A Damned Quick One

The 1977 Damned in a composition taken from The Who's 1966 album, A Quick One. Maybe a rejected cover for Music For Pleasure? 

From The Big O To The Wild Man

Roy Orbison
1936-1988
Roy made a lot of good music at Sun Studio before he moved uptown. 'You're My Baby' and 'Go!Go!Go!' are both classic 1956 rockabilly.

Marvin Rainwater
born 1925
Marvin's fourth MGM 45, 'Mr. Blues w/ 'Hot and Cold' does it for me, can't go wrong with either side.  

Jackie Lee Cochran
1934-1998
'Mama Don't You Think I Know' is my pick.

Clyde Stacy
born 1936
I first heard Clyde on the "Big Al Downing and  His Friends" record. It's one of rockabilly's finest moments. 

Here's a picture of my Hoy Hoy.

Hasil Adkins
1937-2005
I first met Hasil Adkins before he played at Dick's Last Resort in 1998 during downtown's Street Scene. He told me he hadn't been to San Diego since 1957, when he was in the Navy. He also asked if I was a fan of his music and if I had any favorites he could play, "and don't gimme that She Said..". I chose 'She'll See Me Again' from his 1986 Norton record.Sure enough, he played it and it's still my favorite song of his. ['Head On The Wall' is right up there too]
After the show we got to have a few beers with Haze [he liked his beer warm, cold beer hurts your throat] while he told stories about his crazy neighbors in WV. I think Scott from Meatwagon videotaped it all. We also saw the show at The Garage in L.A. [with Lux and Ivy in attendance] which lasted about 15 minutes before Haze was overcome with spirit of Keith Moon. The Fat Possum tour manager said that was his way out when he didn't feel like playing. I also saw what turned out to be Hasil's last show at the 2004 Rockaround in Las Vegas.  

A New Spark

Here are some rockabilly artist caricatures I've been doing over the past few years. They were all just pencil sketches I had kind of abandoned since I didn't know what to do with them.

I recently received a complimentary note from a well-respected rock author which has inspired me to ink these guys a few at a time and post them up here. Rockabilly music has been a big part of my life since the mid 1980's when The Cramps opened up the doors to the wild side of life. Here are the first five.

Johnny Powers
born 1938
I first hear Johnny on the "Bop That Never Stopped" comps, which led to his Rollercoaster LP's. 'Long Blond Hair' from 1957 is still my favorite.

A signed 8 x 10 from about 1991 when Johnny gave me orders to "keep rockin'."

The mysterious Tommy Lam
I think everyone agrees 'Speed Limit' from 1959 is Tommy's best.

Gene Vincent
1935-1971
I'll never get tired of hearing 'Race With The Devil'. Gene kept on making good music on through the 60's and up until his death in 1971. 

A flier for the '58 Blue Caps reunion with Jerry Merritt. Buddy Knox [whose guarantee wasn't met] stayed on the tour bus for the San Diego show. 1996 

Malcolm Yelvington
1918-2001
Malcolm was a country musician playing rockabilly before it was called that. His unissued Sun track, 'Got Me A Trumpet' is another favorite of mine. 

Joe Clay
born 1939
Joe recorded nine rockin' sides for the Vik label in 1956. The unreleased, 'You Look That Good To Me" featuring guitarist, Mickey Baker is a real scorcher. I got to see Joe perform in San Diego in the late '90's.

Misplaced Misunderstood

The Misunderstood
Rick Moe, Rick Brown, Tony Hill, Steve Whiting and Glenn Campbell

Psychedelic rock greats, The Misunderstood, from near-by Riverside, CA.

Drawn in September of last year and found again yesterday.

Wolf Man's Willys

The Wolf Man's '41 Willys gasser. Drawn between appointments while sitting at work. Jan. 20-22

What About Us?

Like the Coasters asked, 'what about us', Pop Hall of Fame?

More ignored founding fathers, pioneers and influential artists from unpopular genres like rockabilly, garage glam and doo-dah.

Charlie Feathers
1932-1998

Link Wray
1929-2005

The Sonics
Andy Parypa, Larry Parypa, Jerry Roslie, Bob Bennett and Rob Lind

T. Rex
Marc Bolan, Mickey Finn, Bill  Legend and Steve Currie

The Bonzo Dog Band
Clockwise from left: 'Legs' Larry Smith, Rodney Slater, Neil Innes, Vivian Stanshall, Dave Clague and Roger Ruskin-Spear.
Difficult to see: Vernon Dudley Bohey-Nowell, Dennis Cowan, Sam Spoons, Joel Druckman, and the Rawlinsons

Pete Johnson
1904-1967
Our new Epson scanner rotates this drawing slightly every time I try to scan it. Roll 'em, Pete.

Ramones Rumored Return

Wigs all around: Meet the new Ramones [l-r] Rici, Pauly, Marky and Gigi.

