Get Involved blog

Having just posted about Get Involved artwork appearing in a monograph of the work of the prolific British artist Jon Burgerman - I just remembered that more artwork created specially for Get Involved has also just been published… Nice!

I’m referring to the visual wizardry of a certain James Joyce of One Fine Day who created artwork for a Get Involved postcard (shown above) early last year. James created all the artwork and branding of two other club nights I’ve co-run with friends in the last few years, and artwork created for DJ collective It’s Bigger Than also appears in Postcard, a beautifully crafted tome (compiled and edited by FL@33) aimed at the coffee tables and carefully curated shelves of designers and image makers - and of course those that appreciate such things…

Ah, behold: the One Fine Day spread from Postcard showing a myriad flyer designs for It’s Bigger Than on the left hand page (three years worth of monthly flyers!) and on the right, shown at actual size in the book, is the Get Involved postcard that James designed a year ago.

Good work - and thank you, James!

To find out more about the Postcard book, visit http://www.postcard-book.info/

Pens are my Friends is the title of the new, IdN-published, 310 page monograph of illustrator Jon Burgerman’s many projects to date – including, we’re rather pleased to see, the Get Involved poster he rustled up for us for January 2007’s shindig. Here are some spreads from the book showing Jon’s splendid work…

Enclosed in the book is a 20-page booklet of sketches and a DVD of motion graphics, screen wallpapers, videos of live drawing installations and other bonus material.

Remove the dust jacket and - oh joy of joys - it turns out to be a folded poster…

…Nice!

Jon Burgerman: Pens are my Friends, published by IdN, is a 310 page hardback book encased in a folded poster measuring 755 x 620mm and also a screenprinted transparent dustjacket. Enclosed within is a 20 page mini booklet of sketchbook art and a DVD containing Jon Burgerman motion graphics, animations, videos, screen wallpapers and icons

Because I Can’t Sit Still solo exhibition IS ON RIGHT NOW and runs until 1 November at Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street, London W1T 4RJ

Keep up with all things Burgerman on his website: jonburgerman.com

Most of these images and the info contained in this post, along with an interview with Jon Burgerman, on Creative Review’s splendid blog

The Furys – Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart

Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart is a song about falling in love. Head-over-heels, butterflies in your stomach, full-on naive, puppy-dog, swoon time shit. Over the years it’s been recorded by Chet Atkins, Judy Garland, Charlie Byrd, The Coasters, June Christy, Bob Brookmeyer, Billy Eckstine, Donald Byrd, Frank Sinatra… I mean I could go on.

This version by The Furys, from 1964 honestly makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up - you know when you hear something so wonderful that you basically get a rush? That’s what I’m talking about. Normally, a song gets me with the tune and lyrics are, for me anyway, secondary. But The Furys’ vocal delivery on this gives this gentle profession of love real presence and right now it’s a real favourite of mine.

Dear when you smiled at me, I heard a melody
It haunted me from the start
Something inside of me started a symphony
Zing! Went the strings of my heart

I still recall the thrill, guess I always will
I hope ’twill never depart
Dear, with your lips to mine, a rhapsody devine
Zing! Went the strings of my heart

The Titans – Don’t You Just Know It

Yes, this is a cover of Huey “Piano” Smith’s classic ditty, Don’t You Just Know It – but as covers go, this 1958 effort is pretty darn good - although it is almost identical to the original and came out only a few months later so it was never going to cause a sensation…

The Titans, despite selling fuck-all records, are actually an interesting bunch to read about. The founder of the band, Larry Greene started his working life as a cab driver and ended it as a record company executive. One of the band, a certain Curtis McNair, could blow a mean tenor sax and had a good voice on him. By 1965 he’d changed his name to Curtis Knight and formed a band called The Squires. In October that year he hired a guitar player called Jimmy James who’d played on a Lonnie Youngblood session and who had recently been fired by Little Richard. James only played with The Squires for about three months before signing up to play with King Curtis. In 1966 James left King Curtis, travelled to England and changed his name to Jimi Hendrix. It was Curtis McNair/Knight (of The Titans) that wrote Jimi: An Intimate Biography Of Jimi Hendrix in 1974…

All this information (and more!) was gleaned from the enlightening Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks.