Tag: Sam Gross

Two Books That Caught My Eye

andertoons1 Comment

I don’t remember how I ran across either of these, but they’re fun to point out.

The first is The Peanuts Grand Piano Book. Sounds like it opens up like a piano, and it’d be a cute bard book for the wee ones.

Peanutspianobook

The second, We Have Ways of Making You Laugh, is the latest by one of my idols, Sam Gross:

Grossswastika

I’d love to hear the meetings involved in bringing this to print! If anyone can pull this off, it’s Gross.

Anyhoo, check ’em out if you get a chance.

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Original Cartoon Art

andertoons1 Comment

Artincartooning

I just picked up an almost perfect copy of The Art of Cartooning (1975). The listing on Amazon mentioned several artists had signed the inside cover, but didn’t give any names. Imagine my surprise to find the following:

Aic1

Aic2

Aic3

Aic4

Aic5

I think the Gahan Wilson is my favorite, but the Ziegler is a close second.

It looks like this book was purchased at some sort of signing on 5/1/76 by Barbara someone.

Anyway, it was already one of my favorite books of/on gag cartoons, and this particular copy now has a special place on my new shelves.

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Cartoon Cruising

andertoons2 Comments

I read in the Trib the other day that Celebrity Cruise Lines is booking three “cartoon cruises” featuring New Yorker cartoonists Sam Gross, George Booth, Jack Ziegler and others.

I’m not sure exactly what these cruises will entail, and writer Jay Boyar offers no real specifics, but it’s an interesting, if expensive, way to connect with cartoonists.

(Note – I’m offering paddleboat rides with me for significantly less money.)

But the whole cruise ship angle got me thinking about my younger days as a professional trombonist, or as I liked to put it, “sackbut for hire!”

I played for various cruise lines for about 2-1/2 years. I spent a summer cruising around Alaska, about a year in and around San Juan, and I’ve been to the Bahamas somewhere around 120 times.

Musicians generally worked about 2-3 hours a day and the rest of your time was yours. Sure, you never got a day off, and the accommodations were cramped, but all in all, not a bad way to spend one’s youth.

Anyway, I crawled up into some boxes in the garage and pulled out some photos of the artist as a young musician. Check them out in my photo album on the left sidebar.