Mythology and the Forgotten Gods Show - Tonight at Phantom Hand

TONIGHT and the next few weeks, Phantom Hand (located at 6th & South in Philly) will be hosting "Mythology and the Forgotten Gods", a group art show curated by Anthony Pedro. It's a great show with an awesome group of local artists. Please see the showcard below.


Here is my Minotaur piece for the show. I drew it with a borrowed pencil at Bob & Barbara's listening to Kelvin, Rich, and Lucky during Wednesday's jam session. I was lucky to sit alongside fellow cartoonists James Kaminski and Michelle Miller with the legendary Bob Dix behind the bar. I finished the inks at the bar, but a swarm of Wharton students came in around 10:45 and grossed the place up. So I had to finish the colors on my lunch hour yesterday at Paolo's Pizza on Pine Street.


Tonight's show will be especially celebratory, because we found out this week that Phantom Hand has been granted an extension in the gallery space for being an 'exemplary member' of the Arts on South program. We will now be in our current location regaling you with art and assorted hand-made sundries and occasional free beer and baked-goods until mid-August.

Lizard and Girl

Just posting this old Lizard drawing I did a few years back. I don't think I ever posted it here. If I have, I apologize for the repeat. It's one of my favorite drawings that I've done. I drew and colored most of it sitting at the bar at Bob & Barbara's by the light of the old tymie cash register.

The drawing was done in an old sketchbook with brush pen, Micron pen, and Prismacolor and Chartpak markets.

Old Bob & Barbara's Art/Benefit for Howard Candie

I was going through my files these past few days and found a lot of old stuff. I have posted on here many times about my love of Bob & Barbara's at 15th & South. The place has always been a neighborhood bar that Center City grew up around. The place precedes the gentrification of that area, and has been run like a neighborhood bar with affordable drinks for decades.

I don't spend nearly as much time there as I used to. But I still feel awfully welcome when I walk in the door. The bike messengers and hipsters may not know me. Neither do the kids who pack the place on the weekends, but the barkeeps and the locals do. I will always feel comfortable sitting and drawing cartoons at that bar. I found this piece from 2001 that was drawn at the bar while rocking cans of Pabst and shots of Jim Beam:


It was a flier for the bar. Frank, the manager at the time (and the guy responsible for scoring most of that vintage PBR swag way back when) wanted to do something nice to pay pack the bar's steady patrons. So he created "The Big Payback", a weekly event where he brought in free home cooked food. Sadly, the event started to draw a lot of starving addicts who popped out of the woodwork and disturbed steady patrons. So the Big Payback was a short-lived event in Bob & Barbara's history. But it was great that Frankie wanted to do that for his customers. Bob & Barbara's has always been diverse and experimental with their nightly events, from Bingo to Ping Pong to Pictionary to the Drag Show to live Jazz every week.


Above is a photo I took back around 2001 or 2002. I've sung the praises of Nate Wiley & the Crowd Pleasers many many times. They are my heroes. Nate and Cliff have passed, but Howard Candie, the greatest organist the band ever had, is still around. Lately, he has been having some health problems. So once again, Bob & Barbara's Lounge is giving back. Tonight, September 14, from 8 PM to 11 PM, there will be a fundraiser to help Howard and his family with their medical bills. Anyone who has ever heard Howard play has been amazed. He makes that Hammond B-3 shake the room like no other. If you know Howard's music, please come out and help him and his family out. They're great folks.

If you've never heard Howard, you can CLICK HERE to hear him on this documentary short made by local filmmaker Jim McGorman.

Philadelphia Cartoonist Society Pictionary - Next Monday 10/26/09

The Philadelphia Cartoonist Society will be holding their monthly PICTIONARY night on Monday, October 26, 2009 at Bob & Barbara's Lounge (1509 South Street in Philly) starting about 9:30 PM. 

Teams of 3 or 4 will sign up and play each other all night in a one and done tournament. The winner of every round gets a special (Can of PBR and a shot of Jim Beam) for each member of their team. The team left standing at the end of the night gets to play against members of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society. If, by some miracle, your team beats the PCS, you'll receive yet another round of specials and a prize pack to split up amongst your team.

Generally, I host the tournament each month as an impartial judge. This month, I'm stepping down from judging so I can have some fun and play on the PCS team at the end of the night. So folks coming to play better come strong.  I act like a nice fella, but you don't want to be on the other side of the Pictionary board from me.

Bob & Barbara's Lounge - 1509 South Street

Bob & Barbara's Lounge (1509 South Street in Philly) is where I've met some of my heroes and best friends in this whole world. I've posted before about the importance that Nate Wiley and the Crowd Pleasers have played in my life. But I have so many connections to this place. It's the official clubhouse of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society. So many friends have been made at that bar over specials and music.

A few years back, I was doing flyers, kind of a street art experiment to advertise the bar (not that it needs any help). The place packs them in, especially on the weekend. College kids come in looking to spend their parents' money on cheap booze and a welcome vibe - and EVERYONE is welcome at Bob & Barbara's. But i started drawing some of the "regulars". Sadly, some are not around anymore. Billy passed away. Pipe Donald was flagged years ago for bad behavior. But this place certainly does have some legendary character and characters. If you're in there enough, you see beyond the throngs of hipsters and frat boys to identify the folks that "come with the place". I have one of the barkeep Steve Ferrell somewhere, but can't seem to locate it. And even though I don't get out there as much as I used to, after 11 years, I still consider myself a regular. I'll post more as I make them...