Deer Tick: Art and Music (Songs that Inspired the Illustrations)

John McCauley, 2011. By Travis Simpkins

Art Isn't Real

Main Street

Baltimore Blues No. 1

Houston, TX

Miss K.

Deer Tick, 2010. By Travis Simpkins

John McCauley of Deer Tick, 2010. By Travis Simpkins

Aaron the King Wizard: Profiles from the Quiet-D Illustrations

Aaron the King Wizard, 2012. By Travis Simpkins

     On Quiet Desperation, Aaron the King Wizard has been moving up the ladder in terms of employment. He started out as a janitor at the jam space, then was hired as Robby's bodyguard, and now in an entrepreneurial turn, he has started his own record label... simply called, "The Label."

Aaron as the janitor at New Alliance

Aaron as Robby's bodyguard

Aaron starts "The Label"

     In real life, Aaron the King Wizard is a comedian and actor who has been working alongside Rob Potylo pretty much from the beginning. In early webisodes, Aaron and Robby did a great series where it's just the two of them playing and reacting to vintage video games. Another standout video, is Aaron doing very awkward stand-up comedy at a church to an unreceptive audience.

See all of Aaron's videos on youtube here: aaron the king wizard on youtube

Aaron the King Wizard doing comedy at a Church

 Tecmo Bowl

Aaron the King Wizard- "Let me Put the Tip In" music video

The Legend of Zelda

Quiet Desperation #6, 2012. By Travis Simpkins

The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962): Classic B Movies

     The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) has been slammed and lampooned a lot over the years, but one aspects of the film that is usually respected is the fact that it has creative, original ideas behind it. Plus, it's an enjoyable story and still fun to watch.

     The story centers on a doctor, who has been experimenting in transplanting limbs and animating dead tissue. His father (also a doctor) disapproves of his methods, but can't argue when his son uses that knowledge to bring a dead patient back to life. 

     The doctor is called away on urgent business to his country house, and he brings his lovely fiancee with him. Rushing to get there, the doctor crashes the car and his fiancee is decapitated. He grabs her head and runs it up to his laboratory inside his country house. He and his assistant rig up an apparatus that will keep the head alive. 

     After a while, she awakens, but it is immediately apparent that a new body must be found. 

     The fiancee is bitter and angry that the doctor would be so unethical as to leave her a body-less freak. She asks repeatedly to die, but her voice falls on deaf ears. Her only communication is with a mutated freak (who is an assemblage of failed experiments) that resides behind a locked door nearby.

     Meanwhile, the doctor is out in search of a new sexy body for his fiancee. He goes to a dance hall and watches a girl disrobe. 

     Liking what he sees, he converses with her and plans to kill her for her body. They are interrupted and he is forced to abandon the plan. 

     Still in need of a body, he finds an artist's model with a body that really turns him on. 

     He lures her back to his lab, drugs her and plans the removal of her head. 

     The fiancee is not happy about this, so he tries to shut her up. 

     Can she persuade the horrible freak in the closet to put a stop to this madness?

The Brain That Wouldn't Die- movie trailer

The Gold Rush (1925): Classic Charlie Chaplin (Films for Winter)

     Of all the films that take place during Winter, perhaps none are as memorable or charming as The Gold Rush (1925), written, directed, scored and starring Charlie Chaplin. The film is a "classic" is every sense of the word.

     Chaplin appears as his signature "Tramp" character. The film is packed with unforgettable moments.

     Out to prospect gold in the Klondike, he traverses many obstacles, both environmental and personal.

      His cabin is refuge for some unsavory characters.

     Hunger is a problem, and in one scene he is forced to eat his shoe.

      In characteristic Chaplin style, he yearns for the unobtainable woman.

     In a charming fantasy sequence he delivers the legendary "roll dance".

      Calamity is around every turn.

The Gold Rush- movie trailer

     After more than 85 years, this beloved film is still known and appreciated worldwide. And another 85 years years from now, it is sure to still be a perennial classic.

Troy Schoeller: Profiles from the Quiet-D Illustrations

Troy, 2012. By Travis Simpkins

     On Quiet Desperation, Troy has tried his hand at both comedy and music, in both instances creating a hardcore version of the respective art forms. He started a comedy troupe called "Brutal," and a band called "Razors in the Night." He was last seen threatening Robby with a knife during a confrontation at a jam space meeting.

