Kings of Concert Posters: Uncle Charlie

Clowns, spaceships and Pop Art collide in artist's colorful creations
By Peter Lindblad

Pantera White Zombie
1996 Original Silkscreen
Concert Poster Uncle
Charlie S/N

Flying machines have always fascinated Houston artist Charlie Hardwick, better known by his pseudonym Uncle Charlie.

The son of a Navy man who, for a time, was said to have piloted blimps and dabbled in oil painting, Uncle Charlie has always pushed the boundaries of Pop Art. Dreaming up explosively colorful scenes of insane absurdity, with bright, psychedelic scenes that harken back to the '60s, Uncle Charlie is fond of incorporating spaceships and other types of aircraft, along with his beloved cartoon images, in incredibly vivid and vibrant works.

Renowned for a style featuring striking outlines and surreal fractal landscapes, Uncle Charlie has gained a reputation as a uniquely talented concert poster artist. Major music acts such as U2, The Who, Metallica and Radiohead, to name just a few, have sought him out to produce artwork promoting gigs in venues around Houston and Austin.

Today, some of his handbills can go for as low as $5 to $13, while prices for many of his gig posters may range from $40 to $80, although some will fetch around $130 to $150 and others might push beyond $200 or more. Here's a gallery of some of his finest work for purchase: http://stores.ebay.com/Rock-On-Collectibles/Uncle-Charlie-Posters-/_i.html?_fsub=3340828&_sid=70220124&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

Known for being humble and soft-spoken, Uncle Charlie, has persevered despite serious vision problems. Legally blind since 2003, Uncle Charlie continued to produce mind-blowing artwork long after, building off his acclaimed work in concert posters and commercial packaging designs.

Love & Rockets 1996 Original
Silkscreen Concert Poster
Uncle Charlie Art S/N

Born and bred in Houston, Hardwick started out playing in bands such as Blunt and local hardcore heroes Dresden 45 in the mid-1980s. While attending the University of Houston, he made a crucial decision not to waste his time with introductory design classes, instead switching to the Art Institute of Houston.

With the help of a musician friend, he found work at a design firm, where he stayed for 15 years as a senior designer. His commercial art graced products by Coke Food, Imperial Sugar and Minute Maid, but corporate downsizing in 2008 left him without a job. That led him to do more work with bands, although today Hardwick has immersed himself in doing more fine art.

On the side, for years, Hardwick had been moonlighting doing art for bands. In the late 1980s, he met the legendary concert poster artist Frank Kozik. Serving as Hardwick's mentor, it was Kozik who taught him a few tricks and encouraged the man who gained fame as Uncle Charlie to follow in his footsteps.

A few years later, in the early '90s, Hardwick was hired through a Cleveland gig poster broker to do a Smashing Pumpkins piece for a Houston-area concert promoter, Pace Concerts, that has long been one of his favorites. There's also a beautiful abstract piece he did for The Cure that so impressed the band that they asked for additional copies. Before that, he did fliers for all kinds of acts, but eventually, he settled on doing poster art, and the results speak for themselves. Below are works representative of Uncle Charlie's art.

The Who 1997 Original
Silkscreen Concert Poster
Uncle Charlie Art S/N

Weird Al Yankovic
2000 Original Concert
Promo Handbill Houston
Uncle Charlie Art

Foo Fighters 1995 Original
Silkscreen Concert Promo
Poster Uncle Charlie Art S/N

U2 PJ Harvey 2001 Original
Promo Concert Poster
Uncle Charlie Art Var 2

Kings of Concert Posters: Chris "Coop" Cooper

Devil is in the details for this renowned and rebellious "Lowbrow" artist
By Peter Lindblad

Steel Pole Bathtub 1995 Jabberjaw
Original Concert Poster
Silkscreen by Coop

To say the irreverent artist known as "Coop" – his real name is Chris Cooper – has a way with women is a massive understatement.

With devilish glee and an appreciation for bold colors and kitschy imagery, he seems to relish creating titillating scenes of scantily-clad, voluptuous women in lascivious poses, although he's also widely known for works featuring a smiling Satan chomping on a cigar.

In the forward to Coop's 2001 book "Devil's Advocate: The Art of Coop," Robert Williams writes, "Coop doesn't exploit the occult metaphysics of satanic malarkey. Why should he? This gifted wonderboy is the devil himself."

