that would be wonderful

In my Ephemera gallery, I have this image:

World Full of Weirdos

I scanned it years ago from the magazine Strange Things Are Happening, which was a short-lived publication from Phil Smee’s insanely great Bam Caruso record label. It was attached to an article about early SoCal punks The Weirdos. It never actually said if it was one of their flyers or posters.

Since Francky, Ellen and Linda want a better quality version of it, there’s the 300 dpi PNG linked above, plus a couple of vectorized versions I produced: World Full of Weirdos (PDF), World Full of Weirdos (EPS).

Comments

16 Responses to “that would be wonderful”

  1. planettom Avatar

    What year approximately was this article?

    When I was in college, around 1986, I had a t-shirt with this image on it, purchased at the Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother store in Athens, Georgia.

    I always wondered where the image came from. I guess what I’m wondering is, did it really originate with that article, or did the magazine take the image from elsewhere?

  2. scruss Avatar

    Strange Things Are Happening ran from 1988-90, so the magazine wasn’t the original publisher.

  3. […] me thinking about that time and what was then my favourite t-shirt. A little Googling led to me to this entry in the blog We Saw a Chicken, whose author had scanned the image from the magazine Strange Things are […]

  4. Sluggo Avatar
    Sluggo

    A friend gave me a t-shirt with that image on it back in the 80’s. He bought it in Toronto, Canada. I still have the shirt and only wear it on special occasions so it does not wear out. Maybe I can be buried with it on if I live to be 80+ years old. I must say, the world would definitely be a happier place if it were “a world full of wierdos”.

  5. James Edge Avatar
    James Edge

    I printed and sold that T-shirt to Junkman’s Daughter. Wasn’t there also The Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother across the street? For years I printed Punk T-shirts under the moniker The Razor’s Edge. The image was designed by two of the Weirdos, Cliff Roman and Dave Trout, for “the” Weirdos calendar 1978. Check out page 98 in “Fucked Up + Photocopied: Instant Art of the Punk Rock Movement”. Interesting Sluggo, ’cause another best selling T of mine was “Punk Meal” with Nancy and Sluggo of Ernie Bushmiller fame. Trust me, wherever you got your Weirdos shirt, they were sellin’ “Punk Meal”. Hope you owned one. That Weirdos sentiment spoke to many of us back then. Thanks for wearing ’em.

  6. 'As you know' Bob Avatar

    Thanks for this. I had one around 1982. The best part was, a pal of mine was MARRIED to a woman named Ellen. I wound up having to give him a shirt just to shut him up.

  7. goober Avatar

    this image was used for the Espresso Bar in Pasadena in the 80’s

  8. PJMoore Avatar
    PJMoore

    We had this on our wall when I was in college around 1980. Who knows where we got it, we just collected the coolest things we could find.

  9. Andy Viner Seiler Avatar

    This painting hung on the wall of the Melody Bar, a now-defunct fun dance club in New Brunswick NJ through the 1980s. I always thought that theirs was the original, but I don’t know how the owners would come to purchase art by Cliff Roman and Dave Trout.

  10. Kit Carson Avatar
    Kit Carson

    believe it or not, i knew the guy who created that image. he was, i believe, a schizophrenic, at least he was described to me as such. he was living in a house in Chapel Hill, NC at the time, maybe 1975 or 76. I first saw the image as an original, about 2 feet by 3 feet (approx, it was big), on the wall in the laundry on Franklin ST (the main drag). he sold it to them for $75. i hung out with friends that summer in the house where the artist lived. he was tall, muscular, blond, and interesting. i only met him a few times.

  11. […] that oh-so-eighties-style, the lines were pink and the background (The t-shirt itself) was black. Never ever learned who drew it or if it was art for a band or not. The t-shirt was a cotton/poly blend and essentially pilled […]

  12. Andy R. Avatar
    Andy R.

    Yes. I, too, lived in the house in Cobb Terrace. Summer of 77. Bill, the creator of this, lived there and we were co-dishwashers at the Continental Cafe. Interesting. Wiry haired and palpably crazy.
    Andy Robbins

  13. Ginny Avatar
    Ginny

    I saw this image printed on paper tacked to a wall in the “Egg & I” restaurant in Pasadena, CA in the late 70’s. Over the years the “Egg & I” had transitioned down to a late-night coffee shop where you could go & play bridge on a back table until 3 a.m. without actually buying anything. Lots of CalTech nerds were homies. They had a clock on the bar that had died at 10:42, so whenever there was featured live music at the Egg it always was advertised to start at 10:42. Loved that place. Would have loved a t-shirt!

  14. SaeHeyKid Avatar
    SaeHeyKid

    I have a print of this image credited to James H. Draper.
    Could not find more on him.
    Not sure if The Weirdos used it.
    Hmmm.

  15. scruss Avatar

    Indeed: Looks like James H. Draper’s the culprit: “We Got the Neutron Bomb” 45 rpm, LA Punk Circa 1978

  16. Andrei Avatar
    Andrei

    No, that James H. Draper thing is just a piece of appropriation art from 2005. It was indeed done by Dave Traut and Cliff Roman of the Weirdos. James Edge’s comment from 2007 is correct, including the correct bibliographic reference.

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