Jay Howell and I tour: Last Gasp, the studios of Alika Cooper, Joe Burns, Andy Diaz Hope, Jovi Schnell, Laurel Roth, Deluxe and Hamburger Eyes... Saw Gang Gang Dance @the Independent and wrapped up the night by drinking at POPs still 2am with Meric Long from The Dodos.
Ok, so instead of spending all of my working life behind a glowing flat screen I thought it would be a good idea to get out and see some arty San Francisco shit... Meet some artists, see some weird jobs, visit publishing houses, galleries, and studios- meeting people through email is nice and all, but there's something to be said for putting faces to names. So for this first of many weekly outings I met up with SF artist Jay Howell and we stopped through Ron Turner's Last Gasp book, comic and zine distribution, the studios of Alika Cooper, Joe Burns, Andy Diaz Hope, Jovi Schnell, and Laurel Roth. We also swung by Deluxe and Hamburger Eyes... Saw Gang Gang Dance @the Independent and wrapped up the night by drinking at POPs still 2am with Meric Long from The Dodos.

If you ever wanted to hi five or punch out Jay Howell all you have to do is stop through Atlas cafe where he works.

We were trying to think of how we could start the day off and noticed the Pipe Organ place across the street... but they were closed. Damn! maybe next week.

So we walked down the street to Last Gasp to see if they'd give us a tour, and they were kind enough to let us in.

The place is huge and they distribute loads of amazing books and zines. Check out their site.

The company was formed in 1970 when Ron Turner published the comic Slow Death Funnies with the likes of Robert Crumb in a bid to raise funds for a Berkeley ecology center (one of the first in the country), but by the time the comic was printed (20,000 copies) the staff of the ecology center had changed and when Ron went to drop off the comics, they weren't interested and only bought ten copies thus Last Gasp was formed to attempt to sell all 20,000 copies.

Jay likes

Colin, Ron's son, shows us Ron's private art gallery hidden in the back.

A huge collection of art, circus posters and a lot of taxidermied malformed animals.

What's with the fez, Bruce?

The two headed pig, Winky.

This cafe has four back legs and two other legs growing out its back!!

He has all these original circus freak posters from the 20s.

He seems to be into the freaky oddity.

And boobs.

We say good bye to Last Gasp.

"Uncle Gaylord's"

Andrew works at Blow Fish. Is it too early for a beer? nah...

Jay attempts pull ups.

Wussy

Thanks for the beers, Andrew.

and back on the bike this time heading over to Alika Cooper's studio in the Mission.

Well hello there, Alika Cooper.

Alika shares a studio with some other artists as she gives oils more attention. She needed a space where she wouldn't be overcome by the fumes.

The space is shared with Jovi Schnell.

Some of Alika's oil works.

Alika has a solo show at Mark Wolf opening July 19th at 49 Geary.

Joe Burns space

Original Chris Johanson Antihero.

Then we checked out Andy Diaz Hope's studio below... He does these great meticulous pieces where he rolls photos into these gel caps to create a larger photo- The Morning After Portraits.

These masks are from a series called Everybody Is Somebody's Terrorist

So good...

Andy Diaz Hope - be sure to check out his show that opens July 12th @Catherine Clark who've just moved out of 49 Geary and into a new spot on Minna downtown.

Also in the same building is the studio of Laurel Roth.

She makes these designer pet skulls.

Pit Bull skull

These birds are made out of press on nails and hair clips.

I forgot who's studio this was, but she was featured on KQED's show Spark some time ago.

All the studios share this outdoor area complete with baby frogs.

Jay and I were off again headed for Deluxe to see if someone would give us a tour of the factory.

Mic-e Reyes office with an epic Mark Gonzales piece.

Mic-e gave us a tour but... unfortunately, no photos. industry secrets.

he showed us the new Zip Zinger, and I have no idea why I didn't ask him for it. I want one.

And then down to Thee Parkside where Jay knows more bartenders.

Who's that? NightOwlCoHolic's in there.

Hamburger time.

Ping Pong time

He's done-fer. Smoked him.

This is where I realized that these things are going to go much better if we don't start drinking before sun down... Couldn't think of what to do next.

we placed some phone calls to figure out a game plan.

Let's go to the Hamburger Eyes dojo... but on the way we spotted a fencing school of some sort... gotta check that out real quick.

ok, kids poking each other.

and then to Hamburger Eyes where Ray was about to close up shop... I took a look around.

They just released their music issue and it rules (we'll be featuring it soon), and they held a show to celebrate its release with photos from the issue.

heads up, NYC. Here comes The Mall.

Vetiver is so damn good... not sure of the hippie on the left.

Devo!!

We said good bye to Ray and made our way to Doc's Clock where Jay kills some time before the Gang Gang Dance show with a massive shot of Fernet.

And then we're off for the Independent.

Can't wait for Tortoise this weekend.

Sorry to anyone who was standing next to us as we drunkenly critique Gang Gang's performance during the performance... I'd hate myself of I were next to myself sometimes.

Mr Neubeck and O'Brien were there... Get that boat, Nick! only $350.

Matt Furie and Aiyana Udesen.

Dave Potes and Jay Howell.

The shopkeep, Andrew Scott of Needles and Pens.

Ran into Meric Long of The Dodos and convinced him to drink with us.

Shane and Jake of Hightower at Pops... Hey, shouldn't you dudes be out on tour?

Jesse and Andrew

and we closed Pops talking about suicide...

As we were out sailing on Sunday when over the radio was a report from a tourist cruise boat that had three people on board watch someone jump off the Golden Gate bridge. The Coast Guard was called, but I don't think they found the body as the tide was max ebb and it probably got swept out to sea... READ THIS.

You know there's the talk of a barrier to keep people from jumping. That is so stupid... It's going to look ridiculous for starters and two, a lot of people who go there to jump are talked down... You take that away and people will attempt it at home away from peoples' eyes and the potential to be saved and then helped... anyway... anyone see that GG bridge documentary yet? The Bridge... this would keep me from going that way. You travel 240 to 250 feet in four seconds, traveling about 75 mph and come to a complete stop. It's like being in a horrible car accident... Your organs tear inside. It's not an instant death. You'll flail about in the water as you internally bleed and eventually drown... One lady jumped and then shot herself in the head because she didn't want to feel the impact.

And if you don't wanna see some heavy stuff, don't click here.

Ok, enough of that.

We saw Barry Bonds hit another homerun.

and went sailing on the nicest day of the year last week.

We sailed around Treasure Island in the 80 degree heat. So nice.

and came into this sunset.

Also checked out an art show one Alcatraz for a car company.

So what should we check out next week? Do you work somewhere really weird? We wanna see some cool stuff... Maybe you work at the zoo behind the scenes feeding the bears? Work at the MOMA and wanna show us the secret room? Maybe you are an artist with the best studio in the city... or just a millionaire who wants to take us out for lunch on his yacht? Whatever, leave a comment below or email us your ideas. What would be a cool thing to do and then to post up here? news(at)fecalface.com {moscomment}

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