Those wanting to see more of Coop's art should hunt it down, seeing as how it boasts a treasure trove of reproductions of his posters and stickers and other assorted memorabilia. Or, to own one or more his pieces, which generally range in price from more than $100 to $500, check out http://stores.ebay.com/Rock-On-Collectibles/Coop-Posters-/_i.html?_fsub=3340762&_sid=70220124&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

Born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1968, but now living in Los Angeles and working as a hot rod artist, Coop fashions himself as the "Insensitive Artiste." With a wicked sense of humor, Coop made his bones coming up doing ads and illustrating album covers for the similar-minded indie record label Sympathy for the Record Industry and its leader Long Gone John Mermis. Other artists whose work graced Sympathy for the Record Industry material included Williams, Todd Schorr and Mark Ryden.

Green Day The Riverdales 1995
Original Concert Poster Silkscreen
Art by Coop

Eventually, Coop made a connection with famed concert-poster artist Frank Kozik, whose influence on Coop's work is fairly evident, even as Coop developed his own unique style. Along the way, Coop became a go-to artist for some of the biggest alternative-rock acts of the '90s, doing posters for Green Day, Nirvana, Soundgarden, the Reverend Horton Heat, Lords of Acid and the Foo Fighters. Those signature "femme devils" he's so fond of are often seen on various stickers, usually plastered on cars. That, more than anything, has made Coop's art a cultural phenomenon.

Again, in that same forward, Williams writes, "It is with this kind of exposure that the name Coop has come to typify art for many people who like visual stimuli." Often, Coop is associated with the revolutionary visual art movement referred to as "Lowbrow," also called "pop surrealism," which exploded in the Los Angeles area near the tail end of the 1970s and is laced with a sardonic sense of humor that gained favor in underground comix, punk rock and hot-rod culture. And he is held in high esteem in the Kustom Kulture community.

In 2004, Coop released another book titled "The Big Fat One," which contains more than a thousand sketches. Another one, "Idle Hands," was published in 2012 by Baby Tattoo Books and is a collection of his fine art created between 2001 and 2012. For Hot Wheels fanatics, Coop recently collaborated with the toy car maker on a series of miniature "Coop-Customized" hot rods.

To get a taste of his style, here are some examples of Coop's work:

Unsane Steel Pole Bathtub
1995 Original Concert Poster
Silkscreen by Coop S/N

Go Nuts 1995 Jabberjaw Silkscreen
Art Concert Poster Original by Coop S/N

Gas Huffer Clawhammer 1996 The Whisky
Concert Poster Original by Coop S/N

Dave & Deke 1996 San Francisco
Kilowatt Original Concert Poster
Art by Coop

Kings of concert posters: Frank Kozik

First in a series on rock artists who shook up the modern-rock underground
By Peter Lindblad

Frank Kozik Unsane
Guzzard 1995 Concert
Poster The Whiskey
Hollywood S/N

Often shockingly bloody and unapologetically violent, the grisly album art for New York City noise-rock merchants Unsane was never for the faint of heart.

Seeing two cuddly bears, one carrying a bucket of PCP, on a concert poster promoting the band's 1995 show at the Whiskey in Hollywood with openers Guzzard and Lowercase in what looks like an otherwise innocent scene from an illustrated children's book certainly subverts expectations. Artist Frank Kozik is notorious for doing that.

Born in Spain and raised during the reign of fascist dictator Franco, before his family settled in California, Kozik has parlayed his delightfully twisted world view, fearless cultural commentary and incredibly bold use of color and clashing textural elements into worldwide fame. His works are highly sought-after by collectors.

Until Kozik arrived on the scene, the art of making concert posters had, for all intents and purposes, gone the way of the dodo bird. Many believe it was Kozik – his Unsane poster one of hundreds he's made over the years – who was responsible for bringing it back from the dead. (To view a really good selection of his works you can check out prints available for purchase on eBay: Frank Kozik Posters

Zeni Geva Original
Concert Poster by
Frank Kozik S/N

In his zeal to spread the word about the early '80s underground punk scene in Austin, Texas, where he was stationed while in the Air Force, the self-taught Kozik's first forays into the world of rock art involved making black-and-white fliers for friends' bands and splashing them all over telephone poles. Soon, people began taking notice of his provocative, in-your-face designs and unique treatment of , noting how the oddly compelling imagery made subtle and not-so-subtle cultural statements.

Eventually, Kozik moved on to developing the vivid and almost surreal silkscreen concert posters that gained him world-wide fame, creating artwork for the likes of Green Day, The White Stripes, Neil Young and Nirvana and lesser-known acts such as Hammerhead and others, and then going on to direct various music videos, including Soundgarden's "Pretty Noose."

Hammerhead Liquor Bike
1996 Original Concert Poster
by Frank Kozik X/N

After moving to San Francisco in 1993, Kozik established his own record label, Man's Ruin Records. Most of the posters and album art he produced back then were hand silkscreened and numbered at his studio. More than 200 singles and full-length albums were designed and released by Kozik – among them a Sex Pistols record and the first Queens of the Stone Age single.

