![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/JIMI_24-25-large.jpg\")
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Free as the wind through the trees…”<\/em>
(Click to super-size spread.)<\/center><\/p>\n
Things are coming up Very Rock-And-Roll at 7-Imp this morning. I knew I wanted to feature some art from Gary Golio’s<\/a><\/strong> vibrant new picture book biography of the young Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Clarion Books, October 2010), illustrated by Javaka Steptoe<\/a><\/strong>. And then at the last moment, I remembered the late Melissa Duke Mooney’s<\/a><\/strong> The ABCs of Rock<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, published by Tricycle Press in October — and with illustrations from Print Mafia<\/a><\/strong>. Lucky for me, I was able to get spreads from each to share with readers this morning. So. Are you ready to rock? <\/p>\n Am I a colossal nerd for just typing “are you ready to rock?” Yes. I am. <\/p>\n How about: Are you ready to go to eleven, which is one louder<\/a><\/strong>? There we go. Spinal Tap<\/em> references, speaking of hard-core rock-and-roll, make everything better. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n See? Can’t you tell with just that one lovely excerpt how Golio infuses the text with a lyricism that just…well, sings? And Javaka Steptoe’s<\/a><\/strong> artwork? Now, I’m biased. I’ve always been a big fan of his mixed-media collages. But truly, his artwork in this one is a force of nature. In a fascinating illustrator’s note, he talks about the research that went into his illustrations. As in, he did more than just pick up a book to read about Hendrix, he says. He walked the streets of Jimi’s hometown (Jimmy became “Jimi” in 1966 when music manager Chas Chandler took him to England), talked to folks who knew him, “even fingered an electric guitar once or twice,” and much more. He also notes—I love this—how he used plywood found at The RE Store in Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood, in his art. He also writes: “I thought about the depth and texture of his music, so I layered and used bright colors.” <\/p>\n Indeed. Take a look:<\/p>\n This picture book verges on a hipster coffee-table book, in the words of The Nashville Scene<\/em>, but older, music-crazed children will certainly dig it. And many, many adults. The art—rock-and-roll poster-style images in a book almost the same size as a vinyl LP—was created by the silkscreen design shop Print Mafia, based in Bowling Green, Kentucky (the work of Jim Madison and Connie Collingsworth, who have been making rock posters since 1997 and design without computers). “Print Mafia’s lurid illustrations in fuchsia, electric green, and hot yellow,” writes Publishers Weekly<\/em>, “perfectly suit letter T’s Talking Heads and letter C’s the Clash — borrowing straight from these bands’ cover art and concert poster aesthetics; the designs imitate the DIY style of pasteup and photocopier art, with a dash of Roy Lichtenstein.”<\/p>\n There’s a little bit of everything here: R.E.M, The White Stripes, Nirvana, The Velvet Underground, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, and more. The book closes with “art notes” that explain Print Mafia’s design and illustration choices for each musician\/band. (I’ve included those notes under the Go-Go’s and ZZ Top images below.)<\/p>\n This book—wait for it—rocks<\/em>. Enjoy these illustrations: <\/p>\n Before I get to my kicks: Here’s Jimi, live in 1967. <\/p>\n Now, wait a second. You just think<\/em> you’re busy and don’t have time to watch it, but if you take a few moments to do so, you will be rewarded. “After all the jacks are in their boxes \/ And the clowns have all gone to bed \/ You can hear happiness staggering on down the street \/ Footprints dressed in red \/ And the wind whispers Mary.”<\/em> Evidently, at the time he wrote this, it was for his girlfriend who had just left, whose middle name was Mary. (It’s not about marijuana, or Mary Jane, as some people suspect.) Anyway. Brilliant. Enjoy.<\/p>\nI really love Golio’s biography of the boy Hendrix. You may have heard or read about it on NPR in October<\/a><\/strong>. Golio writes with vivid lyricism and imagery about the young Hendrix, who lived in a boarding house in Seattle with his father in the mid ’50s. He and his father didn’t have much money, but the young Jimmy had one devoted parent, two steadfast friends (“they never teased him about his worn-out clothes and wild hair, the way some kids did”), a love for music and art, and a bustling imagination: “With every sound,” Golio writes, when describing how Jimmy and his friends would visit the nearby lake, “a color glowed in Jimmy’s mind. Blue was the whoosh of cool water, splashing over rocks. Orange and red, the crackling of a campfire. Green, the rustle of a thousand leaves.” It was after he finally got his own guitar that he determined to “paint the world” with the “rainbow of sounds at his fingertips.” <\/p>\n<\/a>
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to make music while you sang?”
(Click to enlarge spread.)<\/center><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThe story of Nashville publicist and musician Melissa Duke Mooney—her inspiration for The ABCs of Rock<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (quite possibly, the coolest<\/em> ABC book there is) and her sudden death in 2009—is told here<\/a><\/strong> in a recent article in The Nashville Scene<\/em>. Sad story, given how loved she was and what a vibrant life she clearly led, not to mention how terribly sudden her death was. I’m always happy to shine the light on local authors and illustrators, and this is no exception. <\/p>\n
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he pictures Ford’s Eliminator coupe hot rod.
That car is an inescapable part of their image.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n