month,.... but maybe not quite the way I planned !!!!
Anyway,... what you are bidding on here is a ace drawing I've done in the "me as,.." series.

*** it's "me as me after chemotherapy" (ha, ha !)***

it's signed dated and stamped and comes with a copy of the "metro news"
which I will also sign to the winning bidder.
I've started the bidding at 109p,...
(as you can get a 109 bus to wythenshawe hospital)
and postage is 11p worldwide
(as you can also get a number 11 bus !!!)
happy bidding,... and bid as much as you like,..
as I'm giving all the money to cancer research,... (that's good !)
best regards

frank sidebottom

www.franksworld.co.uk

Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler....

This is a picture that hangs on the wall of the British Legion in Wigan. This was the host venue for last weekends Sideburn Magazine launch party.

Davida helmets kindly brought along a selection of images from the MOTO-PHOTO exhibition and diplayed them on the British Legions walls.

In order to do this, the existing picures hung on the wall had to be removed. It felt like the right thing to do was to leave this picture up and include it in the gallery. the new caption reads:

"Warrington-on-Sea Home Guard"  Dad's Army.

Private Sponge aka Colin Bean (far right standing) appeared in every episode of the popular tv series "Dad's Army" between 1968 and 1977. A local actor and author from Wigan, Colin was a member at this club for many years and a patron of many local arts groups. Colin sadly passed away last year.

Photographer unknown. Submitted by Dennis.

PUNK ASS CAVEMEN

Ben Part from Sideburn Magazine sent me this picture. I think it is one of the images from the Davida MOTO-PHOTO art show that is gonna be in Wigan on Friday, 26th March for one night only.
For more details go to www.davidamotophoto.com/

Self help literature

Advice on how to tackle the credit crunch and improve your financial situation.

The Stags....first show of 2010

Just confirmed!

I can't say too much about this just yet but The Stags are to play a show in Wigan! The date is Friday March 26th.

The event is the SIDEBURN MAGAZINE #5 LAUNCH PARTY!

The Stags are in alliance with a new regular night, ROARING PSYCHEDELIC OCTOPUS, hosted at the British Legion Hall and is hopefully the first of a series of Stags shows in Wigan for 2010.

It's gonna be a 'Cross-Cultural Extravaganza' with some other really cool stuff going on.....I will post full details of the proceedings as they are confirmed.....

Target practice......

Picked up this funky military practice target at the car boot sale over the weekend.

'DIRT TRACK IS AN ARTFORM'....

Here is a full set (so far) of SIDEBURN magazine, numbers 1 to 4. This really is the best 'Go Fast, Turn left' magazine in the world! The mag is masterminded by Gary Inman (pictured above) and Ben Part.
When you consider the subject matter in the magazine, i.e. dirt track motorcycle racing, predominantly an american pastime, it's kind of unusual that the printed word for this activity... is based in the UK!
What's even more unusual, is the mags acceptance by the U.S. dirt track community, both old and new, as the mouthpiece for all things dirt track.
I am not just making an assumption here...I witnessed it first hand.
Last September, I went to the Indy and Springfield Mile races. I took some copies of issue #3 to give to Chris Carr to sell at his race tent, which he did in about 2 hours. I don't like to name-drop but some other guys who are amped on SIDEBURN are Jared Mees, Rich King and Dave Aldana, just that I know of.
It's not just the racers who dig it either. We got talking to a coupla older guys in the stands, when Sideburn came up in the conversation. They had heard all about it but not actually seen it in the flesh, so to speak. I gave 'em a copy and some stickers and they really liked it.
I feel that part of the magazines charm, is the skewed angle it comes from. I don't think you will ever see race results in its pages, nor classified ads. It's fair to assume SIDEBURN won't run ads for products that have little or no relation to dirt track/flat track. It is not purely focused on the winners circle....it has just as much interest in the supporting cast... the folks that limp, that live and breath oval racing, no front brakes,steel shoes, big, wide bars and square number plates.
The writing and photography have a timeless quality to them....Issue #1 will have just as much relevance as issue #20 in 10 years time.
Now I don't want to put words into Mr. Inman and Mr. Parts mouths, but in my opinion, for what it's worth, I believe the magazine takes the stance that dirt track is an 'artform'.....Put the competion element to one side for a moment.... the very act of riding a certain kind of motorcycle, in a certain kind of way, at a certain point in time.... when it's popularity has been in steady decline for many years....is a noble thing to do.
Please don't think I am insinuating that the mag is yet another 'retro-rag'....nothing could be further from the truth. You may well see features within the pages that take a look back at dirt track's rich ,100 year history but they will be right next to articles on todays young racers.... like Sammy Halbert and Brandon Robinson.
Sideburn is a 'specialist' magazine that somehow manages to appeal to people who don't neccessarily ride motorcycles,own dirt trackers or even go to the races. It is able to convey all the excitment and ritual, without getting too bogged down in the mundane details.......People seem to just get the 'grassroots artiness' of it all! It's a labour of love....

Issue #5 is due to drop late March and will be available in some discerning stores worldwide, or online at http://www.sideburnmagazine.com/

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