In 2001, he shuttered Man's Ruin and moved on to other artistic pursuits, including throwing himself into the exploding art toy movement. He has designed more than 500 different limited-edition figures. Living in San Francisco today, Kozik also designs products and campaigns for a wide range of major companies. But, it's his wildly imaginative concert poster artwork – with pieces ranging in price from as little as $12 all the way up to $500 and beyond – that are his crowning achievements.

Here are some examples of his best work:

Groove Merchant 1997 Original
Silkscreen Gig Poster by
Frank Kozik 9737 S/N

Frank Kozik Man's Ruin Records
The Hammer of the Gods 1996
Concert Poster S/N

Butthole Surfers Pigface Bad Livers
1991 Original Concert Poster
by Frank Kozik 

Smashing Pumpkins Garbage 1996
Original Concert Poster by
Frank Kozik S/N

Soundgarden 1996 Mesa, Arizona Gig Poster
by Frank Kozik 9654 S/N

What's my age again? Drama with Blink-182

Pop-punk trio is going through a messy break-up
By Peter Lindblad

Blink-182 in happier times

Blink-182 didn't want to grow up.

When the adolescent pop-punk manifesto Enema of the State came bounding out of San Diego in 1999, with smiling porn star Janice Lindemulder on the cover sadistically pulling on a plastic glove just for effect, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker should have been encased in amber, never to age a day.

This was their moment. Even more juvenile than Green Day, Blink-182's sound was deliriously infectious, even sunny and completely irreverent – songs like "All the Small Things," "What's My Age Again?' and "Adam's Song" were like sonic bags of Pop Rocks, bursting with radio-friendly hooks that were as addictive as crack. Nothing was out of bounds lyrically, as they trafficked in potty humor and youthful sexual clumsiness, displaying the kind of stupid courage exhibited by skateboarders hopped up on Mountain Dew. Somehow, these class clowns had control of the classroom, and they had everybody pogoing.

Gradually, the party started winding down, although Take Off Your Pants and Jacket hit No. 1 in 2001 in three countries, including the U.S. For the self-titled Blink-182, released in 2003, they started messing with the formula, experimenting with and incorporating new styles and people starting throwing around the word "maturity." Cue the death knell.

DeLonge left in 2005, but the trio reformed four years later, eventually recording Neighborhoods for a 2011 release. It seemed they were on track to follow that up this year, but this week, rumors began flying that all was not well in the Blink-182 camp. That's putting it mildly.

Again, DeLonge appears to be on the outs with Hoppus and Barker, who've accused him of being "ungrateful, disingenuous" in a Rolling Stone article found here http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/blink-182s-hoppus-barker-blast-ungrateful-disingenuous-tom-delonge-20150126. DeLonge shot back on Facebook that band drama had "poisoned" everything, writing an open letter explaining his side of the story. And more's been coming out ever since the first bombshell dropped. Now boys, dad's going to have to stop this car if you don't quit all this nonsense.

Apparently, the ride has come to a halt, at least for now. Not that any of this should come as any great surprise, as tales of infighting in Blink-182 are not exactly government secrets. Barker, in perhaps the most telling comment on the matter, said in the Rolling Stone article, "Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable."

And that really is the question, isn't it? Unless you're the Rolling Stones, rock bands usually have a pretty short shelf life, and Blink-182 hit its expiration date a long time ago. They weren't built for the long haul. Theirs was a aesthetic that appealed to youth culture at a certain point in time. Aside from Barker's tattoos, they weren't at all scary or intimidating; rather, they were clean cut and approachable, safe enough for soccer moms who'd wag their fingers at their antics while secretly lusting for their boyish charms and about as harmless as kids caught toilet papering the neighbors' trees.

Of course, they probably said the same things about Green Day, and who could have predicted they'd come out with American Idiot, a stinging and powerful indictment of the Bush presidency and the dumbing down of the country that elected him. It's hard to imagine Blink-182 following suit, not that they'd have to do so to justify their continued existence. Now in their 40s, though, do they have anything left to say? Have they ever shown the slightest interest in tackling more "adult" subject matter? And even if they did, could they pull it off? Has their sense of humor evolved over time? Could they do "dad rock" and make it funny ... like Louis C.K. funny? That would be refreshing, if they could. The Beatles were able to grow as artists, but even Led Zeppelin ran out of steam.

Individually, the members of Blink-182 might go on to make great art, but as a group, it's probably time to hang it up, especially if they can't work through their issues. Airing a band's dirty laundry in public is always a dicey proposition, and it greatly dims any prospects of reconciliation. At least we'll always have our memories ... and Enema of the State.