   Marky Ramone is rumored to be adopting some new brothers to play with. Founding Kiss members, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have been in talks with Ramone about touring under the Ramones' name. Simmons commented, "After going over the figures with Mark, it looks like we could make even more money being another band." Kiss will still be touring this summer with stand-in members [rumored to be earning minimum wage] while Stanley and Simmons work as Pauly and Gigi Ramone. Former Cars front man, Ric Ocasek will also be joining the family as lead vocalist.

The Original Syd and Nancy

Syd and Nancy
C. Earnhart 2013

Paul and Art

Simonon and Garfunkel
C. Earnhart 2013

New Drawings

Bela Lugosi's Waiting

My 44th birthday drawing, black ink and brush 10/1/12. October 20th will be Bela's 130th birthday.

Some other early October birthdays...

The guy I consider to be the Godfather of British Rock, Eddie Cochran. Born Oct. 3, 1938 in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

 10/6/12

Johnny Ramone

Oct. 8, 1951

10/8/12

FREE! The Who's John Entwistle coloring page

Oct. 9, 1944

10/4/12

The Iggy Back Ride [Glam a la King]

The previously mentioned, Bowie and Iggy meet Nixon.

7/9/74 - David Bowie, on tour in America and Iggy Pop, on the loose from the recently disbanded Stooges, visit with President Nixon during his final weeks in the oval office. The photo op comes to an abrupt end after Mr. Pop leaps onto the President's back and the Secret Service leap into action. Pictures of the meeting were canned and all charges were dropped to avoid any further embarrassment to Nixon and the White House.

Aladinstein

Sketchbook pencil drawing 2011

Idea stolen from Kat Thompson.

The Beards and the Airplane did fly

The King down in Monterey
2011 pencil sketchbook drawing

An abandoned idea for a fictional history of rock, where in Elvis discovers psychedelia, Bowie and Iggy meet Nixon and REM are cloned for exploitation after an unreported 1989 plane crash kills the original band members.

Black Magic Woman, Kill! Kill!

Just As Ugly Inside

A graphite drawing from December of 2011. A human-like head made of various animal parts and features. Renaissance artists used this same idea [sometimes with fruit and vegetables thrown in] to create their images of Satan and his demons. The facial expression on the finished head seemed to call out for epaulets, which led to the uniform and the title, The War Monger.

Rapa Nui Sketches

Ahu Ko Te Riku

Ahu Vai Uri

Ahu Tahai

June 6, 2004

Is That Exactly What I Thought I Read?

The Who in 1966

clockwise from top: John Entwistle, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and Keith Moon

The Who since 2002

l to r: Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey

They don't give a shit Keith Moon is dead

Is that exactly what I thought I read?

Pete Townshend - Jools and Jim

So, the organizers of the upcoming London Olympic games don't even know Moonie's dead. London, the city where Moon lived and died in 1978. Maybe they were under the impression a successful sobriety had kept him from the headlines for the past three decades? "He moved away to Malibu years ago." More than likely, we are dealing with people under 30 and the popular excuse, "how am I supposed to know what happened before I was born?"

The above Who caricatures were done in late 2003 while working at Lyle Tuttle's.

Huddie Ledbetter 1888-1949

Leadbelly

20"x 24" acrylic on canvas

C. Earnhart 1998

R.M. Wilson collection

...HERE TO DO A FEW TUNES BETWEEN HOMICIDES

"Lead Belly, born Huddie Ledbetter, of the Louisiana swamps, is a powerful, knife-toting Negro, who has killed one man and seriously wounded another, but whose husky tenor and feathery, string-plucking fingers ineluctably charm the ears of those who listen."

New York Herald Tribune 1/3/1935

The David Stone Martin influenced drawing for the above painting, which is a scan of the small photo I have of the finished work. Stuart Davis, Georges Braque and Picasso are also clearly present in my painting style.

Not Richie Valenz

Ricardo Esteban or Richard Stephen Valenzuela

1941-1959

I guess Bobbo didn't think leaving the 'z' at the end of Valens was cool, too exotic? The addition of the 't' in Richie is an odd choice too, but what do I know? The last good stage name I came up with was 'Molly Ringworm' and I haven't seen 'La Bamba' in a few years.

"Come on, Let's Go", "La Bamba", "Donna", "We Belong Together", "Ooh My Head", "Fast Freight", "Stay Beside Me", "In a Turkish Town" and many more, all packed into an eight- month-long career. A body of work that still sounds fresh over 50 years later, recorded by a 17 year old, killed in an accident three months short of his 18th birthday.

I think that's a lot sadder than Kurt Kobain.

Drawing for a Ritchie Valens painting done for a Dia de los Muertos art show at Flying Panther Tattoo. And of course, I didn't get a picture of the finished painting before I took it in.

2007

Abandoned Sketchbook Pages

The original sketch of the 'Victor's Secret' idea, much creepier with B.B. King's head.

Unfinished Blind Lemon

About 2008?