Another Burlesque drawing we had to cut from PULPHOPE due to space restrictions. This one was intended to be used as part of the HEAVY TRASH CD album art (Jon Spencer/Matt Verta-Ray's Cramps-y garage/rockabilly album, from Yep-Roc Records). Matt has a woodshop in the LES, and he makes beautiful cabinets and chairs when not on tour, a wonderful anacronism, not the first thing you'd expect from a rockstar with a pompadour. When I first visited him there, I noticed on the wall of the shop a kitschy old-fashioned nudie-girl calendar hanging up, the kind of thing you'd see in a mechanics' garage in Elvis' day. I think this image was a call-and-response to that.
But the guys pulled it-- too borderline sexist, too questionable, they said. That's the whole point, I argued, and lost. It's their record afterall. On the final album art, she's the blonde in jeans on the upper left inside:
