Despite his mental problems, Richard Shaver seems to have had a relatively happy marriage with his wife Dorothy, or Dot. And he always praised her cooking in his letters.

Among my Shaver mementos is Dot’s hand-written cookbook. I’m intrigued by these recipes for fig wine and rhubarb wine. They sound like intriguing down-home concoctions. I haven’t tried them; if anyone wants to test them, let me know how they turn out.

For a drawing (probably by Shaver) from this notebook, see the post of 5/27/08. For more Shaver material, do visit Richard Toronto’s website, over here.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

This rock came from Richard Shaver’s studio, down in rural Arkansas.  It’s not one of the large rounded stones that he usually identified as rock books; it’s a small flat one.  I’m sure he gazed at it anyway; I invite you to do the same.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

The Ullage Group is particularly fond of the work of Richard Shaver, and likes to return to it from time to time. This is one of those times; we’ll be posting a few items on Shaver this week.

For those unfamiliar with him, I’ll say (briefly) that he was quite active as a pulp writer in the late ’40s and  early ’50s.  Influenced by the fantasy writer Abraham Merritt and by his own unusual beliefs (which were, in turn, probably largely due to schizophrenia), he published a stream of extraordinary stories about stunted beings living in giant underground caverns, ancient technology, and eccentric physics. Later, he became fascinated with rocks; he became convinced that they were the books of an early race of giant sea people, and he painted the images he saw in them.

There aren’t too many Shaver paintings around, but I have one of them, and never got around to posting a picture of it before. Here it is. It’s painted on wood; he usually used paint mixed with wax, soap, and other materials to mimic the texture of rock, but I don’t know what he used for this one.

(Posted by Doug Skinner; thanks to Angela Alverson for photographing it.)

We have here another Japanese deck: a regular deck of 52, with two jokers, all illustrated with cartoony animals.  The copy on the box is in Japanese, so I can’t tell you much about it.  Mixed in there, though, are the indications “Poplar” and “2008,” which I assume are the publisher and date.  You seem to have drawn one of the Jokers.

(Posted by Doug Skinner.)

“Hitler” has now become a routine term of abuse for anyone who disagrees with you.  Christians claim he was an atheist; atheists claim he was a Christian.  Carnivores claim he was a vegetarian; vegetarians claim he was a carnivore.  He’s obviously not being invoked as a real person, who did real and awful things, but as a catch-all “bad guy.”  Rather than trivialize Hitler for the sake of a cheap ad hominem attack, I suggest using some two-dimensional villain from popular culture instead: Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis, Professor Moriarty; or Superman’s enemy, Lex Luthor; or the Skillery Scallery Alligator that was always chasing Uncle Wiggily.  It would be refreshing to hear a politician say, “Your beliefs aren’t the same as mine!  You’re just like the Big Bad Wolf!  You’re Fu Manchu!”

I’d like to hear a piece that Bela
Bartok wrote for vuvuzela.

blankety-blank blanket

The apple never falls far from the snake.

The octopus is named for the number of its tentacles, not for its unusual intelligence.

I gave my love a cherry that had no stone; she gave me a stone that had no cherry. Now what?

What’s wrong with “playing God”? I thought you were so keen on him.

stirring a screwdriver with a screwdriver

Many NYC subway cars are now equipped with pricey gizmos that announce and display the next stop. Since the trains are often re-routed, and the gizmos are not reprogrammed, the information is often wrong.

I’m glad the walls don’t have ears; that would be creepy.

My parents went to El Dorado,
And brought me back this avocado.

(Posted by Doug Skinner. Lang Campbell drew the Skillery Scallery.)

Our latest event attracted a small but Utopian audience.  Brooklyn was apparently a cornucopia of other forms of fun that weekend; still, a nice bunch gathered for a taste of an ideal society.

Doug began by talking about Utopias as unattainable ideals; and segued into a picture story on the subject, “The Glorious Town.”  He then read a short piece on the Order of Judas Iscariot: a fictional (but plausible) society that influenced the US’s development as a Christian nation based on Judas (enrichment at others’ expense), rather than Jesus (repudiation of wealth).

Lisa followed with a biographical talk on the artistic and scientific polymaths Walter and Lao Russell, embellished with many beautiful (but puzzling) diagrams by the former, and a filmed interview with the latter.

During the intermission the audience examined rare Russell publications, turned play money into legal tender with the magic formulas of the Order of Judas, stocked up on stylish Ullage Group pinbacks, and ullaged their drinks.

Anthony closed with a history of the Oneida Community, the scandal-ridden but influential experiment in communal living and perfectionism from 19th century New York.  This was illustrated with many historical photos, and Anthony’s stereo slides of the headquarters today.

The congregation then wandered off, except for those of us who went out for Chinese food.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

The Ullage Group proudly, but earnestly, announces its ninth presentation, “Marching to Utopia.”  We will acquaint you with a few schemes for the betterment of mankind.

Step out of your cold, mechanistic, and meaningless universe, and go back to school with Lisa Hirschfield, your tour guide at the University of Science and Philosophy.  Far more than a philosophy (and science as we’ve never known it), the USP promised to settle the age-old dispute between science and religion once and for all.  Explore space, time, love, and the Oneness of all, as revealed to Walter and Lao Russell, the USP’s evangelists.

Anthony Matt will discuss the rise and fall of the Oneida Community, which prospered for forty years during the mid-nineteenth century in upstate New York.  The community was founded on a curious form of free love and eventually dissolved into a silverware company.

Doug Skinner will talk about the legendary Order of Judas Iscariot, a small but influential fraternal organization that affected the early development of the American experiment.

We will hold forth at the Jalopy Theater, 315 Columbia St., Brooklyn, NY; on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 3 pm.  Admission is only $5.  Directions to Jalopy can be found here.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

I’ve avoided the many children’s card games that tie into toys and other franchises — simply because the graphics must, by definition, follow the pattern established by the franchise, offering little elbow room for the designer.  The “Jellibee Card Game,” however, is such an odd creation, both graphically and conceptually, that it has earned a place here.  It was published by Edu-Cards in 1975; and was based on a sewing kit with which you made things like “Jimmy Jellibee.”  Curious.

(Posted by Doug Skinner.)

(f)utility

A broom’s a useful thing, no doubt of it:
It cleans a room, and then flies out of it.

“Empiric” is an interesting word: it means both “charlatan” and “based on observation and experience.” Embedded in the language is the dogma that only theory and system can validate.

No, you don’t bolster your machismo
When you acquire the latest gizmo.

gibberish about licorice

I’ll pass on those loaves and fishes, Jesus; dirty hands breed food-borne illnesses (cf. Mark 7: 1-8).

We can move in several directions through space, but only in one through time; what’s the point of that?

The ancients saw the births of monsters as portents of disasters. The advent of deep-fried butter, doughnut hamburgers, and chocolate-covered bacon must be an evil omen.

We’ve even managed to monetize monetization: people are paid to determine the “value” of services and commodities.

Even as a child, I didn’t understand why I was told that natural laws were evidence of divinity; and that deviations from natural law were miracles, which were also evidence of divinity.

I didn’t shave; and so my stubble
Will burst that effervescent bubble.

(Posted by Doug Skinner.  The sketch is by Thackeray.)

We have another look at the fine old game of “Authors,” here in an undated deck from Russell.  I particularly like that ribbon.  Has anyone out there read this one?

(Posted by Doug Skinner)