Quiet D Episode 3

Episode 6- The "Brutal" comedy troupe

Episode 21- The fight with Robby

The WBCN Rumble

     In real life, Troy Schoeller is the frontman for the band, Razors in the Night. They play all over and have a huge following. Check out their website for more info: http://razorsinthenight.com/

Razors in the Night

Robby and Troy work on Music

Quiet Desperation #6, 2012. By Travis Simpkins

Kingdom of the Spiders (1977): A Classic B Movie with Personal Nostalgia

     When I was a kid, staying with my grandfather in Camp Verde, AZ, I remember him putting on Kingdom of the Spiders (1977). "Watch closely," he said, then paused the scene. "Look, there's our house." Sure enough, the gas station scenes were shot in (what was in 1977) an empty lot across the street from my grandfather's house, and it can be clearly seen in several shots. It is for that reason alone, regardless of how much film critics trash the film, that it will always hold a dear place in my movie watching heart.
     The film begins with the quiet Arizona desert town getting ready to host a big festival. Everyone seems cheerful at the prospect except a farmer whose prize cow has taken sick and died. He calls a veterinarian (William Shatner) who in turn enlists a specialist from the University of Arizona and together they determine that the animal died of massive amounts of spider venom. This is proven when they discover numerous large spider hills on the farm.

     Their theory is that the over-use of insecticides has killed off all of the spider's natural prey, and the tarantulas (who are usually docile and solitary) have adapted, banded together, and resorted to going after bigger targets as a group: animals and humans.

     During the process of this research, Shatner and his female scientific companion are showing that they find each other arousing. And even make time for dates, despite the spider epidemic.

 Meanwhile, the town mayor is so jazzed up about the festival, he refuses to cancel it in fear of the spider plague. He engages the use of more insecticides, but the spiders are now so abundant they are even inside the crop dusting plane.

     The plan backfires and the insecticides just drive the spiders out of their dens and into the surrounding area. So, the spiders run amok across the Verde Valley, and easily start engulfing the small town of Camp Verde.

     Shatner and his team are forced to hole themselves up in a ranch house (a la Hitchcock) to protect themselves and if they can, survive.

Kingdom of the Spiders- movie trailer

Dug McCormack: Profiles from the Quiet-D Illustrations

Dug McCormack, 2011. By Travis Simpkins

     On Quiet Desperation, Dug McCormack plays the warehouse manager at Vista Soaps. He oversees Rob, Bigg Nez (before he was caught smoking weed behind the dumpster), Shaun Bedgood and other musicians and artists seeking day jobs. His major cause of frustration is dealing with Dave Tree's tendency to yell at subordinates, and the subsequent lectures involved.

Quiet-D episode 20- "The Warehouse"

Episode 22- "NERO"

     In real life, Dug McCormack is a talented musician and visual artist. He plays regularly around Boston with his band, Hookerclops. An accomplished illustrator, his designs can be seen on multiple show posters, album covers and paintings. He also did the illustrations used in the original Quiet Desperation opening credits on MyTV.

visit the band site here: http://hookerclops.com/

Dug's art in the Quiet-D intro

Hookerclops

Quiet Desperation #4, 2011. By Travis Simpkins

In Search of Julien Hudson: Exhibition at Worcester Art Museum

Portrait of a Man (called a self portrait), 1839. By Julien Hudson

     Mysteries pertaining to Art, antiques and history have always been a personal source of intrigue, so this kind of exhibit really appeals to me.

     In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre Civil War New Orleans, curated by William Keyes Rudolph, is an amazing exhibition on view now at the Worcester Art Museum. It traces the inspiration, development and influence in the all too short life and career of this nearly forgotten artist. Little is known about Julien Hudson's life (1811 - 1844), and even less is known about his mysterious death at age 33. This show tries to shed some light on the subject. Only six of Hudson's works are known to exist and those, along with paintings and sculpture by his teachers, contemporaries and followers are featured. The exhibition runs through March 11, 2012.

Visit the Worcester Art Museum website here: http://www.worcesterart.org/

Creole Boy with a Moth, 1835. By Julien Hudson

Portrait of a Young Girl with a Rose, 1834. By Julien Hudson

Portrait of a Lady. By Julien Hudson

Portrait of a Free Man of Color, 1835. By Julien Hudson

Jean Michel Fortier III, 1839. By Julien Hudson

Read a nice article in the Boston Globe here